Beware the chair

Race report on “Across the Years 72/48/24 Hour Footrace”

I loved this event.  Pretty plain and simple, I just loved it.  Not that I’m terribly satisfied with my performance (see the title…more on that later), but it was just a helluva good time.

ATY is a fixed-time event with 72, 48 and 24 hour events ongoing..  In contrast to races of a given distance, the objective in a fixed-time event is to cover as much distance as possible in the allotted time.  ATY has a long and venerable history, with 2010-2011 being the 27th running.  Rather than attempt to even summarize it, the following is a link to the FAQ section of the event’s website.  http://acrosstheyears.com/faq.html At any point in time, multiple events are going on.  The 72 hour event participants started on December 29, with 48 hour participants starting on either December 29 or 30.  Those of us slackers in the 24 hour category started on any one of the three days.

The 2010-2011 version of ATY was held at the Nardini Manor outside of Phoenix, AZ.  Even more than ATY, the Nardini Manor has a long history, dating back to its construction in the early 1900’s.  It is a stately facility located at the edge of development in Buckeye, AZ, complete with gardens and a gazebo on the grounds.

Nardini Manor on December 31.

Walled gardens with citrus (orange? grapefruit?) trees.

View from inside Nardini Manor. Lots of open spaces.

For runners, of course, the best feature of the facility is the certified 500 meter track around the perimeter.  The surface is described as crushed gravel, and when combined with a world-class aid station and timing equipment, along with porta-potties adjacent to the track, it was the perfect setting.  Essentially, it removed all of the variables from a runner’s performance.  All of the variables except weather, that is.  And that would prove to be a big variable, at least on day one.

ATY was my first attempt at a fixed time event.  Despite my advancing age (let’s say I’m squarely in AARP’s marketing sights) I have a lot to learn about ultras, and this was another lesson.  It’s no secret that ultras have become more popular in recent years, with many events holding lotteries for entrance.  ATY is no exception, and I was very happy to get in.  Even though there are no DNF’s (“did not finish”) in fixed-time events, I felt that it was important to respect the event and put forth a solid effort.  (I’m not quite satisfied I accomplished this but, again, more on this later).  Even better, I got my first choice, the 24 hour event starting on December 31.  I would, indeed, go “across the years” running.

I’ve found that one real luxury in life is scheduling a full day with nothing to do prior to a long running event.   I chose to fly from my home in Kansas City, MO to Phoenix on the evening of December 29.  By arriving late that evening I would have all day on the 30th to rest, drink beer and watch college football bowl games.  (Once I concluded that drinking wheat beer was “carbo loading,” much of the conflict in my life disappeared).  So rather than go to the office on the 29th, I worked from home, periodically checking the ATY webcams, the constantly updating leader board and the weather.  It was, of course, the weather causing issues.  The desert has relatively few days of rain, and December’s average rainfall was around .92 inches of rain.  Averages don’t mean much when it’s raining, of course.  And raining it was through much of December 29, leaving parts of the track muddy and slick.  I heard from runners that it rained well into the night, followed by a drop in temperature.  As to my December 29 evening, it consisted of Leinenkugel Sunset Wheats along with the Arizona/Oklahoma State football game.

As noted, December 30 was an “off day,” so I decided to take a trip to Nardini Manor to get sort of a feel for the course and event.  First note…..it’s a long way out there, relatively speaking.  I was staying in Surprise, AZ and it was a full 30 miles to the race site, passing through farm ground, stalled housing developments and even a cattle feedlot.  I stopped outside the Manor and just observed the proceedings.  Wednesday’s rain had been replaced by wind, and it seemed to be blowing like hell.  I could see the runners circling the grounds, battling through the wind.  After my visit, I headed back for some lunch, beer and the K-State football game.  Carbo loading can be fun!

My race day, December 31 dawned cold…..I had to scrape the windshield of my rental car.  I arrived at the Nardini Manor more than an hour before the 9 AM start time and wandered around, surveying the grounds.  Pretty simple really.  A track on the edge of the grounds.  A sort of headquarters area, with a series of tents, one housing an aid station, one housing the timing facilities and then a larger tent where runners have “camped out,” with sleeping bags, tents, air mattresses, etc.  Within the larger tent is a smaller heated tent.

The aid station near the timing mat. I would grow to love the cuisine.

Runners completing yet another lap. The yellow tag signifies a 72-hour participant.

Those of us starting on December 31 listened to a pre-race briefing, and just waited for 9 AM to arrive.  When it did, we took off heading counter clockwise around the track.  (In this event, the direction is reversed every two hours to sort of average out the stresses on the runners’ legs.)  What I discovered about this event is that it is perfect for an accountant.  Imagine…..a fixed distance per lap, a timing chip to measure the number of laps completed, and a running total of distance in kilometers and miles.  It’s an accountant’s dream!  Unfortunately, I’m metrically challenged.  I did not do the basic research before starting to determine that there are 1,609.344 meters to the mile.  (This means a 500 meter lap is .3106 miles).  If I’d realized this, my simple mind would have been continuously engaged in calculations and extrapolations.

Continuously updated lap counter, color coded by event (blue for 24 hr, green for 48 hr, red for 72 hr).

