 Hello my friends, and welcome to Black Rock City, otherwise known as Burning Man. I am out here in the middle of an ancient lake bed riding my bike, but I won't be riding my bike for long because tomorrow, my friends, is my favorite event, my favorite happening at Burning Man, the Burning Man Ultra. This will be my seventh time doing this race. Ah! Ah! Ah! The shark! Everything is awesome! Woo! Ah! Ah! I did it! Here's a fun fact. This was the first Ultra I ever did in my whole life. Way back in 2013, I had no idea what I was getting into, and it was that race that really lit the fire to run longer distances. I've always been a runner, but this is the race that said, hey, maybe you can run really far. And I'm so excited to be here. I'm so grateful to be here. Burning Man has not happened since 2019 because of the pandemic. Tomorrow's race is gonna be so much fun. It's wild, it's wacky, it's unlike any other Ultra out there, but the feeling is the same, the community is the same, the support and the love. And yeah, it's gonna hurt. It's 31 miles. I just did level 100 last week, so I'm a little tired, but I don't care. I'm doing this race. This is my favorite part of Burning Man, is this race. I gotta go to bed. I gotta go to bed, bed, bed, bed early because I gotta wake up. The race starts at five. There's always a good soundtrack here, just chasing you down at Burning Man. Here we go, Burning Man Ultra. Party time at four a.m. Party time at four a.m. Here I am in my tent, getting ready. I'm gonna wear my finest running singlet today. It's a silver vest and some orange shorts. And we're gonna get ready to ride over to Pink Lightning, which is the camp that puts on this race. They've been putting on this race for, I think, 10 years. Sherry is the race director. They called her Cherry Bomb, and she's amazing. And I love that she does this. You're supposed to bring your passion to Burning Man and share it with people. Well, her passion is ultra running, and she put on a whole freaking race, and there's a lot of goofballs that do it. I'm feeling good. It is a race, even though I'm at Burning Man. It's gonna be uncomfortable. It's 31 miles. I'm gonna get tired. I'm gonna get chafed. All those things. It's gonna get hot when the sun comes up. But the person who has the most fun wins, no doubt. And that's my goal. My goal is to have the most fun out there today. Just enjoy it. Oh, and I don't wanna forget these cool toys. Look at that. Boom, headlights on my shoes. Ah, it's a beautiful morning to be riding a bike in Black Rock City. Everybody rides bikes around Black Rock City. So as you know, I'm a big fan of that. And that's how you get around. You ride bikes, and you look at beautiful art, and you goof around, and you make new friends. How cool is that? And here we are, the start of the race, pink lightning. Hi, Robin. Hi, good morning. This is one of my favorite people in the whole wide world. I've known Robin for like 20 years, and why would you wake up so early just to cheer us on? Well, my goodness, you need my support, don't you? Yes, we do. Wow, I love the outfit, my friends. What's the theme of the day? Equality. Oh, yes, we have a chef. I love it. I'm here to whip things up. What are you gonna whip up? I'm gonna whip asses. I'm gonna whip asses. Looks like it. The race time is 4.50 here in Black Rock City. Beautiful, beautiful morning. Expecting some great runs from you guys today. I wanna quickly give you a lay of the land at Burning Man. This is what it looks like from above. And right here, the semi-circle is the city where all the camps are and people sleep at night. Out here is the Playa, and that is where all the artwork is. The race essentially follows the Esplanade, which is like the main street, and you hit all the corners all the way out to Outer Playa, and you come back into town, and you do that four times. But four times seven is only 28, so there's a little three-mile-ish out and back to make it a clean 31 miles. Look at those awesome socks. What do we have here? Oh, we have a tutu. Yeah, right on. Yeah. What inspired this outfit? Just looking for something with a tutu that was fun and easy to run in, eh? Pretty much. You sound like you're from far away. Yeah, I'm from very far away, from South Africa. And what made you wanna come out here and do this? You did. No. Yes, I saw your video on your YouTube channel and looked like fun, so hey, why not? Why not? Are you looking forward to this? I am looking very much forward to it. Right on. Also terrified. Have fun out there, buddy. Thank you. Let's see a little dance. Oh yeah, there we go. Caboose, are you psyched? So psyched. Yeah, is this your first Burning Man Ultra? No, oh yes, this is my first Burning Man Ultra. I'm super