Kitty Marcroft takes
an ultra adventure
2003 "Athlete of the Year"
runs and wins first 50-miler
By JEFF CORDES
Express Staff Writer
Kitty Marcroft, Hailey-based landscape
artist and runner, is a humble person. She would shy away from any broad strokes
that would paint her as the best of anything.
Kitty Marcroft takes a break from work at Bird & Co. picture framing in
Ketchum. Express photo by Willy Cook
But here, on the final day of 2003, we’ll
take the liberty of calling Kitty Marcroft the Idaho Mountain Express "Athlete
of the Year." That’s for two reasons. She ran 50 miles in July. And she doesn’t
make a big deal about it.
Here are two more reasons. She plans to
run 50 miles again, and she hopes to attempt 100 miles next year. "I just needed
a different kind of challenge, and I fell in love with ultra marathons," said
Marcroft.
Marcroft, in her first try at the
ultramarathon distance (any running event longer than 26 miles, 385 yards), went
out and won the Tahoe Rim Trail 50-mile run overlooking Lake Tahoe July 19.
She finished the incredibly scenic high
elevation course—called in its course description "a glimpse of heaven, a taste
of hell!"—in nine hours, 50 minutes and 44 seconds, an average of a mile each 12
minutes.
Marcroft was ninth overall of 70
finishers. She was the first woman, 27 minutes ahead of course record holder
Deborah Askew of Colfax, Ca. She was the first Masters class woman in a field
where the average age was 41, her age at the time.
She accomplished what she did despite
temperatures in the high 80s.
Marcroft’s time, only 22 minutes off the
women’s record, was all the more remarkable because most people don’t even
finish an ultra their first time because it’s such a drastic step. You have to
learn how.
For her considerable effort, she won a
pair of Montrail running shoes. At first, they were completely unusable because
of the painful blisters on her feet after the arduous day.
More important to Kitty than where she
placed in the competition, however, was the fact that she won the respect of an
amazing group of people—her fellow ultramarathoners.
"I told everyone it was my first race,"
said Marcroft, who endured 50-mile anxiety during the pre-race drive with her
husband Rob to Lake Tahoe. "They were so nice, though. The mindset is different.
The people are different. You meet fabulous people."
Some runners are very competitive and
result-oriented. Other runners like Kitty enjoy the training and don’t really
give a hoot where they finish.
She’s like a nice, easy 20-minute drive
from Hailey to Ketchum—you let the speed freaks fly past through East Fork, then
settle into the flow with folks of your own kind.
An Oregon native, Marcroft has been
running distances since her freshman year in high school.
She continued running at a community
college. "It was the only thing athletically I was ever good at," she said. "You
have to be a little obsessive-compulsive, and I guess I am."
Her first marathon was at Astoria, Ore.
during her freshman year at the University of Oregon, in 1982.
Road marathons were never a big thing for
Marcroft, although she won the 26.2-mile City of Trees Marathon in Boise Nov. 2
in three hours and 16 minutes—just four months after her Tahoe trail ordeal.
She said, "Road marathons, 26 miles of
pounding the pavement, never did anything for me." Running the Boston Marathon,
for instance, is the last thing she’d ever want to do.
Marcroft graduated with a fine arts degree
from Oregon in 1985. She immediately moved to Ketchum, met her future husband
Rob Marcroft and started working for Mark Henry at Bellevue Kennels.
Kitty moved to Arizona for a year then
came back to Ketchum and did secretarial work at Moritz Community Hospital. She
and Rob married in 1987.
She ran, but didn’t compete in local races
for many years. Eventually she met some local running enthusiasts and became
part of a training group. Kitty’s friend Cindy Mann introduced her to trail
running.
"Cindy was the one who got me going on the
trails," she said.
Marcroft dabbled in the Backcountry Run,
finishing third among women on the 16.5-mile course in 1999, and second in the
10-miler in 2002. She traveled for out-of-state events. But her victories were
never measured in finishing times. "My thing is, I want to go to a race and have
fun," she said.
Keep in mind that Marcroft’s training has
always been scheduled in the off hours of a full 40-hour work week.
An artist, she works and sells her
abstract landscapes out of her studio. For 10 years she worked with Kelly Bird
as a picture framer at Saddletree Custom Framing. She resumed work with Bird at
Bird & Co. in Ketchum this past June.
Her training for the Tahoe Rim Trail never
exceeded 50 to 60 miles a week—not much speed work, just a lot of long runs on
trails in Greenhorn Gulch and through Deer Creek.
Weekends, she would run for a couple of
hours at 8 a.m. or 9 a.m. On weekdays, she’d go out for a two-hour run, after
work, in the heat of the afternoon, since she knew it was going to be hot in
July at Tahoe.
"I think that helped me in the race," she
said.
Why the ultra, now?
"For a long time, all I’d been running was
a half marathon or less," she said. "I just needed a change. I was bored with
the same old thing. The idea of 100 miles just blew me away. Tahoe was 50. I
chose it because it was a tough course with hard climbs.
"I just wanted to finish in around 10
hours."
In theory, a runner who can finish a
marathon can switch to a 50-miler fairly easily. The pre-race training is
similar, but on race day you slow down. Walking hills is a strategy.
Tahoe’s start and finish at Spooner Lake
State Park was at 7,000 feet. The highest point was at 9,000 feet. Aid stations
were provided along the way.
Kitty was doing all right for the first
half of the ultra. She ate quite a few peanut and butter sandwiches during the
run. Her frequent drinks were half Gatorade and water.
It was hot. Quite a few 50-mile entrants
opted for the 50-kilometer course because of the high temperatures.
