Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Unbreakable: Western States 100

Thousands of Americans participate in marathons every year. Completing a marathon is challenge that is worthy of bragging about to friends and family. Although, many people would agree that a marathon is longest distance that a human can run there is a sport in running that is almost unknown to the average American and that is the sport of ultra-marathon. An ultra-marathon is any distance that is over marathon distance of 26.2 miles. Typical races that runners who are participate in ultra-marathons are the 50K and 50 mile trail races. An even smaller percentage of runners participate 100 mile trail races. Some would say the people are participating in these 100 mile races and missing some brain cells, and even I agree.



The Western States 100 Mile Endurance Run is the Superbowl of ultra-marathon racing.  A runner must complete a 100 mile race in under 30 hours or a 50 mile race in under 11 hrs just to be put into a lottery to hopefully be picked to race. In 2010 four of the best ultra-marathoners (Geoff Roes, Anton Krupicka, Killian Jornet, and Hal Koerner) participated in the Western States 100.  Each of these runners typically run between 150 to 200 miles a week in preparation for the Western States.

To capture the competition between these four runners Journey Film created a documentary titled, Unbreakable: Western States 100 to display to viewers the intensity that the best of the best displayed at the June 2010 Western States race. Director JB Benna does a fantastic job at capturing the raw intensity that is displayed by the four best ultra-marathoners in the world. It was during the 2010 Western States that Geoff Roes won the race with a course record of 15 hours and 7 minutes, which is truly amazing.

The four runners highlighted in this film reach a place in themselves where they push themselves to their limits and is shown in unique way throughout the film. Here is a link to the trailer of the film and I am fairly confident that after viewing this four minute trailer you will be motivated to dust off your running shoes and go for a jog.

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