Whether you like long or short races, we've got one for you
Running season is gearing up, and to celebrate, we’re highlighting two races: one that’s long and full of blisters
and cactus thorns, and anoth- er that’s short and lined with cheering fans and music.
Trans-Pecos Ultra Marathon
If you like to run through the desert for days at a time,
check out the Trans-Pecos Ultra. The multistage foot race will wind 160 miles through rugged Big Bend Ranch State Park in West Texas over seven days. The race begins Oct. 18.
No technical skills are needed, but the list of required equipment includes a back- pack, sleeping bag, compass, signal mirror, knife, whistle, headlamp, pain killers and 14,000 calories worth of food. As the website notes, this part of Texas is not flflat and participants should be “prepared for continuous hills and plenty of rocky single track.”
Sleep and nutrition researcher Chris Herrera of Austin created the event after falling in love with the Chihuahuan Desert while running the
Big Bend Ultra 50-mile race. (That’s another terrific event — if you like to run a long way through prickly environments.)
He couldn’t forget the image of runners heading out at the race start, headlamps bobbing through the pre-dawn darkness, or the mental challenge he faced at mile 41, when he hit what he calls a wall of negativity.
“I just enjoyed the environment, the challenge and getting past the 26-mile mark for the first time in my life,” he says of the experience.
Runners will have access to water and medical attention every six miles along the course, which skirts a semicircle of mountains called the Flatirons, ducks into beautiful Fresno Canyon and passes cool stuff like old mines, corrals and windmills. Each night, they’ll sleep in a group camp and start the next day’s run together.
“They’ll find a camaraderie that doesn’t really exist in other events,” Herrera says.
Fifteen or 20 runners, including one from England, are expected to compete. Most days they’ll cover about 26 miles, but one day they’ll tackle 52 and one day just six. Cutoff times are based on a brisk walking pace of 2.5 mph.
“You can run, walk or even crawl — just don’t give up,” the website proclaims.
Entry fee is $2,500. Registration closes Sept. 15. For more information, go to transpecosultra.com.
CC4C Micro Marathon
If six days of running through the desert sounds like a little much, perhaps you’d prefer an untimed, 2.62-mile dash through an Austin shopping center.
Proceeds from the lickety-split Cheyanna’s Champions 4 Children Micro Marathon on Sept. 27 will help kids who have rare or undiagnosed med- ical conditions. Each year, CC4C, created by Talaya Frazier of Austin, adopts 10 children and matches them with their favorite high school athletic team and a celebrity “champion.”
A slew of notable folks are on board for this year’s event, including World Wrestling Entertainment champions Mark “The Undertaker” Calaway and his wife, Michelle McCool Calaway; Mark Henry, known as “The World’s Strongest Man”; country music star Jack Ingram; and world record free diver Tanya Streeter. Olympians Leo Manzano and Amy Acuff will sign autographs at the finish.
The course will feature 10 cheer stations — one for each of the children in the program. Last year, more than 500 people ran the race, which includes music, face painting and other entertainment at the finish line.
The organization tries to provide $10,000 per child to cover things that traditional health insurance won’t cover. For example, CC4C this year enabled one child to visit the Carrick Brain Centers for lab tests that led to a diagnosis of autoimmune encephalitis. Doctors at the center now say the patient should regain most, or all, of the cognitive function, memory and vision that he has lost since he became ill two years ago.
“Having high school athletic teams and celebrities of Austin cheering for them empowers (the children in the program) to endure their personal race to recovery and makes the children feel famous. Their smiles at the start and finish never leave your mind,” Frazier says.
Entry fee is $35. To register or to donate online, go to CC4C.org. Packet pickup begins at 8:30 a.m., and the run starts at 10 a.m. at the Hill Country Galleria Amphitheater in Bee Cave.
Contact Pam LeBlanc at 512445-3994.