Wild Ideas Worth Living · Tuesday, July 7, 2026
Lisa Jhung transitioned to ultramarathon pacing after a career in adventure racing, a sport she discovered through the TV show 'Eco Challenge.' She found that pacing offered a similar sense of excitement and problem-solving as racing, but without the intense personal training commitment.
“I come from adventure racing, which is team suffering, essentially, like racing from either a 24-hour race to a 7-day expedition, and you're on a team of four people.”
“So when a friend named Tom asked her to pace him in an ultramarathon, Lisa realized it might give her that same sense of discovery all over again.”
“I felt so lucky that I could experience the race and the race excitement and my runner's goals without having to do months or a year of intense training and hours and hours of running.”