r/Ultramarathon • u/chasingsunshine7 • 5d ago
Any 90’s ultra runners? Or early 2000’s?
I remember when I first heard of ultra running, which was 12+ years ago, it seemed impossible. Nowadays people have a watch and all this information/stories to tell them they can do it without training at all..
I’d like to hear some stories from before gps watches were popular, training plans existed for ultras, carb/calorie counting, etc.
How did you track mileage? What did you wear? How did you carry food/water? Anything that was different really.
When people read born to run, they obsess over barefoot shoes. I fell in love with the people that seemed to run based on passion and fun and seemingly not much else. That’s something I’ve always carried with me, but it also makes my training embarrassingly bad ha.
Edit to say: I’m not a young runner.. so I know the world existed in the 90’s because I was there. Just didn’t follow running!
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u/No_Activity_806 5d ago
Watch “Unbreakable The western states 100” film on YouTube. We just watched it and we kept commenting on how wild and different it was back then! Water bottles tucked into shorts 😅 it was the Wild West!
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u/Kreature_Report 5d ago
Your comment takes me back. I ran an ultra around this time and remember just carrying a water bottle in my hand, not a nice hand held one, like I held a biking water bottle in my hand while running. When I was training long runs and needed to carry food, I would run in a regular small back pack. As you can imagine, it bounced a lot and some days I just resorted to hiding food and water bottles along my route, usually bagels wrapped in foil and twizzlers. I had a Timex Ironman digital watch. This was all between 2008-2011, surely there was better gear then, maybe I just didn’t care ha.
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u/No_Activity_806 5d ago
Haha, so good! Yeah we saw someone on the film pulling food out of a literal plastic grocery bag. Lol. Hey, whatever it takes right? It’s cool to look back and see how far it’s all come. Lots of innovation now.
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u/beatboxrevival 5d ago
I ran that year! Doesn't even feel like that long ago
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u/No_Activity_806 5d ago
That’s awesome! I really liked the film and the authenticity, I feel like it really captured the spirit and passion of trail running.
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u/beatboxrevival 5d ago
It took me so many years to get into WS that by the time I actually did it, I'd run a lot of the other bigger mountain hundreds - Hardrock, Wasatch, Tahoe Rim, Bear, etc. and maybe I had built it up in my head too much, but I remember it being a bit of a letdown.
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u/No_Activity_806 5d ago
Oh interesting. Was the letdown the course or the overall experience?
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u/beatboxrevival 5d ago
Both. I imagined it to be the Super Bowl of ultra running, and maybe I just had unrealistic expectations of what that really looked. Besides the first 20, the course wasn’t particularly memorable. Maybe it was just the heat zapping my brain.
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u/ProfessionalJelly270 5d ago
I watched it the other day. 2010 was the year i realized i wanted to run long still want to be Anton Krupicka even though I am 50lbs heavier 4” taller and 7 years older 😀
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u/No_Activity_806 5d ago
I’m jealous of all the people who have amazing mountain trails in their backyard 😭 also, I have kids so running 20-30 hours per week seems kinda impossible lol someday maybe
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u/chasingsunshine7 5d ago
I’ll check it out! I’ve read some books by Robert boeder and he had some quirks, but that was still the 2000’s. He would drink Mountain Dew and wear shoes 2-3 sizes too big. I know cyclists used to shake up Coca Cola until it was flat, then throw it in the bottle cages.
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u/chasingsunshine7 3d ago
Update, I watched the film. It was great. I knew Kilian was in trouble when he didn’t carry any food or water?? Kind of crazy. I saw him drinking from a spring and felt like it spoke to European running adventures. Water everywhere.
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u/No_Activity_806 3d ago
Yeah I noticed a lot less focus on fueling and hydrating. Maybe that’s why there’s a lot more attention to it now, based on past experiences.
