The Yurt and 64.2 miles
I only ran 15 of those miles. I just want to get that out there right now. Nate was the runner I was supporting. He ran the whole thing. I'll tell you more about him later; I will tell you about Nate and Kelly, and a few things I observed, but first, what is an ultra marathon and why would anyone run one?
There are races over marathon distance. A marathon is 26.2 miles, and any distance over that is known as an ultra marathon. This was my first experience with an ultra, besides reading about them in Runner's World. The race, Neverending Summer 100K, was in Colorado beginning in Gould, Colorado: population eight. Seriously, there are eight people who live there. The location was beautiful. Stunning. I saw a few moose, and a bear. My friend Kelly saw a couple of foxes, too.
MY PEOPLE: The longer the distance, the more I feel that these are my kind of people, and this is my kind of race. Most of the runners I saw run and hike the race. The hills (aka mountains) were too steep to actually run, but there is no wrong way to bag a peak. Just keep going. The runners had trekking poles in their hands or packs to use as extra support. As I was hiking up my never-ending hill (why do we call mountains hills when we are running them? In any other context they would be mountains) in the middle of the night, I wanted trekking poles.
The runners wouldn't be pegged out of a crowd as anything other than really fit individuals. They looked like runners/hikers with camel packs on. The beginning of the race was different than any race I've run. Several runners were still in line for porta-potties when the gun went off. They caught up four minutes after the start time, and were completely cool with that. Guys, the porta potties were my big sad place. I have been in many a porta, and no....just, no.
PACING: For the ultra marathon races, there becomes a point in the race where the runners are allowed pacers. I am not sure of the distance when pacers are allowed, but I imagine any race over 50 miles. A pacer is someone with fresh legs who runs a portion of the race with the person getting the medal. That being said, a pacer can run a really long way. Pacers in this race were allowed around mile 40, so that could mean a pacer could run 25 miles with their runner. Kelly and I split the pacing miles, with her running around 10 with Nate, but she had a 5 mile hike into the aid station. I ran 15 from mile 50 through the finish. A pacer is like a doula for a birthing mother. I tried to be what the runner needs. If they need conversation, do that. If they need to focus, then do that. I tried to keep Nate going as fast as he could go. For us, that meant we hiked the uphills, and ran the down hills as fast as our legs could keep up with the headlamp light. We did Tabata type running on the straightaways when we could. We had very simple conversation, like: "I have to pee," or "how many miles" (to the aid station) and "Ok"(meaning, we could run again after a walk break), and at one point we talked about running shoes. I need to get some Altra Lone Peaks. One of the jobs I had in college was working at Philmont Scout Ranch, and I did a lot of night hiking. I never knew that skill would come in so handy. Alas, my sure footed, speedy night hiking was invaluable.
CREW: The less glamorous, but super important part of the race was crewing. Crew meet the runner at the aid stations they are able to hike into, cheer them on, and provide physical assistance. Some runners wanted their legs rubbed. Other runners wanted to sit and talk about the last portion of the race. Some runners had food from home. Many runners had their families there. Having watched this whole thing, I do not recommend having children as crew. They were so cute, and the pictures were precious, but they had to sit and wait for a long time, and runners are really needy when they come into the aid stations. Spouses and significant others are awesome to have at the aid stations, providing mental support for their runners, and being able to deal with the neediness. Kelly and I were friends to Nate, so we did what we could by providing familiar faces, but we weren't familiar with Nate's running and recovery routine and eating preferences, so we learned as the course went along. There were runners who had no crew, and they did their own thing for the entire race, but that seemed extremely lonely to me. Fortunately, this race had AMAZING volunteers and support for the runners. Can you say pickles, potatoes, soda, gummy bears, and bacon at the aid stations? I mean, this was a race for runners, by runners. I thought pickles were brilliant, and I had a feeling that bacon was perfect for long distance running. It is.
