Hi Steemit! My name is Raelynn and I run 100 miles for fun!

“I don’t even like to drive that far” is one of the things ultrarunners hear the most when people find out we run distances like 100 miles. The other questions is usually “why?”.

Me, on a recent trip to Patagonia

I started running in 2010. It sucked. I couldn’t run down the block without feeling like I wanted to die. When I ran my first mile, I remember being frustrated that it took such a long time and that I only burned around 100 calories. Fast forward a year and many training runs later, I ran my first race: the Broad Street Run 10 miler. From there, I was hooked. While I was doing these races, little did I know, my mom was becoming sicker and sicker from Hepatitis C.

Visiting my mom in the hospital

She contracted the disease from a blood transfusion in Italy before I was born. She would eventually become so sick that she would need a liver transplant in order to survive. She would have to fight so hard. I felt hopeless. She needed a full transplant so the donor had to be from the deceased. I racked my brain and came up with a plan. I would run my first marathon to try and raise money to help with the transplant costs. If my mom could get through every day the way she was, I could get through 26.2 miles for her. And I did! November of 2014, I ran my first marathon and raised close to $7,000 for my mom. She had her transplant and is doing great! After the surgery, we learned that she only had two weeks to live.

My mom and I the night of her transplant

Enjoying the spoils of finishing my first marathon

So then what? I have always been fascinated by ultrarunning ever since I read an article about the Barkley Marathons in a magazine. Definitely check out the documentary about it on Netflix; it’s wild. I ran a marathon for my mom and wanted to do something for myself. I ran my first ultramarathon close to a year after that marathon - a 50k.

Crossing the finish line of my first ultra

One race I learned about even before running the marathon was this 120k (around 75 miles) in Cortina, Italy called Lavaredo Ultra Trail. It was brutal and gorgeous. Through country pastures, past lakes and up unrelenting mountains, this race was the one I was going to do. I needed it. And I would run 50k, 50 miles and eventually 100 miles in 2016 to prepare myself as much as possible to get there.

In June of 2017, I had my chance. We lined up in the streets of Cortina at 11 p.m. and the bells rung high in the town church’s bell tower. 1,600 runners, for reasons all our own, took off into the night and up into the mountains.

Minutes prior to Lavaredo Ultra Trail

On my page, I want to write about the incredible highs and absolutely devastating lows that surround the training for this ridiculous and amazing sport.

I hope you enjoy!