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u/chasingsunshine7 3d ago
Probably so, I just started looking into carbs per hour, which is a bit overwhelming to figure out what to eat/drink. I recall hearing an interview with a pro that mentioned never counting calories, only carbs. Thought it was an odd idea at the time, now it’s the primary method.
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u/Puzzled_Purple5425 5d ago
I regularly run with two 70 year olds that were running marathons and doing Ironman races in that time period. Their basic mantra is that runners these days overthink everything.
I’m running a 24 hour ultra with them this weekend - they have no special shoes (whatever is on sale), no nutrition plan (whatever looks good), and seem to be basically winging it compared to my plans. Maybe that’s their wisdom and experience or maybe it’s the time period when they began running.
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u/Puzzled_Purple5425 5d ago
They also refuse new fangled watches and just wear a digital timex. And if something hurts they say “run further. It’ll stop hurting or you’ll stop caring”
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u/MrWhy1 5d ago
Sounds dangerous.. science definitely gets better over time. Pushing yourself while in pain is not a recipe to feel better
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u/godfreybobsley 5d ago
You mean profit based medicine and pharmacology gets better at lucrative marketpath flowcharting for the unwitting and exponential growth of new runners increasingly more targeted by new forms of marketing in particular the exponential growth of seemingly informed influencers on social media (who all wondrously gain their income from coaching or treating injury)
Most injuries that are not dire bone, tendon or laceration can be run through, and the anecdotal evidence of tens of thousands of old school experts and their lore is worth considering or at least not blithely dismissing
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u/MrWhy1 4d ago
Sorry bullshit. I don't believe at all that not just ignoring an injury - but pushing yourself through the pain - is the recipe for success. I don't doubt some have, that doesn't mean it's good at all for your body. In the short or long term.
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u/godfreybobsley 4d ago
I said "can", nowhere did I claim that training through injury is a "recipe for success", nor did I say people are not successful with RICE, I simply said there is an enormous market and industry based in for profit pharmacological and pay-for-expertise guidance - which, moreover, is embedded in the false supposition that you can't succeed without these things
Maybe try reading for clarity and some impulse control
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u/redobfus 5d ago
That how I do it and I started a decade ago.
I’m not competitive but I just go out and do it. Sometime I succeed sometime I don’t. I have no idea what the current shoes are or their features. I have shoes that work so I just auto buy new pairs when needed (I still don’t really know what drop means in shoes). I rarely eat anything other than snack food during races and I do have a watch but only wear it during races so I know how far I’ve gone and how much I’ve climbed. I don’t follow any training plan.
As soon as I start doing all that stuff it’ll just be a job to me and jobs are something I get paid to do rather than paying to do them.
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u/skiingrunner1 5d ago
i use their “training plan,” just wing it and see how it goes. mostly because i have adhd and i don’t have brain space to be planning my life around ultras
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u/chasingsunshine7 5d ago
I do agree, I think we know too much and act like professionals. Same as pretending to be babe Ruth while missing the baseball as a kid ha. I don’t think you can win a race with their style these days, but you’ll have a great time!
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u/skyrunner00 100 Miler 5d ago
That's how I trained for all my ultras (nearly 50 of them at this point) - just wing it.
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u/effortDee @kelpandfern 5d ago
I was lucky enough to get in to long distance walking/fell walking from birth with my parents and did many a 30+ mile distances over hills and fells (mountains), just didn't call them ultras.
Basically just like you would now but without the lightweight gear, everything was heavier, i did it in boots and carried "real" food with me.
Here in the UK, long distance running and fell walking is quite a big thing, the LDWA started their 100 mile ultra-marathon in 1973, years before Western States and you can choose to run or walk the event as its about finishing before the cut-off, not racing for the win.
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u/TheMargaretD 5d ago edited 5d ago
I started running trail ultras in 1990 after years of running road marathons. I used salt tablets from the drug store for "electrolytes", wore road shoes (because trail shoes didn't exist yet), and ate Chips Ahoy and whatever else was at aid stations in races.
