They can race all day ---- and do

By: DAVID HAMMEL - Staff Writer | Thursday, November 6, 2003 9:17 PM PST ∞

The San Diego 1 Day Race is a perfectly social, pleasant experience, participants say ---- not nearly as monotonous as its name and setting suggest.

Those in the 1 Day Race, which begins Saturday morning around the track at UC San Diego, are able to convince themselves of that for the first 12 to 15 hours. Then 3 a.m. rolls around, and their crews and supporters crawl into their tents on the infield for a snooze.

"That's the loneliest time to be out there," said Oceanside resident John Metz, the race's founder and a participant. "Because at that point, you've run for so long, but you have so much farther to go. And nobody's around."

By its very description, this race is monotonous. Competitors run around the track from 10 a.m. Saturday until 10 a.m. Sunday. The runner who accumulates the most miles wins. Last year's champion, Canadian Monica Scholz, completed 127.25 miles.

This year's event also serves as USA Track and Field's national championship. As of early this week, 85 runners from 21 states, Mexico and Canada had registered.

Interest in the race has increased in each of the five years Metz has organized it. The inaugural event in 1999 drew just 19 competitors.

Races that endurance athletes considered absurd just 15 years ago have slowly moved toward the mainstream. Metz completed the Ironman Triathlon in Hawaii in 1982 at a time when participation in such an event was considered more a badge of insanity than accomplishment. Today, several states host Ironman-length triathlons. The popularity of adventure races and off-road triathlons has also increased dramatically.

But ultra runners remain a different breed to the majority of endurance athletes.

While most distance runners despise running around a track because of the monotony and predictability of scenery, many ultra runners enjoy the 24-hour track races for the social opportunities. Most ultra races are on trails and less-traveled roads. Participants rarely see each other once the race starts.

"The one thing about these runs that you don't have in the trail runs is the camaraderie because you're all out there together," Metz said. "People are talking all the time. A lot of people will run together for a couple laps. A lot of these people know each other, or if they don't, they've got 24 hours."