UltraRunning - Ironman On A Budget
Posted by David Hanenburg on 14 Oct 2008 at 10:13 am | Tagged as: running, trail running, triathlon
Ironman Registration: $500+
50 mile Ultrarunning Trail Run Registration: $60-$100 typically
If the Ironman event interests you but it doesn’t quite fit in the budget, you may want to give ultrarunning a try. I have completed both Ironman and 50 mile ultrarunning trail events and they offer many similarities.
- finish times of 8-16 hours
- challenging
- scenic locations
- a personal journey
- great people
- great support
- a lot of fun
Of course with trail running you won’t get to swim but you may have to wade across some streams/rivers. The bike, well, leave it at home or save it for after the race when walking just plain hurts.
If Ironman really interests you, save your pennies and go for it! I am still a big groupie of the sport.
If you would like to see if there are any ultrarunning trail events in your area, you can check out some of these calendars. Unfortunately there isn’t one main source (that I have found) for all of the running events.
You can also search online for some trail running clubs in your area. They seem to have the best local/regional information.
Also, Running Through The Wall contains many interesting ultrarunning race reports which can provide a glimpse inside the wacky sport.
Have you found any good sources that have a fairly complete listing of national and international ultrarunning events?
For those that have done both an Ironman and a 50 miler, how would you compare?
Happy Training!