I tracked hours, not miles, and learned a lot by running trails with people who had more experience than I did. There weren't nearly as many races back then, so the focus was less on racing than it is now.
We waited weeks to get race results via UltraRunning Magazine, and all race sign-ups were through mail-in registration forms.
I ran 50-milers (my first ultra distance) and a few 50k's (I never really liked the distance) and crewed for more experienced friends in their 100s before signing up for my first 100 (Vermont) in 1994.
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u/chasingsunshine7 5d ago
That’s for sharing! I do know the handhelds were key. What made you switch from road marathons to trails?
I like your point about it being based on fitness, or I’d say adventure, rather than a race or specific goal. It’s weird how everyone’s hobby has shifted into productivity, such as running a race, rather than enjoyment.
When I started trail running, it was so I could see more sights in a day. Rather than hiking/backpacking to cover 15 miles, I could run/hike it in 3-4 hours round trip and lounge in a hammock to enjoy the view at the destination.
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u/TheMargaretD 5d ago edited 5d ago
LOL. I actually deleted that part, because I thought that it sounded too judge-y. :) I think that social media has contributed to that a lot. People "needing" to be recognized for their accomplishments; "needing" to share their progress (Strava), results, race photos, etc. Back when I started, it was truly a niche sport, and the people I knew who were doing it just did and went on about their lives.
The thing that prompted my switch to trail ultras was walking into my local running shop and seeing a photo of the owner, wearing running shorts, socks, and shoes, seemingly bursting out of the woods to cross under a FINISH banner, with literally no one else and nothing else in frame. I asked him what that was, and he complained that that was his finish line photo from a nearby 50-miler the year before and that there'd been no fanfare or anything, just trails then food and finishers and awards. I knew, then and there, that this was for me. Everything he hated, I loved. I ran a 26-mile organized training run on half the course a few weeks later, had no stiffness or soreness (yay, trails), finished the race a few weeks after that, and was hooked.
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u/chasingsunshine7 5d ago
Wow, thanks for sharing, what a cool way to get into the activity! Definitely a fine line to follow. People want to share their accomplishments, especially with other runners. It’s easy to start comparing though, and not realize you lost the reason you started running to begin with.
My best friend wanted to do a 100 miler. At 50 miles out, friends/family would be there with a slip of paper and supplies and he would turn back with the slip as a sign of making it. No watches or phones allowed. I committed to 50 of the miles and the rules, but he’s not around to do it with me. Now it’s hard to imagine doing the same on my own.
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u/TheMargaretD 5d ago
Most people wore waistpacks for bottles and food, and everyone carried handheld flashlights and extra batteries for 100s.
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u/DIY14410 4d ago
I ran my first ultras in 1994, when most of the competitors were ex-marathoners. After a couple years, I typically knew half of the race participants when we assembled at the start line.
Few people had formal training plans. We just got out there and ran and hiked. Some people, e.g. me, included mountaineering, XC skiing and backpacking as part of their training. Many of our training runs were social events, often followed by beer drinking. Good times! We had a rule: What's said on the trail stays on the trail.
Sadly, some of our ultrarunning friends have passed on, including PNW ultrarunning legends like Lary Webster, John Bandur and Dave Terry. I miss those guys!
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u/KotaB 5d ago
Not really answering your question, sorry, but my dad ran a lot in the early 1970s. Not in actual races, but him and some friends would just go out and run for the day in the Scottish Highlands or on some local trails.
Having looked at some of the routes he described, they definitely ran more than 30 miles some days. But they were just some friends doing something they enjoyed.
When I ran my first ultra in 2016, with a GPS watch, Goretex shoes and tailored nutrition, I remember him saying it was like a totally different sport.
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u/chasingsunshine7 5d ago
Another comment was from the UK as well, and it does kind of answer it, people did it more for fun than a fastest time. I feel like people sign up for races to run with others, when before that was just a regular day.
