(Editor’s Observe: This text is a part of an occasional sequence on the distinctive alternatives and challenges of rising older as a runner.)
This weekend, I will likely be operating the Javelina 100 Mile in my dwelling state of Arizona. This will likely be my third time toeing the road at this implausible occasion. The primary time I ran Javelina again in 2007, it was a smaller, extra intimate affair than it’s now. That 12 months, as a 40-year-old, I competed for the win with my long-time good friend and rival Jorge Pachecowho in the end prevailed in a profitable time of 15:49. I ended up second place in 16:34. Final 12 months, after 17 years away from the race, I returned to Javelina and completed once more, this time in 116th place in a time of twenty-two:42.
AJW proudly shows his 2024 Javelina 100 Mile belt buckle.
I’ve spent a good bit of time during the last 12 months reflecting on the expertise of operating the identical race 17 years aside. After all, I can not assist however dwell on the truth that I’ve slowed by over six hours in these intervening years. Alternatively, I take delight in the truth that I’m nonetheless going and wholesome sufficient to coach for and run 100-mile races, nevertheless gradual my occasions could also be. Going into this 12 months’s race, I’m savoring the truth that operating important races with large challenges will not be solely a privilege, but in addition a present — a present that we older runners ought to by no means take with no consideration.
This 12 months, my race plan will likely be easy: Run a little bit bit quicker than final 12 months. In my build-up to the race this 12 months, my coaching has adopted a well-known sample that I’ve developed over three many years in ultrarunning: lengthy runs on the course, a three-day coaching camp, occasional tempo runs, and constant every day restoration runs. Wanting again over a few many years of coaching logs, this acquainted sample emerges for instance of, “if it’s not damaged, don’t repair it.”
The creator operating the nighttime part of the 2024 Javelina 100 Mile.
Again once I lived within the San Francisco Bay Space in California and educated usually on the Western States 100 course, considered one of my common coaching companions was the late Mark Richtman. Mark was all the time a pleasure to coach with as he had a relentlessly constructive angle and appeared to take pleasure in coaching virtually greater than racing. I recall on the finish of our final lengthy coaching run for the Western States 100 again in 2006, he mentioned one thing that all the time struck me:
“Effectively, AJW, we’ve cut up the bananas, scooped out the ice cream, added the new fudge sauce and all of the toppings, now all that’s left to do is put the cherry on high.”
Mark Richtman on the coastal California trails he cherished. Picture courtesy of Gary Wang.
My 2025 Javelina 100 Mile, being the present that it’s, will definitely be the cherry on high of my coaching. Coming towards the top of a 12 months once I took on a brand new full-time job, ran my first 250-mile race, and welcomed my first granddaughter into the world, it looks as if a completely becoming present with which to finish the 12 months. I hope to see a few of you on the market!
Bottoms up!
AJW’s Beer of the Week
This week’s Beer of the Week comes from Marin County, California, the place Mark Richtman referred to as dwelling. Fieldwork Brewing Firm in Corte Madera, is understood for its hazy IPAs, and in my view, their finest one is Postcards from Fiji. It’s a barely bitter hazy, brewed within the old-school model of traditional New England IPAs. It’s an ideal beer to have with barbecue or a burger, or simply by itself because the cherry on high of an ideal run.
Name for Feedback
- Have you ever had an expertise of returning to a race or route after a very long time away? How did it really feel?
- In what different methods do you mark the passage of time as a runner?
