As planned in 2010, we will be enhancing the content of this site dramatically.  Our plan is to provide regular articles on multiple aspects of ultrarunning, including:

• Specific ultramarathons and race reports
• Inspirational stories from the ultrarunning community
• Sports nutrition for ultrarunners
• Sports drinks and food supplements
• Ultramarathon training tips
• Medical articles related to issues that ultrarunners face
• Important resources and reviews
• Lifestyle stories about balancing life and ultrarunning
• Much more…

So how can you help?

We need more writers! Specifically we want writers who are active ultrarunners and ultramarathoners with an interest in providing honest and useful information to our community.  If you know of anyone who would be a great addition to our writing staff, please send them our way (or if you are that person, then please contact us).

PLEASE HELP SPREAD THE WORD!

Ray Zahab

Hopefully you were able to join us as UltraRunningNews.com co-founder Faun Ramey interviewed ultrarunner Ray Zahab today.  If not, don’t panic because we recorded it so that you can listen to it now or even download it and listen to it via mp3 while running!

During this interview Ray shared important information and was also able to answer our readers’ questions.  Here are some of the topics covered:

• How did a smoking, non-runner get into this crazy sport of ultrarunning and then go on to become one of the most significant runners in the sport
• Typical training week
• Typical recovery from multi-day and multi-week running events
• What his daily nutrition plan looks like
• What kind of food does he carry in his pack during his long distance runs
• What kind of hydration pack does he use and what is in it
• How he deals with injuries from mild to severe while maintaining his training
• Favorite places on earth to run
• Impossible2Possible Mission – what is is all about
• Much, much more…

Here is the link so you may here the entire interview:
Ray Zahab Ultra Running News Interview

Enjoy and please share this article with every runner you know!

Ray Zahab Ultrarunning

UltraRunningNews.com will be interviewing ultrarunner Ray Zahab tomorrow.  The best part is that you can participate by submitting questions you would like us to ask Ray – simply visit the link below and submit your question.

Ray is an amazing person on a mission.  Some of his accomplishments include:

• Running the Sahara – Averaged 70km/day for 111 days straight!!!
• South Pole Quest – First person to complete this 1100km South Pole trek on foot (snowshoes)
• Canada ONEXONE - 80km/day x 13 days through 13 Canadian provinces & territories

EVENT: Interview with Ray Zahab

DATE & TIME: Monday, November 2nd at 5:15pm Eastern

FORMAT: Simulcast! (Attend via Phone or Webcast — it’s your choice)

TO ATTEND THIS EVENT, CLICK THIS LINK NOW…
http://instantTeleseminar.com/?eventid=9801003

Please join us and tell all of your ultrarunning friends about this event.  There is no cost, except we ask that you become inspired:)

Article written by Faun Ramey, exclusively for Ultra Running News.

I’m going to start my race report from the very beginning of the weekend. I drove down to Chattanooga from Athens, TN on Friday night. I had made reservations at the Sheraton Read House. I could have found a couple of hotels a bit cheaper, but I highly recommend spending the extra money on a nicer hotel the night before a big race. It makes relaxing a whole lot easier. Better sleep on more comfortable bedding and just a more pleasant experience all around. Of course it doesn’t make getting up and leaving the hotel room easy at 6 AM on Saturday morning.

I made it to the race start and got my packet (I don’t like picking up race packets the day of the race for big events, but it couldn’t be helped in this case and I got there early enough that it wasn’t an issue.) It was about 50 degrees while I waited the 45 minutes before the race start. Cool just standing around, but it would be perfect running temperature once the gun went off.

The 8:00 start time finally came and we lined up on the start line. I lined up toward the back knowing I would not challenge the leaders this day. Right before the gun went off, I noticed that Dean Karnazes was taking off his sweats. He jumped into the crowd just in front of me. It was kind of cool having an ultrarunning legend right in front of me.

The gun sounded and we were off. The first bit was on the road as the crowd thinned a bit. We then hit a gravel portion of trail. It went on for about 2 miles and the pace was around 8:30 or so. At one point during this stretch I was actually ahead of Dean! It didn’t last long though, as he roared past me on a downhill section and I never saw him again.

