The good side of a trail race

I got a virtual glimpse of the good side or what I imagine is the good side of the Hardrock 100 mile race which was flagged off in Silverton, Colorado on July 13th. It's a gruelling, extreme 100 mile endurance race with lots of dehydration, altitude sickness, hypothermia and injuries (the bad side) on one hand but also with exotic and scintillating visuals on the other hand. The good side of this 100 mile race can be seen here. This year's winner was Scott Jurek, who also set a course record by finishing the race in just over 26 hours! I can't fathom what it means to finish a 100 mile run, let alone compete in one. How is it that the same guy(Scott Jurek) particiaptes in similar races of 100 miles (Western states and Hard rock) but takes around 15 hrs to complete the first race but 26 hrs to complete the second, all the while setting course records in both? Maybe that's why they call it the hard rock race(I guess it has to do with the amount of climbing involved in Hardrock(33000ft) as compared to Western states(18000ft)).
Coming back to the good side and visual effects, its interesting to see that the scene in LOTR with all that running for days together could actually have been a part of an ultra-marathon such as the Hardrock 100 mile run.
As of now, Hiking - yes, running - no (its not like I have a choice!).