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Monyak braves weather for 150-mile run |
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Written by Alison Baker
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Wednesday, 14 May 2008 |
 Mike Monyak of Oliveburg completed the McNaughton 150 mile trail in Pekin, Ill. in April, coming in ninth out of 34 runners -- 14 of which actually completed the race. (Photo submitted)
PEKIN, Ill. -- The weekend of April 11-13 saw most people pulling out their summer clothes and beginning to enjoy the sunshine.
Not Mike Monyak: He was trudging through 30-degree wet weather in Pekin, Ill., to complete the McNaughton 150-mile trail run.
Monyak, 49, of Oliveburg, finished ninth in the men’s division, completing the race in 50 hours and 17 minutes -- all without sleep.
“Some of the other runners did sleep,” Monyak said. “They took a nap, got up and kept running.”
Not Monyak. He held steady at about three mph -- not an easy feat in six-inch deep mud, gusting winds up to 60 mph and occasional hail.
At one section, he had to climb a rope up a mountain.
Monyak said he fell about 15 times along the run, and Larry Creveling, another Punxsy Road Runners Club member, fell and hit his head, ending up with a concussion.
“It was mad,” Monyak said. “You were basically skiing down the mountain in mud that was six inches deep.”
The race included 30 creek crossings, as well as muddy, hilly, single-track terrain.
Only 14 of the starting 34 runners completed the race, way fewer than the 50 that initially signed up.
Monyak’s goal was just to finish, in light of the fact that he did not train for the race.
“It lets me know that I have endurance,” he said. “Now I just have to work on more speed.”
Although he’s been running all his life, he had an injury that prevented him from preparing specifically for the race.
“If I’d had some training, I probably would have done better,” he said. “Maybe knocked five hours off or so.”
Monyak said he runs to find his limit.
“I haven’t found that yet,” he said.
His ultimate goal right now is completing a 1,000 mile race.
“Races go all the way up to 3,000 miles,” he said. “It’s kind of like ‘Forrest Gump’ -- running day after day.”
Monyak uses pain disassociation to complete long races.
“You disengage your mind,” he said, likening it to how prisoners of war cope. “You totally have to escape your environment to conquer the pain.” |
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 15 May 2008 )
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