Two local runners earned new belt buckles on July 17.
To receive this coveted ultrarunning accessory, they completed the Vermont 100 Mile Endurance Run in less than 24 hours.
Jeff Smucker, a network administrator for the Penns Valley Area School District, finished in 21 hours, 8 minutes, 38 seconds, and John Fegyveresi, a Penn State graduate student in geosciences, finished in 21:48:16.
Neither man ran as far as the race during training. In fact, both said their peak weekly mileage was 80 or less.
“It can be difficult to fit in miles around a job and family life,” said Smucker, “I have to be flexible with my training.”
Fegyveresi said the fieldwork he does as part of his studies poses a special obstacle.
“Last winter, I was at a remote field camp in Antarctica and I was literally running back-and-forth laps up and down the skiway that the planes land on,” he said.
Although the thought of running 100 miles might seem crazy to most people, both men said running ultramarathons, as races longer than the marathon distance of 26.2 miles are called, came as a natural progression from running road marathons.
Fegyveresi ran his first ultra in 2008, after running several marathons and thru-hiking the Appalachian Trail.
“Combining long distances and fun on trails is such a natural fit for me,” he said. Since then, he’s completed nine ultras, and he isn’t finished yet. Just five weeks after his Vermont 100, he is planning to run the Leadville Trail 100 Run in Colorado on Aug. 20.
It is common for ultramarathoners to have to drop out of races, or DNF (short for did not finish), but Fegyveresi has finished every ultra he has started. Blisters are a common pitfall. Fegyveresi said hiking taught him how to lubricate his feet well, and he has never had trouble with blisters. He also wears shoes a half-size larger than normal during ultras to accommodate swelling.
Smucker’s first ultra was the Tussey Mountainback 50 Mile Ultramarathon.
“After running a dozen or so marathons, I was looking for another challenge,” he said. “With the Tussey Mountainback 50-miler practically in my backyard, it seemed like a good fit so I gave it a try.”
After completing the Mountainback twice, he ran his first 100-miler in Ohio last fall.
Like Fegyveresi, Smucker is returning to running and racing after a brief recovery period.
“I’m usually back out running again about four days after an ultra,” he said, noting that he plans to run in several trail races this fall, and to pace his brother at his first ultra, the Vermont 50, in September.
Many ultramarathoners use a pacer during the last part of races and a crew to assist with hydration, food, clothing and gear changes, and morale. Smucker used family and friends as his crew and pacers during both of his 100-milers and says he wouldn’t consider running a race that long without a crew.
“I don’t quite trust what my physical condition will be at the end so it gives me reassurance to have someone there beside me if something goes badly,” he said.
At Vermont, his crew included his wife and two youngest children, and his pacer was another local runner, Marvin Hall. His daughter paced him for six miles, and Hall ran the last 24 with him.
Fegyveresi also used a pacer, but relied on the race aid stations and “drop bags” that he assembled to be left at designated points along the course. Instead of bringing a pacer with him, the race coordinator matched him with a pacer.
Even most marathoners won’t consider running a 100-miler, but one of the biggest obstacles to running an ultramarathon is just beating the crowds to get in.
Though they still don’t have the mass appeal of road marathons, which can draw tens of thousands of runners to a single event, ultramarathons have increased in popularity in recent years.
“Ever since that barefoot running book came out (Christopher McDougall’s ‘Born to Run’), the popularity of ultrarunning has increased exponentially,” Fegyveresi said. “The downside to this is that a lot of really awesome races are filling up fast.”
