Become An Ultra Runner: The First Step
Imitiation
I have a quick story to share that will frame the main point I’ll make about becoming an ultra runner.
This story starts long before my first ultra marathon, long before I’d run 50 and 100 miles.
I worked in a restaurant on a Forbes 5-star property, the big leagues of service and hospitality. I’d just gotten fired from a job cleaning residential windows (blessing in disguise, my friend) and knew someone who worked at said luxury property.
I applied to be a server and was thankfully offered a job as a food runner; I hadn’t waited tables before. My 100-mile-mindset was already being framed; this ‘downgrade’ to food runner and getting fired from cleaning windows were huge opportunities in disguise.
The role ‘food runner’ played in running 100 miles came down to one word: Imitation.
Imitation was my key to success, and the greatest lesson I learned my first few months dropping off food at tables.

You see, it was never my intention to stay a food runner; I wanted to make the big bucks and lead from the front. So, rather than sulking in defeat at my new, less glamorous position, I asked myself one question.
This is the question you have to ask yourself if you want to become an ultra runner.
“What am I?”
I was a server at a Forbes 5-Star property, even if I wasn’t yet.
Determine your place and role; DO NOT interpret your current place and role.
You might be a broke food runner, or a struggling business owner, or 50 pounds overweight. Maybe you’re sick, unprivileged, impoverished, or oppressed.
But “What are you?”
A server? How about a wealthy entrepreneur? An ultra runner?
Imitation In Action
Pull out a piece of paper. Not an iPhone. A physical piece of paper. Grab a pen, too.
Write it down. Fill in the blank with that which you desire to become.
“I am _____________________. This is what I am.”
For example, “I am an ultra runner. This is what I am.”
Now, write down five habits of this person. What does a server at a 5 Star property, a wealthy entrepreneur, a sponsored athlete, or an ultra runner do?
List 5 quantifiable daily actions done by the person who has reached your goal, who is what you are.
This list must be comprised of actionable and quantifiable habits. For example, being tough is not an action. Similarly, sleeping more is not quantifiable. Listing Never giving up or Working hard or running more will lead to failure.
DO NOT FAIL.
What am I and what does this person do?
Now, make another list of three to five items: “What habits do I practice now that are detrimental to becoming this person?”
Imagine this person standing tall at the height of accomplishment; challenges are opportunities, fulfillment is found in the process, and the end result is more rewarding than imagined.
What habits, or daily actions, prevent you from becoming this person, from standing at this height of accomplishment?
Social media addiction? A toxic relationship? Staying up late unnecessarily? Overindulging?
Write down five of these retreats into comfort, the great lie.
Look at the paper in front of you.
This is the first step to become an ultra runner.

Now, Become An Ultra Runner
Your goal, that which you will become, is in your hand. It may be far off, down a Wicked Trail. You’ll run up rocky ridges and through driving rain, but you have the path written down in your hand. You have five actionable habits of this person, and you know three to five habits that are detrimental to becoming this person.
Now you can truly reflect: Is this what I want to become?
Am I willing to rid my life of those three to five things that are detrimental to my fulfillment? Am I willing to employ five habits every single day to become what I desire?
This simple exercise, this first step to become an ultra runner, is effective outside of endurance sports as well.
Careers, relationships, finances, business ventures, health and wellness: what are you?
This week, take one item from each list and employ them in your life. Just one from each column. Stretch every evening for thirty minutes. Do not drink coffee.
Next week add another: physical training upon waking and no alcohol during the week.
And so on, until you employ five habits of a successful person and have eliminated five blockades to success. This is the practice of success. Success, after all, is a skill.
Ask yourself again: What am I?
“I’m someone who practices these five things and someone who does not participate in these five things. I am an ultra marathon runner.”
The first step to become an ultra runner is to identify yourself as such, and create an existence within the shoes of an ultra runner.
Become.
Next, check Out HOW TO RUN 100 MILES; this dives into the actions to take after you’ve identified yourself as an ultra runner.
Welcome to the Wicked Trail…
FREE Comfort Is A Lie Sticker!
No Credit Card Required!!

