I drove from St. Louis to Phoenix in my camper van and saw some incredible scenery particularly in central western New Mexico and central eastern Arizona. Unfortunately it was rather cold – the second night out, camping at City of Rocks State Park in SW New Mexico the temperature dropped to below 20 degrees! I arrived in Phoenix on the afternoon of Sunday Dec. 28th, checked out the race site at Nardini Manor and then got a room at the Best Western in Goodyear. I organized my gear and got a good nights rest.

Monday morning I set up a small station beside my van near the track. Nardini Manor is a 5 acre estate owned by ultrarunner Rodger Wrublik (presently on his way to run the HURT 100 in Hawaii). Rodger took it upon himself to come to the rescue of ATY by providing his estate for the race this year and by installing at his own expense a 10 foot wide crushed gravel 500 meter loop around the perimeter of the property. If you’ve been to the ATY website you’ve seen how beautiful the site is. It proved to be a fantastic location for this type of event. It included among other things a 60 x 100 foot heated tent complete with cots and air mattresses and within which runners were invited to pitch their tents if they so desired.

The 72 hour race started at 9 am on Monday December 29th. There were 9 official entrants plus several others who were starting the 48 or 24 hour events early. I went out to the front with Lynn Newton who dropped away after a few laps. They used the champion-chip computer timing system so there was no need to get a lap counters attention each time around – that helps a lot on a long race. The day was cool with a NW breeze – not bad for running. The food tables were well stocked and periodically during the next three days they’d offer up something quite substantial like chicken cordon bleu, pancakes, breakfast burritos, toasted cheese sandwiches etc. During day 1 I was pretty much into my own supplies regularly eating dates, raisins, GU and the occasional Red Bull (a Gu and a Red Bull taken together really give you a POP!!!! you’ll be flying for a while). I was also drinking a lot of water and energy drink from the food tables.

I managed to get a good lead on everyone during day 1 but it was becoming clear that my competition in this event wouldn’t come from any of the guys but rather from a 43 year-old gal who had come over from Germany specifically for the 72 hour race. Martina Hausmann is one tough character – speed walks faster than most ultra mortals run – I came to think of her as a human metronome. She has done well in some 6 day events so this was nothing new to her and she was to keep within 20 laps (about 6 miles) of me throughout the entire race. She came to win but I was just as determined to stay out in front.

I found that changing shoes every 6 hours or so helped my feet – getting a slightly different set of pressure and cushioning points from different shoes – especially since the course was flat and there were no hills to give my legs and feet a change of terrain. I wore my Injinji “glove-toed” tsoks but when it came time to change socks late in day 2 I couldn’t locate my second pair and changed into my conventional socks. I ended up towards the end of day 2 in a pair of Nikes with blown rubber outer soles which are soft on my feet – and I ended up wearing them for the duration. When it was all said and done I didn’t have a single blister!!

I hit some bad patches the evening of day 2. I lay down for about 30 minutes but couldn’t sleep so I got up and got going – walking at first and then running again. In fact I didn’t sleep at all during the entire 72 hour race – I thought going in I would have to sleep but just never felt like I needed to so I didn’t. During my bad patches Martina got to within 6 laps (about 2 miles) of me but that was as close as she would get. On day 3 I really started feeling good and was running some fast laps but Martina hung right in there.

On the morning of day 2 the 48 hour runners started which provided a pleasant distraction. It was amazing to watch John Geesler click off lap after lap but I have been in 24 and 48 hour runs with him and was well aware of his abilities. As you no doubt know, he set, after two previous attempts, a new North American 48 hour distance record of 248 miles – absolutely awesome. On the last night I’d see him sitting on the edge of a chair apparently asleep and the next thing you knew he was flying past you once again. The Japanese gal Fumie Sata was also cranking out the miles as was Mark Heinemann. At 9 am on the morning of day 3 the 24 hour hour runners started and then I got to watch a great battle between Scott Eppelman and Stephanie Ehret. Scott ended up with 134 miles and Stephanie with 130 miles. There were other great 24 hour performances also including Mark Feffer, June Gessner, Susan Hart, Mark Hooingsworth, Doug Thomas and Blake Wood all of whom ended up with 100 + miles.

Back to the 72 hour, my lower back had stiffened up on day 2 and I was running with a slight list to the left. It didn’t hurt so I just kept on cranking. Occasionally I would go in for a re-alignment on Dr. Jordan Ross’ orthopedic table. He had a group of students out for the duration – a great way for them to learn and a great help to the runners. Their participation was much appreciated. I also got a lot of help from Janet Runyan and Joe Gaebler on running form to help with my mechanics. I started feeling like I was part of their little group as they would call out things like – get your left shoulder up and forward, swing your left arm more, slide and glide, look up not down etc. Their suggestions and attention to my running form (or more properly lack thereof) was very much appreciated.

There was a brief New Year’s celebration at midnight on the 31st (evening of day 3 for me) but those of us who were fighting it out with a competitor or going for a PR were back doing laps right away. During that last night I was holding a 10-15 lap lead over Martina and was basically just trying to hold that cushion which I was able to do until it was over at 9 am on January 1st. I ended up with 241.7 miles and Martina ended up with 238.6, a mere 5K behind me after 72 hours of running!! I ran the first 100 miles in 24:15 and then had a rather poor 60 miles on day 2 with the bad patches but came back to life and cranked out 80 miles on day 3.

Obviously I was very pleased with the win – the first (and probably only) time I’ll ever win an ultra outright. I owe a big thanks to Martina for pushing me to the 240+ mile level. Also congratulations to her on a great race of her own. There were also some other great runs in the 72 hour. My good friend Lynn Newton, who is 60 years old, ended up with a 72 hour PR of 180 miles – great job Lynn. And Ron Vertrees at 66 years of age was right behind Lynn with 177 miles!! Another good friend from our Badwater days, Coloradan Jack Menard ended up with 150+ miles and he wasn’t even pushing.

I received a really nice first place trophy made by a local artist and some other goodies. Thanks to Laura Nagy and all the other race organizers for putting on such a superb event. A special thanks to Rodger Wrublik for the venue and the trail and for hand-delivering all my e-mails (I got over 50!!) from my fellow SLUGs and family back in St. Louis and in San Antonio who were following my progress and wishing me well. Good luck at the HURT Rodger !!! I have very good memories of the 03-04 Across The Years and certainly hope to return one day.

Mark Heinemann’s passing is the only shadow over what was a wonderful event for me. He was an awesome ultrarunner and he impressed me with his easy speed, determination and tenacity at ATY. I was at the finish line as he crossed for the last time – he was in rough shape as he apparently often is at the end of a hard effort – and I caught him and supported him to a chair – it was obvious he had given everything. We will learn what happened in time but for now it’s enough to remind ourselves that we should enjoy every day that is given to us – each day is a blessing, especially those days when we’re with our friends and loved ones …. or out running.