Fill out this form to email this article to a friend
Features
The endless road awaits
Reporter Chase Squires' latest ultrarun - 100 miles - was not in Florida's flatlands. There's pain, and gain, in this Wyoming race.
By CHASE SQUIRES
Published July 4, 2006
 |
 |
|
[AP photo]
|
|
It's hard to tell if this is a low point or a high point for Chase Squires somewhere along the trail of the Bighorn 100.
|
|
|
SHERIDAN, Wyo. - It was sometime in the very early morning, before the sun came up. I'd been running, walking, slogging and dragging myself across the Bighorn Mountains for 16 or 17 hours, with 40 miles to go. I was stopped dead in my tracks, racked by nausea, battling the effects of my weird mixture of Red Bull, carbohydrate gels and potato chips. And I was having fun. In hindsight. That's how things go in a 100-mile foot race. There are awful low points: nausea, blisters, sprains, scrapes, heat and cold. And there are stunning highs, amazing vistas and great camaraderie. I might have whined a bit during the Bighorn 100, but the euphoria of completing a 100-mile run makes it seem like a good time in hindsight. I limped across the finish line in 32 hours, 33 minutes, one of 78 to finish out of 110 starters. I'll probably keep two of my toenails. The rest are going to fall off. Rocky trails, dust and distance lead to all manner of muscle pulls, sprains, blisters and broken toenails. Downing enough calories to keep moving many times leads to, ahem, "upset" stomachs. And then there are the hallucinations. I've seen some pretty weird things out there that weren't really out there at all. But I like pushing myself to get over the next ridge, just to the next aid station. I like the camaraderie and the scenery. We have a saying: "Thanks to ultrarrunning, I've thrown up in some of the most beautiful places in the world." Let me stress, I don't consider myself much of an athlete. I'm 40 years old and under 5 feet 5. Before I took up running four years ago, I was a devoted couch potato and about 50 pounds overweight. But I am persistent, and like being out all night in the middle of nowhere with a miner's light strapped to my head. Yes, you can do this. Lace up and get out there. WHERE IN THE WORLD IS CHASE SQUIRES? The former St. Petersburg Times TV critic is now an Associated Press reporter in Denver whose beat includes one of his favorite things, ultrarunning. For more pictures from this race and to download the podcasts he did during it, go to asap.ap.org/stories/693235.s.
[Last modified July 4, 2006, 05:53:03]
Share your thoughts on this story
[an error occurred while processing this directive]
|
News
Fifty years ago, they were screwed-up kids sent to the Florida School for Boys to be straightened out. But now they are screwed-up men, scarred by the whippings they endured. Read the story and see a video and portrait gallery.
Print
Email story
Comment
Email editor