Thomas "The Tank" Dade

Blog Update #4

October the 16th, 2019.

Only 3 more nights to go before my second 100km, excited is an understatement. Nostalgia is a funny thing, it makes me laugh to think about how fondly I look back at running my first 100km ultramarathon only 4 weeks ago. At the time I thought of it as the hardest thing I’d ever done, the most I’d ever suffered. At the time I was happy with doing just one 100km and once I finished I thought, never again. Now 4 weeks later I’m staring down my second 100km with excitement of the suffering I’m about to put myself through. Not only have I signed up for another 100km but I’ve expanded the limitations I previously put on myself, the impossible now seems possible. An 100 mile ultramarathon now seems within reach, not just within reach but I’m hungry to try one. I can now dream of competing in the most prestigious ultramarathons such as the Spartathlon, Badwater 130, Western States 100, Hardrock 100, Comrades Marathon, Leadville 100 and UTMB, it’s exciting. Nothing is more empowering and brings more confidence than setting “impossible” goals and achieving them. We are so much more capable than what we think, we’re all capable of pushing through more pain and suffering than we think. 5 weeks ago I wasn’t sure if I could run 100km now the question is how fast?

I deliver real estate brochures daily, walking anywhere between 3-7 hours a day, seven days a week. With that brings a lot of monotony, boredom and solitude. Something that makes this actually fun is listening to audiobooks and podcasts. I’ve recently been listening to a lot ultra-runner and mountaineer autobiographies and interviews. These superhuman athletes all seem to have the same thing in common, they all talk about this out of body, in the present, spiritual feeling they get whilst they’re close to breaking point. This feeling seems to be what attracts them to the extreme hardship they place on themselves in their given race and/or activity. Kilian Jornet, Dean Karnazes, Michael Hamill, Courtney Dauwalter, Charlie Engle and Scott Jurek, they all seem share this key motivator, most of them all seem to talk about how being close to this breaking point is what promotes personal growth. I couldn’t agree more. I think without even knowing it, this is what has been attracting me to do what I’ve been doing. First the Kokoda Track, then the seven summits and now ultramarathons. Sure I love remarkable and beautiful the environment is, how unique different cultures are, how awesome it is to meet new individuals and how cool momentos and finisher medals are but that spiritual connection, sense of achievement and personal growth you get with life when your close to your breaking point is by the best part. So with keeping this in mind I look forward to my upcoming 100km, I know it’s going to hurt, I know I’m going to want to quit, I know I’m going to question if I can finish but I also know that I won’t quit because deep down this struggle is what makes me feel alive.