Brandon Cooper

Preparation Four years ago, I ran my first marathon. It was around that time that I heard about ultrarunning, which covers races for any distance beyond 26.2 miles. What stood out to me the most though was the 100 mile distance. I think the first time you learn about people running that far, your initial reaction falls into one of two camps: 1. That's impossible! 2. That's possible? I fell into the second group the first time I read about renowned ultrarunner Scott Jurek winning several 100 mile races. Not only was this guy running 100 mile races across the mountains of California, but he was doing it with hundreds of other people. And there were hundreds of these races across the world, spanning decades back. It blew my mind. The marathon always reigned supreme for me as the longest distance a person could go, but I learned that people were running way, way, longer than that, up and down mountains, and I wanted to try. The past four years have entailed a consistent effort to w