Across the Years is best known for fixed-time ultras, ranging from six hours to six days. In recent years, they’ve added fixed-distance races as well. They now offer the option to run marathons during any of the six days of the event. I’ve done the 24-hour and 48-hour races in the past. This year, I decided to run all six marathons.
My motivation for this
was the opportunity to run a quadzilla in Arizona, which will be my 10th
different quadzilla state. For that, I
just need to run marathons on four consecutive days. Since I’m here, I plan to do all six.
For the second straight
year, the race venue is the Peoria Sports Complex in Peoria, AZ, which is near
Phoenix. This is a facility used for
spring training by the Seattle Mariners and the San Diego Padres. The course is a 1.4108-mile loop that goes
through the stadium and around a few of the other baseball diamonds. About half of the course is paved, and the other
half is dirt.
In the fixed-time ultras,
people run this loop as many times as they can in the allotted time. For the marathons, I need to run the loop 19
times. That works out to 26.8 miles, so
the course is actually long for a marathon.
I flew to Phoenix on
Saturday. It’s tough to fit clothes and
gear for six races into one bag, so I originally packed clothes and toiletries
in one bag and shoes and other gear in another.
I’ve never had a problem with checked baggage on a domestic flight, but
I didn’t have a good feeling. If either
of my bags got delayed, it would be a major headache.
Before leaving for the
airport, I managed to repack everything into one roller bag. It wasn’t easy to get the bag zipped
shut. When I got to the airport, I had
to pack my jacket into the same bag, which made it even harder to zip shut.
When I saw the bag check
lines, I was really glad I wasn’t checking a bag. The lines were so long that they spilled out
into the hallway. The entire departures
hall was wall to wall people.
Thankfully, I was able to go straight to security.
One of the items in my
bag was a massage stick. TSA wanted to
inspect my bag, so they could take a closer look at the massage stick. After looking at it, they didn’t have a problem
with it, but I had to stuff everything back into my bag and zip it shut for a
third time.
When I arrived in
Phoenix, I drove straight to the race venue to pick up my race packet. I’ll wear the same race bib every day, so I
only needed to do packet pickup once. At
Across the Years, returning runners always get the same bib number.
My hotel was only half a
mile from the race venue. After checking
in and unpacking, I did a workout. Then,
I went for a walk and randomly bumped into two friends who were also here for
Across the Years.
I had dinner at an
Italian restaurant that was just a few blocks from my hotel.
I got to bed early and
slept well all night. That rarely
happens when I’m traveling.
The race didn’t start
until 9:00, but I was up by 5:00, which gave me time to eat breakfast at the
hotel before getting ready for the race.
I felt like I dried out during the night, so my breakfast was mostly liquids.
We had timing chips on
our race bibs, but this year, they also wanted us to have tags on our shoes. The purpose of these tags was to track which
runners are somewhere on the course. If
you leave the race venue to go back to your hotel, they want you to return the
shoe tag and then get another one when you come back.
The temperature at the
start was 50 degrees. I was chilly at
first, but it warms up quickly here. I
dressed for the warmer temperatures that I knew were coming later.
My friend Chavet was
doing the six-hour race as a training run.
Her pace was a little fast for me, but I ran the first lap with her.
They had a food tent with
a variety of food and beverages. There
was a table where you could leave a cup or bottle. I left a cup there before the race, so it
would be there each time I arrived at the food tent.
The food tent was located
about a quarter of the way through the loop.
The first time I went by, I didn’t need to drink yet. On all subsequent laps, I was drinking one of
the sports drinks.
The first time I stopped
to drink was early in my second lap. I
stopped, while Chavet kept going. After
that, I ran by myself.
I intended to slow down,
but I was still going a little fast.
When I finished mile three, I saw that my pace was 8:55. After that, I throttled it back. The next mile was a minute slower.
For the next several
laps, my pace ranged from 9:52 to 10:31.
I wasn’t going as fast as I started, but I was still going faster than I
probably should have, given that I wanted to keep plenty of gas in the tank for
the next five days.
I made a point of
noticing where the midpoint of the loop was.
When I was halfway through my 10th lap, I was half done with the
race. At this point, I was on pace to
break 4:30.
Later in that lap, I
needed to make a bathroom stop. There
were real bathrooms in the stadium, but I couldn’t hold out that long. Fortunately, they also had port-o-potties in
several places around the loop.
After my bathroom stop, I
initially felt sluggish. I wondered if
my pace should be slower for the rest of the race. I gradually got into a good rhythm again, but
in my 12th lap, I needed to make another bathroom stop. I had to stop again in my 13th lap.
After that, my digestive
system seemed to stabilize, but I was running at a slower pace the rest of the
way.
It was also getting
warmer now. It was a sunny day, and I
heard a few other runners talk about how hot it was. I didn’t feel hot, but I was getting
increasingly thirsty, even though I was drinking every time I went by the aid
station.
I had every intention to
take it easy today, but with six laps to go, it definitely wasn’t feeling
easy. I was running at a slower pace,
but I still wasn’t taking any walking breaks.
I was just trying to get done.
So far, I wasn’t eating any
solid food. They had common race foods,
like PBJs all the time. At certain times
of the day, they had different hot foods.
I was on my second to last lap when I saw this sign.
I was planning to eat
some food on my last lap, in place of a real lunch. I wanted to have the grilled cheese and tomato
soup, but I waited until my last lap.
Later in that lap, I saw my
friends Karen and Cyd, who were walking together. This was my last chance to share part of a
lap with them, so I walked with them for about five minutes. Then I resumed running, before I got too
stiff.
I was almost done with
that lap when I felt an urgent need to make another bathroom stop. Fortunately, I was just running into the
stadium, where there were real bathrooms.
I couldn’t have held out any longer.
When I got into the stadium, I ran right into the men’s room.
After that, I was OK for
the rest of the race. During my last
lap, I had a grilled cheese sandwich and a cup of tomato soup. Nothing could possibly have tasted better at
this point in the race.
With less than a lap to
go, I found it easier to keep running. I
finished my final lap, stopped my watch, and looked for my name on the large
screen outside the timing tent.
Every time someone
finished a lap, this screen showed their name, lap count, total mileage, total
time, and what they ate for breakfast. I
always looked for my name after finishing a lap.
My time was 4:50:58. That’s gun time. If the official results show net time, it’ll
be about eight seconds faster.
I went over to the awards
tent next to the finish line, where I received my finisher medal.
Anyone finishing any of
the races also gets one of these mugs.
There were awards to the
top three men and women in the marathon.
Despite my problems in the second half of the race, I took second place
today.
After the race, I went
over to the timing tent to return my shoe tag.
Because I’m returning every morning to run another marathon, they told me
to just keep the same tag all week. They’re
more concerned about runners who are doing the multi-day races and might leave
the race venue during the race to go back to their hotel. In my case, they know I’m done for the day,
and they know when I’ll be back.
When I got back to the
hotel, my priority quickly shifted to post-race recovery. I took a bath and did some stretches. Then I worked on my legs with a massage
stick.
Since finishing the race,
I’ve already finished a bottle of water.
I’ll drink at least one more before tomorrow’s race. I’ll also eat a full dinner tonight.
I’m not sure what caused
my digestive issues today. Hopefully,
that won’t be an issue tomorrow. If it
is, I’ll have to make adjustments in my diet.
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