stoked. Super stoked. What do you think it's gonna be like? It's gonna be lots of fun and dusty. I wanted to start off with a couple thank yous. And first of all, I wanted to thank my camp, Pink Lightning, which I think is the best camp I've played on, grateful because so many people stepped up in ways that they didn't have to to help make this race run more smoothly and everyone is either running or volunteering, so I greatly appreciate that. It's gonna be fun, help each other out, take care of yourself, hydrate. And you know, you can try to run your best and fastest time and that's great, but try to have the most fun. I think that's the most important thing more than anything else. Thank you so much for being here. Yes, yeah! Yay! Does that mean it's time to run or something? Yes. So you've done this many times. Yes. What keeps bringing you back? I like this because it's, I go to what I call the Gateway Ultra. Everybody comes in here and does it for the first time, but it's also one where I don't care really about what happens. I more care about the experience, the people. My time is irrelevant. You can dress up and you can have fun in a way that you don't do that with almost any other race. And this is all happening in this crazy web of anarchy, chaos, and beauty that is like, you never see anything like this. Every lap is different and it's a fun struggle. Right on. Let's go on some fun. Oh yeah! Right on cue. Are you excited? Excited. Are you excited? Are we all excited? Yeah! Good morning, Sherry. Good morning! How are you feeling? I didn't sleep. Oh, okay. Well, that's to be expected, right? I know that I've only taken a few steps, but the jolt of energy has just gone through my body. The realization that I'm burning that ultra has just hit me and I'm so excited! So this first lap is mostly in the dark and then the sun will rise. And that's my favorite part. I love when the sun comes up over Black Rock City, when we're way out on the outer edges of deep playa. I just have to stop really quick and show you this art car. It's the coolest art car. I mean, look at this thing. Oh, you're asking yourself, what's an art car? Well, people decorate their cars quite a bit out here and they create some absolutely impressive machines. Sometimes there's like pirate ships and airplanes and beetles and dragons, all sorts of things. Good morning! Good morning! Good morning! Yeah, that is awesome. And there's all the runners. You can't see them, but there's the runners going by. I'm just gonna do a little dancing here real quick. We gotta run through the rainbow. Heading away from the Esplanade, all the action and fun and lights were heading out into deep playa. This is the edge of Burning Man. You're not allowed outside. Otherwise, Velociraptors will eat you. So my legs feel pretty good. These are the first running steps that I've taken since the Leadville 100 about 10 days ago. I was curious how I'd feel and I feel pretty good, but you know, I've only gone like three miles. So I have to pee, which is totally normal at the beginning of the race. You can just usually run off into the woods and pee, right? But not here. You're not allowed to pee on the playa. Nothing touches the ground here that is not from here. So you have to go in one of the porta-potties and those are only in certain areas. So my bladder is just bouncing around, bong, bong, bong. Oh, a cigarette! Yes, please give me a cigarette. Yes, here you go. Carry on, carry on. Keep your time up, keep your time up. Thank you. I don't smoke, but I just wanted to take it because it's the first time in my life where I've ever taken a cigarette in the middle of an ultramarathon. I'll save this for somebody who likes smoking. How y'all feeling? We feel good. Oh, we feel so good. Hey! Okay, I'm veering off course here because look what I found! A bank of disgusting bathrooms. Let's see how gross it is. Is anybody in there? No? Oh, hey, it's not too bad. All right. What kind of treats do you have? I got Oreos. Oreos. Thank you, thank you. It's really hard to eat dry stuff when you're running. But it doesn't stop me. So Burning Man is a temporary city and it's a gifting economy. You don't pay for anything. You don't buy anything. There's like no money exchanged here. So that aid station back there was just a camp wanting to be nice and they set up drinks and Oreos and whatever just to hook people up. It's really cool. And you'll find that all along the route people are set up just to help us out. There are two official aid stations that always have what we need. And then as the race has gotten bigger and more of these people see us running by, they're like, hey, I want to set up an aid station. Let's do this, let's do this. Okay, this is for bikes. But it's also