2 Men, 600 Race Miles, 2 Months and a Day!
As I was checking to see how my fellow Seven Hills Running Club member Melissa Broussard made out at the East Texas Ultra Runners 25K on Saturday up in Tyler, I went to the Hill Country Trail Runners web site and found a reference on the front of the site to Chris Rampacek doing the Rocky Raccoon 100-Miler on the 4th (and 5th) and then doing the 50K in Tyler on Saturday.
I then noticed that both Rampacek and Fort Worth's Rene Villalobos did the "Texas Trilogy" and Saturday's race. Here is a breakdown of their race mileage from Sunmart to last weekend:
Rene Villalobos, 47, Fort Worth (180 career marathons - or greater - to his credit)
12/10/2005 -- 8:56:30 - Sunmart 50M, Huntsville, TX
12/11/2005 -- 6:04:25 - White Rock Marathon, Dallas, TX
1/ 1/2006 -- 4:14:41 - Texas Marathon, Kingwood, TX
1/ 7/2006 -- 16:21:14 - Bandera 100K, Bandera, TX
1/15/2006 -- 5:09:16 - Chevron Houston Marathon, Houston, TX
2/ 4/2006 -- 24:13:05 - Rocky Raccoon 100M, Huntsville, TX
2/11/2006 -- 8:22:55 - East Texas Ultra Runners 50K, Tyler, TX
321.6 miles
Chris Rampacek, 54, Houston, aka "Dr. Muscle" (3 Badwater finishes, 2001-2003)
12/10/2005 -- 10:57:11 - Sunmart 50M, Huntsville, TX
12/11/2005 -- 3:44:56 - Houstonian Lite 30K, Sugar Land, TX
1/ 7/2006 -- 18:00:26 - Bandera 100K, Bandera, TX
1/15/2006 -- 5:32:49 - Chevron Houston Marathon, Houston, TX
2/ 4/2006 -- 28:52:20 - Rocky Raccoon 100M, Huntsville, TX
2/11/2006 -- 7:43:42 - East Texas Ultra Runners 50K, Tyler, TX
287.8 miles
I asked my friend (and ultramarathoner himself) Dalton Pulsipher what possesses a person to do this much (other than specifically training for the Rocky Raccoon 100 Miler).
"First, I should note that I do not know either Rene or Chris personally so can only speculate," he said. "Having made schedules like this and gone after them I can guess that there are a few reasons why someone would do this.
"Runners like to run races. When you get to ultrarunners you are looking at people who are compulsively driven to run very long races. Whether it is for the comraderie, the stroll through nature, or the chase for the next race many of these people find a love for the experience of the sport.
"It is not that different from regular runners taken to a new level. As a regular runner someone might go 30 miles in a week training for 5K races. So every day they are running their race length but not at race pace. Take that schedule and add a gradual increase in distance to it.
"These guys are running the miles because they love the trails and I bet they have run many more than 600 combined miles in that time. Their race times are not that impressive which is really an indicator to another point.
"An ultrarunner is generally running the miles for the distance, not the time. If your long run for the week was 20 miles easy pace it is not that hard to imagine a long run of 30 or 50 miles for a more dedicated runner. They just chose to run it in a race setting still at the easy pace.
"Ultimately I think the difference between them and most runners is just a little more love and dedication to running distance. We all have it in us; they just chose to do it."
I then noticed that both Rampacek and Fort Worth's Rene Villalobos did the "Texas Trilogy" and Saturday's race. Here is a breakdown of their race mileage from Sunmart to last weekend:
Rene Villalobos, 47, Fort Worth (180 career marathons - or greater - to his credit)
12/10/2005 -- 8:56:30 - Sunmart 50M, Huntsville, TX
12/11/2005 -- 6:04:25 - White Rock Marathon, Dallas, TX
1/ 1/2006 -- 4:14:41 - Texas Marathon, Kingwood, TX
1/ 7/2006 -- 16:21:14 - Bandera 100K, Bandera, TX
1/15/2006 -- 5:09:16 - Chevron Houston Marathon, Houston, TX
2/ 4/2006 -- 24:13:05 - Rocky Raccoon 100M, Huntsville, TX
2/11/2006 -- 8:22:55 - East Texas Ultra Runners 50K, Tyler, TX
321.6 miles
Chris Rampacek, 54, Houston, aka "Dr. Muscle" (3 Badwater finishes, 2001-2003)
12/10/2005 -- 10:57:11 - Sunmart 50M, Huntsville, TX
12/11/2005 -- 3:44:56 - Houstonian Lite 30K, Sugar Land, TX
1/ 7/2006 -- 18:00:26 - Bandera 100K, Bandera, TX
1/15/2006 -- 5:32:49 - Chevron Houston Marathon, Houston, TX
2/ 4/2006 -- 28:52:20 - Rocky Raccoon 100M, Huntsville, TX
2/11/2006 -- 7:43:42 - East Texas Ultra Runners 50K, Tyler, TX
287.8 miles
I asked my friend (and ultramarathoner himself) Dalton Pulsipher what possesses a person to do this much (other than specifically training for the Rocky Raccoon 100 Miler).
"First, I should note that I do not know either Rene or Chris personally so can only speculate," he said. "Having made schedules like this and gone after them I can guess that there are a few reasons why someone would do this.
"Runners like to run races. When you get to ultrarunners you are looking at people who are compulsively driven to run very long races. Whether it is for the comraderie, the stroll through nature, or the chase for the next race many of these people find a love for the experience of the sport.
"It is not that different from regular runners taken to a new level. As a regular runner someone might go 30 miles in a week training for 5K races. So every day they are running their race length but not at race pace. Take that schedule and add a gradual increase in distance to it.
"These guys are running the miles because they love the trails and I bet they have run many more than 600 combined miles in that time. Their race times are not that impressive which is really an indicator to another point.
"An ultrarunner is generally running the miles for the distance, not the time. If your long run for the week was 20 miles easy pace it is not that hard to imagine a long run of 30 or 50 miles for a more dedicated runner. They just chose to run it in a race setting still at the easy pace.
"Ultimately I think the difference between them and most runners is just a little more love and dedication to running distance. We all have it in us; they just chose to do it."
posted by WalkSports.com | 10:18 AM
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