With all thoughts of staying ahead of Dean Karnazes to the finish gone, I settled into a rythym. We left the gravel trail and hit dirt but the trail stayed pretty smooth and wide enough for everyone as the runners were still concentrated a bit. It wasn’t long before we left this smooth and wide section for narrower single track that was uneven and mostly downhill over rocks and boulders. I remember sarcastically making the comment to anyone who could hear that, “I can’t wait to come back up this!” It was extremely steep downhill navigating that was impossible to run.

Eventually, though, we managed the first checkpoint at mile 6.1. My time to this point was 1:04, which was a good average pace considering the difficulty of the last 2 miles going into the cp. I refilled my bottle (I was carrying a single 22 oz. Nathan handheld) and got started again. So far so good.

The next 4.5 mile section started out going uphill. Actually, most of this section was uphill. I walked much more of this portion than I really wanted to this early in the race. But, as it was, I came into the 10.6 mile cp feeling good and on pace (at least comparable to the difficulty I found the course to be). I spent 2 1/2 minutes drinking some coke (I don’t eat well while I’m racing, which is going to be a constant struggle during ultras) and refilling the Nathan. Then off again on the next 3 mile section.

I started off on this section with high hopes. I had gone through 1/3 of the race and other than the difficulty of the terrain, it was going about the way I had hoped. But about 100 feet later I started to cramp in my quads! The climbing had taken a toll on them. Even though most of this section was flat, relative to the previous section, I ended up walking most of it to the 14 mile cp. I took some electrolyte capsules at this aid station in an attempt to alleviate the cramping. Then off again on the 2.5 mile next section.

This next section was mostly through the woods, much like the 3rd section. I tried to run portions of this section as the cramping had eased. That or I was still moving so slowing that I wasn’t using my quads in my running. This section proved to be painfully slow. I stumbled into the 16.5 mile cp over an hour later! It had taken me almost as long to go the last 6 miles as it had to go the first 10.5! But that is ultrarunning, you go through highs and lows throughout the race. Unfortunately for me this day, the remainder of the race was going to be pretty much low.

I left the 16.5 mile cp on the 2.5 mile section to the 19 mile drop bag cp. This section was the “1/2 way” point for me. At least, I had planned on it being this way. The plan was to make mile 19 in about 3.5 hours and complete the last 13 miles in no worse than the same time. Obviously, that plan was out the window, but I was still real excited about getting to the cp at mile 19.

So I left out from cp 4 moving slowly but with renewed determination to make mile 19 as quickly as possible. This next section proved to be the toughest terrain of the race. I knew going in that there was a section that had to be navigated over some boulders, but I had hoped the earlier part over boulders had been that part. It hadn’t.

The middle part of section 5 was about 3/4 mile (felt much longer) of traversing large boulders. Absolutely no trail whatsoever. Mentally, it took everything I had to complete this section. About an hour later, I finally rolled into the 19 mile cp. It had taken me about 1.5 hours longer than planned. I’m not sure how much of the extra time was slow moving because of more difficult terrain or slow moving because of cramps (and at this point just pain in general). I would guess about 50/50.

I set out from the 19 mile cp feeling very low. I really wanted to quit at this point. Luckily, the next cp was only 0.7 miles away. I felt I could make it. Which of course I did and then the volunteers at the next cp told me that the 4 miles down to the 24-25 mile cp was all downhill. Downhill sounds good, right? Wrong!

At this point the downhills were hurting more than the uphills. My big toes were bruised and my legs didn’t feel very steady on the mostly rocky downhill section. This section was the worst. A couple of times I thought I was lost and was not looking forward to the uphill backtracking for an hour that I thought I might have to do. Fortunately, I got passed by a group of about 6 that I tried in vain to stay with. At least I knew I was on the right trail.

An hour and 48 minutes after cp mile 19, out of Heed for some time, I staggered into cp mile 25 thoroughly whipped. The volunteers at this cp were great though and after about 5 minutes of regrouping I mustered up the strength to get going again.

