Why do they do it?

This weekend was the Ultracentric National Championships, held right here in Texas. Grapevine to be exact. These are people that have decided that the marathon is no longer enough. That they need to run 50 or 100 or more miles to get the job done. It’s beyond me, but I left feeling like a total slug.

My friend Judy ran the 24 hour event. She rocks! She made it 52.8 miles (double marathons, plus .4 miles for good measure) before she gave in to blisters and pained hamstrings. She decided not to push it any further after 13:04:03.75 of forward motion. After all, she’s pushing for a sub-4 hour PR at the Tucson Marathon next month. It’s a great course to do a PR on (all downhill!) and she’s really been putting in the miles. Go Judy!

I went out to the race at 8 pm to cheer her on. I walked her second-to-last loop with her, and she did the last loop on her own. Then I volunteered at the aid station until 1 am, serving up hot soup, burgers, pasta, rice and sweet and salty snacks to runners.  They were cold and tired, and some had been running for 36 hours or more in the 48 hour event. Most with smiles on their faces. I admired them all. Even the grumpy ones. Hell. I’d be a bitch-on-wheels too if I’d been running that long!

And I couldn’t do the same 2.4 mile loop over and over. Nope. I’d need to be like Forrest. Just put a long road out there and tell me to run. And put some barking dogs behind me.

Results.