Ultrarunning is a community made up of people–strange individuals who communicate with a dictionary of their own. You may happen to hear two runners talking and not quite understand what they are saying to each other, and we are here to help!
Out of curiosity, personal culture and just for fun, I have collected the most relevant slang and words that will help you understand this magical world in all its facets.

Q for.

QUANTITY/QUALITY

With these two terms, we speak only and exclusively about training. Quantity means grinding lots of miles; quality means going hard.
Any ultrarunner will argue, following a performance below expectations as much as one above, that he or she has done much (or too little) quality or quantity.

R for.
RESURRECTION

There is a time when a long-distance runner feels doomed. Maybe from digestive problems, a sprained ankle, cramps, muscle or tendon problems, a drop in motivation, or, maybe all of these things together.
In a few sporadic and memorable cases, Resurrection (also called “resurrection card” by some) happens.
Mind you, RESURRECTION is not simply getting out of the pain cave or overcoming a moment of crisis: RESURRECTION means the situation where a runner, after being in a slump, magically resumes running at a furious pace, finishing a good run.

SCRAPE THE BOTTOM

This idiom refers to the eventuality in which a runner is knowingly or unknowingly giving up even the last bit of energy to get to the end of a race or training session.
This activity can bring unexpected results, but usually by RASHING THE BOTTOM we refer to those situations in which an athlete, after “jumping,” proceeds at the minimum pace for survival to the finish line, running well below his or her potential.

Example:
– “I’m really cooked, I’m scraping the bottom”
– Runner pointing to another “Look how he’s scraping the bottom”

RACER

These are the runners who enter races to win them. They often drop out when they see that “the leg is not turning” and they cannot stay in the leading group. They are the opposite of Survivors, which we will discuss later.

ROSARY (shell out the)

The expression DRAIN THE ROSARY is used when the situation in the race is rather difficult and there are no apparent solutions.
Usually an athlete never uses this expression referring to himself, but it is addressed to him.

Example:
“I’m so tired, how many miles are left?”
“UNROLL THE ROSARY”