How I Became an Ultrarunner

By Chris Mellott

Good things happen when you say yes, especially when that thing scares the hell out of you... I guess that's the short story of how I became an ultrarunner. 

With a hesitant click on the computer, I signed up for my first ultra distance run, a 50K (31 miles), with my friend Stephen on January 4th, 2017. That was our first yes of hundreds. We had officially begun our journey into the unknown. In the five months between registration and the starting line, we said yes. We just kept saying yes to any challenge. We said yes to early morning long runs, after work doubles, we said yes to at least a dozen different nutrition strategies, many of which ended in disastrous results. We kept saying yes, and that got us to the starting line with a prayer we might actually be able to do the damn thing.

I vividly remember catching Stephen at the marathon aid station. Every step beyond that point was new territory. I contemplated stopping there, calling it a day. Nobody would blame us. We had been out in the hot Colorado sun for four-plus hours and still had roughly fifty minutes ahead before we saw the finish line. We drank ginger ale and ate potato chips, looking like extras on the Walking Dead, but nonetheless, we looked at each other, and with a subtle nod, we said yes one more time and continued into the afternoon sun. Fifty-two minutes later, I crossed the finish line. Stephen would come in eleven minutes behind me. That day in May of 2017, we became ultrarunners, and to make that possible, we had to say yes hundreds if not thousands of times before.

Ultrarunning is a competition for some, but for most like me, it's more about challenging ourselves to examine our inner truths and find what we might be capable of. Since that day in May, I have run two additional 50Ks, a 50 miler, a virtual 100K doing loops around Oswego's campus for 13 hours, a 100-mile race, and a distance PR. I love the challenge, but more importantly, I love the camaraderie of ultra runners.

When I ran my third 50K, I met a guy named Jeff. Before we started the Priest Lake 50K in Idaho, Jeff's longest race was a half marathon in Spokane, Washington. I had come off my first 50 mile and looked to get a long day on trails, a match made for running partners. Jeff and I ran the entire race together. We talked about his kids, my work as a conduct officer for a private university. I got to celebrate with Jeff as he ran his first marathon. We hugged as he came through the finish line minutes after me and shared beers sitting in the shade with other runners. I said yes that day to an adventure and made a new friend. I said yes to being part of the community, and the community accepted me with open arms.

The worst kept secret in ultrarunning is the community. It is filled with an incredible group of eclectic individuals who want you to achieve your goals. They are people that will be there if you don't finish or when you celebrate a time or distance PR. They are the kind of people that help you say yes to new challenges and new opportunities.

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• In Defense of the Run Streak
• Ultrarunner Dylan Bowman on Recovery and New Beginnings
• The Only Way to Fail is to Not Try