My goal for the event was 100 miles, which I thought would take 23-24 hours.  Since late August, I’d completed two 100’s (Lean Horse and Heartland) and one 50 (JFK) with the latter followed by ATY, with events being spaced by about six weeks each.  The detriment to this schedule is that between recovery and tapering, I didn’t get much actual training.  So I really didn’t have a good feel for how the day would play out.

Under my current theory of running 100 miles, I start by walking the first 10 minutes.  After that, I try to mix running and walking with a goal pace (for a flat course) of around 12 minutes per mile.  Ideally, this gets me to 50 miles at around 10 hours (usually somewhat longer given aid station stops, etc.).  If I can hit this, I’ve got 14 hours to cover the last 50 miles for a 24-hour hundred.  For ATY, I opted for a strategy of running two laps then walking one.  And that was it.  No course changes, no terrain changes, no questionable footing.  Just around and around.  Early running laps were about 3:15, with walking laps being a minute longer.  This meant that it took 10:45 to cover three laps, or .9318 miles.  This was a pace per mile of about 11:32.  Throw in an aid station visit, porta-pottie stops, etc. and I was on goal pace or a bit ahead as the day started out.

The weather, a definite issue on days one and two, was benign on day three with temperatures in the high 40’s.  The track was filled with runners going at varying paces.  Many, especially the 72-hour participants, were simply trying to keep moving forward.  Others were lapping me on a regular basis.  Overall the mood was quite social–runners were issued bibs emblazoned with their names and instructed to wear them so they were visible from the rear.  As a result, it was easy to greet fellow participants and strike up a conversation.  I was generally focused on my pace and spoke just briefly to the other runners.

A participant with an eye for style and color.

At Lean Horse and Heartland I battled nausea for extended periods, and went for long stretches with no nutrition.  That was not an issue here.  Hell, I ate everything in sight, from chocolate cupcakes to pizza to peach cobbler, along with more traditional ultra foods: soup, pretzels, grilled cheese and fruit.  The aid station was truly outstanding.

The cool daytime temperatures were obviously going to drop when the sun went down.  I decided to stick with my shorts and light top until 7 PM if at all possible.  That would be the 10 hour mark when I should be approaching 50 miles.  I planned to change clothes and then alter my walk / run ratio to one each to take into account my tiring state.  Consistent with the convenience of the event, I had left my bag at the side of the track, and simply stopped off to change clothes.  It is surprisingly difficult to execute a simple clothes change after just 50 miles.  My fingers were stiff, and untying and tying shoes took a few minutes, as did pulling off and putting on shirts.  But after a struggling a few minutes, I was back in business, with long pants, two fresh shirts and a jacket.  As temperatures dropped further, I had packages of “Hot Hands,” a chemical warmer to drop in my gloves.

The night wore on, and I kept grinding out the laps.  My pace had begun to suffer a bit with running laps of 3:40 and walking laps of 4:40.  It dawned on me….I was getting sleepy!  At 9 PM?  Well, I am an early morning guy, and 10 PM is my bedtime.  So I popped a No-Doz (the first of three over the course of the night) and kept going.  Aided by caffeine, lap time dropped to 3:30 and 4:30 for running and walking.

As midnight approached, the noisemakers were broken out and fireworks arranged.  Everyone was encouraged to pull off the track and celebrate the New Year.  I didn’t.  I had a good run going and just kept grinding.

This event reminded me once again how hard it is to cover 100 miles on foot.  Good weather (albeit cold), flat track, great support notwithstanding, it’s just a hard grind to cover the distance.  My pace was holding up OK, but it was tiring.  I promised myself that I would take a break and warm up once I hit the 100 mile mark.  A few minutes in the heated tent, maybe even a short nap would put me in shape to close out the event.  Sometime around 5:45 or so, one of my partners / friends stopped by to log a few laps with me.  Steve Toomey has a second home in Phoenix and was spending some holiday time there.  His company was welcome and made the laps to the 100.3 mile point go quite nicely.  I had hit the century mark at 6:15 AM, for an elapsed time of 21:15.  This was a personal best at the distance by 38 minutes.

In hindsight, I should have kept going as long as Steve was willing to stay.  But I was fatigued, a bit cold and had promised myself a break.  Steve took off, and I headed to the heated tent for a break.  However, one of the heaters was broken and the one remaining heater was not adequate to warm the tent.  Instead of getting warmer, I started getting colder.  And stiffer.  I began to lose the resolve to go back out.  I even sat in the car and tried to warm up a bit.  No luck.

There is an old adage in ultra running:  “beware the chair.”  If a runner is not careful a few minutes in a comfortable chair can spell a DNF.  I’d fallen victim to “the chair.”

As noted earlier, there are no DNFs in fixed time events.  Many runners establish a goal, whether it’s 100k or 100 miles and quit when they achieve it.  No shame in that.  I was happy with my performance in getting to the 100 mile mark.  However, I wasted the opportunity to grind out some additional miles….maybe another five or 10.   So I’m sorta disgusted with my lack of resolve to continue to the end.  As Yogi said, “Half this game is 90% mental.”  I need to remember this.

I’ll close this report the way I opened:  I loved this event and would do it again in a heartbeat.  What better way to welcome the New Year?  Next time, of course, I’ll stay out of “the chair.”