The great race of 1928

On March 4th in 1928 199 runners set out from Los Angeles to race to New York and claim a prize of $25,000 for first place. That was quite a lot of money at the time, a policeman would earn about $40 a week. In fact that is still a lot of money now, I estimate that is what it will cost me to do this.

I first heard about this race by reading The Bunion Derby, a fantastic book about the race (link goes to google preview). It is an account based on newspaper reports spanning the 84 days and 3400 miles of the race. Things were very different then.

The twenties in the USA was in interesting decade. An economic boom and huge rises in personal income for many which led to some crazy behaviour. Drinking alcohol was illegal and people expressed themselves in funyn ways, such as by 24 hour dancing, week long flag pole sitting and swimming for days. People seemed to go mad for the endurance challenges.

Charlie C Pyle, more of a circus promoter than an endurance enthusiast saw this as an opportunity to make his name (and some money do doubt as was the theme at the time) by promoting what he called "The Greatest Show on Earth" (he was a modest chap). He offered a large prize for runners who (for $100 deposit) could run along the newly built (and in many parts not quite built) Route 66 from LA to Chicago and then across to New York. Strangely enough it probably seemed like a fairly normal thing to do 70 years ago, more so than now.

I don't want to go into detail of the book (or spoil the ending) and I recommend you all read it and I challenge you to not want to follow their footsteps on finishing the book. There are however a few things that just stood out for me when reading.

• It was a proper race. Not much I do nowadays seems like a proper race but these guys all seemed to be there in hope of winning the money. Most of the competitors were quite poor and scraped the $100 somehow and gambled with 3 months of their lives that they could win this
• They were actually running quite fast. Quite often I'd read something like "So and so won the 38 mile stage averaging 8 miles an hour". 8 miles an hour for 38 miles when you've already run 2000? That would be the kind of time I would do if I just tried to run that distance once at full speed and did not have to get up for the next week.
• America is enormous. Well, not just the distance but the geography that you have to run through. The route goes through the hottest desert, mountain ranges, great plains where the winds are so bad that trees grow sideways.
• Everyone was so young. There were a lot of people in their 20s. There was one kid who was 15 and got halfway before this was discovered and he was kicked out. There were not many over 40. Next year there will be not many under 40.
• I actually found out what a bunion is. I thought it was like a callous or something but it is actually quite severe muscle contortion in the foot. I don't want to get that.
• The winning time was 573h 4m 34s. That is a long long time. And why on earth were they measuring the seconds?

Time to feel like a baby again

Day by day the entry list for the Race Across America increases. I am currently stalking through the various "CV Sportifs" of the people I am going to meet when I am in the States next summer. I know they are doing the same to me, I get the website stats telling me so. I'm not looking at them as competition, I am just intrigued as to what they may have done that now leads them to taking on a challenge such as running across the USA.

I loved the feeling I got in the Spartathlon last year of being a complete novice in the presence of such great runners who have done many great things. I felt awe and inspiration from others with a dozen spartathlons, badwaters, UTMB's and other silly runs behind them that made my 2 Grand Union Canal Runs feel a bit pedestrian. Looking at this list there are a few achievements that stand out.

There are walks/runs across various continents. 5600km from Kenya to Cameroon, 2700k from Hokkaido to Kagoshima, Trans Australia, Germany, Japan, Switz, France to Turkey. Lots of week long treadmill challenges and 1000 mile pbs mentioned. This guy has rowed across oceans on his own and is probably my biggest rival in the beard growing race.

There are a few there with experience similar to mine. A few Spartathlons and Badwater mentions. There was no qualifying standard for this race which is probably just as well. What on earth can you do to demonstrate that you can run across America?

I feel that I am lacking somewhat in multi-day experience. I have only done 2 week long events whereas many of the runners here have completed runs of 1000+ miles. I am not sure how much of this I can change in the next 6 months.

Shit, is it really only 6 months?

This one deserves a new blog of it's own

Well, after some delay with entries being available for the race I am finally in a position where I think I am actually going to do this race. I have paid the money (that I don't currently have) and got a confirmation email that it's all going to happen. There is still quite a lot to get my head around. This is so big I can't even begin to imagine how hard it's going to be.

Around 4 years ago, well 4 years ago exactly I was preparing my body and mind for a 45 mile ultra along a canal in England. 45 miles in one go? Sounds ridiculous. I thought that humans were designed to explode soon after breaking through the 26.2 mile mark but apparently not. I remember being quite anal about it at the time. I was looking at the wind speed before the race to see whether it was favourable or not, wondering what shoes to wear, the terrain, the food, the daylight. After all, 45 miles is a long way. There is a lot to panic about.

And so logically speaking running 45 miles a day for 70 days consecutively without a rest day should involve a whole lot more to worry about. I can't quite multiply all those things by 70 and give a definitive panic level. In fact I feel pretty relaxed about it right now. Which probably means I still don't think it's going to happen.

So in a nutshell in case you have not heard I am going to attempt the Los Angeles to New York race next year. Starts in LA on the 19th June, ends in New York 23rd August. 3220 miles in 70 days which is an average of 45 a day. The shortest stage will be around 30 miles, there are a few stages over 55. Actually writing that raised the panic levels a bit.

I've been thinking about this for some time now. Since before Badwater but I didn't want to say too much about it. Now circumstances might arise that would make it a crime for me not to do this. Something like this only comes along once in a decade, I feel like if I don't do it now I may never get the chance.

Plus I bought a fucking HUGE map for nearly £50. If I don't do it now that will be a complete waste.