Featured Running Event of the Week - St. Pat's 24-Hour Race

No, this has absolutely nothing to do with St. Patrick's Day or the various races in March/April surrounding that holiday.  It just happens to be the name of the park where it is held, St. Pats County Park in South Bend, Indiana.  The rest of the race name is almost self-explanatory, in that there is a 24-hour race - but there is also a 12-hour race, and a 6-hour race.

The 24-hour race draws the most participants and the 6-hour draws the least.  All 3 races start at the exact same time.  The course is a 5k loop, which equals 3.1 miles.  10 loops is a 50k, 20 loops is a 100k.

The idea of these timed-events is to complete as many laps as the participant can (or desires to) within the time-frame.  Think of them like sports car endurance races (24 hours of LeMans, 12 hour of Sebring, etc).  The same lap is repeated as many times as the participant chooses - at any speed they like, they can walk all of them, they can run all of them, they can run/walk combo all of them, they can run some and walk others and so on.  It's all about how many are completed at the end of the time frame. 

The course is a trail route consisting of mostly dirt two-lane paths, with some grass, some sidewalk (very little), some asphalt (not all that much), some crushed gravel (not much), some rocks, some roots, some tightly packed mud (very little), some downhill, and some uphill.  Taking place in October much of the course is covered with fallen pine needles or fallen leaves.  It also gets dark about 12 hours into the event.  The 12-hour racers finish in dusk - and the 24-hour races have about 12 night hours (and 12 day hours).

What makes the race interesting for the runners is that everybody is on their own strategy - some are in different timed-races and thus are pushing harder earlier, some mix run laps followed by walk laps, some do all walk, some all run, etc etc.  So, there is a lot of non-verbal communication and awareness on the course as participants encounter faster or slower participants.  There are many moments of isolation on the course, especially at night, with no other runners in sight, and one might feel totally alone.  At some point, the mental aspect of running/walking for so many hours becomes just as important as the obvious physical aspect.

Another cool aspect about this event is the food.  Participants are served a pasta dinner (with dessert) during packet pick-up the night before, breakfast in the morning, and then all sorts of food and beverages throughout the entire 24 hours of the event.

But even cooler than that - but wait there's more - the PEOPLE.  The event is pretty much run by wonderful ladies and their friends - and they genuinely care about the participants.  Each and every time crossing the finish line, if a participant heads over to the timing/scoring table to check their lap time, or to the food table (adjacent to each other), one of the ladies asks if the participant needs anything - and tells them what's available (or coming soon) - AND - AND - they start each sentence with that runner's NAME.  Even if it is the runner's first time at the event.  They genuinely care that each participant is taken care of, is feeling ok, needs help (or not), etc etc.  They even pay attention to the lap counts saying "Name, next lap is 50 miles for you" (or whatever) - BY NAME each and every time - the entire time the event is going on, and before and after it.

In addition, the people factor, all of the runners look out for each other.  If a runner is pulled off to the side, others will slow and ask if they are okay, and stop if necessary.  If runners or walkers are near the same speed an encounter one-another, they may walk/run and talk for a lap or portion of a lap - some even plan to do a lap (or more) together, to keep each other company - especially later in the race.  Race regulars mentor the race newbies before and during the race, providing information about the course itself, or hydrating, or eating, or strategy, or whatever.

Because this is a timed-race, many people set personal mileage goals (something one can't do in a pre-determined mileage race).  And it's always great to see people accomplish their goals - or to see them in the process of accomplishing the goals - or to even be a small part of it. 

This race was 24-hours long - the event even longer - it would take 24 pages to cover all of the interwoven stories of each participant - and that's what makes this event so great - the people!!!