Scott’s Blog

Many of you have been wondering what happened at Ultracentric and why I have not posted sooner. I decided to let the dust settle a bit before posting a race report. A lot of critical comments have been posted on the Ultra list and I wanted to focus on what I have learned from my experience last weekend. All too often emotions run wild, and I feel it is best to sit back and contemplate a bit.

Upon arriving to check out the race course on Friday, I was shocked to see the amount of climbing and descending on the 1.15 mile loop. I had been told and it was posted on the website that the loop was flat and fast with nine and a half feet of gain. I decided against using my altimeter to measure the elevation gain and loss and would just accept the course as it was presented. Too late now. I had spent too much time and money, as well as extending my training and racing season to let the course derail my plans for an American record. Mental outlook is so important prior to a big performance. Plus, I had my friend and crew member Justin, telling me the hills were no big deal. I knew it wasn’t true, but the positive talk was appreciated.

On Saturday at the start it would have been easy to complain about the weather as it was 35-40 degrees with 30 mph gusts and a steady 15-20 mph wind. The temps were supposed to warm to a perfect 55-60 degrees and I felt that I could deal with the wind as it was supposed to decrease late in the day and throughout the night. I settled into a rhythm running 6:30 pace. It was a little faster than I had planned. I knew I would back off to 7:00-7:15 pace as planned. I enjoyed the company of Seth, a 2:26 marathoner from Salt Lake doing his first ultra, and Elijah an East African who was also participating in his first ultra. It was a pleasure meeting and running with both of these talented athletes.

As the miles clicked by I began to memorize all the intricate details of the course. I learned where the cambers of the pavement and the tangents met each other so as to keep a balance between running on level pavement as much as possible without losing too much of the tangent line. The hills seemed manageable, but I knew in the back of my mind that these hills would become mountains late into the race. On the back side of the course one hill was made particularly difficult because of the wind. It not only consisted of a nice climb, but 30 mph wind blowing right into my face. It became the worst stretch on the course and I tried to waltz through this section as smoothly as possible. It was too early to expend more energy than needed.

A benefit of 24-hour races is having fellow runners pass by and offer encouragement. It was a pleasure to share some quick exchanges with runners I have known for years, as well as runners I was meeting for the first time. I was impressed with the 48-hour runners as they had been on the course for over 24 hours and still had another day to go!

The volunteers and those that came to offer their support were wonderful. They gave a good Texan welcome to all the runners and I would like to thank all of those who helped out with this event.
I came through the marathon at 3:04. I was right on schedule with my splits. I was hoping for a 3:05-10 marathon split. The hills were making my splits tougher to attain, but I stuck to the plan and kept moving along. My 50K split was approximately 3:44. Unfortunately the race organizers did not have enough volunteers to give splits out on the course. The distances were marked on the course, although it was hard to remember where they were, as my crew would tell me what lap I was on and approximate distance.

Somewhere around the 40 mile mark I started to notice the effect of the hills more and more. I was holding 8:15-30 pace and well ahead of American record pace, but I began to question whether this was a course for an American record. I also was feeling the effects of my Spartathlon performance from six weeks prior. The effort I would have to put out on this hilly course would be even greater than what I did at Spartathlon. As I went by my crew I told them I was contemplating dropping from the race and saving myself for another day and another course. Of course they were tough on me, encouraging me to go on saying I couldn’t drop now as I was still on American record pace. I told myself I would continue until 50 miles and be done. I knew what would lie ahead and it was not worth risking injury for a below American record performance. At 49 miles I called it a day.

When I stopped, I felt good about my decision. It is never easy dropping from a race and I have only done this a handful of times, but in those instances it has been a wise choice. It was clearly a wise choice in this case, as I checked my altimeter to see how much elevation gain I experienced. In 49 miles I climbed and descended 1069 meters! Yes, 3,500 feet, 71 feet per mile! To break the American record of 162 miles I would have climbed over 11,500 feet! Despite being a seasoned trail and mountain runner, 24-hour with elevation gain are not desirable. In order to achieve my best possible performance and compare against the world’s best, the course needs to be flat as possible.
Despite all the negative criticism that has surrounded Ultracentric I would like to compliment Robert on his efforts to offer prize money at the 24-hour distance and encourage top athletes to go after American records. This is seldom seen in the sport of ultrarunning.

