For the long distance runner, the Spartathlon is a kind of Matterhorn. It has the ingredients of an epic: a finish line that stretches a long, long way from the start; 153 miles, almost six consecutive marathons. There is a big mountain at the 100 mile mark, a big city at the start, a big

There is nothing else like Spartathlon. Last year, I ran it for the first time. It was an incredible experience, and I knew almost before it even started that I would have to come back. It is, indeed, The Greatest Footrace on Earth. Last year, I set an aggressive best-case goal of under 30 hours.

The truth is, Spartathlon was never a “dream” race for me, more like a “eh, that might be interesting some day” kind of race. But my friend Bob Hearn ran it last year and was enamored with it and my running partner Dennis was also quite interested in it and spent time talking about how

J’ai beaucoup d’appréhension avant cette course dantesque, c’est la première fois que je me lance sur une distance de 246 km et avec ma maman l’aventure est toujours un peu pimentée (Souvenir de notre première association lors du 100km de Royan en 2012, mémorable) Cette appréhension me fait passer des nuits très courtes avec un petit

According to dictionary.com, “the moment of truth” is described as the moment at which one’s character, courage, skill, etc., is put to an extreme test. In the civilized world, it’s all about being more and more comfortable and we rarely face these moments in our regular lives. When it comes to ultrarunning, they are more common.

In 2007 whilst working full time and attending Uni in the evenings I put on a bit of weight; there just wasn’t time to exercise, or so I thought. I got the shock of my life when my favourite pair of jeans no longer fitted and I decided to do something about it. Ryan Spencer

I’ve just hobbled up some steps onto a temporary wooden platform to take this photo. My feet hurt. They hurt a lot. Sarah, Mark and Dan are below taking their own pictures. I need a minute to myself. I’ve started crying. My race finished 21 hours ago, when I ran up to this statue, grasping the left

Pablo Barnes es un atleta argentino que desde hace años vive en Italia, país en el cual ha conseguido grandes resultados en las carreras de Ultra-trail. En 2007 ganó, junto con el gran Marco Olmo, la primera edición de la Ultra Trail La Via Marenca (90.2km).

While waiting in the queue I scanned each of the nine people in front of me – knowing that less than half of us will reach the finish line and the same applied to the rest of the crowded room of participants.

You see, last year I ran Spartathlon for the first time and finished in 33:47. My first goal was to finish and then to go below under 34 hours, if possible. So, it seems like everything went according to plan, right? Actually, the numbers don’t tell the whole story.