Such a great effort from Pete. He's built up a history of top quality race performaces before embarking on a world class run, conducted with complete transparency and clear evidence published for all to see.
He's put down a mark that is going to be very hard to beat.
He also set a standard for how to prove it. Left no doubt!
Pete's Little Toe wrote:
He also set a standard for how to prove it. Left no doubt!
Rather, he followed the existing standards.
OK, well, he had multiple Garmin watches, which he uploaded runs twice daily, immediately, so there was no question of tinkering. A Delorme tracker with a backup. Live coverage of some of the final day. I haven't seen anything quite this complete and immediate before, but technology helps.
Because of his Delorme online tracker people were able to randomly join him for parts of the run.
Kudos go out to Frank Giannino for figure out parts method on his second try; run/walk, break times, miles per day after day, and the support crew. Also to Charlie Engle for improving the process, acting as mentor and confidant, and inspiring Pete for this impressive effort.
Charlie said it at the end today: Such a run is a solo effort. Meaning the logistics of coordinating multiple runners with different needs and ideas is much, much more difficult.
Just removed the Delorme tracking site from my bookmarks. Sad.
So, I had the privilege of jumping in with Pete and the crew for a few miles this afternoon. Ended up running up the hill to the Palisades, down to the GWB, across the bridge, down off the bridge into Washington Heights, and south for a while.
It was kind-of surreal, slightly ridiculous, but incredibly fun and cool.
Definitely unlike any other experience I've ever had.
I sort of figured by the time he got into Eastern Bergen County, densely populated area, a hell of a lot of runners around, he'd probably pick up a lot of tag-alongs like me, and it'd be a little bit of a Forrest Gump scene.
Nope. When I caught them, it was him, Charlie (who was doing the live-feed, which was hysterical), one or two crew, and a couple other guys.
Pete looked *ridiculously* good for a guy who'd already logged at least 70 miles overnight, and probably hadn't slept more than a few hours in a couple days. Just freaking amazing. Kind of looked like he was out for an easy 5 in the park, or something.
All the guys were super-friendly, happy to let me join in.
Seemed to appreciate that there were folks following and paying attention.
(They even gave me a 'Pete's Feet' cap. Nice-looking hat, actually.)
As we got close to the Bridge, a handful of other people popped up and joined in. (I got the impression that a couple of them were prominent Ultra guys as well, though I don't know who they are.)
We headed down to the Bridge. I actually ended up giving a little guidance to the group at 1 or 2 points, because no one else seemed that familiar with the neighborhood, and I know it really well. (I found this hysterically funny, too.)
We got onto the Bridge, and it was stunningly beautiful. (Pete was lucky enough to get a *gorgeous* day for his finale: crisp, crystal-clear, deep blue sky, 58 degrees. Awesome.)
The view, of course, was fantastic, and I guess --seeing his finish-line in sight after 3000 freaking miles of brutal self-abuse-- he must've gotten a little adrenaline-rush, because he put in a bit of a surge, and dropped to 8:45 pace for a while. (He generally seemed to center around 10 to 10:30 pace, absent big hills.) Me and the guys around me looked at each other and said, 'Are you freaking kidding me? After 3000 miles, and 75 today, he's throwing down a *surge*?'
(After a half-mile or so, I guess he caught himself and settled back to his normal pace.)
I was only planning to hop in with them for a brief while (nursing a calf-strain, and thought it was a really bad idea to go more than a mile or two right now), but the whole thing was so cool, and I was having so much fun, I didn't want to quit yet, and kept going a while into Manhattan.
At the far end of the Bridge, Pete had another couple Ultra friends waiting and they jumped in, too. (So now, it was maybe a dozen guys altogether.)
I heard Charlie say they had to get down to City Hall before 6, because they close the grounds, and nobody'd be able to get in for the little ceremony they had planned --which was also hysterically funny. (It was about 330, I think, as we were crossing the Bridge, and I think it was about 12 miles left to go.)
I asked one of the guys who had helped organize the Manhattan stretch why Pete didn't go down to the River, and head down the bike-trail, which would've been a lot more scenic, and a lot less congested and dangerous, and he said 'Hey, we wanted the Parade route; bask in the glory, wave to the people, etc.'
If I'd planned better, and hadn't had a nagging injury going on, I might've tried to head all the way Downtown with them. It looked like it would be a real blast.
As it was, my calf was starting to bark, and I had things I needed to get to, so I finally peeled off as they got to Riverside Drive, which left them about 10 to go, I think.
It was a very cool, totally unique, weird and joyous little adventure.
I'm definitely glad I went and checked it out, and decided to jump in.
It strikes me that there might be no other event anywhere (or very few) where an average schlub has a chance to jump in and accompany a world-class athlete in the process of setting a world-record.
It was a helluva lot of fun. I'm really surprised there weren't more folks trying to do what I did, but that kind of made it even cooler.
(I gather by the time he got further downtown, he probably did pick up some more company.)
I'll have to go look for Charlie's videos, and see what they look like.
(I imagine they're gonna be pretty funny.)
You got an epic story out of the join him deal. Stories like yours are the reason we are runners. At the end Pete said he had a lot of stories from his adventure. Hopefully he will share some.
Cool stuff! Glad you got to run with him for a bit on this historic day.
I guess I forgot to say, CONGRATULATIONS to Pete!
A truly amazing feat. Wow.
We bow in your general direction.
(And the fact that he was badly hurt enough to have to take a full day off early on, and then just roared right back with a 70 the next day, and kept rolling them off, day after day, for another 2400 miles (or whatever it was),... is really kind of mind-blowing.)
It's really too bad they couldn't get Robby Y over here for this, so he could see what an *actual* world-class ultra-runner looks like.
Great story! I was asked if I was coming up for the finish and it didn't look too good, but now I wish I'd have skipped my 50K Saturday for this!
Awesome for him!
finish time wrote:
42 days, 8 hours, 34 minutes. WOW
+1
Any mainstream press coverage popping up?
Will he visit with fellow distance runner Oprah?
Pete post-run interview
I just bowed in the direction of NYC, which from where I live, is the same direction as Mecca. No one will mistake me for being Muslim, though, so no harm done.
Charlie Engle is a hoot.
Hey Pete Kostlenick, you are one American Badass MoFo!
sp2 wrote:It's really too bad they couldn't get Robby Y over here for this, so he could see what an *actual* world-class ultra-runner looks like.
I was tempted to pop a link to the live feed on RY's Facebook yesterday evening while it was happening, but RY has somehow made it so no-one can see my posts but me (and presumably him), so a bit pointless.
trollingfordollars wrote:
Just removed the Delorme tracking site from my bookmarks. Sad.
I know - the first thing I did each morning was track his progress. What an amazing accomplishment. But now what?
Runner of miles and kilometers wrote:
But now what?
Back to the random front-page promoted joke and life advice threads and the running, sprinting, cycling, throwing and doping news that makes up LetsRun.
Actually I was going to be done with my LetsRun addiction until this, an actual positive forum thread, popped up. Funny how a positive thread about a stunning RUNNING accomplishment never made the front. I'm out.