Ultramarathon runner Karen Pate, above, will be happy if she maintains a 16-minute mile average during next weekend’s Leadville Trail 100 race. That’s somewhere between power-walking and the purposeful stride of a New Yorker in a hurry. A veteran of ultramarathons throughout the world, and recently laid off from her job as a project manager, she’s devoted herself to finishing the course she knows intimately as a longtime pacer.Claire Martin, The Denver Post
Q: What do you think about for 30 hours?
A: I try hard not to think about the race because I try not to worry. I think about my heart rate. I always wear a heart-rate monitor when I run.
Q: How can you not think about being on a 100-mile run?
A: I don’t think about it like that. I think about it as a 13-mile run to one checkpoint, and an 11-mile run to the next checkpoint. I do have to think about running, because I have to watch the trail to stay safe and avoid falling. I’m not accident-prone, but I have accidents on trail. Once I broke my ankle. I think a lot about where are the rocks, and whether I’m holding my line. And at the halfway point, I’m not thinking much any more at all. That’s what a pacer is for.
Q: To do your thinking for you?
A: Yes! And to get me out of my head. Your feelings go through stages. There are times when you feel like crap, like you shouldn’t be here, and you can’t finish. You have to force your way out of that, and your pacer can help.
Q: What’s in the pack you carry?
A: Water. A flashlight, for running at night. A cheat sheet — a list of the checkpoints and when I need to be at each one. My crew will have a change of clothes, shoes, food, medical stuff, and this goop you put on your feet to keep the friction down, to avoid blisters.
Q: Do you use a headlamp, as well as a flashlight?
A: At night, I do both. I like to see ahead of me, and what’s right below me, where the rocks are. The other benefit of a headlamp is when you’re digging through your pack.
Q: What specific things will your crew have for you when you meet them at a checkpoint?
A: V-8 juice. Nectar juice. A sandwich. Sunscreen, a hat, fresh socks, a fresh shirt. A foot care pack. At Winfield, a pacer.
Q: Is there anything special you’ll be wearing during the run?
A: My Dirty Girl gaiters. A friend makes them. They’re really, really flashy. They attach to your running shoes with Velcro and keep the dirt out. It gives you a boost to look down and see them.
Q: What’s the best-case scenario for next Sunday?
A: My goal, as a back-of-the-pack runner, is to have enough time to walk the last 5 miles.
