In 1974, Gordy Ainsleigh (pictured above) showed up at the Western States 100 horse trail race; however, he didn't have a horse with him.
After his ex-girlfriend took his horse and his new horse went lame, he was fed up and decided he’d just run the 100 miles on foot. What a guy.
"I got to the 40-mile point, and I just said, ‘I'm never gonna make this.’ It was 107 [degrees]. It was so hot, I couldn't even focus. So I got to the point where I said, ‘Well, what can I do?’ And this voice from inside me said, ‘I can still take one more step.’
Gordy told himself that as long as he could still take one more step, he would. Gordy went on to finish the Western States 100 and become the first known human to run 100 miles in less than a day.
Two weeks ago, I was in Leadville, Colorado to film my friend and fellow runner, Justin Kinner as he participated in the Leadville 100 trail race. Six weeks before that, I also filmed him in Olympic Valley, California as he completed the Western States 100 trail race—the original 100-mile foot race as detailed above. Three weeks before that, I was in Woodstock, Virginia to film Justin again as he completed the Old Dominion 100 mile trail race. Just five days from now, on Friday, September 10, Justin will be running the Wasatch 100 trail race in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Yes, you read that correctly, Justin is running not one, not two, not three, but FOUR 100 mile trail races this summer.
This is all in an attempt to complete the Grand Slam of Ultrarunning. Bonkers, I know.
When I first learned about the sport of ultrarunning, I couldn’t believe it. (Side note: for a race to classify as an “ultramarathon” the race must be longer than 26.2 miles, usually starting at the 50K or 31-mile distance).
I couldn't believe that people ran more than a marathon! Who in their right mind would run more than 26.2 miles? Isn’t that far enough? Then I learned that really crazy people will run 50 milers or 100K’s (62 miles). AND THEN I found out about people who run 100 milers. Shall I keep going? Ever heard of the Moab 240 or the Cocodona 250? Yeah, people will literally run for 3 or 4 days straight to cover over 200 miles on foot.
Then we have people like Justin who will do the Grand Slam by completing four 100 mile races in one summer. Many people will train for years to run just one 100 mile race and then spend 6 months recovering after the race.
Justin is doing four of them in the span of 14 weeks. Yeah, the guy’s an animal.
Before Gordy Ainsleigh did it in 1974, nobody thought it was possible to run 100 miles in a day. This year, literally thousands of people will finish 100-mile races and even longer distances.
Did you know the world record for covering 100 miles on foot is a mere 11:14:56? No, I’m not kidding. Just this year, a 39-year-old Lithuanian man named Sania Sorokin ran a 6:45 pace for just over 11 hours to set the world record. How is that even possible? The crazy part is, someone else is bound to break that record at some point.
The more I learn about ultra running, the more my mind is blown. Humans are simply incredible and ultrarunning is just one example of that.
While not everyone is going to go out and run 100 miles, everyone is capable of so much more than they think. I encourage you to not only ask yourself what more you are capable of but to actually go and find out. Put yourself into situations that are new, difficult, and scary. Do things that suck and do things you don't like. That is the only way you can ever grow and test your limits.
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