Saturday, June 30, 2007

We Have A Winner

Run 11 miles

Today at 4:18 pm Mountain Time Jay Petervary won the Great Divide Race by rolling into Antelope Wells, NM at the US / Mexico border. That's 2,490 miles in 15 days 4 hours and 18 minutes and over 200,000 feet of climbing! He took more than 20 hours off the previous course record. Way to go Jay.

Here's some of what Jay had to say when he called in today to report his finish:

"Hey world, I arrived at Antelope Wells at 4:18 PM Saturday, with absolutely nobody here. There's one gentleman here that's let me in to get a bunch of cold pops, let me use the bathroom, gave me some information about a shuttle in the morning, try to get to Deming some time tomorrow.... I will just be around thinking about things underneath a tree for the rest of the evening and day."

It's funny to think about winning the Great Divide Race, almost 2,500 miles, the longest mountain bike race in the world, and when you get to the finish you're just there out in the desert by yourself. I think of everything that appeals to me about this race this might be the number one most appealing thing. For me endurance racing is such a personal and internal thing. I loved that I finished the Susitna 100 at about 6:00 am and simply walked into the warming cabin at the finish area and sat down and had that time to think to myself.

I was watching this video the other day of the finish of last week's Western States 100 and there were people everywhere, and an announcer rambling on a PA system, and interviews taking place just as soon as the finishers came across the line. I think it's great when events like this get the attention and spectators that they deserve, but I just don't think these kinds of events are for me so much. I prefer to finish an event and let my interpretation of the race be something that I come to on my own with some quiet internal thoughts, not with loud spectators tyring to interpret for me what I just went through. Hopefully in just over a year from now I'll have the opportunity to roll into Antelope Wells, NM just as Jay did today, with no one in sight and big smile on my face, despite a level of fatigue which would certainly be beyond anything I've ever experienced.

Totals for the week (including the Sunday portion of last weekend's race): Run 30 miles; Bike 100 miles; in 17 hours time.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks for hooking me up to this race. I am addicted now. Good luck with the 2008 GDR. I will be following your progress and rooting for you.

Phil

WynnMan said...

Wow that CD bike race is really something! What an experience that would be.

Curious to know "what" or "if" you did for long runs leading up to your Susitna race. I think the last key for me will be my training time spent up on the Superior course in a few weeks and getting in some quality course time and 1-2 substantial long runs/walk. I guess what I'm trying to say is I need to experienc the suffer factor.

wynn

shawnkielty said...

Here's 5 minutes of fame for Jay.

FixieDave said...

I may or may not see you in 08 but good luck and keep it fun =)

Dave said...

That's the trick, its so much harder to make unsupported trail races happen because you can't carry as much stuff. I'm still looking for a way to run and carry 2 liters of water and days worth of calories.