Saying Goodbye to an Endless Year With a 24-Hour Race

At about 6 p.m. on New Year’s Eve, after I noticed snow dancing within the mild of my headlamp, I began to cry. I used to be 9 hours into my first 24-hour race. I used to be attempting to see what number of instances I may run round a course in a park in Hainesport Township, N.J., in a day that bridged the tip of final 12 months and the beginning of this one.

I’d began working at 9 a.m. within the rain, and was attempting to soldier on in a moist, plummeting chilly.

I paid my $200 registration payment for the Hainesport Hundred and 24 Hour Endurance Run again in November, as a result of it appeared like a great way to mark the tip of a dreadful 12 months. In that second, in the dead of night, the snow didn’t really feel like magic. It felt like mutiny. But I couldn’t cease transferring ahead. I had 15 hours to go.

Ultramarathoning remains to be a small sport in comparison with highway racing (your typical 5Ks, half marathons and marathons), however participation in occasions longer than the marathon distance (26.2 miles) elevated 345 p.c from 2008 to 2018, in line with The State of Ultrarunning 2020 report.

“There’s a natural inflation as marathons and half marathons have gotten more and more popular,” mentioned Adharanand Finn, writer of “The Rise of the Ultrarunners: A Journey to the Edge of Human Endurance.” “The more people who did the marathon, the more people who are going to say, ‘What’s next?’ and try ultrarunning.”

I ran my first 50K, about 31 miles, on the Labor Pains 12 Hour Trail Race in Reading, Pa., in 2016. My second 50K got here two years later on the Blues Cruise 50K in Leesport, Pa., the place all of us ran the identical, huge loop as soon as.

Just a few months later, in coaching for what I’d hoped can be my first 50-mile race, I cracked my tibia, and I haven’t fairly discovered my working groove since. Still, regardless of working about half the weekly mileage I ran after I was coaching for these huge races, I signed up for the Hainesport 24-hour race as a result of it appeared runner-friendly and Covid-safe. A small group of runners would run the identical paved loop, only a bit shorter than a mile, time and again, which meant I wouldn’t be in a crowd however I may see folks and have entry to an support station a minimum of as soon as each mile. You may cease, relaxation or sleep as many instances as you needed. If the going bought too tough, there was an out: my automotive, and a 25-minute drive residence.

“It allows people to go as far as they want to and know they have an aid station within a mile,” mentioned Vanessa Kline, proprietor of Batona Trail Races and Beast Pacing, who placed on this occasion and served as co-race director along with her companion, John Swanson.

I targeted on time slightly than pace. I needed to remain upright till midnight after which see what else I may do. My plan was to run three minutes, stroll two minutes, and repeat till I couldn’t run anymore, after which stroll for so long as I may. Unfortunately, nature wasn’t cooperating. The race began in 44 levels and rain, adopted by dry however descending chilly.

The 26 different runners made up an eclectic discipline, together with Steve Slaby, 39, a quick and proficient runner who’s competed in elite occasions just like the Leadville Trail 100 Mile run, Badwater 135 mile race, plus the International Association of Ultrarunning 24 championship in 2019; Kenneth A. Posner, 57, writer of “Running The Long Path: A 350-Mile Journey of Discovery in New York’s Hudson Valley” and who ran with out footwear and typically with out a shirt; Erin Karara, 32, who’d taken a crack at 100 miles in a digital race however didn’t end; Michael “Gagz” Gagliardi, 45, who ran a 76-mile define of Philadelphia over the summer time; and Crystal Jackson, 48, who has run greater than 30 ultras and began the race in an umbrella hat.

Trishul Cherns, 63, drove right down to the race from his residence in Middle Village, N.Y. He’s been working ultramarathons since 1978 and nonetheless holds a number of Canadian ultramarathon data, together with within the 700 miles and 1,300-mile distances.

“I’ve done this for 42 years. I hope to do this until I’m into my 90s,” he mentioned. He deliberate to powerwalk his method to 100 miles.

