14 ultramarathons down, 38 to go

Boy what a nice heatwave we are enjoying this week. The temperature soared above 10 degrees Celsius (50F) in the afternoon sun. The condition of the running paths varied from excellent to awful - there were still some slippery icy sections to be found in the forests, and I also encountered some muddy spots.

Soon after the start I soon noticed that I have way too much clothes on. After reducing one layer and taking my hat and gloves off it felt great for a while. Then the sun really hit me near the open fields by the river, and I felt kind of hot again. Warm weather seems to be too much for my system after last weeks freezing snowstorms. 

I had to stop for cool bottle of ice tea when I was about halfway, and I felt pretty good again. However the next 10K turned out to be the most difficult part of my route today, and my pace was reduced to a slow shuffle. I managed to cover 43.9 km (27.3 miles) in 4:52, and was relatively satisfied with that.

14 ultramarathons down, 38 to go!      

The Competitors radio show

The Competitors radio show with legendary hosts Bob Babbitt and Paul Huddle has interviewed the greatest endurance athletes during the past 18 years. Now their awesome podcast archive is available online. 

I've listened to almost all of them with my iPod, some of them several time over. I love the great sense of humor of these guys - they have the ability to laugh at almost anything and are not ashamed to do so. They also ask lots of interesting questions.

Bob Babbitt completed his first Ironman triathlon in 1980. He completed the race on a cheap police auction bike that had been charred in a fire. He raced with panniers on the bike, carrying a tent and a sleeping bag because he didn't know you were supposed to do the whole thing in one day! 

Since then he has co-founded Competitor Publishing, which now owns five fitness publications with a total circulation of 415,000. He also co-founded the Challenged Athletes Foundation and created the Muddy Buddy - he is the guy in the frog outfit. He started the Competitors radio show back in 1990.

Paul Huddle has finished top ten in Kona three times. Between Huddle and his wife Paula Newby-Fraser, they have won 24 Ironman races, including eight World Championships. They are also owners of www.multisports.com.

UTMB 2007 TV reportage

Here's a ten-minute Italian TV coverage from The North Face Ultra-Trail Tour du Mont Blanc 100 mile run, which was organised for the fifth time on August 24-26, 2007.

And here's how the French TV news reported the same event.

Finally, a French reportage discussing various health aspects of the race.

The North Face Ultra-Trail Tour du Mont Blanc

The North Face Ultra-Trail Tour du Mont Blanc (aka UTMB). A foot race around Mont Blanc, the highest mountain peak in Western Europe. Cut-off time: 46 hours. It's a 163 km (101 miles) tour in three countries: France, Italy and Switzerland. There's about 9,000 meters of vertical gain. 

For comparison, the same loop is usually completed in 7-11 days by ordinary hikers. The record time of 20 hours and 5 minutes was set by Dachiri Dawa Sherpa in 2003, when the race was organised for the first time. In 2007 the 59-year-old Italian Marco Olmo won in 21:31, thus becoming the only person to have won the event twice.

The race starts at 18:30 on a Friday evening, so the fastest runners may get it done by Saturday afternoon. The slower ones will arrive on Sunday - if they can finish at all, after two grueling nights.

I've decided that UTMB is my ultimate goal. That's the reason why I'm doing these crazy ultra distance training runs once a week in 2008. One needs a higher purpose in life. And you probably thought I was nuts, huh?

There's no way I get in for the August 2008 UTMB. The number of runners is limited to 2,000. The race sold out the day the registration was opened in December.

So I'm going to aim for the UTMB in August 2009. Gives me time to train properly. To qualify, first I need to earn at least 4 points during 2007-8 from the various 1-4 point ultra trail races listed on their website. Then I need to enter into their lottery system in December and get myself selected in January.

  

8 To Be Great

8 to Be Great: The 8-Traits That Lead to Great Success by Richard St. John is based on ten years of research. He interviewed 500 succesful people and found out that you don't have to be anything special to succeed. In fact, most succesful people are not particularly smart, good-looking or lucky. They succeed because of the eight things they do.

According to this book, the top eight success factors are:

• passion: do it for love (not for money),
• work: work really hard (but have fun),
• focus: do one thing only (not everything),
• push: keep pushing to your limits (through shyness and self doubt),
• ideas: be curious (look around and listen to people),
• improve: practice continuously (12 months of the year, not 3-4),
• serve: give others something of value (and get rich),
• persist: pick yourself up and stay on course (through time, crap and failure).

Richard St. John has run marathons on all seven continents, with a personal best of 2:43. He also has a marketing communication company that has thrived for over 25 years.

Ok, let's follow these simple and easy rules and have a great 2008!