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How | Stopped Worrying About the Race

And learned to love the run—part Il.

Sri Chinmoy Self-Transcendence Six-Day Race, which started April 21,

2013, in Flushing Meadows Corona Park, Queens. I had high hopes for big mileage totals, so those numbers were in my head as well as my expected mileage per day, minutes per mile, hours I’d have to sleep, and more. But before the end of the race, none of those numbers really mattered at all, and the most important number was the huge number of friends who came out to crew for me, bring me food, or cheer me on.

So right off the bat I want to thank those people. Unfortunately, it would consume most of the article to list everyone who had a hand in this.

Thad a lot of reasons to feel good going into this race. Physically I felt good and well trained and well rested; this would by far be my longest race, my previous longest being a 48-hour race, but I seemed to do better the longer the race; this would be a reunion of sorts of the 2007 24-Hour world championship team at Drummondville, Canada, where I had my first real breakout race, with teammates Alex Swenson and John Geesler both running as well as Canadian Sylvie Boisvert, who won the open race in Drummondville and even the race director in Drummondville, Michel Gouin.

\ umbers of all kinds were running through my head before the start of the

<4 The author with Canadian runner Sylvie Boisvert before the start of the race.

With Mike Arnstein’s help, I got off to a good fast start, just as I was expecting, running 70 miles in the first 12 hours. But I realized that that pace was not sustainable, and my plans would have to be adjusted somewhat, even sleeping the first night, which I didn’t plan to do. By nighttime I was on my own, and it was tough mentally, knowing how far I still had to go. It was then that I really questioned the wisdom of entering the race. But I got in about 45 minutes of sleep, from 1:45-2:30 a.m., and I managed to finish the day with 120 miles. On Monday afternoon, Mike and Oz Pearlman came running by, literally, to give their encouragement and to check up on me and to leave little notes among all my things, even in my tent.

The handler who knew it all

Monday night, Shaun Leonardo came to crew for me, and although not a runner himself, he is a lifelong athlete and was an incredible handler, knowing just what I needed, even helping me into the medical tent for some early blister work, Achilles work, and massage. After just two hours’ sleep I was up again and on the road.

By Tuesday I was developing a routine of eating, drinking, sleeping, going to the bathroom, chatting with the other runners, and worrying less about mileage. I seemed to run best from 6:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. We were fed good full meals at 6:00 a.M., noon, and 6:00 p.M., and I usually loaded up a tray and walked with it and usually felt a burst of energy after the calorie intake. By darkness, I usually slowed down some and would do a cool-down lap or two before going to sleep, which on nights three to five was about 11:00-3:00. The one thing that surprised me was that I had a very hard time getting to sleep after the first couple of nights. But I would lie there and get whatever rest I could.

By Tuesday and Wednesday the help I received became quite overwhelming—in a good way. By Wednesday I think I was gaining a reputation for having a lot of groupies come by—at least that’s what I kept hearing. It was pretty amazing, and I hardly knew how to wrap my mind around it. But that’s how I had my revelation. Before the race I had asked for advice from Trishul Cherns and Dave Luljak as well as from Martin Fryer and John Geesler during the race, and the one thing they all said was to just keep moving forward and not worry about the mileage but just let yourself get into the “flow” of the race.

Ikind of knew what they meant, but I resisted the part about not worrying about mileage, and it wasn’t until Thursday night that I really felt what they meant. I had a visit from a very good friend, but my conversation with him kind of jolted me out of the world I was in and brought in some negative outside attitudes. Otto Lam arrived about the same time, and his enthusiasm jolted me a little as well, since I was in a pretty calm and relaxed state by that time. I actually felt the need to calm him down, saying nothing is that urgent. Then I was talking with him, trying