After a 48-hour ‘practice’ race, retired firefighter Mike Brooks says he’s ready for the big one.
AUBURN – In hindsight, he should have taken a break during that first 24 hours of running.
It was New Year’s Eve, in Phoenix, Ariz., half-way through a 48-hour marathon, and Mike Brooks hadn’t sat down. He ate and drank walking around the track. He made plans to split a beer at midnight with another runner, but when midnight came, the other guy was napping.
So Brooks kept running, 492 loops, 153 miles.
At the end of the race, his legs were swelled, his feet badly blistered, but he’d learned a few lessons.
Next time, take more breaks. Next time, bring more pairs of sneakers, and bigger sizes. Next time, don’t drink so much.
“It was the perfect training run,” said Brooks, 58, home in Danville and, months later, still recuperating.
That 48-hour marathon – a race with 10 entrants, one of whom died the next day – was just practice.
He’s training to run 135 miles in Death Valley this July, an invitation-only race billed as the most challenging in the world. Brooks is using the race – called the 2004 Kiehl’s Badwater Ultramarathon – as a fund-raiser for Camp Sunshine in Casco.
Michael Smith, the camp’s development coordinator, is grateful Brooks picked his charity. He’s also awed: “In the back of your head you’re thinking, ‘This guy has got to be crazy.'”
Brooks retired from the Auburn Fire Department in 2001 after 33 years. He started running in April 1995. Last September, he finished his 100th marathon.
He ran no. 120 last Sunday. He’s said he enjoys the camaraderie of the long run.
Brooks has been to the Badwater race twice, both times crewing for friends. Each runner brings a four-person, two-car support team to the California race. Crew members supply water, fresh race gear and, toward the end, when the race finishes halfway up a mountain, inspiration.
The race starts at the lowest point in the U.S. near a salty puddle in the middle of the desert. It ends half-way up 14,000-foot Mt. Whitney. There are no portable toilets, no watering stations, no medic stations, just miles of asphalt.
The course goes by a motel on mile 42, Brooks said. Some people will take a break. He plans on jumping in the pool, cooling off and carrying on.
“I’m not planning on sleeping at all,” he said.
Crew members pay for their own plane tickets, but Brooks will pick up hotel, food and rental fees. He figures his costs will be $4,000 to $5,000, something he feels a little guilty about.
“I feel greedy. I’m going out there to feed my ego, challenge myself,” Brooks said. “If I go out there and raise . . . money for Camp Sunshine, I’ll feel good.”
The camp will have 21 sessions this year, hosting the families of children with life-threatening illness. Brooks would like to raise $100 per mile. The funds will go to the camp, not his own costs.
Camp Sunshine has set up a Web site for Brooks, runningonthesun.org.
He knows what to expect in the race: tractor-trailers whizzing by, maybe sandstorms, maybe coyotes and plenty of heat.
“You don’t know what 133 degrees is,” he said. “A lot of this is mental. You’re going to feel terrible, no doubt about it.”
The prize for finishing the race under 48 hours: a coveted belt buckle. The prize under 60 hours: a T-shirt and finisher’s medal.
“I’d just be happy to finish, that would be the frosting on the cake if I get the belt buckle,” Brooks said.
To prepare, he’ll practice with racing poles, try to lose weight, and drive around with his car heater on full blast to acclimate.
Brooks said the race director believes he’s the first Mainer in 27 years to be picked for the race.
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