"There were people to talk to and the
scenery was spectacular," she said. Up at the snow line, you could look down at
the waters of Lake Tahoe. It had a cooling effect.
Halfway through, her resolve weakened. She
said, "I definitely had my ups-and-downs. I thought I’d had it at the 25-mile
turnaround. I stopped and ate something and said to myself, I’m just going to go
and see what happens."
What happened was a runner named Ed Heller
from Albuquerque caught up with Marcroft a half-mile down the trail. He was a
Godsend.
"I said to Ed, I’m so tired. He kept
talking and talking and basically needled me and bugged me and helped me get
through the second half of the run," recalled a grateful Marcroft.
Heller, 41, finished eighth in 9:50.22, 22
seconds ahead of Kitty. For the last 15 miles, she endured bad blisters on her
feet.
"You had to walk up a hill to the finish
area," she said. "Rob helped me up the hill. He also took a photo of the bottom
of my feet. I’m never going to show that photo to anyone."
It took a while to recover.
She said, "I was in a lot of pain—stiff
and sore. I took several days completely off. After three to five days I did
some walking, then I alternated walking and running."
Time dulls the pain in the mind of an
ultramarathoner like Marcroft, 42.
She’s ready for more. Although
ultramarathons typically attract more men than women, it’s something that suits
her—despite her 5-8 build, rather tall for a female distance runner.
In 2004, Marcroft plans four big races: A
50-kilometer race in March in Arizona; an off-road marathon in June; the repeat
of her 50-mile Tahoe Rim Run in July; and, gulp, the Leadville 100-miler in
August.
The 100-miler is mind-boggling, but she’ll
stay in the flow and take it as it comes.
She said, "I can visualize doing this for
a long time. You see people like Charley French (national senior triathlon
champion) around Ketchum. And when I do, I say to myself, I want that to be me
in 40 more years."
Ultra notes
Here, from cyberspace, are some of
ultramarathoning’s profound quotes and comments and other sayings that try to
define the big question—why?
"If you start to feel good during an
ultra, don’t worry—you’ll get over it." Gene Thibeault
"It’s very hard in the beginning to
understand that the whole idea is not to beat the other runners. Eventually you
learn that the competition is against the little voice inside you that wants you
to quit." George Sheehan
"Run hard, run long!" Jay Hodde
"All the disruptive arguments among my
friends as to whether or not I was sane when I took up marathon running have
been entirely resolved since I ran my first 50-miler." John Kendall
"The 10k is a race. The marathon is an
experience. The ultra is an adventure." Bryan Hacker
"In an ultra you should eat like a horse,
drink like a fish, and run like a turtle." Unknown
"The race isn’t always to the swiftest,
but to those who keep on running." Unknown
"I still think the Western States trail is
one of the most beautiful places that I have vomited." Mary Gorski
"26 miles, 385 yards is where racing ends
and ludicrous extremes begin." From "Runner’s World"
"It used to freak me out when I threw up,
now I don’t even slow down." Unknown
"….you discover that the person you
thought you were is no match for the one you really are." Unknown
"At some point it doesn’t get any worse."
Unknown
"Start slow, then taper off." Walt Stack
"Perhaps the genius of ultrarunning is its
supreme lack of utility. It makes no sense in a world of space ships and
supercomputers to run vast distances on foot. There is no money in it and no
fame, frequently not even the approval of peers……But the ultrarunners know
something that is lost on the sedentary. They understand, perhaps better than
anyone, that the doors to the spirit will swing open with physical effort. In
running such long and taxing distances they answer a call from the deepest
realms of their being—a call that asks who they are." David Blaikie,
Ultramarathon World
Express Athletes of the Year
This is the 27th year the Express has
named an "Athlete of the Year." Selected have been 15 women and 13 men.
2003—Kitty Marcroft, ultra marathon runner
2002—Adrienne
Leugers, nine-time Baldy Hill Climb women’s winner
2001—Kelly
Wardell, the world’s best bareback bronc rider
2000—Sondra
Van Ert, 10-time national snowboard champion and 2000 Grand Prix alpine winner
1999—Steve
Born, RAAM cross-country bicycle racer
1998—Muffy
Davis, slalom bronze medalist at the 1998 Paralympics
1997—Bob
Sarchett, Masters alpine skier and softball player
1996—Greg
Taylor, seven-time Ironman Triathlon finisher
1995—Aleene
Gibson, cross-country bicyclist
1994—Picabo
Street, 1994 Olympic women's downhill silver medalist
1993—Muffy
Ritz, RAAM cross-country bicycle racer
1992—Gabriele
Andersen, world-class runner and cross-country skier.
1991—Dave
Fauth, baseball and softball player.
1990—Ruthie
Matthes, world-class bicycle racer.
1989—Charley
French, masters' champion triathlete.
1988—E.J.
Holcomb, Great American Ski Chase queen.
1987—Katrin
Tobin, world-class bicycle racer, and brother Michael Tobin, Pike's Peak
climber.
1986—Jerry
Engelbert, world champion powerlifter.
1985—Jane
(Magoo) McGloin, Ketchum's sunny sports enthusiast.
1984—Loren
Adkins, nationally-ranked bicyclist, skier and hill climber in the 75-79 age
class.
1983—Monte
Brothwell, Idaho's top marathon runner.
1982—Lisa
Bernhagen, state champion prep track and field performer.
1981—Tom
Schnebeck, Bald Mountain Rugby Football Club player.
1980—Carol
Levine, alpine ski racer and softball player.
1979—Phil
Hoene, Sun Valley Suns hockey centerman.
1978—Dr.
Lynn "Buck" Levy, pacesetting marathon runner.
1977—Christin
Cooper, promising U.S. Ski Team alpine racer.