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Ultra-Something
In this quirky, illustrated deep dive, Outside Magazine columnist Brendan Leonard explores the humans’ weird proclivity for endurance, and how we express it—including, but not limited to distance running, factory work, benign masochism, improv comedy, and rooting for the Buffalo Bills.
“Easily the most compelling, most inspiring, most raw book on running I have ever read. Brendan brings a rare quality into his work—humility. And those of us who run are constantly humbled by this sport. While running gives us big dreams, it also shows us the naked likelihood of never achieving them. Brendan reminds us that having lofty goals is fun and necessary, but that the real victory is simply lacing up the shoes and getting out the door."
—Sanjay Rawal, director, 3100 Run and Become
“Winning despite the fact that he’s (never) winning, Brendan Leonard is refreshingly irreverent, emotionally honest, searingly wise, and, always, highly motivated by pizza. This book may not turn you into a nature-loving ultra runner, but it will certainly help you understand how doing very hard things can make us better humans.”
—Florence Williams, author of The Nature Why Nature Makes us Happier, Healthier, and More Creative
“In Ultra-Something, Brendan Leonard offers us a gift, a deeply personal kaleidoscopic view into how humans create meaning and connection in the most arbitrary ways, not only through hero’s journey revelation but in the prosaic edge zones of our own manufactured discomfort. Traversing pop culture, scientific studies, and memoir, Leonard leads us through an entertaining—often surprising—Rat Park of stories about how humans engineer self-worth out of thin air."
—Nicholas Triolo, Editor, Trail Runner/Outside Run
"Brendan Leonard understands the value in the tedious and the everyday. All of those little, un-sexy, sometimes annoying tasks and obligations that, in aggregate, compose an attentive life. And if we're not paying attention—to how we treat others, to how we treat ourselves—what's even the point?"
—Anton Krupicka, 2-time winner, Leadville Trail 100
"Writing about running can feel a lot like trying to describe a dream. What feels urgent and personal to one can feel (at best) cliche or abstract to others. Ultra-Something manages to distill the weird and wiggly parts of ultrarunning into a genuinely fun and relatable read."
—Zoë Rom, Editor-in-Chief, Trail Runner/Outside Run
“In Ultra-Something, Brendan Leonard offers a poignant, insightful, at times hilarious examination of his unlikely journey in ultra-endurance sports. Whether you’re a Hardrock 100 finisher or just signed up for your first 50K, you’ll glean valuable wisdom and inspiration from Leonard’s deep dive into the ‘why’ of ultrarunning.”
—Ed Roberson, Creator and Host, Mountain & Prairie
“Easily the most compelling, most inspiring, most raw book on running I have ever read. Brendan brings a rare quality into his work—humility. And those of us who run are constantly humbled by this sport. While running gives us big dreams, it also shows us the naked likelihood of never achieving them. Brendan reminds us that having lofty goals is fun and necessary, but that the real victory is simply lacing up the shoes and getting out the door."
—Sanjay Rawal, director, 3100 Run and Become
“Winning despite the fact that he’s (never) winning, Brendan Leonard is refreshingly irreverent, emotionally honest, searingly wise, and, always, highly motivated by pizza. This book may not turn you into a nature-loving ultra runner, but it will certainly help you understand how doing very hard things can make us better humans.”
—Florence Williams, author of The Nature Why Nature Makes us Happier, Healthier, and More Creative
“In Ultra-Something, Brendan Leonard offers us a gift, a deeply personal kaleidoscopic view into how humans create meaning and connection in the most arbitrary ways, not only through hero’s journey revelation but in the prosaic edge zones of our own manufactured discomfort. Traversing pop culture, scientific studies, and memoir, Leonard leads us through an entertaining—often surprising—Rat Park of stories about how humans engineer self-worth out of thin air."
—Nicholas Triolo, Editor, Trail Runner/Outside Run
"Brendan Leonard understands the value in the tedious and the everyday. All of those little, un-sexy, sometimes annoying tasks and obligations that, in aggregate, compose an attentive life. And if we're not paying attention—to how we treat others, to how we treat ourselves—what's even the point?"
—Anton Krupicka, 2-time winner, Leadville Trail 100
"Writing about running can feel a lot like trying to describe a dream. What feels urgent and personal to one can feel (at best) cliche or abstract to others. Ultra-Something manages to distill the weird and wiggly parts of ultrarunning into a genuinely fun and relatable read."
—Zoë Rom, Editor-in-Chief, Trail Runner/Outside Run
“In Ultra-Something, Brendan Leonard offers a poignant, insightful, at times hilarious examination of his unlikely journey in ultra-endurance sports. Whether you’re a Hardrock 100 finisher or just signed up for your first 50K, you’ll glean valuable wisdom and inspiration from Leonard’s deep dive into the ‘why’ of ultrarunning.”
