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ultra·mara·thon—NOUN A cross-country footrace with distances of 30 miles (48 kilometers) or more

American Heritage Dictionary

On September 14th and 15th, 2002, I participated in the USA 24 Hour Championship hosted by the Toledo Ohio Road Runners.

The main feature of this run was the weather. With oppressive heat and humidity over 90%, along with thunderstorms and sporadic showers, the conditions really affected most runners, many of whom were pre-race contenders. With a heat index of 101 it was still very warm and humid. During the night, it never became cooler than the mid-sixties, even in the early A.M. hours.

Many runners suffered extreme dehydration and salt imbalances. I was included in that number, and also believe that somewhere along the line, I ingested some tainted food. Many runners complained of upset stomachs and extreme nausea. The culprit might have been the meat sauce on the spaghetti at the pre-race meal, the night before. It seemed most of the runners who ate the meat sauce became ill. One runner I met who said he ate only the vegetarian sauce on his pasta was Ray Piva of the San Francisco Bay Area. Ray is 75 years old, but he went on to complete 104 miles and set a new world record for his age. Until I became sick, I was ahead of Ray, but the second half of the run was a disaster for me. This is what I experienced and it was none too pleasant.

Then in the late evening and early morning, we suffered through two extreme lightning and thunderstorms. Rain just poured down in two 10-minute outbursts, which left 3 inches of water on much of the course. This resulted in severe blisters for many of the runners, and of course, I was one of these. They were bad. I ended up losing four toenails. Fighting the heat, blisters and nausea really affected my time. I

 

ran much less mileage than the last two years. I did manage to finish 20th overall among the women, but I failed to win my age group for the first time. I ended up with 78.55 miles with a lot of fast walking the last half of the race.

All in all, I was disappointed in my performance but conditions were not good for me. Being from the Pacific Northwest, we don't experience this type of heat and humidity, and it did affect me. It took me weeks to feel normal again. I was so sick I had to be wheeled at the Portland airport in a wheelchair.

Despite the conditions, there were some noteworthy performances. Yiannis Kouros, the world record holder at many extreme distances, ran 172.37 miles to better his own event record. The first American, and second overall, was John Geesler at 137.52 miles. Ann Heaslett of Wisconsin was the first woman at 128.55 miles.

If there is anyone out there who can give me some pointers on how to deal with stomach problems, I will lend an ear.

 Fenny Roberts