Running is mostly mental

With the upcoming film that I am making, I have been hanging out with Ben a lot lately and finding out what it takes to be an ultra runner. They are a different breed of athlete. They are some of the most mentally tough people I have ever met in my life.

When you are on a trail for hundreds of miles at a time and the only thing keeping you company is your own mind, that could be agonizing if you aren't prepared for it. The longest distance I have ever gone in my life was 8 miles and when I would run that, it was a mental challenge. My body would start to hurt and my mind would tell me to quit within the first 30 minutes or so of the run.

Now imagine having to continue that run for 100+ miles which can last all day or multiple days. It is just crazy how they have the mental toughness to continue pushing through the pain that they experience on these runs and then they want to do it again.

Running Fuel

One thing I learned from Ben is that fuel is very important while running these distances. Getting carbs, calories, aminos and other nutrients is vital to being able to accomplish ultra distance running without any medical emergencies.

^{Photo taken by me @derangedvisions}

In these photos, Ben was preparing for a 100 mile race with his wife. He was making a bag for himself and a bag for her.

^{Photo taken by me @derangedvisions}

He was like a scientist as he was premixing the different powder packets, so that he could save some time while he was running. So more forethought goes into his planning as he preps for a race. It only takes one time of forgetting something very important during a 200 mile race to make sure that you plan out every race beforehand.

^{Photo taken by me @derangedvisions}

Soon Ben is going to be preparing many of these bags to sustain him for 8 days as he runs across the Pyrenees Mountains. We should be flying over to Spain at the end of August to film him as he begins his 500 mile run from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean.

This is promo video we put together for his run. He is trying to break the world record by running the route in 8 days. He is planning on running for 20 hours each day and sleeping for 3. This is definition of mental toughness. 8 days of running in isolation on the trail.

Thank You

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