:: Contact :: Subscribe

The Word

By 12:30 PM yesterday (Wednesday) I was off to the races again. That morning the early starting 24-hour runners began, twelve of them, added to the eighteen 6-day runners, all of whom are still hanging in there.

As of this morning, lead 6-day runner Antonio de Freitas had 281 miles. Yesterday he was much quieter than he'd been the first and third days. German Martina Hausmann is still second overall by a margin of 47 miles, and still hoping to set a German record, but since early in the race she has appeared to be in a great deal of discomfort. One early-starting 24-hour runner, 57-year-old Saben Snow, had 64 miles by twelve hours, and yesterday was running constantly and at an amazing clip. At this writing I do not yet have the final results for the early starting 24-hour runners.

My job Wednesday, except for one break to prepare the Internet report, was to be the numbers caller, the delicious job that Cyra-Lea held down all Tuesday afternoon. This was immeasurably more fun than being up in the booth, because it gave me a chance to interact directly with the runners.

I had watched at least two lackluster volunteers just rattling off the numbers, looking incredibly bored, failing to appreciate the golden opportunity they had. I determined that I would make an extraordinary effort to perform my job, enunciating each number loud and clear, making eye contact with each runner, wearing the biggest smile I could muster, and cheering them on whenever I could. Apparently my efforts were both successful and appreciated. As time passed, the runners all smiled back at me when they came around, and we had little conversation threads going.

Another volunteer showed up at 3:00 PM, a man who will be running the 24-hour race Friday. One of the first things he said as he surveyed the scene was: ``I can't believe how many of these people are smiling}'' He touched on a point that I had observed myself.

Likely some non-runners, when told of the existence of an event like ATY, a supreme test of endurance, picture scenes of misery, with delirious people collapsing in exhaustion and physical peril on the track, having to be carted off on stretchers to be given medical attention. The reality is runners doing what they do best, running, talking, joking, laughing, and enjoying each other's company, in this case, for a reallylong time}. At a long track run, an intimate sense of community quickly springs up among runners, volunteers, and crew people alike, as all immerse themselves into the common experience at hand.

The truth is that last year there was one serious near-disaster, but it was an anomaly. The subject was Stephanie Ehret, the overall winner of the 24-hour race. She became seriously ill after completing her race with 129 miles, and vomited up her stomach lining. She spent two days in an intensive care unit.

Stephanie's case was unusual, and sufficiently worthy of analysis that she wrote an article about her experience that will be published in the magazine Marathon & Beyond in the spring of 2000. She will be at ATY again Friday, hoping to do well once again.

Another misconception non-runners may have about extreme endurance sport is that it is participated in primarily by wild and crazy thrill-seeking young people, most of them no older than college age, with a few veterans reaching age thirty, except for a few lunatics on the fringes like me.

This notion, too, is diametrically opposed to the reality. Ultrarunning is not a form of so-called extreme sports. Great endurance takes knowledge, skill, intelligence, and patience, in addition to good training, as well as maturity and experience that only years of life can develop. First-time observers might be shocked to see that there is hardly a participant without some amount of gray hair.

Of the eighteen persons participating in the 6-day race, both the average and median age is 50. The range is 26 to 69, with one participant in his twenties, four in their thirties, four in their forties, two in their fifties, and seven in their sixties. The two women are 39 and 53.

The distribution is similar for the 48-hour and 24-hour runners, with the one outstanding exception of thirteen-year-old James Bonnett-Castillo, the race director's son, whose voice hasn't even changed yet. James won the 24-hour ``men's'' event last year at age twelve with 101.40 miles. He's participating again this year, and is intent on bettering his record. James spent all day yesterday playing soccer with his brothers on the field behind me, and an hour or so Tuesday running around the track like a lightning bolt.

Eating at the race was a bit of a problem for me yesterday. On Wednesday, more than any other pre-race day, I should have monitored my intake more carefully. I wound up eating at least sixteen cookies, the creme-filled variety, a Top Ramen soup, and one cheese crisp, brought to me unasked for.

I arrived home to find my wife bought a whole box of discount sugar cookies, and a big cake with gobs of sugary, gooey frosting. I resisted the cake, but not the cookies. I also had some leftover pasta and a baked potato. At least I've been drinking more than usual the last two days. This morning I woke up with the sugar-shocked equivalent of a hangover. At least I can claim to be fully carbohydrate loaded, even if it's the wrong kind of carbs.

And now I've reached the time when, following the sending of this report, I'll begin packing up my stuff and preparing to head out. We'll go to the race to set up the tent, and then to my brother's house nearby, where we'll spend the night.

The year 1999 has been exceptionally good for me in most respects. As I run tomorrow, I'll be reaping the rewards of much hard work, and celebrating my own joy over the state of my life.

The year 1999 has also presented some problems, frustrations, and disappointments, the worst of which I've refrained from discussing in this journal, because they aren't matters for public discussion. So as I run tomorrow, I'll be running not only through time and distance, and in recognition of the good things that have happened; I'll also be running through the anger, the disappointment, and the frustration, looking to put it far behind me as I move on to the next phase of my life.

Yesterday the weather forecast for Friday predicted temperatures from 44--77 and mostly sunny. This morning it has been revised to 44--70 and partly cloudy. Personally I would have preferred the warmer temperatures, but a little cooler is perfect for running.