The first laps went easily, as I anticipated them to, however I began to really feel creaky by 2 p.m., which is after I crossed paths with Jackson within the rest room. She advised me she thought she may make it to 100K.

“I just want to make it to midnight,” I mentioned.

“You gotta make it till morning, girl,” she responded.

At 3:30 p.m., I noticed Ben Troy, who’d lapped me a number of instances, taking a stroll break.

Troy, 22, ran his first ultramarathon in February of 2020 and favored it a lot, he ran just a few extra. This was his eighth of the 12 months. He’s a senior at Slippery Rock University and hopes to affix the Navy SEALs. I discussed that I’d learn that the SEALs had a saying that once you suppose you’re performed, you continue to had 60 p.c extra effort left to offer.

“You always have a lot more left to give,” he mentioned.

Runners had been allowed to have a “crew” — on this race, sometimes one masked particular person, delivering meals, drink and buckets of encouragement who stayed till the runner was performed. I didn’t have one; as a substitute, my mother stopped by at 4 p.m. with burgers, fries and low. I finished for 45 minutes to eat and didn’t really feel like beginning up once more. “You’re just getting started,” my mother mentioned as she bought able to go. “Have fun!”

The temperature slipped from 43 levels to 40 to 39. I placed on longer pants, a heavier shirt, and grabbed two disposable hand heaters. Just a few laps later, I placed on my mountaineering jacket. As evening fell, we turned from upright varieties in vibrant tops and pants into dots of sunshine from our headlamps, bopping across the similar path, over and time and again.

By 6 p.m. below that snow, I crossed the marathon distance mark, and my stroll breaks stretched into the instances after I was speculated to be working. The ghosts of previous accidents floated as much as hang-out me with each step: the tendinosis in my foot from 2013, the tibial stress fracture from 2019, stretching again to gluteus medius tendinitis — or lifeless butt syndrome — from 2010, all on the proper aspect, my very own unholy trinity

Just after 6:30 p.m., at 28 laps, I give up the run/stroll/run and shifted to simply strolling. I used to be listening to Nick Offerman’s “Good Clean Fun,” his memoir and how-to about woodworking, however his loving descriptions of vintage instruments and the enjoyment of working with inexperienced ash couldn’t pull me out of my spiraling detrimental ideas: This is silly, it’s chilly, I’m chilly, why did I do that, I may simply go residence, I can’t make it to midnight, I’ve to make it to midnight, I can go residence at midnight, no you can’t go residence.

Sometime after 8 p.m., I noticed Cherns once more, who was nonetheless powerwalking at a gentle clip, and joined him. “I run to complete, not to compete. You just have to complete, Jen,” he mentioned, as we walked collectively to the 12-hour mark.

At the midway level of the subsequent loop, I seemed again to the help station and car parking zone, with a brightly lit Christmas tree. I watched runners passing in entrance, like small planets crossing in entrance of the solar.

At 11:15 p.m., I finished at 38 laps.

I needed get into my automotive and drive residence to my warmth and my mattress and a collection of craft beers in my fridge. But it was getting near midnight. I moved my automotive to a darkish spot, folded down the again seats and arrange my sleeping bag. I walked again to the help station. A masked volunteer poured me a glass of ginger ale, and put a sparkler in my hand at midnight. Fireworks blasted within the distance. Runners nonetheless shuffled via, mumbling “Happy New Year,” as they began one other new lap.

I slid into my sleeping bag behind my automotive and nodded off round 2 a.m. and slept fitfully till proper earlier than 5 a.m., when it was nonetheless very darkish and really chilly at 31 levels. I unfolded myself from my sleeping bag and gingerly took just a few steps. Not as horrible as I believed, in all probability as a result of I had walked about 10 miles after working 28. My jacket and footwear, which I’d left exterior the automotive for the evening, had been coated in frost.

