By Cate McCaul
It’s not often that people find themselves in the woods with strangers in the cold making grilled cheeses and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches on a Saturday night. It was the least I could do to help the runners get through their 50 mile and 100 mile adventures. Not only was I willingly there, but I was having a blast.
I’ve been following the underground sport of ultra-running (any distance that exceeds 26.2 miles) by tracking online stats and videos but this was my first time at a race, crewing the runners at an aid station for the Virgil Crest Ultras.
Standing and rushing around for six hours past unnoticed. There’s something fulfilling in knowing we helped these runners reach the finish. Whether it’s fetching them hot soup, logging their time into the tracking system, filling up their water packs, or pointing them in the right direction, there was practically no time to rest.
How could I even acknowledge any discomfort while watching most of these runners scramble into the aid station after running 60 miles with 40 more to go? It takes a certain breed to run ultras; you have to be a bit of a masochistic at heart. The key to this kind of racing is to find comfort within the “pain cave”, a term ultra-runners use to describe the discomfort that inevitably settles in after 70 miles or so.
Running for long distances is a huge mental challenge. It may be an individual sport but after being at the race there is clearly a team aspect that is easy to overlook when following them online. Everyone was eager to help each other out, whether it’s a volunteer aiding a runner or even a runner helping out a fellow runner; being at this race made this sport feel more like a family affair than a competition. These runner compete with themselves not each other, which creates one of the most open and friendly environments.
Ultra races are tough, there is no way around that. The experience, however, is what you make it. There were a few runners that stumbled into the aid station half dazed with pain and tiredness. Other than those select few, most runners came in smiling. One man chose a ninja turtle suit for his running apparel, another donned a large kilt. Some runners even danced back onto the trails eager to continue. These extreme challenges may demand a lot of strength and discipline, but it’s also something to have fun with.
To see the race results for the Virgil Crest Ultras, go to http://www.virgilcrestultras.com/RaceCenter.aspx
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