In the ultrarunning world some of the fastest runners, both men and women alike, can run 100 miles in less than a day. Times vary depending on the course and the runner, but the pros are ridiculously fast. For the Western States 100-Mile Endurance Run, the course records are 14:09:28 for the men, set by Jim Walmsley and 16:47:19 for the women, set by Ellie Greenwood. If you are an average runner like me, 100 miles can take well over 24 hours to complete. For reference, I was able to complete a 50 mile race in 13 hours and was pretty sure I was going to die. Jim Walmsley essentially ran twice the distance, almost twice as fast as me, and probably didn’t regret his life choices as much as I did.

Regardless of speed and distance, ultrarunning is an endurance sport. It is meant to push your body to its extremes, and more often than not, those who excel the most are capable of enduring the most. While Western States represents an American classic of ultramarathons, there’s another “race” that is even more extreme, hardcore and grueling, which only a woman has ever been capable of finishing.

In any ultra race a runner can experience one or more of the following physical ailments: pain, nausea, heartburn, depression, vomiting, cramps, or on the extreme end of things, hallucinations. These issues may last for some, or all of the race, but a race has time limits. You can either finish the race within the cutoff time, or you can drop out on your own free will at any time.

When comparing an ultramarathon with the entire process of becoming a mother, a woman will most likely experience all of the same things that an ultrarunner experiences, but instead of experiencing them for up to 24 hours, she has to endure them over the course of approximately 6,480 hours. Mothers take being hard core to the next level.

Around the 5-8 hour mark of my ultramarathon I started experiencing issues with my stomach. Nothing sounded good to eat, and I felt like I could throw up if I ate the wrong thing. I craved and could only eat one thing, orange slices. Orange slices had never tasted so amazingly good. While I felt this way for only a few hours, a soon to be mother will have nausea, vomiting and heartburn almost daily for 6-9 weeks!

As I was wrapping up the last few hours of my ultramarathon, my body started experiencing pain in places that I didn’t know pain could exist. But think about what a mother must have gone through. She literally has a body growing inside of her body, pushing internal organs out of the way, causing body parts to swell and messing up her entire body mechanics.

While the growth of a body inside of a body can be enough to cause lots of pain, the pain gets ratcheted up 100 more notches throughout the birthing process. Painful cramps, tearing flesh and possibly surgery are par for the course. My wife wasn’t able to get an epidural and she experienced so much pain that her body compensated by causing her to become delirious. She doesn’t remember many of the things she did and said. I do and I still remind her of it 😜

Dare I even bring up depression? To make all the previous things worse, what joy that might have been felt, with a new child entering into the world, is stolen as the new mom transitions home and most likely experiences depression in the coming weeks.

When I completed my first ultramarathon I was close to dead last, but I finished. There was absolutely nothing good about the finish. Almost everyone and everything had been packed up. The only post-race food left was extremely spicy chili and potatoes. I was in a crazy amount of pain and in that moment I swore I’d never run another ultramarathon again. As time passed the bad memories faded and turned into memories that I now cherish and am proud of. I learned a ton about myself, life and what I was and am capable of. I even took back my aforementioned vow of never running another ultramarathon.

I feel like I got a minuscule glimpse (can I even call it a glimpse?) into what motherhood must be like. I have found a new perspective on what my mother went through, for me. I hope she feels my love and appreciation for her. Same goes for my wife who didn’t know when to quit until she had 4 children 🤩. I hope that both my mom and wife can see all that they have done for what it really is—a crazy amazing ultramarathon of epic proportions.