Ever since I started running ultras in 2002 I have always found it difficult,
or should I say mentally challenging, when I have had to do multiple
loops in a race. Incidentally my first ultra was a 9 hour run to celebrate
the 90th birthday of Joe Klinerman. That day I ran 363 laps on a 200
meter indoor track and maybe set myself up for this torture for the
rest of my life. Since then I have done the 50 miler in Central Park
twice which involves running the 4 mile loop 12.5 times. Most of us
who have run in Central Park would relate to my pain, if you will, in
this endeavor.
So when Yayoi and I decided to register for the inaugural Green Lakes
Endurance run in Syracuse I was not exactly too thrilled and jumping
for joy. There were two distances - 100K and 50K. The loop is a certified
5K course and thereby making the math relatively simple.
On Saturday, August 26, 2006 Yayoi and I headed out to Syracuse to participate
in this event. In June we had done a race in PA and I had met the Race
Directors wife (Laurel) and she had mentioned this race. So we decide
to go for it. Yayoi was not very thrilled with the idea of me driving
as I had some problems the last time we drove back from a long race.
So we decided to take the train. But going to any small city can be
tricky if you don’t have a car. That was a cause of concern because
the rental car companies in Syracuse were not open on the weekend. So
how would we get to the hotel and the race site the next day without
a car? This is why I feel that Ultra running is such an amazing sport.
Todd the race director told me that he would not only arrange to get
us to the race but would also arrange to pick us up from the station
to take us to the hotel ! So we got to Syracuse on Saturday at 2.00
pm and the wonderful Margaret (another runner) was there to give us
a ride. I must say what a treat it was. It almost felt like we were
elite runners. She had worked all night at her job and she had chores
to do all Saturday and she still squeezed in time to give us a ride
from the station to our hotel. What can I say but – THANK YOU
Margaret (I am sure you will be reading this and I envision you will
have that big, wonderful, infectious smile on your face)!
So on Sunday Todd picked us up at 5.00 am and took us to the race venue.
It was a dampish morning and just a bit chilly and quite windy. The
fact that we were so close to the water may have made it feel a bit
colder than it actually was. There we met up with Laurel (Todd’s
wife) and she immediately remembered me from our meeting at the previous
race in PA. This race is run exclusively in the Green Lake State Park
(for details of the race and park go to - http://www.wny-ultra.org/gler
. The loop takes the runner around two lakes in the park. So basically
you start by running on one side then the trail narrows into almost
a tiny bridge type of formation and then the runner comes to the other
side where one needs to do a loop of the second lake which brings you
back to the other side of the big lake onto the start/finish line….
Got it? It sounds confusing but once you have done it a couple of times
it is relatively simple. The bigger lake loop is approx. 2 miles and
the smaller lake loop is approx. 1 mile. I must admit it was absolutely
gorgeous. What is very interesting and maybe a bit different about this
Ultra is that the course is flat with a couple of “speed bumps”.
So if you are in good physical shape, you can get a huge PR here. However,
the mental part of it is a totally different ball-game. The terrain
does not give you any reason or excuse to walk. There were 50 runner
combined for both distances. The race started off at 6.30 am and off
we went. I went through the first 5 loops at a very easy relaxed pace
at approx. 26-27 minutes per 5K lap. The two or three lead runners had
already lapped me by that time so you can imagine how fast they were
going. The only thing that bothered me throughout the race was my stomach
which did not quite settle down. I had to answer natures call a few
times and it kind of threw me off a bit. But this is what ultra running
is all about. You take the bad with the good and hope like hell that
the bad does not get worse !!
Anyway, by lap 6 I was feeling a bit fatigued and experiencing stiffness
in my left leg and knee. This is all a result of not enough training.
I know Yayoi is probably saying right about now, “I told you so!!”
So from lap 6 onwards I tried to do the best I could but my lap times
were slipping. I got lapped by the lead runners again and then sometime
around lap 7 or 8 Yayoi lapped me too. Even though she is an amazing
runner and trains and runs far smatter than me I must admit that it
is a bit hard to digest the fact that a girl passed me. I did find out
later that she actually was the fastest woman for the 50K but because
she was registered for the 100K she was not awarded the first prize.
Ultra running in my opinion is one of the most unpredictable sports
there is. One never knows how things will materialize and that is what
makes it exciting and scary at the same time.
Well I finally came to the final lap and had set myself into a nice
comfortable (slow) pace, when a mile from the finish I came to an abrupt
stop. Smack in the middle of the trail there was a snake which had no
intention of going anywhere. Luckily I was very close to one of the
volunteers and he had a news paper and he tried to make some noise so
it would move. Finally after almost a minute or two it did, as if wondering
to itself what the ruckus was all about. So my final time was 5 H :
16 M : 29 S. Yayoi finished in 4 H : 20 M : 30 S. The winning time –
3 H : 40 M !! Now that is some kind of time for 31 miles, flat course
or not !
After the race there was tons of food but I could not eat much. I was
way too quizzy to put anything in my stomach. Laurel dropped us off
at the hotel where we took a shower and got to the station to get the
5.45 pm train back to NY. I finally got to bed at about 2.00 am, dog
tired. But it is, in most cases, a nice kind of fatigue. It felt good
to have run 31 miles, felt good to have finished in spite of not being
in the best of shape.
Hopefully we can go back next year and do the 100K ……..
a mere 20 laps of the beautiful Green Lakes !
Once again a huge THANK YOU to Todd Baum (Race Director), Laurel Baum,
Margaret and all the amazing and wonderful volunteers without whose
help and dedication events like this would never happen.
