Just a regular man
When I started at RunningXpert.com, it didn't take long for me to start noticing a man who occasionally came to the office. A fascinating man. Tall and thin and with a beard that makes even Santa Claus think "wow!"
The man's name is Ulrik Pihl. And what an interesting man he is, if you ask me. He runs a lot. And I mean, a lot!
When asking Ulrik Pihl who Ulrik Pihl is, he replies:
It's also natural to tend to want to just believe that. That is until you hear that Ulrik has run 1000 marathons.
Yes, you heard right. I haven't added a 0 too many. Ulrik Pihl has run one thousand marathons.
If you do the maths, it means that Ulrik has run a marathon every 15 days for his entire life! Approximately every two weeks since Ulrik was born, he has laced up his running shoes and set off on the 42.195 km journey.
I have long wondered what drives him to do this? Some people have found themselves in dire situations and decided whilst lying in the hospital bed that if they get well, then they will start running. Others choose to run from something. From anxiety, stress or something else entirely. But Ulrik, he just runs.
I haven't seen the light. It's simply because I love running so much
This is the insane story of Ulrik Pihl. A completely (non-)regular man aged 42 who has invested all his love into running.
From 1 – 1000 marathons
When Ulrik went to Danish residential school in the mid-1990s, he found that running came very naturally to him. He also found that he was not the fastest at running the 100 meters. On the other hand, he found that he could run fast and further than the others. The longer the distance, the better Ulrik got.
When Ulrik ran his first marathon, the HCA Marathon in Odense in 2006, he was not happy at all with the result. It was too slow and a bad performance. For this reason, Ulrik set himself a goal. He had to get better. And it wasn't long before Ulrik had run a marathon within the magical 3 hours. But Ulrik wasn't done. New goals were set. New marathons were run.
After having run his first 20 marathons in between the years 2006-2011, he found out that there was a "100 club". An exclusive club for people who have run 100 marathons. Ulrik's next target had shown itself. And in 2013, Ulrik became a member of the 100 club.
And so the love story continues. Ulrik Pihl has to have new goals and new hunting grounds to conquer; this forms his motivation.
But I'm still left wondering slightly. Why does Ulrik run so much?
This motivation has kept Ulrik Pihl going for around 10 years. This in itself is both wonderful and impressive. But this also means that Ulrik has run the majority of his marathons over the course of approx. 10 years. As a result, Ulrik has run a marathon approximately every 3.65 days.
And the insane story doesn't stop here.
Ulrik is the first to run a marathon in all of Denmark's 98 municipalities. When Ulrik told me this, he made a point of stressing the importance of starting and finishing the marathon in the same municipality. In this way, you cannot start a marathon in Favrskov Municipality and finish it in Silkeborg Municipality, thus crossing off two municipalities on the list. A rule that seems important for Ulrik to observe, even if he is the only one who follows it.
Ulrik has also run 300 marathons in a row in under 4 hours.
And now Ulrik has completed 1000 marathons. The journey has ended in the same place it started off at the HCA Marathon in Odense.
But when I really push Ulrik for an answer to my big question "why does Ulrik run?" then there is perhaps more to the story:
Many people find meaning in running. A meaning that is difficult to explain to non-runners. Most runners get it. The meaning isn't deep, it's not rocket science, it's just there. It just makes sense to run. We run because the alternative is worse. We run because we can feel it in our chest. We run for the feeling of togetherness. We run for the feeling of happiness. We run to achieve our goals. We run for our health. We run for new experiences. We run for memories. We just run.
And in Ulrik's case, he also runs because he is good at it.
Ulrik ran his 1000th marathon on the 25th of September 2022 in 3 hours 54 minutes and 51 seconds.
As the 42nd person in the world, Ulrik is now a member of the "1000 club".
But what now?
Is it all over now, then?
Ulrik laughed.
When 2022 is over, Ulrik wants to have run 130 marathons. But after that, the future is slightly more uncertain.
The fear of emptiness and lack of new goals scares Ulrik a little.
"What the heck am I going to do now? I have achieved a number of goals. When we reach 2023, there will be a long time before I do something fun again. I am thinking about what my next goal should be, but I don't know. I want to run in more races abroad. Ideally there won't be too many other people running; it should be a smaller and more special group." Ulrik Pihl explained.
But Ulrik also notes that running has given him so many experiences with his best friends, so running will never really end.
"Even though running sounds very individual, it is still a very social activity. My best friends, I have met through running. We've had some trips that I would hate to be without.”
Running is my great love. It is a sign of freedom. I have had a lot of fantastic experiences. Both in Denmark and the world.
The answer to my question is perhaps twofold. Because on the one hand, Ulrik runs because he is good at it. He is part of the 1000 club and has a talent for running far and running a lot. On the other hand, it also seems that running has become a part of Ulrik, more than he just describes it when asking him about it. Ulrik embodies running. He knows his best friends from running. His best travel experiences are running-related. His success stories are to do with running. So if you remove running from Ulrik, you remove a huge part of Ulrik. In this sense, Ulrik and running are inseparably linked.
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