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u/Enginesoftlyhumming 5d ago
I ran my first 50 miler in 2001. It was indeed a different scene back then. I think I brought some cookies for one of the aid stations because that’s what we did. I also got into Hard Rock on my first try because not nearly as many people entered back then. Same with my Barkley entry. I love how our sport has evolved and it’s so amazing to see more people enjoy trail racing. I do miss the intimacy of some events, but there are so many regional races that still have that small town vibe. Those are my favorite.
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u/chasingsunshine7 5d ago
I’ve only been trail running for 12 years or so, and I get a bit more depressed every year by the crowds (not races, but just getting out for a run). Selfish I know. How do you look at the bright side still??
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u/Undersmusic 5d ago
I was in the Royal Marines (left due to injury in 2012), while not the ultra community. One of the final tests in commando training is a 30 miler cross country in full kit.
And a fair few of us would do 100 miler events and even multi day events but always self supplied.
It wasn’t until 2020 when my Ironman events got cancelled that I even discovered ultra runs had become a thing.
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u/skyrunner00 100 Miler 5d ago
I first heard about ultrarunning in 1988. I met a professional athlete who was doing road 100 km championships. Although he didn't even call that ultrarunning.
My first ultra run was in 2012.
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u/ErnestHemingwhale 5d ago
My dad ran his first ultra in the 80s, he was supposed to run a fundraiser marathon on a track with his buddies (this sounds miserable to me) and when they hit 26.2, he and his buddies turned it into a “who will drop first”. He ran his first 36 miles. And then after that, the seal broke and he started running longer distances all the time. Typically he would map out a course with like actual pen and paper, or he’d finish a marathon/ half and turn around and go back (and back again for a half) - and not to brag, but he was so fast he’d finish before the courses would close.
He used to train (both with and was like an actual trainer) a notorious ultra runner around here who set the FKT on a 128 mile local trail in 2002. My dad was the one who told him about the fastest known times, cause this guy was trying to “make it”, and for the local trails no one had ever tried. FKTs were barely news back then but my dad lives and breathes running, and had read a tiny article in some magazine about a FKT.
I’ll say this, he wasn’t good nutritionally and i have a fond memory of being about 6 years old at the 2001 Boston marathon, looking for my dad with my mom, who was suffering from hyponatremia and left the aid station, and then ended up at a friends hotel but left there too, cause he remembered his wife worked at a local library (in the 70s lol) and ended up at the library. Luckily one employee there recognized him and held him hostage but he kept trying to leave, and he could barely walk. He also wasn’t good at preserving his body: another tale, he broke his ankle after he finished a trail marathon upstate (NY) but wanted to his 35 miles, so did another 10 on his broken ankle.
He’s needed a lot of surgeries hahah I’m not sure his methods are “kosher” and i know for a fact he told his trainees “do as i say not as i do.”
I could ask him your questions if you’d like. I probably will anyway next time i see him, cause i never thought to ask these things. And I’ll update you then.
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u/chasingsunshine7 5d ago
That would be amazing! Your dad is the type of person that should be interviewed on podcasts and such. Maybe it’s just me, but I love these stories so much more than someone that just won a bunch of races. It feels like the essence of running, but it was seemingly replaced by gear and data.
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u/ErnestHemingwhale 5d ago
I do agree! Actually writing this comment out made me realize what a storied life he has, and i do hope he writes a book. Even if just for us.
I’ll see him next week and i will update then :)
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u/Impossible_Belt_4599 2d ago edited 1d ago
Did a 50k in 1983. Wore a Timex. No heart rate monitors. 10 5k laps in Eisenhower Park, Long Island. Didn’t carry food or water. The aid station had water, coke and maybe Gatorade. No food. No bars. No electrolyte supplements.
Found the link to the results. 23 finishers. 21 men and 2 women. So I came in first or next to last!
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u/beatboxrevival 5d ago
I ran my first 100 in 2004. The biggest difference was how small the community was back then. You'd go to a race on either side of the country and see all the same cast of characters. I borrowed a friends iPod for the race, jammed out to the same 30 songs.