[Editor’s Note: This article is part of an occasional series on the unique opportunities and challenges of growing older as a runner.]
This weekend, I will probably be operating the Javelina 100 Mile in my house state of Arizona. This will probably be my third time toeing the road at this incredible occasion. The primary time I ran Javelina again in 2007, it was a smaller, extra intimate affair than it’s now. That 12 months, as a 40-year-old, I competed for the win with my long-time pal and rival Jorge Pacheco, who in the end prevailed in a successful time of 15:49. I ended up second place in 16:34. Final 12 months, after 17 years away from the race, I returned to Javelina and completed once more, this time in 116th place in a time of twenty-two:42.
AJW proudly shows his 2024 Javelina 100 Mile belt buckle.
I’ve spent a good bit of time over the past 12 months reflecting on the expertise of operating the identical race 17 years aside. After all, I can not assist however dwell on the truth that I’ve slowed by over six hours in these intervening years. Alternatively, I take delight in the truth that I’m nonetheless going and wholesome sufficient to coach for and run 100-mile races, nevertheless sluggish my occasions could also be. Going into this 12 months’s race, I’m savoring the truth that operating important races with huge challenges will not be solely a privilege, but in addition a present — a present that we older runners ought to by no means take without any consideration.
This 12 months, my race plan will probably be easy: Run somewhat bit sooner than final 12 months. In my build-up to the race this 12 months, my coaching has adopted a well-recognized sample that I’ve developed over three many years in ultrarunning: lengthy runs on the course, a three-day coaching camp, occasional tempo runs, and constant day by day restoration runs. Trying again over a few many years of coaching logs, this acquainted sample emerges for example of, “if it’s not damaged, don’t repair it.”
The writer operating the nighttime part of the 2024 Javelina 100 Mile.
Again once I lived within the San Francisco Bay Space in California and educated typically on the Western States 100 course, one among my common coaching companions was the late Mark Richtman. Mark was at all times a pleasure to coach with as he had a relentlessly optimistic angle and appeared to take pleasure in coaching virtually greater than racing. I recall on the finish of our final lengthy coaching run for the Western States 100 again in 2006, he stated one thing that at all times struck me:
“Nicely, AJW, we’ve break up the bananas, scooped out the ice cream, added the new fudge sauce and all of the toppings, now all that’s left to do is put the cherry on high.”
Mark Richtman on the coastal California trails he beloved. Photograph courtesy of Gary Wang.
My 2025 Javelina 100 Mile, being the present that it’s, will definitely be the cherry on high of my coaching. Coming towards the top of a 12 months once I took on a brand new full-time job, ran my first 250-mile race, and welcomed my first granddaughter into the world, it looks like a completely becoming present with which to finish the 12 months. I hope to see a few of you on the market!
Bottoms up!
AJW’s Beer of the Week
This week’s Beer of the Week comes from Marin County, California, the place Mark Richtman referred to as house. Fieldwork Brewing Firm in Corte Madera, is understood for its hazy IPAs, and for my part, their finest one is Postcards from Fiji. It’s a barely bitter hazy, brewed within the old-school type of basic New England IPAs. It’s an amazing beer to have with barbecue or a burger, or simply by itself because the cherry on high of an ideal run.
Name for Feedback
- Have you ever had an expertise of returning to a race or route after a very long time away? How did it really feel?
- In what different methods do you mark the passage of time as a runner?