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Excerpts from 'Running Through the Millennium' by Lynn David Newton Chapter 10: Getting Close Day TripperThe day finally arrived for me to make my debut as a 24-hour ultrarunner. I slept well on Dean's trundle bed until 2:00 AM, got up for a potty visit and to take two Advil tablets to relax my legs, then fell back to sleep until 6:30. Success! I woke up Suzy and had her and Cyra-Lea get in and out of the bathroom first. At 6:55 I got out of bed and looked out the window. It was still nearly dark out, but there was enough light to see that it was thickly cloudy and threatening rain. Oh no. It didn't take long to shower and dress for the race. Suzy made coffee, which I like, need, and drank, but I ate no food. When we left Dean's, it was not uncomfortably cold out, despite the threat of rain. We arrived at the track just after 8:00 AM. The excitement in the air was tangible. I dumped my bags in the tent, and asked my family to set up the card table, pull stuff out of bags, and arrange things in any orderly way that seemed suitable to them. Meanwhile, I went off to check in. Paul was tending the registration desk. I was given number 8! Whee, I was an elite! The race numbers ranged from 99 (Paul's) downward, with the 6-day runners having the larger numbers. Paul's thirteen-year-old son James was appropriately assigned number 13. Stephanie Ehret, last year's overall winner, got number 2. No one was given number 1. The first piece of bad news for the day was that Paul was asking local runners to postpone picking up our prepaid hooded sweatshirts. He ran out and would have to get more made. I had ordered two. Unfortunately, I genuinely could have used the sweatshirt then and there. But I had other garments I could wear to keep warm. I'll probably get the sweatshirts when the daily temperature is reaching 110 degrees.[27] [27] It's now March 15, the date of my final editing pass through this section, and the latest word is that we may not get them at all. Usually my legs don't suffer from the cold. Still, I wore inexpensive lined Wilson warm-up pants Friday morning that I picked up at a K-Mart in Minnesota when I went to visit my mother a year ago and forgot to bring running pants. These pants are not made of high-tech fabric. They have a cotton lining that absorbs and holds sweat. I started the race still wearing these. On top I optimistically wore a singlet, with two jackets over it. On my head I put my superlative running hat and my ever-present Oakleys, which I wore all day and all night. During the day I used the dark lenses, and at night I switched to the lighter ones. They do an excellent job of helping to keep wind and sweat out of the eyes. At 8:42 AM I bolted for the indoor potty, in hopes of dumping a large amount of excess ballast. Instead, I made rabbit pellets, better than nothing. I emerged just in time for Paul's pre-race pep talk to the assembled 24-hour runners, explaining the layout, the rules, and the services available. We were reminded that there were people on the course who were trying to set records, and that after five days some of the 6-day runners might behave a little territorially. As it worked out, even with the runners from all three races present, the track was never unduly crowded, and everyone got along famously. At precisely 8:57 rain began to fall. Rats! It had not rained in over two months in Phoenix. Couldn't it wait one more day? Was this a harbinger of things to come?
Excerpts from 'Running Through the Millennium' by Lynn David Newton |