One step at a time
A journey of 1,000 miles begins and ends with a step
Discovering new frontiers
I started running in the summer of 2020. Like most people, I wasn’t particularly fast and didn’t have much stamina at first, but I ended up improving quickly.
You would be hard pressed to find a runner in current year that doesn’t know what a marathon is. Back when I was a beginner I had heard that line that people often say, that the first person to ever run a marathon (Pheidippides) died of exhaustion after doing so. Because of that I had it in my head that the marathon was the ultimate test of endurance and that no one ever ran further than a marathon. (Many people also neglect to mention that Pheidippides had also run from Athens to Sparta (246 km) and taken part in a battle before running the titular marathon).
While training for my first marathon I listened to Can’t Hurt Me by David Goggins. I had never heard of ultramarathons until I listened to this book and the concept fascinated me. I couldn’t believe that not only were there people out there that were running distances longer than marathons, but that the sport was not limited to a few deranged individuals. I’d been believing total nonsense about marathons being the limit.
I ran my first marathon in April 2021. I was in a lot of pain after doing it but almost immediately after completing that I signed up for my first ultramarathon: A 70 km overnight run around the Miura Peninsula. I completed that in October 2021 (after the event was delayed twice due to the pandemic).
Every time I completed one of these events, I always considered what would be the next step I needed to take. The only thing you can do with marathons is complete them faster (the distance being fixed means that’s literally the only thing you can do), but when it comes to ultras there always seems to be another challenge. Maybe the distance is longer. Maybe the terrain is harder. Maybe the distance is longer AND the terrain is harder. There always seems to be a new frontier to discover.
Been there, done that
In 2024 I ran the Challenge Fuji 5 Lakes Ultramarathon (118 km) and the Izu Trail Journey (ITJ) (70 km). The Fuji 5 is a road ultra and the ITJ is a trail ultra. Some of the people I’ve talked to in my area hear that I’ve run these and think I’m on some kind of super elite level. But I’ve been present for my entire journey and I talk to people who have achieved things WAY beyond what I’ve done.
Over the New Year period I went to watch the Hakone Ekiden with several of my friends. For those who don’t know, the Hakone Ekiden is a long distance relay race done over two days, with the first day going from Tokyo to Hakone and the second day going from Hakone to Tokyo. We watched this on TV for the most part, but also went down to the course as the runners charged through town. The Ekiden runners were of course very impressive but I was also massively impressed to hang around with some of the other people that I was introduced to on that day.
One of the guys I was introduced to was introduced to me as a “Sub-3 marathon runner AND 100 mile runner.” The gentleman was much older than I am but he had achieved both of these feats recently. I can’t remember which marathon he did in under 3 hours, but his 100 mile run was the Mt.Fuji 100, which (as the name suggests) is a 100 mile trail run around Mt. Fuji. Right now, I don’t even have eligibility to enter the Mt. Fuji 100, so talking to someone who completed it was a privilege.
I have some complex feelings when I talk to people who have made my achievements look small. But someone achieving more than me does not in any way diminish my achievements. People like this should be a sign that these things are achievable.
Making it look easy
In January I a half-marathon called the Shonan Fujisawa City Marathon. I was running at a pretty decent pace, but as I was running along I saw a guy ahead of me dressed like a swan. He had a white hat on with a swan head, was wearing a tutu and, what was worse, he was ahead of me. As soon as I noticed that guy the thoughts, “I can’t lose to someone dressed like a f*cking swan,” started playing over and over again in my head. I made sure I increased my speed and put some distance between myself and the swan, but that guy must have beaten so many people that day…all while dressed as a swan.
Just recently I saw an instagram account under the name iambearsun who runs marathons dressed as a bear. I’m pretty sure if I was running and I saw a bear ahead of me I would do my best to make sure I passed the bear and kept ahead of it.
But on a more local note, I sometimes run with a guy who is a “geta runner” and will run marathons and ultramarathons wearing one toothed geta. Below is a video of him running a marathon but he also recently ran a 200 km ultramarathon wearing those wooden shoes.
You have to keep going. Step by step
At the end of the day, there may be people out there that have already not only achieved your goal, but may have achieved things beyond your goal that makes your goal seem insignificant in comparison. But what other people do/have done is nothing to do with you.
If you are just starting to run and want to achieve a half-marathon, it doesn’t matter that there are people out there running hundred mile plus races. The half-marathon is YOUR goal. Once you have achieved YOUR goal you can look to the next one. No one starts out with hundred mile runs.
This year I entered the Shizuoka marathon with the hope to get a new personal best. I came in at just over 3 hours and 15 minutes, cutting off about 5 minutes from my previous personal best. During that event I learned that I had a problem with my shoes and I’ve been running with shoes that are too small for me for a long time. I had some shoes fitted and last week I attempted my first 100 mile run. I was able to complete the run in 26:23:12.
I have not written a full race report for that 100 miler yet, but I can tell you that I was suffering a lot towards the end. A mantra of mine throughout the run was, “One step at a time, one step at a time.” A 100 mile run is simply made up of thousands of steps. When you have a goal and you want to achieve it, the only thing you can do is keep moving forward, one step at a time, until you achieve it.
I do my best to keep going forward one step at a time. Not just in that particular race but in all things. You can’t run 100 miles before you run 100 km. You can’t run 100 km before you’ve run a marathon. Maybe some people can, but they are outliers. In my opinion, if you want to get something done you need to set a challenging but achievable goal, and keep moving towards it. Maybe you’ll get it the first time, maybe you won’t. But this is what pretty much everyone has done.
That gentleman I met who is a sub-3 hour marathon runner AND 100 mile runner was on a level I couldn’t comprehend…until recently when I took my next step and completed my 100 miler. Once I’ve cut 15 mins off my marathon time I’ll have the same status.
One step at a time.
Final thoughts and take home messages
There’s so much out there to discover in life. But some mountains are only visible from the peak of the one you are climbing. And when you look hard enough you will see that someone is already at the top of that mountain, AND they made it look easy.
But what other people have done is nothing to do with you. The only achievements you need to focus on are your own. You can look to others for inspiration and goal setting but that’s it. I’m pretty sure it is more difficult for someone to go from zero experience to a marathon than it is for a 70 km ultrarunner to go to a 118 km ultrarunner (which is the step I took last year).
Moving forward one step at a time is how you get things done. Biting off more than you can chew might mean you fall horrendously short of your goal. While the phrase, “I’d rather choke on greatness than nibble on mediocrity,” may be a fantastic inspirational quote, it could lead you to your own destruction if you are not 100% prepared for it.
Your goal can be as audacious as you want it to be. But remember, a 1,000 mile event is completed in exactly the same way as a 5 km event: One step at a time.
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Osu!
Anthony