Dying Professor Teaches his Students How To Live

Lou Gehrig's disease hasn't stopped law professor Steven Gey's lessons

By John Barry, Times Staff Writer

TALLAHASSEE — Steven Gey's law students kept their part of the deal. Last Saturday morning, they swam, biked and ran in a triathlon for Lou Gehrig's disease research. They raised $50,000 for the third straight year.

In late afternoon, about 50 students and former students waited for professor Gey to keep his end of the bargain. In a sense, they hoped for him to complete — against all previous odds — his own kind of marathon.

They waited on his patio, beer iced and ready. They had a birthday cake. The cake with garish red icing itself seemed outrageously miraculous, another lesson for all of them. Their professor wasn't supposed to have a 53rd birthday.

The famous Florida State University constitutional law expert is in the third year of terminal illness. That's as long as anyone usually lives after a Lou Gehrig's diagnosis like his.

In the last year, he has nearly starved and suffocated. He lost half his house to Tropical Storm Fay. He lost use of his hands and arms. He even lost his identity to credit thieves.

The students have always had a deal with Gey. If you care, if you try, he has promised them, I'll help you become the kind of lawyers you need to be.

Now here they were on his porch, waiting for him to deliver on another promise.

They're young, and they don't know limits. How much can they expect of a dying teacher?

• • •

Steven Gey is more famous for legal scholarship than for dying. As an American Civil Liberties Union attorney and FSU law professor, he ranks among the nation's top defenders of separation of church and state, of scientific inquiry, of free speech. (His free speech reputation was tarnished only once. He stopped a restaurant chain from singing Happy Birthday To You — a copyright infringement. He has never lived it down.)

He is also famous for turning generations of youths into attorneys and judges.

Last spring, Gey nearly died from malnutrition. He had to give up teaching. He felt bitterly disappointed that the Bush administration had limited embryonic stem cell research for eight years. He felt that the limits had robbed him personally of a possible cure, that the adversaries he had battled in court all his career had somehow beaten him in the end.

Last summer, while on a respirator and feeding tube, he rode out Tropical Storm Fay. It flooded all the bedrooms of his house.

Last Friday, Gey's doctor told him his life had reached "the bottom of the eighth inning."

But he writes. His hands don't work, so he writes with his foot, guiding a computer mouse with his toes. He has just completed two 150-page works of constitutional scholarship. They're headed for the publisher. He also has lived long enough to see a new president reverse the government's standing on embryonic stem cell research.

Barbara Leach, a former student who now practices labor law in Atlanta, was with him just after he got his late-inning diagnosis.

"Bottom of the eighth?" she exclaimed, sitting among his mountains of manuscripts. "Looks to me like you're in the top of the third."

• • •

Third-year law student David Gillis brought his mother, Cathy, to the triathlon for Gey. He's one of the students who brings food to the professor's house. Dave's turn is every other Thursday.

When he started bringing food, he knew Gey mostly by reputation. It made him nervous. "He's this rock star of the legal profession."

Gey told Dave he liked anything, he wasn't fussy. Dave brought his personal favorite: takeout meat loaf from Boston Market.

"You getting tired of meat loaf?" he'd ask.

"No," Gey answered, "Love the meat loaf!"

Two months went by. Finally, Dave heard from a "second party." The professor was really, really tired of meat loaf.

But in the course of those months, Dave's own life changed. His mother said he had chosen law school for the career and for the money. That was it.

He got into Gey's constitutional law class. He admitted to Gey he was more interested in the lawyer trappings than in the law itself. Money's fine, the professor told him. "But where's your passion?"

Gey changed him. His mother could see it. He learned the impact that one lawyer could have. He felt part of something noble, he said. Gey changed her, too. At home in Sarasota she started mentoring.

"We've learned that's what life is about — passion," she said.

• • •

On Saturday afternoon, the students waited with cake and beer on Gey's porch. Gey had not been on his porch in months. But he had told them that if they could endure a triathlon, he could match them.

Inside the house, Gey took a deep breath and untethered his respirator. He swung his legs out of bed, steadied himself.

The double doors to the patio swung open.

Gey came through the doors, on his feet.

He walked a dozen steps across the deck to a chair.

Beers and tears flowed for two hours.

They sang Happy Birthday to You.

They told their professor: Sue us.

 

Ironman Triathlon Tests Limits of Human 2.0

Few competitions compare to the grueling gauntlet of endurance that is Ironman. The yearly triathlon in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, includes 2.4 miles of swimming, 112 miles of biking and a full 26.2 mile running marathon. Even second-place finishers have been known to cross the finish line on their hands and knees.

Now in its 30th year, the competition began as an effort to test the boundaries of human potential, and in 1997, those limits expanded even further with the addition of the physically challenged division. Today, as prosthetics and technology advance, what were thought to be prohibitive disabilities are simply minor obstacles due to the truly iron will of the competitors.

Click through the gallery to read two such competitors' stories and see the gear that helps level the Ironman playing field.

Top picture: Marc Aten, 34, assembles his handcycle the day before running his third Ironman. His bike-leg goal for this year was 7:30:00, and he finished in 8:10:09.

"The bike, well it was disappointing," Aten said after the race. "I just thought I would be a lot faster. Of course, my camel pack for my nutrition was clogged up somehow, so I had to take the gels out on the course, which my stomach just can’t handle. But I knew I didn’t have a choice. Talk about getting sick … good times."

Aten's wife, Tiffany Brenneman, helps him bring his racing wheelchair and handcycle to check in. The couple eloped in Hilo, Hawaii, two days after last year's Ironman triathlon.

Aten, who has no feeling in his right leg and had his left leg amputated a few years ago due to spina bifida, attributes getting up the nerve to ask his wife out on their first date to the confidence he gained racing his first Ironman in 2006.

"If you can do Ironman, you can do anything," Aten said, before the competition. He finished with a time of 12:10:13.

"I truly loved it," Aten commented after the race. "Not only did I have to make sacrifices every day, but so did Tiffany. Sometimes I think she sacrifices a lot more than me. We are a team, so I knew that it was for the both of us. I truly love the journeys."

The pack of more than 1,700 participants splash from the starting line of the grueling 2.4-mile Ironman swim.

Jeff Glasbrenner took third place in the physically challenged men's division, swimming the 2.4 miles in 1:14:39, biking 112 miles in 6:43:51 and finishing off with a 26.2 mile run in 6:13:40. All while breaking in a new leg that he matched with a new shoe "so the pain would be even."

In 1981, Glasbrenner was involved in a traumatic farming accident, leaving him a below-the-knee amputee. Far from a tragedy, Jeff says it was his greatest opportunity. Like any situation, he says, you can either embrace it and make the best of it, or you can regret it and fail. Glasbrenner finished the 30th Ironman competition with a time of 14:18:58.

Jeff Glasbrenner kicks off all of his technology to swim a 1:14:39 race, taking third place overall in the men's physically challenged division.

"The bike was a bit windy," Glasbrenner said after the race, "but I loved the added challenge. It wasn't the best day to break in my new running leg or shoe. It normally takes a few months to get adjusted, so it was a painful day with plenty of obstacles."

With a time spread from 8:17:45 to 16:56:27, the race is a monster for all competitors. At left, No. 1180, Isao Funaki, 37, from Japan plods through the running leg of the triathlon.

Brian Leske came in fourth in the biking portion, with a time of 7:55:52, behind Jeff Glasbrenner's 6:43:51. Leske uses a different style prosthetic than Glasbrenner, which raises the question of how much the various designs play a factor.

A hard and lonely road, Marc Aten's time of 8:10:09 "was disappointing."

"I just thought I would be a lot faster," Aten said after the race. "The new chair felt OK. I mean, it was fast, but I couldn’t use it to its full potential. It is too small, so I was just in so much pain. I have huge bruises on my ribs. Looks like I bled a bit also, but my time was still close to what I thought I would do."

Aten completed the final "run" portion of the race with a time of 2:36:42, pushing his way past fire dancer Sarah Davis, who helped light the way through the pitch black. Aten earned himself fourth place in the handcycle division.

"At some points I just wanted to call it a day," he said. "Even at the beginning of the swim. Fear just can overtake you. I know we all have our moments out on the course, but to me Ironman represents life. Just focus on that moment, and there isn't anything to fear. Things didn't go as I wanted, but that is just how it is. I wasn't going to let anything ruin my day. I had a great time."

 

Stretch At Your Desk

Human beings were not designed to sit in the same position for hours on end working at their computers. But Central Texas, with its heavy emphasis on the high tech, education and government, workplaces probably have more than their share of people who do just that. As a result, many of us look up after an absorbing, focused work session and find ourselves tense, stiff and in pain. In addition to using your computer to set up frequent reminders to get up and move around, Seton Family of Hospitals Senior Physical Therapist Gladys Nicholls, PT, has some stretching suggestions to make you feel better all through the day.

"Bodies are meant to move," comments Gladys. "Long, supple muscles allow the body to bend and turn in all directions around its central core and support joints in moving correctly. Regular workouts to strengthen muscles and blood-pumping, oxygen-using aerobic exercise both are necessary to achieve overall physical fitness, which you probably won’t get while sitting in your desk chair in front of the computer. But if you are like most people, you can relieve some of the pain, stiffness and tension associated with sedentary work with regular stretches. Stretching releases tense muscles, increases blood flow, increases flexibility and improves range of motion in our joints. It just gets your body working again."

While you are stretching, keep these tips in mind:

• Stretch slowly and carefully until you feel the extension and go no farther.
• Stretching should feel good and never be extended to the point of pain.
• Hold each stretch for 20 seconds before releasing.
• Breathe slowly and deeply, in and out. Don’t hold your breath.

Hands & Wrists

• Clench your hands into fists and flex wrists up and down, side to side.
• From clenched fists, spread and extend your fingers as far as you can, then flex up and down, side to side.
• Fold just extended fingers down at the joints into your palms, re-extend.

Neck & Shoulders

• Shrug your shoulders up to your ears and then down again, exaggerating the movement.
• Tuck your chin and slowly rotate your head from side-to-side (saying no).
• With chin still tucked, nod your head up-and-down (saying yes).
• Clasp hands behind your head and push elbows backward, feeling the stretch.

Back & Upper Body

• Place both hands on opposite shoulders and hug yourself. Release and do it again three times.
• Extend arms in front of you, clasp your hands, turn over and stretch outward.
• Clasp hands, turn over and extend above your head, if you can, then stretch.
• Clasp hands behind head, bend from side-to-side, stretching your upper body and waist.
• Twist your body to the right and look over your shoulder. Repeat on other side. Go only as far as is comfortable.
• Stand in a doorway with hands on frame at 90-degree angle. Step slowly into the door frame, feeling the stretch across your chest.

Legs & Feet

• Holding the seat of your chair, lift one leg and straighten it from the hip. Hold while you point and flex your foot. Repeat with other leg.
• Sit up straight and lift your heels off the ground and release. This is a good exercise to help prevent deep vein thrombosis if you are stuck in a narrow seat on an airplane.
• Stand up often. Walk around if you can.

"Skip lunch at your desk and at least go somewhere else. in the office Even sitting in a different chair will help relieve some of the tension and a brisk walk to wherever you decide to eat will make you feel even better," says Gladys. "Stretch whenever you are feeling tired or tense, or better yet, remind yourself to get up and move at least every two hours."

 

Shin Splints – The Jogger’s / Runners Woe

 

Yes, I will be covering that most pesky of troubles that has at one time or another plagued almost every jogger and runner. If you are a newbie, then chances are you will run into shin splints earlier than later. We start out enthusiastically, overdo things a little bit (read increasing our workout duration, intensity and frequency too quickly), and then start the shin pains that seem to linger on or disappear to return back repeatedly.

Shin splints are a common condition amongst runners/joggers or anyone doing star jumps and the like. When the shin is repeatedly made to bear the weight of downward force, the pounding causes the frontal tibia (shinbone) to experience stress. The medical term for shin splints is Medial Tibial Syndrome.

 

Though shin splints can be tided over in the short run by taking painkillers, applying topical analgesic creams, putting an icepack over the affected area and rest etc, you will need to get a long-term handle on it if you do not want to face this condition repeatedly. Shin splints have a nasty habit of leaving you for a while only to return back once exertive workouts begin. It can be very disappointing for an enthusiastic and/or a serious jogger/runner. The way around it is to do specific exercises to strengthen the shinbones and the support muscles around it. Here’s one type of exercise that can do the magic:

1. Find a Step. Stand facing away from this Step.

2. Place the heel of the affected leg on the Step in such a way that only the heel is on the Step and the rest of the foot is hanging over the Step ledge.

3. Hold on to a chair/wall or railing for balance.

4. Now, flex your toes up towards your shin as much as you possibly can.

5. Hold this position for 5-10 seconds.

6. Release and lower your toes back to dangling over the ledge position.

7. Wait for 10 seconds and repeat.

This procedure (Steps 1-7) may be repeated 10 times every day to strengthen the muscles supporting the shin during activity. However, if the shins are experiencing splints or pain due to inadequate calcium intake, you should increase your calcium intake through food or supplements. It is thus important to get a consultation for shin pain or any condition with a doctor first to get to the right diagnosis and cause of the condition before attempting to fix it. Until next week, safe training…

 

Athletes over 40 hurtle past records, stereotypes

Over the Hill?

Matt Carpenter, 43 Carpenter – owner of a 90.2 VO2 max, a record high for the measurement of efficient oxygen use – leaps a gulley at Garden of the Gods. The runner is often a winner of the Pikes Peak Ascent and the Pikes Peak Marathon. Photo by Helen H. Richardson, The Denver Post

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Jason Blevins The Denver Post

The familiar doubt arrived, haunting Marshall Ulrich.

"You are too old for this."

It was 114 degrees, and 56-year-old Ulrich was 35 miles into July’s Badwater Ultramarathon, a 135-mile race that climbs from California’s Death Valley to the flanks of Mount Whitney. Ulrich was crossing Death Valley for the 20th time in his running career, and things were looking grim. He’d lost 6 pounds since the start. His legs felt leaden, his breathing was labored. He was cramping. Sweat pouring. He was dead last in a race he’d won four times.

Maybe he’d pushed too hard, racing across the Gobi Desert, taking on an adventure race in Virginia and an ultramarathon through the Swiss Alps during the two months prior. Maybe after two decades of endless running in 117 ultra competitions and a dozen expedition-length adventure races and summiting the highest peaks in each continent, he was nearing his end at the top.

Maybe he was simply too old.

"I definitely thought about that for a little bit," he says, leaning back into a leather chair at his home perched above St. Mary’s Glacier.

"I had to give myself a little talk and say, ‘So what?’ I had to stop feeling sorry for myself. So I’m suffering. Big deal. I expect to suffer, and really, I just don’t care. You have to remember you always come back."

After an hour in the medical tent and a gallon of water, Ulrich found his inner champion and passed more than 40 other racers on his way to the finish the next day.

Turns out age wasn’t a factor. For Ulrich and an impressive roster of other over-40 athletes, a combination of smart training and the wisdom of experience lets them stay competitive.

They aren’t winning despite their age. They are winning because of their age.

Oxygen-burning machines
"What we are seeing is a new phenomenon in that we have athletes who are basically athletes their entire lives," says Chris Carmichael, Colorado Springs training maestro to Lance Armstrong and a former pro bike racer who finished his second Leadville 100 this year at the age of 46, this time in less than nine hours.

"They just keep on going. They just keep on getting more efficient with their use of oxygen. After years and years of aerobic training and competing, they are, in a sense, smarter athletes."

And they compete in an evolving playing field that is turning recreation into sport. What were once multi-day or several-week hikes – like the Colorado Trail or the Kokopelli Trail – are now venues for nonstop endurance races. Marathons, once the pinnacle of athletic achievement, are mere training runs for ultra races that span at least 50, but more often 100, miles.

Front page of the Sunday, 10/21/2007, Denver Post

Adventure racing, which draws teams so fast that the biggest weeklong races sell out in a matter of hours, has evolved into a contest for those who can suffer the most and still keep moving.

Take Bernie Boettcher. On his 45th birthday last month, the Silt legend reset his master-class record and logged his fourth overall win at the Imogene Pass race above Telluride. It was his 267th race in 260 consecutive weeks. In those five years of every-weekend racing in sneakers and snowshoes, he’s tallied 115 wins and 208 master-class wins.

"At the end of suffering, there is a reward, and it’s a really neat feeling to overcome that suffering," says Boettcher, his blue eyes gleaming beneath his trademark wide-brim straw hat. "After a while, that feeling is irresistible. You plow on through because you know it’s so good."

Passion before performance
A common thread found among Colorado’s venerable elite – aside, of course, from natural athletic talent – is a late competitive start. Most didn’t begin their full-tilt racing career until their mid-30s or even later.

"Maybe that’s because we have a different set of expectations and the passion came before the performance, where a lot of guys who started young had the performance first and then lost the passion," says Matt Carpenter, a rarely beaten world-class runner who, at 43, just won both the Pikes Peak Ascent and Pikes Peak Marathon in the same weekend.

"You have to look pretty hard to find young guys with the level of passion some of us old guys bring."

A few months ago, Carpenter teamed up with Ned Overend, a 52-year-old mountain biker from Durango, to win the team contest in the Teva Mountain Games. The two gray-haired athletes giddily beat some of the strongest young competitors in outdoor sports.

"I have a lot more respect now for the old-man strength, and I know now, once the gun goes off, forget the age groups. It’s every man for himself," says 29-year-old Josiah Middaugh, a nationally ranked triathlete from Vail who has lost several times to some of Colorado’s toughest over-40 racers.

The passion of the extraordinary elders is anchored in a steadfast love for training. Sure, for outdoor athletes, training means going for runs and rides in the woods. Who doesn’t like that? But when it comes to competing at an elite level, training involves somewhere around 40 hours a week of heavy work, not a weekend ride or two.

And after a couple of decades of training, the older athletes learn a few tricks – like how to taper and how to make it fun – that keep them in shape while staving off dreaded burnout.

They have trained for so long, their fitness level is staggering and it stays high. They aren’t rolling off the couch to prep for a race. They are building on decades of work.

"Training is a part of our lifestyle," says Overend, who was twice ranked as the world’s top rider and still levels virtually all rivals who pedal against him.

"Racing is important, but training is absolutely important. … You have to build momentum, get the right intensity and volume and find the right recovery time. It’s complicated, and it changes all the time. "

Wisdom of the war horse
The right training regimen fosters the right mental game – and that’s where some over-40 athletes say they have the sharpest edge over their younger rivals. It’s the same for most sports, where the old war horses know the strategies of a contest and carry the confidence and expertise they need to defeat stronger adversaries.

"Physically, I know there are people on the starting line who are probably stronger than me, but that doesn’t mean I cannot beat them," says Vail’s Mike Kloser, a 47-year-old husband, dad of two teenagers, director of activities at Beaver Creek and the world’s most accomplished adventure racer – who still rides a mountain bike like he’s being pursued by wolves.

"It might actually mean I am more able to beat them, because they rely less on their mental game. The mental game is a huge factor."

So long as that mental war is waged before the start of the race. While a younger racer might be strategizing and obsessing during a race, veterans know that in competition they have to remain in the moment.

"For me the mental part isn’t really a part of it. I just get out there, and it’s too overwhelmingly physical to get stressed," says Dave Wiens, a mountain biking champion who beat Floyd Landis and his own record in his fifth win at the grueling Leadville 100 race this summer. "A lot of it is attitude. You are going to be as old as you think you are. I like to think I’m only 43."

Motivation is a varying characteristic among older athletes. For racers such as Carpenter, Kloser and Boettcher, it’s all about winning. Some race to win, but they race for other reasons. Wiens and Overend are so in love with riding, they will race long after they lose that perch on the top podium.

Winning for a cause
As for Sedalia runner Diane Van Deren, she races to win so that her message will be trumpeted.

A dozen years ago, surgeons told Van Deren her career as a pro tennis player was over. The chunk of seizure-scarred tissue they were carving from her brain would take with it her athletic excellence. Today, the 47-year-old mother of three is on track to become the most accomplished female endurance trail runner in the country.

Last month, she placed fifth overall at the 50-mile Dances With Dirt ultra in Hell, Mich., dominating the women’s field, setting a masters record and beating all but four of the male racers who lined up at the start.

She found herself grinning at the same panting question from several racers she passed: "Do you mind if I ask how old you are?"

"When I win, I use it as a tool to raise awareness of brain injuries. It’s not about me. It’s about what I can do with that win," says Van Deren, a North Face-sponsored runner who works closely with patients, administrators and doctors at Craig Hospital.

"I want to take a gift I have as an athlete and use it to the best of my ability. My legs are my voice."

Ditto for ultramarathoner Ulrich, who has raised more than $250,000 for the St. Lucy Filippini Health Center in Hamelmalo, Eritrea, through his tireless running and fundraising.

"When I was young, it was an ego thing – pushing myself to see what made me tick," Ulrich says.

"Then I got that figured out and found another motivation. Knowing I’m doing it for someone else keeps me going. If it was just for myself, I wouldn’t do it. I guess I’m kind of getting over myself."

 

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MATT CARPENTER, 43
Carpenter just changed his motto. It used to be:

"Go out hard. When it hurts, speed up."

Now it’s:

"Train like you’re young, and race like you’re young."

"I’m not making any concessions to age. I think the key word is denial," says the father of one, whose particular skill is running up and down mountains.

Carpenter says he is stronger than ever before, but maybe not as fast. Judging by his recent performance on his home hill, Pikes Peak – winning both the ascent and marathon in two days – it’s hard to see any declines in speed. Besides, a decline in Carpenter’s world means that his dominant wins are simply less dominating.

The 122-pound racer chooses his contests carefully and does not lose. Arguably the best mountain runner in the world, Carpenter logged a VO2 max of 90.2 in 1990, the highest ever recorded for a runner. (VO2 max is considered a benchmark of fitness and measures the amount of oxygen a person can extract from circulating blood and distribute to muscles during high exertion.)

Learn more about Carpenter, one of the more opinionated and colorful runners, at www.skyrunner.com.

 

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DAVE WIENS, 43
Wiens owns the Leadville 100 bike race.

The five-time winner of the ridiculously difficult race put a special effort into this summer’s competition, knowing that Floyd Landis, and possibly Lance Armstrong, would be racing.

For training this spring, he rode the Kokopelli Trail Race from Fruita to Moab – scorching the 142-mile desert race in 12 hours, 45 minutes.

It paid off. When push came to shove in the final leg of this year’s Leadville race, it was Landis pushing Wiens – and the Gunnison father of three boys shoved harder.

Born and raised in Denver, Wiens started racing pro after graduating from Western State College in 1988. Wiens officially "retired" from racing in 2004, but that was before the two-time national mountain biking champion won his four Leadville 100s, the inaugural 125-mile Vapor Trail Race and the Crested Butte Classic 100.

Obviously he has his own definition of "retired."

"It’s kind of an obsession. That’s a problem I have. I am going to have a hard time defining ‘the end,"’ he says. "While winning is certainly more fun, I think losing has way more to offer in terms of character building. I’m going to do Leadville until I get beat. And then I’ll probably do it again."

 

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BERNIE BOETTCHER, 45
Boettcher lives to run in the hills. Not just jogging, but racing and beating everyone who lines up against him.

During nearly five years of racing, the part-time artist from Silt has developed an encyclopedic knowledge of his rivals: their style, how they look when they are feeling strong, and more important, what they look like when they are suffering. Things like tilting their head back. Slowing the swing of their arms. And the most tell-tale sign, looking back over their shoulder.

"You know that that means? That means they’ve stopped racing. That’s when I make my move. For years I have worked on recognizing signs of weakness. I’m like a predator," he says, noshing on a buffalo burger after a quick 30-mile training run.

He makes sure to never develop a pattern his rivals could use against him, working feverishly to assure his strategy is never turned on him. His wife, Jeannie Blatter, is an equally gifted runner, and often the pair wake up Monday with pairs of matching medals. They both share an "excessive personality" that drives them to compete.

"Everything I do is designed to win at running," he says.

 

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MIKE KLOSER, 47
Kloser started pedaling his mountain bike competitively in the mid-’80s after living in the Vail Valley for several years.

He dabbled in the pro mogul skiing circuit for a while, winning a few national contests. But he found his calling hammering the knobby-tired ride, winning mountain biking’s pre-sanctioned world championships in 1988. The father of two teenagers who are emerging as top-tier athletes themselves, Kloser credits his longevity to his switch to adventure racing in 1997.

"Now everything I do outdoors is training," he says.

In the past decade, the 26-year Vail Resorts employee has earned the most wins in adventure racing history, captaining his Team Nike to five world titles, three Eco-Challenge wins and four Primal Quest championships.

Last year he won the U.S. Winter Triathlon Championship at Grand County’s Devil’s Thumb Ranch, confirming his reputation as one of the world’s top all-around outdoor athletes. He does it all and he wins, sporting an unnervingly placid "isn’t-this-fun" grin with every step.

His strategy: pray for the worst weather imaginable. "I really hope for adverse conditions. I relish those hard circumstances because I know rivals wither in those conditions," he says.

 

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DIANE VAN DEREN, 47
In April, Van Deren ran 47 hours, logging 150 miles without stopping.

On her final – and 15th – 10-mile lap at the McNaughton Park Trail Run in Illinois, race organizers began taking down ribbons marking the trail. After all, the racers had been there 14 times. Van Deren freaked out.

"Where’s the trail?" she screamed at the checkpoint staff. "I have a brain injury. I can’t remember!"

A flustered organizer joined her, running along the trail, pointing out the turns – and Van Deren set her record. Just like always.

After brain surgery 12 years ago, Van Deren must write notes on her hands and drop-bags on long-

distance runs. "Drink. Flashlight. Rain jacket." That keeps her focused on stuff like surviving while she stomps her way into history.

The mother of three – including a 19-year-old serving in Iraq – kept her surgery and seizure history secret during her first years on the competitive ultra circuit. When she established herself as a force, she came out and became one of the nation’s leading voices for brain-injury awareness.

She takes her role-model status as seriously as her training, which involves waking at 4 a.m. daily for trail runs that stretch past 30 miles.

"There are no shortcuts to what we do," she says. "It all comes from hard work, and we need to convey that message more clearly. It’s our obligation to set good examples."

 

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NED OVEREND, 52
Overend is the living legend of mountain biking. The Durango racer started his career on the highest step of the podium as a runner, logging top finishes at Imogene Pass in 1980 and 1981.

When he mounted a mountain bike in the early ’80s, he began a career that kicked off with wins at the inaugural world championships in Durango in 1990. From there, he went on to earn two world champion titles and six national crowns as well as dual nicknames: The Lung and Deadly Nedly.

He beat his own record at this summer’s Vail Hill Climb – part of the Teva Mountain Games – beating Floyd Landis with a blistering time of 27 minutes, 29 seconds on the 9.7-mile, 1,500-vertical-feet climb up Vail Pass.

"Avoiding injury is my key," he says. "If my knees get sore on a bike ride, I turn around and go home. I stand in freezing water a lot too: the Animas River, right here in town. I think that kind of ice bath is a good way to reduce inflammation and reduce the chance of injury.

"Injury means needing to take more time off, and that can lead to getting out of shape. You can’t be this old and get out of shape, because it takes so long to regain it."

 

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MARSHALL ULRICH, 56
Ulrich started running 26 years ago to handle stress as his first wife was dying of cancer. He ran a few marathons, barely dipping below the three-hour mark.

On a whim, he decided to run a 24-hour race in upstate New York in 1988. He won it, setting a record, and surprised himself by maintaining that three-hour marathon pace for the entire 24 hours. The father of three had discovered a rare ability to run for, well, forever.

In 2002 he began a quest he dreamed up at age 8: to climb all seven of the highest summits on the seven continents. It took him a mere 3 1/2 years.

Next spring, the lithe Ulrich will join renowned ultra runner Charlie Engle, 44, in an attempt to break the record for running across the United States. Starting in Seattle, the pair plan to run at least 68 miles – probably 15 to 17 hours a day – for 47 days, ending in Washington, D.C.

"There are lots of people out there who think it is extraordinary to go out and run 100 miles. For us it’s much more instinctive to do that instead of sitting on the couch drinking beer and watching a ballgame.

"We have this yearning. I always said I wanted to run into my 90s. Now I’m thinking I can do it into my 100s."

 

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Preventing and Treating Common Running Injuries

Every runner's guide to preventing and treating 10 common pains and sprains.

By Denise Mann
WebMD Feature

Reviewed By Charlotte Grayson, MD

"Don't run and you'll heal," are the words that every diehard runner dreads hearing.

"Runners don't want to stop running, and the good news is that you can run through most pain without causing permanent damage," says Lewis G. Maharam, MD, medical director of the New York Road Runners Club, the New York City Marathon, NYC Triathlon, the Suzuki Rock 'n' Roll Marathon — among others. "But," he cautions, "if pain changes your running style, stop and see a sports doctor."

Most common running injuries are due to overuse, overtraining, or a biomechanical flaw in body structure and motion.

Here's how to prevent and treat the 10 most common running injuries so you never get sidelined again:

1. Runner's knee

Runner's knee is a wearing away of the back of the kneecap, causing pain in the knee. This can occur because of decreased strength of middle quadricep muscles, or shoes that do not give proper support when you come off of your forefoot on the inside. What to do? Maharam says the condition is typically treated with a full-length sports orthotic and strengthening exercises directed at the middle quad muscle. Talk to a sports medicine doctor about getting into physical therapy and learning about the best stretches to heal runner's knee.

2. Stress fractures

Stress fractures can be caused by overtraining, a shortage of calcium, or by some basic biomechanical flaw — either in your running style in or your body structure, says sports podiatrist Stephen Pribut, DPM, clinical assistant professor of surgery at the George Washington University Medical Center in Washington, D.C. Common stress fractures in runners occur in the tibia (the inner and larger bone of the leg below the knee), the femur (thigh bone) and in the sacrum (triangular bone at the base of the spine) and the metatarsal (toe) bones in the foot.

"The more the miles, the greater the stress," says Maharam. And this is one injury you should not ignore. "Stress fractures are like a hardboiled egg," he explains. "The shell is cracked and next stop is a full-fledged fracture." See a doctor who specializes in treating running injuries, Maharam advises. "We only tell runners to stop when they have a fracture or a stress fracture and then we put them in a pool for water-running because stopping exercise is unacceptable to (most) runners."

3. Iliotibial band syndrome, a.k.a. ITBS

Marked by a sharp, burning knee or hip pain, ITBS is a very common running injury among marathoners. Indeed, it's responsible for as many as 80% of all overuse pains on marathon day. The ITB is a ligament that runs along the outside of the thigh — from the top of the hip to the outside of the knee. It stabilizes the knee and hip during running, but when it thickens and rubs over the bone, the area can become inflamed or the band itself may become irritated — causing pain. "ITBS may be caused by running on a banked surface that causes the downhill leg to bend slightly inward and stretches the band, inadequate warm-up or cool-down, running excessive distances, increasing mileage too quickly or certain physical abnormalities," says Pribit.

The best stretch? Place the injured leg behind the good one. If the left side is sore, cross your left leg behind your right one. Then lean away from the injured side toward your right side. There should be a table or chair that you can hold onto for balance. Hold for 7 to 10 seconds and repeat on each side 7 to 10 times, prescribes Pribut. Anti-inflammatory drugs such as ibuprofen (some brand names are Motrin and Aleve) can help get the swelling down, he says.

4. Shin splints

The most common type of shin splints happen on the inside of legs. These medial shin splints are a running injury that results from a biomechanical flaw in your foot (which can be made worse by a shoe that doesn't offer enough support) and/or overtraining.

"Your best bet is to switch to a motion control or thicker shoe and a make sure to stretch out your calf muscles" before and after running, says Michael Fredericson, MD, doctor for the Stanford Cross Country and Track Team and an assistant professor of orthopaedic surgery at Stanford University School of Medicine. Do this by standing with your rear foot approximately two to three feet away from the wall. Your rear leg should be straight, the front leg bent and your hands touching the wall. Your feet should point ahead with heels on the ground. Hold for 10 seconds and repeat 10 times on each leg. Now do the same thing with your rear leg (that was straight) slightly bent at the knee. You should feel this stretch lower down.

5. Plantar fasciitis

Also known as pain in the middle of arch of the foot, plantar fasciitis is a running injury most frequently caused by an abnormal motion of the foot or too-tight calf muscles. Normally, while walking or during long-distance running, your foot will strike the ground on the heel, then roll forward toward your toes and inward to the arch, Maharam explains. "Your arch should only dip slightly during this motion but if it lowers too much, you have what is known as excessive pronation." What to do? "It is usually corrected with an orthotic and calf stretches" before and after running, Maharam says.

6. Achilles tendonitis

Achilles tendonitis is a running injury that typically occurs from abnormal foot stroke in push-off and too-tight calf muscles. "If you are pronating to the side and pulling at an improper angle, it becomes stressed and inflamed. That's why getting an orthotic to correct the biomechanics of your foot stroke at push-off is key," Maharam says. Also, he suggests doing the same stretch recommended for shin splints.

7. Muscle Pulls

Whether hamstring, quads, or any other muscle, pulls come from not being flexible and/or overexerting specific muscles. "Basically, pulls occur because you haven't stretched or because you are trying to beat your 18-year-old son in a sprint and you are 45," Maharam says. Pulls are basically small muscle tears, and the best way to treat a pull is to do more stretching before and after a run. To prevent hamstring pulls, place one leg on a chair and get your knee straight and bend over. Hold for 15-20 seconds. For an acute injury, ice and anti-inflammatory medication is helpful.

8. Ankle sprains

Ankle sprains occur because runners don't always watch where they are going. "They can step off curb or into pothole," Maharam says. "Pay attention to where you are running or run on a really good, level track where there is less chance of finding a gopher hole." When and if an injury does occur, ibuprofen and ice can help reduce swelling and pain.

9. Dizziness and nausea

"Most runner's drink too much, not too little" water, Maharam says. This can cause overhydration — also known as diluting — which lowers sodium levels in the body and stresses the kidneys. Common symptoms of diluting are nausea, vomiting, and dizziness. To avoid these problems, Maharam suggests: "Drink about one-cup (8 oz.) of fluid every 20 minutes while running. This way you will avoid becoming diluted."

10. Blisters

One of the most common sports injuries, blisters on the feet are usually caused by friction combined with excessive moisture. Avoid them by choosing synthetic socks — such as those by Nike Dryfit — that wick away moisture," Maharam says.

Remember, Pribut says, that "about 90% of running injuries are due to overtraining, so a very slow buildup is important, and so are rest days." You'll save yourself pain and reach your goals, Pribut says, if you "avoid the 'terrible toos' — training too much too soon, too often, and too fast."

 

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SOURCES: Lewis G. Maharam, MD, medical director, New York Road Runners Club, New York City Marathon, and NYC Triathlon. Michael Fredericson, MD, team physician, cross country and track team, Stanford University. Sports podiatrist Stephen Pribut, DPM, clinical assistant professor of surgery, George Washington University Medical Center, Washington, D.C.

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