—Ed Roberson, Creator and Host, Mountain & Prairie
287 pages, Kindle Edition
Published May 23, 2024
30 people are currently reading
272 people want to read
About the author
Brendan Leonard
35 books422 followersBrendan Leonard is the creator of Semi-Rad.com and a freelance writer whose work has appeared in Outside, CNN.com, Adventure Journal, Alpinist, Climbing, High Country News, Adventure Cyclist, and dozens of other publications. He lives in Missoula, Montana.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews
May 15, 2024
This is just flat out awesome. Observational humor about ultra running and the life of an ultra runner. And ultra living. Brendan NAILS IT.
July 7, 2024
"Ultra-Something" is a fascinating read that blends a personal narrative with intriguing scientific facts and pop culture references. The author skillfully weaves in details about rats—yes, lots and lots of rats—while simultaneously drawing clever parallels to cultural icons like Rocky Balboa and Forrest Gump. What stands out is the author's decision to present these facts without any emotional bias, allowing readers to form their own interpretations. This objective storytelling approach makes "Ultra-Something" both an enlightening and engaging experience. Highly recommended for those who enjoy a mix of personal anecdotes, science, and pop culture.
August 29, 2024
Ultra-Something by Brendan Leonard offers insightful views on running and life, blending theory with personal anecdotes. While I can appreciate the merits of his writing, I found the content too dense and struggled with the frequent shifts between running philosophy and personal stories. However, Leonard’s humour and honesty shine through, as does his passion for running. The book might resonate more with those who enjoy both reflective and narrative styles in equal measure. At times, it felt like I was chasing a runner who kept ducking into random side trails—entertaining, but I’m not sure I ever caught up.
⭐️⭐️
⭐️⭐️
September 29, 2025
i wish this book was 10000000000000 pages long so i could listen to it on every single run
December 10, 2024
I love everything that comes out of Brendan Leonard’s brain! Reliably funny, smart, and relatable
June 2, 2024
So many good little tidbits - “everybody does something, usually anyway.”
August 1, 2024
I run and I love a good book with great stories and engaging writing. If you're looking for motivation or usefull info or just a good story in this book, it's not there. The title is very accurate, it's a book about ultra something, with emphasis on something.. full of anxiety and doubts, random race recaps, random scientific facts (not necessarily related to running) and boredom. It feels like the author was forced to write it and was running out of ideas for the book (pun intended). Do yourself a favour and grab 'The Rise of Ultrarunners' by Adharanand Finn instead. You won't put it down.
(and no, I didn't emphatise with the writer like many of the readers here. but I definitely felt his struggle with running and writing about it.)
(and no, I didn't emphatise with the writer like many of the readers here. but I definitely felt his struggle with running and writing about it.)
April 7, 2025
It sounds like an accomplishment to say I read this in one sitting but that’s due more to the format of the book, most pages only half-full of words. But that’s a feature, not a bug. Each page is a fully-formulated thought and, often, the next page builds on what came on the previous page. So why not write in a more-standard format? Because often Leonard inserts what seems like a non sequitur thought on a page in the middle of a narrative. But, as I read, I realized he was inviting me to tie that non sequitur into the larger narrative. He kept offering different frames through which to view his stories of ultra-running. He kept giving me ways to admit that running for a really long time really is crazy while at the same time giving me ways to see that we’re all a little crazy, each in our own way.
The book is sprinkled with little quotes, ideas, and perspectives that I’ll carry with me through running and through the rest of life. I think that’s what I value most in all of Leonard’s work, how his world view gently infiltrates into mine. Like him, I mostly run alone, but I certainly take him with me everywhere I go.
The book is sprinkled with little quotes, ideas, and perspectives that I’ll carry with me through running and through the rest of life. I think that’s what I value most in all of Leonard’s work, how his world view gently infiltrates into mine. Like him, I mostly run alone, but I certainly take him with me everywhere I go.
July 17, 2024
A book about ultra-marathon running that follows an arc not too dissimilar to a long run. The author brings a unique sense of joviality and honesty that opens the reader up to empathising with him as he describes the trials and tribulations of ultra-marathon running.
The book is an easy read, about an insanely hard thing to do. It meanders and follows the author as if you were chatting over the course of a long run and following where the whims of the mind take you. At times it goes deep into the psychology of the final miles of an 100-mile, multi-day race and at others the innane simplicity of of packing a vest. There are detours into history and bush-whacks into the authors thoughts about the deeper meaning of running.
I leave this book, slightly more energised to consider an ultra-marathon, but I don't think that is the purpose of this book. I think the purpose is to provide the author with a means to share their love of running, for the sake of running and nothing else. Perhaps a desire to bring meaning to something that does not really have it.
