Run to Win

Imagine that you are in a race, and you have been working with another runner for many miles. You know that you are both running faster than you could have alone, and there’s a $1000 pot for the first place finish. Would you be able to share that win, and the pot, or would you be too competitive and try to pull away, even if it meant a slower time over the long run?

That was an easy question for Erik Skaden and Mike Wolfe to answer. They agreed to run the final 25 miles of the Tahoe Rim Trail 100-Mile Endurance Run together, and to cross the line in unison.

The pair crossed the finish line at Spooner Lake together in 18 hours, 59 minutes, 10 seconds.

“We were running the same pace,” said Wolfe, a Missoula, MT, resident and two-time national champion in the 50-mile trail run. “When you run with someone, you run faster. It was fun.”

They split the money and also shared in the USATF 100 mile championship for the year.

I don’t know that I would be able to do that. I certainly have no problems helping out a fellow racer, especially in long races like a marathon or ultramarathon. It certainly beats running alone. But I’d still think that I would be tempted to test myself against whoever I was running with in the final miles of the race, even if it meant that I lost.

(More Info: RRCA)

This week last year covered a lot of news, and I answered quite a few reader questions.

• This week last year started off with The Running Shoe FAQ, which explained why runners wear specialty shoes and what makes them different from normal walking shoes.
• I answered a question from an aerobics instructor about how to treat posterior shin splints, including what they are, how to best treat them, and how to prevent them from coming back.
• I was asked “What is the difference between swiss balls and medicine balls?” by Susan. Swiss balls are the large inflatable balls that you can sit on, while medicine balls are the small weighted balls that you can use in place of dumbbells. For good measure, I also explained what a bosu ball was.
• Some friends of mine ran the Vermont 100 mile race last year for the first time, and all three have continued on for their ultramarathoning endeavors. In fact, there were 5 guys who went to Vermont last weekend to compete in this year’s event from our training group.
• On the news front, the IAAF finally agreed to work with Oscar Pistorius to determine whether or not his prosthetics give him an advantage. I also provided a new wrap up that covered stories about new Junior American records, doping at the Tour de France, Disney’s move to ban smoking in their movies, and a study that found that obesity is contagious.
• This week two years ago, I continued my series on how to ice sore muscles by explaining how to give yourself an ice massage and how to use an ice bath. I spent a little time exploring the cost of racing and how much race registration fees can cost. I also discussed how gastrointestinal problems are affected by running.
• This week three years ago, Lance Armstrong won his final Tour. I also gave some tips about proper hydration and how to time rest intervals while lifting weights.

Due to concerns for runner and volunteer safety, the Western States 100 mile trail race has been canceled. It’s a huge disappointment for all of the runners who are making their way out there right now, and hopefully they are given an opportunity to run next year. This race is extremely limited in the number of people that can be allowed onto the course.

Since the beginning of more than 840 wildfires statewide, 312 wildfires in northern California and more than 3,200 lightning strikes in the Tahoe National Forest alone on June 21, the race’s organizers have worked closely with a variety local, county and state agencies in determining the best course of action for our race. It has become apparent that given our race’s paramount concern – the safety or our runners – holding this year’s race would pose too great a risk to our runners, to our aid station personnel and to our volunteers. Given the close proximity of at least two fires that are within two miles of our race course and a critical access road, as well as the deteriorating air quality stretching from our start in Squaw Valley to Auburn, Calif., the board has determined that cancellation, rather than postponement or the use of an alternative course, represents the safest and most prudent decision for our 2008 event.

This year’s lottery was held in December, and Jamie Anderson was the only Trail Monster to get a slot in the race. He’ll lose his entry fee, which isn’t a huge deal, but if he loses his chance to run in the race then he is going to be really bummed out. At least he’s already registered for the Vermont 100 next month.

(More Information: Western States 100 – Hat Tip: Jamie Anderson)

The lottery for the Western States 100 Mile Endurance Run was this afternoon, and there were 3 Mainers attempting to get in through the lottery.

