Middle of October, I was glued for 4 days to a Facebook Live stream from Bell Buckle, Tennessee, following Big Dog’s Backyard Ultra, one of the craziest ultra trail running races in the world.
Different from a traditional start to finish race, “Big’s” does not have a finish line. Instead, all race contenders must start a loop of the course at every full hour. If they manage to get around the 6.7056 km / 4 miles 880 feet long loop in less than 60 minutes, the remainder of the hour can be used for resting, refueling, running to the toilets, or even sleeping. The race winner is the participant, who manages to complete one more round than the second last contender.
For Morten Klingenberg, aka Løbetossen / Run Crazy, the trip from Denmark to the Big’s Backyard Ultra World Championships was a big step up to the world stage and only his second race outside of his native country.
As a trail running enthusiast, albeit a slow one, I couldn’t have been more excited getting Morten on the show, talking about running with the “big dogs,” and developing the ultimate ultra mindset.
