Western New York Ultra Series
Home PageLetter from Todd Baum
following his 15th place finish at the Mohican 100 Mile Trail Run.
Hi All,
After a week of healing, I'm walking normal now.
Here was me crossing the finish, looking a bit dumbfounded, mesmerized by the
clock.
22 hours 45 minutes. 15th out of the 135 entrants.
I had hoped to go faster, covering the first 36 miles on 18 hour pace. But it
was a difficult course, and by mile 50 I was toast, then reverting to survival
mode.
No one should look as good as this guy after 100
miles. He was a guy I ran with much of the way, Jeromy Risner. He maintained
better than I the last half, and ended up finishing 55 minutes ahead of me. For
some reason, Margaret and Laurel (my handlers), paid more attention to him than
me. Maybe I would go faster if I didn't wear clothes when I ran.
Here is a picture of the trail at mile 23, after
running up a river gorge for a mile, it was now time to run out of the
gorge.
Stuff like this tends to slow down your
pace.
The race winner, and first ever USATF 100 Mile
Trail National Champion, Sean Andrish, moves along at a steady pace. I was never
able to raise my knee that high after about mile 37.
The start of the race. If you look close, you can
see I'm right on the heels of Sean Andrish. I'm #29, and Sean is in the yellow
shirt. That is as close as I got. He eventually finish 6 hours ahead of me.
Awesome athletes - the leading ultra runners.
An example of just how awesome. Here is a picture
of Sean clapping for the last official finisher under 30 hours, Hoskuldur
Kristvinsson from Reykjavik, Iceland. Nearly 13 hours after he
finished.
Jimmy, Margaret, and Laurel did a great job of
crewing for me. CREW for an ultra stands for Cranky Runner Eternal
Waiting.
Take care, and thank you all for your support and
interest in my ultra endeavors.
Todd
