ZOOM

“Go Amy! You look awesome! That’s lap 40! Keep it up!!!”

These are some of the cheers that propelled me forward during a recent race I ran in early January. Regular readers of this column may recall that I’ve been fairly adamant that ultra running is something I admire, but do not desire to tackle at this point in my running life. Since a marathon has but 26.2 miles, what, you might ask, was I doing running a race with 40 laps? Indeed, 40 laps and I was supposed to “keep it up,” meaning I was still not at the finish line.

Here’s a hint. The race was in Minnesota, it started at 6:30 am and I ran in just a singlet, shorts, running socks and shoes. Let me add that I am not a member of any sort of “polar bear club,” i.e., people who do summer-ish activities in the snow like swimming in the Atlantic Ocean on New Year’s Day. Additionally, if you check the weather for Minnesota for January 13th, you’ll not find a record setting heat wave of any sort.

The answer is I was running the Zoom! Yah! Yah! Marathon in Northfield, Minnesota. While the 2008 event was only the 3rd annual running, the race has already captured the title of the “World’s Most Prestigious Indoor Marathon.” Northfield is home to St. Olaf College, where the teams are known as the “Oles” (yes, that’s as in “Ole and Lena”) and the fight song is sung in waltz-tempo (more on that in a bit).

Minnesotans have devised myriad creative ways to get themselves through some of the harshest winters in the United States. I know; I used to live there and have a plug-in on the front of my car from those days. You really, truly need to plug in your car at night to keep it warm enough to start the next morning. They also plow the streets when it snows there, a custom I wish Rapid City would adopt.

When the lakes freeze over, Minnesotans hit the ice. They skate on it, drill holes in it in order to fish, put up ice houses in which all kinds of activities take place, and curl on it. (Over 20% of the population of Bemidji, Minnesota engages in Curling, a 5-century-old sport that looks a like shuffleboard on ice.) Runners run outside, as did I when I lived there, even in below zero temperatures.

A marathon in Minnesota in winter would present special challenges, however, if held outside. The water and Gatorade at the aid stations would undoubtedly freeze in the little cups, and frostbite would be a concern for both runners and volunteers. The clever running club in Northfield, which dubs itself “Band of 10,000 Aches,” a play on Minnesota’s state slogan “Land of 10,000 Lakes,” devised the Zoom! Yah! Yah! Marathon to provide winter marathoners with warmth, perfect weather, a pancake flat course and your own personal cheerleader.

Here’s how it works. Held at the Tostrud Center, a 95,000 square foot state of the art recreational facility, the marathon is run on an elevated track. One mile is equal to just about 5 and a half laps, so you run 150 laps. To keep things interesting, every 30 minutes, you change directions. (Each runner finishes the lap s/he is on before changing directions. It works out very smoothly.)
There is a large timing clock at the start/finish line that you run past with every lap. Since running a marathon can cause a person’s math skills to deteriorate as the miles accumulate, the Zoom! Yah! Yah! features members of the St. Olaf’s Women’s Track and Cross Country Teams as personal scorers and cheerleaders. These fabulous young women arrive well before the start time of 6:30 am on Sunday, dressed in St. Olaf colors of black and old gold, and are assigned one or two runners. They keep a record of each one of your split times, meaning they write down your time as you pass them on each one of your 150 laps.

In addition, they offer exuberant support and encouragement each time you pass. Since you will pass your scorer every 282 meters (925 feet, or about .17 of a mile), you get cheers, personal recognition, and a welcome smile for the entire duration of your run. My scorer was a red-haired phenom, Caitlin Molsberry. Caitlin is a smart, attractive and very sharp cross country runner who didn’t miss a lap, never took a break, and was unfailingly vocal and warm in greeting me as I passed her over and over again. She even got some of the other scorers to yell out my name when I passed as we legged it into the final miles.

Another advantage of the Zoom! Yah! Yah! were the as-advertised 600 aid stations. Normally, marathons will have aid stations about every 2 miles with fluids and sometimes more. Here, the race organizers set up four large tables in the corners of the track with coolers and where we could stash our bottles of water, sports drink, gus, and any other necessities. It was easy to grab your bottle as you ran past one table, then leave it on the next one as you did your laps.

USAT&F (U.S.A. Track & Field) has been getting very strict of late about competitive races, encouraging a ban on the use of ipods and all devices using headphones. At the Zoom! Yah! Yah!, this is not a problem. The organizers had taped a selection of tunes and played it on the Field House sound system throughout the race. And yes, Billy Preston’s “Will It Go Round in Circles” was cued up a few hours into the event to give us an extra grin.

The concept of running around an indoor track for 150 miles does seem daunting, but that’s only when you think of you, a track, and none of the embellishments we so enjoyed at St. Olaf. As if all these extras were not enough, we were able to pick up extra energy at the superlative pre-race dinner.

As most experienced marathoners will attest, the pre-race or pasta dinner offered by a race is iffy, at best. Many of us eschew it and just get food at a grocery or find a familiar restaurant. A cardinal marathon rule of thumb is do not eat anything for dinner the night before that is strange or unusual to your system. That being well known, pre-race dinners usually err on the side of total blandness, with overcooked pasta and boring sauce. As an Italian, I find them especially difficult to endure.

Our pre-race dinner was held at the St. Olaf dining hall. College dining has changed remarkably since I was in school in the ‘70’s. This was an all-you-can-eat dinner, but more nuanced and better prepared than other buffets I have experienced. There were various food stations, including an enormous salad bar, a pasta bar, grilled entrees of fish, chicken and beef, with pans of peppers, onions and mushrooms to add at your choice, a pizza bar, an oriental station with 3 selections, a grains station with 3 beautifully prepared vegetarian dishes, an entire breakfast area in the event you felt like cereal, and I’m leaving out all the dessert options, as I was so full I just took a few cookies for later.

Clearly, this was a race with excellent amenities all around. At this cold, still dark time of year, the light heartedness of this competition and the sunny good humor of the organizers certainly chased away any winter doldrums. The camaraderie from the other runners, and the high spirits the St. Olaf Women’s track teams inspired my running and lots of smiles. Spring does not seem so nearly far away!

Perhaps you read a recent article in the Journal about the upcoming YMCA expansion. Among the innovations and upgrades mentioned is a new indoor track. Maybe we here in Rapid City could put together our own indoor marathon and give St. Olaf a bit of a challenge on that “World’s Most Prestigious” title they’ve claimed for themselves. And yes, if you’re reading this, Nicole, I’m willing to work on it. [Nicole Craig is the new Wellness Director of the YMCA as Emily Wheeler left to be the event director of the Mt. Rushmore Marathon.] What might we call such an event?

The name of the Zoom! Yah! Yah! Marathon derives in part from the afore-mentioned fight song. In their admissions materials, St. Olaf observes “we may have the most non-ferocious fight song in the land.” Here it is, and remember, sing it with a waltz-tempo:

We come from St. Olaf, we sure are the real stuff.
Our team is the cream of the colleges great.
We fight fast and furious, our team is injurious.
Tonight Carleton College will sure meet its fate.

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