Abstract

This qualitative study applied narrative analysis to in-depth interviews and social media posts of 20 amateur and semi-professional mountain ultrarunners living in Chile (9 women, 11 men), ages 26 to 50, with an average of 7.9 years in the sport. Results show that all participants progressively develop a strong athletic identity, giving running great importance in their lives, which in some cases causes a role conflict with other identity dimensions, including family and work. Applying the "serious leisure" (Stebbins, 2005) theoretical framework, it is possible to see how runners devote their time and energy to different aspects of the ultrarunning culture. In this involvement, they exhibit characteristics of serious leisure pursuits, such as identification with the activity, perseverance in their training, significant personal effort to prepare themselves for competitions, and a progression in terms of career, with running goals that tend to grow in distance and difficulty over time. Their narratives of challenges and races follow the hero's journey structure, signifying them as trying endeavors in which they voluntarily participate as a way to test themselves and their physical and mental limits, and learn in the process. They identify as motives for participation a sense of achievement, recognition from others, and being an example. The social world of ultrarunning is described in positive terms, as a welcoming community. Despite recognizing the drawbacks of their sport participation, the deep meaning and perceived benefits ultrarunners ascribe to their practice overpower the former, seeing ultrarunning as essential for their wellbeing, lifestyle and identity.