The psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi describes flow as the ‘state in which people are so involved in an activity that nothing else seems to matter – the experience is so enjoyable that people will do it at great cost, for the sheer sake of doing it’.
If the ultra-marathoner didn’t love the immersion of running in the mountains, trails or ultras they certainly wouldn’t willingly endure the pain and discomfort.
Perhaps, for many, the challenges of the race lead to what Mihaly describes as optimal performance – where awareness and experience merge, a feeling (probably completely misplaced) of being in complete control, a distortion of time, and deep involvement.
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