Exercise & Fitness

In Marathons, Crazy is Relative
By Anthony Wilson A lot of folks, upon learning I run marathons, call me crazy. Maybe they're right. But consider this: My 26.2-mile race is Ty Meighan's workout. Ty's race of choice is the ultramarathon, whose distances can range from 30 miles to 100 miles. He has run more than a dozen ultras, all of which have been 50 miles in length and required him to run upwards of 10 hours straight. So while the average 5K runner marvels at the ability to run 26 miles, so, too, does the average marathoner admire the commitment, endurance and tenacity of local ultramarathoners such as Randy Rangel, Jeremy Noret, Janice Jenkins, Mars Torres, Ben Passons and the amazing Kent Fish, who runs more long-distance races than anyone in San Angelo. "It's the whole issue of seeing how far you can go, seeing how much your body can take," said Ty, whom you probably know as this newspaper's editorial page editor. "When you get beyond marathon distance for the first time, you're in unknown territory. You don't know how your body is going to react. "At that point, it's a mind game. If you listened to your body, you'd quit. But you think, 'I trained for this and I put so much time into it.' You have to keep moving forward. "A lot of it is about setting and achieving goals." While training for an ultra, Ty will run up to 80 miles per week, most of it on the trails of San Angelo State Park. (He prefers training and racing on trails, which are easier on the body than pavement.) Most of those miles are logged on the weekend, when he'll run for three hours on a Saturday, and follow that up with a four-hour Sunday jaunt. The key to the training and the racing is twofold, he said. One, ultra runners have to eat and drink frequently while they run to replenish the energy they expend. Two, they have to pace themselves, often mixing some walking into the running. A 3:40 marathoner, Ty tries to run at least one marathon and one ultra per year. (For two years straight, he ran a marathon per month. And you call ME crazy?) He favors the Sunmart Texas Trail Endurance Run 50-Miler in Huntsville, which he often runs with his brother, who lives in New Jersey; the race, which Ty once finished in 10:11, gives them plenty of time to catch up with one another. Otherwise, "it's kind of lonely out there sometimes," he said. Some races he runs just to finish. Some he runs to see how fast he can go. "And sometimes you adjust your goal during the ultra," he added. "But if you run 50 miles, it's a victory if you finish." "After an ultra, you think, 'I'm not going to do that ever again,'" he said. "It's a full-body pain. When you accomplish that, though, it's worth the pain. It's the same with a marathon. None of these are easy." The payoff, he added, is days of guilt-free pigging out. "I'm hungry for days after," he said, adding that he once watched his brother eat three quarter-pound double cheeseburgers - without puking - after one ultra. Some runners look as if they've downed their cheeseburgers before the race - Ty said there are all sorts of body types that are able to plod 50 miles of trails. "But they're out there doing it," he added. He's been tempted to run "a century" - a 100-mile race. "But I run a 50-miler and think, 'No,'" he said, laughing. Even so, he offered this advice for any runner tempted by the ultra: Do it. "Set a goal and do it," he urged. "It's a satisfying thing to accomplish." Now that's fast Two runners with recent Central High ties dominated the Shannon Shamrock Run. Whitney Perkins, who runs collegiately for Texas State, smoked the field in the 5-miler, finishing first in a blazing 31:09 - 30 seconds in front of the runner-up. That's what the he-men call "getting chicked." And when Whit does it to you, there's no shame in it. Anton Gutierrez ran a personal best (and an amazing) 1:15 in the half-marathon (13.1 miles), which was nearly 8 minutes faster than the second-place finisher. In all, 48 runners tested themselves in the half. Anthony Wilson loves to run, likes to cycle and tolerates swimming. He writes about all three in this space every other Saturday. Contact him at awilsoneditor@msn.com.