So what I have learned? The most important lesson learned for me going forward in 24-hour record attempts is to check out a course before competing. I trusted that the course would be flat and fast with nine and a half feet of elevation gain. I went off what the RD had told me in a phone discussion and the info posted on the Ultracentric website. In retrospect, I should have had someone in the Dallas area check out the course before I committed and spent the time and money. Most importantly, I only have so many great 100 mile plus performances left in my career and I need to be selective when I put my body, mind, and soul on the line.

I want to thank my crew Justin Angle and Dusty Olson for taking time to come and support me. They did a great job making sure smooth transitions were made for aid and calculations made on distance updates. Although they were bummed that I did not succeed, I am sure they were happy they didn’t have to spend a sleepless night in windy 32 degree weather…

Finally a big thank you to my sponsors Brooks Sports, Green Foods, and Pro-Tec for the generous support this season!

Reporting live from McKinney, Texas… I am feeling ready to go. A few thoughts before I set off…

The weather looks good with temperatures near ideal, high of 60 degrees and low of 32 degrees. Wind is supposed to be blowing 15 to 20 miles per hour with occasional gusts of 30 miles per hour, so the wind will be making me earn my keep.

The 1.15 mile course is not flat, but the undulations (or hills as we normally refer to them) may be welcomed to vary the repetitiveness. Or, that “special treat” of variation may be loathed as the hours click by and the climb seems to grow in size.

The current American record is 162.46 miles, set by Mark Godale. Mark gave me a call this past week to wish me good luck and it is comraderie like this amongst fellow competitors in our sport that has always impressed me.

The world record is held by Yiannis Kouros at 180.33 miles and only one has come within 10% of this legendary mark. My goal is to see where I stack among these marks and measure myself in an event that has been testing athletes since the ancient Greek games to indoor 24-hour races in Madison Square Gardens to modern day world record performances by the great Greek, Kouros.

Like me, Nikki Kimball will be making her debut in the 24-hour event and she is ready to go after the American record. Although both of us have a wealth of ultra experience, we are embarking on an adventure in uncharted territory.

And finally, it occurred to me the other day that I have never done a race where there is no finish line. 24-hour races have a starting line and that is it. The finish line will be elusive, a moment in time that I will chase around and around the one mile loop.

On the inside cover of Ultramarathon is the following text that serves as a reminder of what will lie ahead in my 24-hour adventure.

To Go On.
When Everything Else
Wants To Stop…

It is not pain I feel but sinking.
My involvement with the world grows dimmer.
It occurs to me that it would be nice to keel over.
A barely audible whisper says it would be a nice way out.
It seems almost impossible to bother any more…
but I do.

My season comes to a close this weekend with a new adventure, The Ultracentric Experience, a 24-hour race in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. It will be my first 24-hour event.

What took so long? To be honest, 24-hour events once seemed kind of nuts to me. I loved running 50 or 100 miles on a trail, spending a day and night in the wilderness following a ribbon of singletrack –- that seemed sane enough. But running around a small pavement loop or rubber track for 24 hours just to find out how many miles I could crank out, well, I didn’t really see it.

Then in 2000 while training for my second Western States 100, a coworker at Seattle Running Company, Jeff Dean, gave me his old paperback, Ultramarathon by James Shapiro. He said it was a must read, a classic from the early 80′s. It was worn around the edges and had that musty old book smell, and it took me a couple of months to get around to reading it.

Well, the book blew me away. The first chapter describes the author’s experience in a 24-hour race at the Crystal Palace in London, and the writing is some of the best I have read on what happens to the human psyche in an ultramarathon. After reading that chapter I started to think I could wrap my body and mind around a 24-hour race. And I began to appreciate the mystery and adventure of an event so many see as mind numbing and insane. Here’s how Shapiro says it:

“The 24-hour is one of the classics. Too many men and women I admired had done it and I hadn’t. It had too perfect a shape and handle for me not to yearn to pick it up and use it to pry myself open to see what I am made of. One learns to accept the destinies one creates for oneself. Besides, a race would be impossibly dull without some fear and doubts to wrestle against.”

So there are many reasons I’ll find myself on the starting line this coming Saturday: a book written three decades years ago, the challenge of seeing where I stack up against the legends of ultramarathoning, and a desire to pry myself open once again and see what I am made of.

If you can’t get your hands on one of the few existing copies of Ultramarathon, check out Shapiro’s article:“It’s Seven O’clock In The Morning” Sports Illustrated July 28, 1980. It’s an excerpt from the first chapter of Ultramarathon. It might just move you to run a 24-hour race!