[RunLongVT]

It sure is a peculiar social world in these here runnin' forums. All the drama when CoolRunning went offline...<br><br>
I think we wander into this internet world unsure of what we will find, and when we discover a virtual circle of friends and a conversation we like, we're hard-pressed to leave it. Just look at forums like theultrapage.com that could have flourished into a great space but just never got off the ground, presumably because people are reluctant to leave their "home" forum and invest the time to develop the social network of a new one. This one seems to have picked up the CoolRunning ultra community, which never recovered, and to have firmly taken root. I predict it will continue to grow.<br><br>
I think that trail and ultra forums are a special thing, though. Out of a few flying electrons comes a real sense of community and friendship, sharing and support. Certainly there are forums for cycling or rock climbing or hiking or other activities (heck, even road and track running, e.g. LetsRun.com) that are so caustic and pedantic that I wouldn't touch them with a (virtual) ten-foot pole.

 

[Sherpa John]

Caustic and pedantic <img alt="book1.gif" src="http://files.kickrunners.com/smilies/book1.gif"><img alt="icon_scratch.gif" src="http://files.kickrunners.com/smilies/icon_scratch.gif"> I'm a runner not a thesaurus<br><br>
I agree Paul.. PLENTY of forums out there for hiking, biking, skiing tuckermans ravine.<br><br>
Each forum is unique. I used to belong to 3 or 4 different hiking forums.. some were so volitile that I HAD to leave. This place here is cool though.. seems like a bunch of cool heads roaming about.. no real jerks or anything (except for me).

 

[The Professor]

I think a lot of it has to do with the type of people who engage in the ultrarunning lifestyle. According to both Aldefer and Maslow's motivation theory, people who self-impose extreme challenges tend to be people who are happy with most other aspects of their lives (family, money, career, religion, spitituality, love, etc). Basically the are "good at life" so they have to find other ways to challenge themselves (Maslow referred to it as self-actualization) becasue human instinct requires challenges. If you think about the ultrarunners that you know they are most likely searching out challenges in other aspects of their lives as well (career success, financial freedom, larger family, etc). It is people like this who are rarely caustic and pedantic in any aspects of their lives.<br><br>
There is my academic geek-out for the week. I think tapering is making my mind a bit soupy.

 

[RunningForT3]

Professor, I'm glad you said that. I hear too many people saying that all these extreme activities are an escape from an unaccomplished life. They even say it to me, knowing I'm decently successful!!

 

[merigayle]

I have never heard that! most of the people that i met at ultras are highly successful and driven individuals, myself included. Goes with the personality. We have several lawyers that post on this ultra forum alone and many people i have run with at ultras have been doctors and scientists.

 

[cgerber]

Well.... regardless of the underlying cause, it's nice to have a forum full of nice friendly folks!

 

[markc7]

Hmm. Maslow's theory of motivation stressed that self-actualization by definition can't be determined by success in any specific areas of life. The things that make a person feel self-actualized are different for all of us, and a truly self-actualized individual will decide what that thing is for her/himself. So someone being "successful" in a way that society deems valuable has nothing to do with whether or not they are self-actualized or whether their ultramarathon running is a reflection of that self-actualization.<br><br>
I know lots of very successful people who run ultras, and I also know some people who are not what most people would define as successful. Once I met a guy who entered, trained for, and ran WS without telling his wife. I knew of another guy who paid race entries instead of paying child support. Were they running to get away from something? On the other hand, like others have said, there are lots of doctors, lawyers, academics, and other "successful" people who run ultras.<br><br>
Maybe we all just run for our own reasons. Running is great because there are plenty of motivators to go around, and we can pick whichever one suits us best.

 

[corrade]

Hard work that pays off <img alt="biggrin.gif" src="http://files.kickrunners.com/smilies/biggrin.gif"> I love feeling my training benefits during a race, or while feeling a familiar climb get easier and easier. We're nuts, 90% of people don't understand this and a good chunk of those think that we have disordered minds. I like the logic of this quote, translated from 19th C French:<br><br>
One has worked vainly when one has done so without success, so that one has wasted one's time and effort one has worked in vain when one has done so without achieving the intended result, because of the defectiveness of the work. If I cannot succeed in completing a piece of work, I am working vainly; I am uselessly wasting my time and effort. If the work I have done does not have the result I was expecting, if I have not attained my goal, I have worked in vain; that is to say, I have done something useless.... It is also said that someone has worked vainly when he has not been rewarded for his work, or when this work has not been approved; for in this case the worker has wasted his time and effort, without this prejudicing in any way the value of his work, which indeed may be very good. - A.L. Sardou, 'Nouveau Dictionnaire des Synonymes Francais'