-
Geometric UltraCap
$32.00 -
‘Smiley’ Vented UltraCap
$32.00 -
Sale!
“Be Your Own Culture” Performance Trucker Hat
$32.00$24.00 -
“Comfort Is A Lie” Performance Trucker Hat
$32.00 -
“Comfort Is A Lie” Strength Tee
$25.00 -
“Comfort Is A Lie” UltraCap
$32.00 -
“Dismantle Your Wall” UltraCap
$32.00 -
Women’s “Dismantle Your Wall” Tech Tee
$34.00 -
Women’s “Comfort Is A Lie” Tech Tee
$34.00 -
Women’s “Be Your Own Culture” Tech Tee
$34.00 -
Men’s “Be Your Own Culture” Tech Tee
$34.00 -
Men’s “Comfort Is A Lie” Tech Tee
$34.00
Stranded on a Desert Island
Written By George CallahanIt's a silly, simple question. No, it's more than that. It's a question that has tugged at my mind, manipulated my intentions, and directed my actions for a long time. I'm not here to crowd-please or coddle the spaces of others, but the...
Comfort Is A Lie
Written By George CallahanThe man looks around at his life. Not much to worry about. Not a lot of sweat. No real adversity. "Perfect," he thinks. "I'm comfortable." Isn't life supposed to be this way? Free of pain. Free from worry. Free from adversity. This must be...
3 Lessons of a 100 Mile DNF
Written By George CallahanI was 8 minutes shy of the 30-hour cut off. It was not how I imagined finishing my first 100 mile ultra marathon. I pictured gritting my teeth, conquering, and smiling across the finish line of that point-to-point race from Cleveland to...
The Pain Cave: You’re On Stage
Written By George CallahanYou've been there, or heard other runners talk about it. Eighty miles in, chopping away at the distance, trudging uphill and falling downhill toward a distant finish line. Feet aching, knees swollen, hamstrings twitching into a cramp. The...
Bleed For It
Written By George Callahan It’s easy to sit on the sidelines and watch it all go by. I’ve done it. You’ve done it. People around you and I do it every single day. There it goes, right now, while you read this. What is it? What is all this going by? Opportunity. Not...
White Knuckles
Written By George CallahanThe blue sky turned grey, the concrete turned to ice, and our wandering eyes, exploring the Virginia mountainsides, turned to the road. The snow fell in clumps and the temperature dropped; the higher our four wheels drove, the whiter my...
The Timing of Chaos
Written By George CallahanHumans instinctually amass resources. It’s hammered into our ancient DNA to acquire and protect. It’s hunger and thirst, wealth and ease; it’s each of these with a propensity to the stimulation of our mind’s reward—pleasure—centers. We’re...
Torture Your Faults
Written By George CallahanMornings are hard. Cold weather is hard. Late nights are hard. Saying no to fun is hard. Nobody asked you to Be Your Own Culture, to chase something intangible and pursue an imagined ideal. You don't have to do whatever hard thing you're...
Don’t Uber Through Life: An Ultrarunner’s Reflection
Written By George CallahanAt mile 70, I said I'm done. I didn't want to go on. The race hadn't gone the way I wanted, and my torched hip was bleeding doubts into my mind. My crew didn't argue, there was no thinking; it was "I'm done" and we were walking away from the...
My Dirty Hat
Written By George Callahan“I thought about buying a new hat, a fresh and clean one, but it wouldn’t be the same. It’s my hat. It knows my struggles on the trail and my successes. I’ve trained and raced with it. It’s tasted sweat and dirt and lots of stream water on...
Motivation Is Not Real: Run Without It
Written By George CallahanTo an outsider, the ultra marathon community appears to lean on motivation. To the outside world, motivation drives an ultra marathon runner to explore possibility, their own iron wills, and the limits of their bodies. Ultra marathon...
Ask Yourself One Question
Written By George CallahanMost people, even many hardened by the pursuit of the experience and sensation that is ultra marathon running, lack fulfillment. What is fulfillment, anyway? I’ll let you answer that yourself; most people have a decent idea of what their...
FREE Comfort Is A Lie Sticker!
No Credit Card Required!!

-
“Go Farther” Strength Tee
$25.00 -
Sale!
“Be Your Own Culture” Performance Trucker Hat
$32.00$24.00 -
OG “Comfort Is A Lie” Performance Trucker Hat
$32.00 -
“Comfort Is A Lie” Strength Tee
$25.00 -
“Comfort Is A Lie” Performance Trucker Hat
$32.00 -
“Comfort Is A Lie” UltraCap
$32.00 -
Geometric UltraCap
$32.00 -
‘Smiley’ Vented UltraCap
$32.00 -
“Dismantle Your Wall” UltraCap
$32.00
Stranded on a Desert Island
Written By George CallahanIt's a silly, simple question. No, it's more than that. It's a question that has tugged at my mind, manipulated my intentions, and directed my actions for a long time. I'm not here to crowd-please or coddle the spaces of others, but the...
Comfort Is A Lie
Written By George CallahanThe man looks around at his life. Not much to worry about. Not a lot of sweat. No real adversity. "Perfect," he thinks. "I'm comfortable." Isn't life supposed to be this way? Free of pain. Free from worry. Free from adversity. This must be...
3 Lessons of a 100 Mile DNF
Written By George CallahanI was 8 minutes shy of the 30-hour cut off. It was not how I imagined finishing my first 100 mile ultra marathon. I pictured gritting my teeth, conquering, and smiling across the finish line of that point-to-point race from Cleveland to...
The Pain Cave: You’re On Stage
The pain cave is a place in your mind, but it’s also where people watching you in the ultra marathon draw their greatest strength.
Bleed For It
Written By George Callahan It’s easy to sit on the sidelines and watch it all go by. I’ve done it. You’ve done it. People around you and I do it every single day. There it goes, right now, while you read this. What is it? What is all this going by? Opportunity. Not...
White Knuckles
Written By George CallahanThe blue sky turned grey, the concrete turned to ice, and our wandering eyes, exploring the Virginia mountainsides, turned to the road. The snow fell in clumps and the temperature dropped; the higher our four wheels drove, the whiter my...
Nice catch. I’m going to leave it the way it is due to your interesting observation of the possible play on words, so thanks for bringing it up. You’re right that the “Imitation” really is an “Initiation” of who you are going to become.
Thanks for dropping a comment!
George
Nice post. (https://wickedtrailrunning.com/become-an-ultra-runner/)
You paragraph heading “imitiation” seems to be a typo of “imitation”, however. I do think that it’s a nice melding of initiation, as in starting down the wicked path, and the imitation you mention of who you want to be.