Brazil 135 Ultramarathon

I am very excited to be writing today. Is kind of ironic how I promise the people around me how was going to be the last year I am doing ultramarathons but I am secretly planning my 2009 race calendar. I am scheduled to do Brazil 135 Ultramarathon in 2009, I had my interview with the race organizer Dr Mario Lacerda, and usually I am fighting very hard to let people know there is nothing wrong with me, with Dr Mario it was the opposite, I had to convince him that I was crazy enough to want to do it. The race is fantastic and well organized I am not sure why is not more popular with other ultrarunners. But that will be to my advantage of course. Dr Mario was a bit concern with my lack of experience, this is my first year after all, but I have the passion and that seems to make up for the other. Preparation is paramount but after 60 hours or running is the mental toughness that will get the runner though it. After I explained how I was found wondering in the mountains with mildly hypothermic and yet I sign to do not one but 4 this year, he was convinced I was motivated to get though the race next year.
Is hard to explain to somebody who isn’t into extreme running why a passage like the one in the race report will be so exiting to somebody like me
“Joao Sacks was found by his wife, on the Serra do Cacador mountain, a little ways before Consolacao. He had been telling all the other runners that he had already finished the race and would be having a celebration BBQ at a house he had found in a darkened alleyway near Consolacao: Pure Halucination!”
After reading it my mind was made, I wanted to be there next year. Who knows, I might make it to next year’s race report with hallucinations of my own! My excitement is also part of being able to meet fantastic people, because I have my kids full time with me I usually train alone, races are the only time where I am able to meet other runners. I have been pouring every race account form this year’s race and I am looking forward to meeting some amazing people at next year’s race.

Talking about fantastic people that race, my friend Oz Perlman was one of the nominees for Ultrarunner of the year by Ultrarunning Magazine, he didn’t win, the honor when to Scott Jurek, very well deserved but I was so proud to see his name on the list, Oz is such a talented athlete I am sure he will be up on the list very soon. A curious fact about him is that his works as a magician, a very good one too, I am sure he will have his own show soon, just like Chris Angel’s Mindfreak. Oz also a very fast runner, he just bettered his marathon time at sub 2:30!

I am amaze how a small decision such as doing my first ultra for charity last year will give so much meaning to my life. Passion fuels the soul, I am a passionate person by nature, it shows in everything I do, the way I raise my kids, do my job, with my family. ultrarunning gave me a tangible outlet to express that side in a way that it matches the way I feel on the inside. This is for real, this time I have found the real thing and I am not about to let it go anytime soon.