I’m going to meet Davy Crockett — that’s his real name — on a trail at the north end of Utah Lake. It’s not the wild frontier, but he is the king in these parts. He’s the ultrarunning man. He has run 109 100-mile races. He is the 15th person in the world to finish 100 races at that distance. He is the foremost historian of his sport in the U.S. How he has time to pause for an interview is beyond me. I throw my running shoes in the car.
Turns out Crockett isn’t Forrest Gump crisscrossing the country nonstop, though he does have a (virtual) following.
At age 66 and coming off two knee replacements, he only runs when he gets the urge. Even when he trained more vigorously, he ran just two or three times a week on a mileage base built up over 20 years. He doesn’t have to run as often to stay fit, as long as he runs or hikes far — like 25 to 30 miles far.
This day is not one of those days. He has a 100-plus-mile bike ride planned for the next day. I don’t need running shoes after all. We walk and talk under a clear blue sky as the water laps against the path and frogs croak in the marsh.
So what exactly is an ultramarathon? It’s a footrace that’s longer than a traditional 26.2-mile marathon. Typical distances include 50K (31 miles), 100K (62 miles), 50 miles and 100 miles. And there are also some insanely longer endurance races like the Moab 25 and the Cocodona 250. Races usually take place on unpaved trails and roads and go up and down mountains.
Are you crazy?
People ask Crockett, who is retired from a career in IT and lives in Saratoga Springs, all kinds of questions when they learn he runs 100-mile races: Do you sleep? Does it hurt? Are you crazy? And, of course, why?
“You run 100 miles, that’s kind of beyond people’s understanding because so many people think the marathon distance is really the limit to human endurance. But all that is just some silly magic number. Certainly you can go further,” he told me, wearing a rust-colored shirt bearing the logo of the Pony Express ultramarathon he started in 2006.
Yes, ultrarunners get drowsy. ...