I knew this next 2 mile section was going to be the part that I had sarcastically commented about looking forward to climbing back up at the beginning of the race. I had made contact with some other racers and my spirits were a bit higher, though. I took the uphill sections slow (I guess everything at this point was slow) but methodically. After some time, I finally made the last cp at mile 27. Four more miles to go. At least these last four were going to be on the packed/gravel wide trails we started on with rollers but nothing steep.

Unfortunately, I had again lost contact with everyone and several times during this last stretch I thought I was lost again. But eventually, I got to the road. About 1/2 mile to go. I ran as fast as I could but everything hurt at this point: joints, toes, muscles, places that had rubbed for the last 8 hours, everything.

I can’t even describe the feeling I had upon seeing the finish line. Happy and sad at the same time. More happy than sad, of course. Anyway, I ran across the finish line and received my finisher’s medal. I had missed a podium spot by a mere 4.5 hours! There’s always next year.

I came across this article today about Ray Zahab.  Ray is an elite ultrarunner who has trekked across the Sahara Desert, along with Charlie Engle and Kevin Lin, raced the Trans 333 in Egypt, the Jungle Marathon in the Amazon, the Marathon des Sables in Morocco, and the Gobi March in China, to name a few.  Ray is one of those inspiring guys that just makes you believe that you can do anything, because he has and he is so positive about it all.

I have read the book Born to Run by Christopher McDougall and have thought about writing a review.  Unfortunately, my writing is better suited to blogs than anything else.  I came across this review of the book  by Timothy Carlson and it ends up being the review I wish I could have written.  Awesome book.  A must read for all runners but especially ultrarunners.  Thank you Timothy Carlson for writing a review that does the book justice.

As many of you have probably heard, Erik Skaggs, ultrarunner and winner of the 2009 Where’s Waldo 100K Ultramarathon was hospitalized last week immediately after a record-setting performance.  Shortly after the race his kidneys began shutting down and he required immediate hospitalization.

Good news! Today he got released and is on his way to recovery.  For more information regarding Erik’s situation, you can visit the Rogue Valley Runners Blog.

Erik needs our help! Because of the severity of his illness and the intensive hospitalization required, Erik is going to be faced with significant medical bills and he does not have medical insurance.

It is time for the ultra running community to pull together and offer our support. A fund has been set up at Umpqua Bank to help cover the hospital costs. You can read more about it at: http://roguevalleyrunners.blogspot.com/

To contribute, send a check made out to the “Erik Skaggs Medical Fund” to:

Umpqua Bank
c/o Erik Skaggs Medical Fund
250 N. Pioneer Street
Ashland, OR 97520

Be sure to include the “c/o Erik Skaggs Medical Fund” on the envelope so that it can be processed promptly and correctly.

Congrats Erik on your second big victory in a week!

On September 9th, 2009 internet marketer and now ultrarunner, Tellman Knudson, will begin his charity run from North Cove Marina, Battery Park, New York City heading across the USA to Los Angeles, CA to raise $100,000,000 for homeless teens.  Not only that, he is going to do it barefoot!

In total this will be the equivalent to about a marathon per day for 99 straight days.  De ja vu…  Remember in 2006 when Dean Karnazes completed 50 marathons in 50 states in 50 days?  Tellman is going to try to nearly double this feat in his barefeet!


View Run Tellman Run route, RTR in a larger map

Apparently he is passing most donations through to Richard Branson’s VirginUnite.com, a nonprofit organization with the mission to “tackle tough social and environmental problems in an entrepreneurial way.”

Despite Mr. Knudson’s altruistic intentions, many are skeptical about his motives.  In fact, some believe he is just a clever con artist using this as yet another way to scam people out of their hard-earned money.  A Vermont Online News site discusses Tellman’s concerning past and disputes a lot of what he claimed about his business.

Regardless, it appears that on September 9th, he will begin this 99 day ultra-running event and we will see what happens.  It should be interesting.

If you would like more information, you can visit Tellman’s website at www.RunTellmanRun.com.  A word of caution based on comments posted around the internet – be very cautious submitting your name and email (or credit card information for that matter) on any of Tellman’s sites or you may get spammed and even billed a recurrent charge for something in the fine print.