LastEdit @
We had a good thanksgiving day. Stayed in town and ate the usual good holiday stuff. I left Friday morning for Addison, the site of the 24 hour track run. Beacham caught up with me at the motel. We had a good time kicking back and getting rested up for the race.
Saturday, we had plenty of time to eat breakfast and get our stuff together for the race. We arrived at the track and got organized without any problems.
We started running at 10:00 a.m. I had started to get some early symptoms of the virus that had been going around our house on Friday. I was feeling that a little as we started in. We both ended up running together a lot in the first 8 hours. We would get a lap here and there when one of us had to take a food or potty break. I ended up being down a lap at 20 miles. In the early miles we were back in the pack of the 24 reported starters. At the end of 8 hours we had completed 37-38 miles and I had built a lead over him of about 4-5 laps. We were in the middle of the pack, 10th or eleventh place. I had hit some lows and was not feeling 100%, so had ate some soup and other food to keep my energy level up. The weather had been perfect up to this time, cool, partly cloudy, high approaching 60 degrees. The wind was gusting sometimes up to 15-20 mph, but it died down during the night. It started to cool down.
The next 8 hours we tried different run walk strategies. We ran 3 laps and walked 1, then 2 and 1, and varied it. Around 10:00 p.m. the cold had settled in. I took breaks to eat soup and put on tights and more shirts. Beacham added pants and a shirt and jacket. We were still sitting around 10th place. I had given back the laps and was back to one behind him. We had also slipped behind the pace we needed to complete 100 miles. We had about 55 miles at the halfway point. We were also doing a lot of walking. I was feeling off , the early signs of the virus that would eventually get me and have me home sick for two days this week. I was getting some chills and my eyes were bothering me.
I had maxed out my clothing with tights, 2 long sleeve shirts, 1 short sleeve, a light jacket and a sweatshirt. We both were struggling to maintain body temps while doing a lot of walking. We were together keeping each other going. Beacham, at 74 (age and miles) had settled into a moderate but steady pace. I was struggling and was content to try to hang onto him lap by lap. Sixteen hours, 2:00 a.m. We were both a little brain fuzzy at this time. The usual when you have been running and up for an extended period of time. We were both talking about trying for 90 miles as 100 was out of the question by now. We had moved up to 9th place, still one lap separated us. There were still a surprising number of runners out there with us, not taking late night breaks.
We had covered about 70 miles at this point. For the next 5 hours we kept each other going, running when we could, and walking a lot. The sun came up, it got warm, we felt better, and we started moving better. We started running the straights, and walking the curves of the track. We were able to do that for most of the remaining 3 hours. We were moving better than most runners. We heard a lot of comments from our "friends" at the finish line related to our age and our current strong effort.
We eased past 90 miles with a little less than an hour to go. We ran a couple more laps, with me taking off and making up the lap so that he and I were at the same distance. Then we kept working the straightways until time ran out. We finished with about 93.5 miles. We were about 7th overall. In the last three years Beacham has improved from 89+ in 2000 to 91.9 in 2001, to this years miles. I will get the official results shortly and pass them along.
I tried to get this out earlier in the week but it has been very busy at the house, not helped by my having a virus and being sick. Feeling better today. Will get more information about the race to you when I have it.
Terry Sheldon