The book is an easy read, about an insanely hard thing to do. It meanders and follows the author as if you were chatting over the course of a long run and following where the whims of the mind take you. At times it goes deep into the psychology of the final miles of an 100-mile, multi-day race and at others the innane simplicity of of packing a vest. There are detours into history and bush-whacks into the authors thoughts about the deeper meaning of running.
I leave this book, slightly more energised to consider an ultra-marathon, but I don't think that is the purpose of this book. I think the purpose is to provide the author with a means to share their love of running, for the sake of running and nothing else. Perhaps a desire to bring meaning to something that does not really have it.
June 6, 2024
I absolutely loved this book.
Having tackled some endurance events/done a bit of running myself it was impossible to not relate to so many of the anecdotes and the humour in the book. Brendan shares some crazy stories while also making fascinating and amusing connections to help figure out why we keep doing things that are really difficult and often hurt.
It was like Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance in its exploration of human nature and meaning, but unlike that famous book, it was actually brilliant fun to read all the way through.
I am left with a ton of interesting anecdotes and insights that I plan to liberally share into conversations for many years.
On top of that, it's incredibly addictive format kept me turning to the next page and laughing until I should have been asleep hours ago.
Having tackled some endurance events/done a bit of running myself it was impossible to not relate to so many of the anecdotes and the humour in the book. Brendan shares some crazy stories while also making fascinating and amusing connections to help figure out why we keep doing things that are really difficult and often hurt.
It was like Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance in its exploration of human nature and meaning, but unlike that famous book, it was actually brilliant fun to read all the way through.
I am left with a ton of interesting anecdotes and insights that I plan to liberally share into conversations for many years.
On top of that, it's incredibly addictive format kept me turning to the next page and laughing until I should have been asleep hours ago.
January 27, 2025
I don't know how to describe this book. It flips between anecdotes and interesting tangentially related information in a way that perfectly simulates a conversation that might take place between myself and another ADHD friend.
The stories of ultra running were inspiring, in the way that they made me want to get out and run in the same way an addict hearing the story of someone having a bad night out but still wanting to take the drugs that are being mentioned.
The informative snippets varied from bizarre to useful to rage inspiring (see: the reason a marathon is 26.2 miles and not the far more sensible 25). And added far too many other things to my tbr list to be considered reasonable.
My main complaint (petty grievance) with this book is how much paper is just not used, and I would really love to know how it was decided to give things a new page.
The stories of ultra running were inspiring, in the way that they made me want to get out and run in the same way an addict hearing the story of someone having a bad night out but still wanting to take the drugs that are being mentioned.
The informative snippets varied from bizarre to useful to rage inspiring (see: the reason a marathon is 26.2 miles and not the far more sensible 25). And added far too many other things to my tbr list to be considered reasonable.
My main complaint (petty grievance) with this book is how much paper is just not used, and I would really love to know how it was decided to give things a new page.
July 24, 2024
Brendan Leonard combines autobiographical stories with pieces of tangent subjects in what is practically a doctoral thesis on ultra-marathons. It’s super interesting and you feel like you’re mentally composting the material with him as he is in a constant reflection about why he is so driven to, for example, run 52 marathon distances in one year. This is a great contrast to so many books about running where essentially the plot is “I tried, I won, I did something else, won again, etc.”. This is written by a person who isn’t winning first, who is not sponsored (I don’t think) but still goes, and it still leaves you fully motivated to go outside and try hard at something too.
May 8, 2025
The first thing that stood out to me, and what got me to keep reading, was Brendan Leonard's writing style. it's new to me and I like it - the way he jumps from idea to idea from page to page, the hand drawn illustrations of 40,000 cigarettes continuing on for page after page after page after page, the way most pages have less than half of their surface dedicated to words. Leonard does a great job of providing a profound message in a way that was barrier free while also stimulating my curiosity.
favorite quote: "Well, everybody does something, usually anyway ... So we thought we would do this and it would be fun"
oh and (spoiler alert) the book is about running ultramarathons
favorite quote: "Well, everybody does something, usually anyway ... So we thought we would do this and it would be fun"
oh and (spoiler alert) the book is about running ultramarathons
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 30, 2025
This book is relatable. Brendan doesn’t sugar coat a thing, or even take time to glorify his achievements. He just talks about what it feels like to be a distance runner- an average person who does distance running, that is, not a contender for world records or first place prizes.
I’m currently in the middle of training for my first ultra, and this book has summed up the reason for why I’m moving on from marathons to ultra (s? Plural? We’ll see. Probably). It’s not exactly something I can describe… but somehow, Brendan describes it, in this book. And it’s a beautiful love letter.
I’m currently in the middle of training for my first ultra, and this book has summed up the reason for why I’m moving on from marathons to ultra (s? Plural? We’ll see. Probably). It’s not exactly something I can describe… but somehow, Brendan describes it, in this book. And it’s a beautiful love letter.
