[Editor’s Note: This article is part of an occasional series on the unique opportunities and challenges of growing older as a runner.]
This weekend, I will probably be working the Javelina 100 Mile in my residence state of Arizona. This will probably 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 yr, as a 40-year-old, I competed for the win with my long-time pal and rival Jorge Pacheco, who finally prevailed in a successful time of 15:49. I ended up second place in 16:34. Final yr, 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 yr reflecting on the expertise of working 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 satisfaction in the truth that I’m nonetheless going and wholesome sufficient to coach for and run 100-mile races, nevertheless sluggish my occasions could also be. Going into this yr’s race, I’m savoring the truth that working important races with massive challenges is just not solely a privilege, but additionally a present — a present that we older runners ought to by no means take with no consideration.
This yr, my race plan will probably be easy: Run just a little bit sooner than final yr. In my build-up to the race this yr, my coaching has adopted a well-recognized sample that I’ve developed over three a long time in ultrarunning: lengthy runs on the course, a three-day coaching camp, occasional tempo runs, and constant each day restoration runs. Trying again over a few a long time of coaching logs, this acquainted sample emerges for instance of, “if it’s not damaged, don’t repair it.”
The writer working the nighttime part of the 2024 Javelina 100 Mile.
Again once I lived within the San Francisco Bay Space in California and skilled usually on the Western States 100 course, one among 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 get pleasure from 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 stated one thing that all the time struck me:
“Nicely, AJW, we’ve cut up the bananas, scooped out the ice cream, added the recent fudge sauce and all of the toppings, now all that’s left to do is put the cherry on prime.”
Mark Richtman on the coastal California trails he cherished. Photograph courtesy of Gary Wang.
My 2025 Javelina 100 Mile, being the present that it’s, will definitely be the cherry on prime of my coaching. Coming towards the tip of a yr 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 like a wholly becoming present with which to finish the yr. 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 known as residence. Fieldwork Brewing Firm in Corte Madera, is understood for its hazy IPAs, and for my part, their greatest one is Postcards from Fiji. It’s a barely bitter hazy, brewed within the old-school fashion of basic New England IPAs. It’s an amazing beer to have with barbecue or a burger, or simply by itself because the cherry on prime 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?
