Ultramarathon?

At the end of what I loosely consider "racing season" I get twitchy. I did my marathon in September and three half marathons this year.

I don't have any races the rest of the year, unless I sign up for turkey trot. And I"m feeling kind of cheap these days, so I will likely just run that morning for fun.

I'm twitchy because I don't have a plan. But I have an idea I keep thinking about.

I'm thinking about doing an ultramarathon.

Oh, sure, I keep *telling* myself, and my running buddies, that I love the downtime and not feeling pressured to follow a training plan. And I do, kinda.

Training for an ultra would be so impractical. God, I was so often so zombie-tired doing 4 a.m. runs last summer to get training in before the kids woke up. How on earth will I get even more mileage in? Not to mention my husband, who is usually pretty supportive of my running, will surely be delighted when I tell him I'm running back-to-back 17-miles on an up-coming weekend.

This story says a study shows ultramarathons can add years to your life. Hmmm.

And my friend did an ultramarathon and loved it. I can't stop thinking about her experience.

For me, marathons have generally sucked. The pounding on roads and the pressure and self-loathing to push myself. And beat myself up during races because I'm slower than I *think* I ought to be.

And then I read about what a trail ultra is like -- yes, I'm romanticizing this, let me have my moment here -- and I think yeah, getting off the roads. Actually stopping at aid stations. Not worrying about pace or time. God, could I even have fun doing this?

I could grow to like this idea.