I didn’t plan to run in any respect, simply stroll, so I layered up with recent tights below sweatpants, lengthy sleeve shirt, each coats (defrosted below the hand dryer within the restroom), and the identical heat hat from the evening earlier than. I shuffled to the help station, staffed by a brand new batch of volunteers. It was chilly sufficient that the olive oil they used to make grilled cheese sandwiches had frozen in a single day.

“This is going to be the best worst coffee you’ve ever had,” one race support mentioned whereas pouring sizzling water right into a cup with immediate espresso combine.

The variety of runners had dropped in a single day. Posner stopped after 51 laps, which bought him to his objective of fifty miles. Slaby packed up after 75 laps. I began my thirty ninth loop at 5:30 a.m., feeling sore and drained however refreshed, particularly in comparison with the runners who had gone via the evening. Karara ran with a blanket wrapped round her shoulders; Gagliardi’s beard froze.

I completed lap 39 and noticed Jackson. She wanted two extra laps to get to 100K however mentioned she was too chilly to go on. I grabbed a fleece-lined poncho out of my automotive, wrapped her in it, and nudged her to maintain going “because you’re too close now.”

At 6:30 a.m., the sky began to shift from black to charcoal to grey. I completed lap 40. I didn’t actually see a cause to cease now that I used to be up and transferring ahead once more. I grabbed one other cup of one of the best worst espresso and noticed Gagliardi once more, already previous 100 miles and within the lead, however caught in the identical vortex I’d been within the evening earlier than. He slowed to a stroll, so I walked with him, speaking about inane issues to distract his mind and assist him hold transferring ahead. And what we’d all been ready for since 5 p.m. the day earlier than lastly occurred.

“Look at that!” I mentioned pointing to a yellowing sky. “A new day is here, Gagz. We made it. You made it! Not much longer to go!” When I talked to him once more after the race, he mentioned that desirous about the brand new 12 months dawning in numerous time zones throughout the globe stored him going. “Every hour there’s some part of the world that’s having a celebration right now,” he mentioned.

By 8 a.m., the moon was only a smudge in a light-weight blue sky, and the grass glittered with frost. My mother got here again once more to cheer. Lap 43. Could I do two extra? I switched from a podcast to music, the album “Gone Now” by Bleachers, which looks like a soundtrack for driving to the seashore on a sizzling summer time day. Whatever labored at that time, I’d take it.

The solar, my mother, one of the best worst espresso, the upbeat music, mixed with the truth that I knew I’d make it to 24 hours led to me stunning myself: I began working once more. I’d discovered my additional 60 p.c.

I got here down the ultimate stretch to complete lap 45, and felt as near euphoria as I’ll in all probability ever get, with blisters. I ran via the chute one final time, palms within the air just like the Rocky tattoo on Gagliardi’s shin, then crumpled into my mother’s arms, in each triumph and reduction.

I stayed to observe Chaiwen Chou, 37, full her 100 miles, ending her final lap a couple of minutes below the 24-hour mark (although race organizers left the course open to anybody who reached 80 miles by 9 a.m. in the event that they needed to do 100 miles — Cherns completed his 100 miles in 28 hours, 44 minutes, 11 seconds).

Gagliardi gained the boys’s race with 123.87 miles in 125 laps. Karara wasn’t the one girl to run 100.09 miles in 101 laps, however she did it within the quickest time, in 21 hours, 51 minutes, 59 seconds, which made her the ladies’s winner.

My whole distance was 44.59 miles, nonetheless the furthest I’d run by greater than a half marathon. I don’t know if I’ll do it once more, however I mentioned that after my first marathon, and now I’ve run a dozen of these.

“You’re completely rinsing yourself dry,” mentioned Finn, predicting that I’d in all probability strive one other 24-hour race, or a minimum of one other ultramarathon. “It’s no longer about running anymore. It’s about a journey to yourself.”

Jen A. Miller is the writer of “Running: A Love Story” and writes The Times’s working publication. Sign up at nytimes.com/newsletters/working.