After 40 hours of running, you start to hallucinate.
Your mind wonders. Food appears along the side of the trail, and new and old friends show up on the course, there to cheer you on or have a chat.
After the first day of running, 鈥淚 tried to sleep,鈥� Paul Romero said, sitting in his log cabin in Squamish, having just returned from California. 鈥淏ut I couldn鈥檛 switch my brain off. It was blown wide open with adrenaline. The mind, when it gets that fatigued, it starts short-circuiting.鈥�
By the 40-hour mark, Romero had another day of running ahead. He was following the rambling mountains that surround the clear blue waters of Lake Tahoe in an ultra race known as Tahoe 200, representing just over 200 miles of relentless track through canopied forests and up high.聽
鈥淚 was leading the race for much of it,鈥� Romero recalled. 鈥淏ut there was so much smoke in the air from California鈥檚 wildfires, and I ended up getting a muscle spasm. It stopped me in my track, and Jim Trout passed me.鈥�
The East Grand Rapids ultra-distance specialist went on to top the podium. Romero wasn鈥檛 far behind, placing second overall in a field of 53 runners.
聽He crossed the line with a time聽of 64:39:22.
鈥淚t far exceeded my expectations,鈥� the 46-year-old said. 鈥淢y training style and the things I have done in Squamish have really started to pay off. I had a real emphasis on preparation. I felt like I could keep going forever.鈥�
And he did. Ten days after Lake Tahoe, Romero was on the start line for the Kodiak Ultra Marathon 100-mile race in the San Bernardino Mountains of Southern California. It was a race the California native knew well. He had helped create it before moving to Squamish, but never had the chance to lace up his shoes in the action.聽
鈥淚 always wanted to race my own course,鈥� he said.
Twenty-five hours later, Romero crossed the finish line in sixth place. It marked the completion of 305.5 miles and 61,000 vertical feet gained in two races in under two weeks.聽
鈥淚 lost a little more weight than I would have liked,鈥� he notes, saying in total he came home 14 pounds lighter. 鈥淢aybe it worked out because it made me a little faster.鈥�
The avid snowboarder, cyclist and rock climber never thought he鈥檇 be a runner. His tall stature and 200-pound mass made Romero think he couldn鈥檛 compete against the typically lean athletes in the endurance field, he admitted. But Romero has always been drawn to the idea of pushing his body to the limits.聽
鈥淢y drive supersedes any urge to stop,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 really love the solitude of it all.鈥�
Romero runs performance camps in the Sea to Sky Corridor through his company UPRISE. He also coaches athletes. It鈥檚 nice to be able to practise what he preaches to students, Romero said.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 want to be one of those 鈥榬etired鈥� coaches.鈥�
