Burning Man 50K!
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| Beth W |
1) I am looking
for a job, here’s my LinkedIn if
anyone’s hiring…maybe at a startup or e-commerce company? (Or a fitness/ running/ health company, of
course!) Long story, but it has nothing
to do with Burning Man.
2) A friend is
working on a fitness clothing line, if you have a minute, can you please take this survey and help them
out? Much appreciated!
3) If anyone ever goes to run trails, please contact me. I love trails and will do all I can to get out of the city and run on them! J
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Hi! I’m Beth, a regular reader (but total non-participant) of the NY Flyers FB group, and this is my first, maybe last, race report…EVER. Feel lucky to have read this. Ha.
I'm
tempted to call this a "rave report", but the Burning Man Ultramarathon
(aka "BlackRock City 50k”) was a real race! Not just a race/run, but
an incredible experience unmatched by any other.
My
friend Cherie Yanek is a world class
ultra runner and the founder/Race Director for the Burning Man 50k, who some of
you might know (or at least recognize) as the fast girl who runs in pink tutus,
who graced the cover of the NYRR magazine in August (which she didn't see for a
couple weeks since she was at Burning Man). She'd been asking me to come to Burning Man and run the 50k the past few
years. Other friends also asked me to go to Burning Man for years (not to run). But I always said no, or had an excuse not to
attend. I felt I had no "good reason" to go...until I was finally
convinced by Cherie this year, after I ran my first 50k, and after she had found me
a ticket to Burning Man.
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| Cherie Kicking off the 50K |
Long
story short, the Burning Man 50k was hands
down the best race I've ever done in my life. "THIS IS WHY I RUN!" pretty much sums it up.
If
you don't know of Burning Man, Google it. And just watch this to see what it
looks like. Pretend you didn't see GoogleImages of girls in sexy outfits and
fuzzy boots, you didn't hear that it's "crazy hippies, drugs and
parties" and just listen to me when I say "not true!" Well, some
of it is true. But it's much, much more than that! It's 68,000 people in a mind-blowing, fully
functioning, hand-built "city" for one week, and then all burnt down
(and taken down) at the end. It's in the
middle of nowhere in a dry, barren desert a few hours outside Reno, NV. There
is no water, no food, no electricity, nothing. Nothing for sale, no money
exchanged, except $3 bags of ice. It's carry in carry out, with a super
strict "Leave No Trace" policy (grrr, I wish other organizations like
NF Endurance Challenge, and all big marathons, would learn a little from the Burning
Man organization!).
The
50k race is 4 x 7-mile loops around the “outer playa" (i.e., the perimeter
of BM), plus a 3 mile out ‘n’ back at the end (why are those always the hardest 3 miles ever?!). It starts at 5am, before sunrise, as many parties
wind down. Many head back to their camps, knowing they need a little sleep, before doing it all over again tomorrow. Some are still wandering the playa to enjoy a relatively quiet moment,
waiting to watch the stunning sunrise. Some are sobering up, some are not at
all sober. Many are still out dancing as the night continues on.
This contrast with the +100 ultrarunners makes
for a super fun, friendly group of "race spectators", with a constant
soundtrack of techno, house, and dub step music playing throughout the run, and
some quite unusual "aide" offered up along the course -- I drank a
few beers (hit the spot!), had a few sips of vodka-Redbull (not so much), and
passed up an offer to eat something "magical" around mile 19…although
might be interesting to experiment with that another time. (For the
record, I have had beer and/or bloody mary’s during regular ol’ marathons out
here in non-Burning Man world, so all good! Yes, people, for realz…remember why we run? Yeah, it’s fun. Do you get paid to run? No, right? Okay. So have a beer with your friends at mile 17 next time you’re not
obsessing with BQ’ing or PR’ing, and just enjoy the experience!).
Nah,
seriously, back to running...this was a serious, real 50k race. There were
world class ultra runners on the field like Ray "Ray K" Krolewicz, former
US record for the 48 hour distance runner of 500 ultramarathons
and just hilarious to be around, and 2-time Western States 100 winner Kathy D'Onfrio (the first
female finisher), who I feel honored to give my bacon to the next day.
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| Start of BRC 50k! |
There were competitor level race times with male
winner Shaun Maguire finishing at 3:32:51 (who “doesn't race,” since he must be
too busy finishing his PhD in quantum computing), more than 100 runners in attendance, two full aide
stations with better nutrition than any race I've done (fresh brownies! No, not
magic ones)…even media coverage from Competitor, Wired, some random
German Magazine, and The ElephantJournal
where our TV personality friend, Ryan Duzer, not only filmed
the race, created this video, but ran his
first ever 50k and finished in 2nd
place! (Watch the video, SO F’ING FUNNY, and lots of hot runners from
Colorado). Another runner, Kerry, also made this video.
I
ran most of my ~6 hour race with an amazing woman and new friend, Gina, who I felt like I had known for
years. We stopped here and there to chat at aide stations, drink beers,
dance a little, and make other new friends along the way. After the race, we all got some cool race swag – a handmade
medal, necklace, nice water bottle, a hot plate, and bumper stickers. The runners hung out, drank beers, ate some
amazing cilantro chicken salad and many of us became friends and spent the next
few days enjoying Burning Man together. When
I tell people I ran a 50k at Burning Man, I don't think of it as a
"run." I think of it as going to a big party with friends, while running.
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| Me, Jumping for Joy, at 2013 BRC 50k |
Like
I said, THIS is why I RUN! The Burning
Man 50K was worth every penny, all the traveling, and all the effort to get
there. I now have amazing new friends,
had a 50k PR (okay, I’ve only run 3), and had the best, most memorable,
life-changing week of my life!
Come run it next year -- you can follow Burning Man 2014 HERE on Facebook. Be sure to get your ticket
to Burning Man, too. Just click HERE for the Burning Man website. And you can follow
Cherie for BM 50K and other amazing distance running updates HERE on her blog and HERE on Twitter.
-Beth W
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