“The harder it is, the more satisfying it is to complete it” with Ian Sharman

Today, we are joined by Ian Sharman, who has literally ran around the world. He started his career as an economist for Deloitte in London. While living in the city, Ian was getting tired of the nightlife scene and looking for a healthier lifestyle. After seeing a commercial for a marathon in the Sahara desert, he started training. Soon after, he completed his first half marathon and never stopped running.

Fast forward a few years and Ian became the youngest person to complete 100 marathons. Most weekends he would travel to new cities around the world, complete a marathon, and head back to work on Monday morning. He combined his love of travel and desire to keep getting better at running. 

Around this time, Ian moved to the United States while still working for Deloitte. He switched roles and was not enjoying his new position. He had just won a big race and received his first sponsorship. He decided now was the time to quit his full-time job to build a career in the Ultra Marathon industry. He focused on building a business that allowed him to run and travel around the world, while having a stable long term viable career.

Ian was able to develop multiple revenue streams, such as sponsorship, coaching, podcasting and race directing. He built a team of world class runners underneath him and has a full fledged coaching business to help train clients to achieve their goals in the Ultra Marathon space. If you are looking for a coach or looking to get into Ultra Marathoning, feel free to reach out to Ian here.

It’s hard to keep up with all of Ian’s accolades, but here is a snapshot of what he has accomplished so far. He has run over 200 ultras and marathons (PR: 2:21) in every type of weather and on all terrains. He's won over 50 multi-day races/road marathons/trail ultras or adventure races with experience of running in many mountain ranges, including the Himalayas, Andes, Rockies and European Alps. He also holds the fastest time in a trail 100-mile race by a Brit (12h44m), the record for the Grand Slam of Ultrarunning (69h49m), has won the USATF 100-mile trail championship twice and is a four-time Leadville Trail 100 Champion. Ultra Running Magazine has voted him as high as 2nd in its annual Ultra Runner of the Year rankings and 4th in Ultra Runner of the Decade.

Check out the conversation as we dive into the following:

How he taught himself how to train for ultra marathons using trial and errorHow he is most proud of setting the record for the “Grand Slam of Ultra Running” which is four 100 miles races in one summerHow he set his business up to be able to run and travelHow he focused on making sure his business was a long term viable option even after his running prime is overWhy artificial intelligence is not as good as human experience when it comes to coach