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* '''The Monastery'''. The training required for Ultrarunning can provide a monastic like structure to life. Everything becomes ordered around training, with food and drink becoming more a part of the training regime than for pleasure or sustenance. This regimen removes the burden of daily decisions and creates a harmonious routine.
* '''The Voices'''. There are well documented mental health benefits to running, and there are anecdotal comments that suggest many people use Ultrarunning to "keep the voices quiet." It's unclear if there are real problems with schizophrenia, or just the desire for mental peace that drives many to run vast distances.
* '''Antidepressant'''. Because of the mental health benefits of running, it can be used to help treat depression. It's been suggested that ultrarunning is especially appealing to those with depression that manifests itself in self-destructive forms.
* '''The Affliction. '''While running can help with a number of mental health problems, it can sometimes be a manifestation of the illness. This is especially true for eating disorders, such as anorexia or bulimia. The line between ultrarunning as treatment or affliction is sometimes unclear, and I would highly recommend leading Pam Reed's book [http://www.amazon.com/The-Extra-Mile-Ultrarunning-Greatness/dp/1594867305 The Extra Mile].
* '''Movement'''. There is a simple pleasure in movement, and some people find it difficult to be stationary for protracted periods of time. Sometimes it seems like we have to be moving to be still, an idea encapsulated in the Zen principle of [[Stillness in Motion]].
* '''Nietzsche'''. The famous quote "what does not kill us makes us stronger" is particularly appropriate for Ultrarunning. However, I'd argue that it's not the physical strength that Ultrarunning increases, but the mental and spiritual strength. When you reach the point of such physical exhaustion and pain that you weep out loud and start to wish for death but somehow carry on, it profoundly changes who you are. I've seen the physically strong give up when they had resources left, having simply lost the will to keep moving. They measured themselves against the distance and came up wanting. But I've seen others who had been torn apart both physically and mentally by the distance who simply refused to quit, and they were victorious. The acts of determination and courage I've seen in ultramarathons are both humbling and inspiring.
* '''The community'''. Ultrarunning is the most supportive and collaborate individual sport I know of. With the exception of the few who hope to win, everyone is battling the distance, not each other. This makes Ultrarunning a supportive and welcoming group. I don't know how much of this is the way the sport changes the people who take part, and how much is the way the sport attracts these people, but it is quite different from shorter distance running or even Ironman distance Triathletes.