December 20, 2024
If you enjoy Brendan’s weeklies, then you’ll love this. It’s at times silly, heartfelt, fun, seemingly all over the place (but really not as much as you first thought). It touches on a lot of the shared experiences you have when you run trail and ultra races. All that AND I laughed out loud several times to the point of my wife giving me weird looks wondering why I’m laughing at my kindle in the dark. Highly recommend.
January 28, 2025
Fun, easy read. I must have come across this from SemiRad, Brendan’s illustration instagram - knew from the cover I would enjoy it.
I love that it’s a book about running, not intended to convince other people to run, but a quirky self-reflection on how a mediocre runner would get into distance trail running as a lifestyle/career.
“Well, everybody does something, usually, anyway.”
I love that it’s a book about running, not intended to convince other people to run, but a quirky self-reflection on how a mediocre runner would get into distance trail running as a lifestyle/career.
“Well, everybody does something, usually, anyway.”
April 4, 2025
Since discovering "I Hate Running ..." I've become a huge Brendan Leonard fan, eagerly consuming anything he puts his name to (including anytime he's a guest on a podcast)
"Ultra-Something" did not disappoint; in fact, there are many resources quoted and footnoted that I'm needing to investigate further
"Ultra-Something" did not disappoint; in fact, there are many resources quoted and footnoted that I'm needing to investigate further
September 23, 2024
A fantastic book ostensibly about ultrarunning, but really about a bit of everything. Reading this book was a bit like the stream of consciousness one might experience while on a long run. As a runner, it was very relatable, and I always enjoy Brendan Leonard's sense of humor.
November 27, 2024
This book is soooooo good. Regardless of if you are a "Runner" This book is very entertaining and provides an unpretentious insight into the why/what of ultra running with plenty of tangents and anecdotes about everything else to keep you hooked.
January 10, 2025
I went in expecting a bunch of humor and put the book down inspired to run longer distances than I ever have! A terrific collection of stories, insights, and perseverance through absurdist challenges (like running 100 miles). Strongly endorse!
June 10, 2024
Super duper funny, loving Brendan’s stories around taking up ultra running and continuing to run…. Not something I’ll take up but still super entertaining and enjoyable reading
July 25, 2024
Liked, didn’t love - I think I enjoy his writing and storytelling style maybe in less concentrated doses? Lots of fun little tidbits in there, made for a good plane read.
August 4, 2024
A very good read about a very silly activity
November 14, 2024
I'm a big fan of this artist and author. I'm not a fan of running. Still thought this was a delightful, and quick read.
November 21, 2024
This was awesome. The bland truth about ultras - written as dry as they often are.
Everyone does something usually anyway :)
Everyone does something usually anyway :)
December 19, 2024
Inspiring and hilarious!
June 5, 2025
Brendan Leonard (semi rad) writes for the average ultrarunner in relatable anecdotes. I love reading his books.
March 19, 2025
This book was a bit of a mess. I enjoyed his stories about getting into ultra running and his accounts of the big races that he’s done. I could have done without the random stories about hot dog eating contests, random histories, and other unrelated topics. I ended up skimming or skipping those sections as they popped up throughout the book.
June 16, 2024
I love BL’s books, newsletter, and essays, and this one was also great!
As a new ultrarunner myself (I did my first 50k last month!), this one especially hit home. Compared to BL’s last book, I Hate Running and You Can Too (which I also loved), this one was more of a memoir of BL’s ultrarunning journey as opposed to what I might call a running philosophy book.
This quote really captures the vibe: “If you don’t believe an ultramarathon will be meaningful to you, it probably just sounds like a really bad idea. Even if you believe it will be meaningful, at some point, you are likely to think it was a really bad idea. But you might still keep going, depending on how invested you are in the meaning you believe you will attain from finishing the race” (253).
Like the quote about, if you’re interested in endurance sports, or just like good, engaging writing, I definitely recommend this one! If not, it’s probably a bad idea
As a new ultrarunner myself (I did my first 50k last month!), this one especially hit home. Compared to BL’s last book, I Hate Running and You Can Too (which I also loved), this one was more of a memoir of BL’s ultrarunning journey as opposed to what I might call a running philosophy book.
This quote really captures the vibe: “If you don’t believe an ultramarathon will be meaningful to you, it probably just sounds like a really bad idea. Even if you believe it will be meaningful, at some point, you are likely to think it was a really bad idea. But you might still keep going, depending on how invested you are in the meaning you believe you will attain from finishing the race” (253).
Like the quote about, if you’re interested in endurance sports, or just like good, engaging writing, I definitely recommend this one! If not, it’s probably a bad idea
June 25, 2025
Another great book from @semi-rad. DPMR book highlight: https://donnerpartymountainrunners.co...
Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews