50/50 (15 page)
Number of runners: 8
D
uring one of our late-night drives
from state to state, I opened an e-mail from Kazuhiko Sakashita, a Japanese runner I did not know, who informed me that he had made a last-minute change to his wedding plans. Instead of staying home and going through with a large, traditional ceremony he had planned with his bride-to-be, he was going to whisk her away to Maui, exchange vows with her on the beach without witnesses, and run the Maui Marathon with me and a handful of other runners.
Initially, I thought it might be a joke. But after rereading the message, I realized the man’s intentions were sincere. My gut reaction was to try to talk him out of it, though he was a perfect stranger to me, and I figured he had his reasons. Actually, he stated his reasons, or at least one of them, in his message: He wanted to prove himself worthy of his new wife. It sounded thoroughly Japanese to me, and I respected that.
I met Kazuhiko at the starting line of the Maui Marathon on Day 18. He was quiet, serious, and earnest. I worried about how the groom would fare this morning. The air temperature was already in the seventies and rising, and heavy with moisture. The conditions were not optimal for marathon running, and would be especially tough on those who had traveled long distances from milder climates, and most especially on travelers who had been married the previous day.
Since there were only nine of us, I had plenty of opportunity to converse with Kazuhiko. His English wasn’t perfect, but it was good enough for him to explain that his wife was not exactly pleased about having to scrap her elaborate wedding plans only to fly off to Hawaii for an elopement on the beach so that he could run a marathon.
Gee whiz
, I thought.
Imagine that
.
“So did you get much sleep last night?” I asked Kazuhiko with a wink and a smile. After all, it was his honeymoon night. He stared at me blankly for a moment before he caught my insinuation.
“Oh!” he said. “Yes, I sleep full night to be strong for marathon today. I save honeymoon for tonight.” Of all the sacrifices other runners had reported making for the sake of participating in the Endurance 50, this had to rank among the greatest.
The Maui Marathon bisects the island, and after running across the landmass with only limited views of the water, we reached the coast. We climbed up a winding road, gaining elevation but still not getting a very good view of the water. We passed through a natural volcanic canyon in the road, and when we emerged on the far side, the view was amazing. The trade winds had subsided, and the sea sparkled a radiant blue below us. We could see the outline of the reef through the crystal-clear, calm water; it looked like a brilliant aquarium. From this vista, the neighboring island of Molokai rested docilely in the background.
With more than ten miles still left to go in the marathon, Kazuhiko began to struggle, as we all did, yet he refused to drop off the pace. The heat and humidity were brutal. His condition deteriorated steadily for the remainder of the run. He groaned and wheezed, eventually beginning to weave like a drunken sailor. I was amazed by his determination and sheer willpower. The group did their best to encourage him and keep him hydrated.
“It’s okay to walk a bit,” I told him, genuinely concerned about his well-being.
“No, I will finish,” he grunted.
The final few steps were quite dramatic. Kazuhiko courageously hung with the group, despite dehydration and cramping. He crumpled to the ground the moment he crossed the line and lay there in a delirium of pain and relief. His new wife dashed to him in alarm. Oblivious to the slimy layer of sweat that coated him, she held his limp head and torso and wept. The whole proving-himself-worthy thing now made perfect sense.
Eventually, Kazuhiko was able to stand and thank me, as did his bride, Miho.
“Domo arigato,”
she said with a bow. He had proven himself worthy not only in her eyes, but in mine too, and in those of everyone who had witnessed his bold effort.
The crew and I had to leave hastily for the airport to catch a flight to Phoenix, our next stop, and poor happy Kazuhiko appeared to be locked up in full-body cramps as we pulled away. I wasn’t sure how much honeymooning was left in the poor guy for tonight.
Kazuhiko wasn’t the only runner who had come from overseas to experience the Endurance 50 in Maui. Another gentleman had flown all the way from Milan, Italy. Throughout the Endurance 50, I was amazed by how far people were willing to travel to join me in running a low-key marathon, often in an out-of-the-way place in the middle of the week.
But perhaps I shouldn’t have been so surprised. Running and travel go well together. Marathons and other running events make excellent centerpieces for cross-country or international adventures. And these trips are just about the only ones where you return home weighing less than you did when you left!
Tips to Prevent Jet Leg
Flying across time zones can throw your internal body clock out of kilter and cause you to feel extremely fatigued for anywhere from a couple of days to a week. Not only is it an unpleasant experience, but it also hampers your ability to run. Use these tips to limit its effects:
• Expose yourself to as much sunlight as possible before departing.
• If you want to rest, try taking melatonin before you fly. Melatonin is a natural hormone that regulates the body’s circadian rhythms and is available over the counter at most pharmacies.
• Alternatively, try a homeopathic remedy called No Jet Leg. The main active ingredient is an herbal extract called arnica. It’s worked very well for me.
• Avoid drinking alcohol or caffeinated beverages during the flight. Drink plenty of water.
• If you can sleep on planes, do. Forcing yourself to stay awake with the idea that this will make it easier to sleep more soundly later on never seems to work. Sleep at every opportunity.
• When you’re awake, get up and walk about the aircraft frequently.
• Change your watch to the local time zone of your destination on takeoff.
Through many runs on all seven continents, I have learned a few tricks to help avoid the pitfalls so often encountered in this type of travel. The first bit of guidance I would give to any runner considering traveling across time zones to race is to arrive at least one day per time zone crossed before the event takes place. Quite apart from the jet-lag factor, flying just takes a lot out of you, and your body needs time to recuperate and adjust.
It’s also prudent to learn as much as you can about a faraway event before you commit to it. For example, some marathons may not be appropriate for first-timers. While the idea of running a marathon in Big Sur, California, might sound enticing, the Big Sur Marathon course is hilly enough to humble even the most experienced marathoner. I myself once made the classic mistake of inadequate research before running the Leadville 100. I knew it wasn’t as hilly as some of the other hundred-milers I’d done. What I’d failed to consider—or perhaps repressed—was the fact that the race begins at
10,500 feet of elevation
. I should have arrived a week early to adjust to the altitude. Instead, I showed up the day before the race and suffered miserably.
It’s the small things that often make the biggest difference when you’re traveling to a running event. One of the small things that make a big difference for me is wearing comfortable, loose-fitting clothes on the plane and even during long drives. I am less prone to sweat, and I feel less constricted. Some of my friends, like Ironman champion Chris Lieto, swear by compression tights to help minimize flight-related swelling. I encourage you to try different approaches to see what works best for you.
Enjoying new and exotic foods can be one of the great pleasures of traveling, but it’s best to stick with familiar fare from trustworthy sources in the days before a race. If you really want to play it safe, reserve a hotel room with a kitchenette, buy ingredients from a grocery store or market, and prepare your own pre-race dinner.
Assuming you eat a fairly healthy diet at home, it’s also a good idea to maintain your usual dietary standards as well as possible while traveling—at least until you’ve completed your event! It used to be nearly impossible to find wholesome food choices in airports, but nowadays you can always find salads and fresh fruit. When making your flight reservation, consider requesting a vegetarian meal, even if you eat meat: Vegetarian meals usually contain more nutrient-dense foods and less fat.
Tips for Traveling Abroad to Marathons
Marathon tourism is a huge phenomenon. Each year, thousands of runners cross borders to combine marathon participation with foreign adventure. Getting the most out of marathon tourism, though, requires a little planning. Here are some tips:
• Thoroughly research the marathon you’re considering signing up for before you commit to it. The best way to do this is by logging onto
MarathonGuide.com
, where you can read reviews of virtually every marathon on the planet posted by past participants. These reviews will help you pick an event that provides a good experience for most and will help you make specific preparations to ensure you avoid problems that past participants have encountered.
• Make all your arrangements—including flight and hotel bookings, visa acquisition, and event registration—as far in advance as you can. This will spare you a lot of energy-sapping stress in the final weeks and days before you depart.
• If you’re traveling with family, try to involve them in your race in certain ways, so they won’t feel it’s taking away from their vacation. Buy each of them something at the race expo, have your kids make signs that read
GO, DAD/MOM!
, and create a fun and easy spectator plan for the family. Make them feel like an important part of the team, as they rightfully are!
• If you want to combine your running with tourism, save the tourism for
after
the marathon. You don’t want to spoil your race by walking your legs to death, eating the wrong dinner, or picking up a cold or flu beforehand. You’ll also be less preoccupied with the upcoming race when you’re out touring. Better to be basking in the glow of a runner’s high than stressing about an upcoming event.
• Be careful about the food you eat. I once ate a kebab from a street vendor in New York City the day before a twenty-four-hour race. I won’t clutter your mind with the details of my suffering, but needless to say, I spent about as much time running for the bathroom as I did running on the racecourse.
Pack Your Snacks
A good way to ensure that you have wholesome food available to eat when hunger strikes you during your travels is to pack and carry your own healthy snacks. Here are a few of my favorites:
• Energy bars
• Dried fruit
• Trail mix
• Salmon jerky
• Hard fruit (apples, pears)
Having said all of this, I should also emphasize that it’s important not to be too much of a perfectionist once things get under way. Travel rarely goes perfectly. You’ll have more fun if you don’t stress yourself out trying to prevent every possible mishap and just roll with those mishaps that inevitably do occur. Hope for the best, but anticipate the worst, I always say.
Take a cue from Kazuhiko Sakashito, who probably would have suffered less if he hadn’t gotten married the day before the Maui Marathon, but would plan it the same way if he could do it all over again. How do I know? Because I received an e-mail message from him a couple of days after we ran together. In it, Kazuhiko stated that it was a great honor to run with me and the other “magnificent runners,” and that he will forever cherish the memory of crossing the finish line hand in hand with the group and with the kids who came out to run alongside us. He said the pain of ruptured blisters didn’t matter. Our "moment of misery," as he put it, was like a dream.
The Heat Is On
Day 19
October 5, 2006
Desert Classic Marathon
Phoenix, Arizona
Elevation: 1,227'
Weather: 103 degrees; partly cloudy, roasting
Time: 4:45:16
Net calories burned: 60,553
Number of runners: 46
I
slept little throughout
the Endurance 50, but on the night before the Desert Classic Marathon on Day 19, the situation became critical. Our flight from Maui landed in Phoenix after midnight. We had flown directly from the finish in Hawaii and I hadn’t had time to shower, so I was still covered in sweat and road grime. Worse, I had slept only a few hours during the prior night’s flight to Hawaii from San Francisco.
When we landed in Phoenix, a crew member’s wife was waiting. Jennifer and JB Benna lived in the area, and she had thoughtfully baked fresh peanut butter cookies for us. It was really hot outside, even though it was in the middle of the night, and after eating a warm, gooey peanut butter cookie, I crashed. It was all I could do to keep my eyes open to get in the cab that would deliver us to the hotel. I kept doing the tired traveler’s head bob on the drive, nodding off and then waking up with a start as my chin dropped. When we got to the hotel, we found no receptionist; the place was deserted. We looked all around for someone, to no avail. Finally, I lay down on the carpet inside the lobby. Naturally, I had just fallen asleep when the receptionist showed up and I had to get back up. Quickly, in fact, as she said there could be scorpions on the floor. It seemed like sleep would never come that night.
The Desert Classic Marathon takes place on the first Sunday in February each year. February is not exactly peak marathon season in most parts of the country, but in Phoenix it’s the best time to run. The average high temperature in early February is in the upper sixties.
We ran our forty-six-person re-creation of the Desert Classic Marathon on October 5. The average high temperature is ninety degrees at that time of year, and triple-digit mercury readings are not unusual. After suffering through a muggy eighty-eight-degree marathon in Hawaii, I was hoping we would luck out and find a cold front awaiting us in the desert, but instead Arizona bumped it up a notch. The temperature ranged between 90 degrees at the start of our marathon and 103 at the end. The air was bone-dry, with a slight tailwind on the way out and an almost nonexistent headwind on the return. Perfect conditions for sitting in a pool all day. Not so great for running.