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From Fellrnr.com, Running tips
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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.
* '''The Solitude'''. Long distance running offers plenty of time to be alone, and many ultrarunners enjoy this solitude. It offers time to mentally relax, meditate and think freely. I am at my most creative when I'm running, and most of my writing is prepared on the run.
* '''The Ephemeral Memory of Pain'''. The memory of suffering has some strange properties, allowing us to recall the outline of the misery but obfuscating the essence. Somehow we lack the ability to empathize with our prior selves, and so tend to discount the anguish.
* '''The Indulgence'''. For those that enjoy your running, the opportunity to run all day can be a wonderful intelligence. I don't believe this is a motivation for people to run ultras, as most races involve pushing well beyond the point where running is enjoyable, and in to the territory of torment. (Just look at [[The Ivan Scale Of Perceived Suffering| The Ivan Scale]] or [[Fixing problems in Ultramarathons]] to get a sense of how tough things get.) However, it may be the reason why some of us do shorter races that are not so challenging. If you're trained to race 100 milers, then running a 50 miler without pushing the pace can be remarkably pleasant.
* '''The Comparison'''. I think that people tend to judge their current mood based on comparison to the emotional highs and lows they've experienced. Therefore the distress of ultra makes ordinary life seem remarkably good. Even the stress of day to day training can make the remainder of life seem quite blissful. I have had many days where things have gone poorly, but that morning's training run where I experienced exhaustion, pain, extremes of temperature, and pangs of self-doubt, puts all of the days problems into a fresh perspective.
* '''Parabellum. '''For a subset of ultrarunners, the endurance and toughness of ultrarunning is a survival ability. These men and women put themselves in harm's way to protect their country, and ultrarunning is part of "[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Si_vis_pacem,_para_bellum Si vis pacem, para bellum]". While ultrarunning is probably not the most general purpose of martial skills, it may be of more use to those in the Special Forces. Most of the active duty ultrarunners I know are Special Forces, and perhaps surprisingly, they are extraordinarily gentle people. I have no way of knowing to what extent this is a core motivation for these runners, or if both ultrarunning and their service both stem from other underlying motivations.
* '''Inspiration.''' Ultrarunners tended to inspire those around them, and for some like [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iv%C3%A1n_Castro Ivan Castro] this is a key motivation. (My [[The Ivan Scale Of Perceived Suffering| Ivan Scale]] was named after Ivan Castro.)
* '''Charity'''. While supporting charities is not as common in ultrarunning as one might expect, it is a part of the sport. Sometimes people directly raise money, and sometimes their focus is on raising awareness, or some combination of the two. I had the honor of pacing [http://www.chrismoon.co.uk/ Chris Moon] at [[2013 Pacing Badwater 135| Badwater]], and Chris works to promote [http://www.exceed-worldwide.org/ Exceed], a charity focused on helping amputees and victims of landmines.
* '''The Alternative is worse'''. However tough Ultrarunning is, for many of us the alternative is worse. Ultrarunning has saved us from something, and without it we would be far worse off. What the specific alternative is varies from runner to runner, but this is a theme you can often find once you scratch below the surface.
* '''No Answer'''. The best answer is probably the least satisfactory: "for those who have to ask the question, no answer will suffice." The only way to know why we run ultramarathons is to experience it for yourself.
