Yet More Thoughts on Ultrarunning

Did you know I'm an ultramarathoner?  Probably not; I never mention it, and it's not on my resume.  So to bring you up to speed:


I am an Aquarius, wearer of short shorts, drinker of good beers, reacher of things on high shelves, marathoner, and ultramarathoner.  I ran my most recent ultra in April, where I came in second woman overall because I am also awesome at running, in addition to the above mentioned attributes.  And I'm modest.

I'm so good at running, my feet don't even touch!

Anyway, in case my post-race high and my glowing race report from that most recent notch on my running belt weren't enough to convince you not only that ultras are where it's at, but that the Jack Bristol Lake Waramaug Ultra Marathon is a terrific entree into ultra running, I wanted to share one last anecdote.


Imagine, if you will, that Dave McGillivray of the Boston Athletic Association sent you an email today.  It said, "Hey runners, did anyone leave their arm sleeves in the Athlete Village at Hopkinton?  And also, do you want pictures of the race?  Let me know and I'll send them to you on a CD."


That would obviously never happen; Dave McGillivray has many more important things to do than mail you sweaty arm sleeves, and Brightroom would much rather charge you $49.99 for that 8x10 of you vomiting in Natick.


Last week, I received the following email from Carl Hunt, race director of the JBLWUM:

I now have all of the pictures from the race and am currently making discs... To keep costs and time expended down, I am asking that anyone who would like to receive the discs reply by email with the address to which you would like the discs mailed. A huge thank you Kate Stoker, Jill Siladi from the Monkey Station and Glen Teitell from Freeze Frame Photo in Hackensack for both taking the photos as well as for getting them to me.  Kate and Jill run the Monkey station and do a great job on pictures every year. Glen, well, he happened to be there in support of his favorite runner and got roped into taking a lot of shots that he may not have planned on. It is great to have folks out there that are so willing to give and help out for the benefit of everyone...

There was an usually low number of personal items found after the race. The only item that I have left that is looking for its owner is a green, lightweight, fleece type jacket with the initials JTS on it. If it’s yours and would like to claim it, please let me know.

Now obviously, Dave McGillivray is dealing with vastly largely numbers of runners at the Boston Marathon than Carl Hunt is at the JBLWUM, and Dave McGillivray has done a spectacular job of it.  But that doesn't mean Carl's job is any easier.  Some of Carl's runners are out there for 12 or 15 hours running a 100k.  To keep those people safe, Carl isn't just dealing with Gatorade and Gu; he's making grilled cheese sandwiches and unwrapping packages of pretzels.  He's keeping the moleskin people in business.  He's driving around a lake all day personally asking his runners how they're doing.  He's finding volunteers who will commit to staffing aid stations from 6:00am to 9:00pm on a Sunday.  Hell, apparently Carl even put some people up in his house the night before the race!  And then he's emailing them and offering to send them photos.

I don't mean to get all political about racing (except when it comes to New York Road Runners; I'm on the record as saying that operation is a racket), and to be sure, Boston is a well-oiled and highly effective machine, but damn if Carl Hunt isn't a race director who goes so far above the call of duty to ensure that all of his runners have an awesome experience well after they cross the finish line.  

Run this race.

I believe this was our 50k winner.  You can't see from here, but he's wearing a Western States shirt.

All photos thanks to the aforementioned JBLWUM volunteers