Jamie Anderson made it through the lottery after having been chosen within the first 20 picks. James Demer and Stephen Wells were not one of the 191 lottery entrants.

Jim Eckert will also represent Maine. He bypassed the lottery because he was guaranteed a slot at the race after having won last year’s raffle.

There were approximately 1350 applicants to run the race this year. There are only 357 slots available for runners, and 166 of those slots were filled by automatic qualifiers who had either won a raffle from the year before, had “lost” in the lottery for the past 2 years, or who were in the top 10 finishers for male or female last year. The race includes entrants from 13 different countries and 40 different states, with the vast majority of runners coming from California.

The Western States Lottery coincided with the ultramarathoners apple pie baking contest today. Chuck Hazzard tried to sway the judges by bringing his pie straight from the oven to the contest, so it was still warm when judging began. No clear front runner could be decided between his pie or Jamie Anderson’s, which had been baked earlier that morning. Everybody seemed pretty happy with both pies.

(Click here to view the 2008 WS 100 Lottery Results)

There are thousands of runner’s who write about their training, their racing, and their sport. Some running websites have thousands of readers, others have hundreds, and the rest have only dozens. No matter how many readers a runner’s site has, though, they can still write passionate reports about the races that they have run and the fun and adversity that they have faced.
(Click here to continue reading…)

Photo by Ian ParlinThe Vermont 100 Mile Trail Race was this past weekend on July 24^th. The top three Maine finishers all belong run with the Trail Monsters, a running group in the greater Portland area that runs local trails every week and race in the local mountain series.

Stephen Wells was the first Maine finisher in 20:27:37.80, and was 15^th over all. He overcame cancer a few years ago and has been doing all of the endurance events that he never thought that he would do before he was diagnosed.

James Demer was the second Maine finisher in 23^rd place over all. His finishing time was 21:10:07.00. He came by to the Trail Monsters group run this evening with his daughter and puppy, but he was just walking around on the trails.

Jamie Anderson rounded out the group in 36^th place over all with a time of 22:09:55.50, which is very impressive only 3 months off of knee surgery. He wrote a very detailed race report that is well worth taking a gander at. He walks through the day from waking up at 3 a.m. to taking a short 1 hour nap after finishing and then watching more people come through the line.

Andy Jones-Wilkins won the race with an impressive 9:32 pace, almost exactly an hour off of the course record time. He ran the race in 15 hours, 53 minutes and 45 seconds. Mary Churchill was the first woman to finish with a time of 19:41:13.80. There were 142 finishers. Other Maine finishers within the 30 hour cutoff were Maurice Kelleher (25:54:00.70) and Sarah Heck (27:42:09.60).

(Full Results – Photos)

Brian Morrison of Seattle was disqualified after winning the Western States 100 Miler because he received help maintaining forward motion in the last quarter mile of the race. Graham Cooper of Oakland was then awarded the first place accolodes.

The Western States 100-mile Endurance Run Board of Trustees released the following statement regarding the disqualification: “In his last quarter mile in the stadium, runner number 320 (Brian Morrison), consistently staggered and fell on the high school track. Several times he was lifted, carried, and thereby assisted to maintain forward momentum. It was not a single episode of helping a runner to his feet, but instead a series of material forms of assistance. The actions of runner 320’s crew and others was not given for bad motive; indeed by facilitating his arrival in the medical area, their action likely prevented a life-threatening seizure.”

Congratulations, Graham Cooper. Probably not the way that he wanted to win, and I would hate to be in Brian Morrison’s shoes right now, but it is still a win. Of course, I would not want to be in any of their shoes right now, because (a) I am not in the sort of shape I’d need to be in to run a 100 mile race and (b) the just over 50% finisher rate due to the high heat made for one hell of a brutal race this year.

(Source: Tahoe Daily Tribune via Trail Running Blog)