for humans. Here we go. Yeah! Woo-hoo-hoo! Yeah! Woo! I'm gonna do the bank's corner and then back into the course. Yeah! I wonder what happens when I do this. Woo-hoo-hoo! Whoa! That was scary. Good morning, good morning! Check it out, there's a real roller disco out here. Look at this. Yeah, buddy! Yeah, do something cool, buddy! Oh, oh, oh! Get some help, you gotta get it. All right, it's distracted all the time. Squirrel! Squirrel! Squirrel! That's me in the Esplanade, headed into the city. Good morning! Good morning! There's the Flamingo camp, obviously. There we are, back home, seven miles! Hello, everybody! Look at all these goodies! Yum-yum-yum-yum-yum-yum-yum. All right! And now we do the same exact thing for another three laps. But since we're at Burning Man, the same exact thing is not going to happen. It's always different and you never know who you're gonna meet out there. So are you guys giving out these like energy cigarettes? Yes, they're perfect. They're all natural. They're for the kids. They're literally organic. They're also, these are good for running. Yeah! Thanks for being here. Yeah, buddy! Good morning! The look on everybody's faces is like, what are these people doing? And get some amazing shots. Here you go, you're the cameraman now. I appreciate it. Yeah, dude. You having fun out here? Yeah. It's so special. Dude, it really is. It feels so good to be back. Yeah. Hello, Shadow! Time to go right. There goes my new friend, Bear. He just showed up. Hey man, you need me to help you film? We chatted for a good 10 minutes and now I'm out here. That's another one of the things about Burning Man. Impermanence. Nothing lasts forever. Conversations, art, us. You know, you might meet somebody out here and have a really deep connection for a few minutes, an awesome conversation. And then you both go on your way and you may never see that person again. And that's, you know, a good lesson in life. Appreciate the moment, appreciate the now. Appreciate who you're talking to. Appreciate the sunrise. Appreciate that my body is strong enough to do this silly stuff. It's my buddy Logan! Oh, dude. We were in the Peace Corps together. I am here because of you, man. Well, let's turn around and go, buddy. Logan's gonna come bike with me as I run. Yes! Good morning, good morning! Yeah, so good to see you, brother. This makes me so happy. Logan, thank you so much for coming out here, brother. This guy lived about an hour away from me in Honduras when we lived there for two years. That's right, baby. Check it out. Oh, it's so good to see Logan. He's awesome. Peep, peep, peep, peep. Peep, peep, peep, peep, peep, peep, peep, peep, peep, peep. Oh, yeah! Go, dude! Whoa! What's up, brother? Oh my gosh. Coconut, you're amazing! Woo! Yes! Thank you! Oh, real coconut water. I love you, coconut people! Woo, that was really good. Yum, yum, yum. I love oranges. I love how many aid stations have popped up, you know, when I first did this race in 2013, there were only the official aid stations. And now everybody's out here helping. You're crazy when we're in a crazy place. So I think we fit in really well. We do fit in well. And it's running something you do, you know, day-to-day life. You didn't just wake up this morning and see a bunch of people running and say, hey, I'm gonna do that. No, I run. That's my creative outlet. How you doing? Good morning. What are you doing out here? Cooking hot dogs and veggie dogs. Oh, yeah. Thank you all so much for being here. Means a lot to us runners. And also you have veggie options, which is very cool. Look what I found. Swings. I love swings. Little mid-race swing. Oh, there's just so much fun stuff to do. You get distracted constantly. Okay, my legs are definitely feeling it. 14 miles in. They're like, haha, buddy, you're a little tired. You just ran 110 days ago. That's all right. I'll be able to push through this. What's up, shadow? Again, going off route a little bit. This looks too fun. Looks like a big slide. Here we go. Right in the middle of the ultramarathon. Here we go. Whoa, that was a, that was a spooky slide. I don't know how that looked, but I almost broke my leg. How we are? Oh, a spritzing. Yes, a spritzing is important. Crackers. Oh, chips for sure. Yeah, take another one. Go crazy. Did you make these? Thank you all. You're a wonderful human. Thank you for the love, Muffin brother. I feel so good. Yes, you guys are amazing. I have no idea. Look at this. Oh, wow. Oh, yeah, man. Oh, yeah. Oh, you guys are the best. Okay, yeah. Get that IT man. Block me. Block me. Hit me. Hit me. Harder. Harder. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Thank you. Oh, man, that was quite a treat. You know, the really good thing about this race is right when you're starting to feel like, oh, my legs hurt. My joints hurt. I'm tired. Boom. Some humans come out of nowhere and just make your day. I need some magic bubbles. Oh, I'm good. I've eaten so much. Look at those magic bubbles. Here I go. Here I go. That's a real man right there. Yo, good to see you. All right, last lap. But that still means like 10 miles to go. Last lap plus the out and back, baby. Let's do this. Go, Tenmark. There's no lack of music here at Burning Man. Every 50 feet, there's a new sound. They're slowing down, bud. Keep it up. You got this. You got this. We got this. Good morning. That's pretty cool. Hi, bud. Good to see you. Can I borrow your bike? Yeah. Okay, fine. I'll keep running. Bye, guys. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Cracker. I need this cracker. It's a power cracker. I'm going to go right now. I'm good. Love you guys. These wonderful people right here, Ani and Andrew are my neighbors in real life and I love them. Yay, dozer. Woo. Thanks for meeting me out here. Yeah. Keeping me company. Thanks for giving us a reason to get up for the sunrise. What a good day. Oh, it's a beautiful day. Beautiful day. That's my neighbor, dozer would say. Best day ever. That's right. Best day ever. Let's go, baby. Let's go. It's time for my favorite people. Coming in hot, baby. Oh, yeah. Here we go. Here we go. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Oh, yes. I love you all. My legs feel so good. A solitary moment in the race. We've got a new narrator, folks. It's claims Andrew. Wow, it's nice not running with the camera in my hand. I feel like in spring. All right. Let's kick it up a notch. How's your pain cave? You seem to be doing great. I'm doing okay, actually. That little massage experience actually helps. You guys are setting a great pace. Cruiser pace. Hey, mine's slowing down a bit. Oh my God. I can't put that on you too, but what's up? How we doing? What's up? Yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo. You know, I'm actually feeling pretty good. I'm feeling pretty good. And more than anything, I'm having a lot of fun. It's really just good to be back. Good morning. Are you guys able to keep up at this pace? Well, we've asked you multiple times to slow down, but you're stubborn that way. Can I get the spritzing? You can get as much spritzing as you can. Oh, thank you. Thank you. Awesome. Thank you. So this is where you talk to God. I'm going to give a call. See if I can get some advice. God, I have three miles left. How should I pace myself? Okay. Okay. Do what? All right. Okay. I got it. Thanks, God. He said to go as fast as I can, turbo speed, and slap a lot of booties. So here we go. Here we go. Coming into pink lightning. Ready to start the out and back. Thank you for big. Yeah. Back out, back out, back. Here we go. Hi, Robin. We're running. We're running. We're running. We're running. How are we feeling? I feel pretty good. Yeah. Where are we at? I got about two and a half miles left. All right. We got this. Thank you, Robin. Here's the turning point. Here we go. Just made a new friend from Sweden. What's your name? Tobias. Tobias from Sweden. Let's go have some fun, buddy. Nice job. Nice job. I love this day. Thank you, Burning Man. Thank you, Burning Man. Also, thank you, Sherry. So crazy. So good. Good for the soul. Thank you so much. Nice job. I'm a little sweaty. I don't mind. Yeah. Hi. Feel my ice. This is absolutely amazing. I know to you it just looks like a couple bags of ice, which it is, but ice is worth its weight and gold out here at the Playa. And I finished the race and they handed me this ice and it's amazing. It is absolutely luxurious. Check out this super awesome medal. All of these medals were made by hand by somebody at this camp here in Pink Lightning. You know, I get a lot of medals at the end of races and, you know, I just chuck them in a drawer, but this one might have to go in like a window sill. This is pretty amazing. I feel really good. I took it easy. I enjoyed the whole thing. Didn't get too deep into the pain cave. It was just all about fun. And, you know, I appreciate that about Burning Man. It's a lot of fun and a lot of good people and I'm so happy to just now chill out. I'm sitting here with all of my wounded warriors and not only does Pink Lightning put on the best ultramarathon of Burning Man, they also made quesadillas with guacamole and it's so good. Whoo. How y'all feeling? And now for a little cool down bike ride back home. Man, what a day. I'm so excited that this thing exists, Burning Man and the race. It's just so much fun. I'm so grateful for this experience and I've gotten to do it seven times now, which is a pretty incredible. And now I'm very thankful that our camp has a shower. Goodbye.