The Yurt: I stayed in a brand new word for my vocabulary, a yurt. A yurt is a little hut without electricity or plumbing. It had a wood stove in it, and the ability to cook. It smelled like smoke and morning breath, and it was warm. Not far from the yurt was an outhouse.The floor was cold, but clean, and there were bunk beds. We each had our own bunk bed. I slept on the top bunk both nights, and after Nate was crawled on by a little creature that he thought was a mouse, we all decided the top bunk was the way to go. I did not sleep well in the yurt on night one, but I did sleep well on night two: the 4 hours of sleep night. The squeaky, uncushioned bed became super soft and perfectly comfortable...kind of like my bed right now.
So tired, but I just want to say that the metaphors between running and life are too easy to make without pointing out that I am so grateful to my life crew. The ones who provide familiar faces, and know what I like. I am grateful for my pacers who travel with me for the miles they can, and provide respite from the journey I face alone. If you are reading this, you are probably part of my crew, and the unselfishness you have in supporting me is noted. Thank you.
There are races over marathon distance. A marathon is 26.2 miles, and any distance over that is known as an ultra marathon. This was my first experience with an ultra, besides reading about them in Runner's World. The race, Neverending Summer 100K, was in Colorado beginning in Gould, Colorado: population eight. Seriously, there are eight people who live there. The location was beautiful. Stunning. I saw a few moose, and a bear. My friend Kelly saw a couple of foxes, too.
MY PEOPLE: The longer the distance, the more I feel that these are my kind of people, and this is my kind of race. Most of the runners I saw run and hike the race. The hills (aka mountains) were too steep to actually run, but there is no wrong way to bag a peak. Just keep going. The runners had trekking poles in their hands or packs to use as extra support. As I was hiking up my never-ending hill (why do we call mountains hills when we are running them? In any other context they would be mountains) in the middle of the night, I wanted trekking poles.
The runners wouldn't be pegged out of a crowd as anything other than really fit individuals. They looked like runners/hikers with camel packs on. The beginning of the race was different than any race I've run. Several runners were still in line for porta-potties when the gun went off. They caught up four minutes after the start time, and were completely cool with that. Guys, the porta potties were my big sad place. I have been in many a porta, and no....just, no.
CREW: The less glamorous, but super important part of the race was crewing. Crew meet the runner at the aid stations they are able to hike into, cheer them on, and provide physical assistance. Some runners wanted their legs rubbed. Other runners wanted to sit and talk about the last portion of the race. Some runners had food from home. Many runners had their families there. Having watched this whole thing, I do not recommend having children as crew. They were so cute, and the pictures were precious, but they had to sit and wait for a long time, and runners are really needy when they come into the aid stations. Spouses and significant others are awesome to have at the aid stations, providing mental support for their runners, and being able to deal with the neediness. Kelly and I were friends to Nate, so we did what we could by providing familiar faces, but we weren't familiar with Nate's running and recovery routine and eating preferences, so we learned as the course went along. There were runners who had no crew, and they did their own thing for the entire race, but that seemed extremely lonely to me. Fortunately, this race had AMAZING volunteers and support for the runners. Can you say pickles, potatoes, soda, gummy bears, and bacon at the aid stations? I mean, this was a race for runners, by runners. I thought pickles were brilliant, and I had a feeling that bacon was perfect for long distance running. It is.
The Yurt: I stayed in a brand new word for my vocabulary, a yurt. A yurt is a little hut without electricity or plumbing. It had a wood stove in it, and the ability to cook. It smelled like smoke and morning breath, and it was warm. Not far from the yurt was an outhouse.The floor was cold, but clean, and there were bunk beds. We each had our own bunk bed. I slept on the top bunk both nights, and after Nate was crawled on by a little creature that he thought was a mouse, we all decided the top bunk was the way to go. I did not sleep well in the yurt on night one, but I did sleep well on night two: the 4 hours of sleep night. The squeaky, uncushioned bed became super soft and perfectly comfortable...kind of like my bed right now.
So tired, but I just want to say that the metaphors between running and life are too easy to make without pointing out that I am so grateful to my life crew. The ones who provide familiar faces, and know what I like. I am grateful for my pacers who travel with me for the miles they can, and provide respite from the journey I face alone. If you are reading this, you are probably part of my crew, and the unselfishness you have in supporting me is noted. Thank you.
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