Face to Face with extreme ultra endurance athlete Marshall Ulrich
Last fall, in a quest to run across America in record time, Marshall Ulrich covered the equivalent of two marathons plus a 10-kilometer run – every day for 52.5 days. Lying in motel beds at night, his sore feet nested in ice packs, he would doze off past midnight. Waking five hours later, he’d squeeze into another pair of shoes, gulp a liquid mix of carbs, and pad on rubber soles out the door. Ahead lay the long asphalt roads of America, 3,063 miles of blacktop coursing through the country’s archetypical terrain.
No stranger to endurance, the 57-year-old Ulrich is the only person in the world to complete the Triple Crown of Extreme Sports: He’s a world-class ultra runner, a record-setting adventure racer, and a Seven Summits mountaineer. His average of 58+ miles per day across America placed him as the top Master runner (over 40) and the top Grand Master (over 50), breaking both records. After wearing out 30 pairs of shoes, on November 4 when he finished in New York City, Ulrich admitted this was his most difficult quest ever. But in the final stretches, he didn’t dwell on that; he yearned for a simple normal meal — this time sitting down at a dining room table in civility.
LR: You mentioned Running America was your hardest endeavor. What was your second most difficult?
Running America was like doing a Mt. Everest summit day every day for 52 days. I was out there up to eighteen hours a day, dealing with sleep deprivation, injuries, and other factors. There’s a danger aspect to summiting Mt. Everest. Running across America, the danger was different. I almost got hit by cars a couple of times, and in Ohio someone shot a gun at me. For me, Ohio is not the buckeye state; it’s the buckshot state.
LR: Does the country seem bigger or smaller to you now? Immensely bigger. I realize now how much of America is basically empty. In Utah and Nevada, we could run 100 miles and not even pass a town.
LR: Did you ever worry you couldn’t go on?
Daily. Sometimes, taking a break at noon I’d walk into the support RV and think, “How am I ever going to keep going today?” I tried to think about just getting a foot out the door. On several mornings, I’d sob in my wife’s arms. She’d say, “You can do this.”
LR: That’s some major uncertainty.
It’s all about uncertainty. I questioned myself every day, but in the back of my mind I knew I could overcome everything if I wanted to. To add to that, injuries would flare up. My recovery isn’t as quick as it used to be. Normally I’m an understated person, but running across America was torture. I thought my body would adjust, and the aches and pains would fall to the wayside. During the last few weeks it felt like my body was breaking.
LR: So, you do these things for fun?
I do this because running is part of my very fiber, part of my roots. Everything I do extends from adventure racing. I always have something to look forward to, another event. It’s invigorating.
LR: What’s the highest altitude in which you’ve run?
I did an adventure race at 17,000 feet. We were trying to run some of that time, but it’s almost impossible to do that. It’s cold, and you have a lot of gear.
LR: What’s the hottest?
The Badwater 146 ultramarathon in Death Valley, when the temperature was 136. That was in the shade – it’s not an exaggeration. I had a good crew with me. They sprayed me down, kept me cooled off, put ice in my hat. (That year, Ulrich won that race for the fourth time.)
LR: Do you think of your body as something like a machine, or rather a spiritual being?
It’s a thing of wonder. It’s capable of much more than people would ever imagine it is. For example, it has the ability to heal itself while you’re on the move. I find that things heal twice as quickly as normal during a long event. I’ve also noticed the body sort of shunts some of the proteins for muscle building. My hair and fingernail growth nearly stopped.
LR: Do you worry about a day when your body says: “Hang up the shoes, buddy.”
No, not really. If that were ever to come, something else would keep me going. Could be one of my big things will be doing for other people, the fundraising I do, for example.
LR: I’ve heard you mention that visualization is key to surviving the toughest moments. How do you use it?
I do most of my visualizing at night when I sleep. My wife will wake me up and say, “You’re running again.” I try to imagine having a good experience, so when I’m out having a difficult time, I can put myself into a place where I’m comfortable, where I feel effortless, like I’m slicing through wind.