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Excerpts from 'Running Through the Millennium' by Lynn David Newton Chapter 10: Getting Close If I Needed SomeoneNo first-timer should even consider running a race of this type entirely without personal assistance. There were volunteers serving the aid stations, and runners in the race develop a spirit of camaraderie, helping one another. But most people also benefit from a personal crew. My family came through big time for me in that respect. There were two aid stations, one on the inside with drinks and food to snatch off the table and eat on the run, and another across from it with microwaves and real food. Suzy worked the latter from early in the race until she and Cyra-Lea left at 1:00 AM. While working, she kept a close eye on me, making up soups and other prepared foods. In mid-afternoon I sat down in my trackside chair for a few minutes to accomplish several maintenance tasks: eating and drinking, taking electrolyte and Advil, writing a couple of thoughts in my notebook, and dumping green track gravel chips out of my shoes. I did not yet know that these chips would later prove to be my nemesis. It was perhaps 2:00 PM, much later than I should have remembered it, when Suzy urged me to rub on some sunscreen. I hadn't done so because it had been mostly cloudy all day, and I was trying to get away without using it. The temperature had risen to 77 degrees, according to the trackside gauge that reported it in tenths of a degree. I clearly needed sunscreen. Yuk. ``Sure, I'll be glad to rub grease all over my body! Could I possibly be any more disgusting after running the last five hours? I'm not nearly funky enough the way I am.'' So on it went, as the aid station attendant across the track cracked up at my sarcasm. It was theoretically necessary for me somehow to gag down between 300 and 450 calories an hour. I was able to sustain that level of input only until evening. After a while all food, whether a delicious piping hot stew or a piece of hard candy, looked loathsome. I ate as much as I could, but inevitably my intake level necessarily tapered. During training runs I discovered that after three or four hours, I couldn't look sideways at Gatorade, or anything that gets squeezed out of a tube. I learned from the Ultra List that many runners have a problem with this, and that for many, plain water provides the most effective hydration. This race I never touched a drop of Gatorade, but drank gallons of water, more than I realized I was capable of. It was always needed and welcome---I never reached a point where I thought I didn't want to drink, which is unusual for me. In daily life I drink far less water than I ought to because I don't like water much. Consuming electrolytes was never a problem. A week before the race I made up a schedule that I printed in a large type font. It included directions on when to give me Succeed! electrolyte capsules and Advil. Providing advance instructions on this and having someone else monitor it was a wise idea. Electrolyte and ibuprofen are not candy; too much or too little can get a runner in big trouble. During the race I didn't remember these things often myself, so was grateful to have someone hand them to me periodically. At the same time, I could ask for more when I wanted it, or decline it when I didn't need it, both of which happened. I benefited enormously from the company of an additional pacer that I didn't expect---Cyra-Lea! She ran with me in two segments of two miles and two segments of three miles, a total of ten miles, spaced between late morning and mid-evening. She didn't count the walking laps. This feat was particularly significant in that Cyra-Lea had never run more than 10K in a single day in her life. She proved to be a capable and welcome pacer. While doing guard duty, seated in my collapsible chair by the side of the track, Cyra-Lea worked on finishing Paula Newby-Fraser's book on fitness. She finished the book sometime in the late afternoon. I'm impressed that she plowed with enthusiasm all the way through what is a highly technical book on physical training, and loved it so much. For the rest of the day, when she joined me, she snowed me with subtle tips on nutrition during tapering, doing intervals, and cross-training. Cyra-Lea's other job was to act as secretary. Frequently, while running, things occur to me that I would like to write about, from whole subjects to simple thoughts and turns of phrase. There's no opportunity to write it all down while running, and much is forgotten. To solve the problem for this jaunt, I provided Cyra-Lea with a notebook, pens, and instructions to write down anything I told her to whenever I flew by. I did get a few useful notes that way, but the method didn't work as well as I had hoped. Often Cyra-Lea was off doing some other task or was otherwise unavailable, while the notebook sat on the grass next to the empty chair. Most of the day Aaron remained largely invisible, watching things quietly from a distance, and also getting a lot of sleep. He's normally a very sociable and likeable fellow, but he had slept very badly the night before, and needed quiet time on his one that day. He must have slept in the tent by himself a good eight hours altogether during the daytime. Late at night, after Suzy and Cyra-Lea left for Dean's, Aaron sat watch over me. During the latest hours there was little for him to do except be available if I needed something. He placed the chair next to the tent, to cut down the wind, and sat in it with his sleeping bag thrown over him, probably dozing off from time to time, but was up and in action in a heartbeat whenever I needed him, which was just occasionally, to get electrolyte, some food, and to help me with my shoes. I don't know that I could have done his job.
Excerpts from 'Running Through the Millennium' by Lynn David Newton |