The Crown of Gondor

A middle-of-the-night on-the-trail chat with Liz Bauer:

I headed to Ancient Oaks Saturday December 1st, determined to spend some time chatting with Liz Bauer since she is in the process of setting a new world record and I was excited by that prospect and my chance to meet someone who was unique in the world. That is what it means to set a world record, right, that effort was a one-in-seven-billion effort. To say I am impressed doesn't cover how I felt about the chance.

And, since I could not stay past 8 am in the morning of the 2nd, that meant I needed to run with her to talk to her.

Apparently, I hadn't thought it all the way through. I arrived unprepared for my jog, wearing cargo pants and did not have my running shorts in my bag as planned. I didn't let that stop me, and Liz paid no heed to the fact that I was wearing jorks. (Cargo pants, really) I ran 10 miles or so in the middle of the night -- 3am roughly -- with Liz and got to learn some of her techniques for dealing with the trauma ultrarunning wreaks on even the most honed body (yeah, hers not mine).

Liz has a single minded focus while running that is nothing short of what you might expect from someone who has sucessfully run so many 100 mile races -- 34 this year as of this writing. The focus can be disconcerting to the more casual runner. She ignores casual questions such as "Hey how are you doing?" She just keeps running.

And I am a casual, social, runner. I will never be an elite runner, so I felt honored to be allowed to run with her at all, and not offended as she set down some rules early on. "Please, no questions," she said. She was, I think, having a difficult run. And questions just distracted her from that essential focus.

And its not like we didn't chat. We did. We talked about her boxer, a stray she met while running who followed her home from a trail run near her home in Georgia. The boxer could jog 20 miles with her right from the start, and apparently has gone quite a bit further on occasion. He sounds like a wonderful running companion.

We shared jokes about episodes of "blowouts" on trails. I admitted that while I've never had a race or trail blowout, I had a neighborhood near my home that I can never run past again for shame. LoL

And Liz gave me some advice for how to achieve the necessary focus for long runs. Don't dawdle, think about what you need before you get to the aid station, get that or decide on what you want right away and move on. Do not hem-and-haw, you'll just stall. Don't sit.

I will treasure this time I got to run with her, and even wish I had more time to keep her company on this her near-last run for the year where she is destined to set the world record for 100 mile runs in a single year.

Knowing Liz is likely to read this, I have to say: "Congratulations". But congratulations seem like a lame word in this scale. Really. Wow.

Liz! I give you the highest award this admittedly nerdish guy can: The crown of Gondor! Recognition from the entire western world and lands beyond. Hail, Liz!