Bill Finkbeiner has Come a Long Way

BILL FINKBEINER vividly remembers his running infancy. After struggling through eight-mile jogs, his feelings of accomplishment were often overshadowed by another strong sensation: pain.

"I just liked to see if I could do it," recalled Finkbeiner. "I'd do it, but it left me crippled for days."

Nearly a dozen years have passed since then, and the 34-year-old Finkbeiner, a landscape contractor in Rancho Cordova, Calif., is still running and fulfilling his goals.

At 5 A.M. Saturday, he will join about 400 others at the base of Squaw Valley, Calif., and begin the 14th annual Western States 100-Mile Endurance Run.

More than likely, sometime late that evening or early Sunday morning, Finkbeiner will arrive in Auburn, Calif., circle the Placer High School football stadium track and for the sixth time cross the finish line of the best-known ultramarathon in the United States.

And as in his early running days, Finkbeiner will have once again experienced pain. But for those who attempt ultras, running events longer than the standard 26.2-mile marathon, discomfort is relative. Among the numerous descriptions heard about ultramarathons, perhaps the most popular is, "pain is inevitable; suffering is optional."

The saying is particularly relevant among competitors in the Western States 100, the oldest and most prestigious of the six established 100-mile trail races in the United States.

The course is primarily mountainous horse trails, and was first attempted only as a race among horsemen. In 1974, Gordon Ainsleigh left his horse at home and completed the route alone. The horse race, known as the Tevis Cup, is still held annually, and the trails include nearly 40,000 feet of elevation changes and temperature changes of 75 degrees. Entrants in both endurance events must prepare themselves against the possibilities of hypothermia and numerous bodily depletions.

Despite such extremes, events like the Western States 100 have steadily increased in popularity during the past 10 years.

According to UltraRunning, an international magazine that covers the sport, 230 ultras were held in the United States in 1989. There were 10,300 starters and 8,200 finishers. The average race included 45 starters and 36 finishers. In 1980, there were only 100 domestic ultras that attracted 3,500 starters and 2,800 finishers.

The majority of the 425 running positions for the Western States 100 are selected by lottery. Organizers received more than 1,000 applications, each of which included a $125 entry fee for this year's race. Nearly 200 fewer runners applied in 1989. Women comprise about 10 percent of the field.

"For me, I just reached a plateau with 10-K's, half marathons and marathons," said Finkbeiner, who completed his first marathon in 1979 in 4 hours 27 minutes. "Running ultras was just a natural progression in the process of accomplishment."

Finkbeiner, whose fiancee is also an ultramarathon runner, has since completed more than 60 ultras, 14 of them 100 milers. He has finished fourth, sixth and 13th in the Western States 100. He hasn't missed a day of running in more than 10 years.

Lack of speed is the main reason why running distances longer than the 26.2-mile marathon is particularly popular among middled-aged runners. (The median age in many small-field ultramarathons is close to 50). "Older runners are slowing down perhaps," Finkbeiner said. "So there's a sense if you can't go faster, you can go farther."

Norman Klein, race director of the Western States 100, agreed. But he also believes there's an additional reason for the increase in the popularity of ultrarunning.

"In a 10K, or even a marathon, you show up, you run the race and you go home," Klein said. "In ultras, it's a six-month, a year or a two-year commitment. You train with the people you're going to race with. You attend meetings and seminars together. It's very much a sport of long-term camaraderie and support."

Self-satisfaction and camaraderie aside, 100-mile runners strive for two other goals -finishing before the maximum cutoff time and finishing before an earlier cutoff time that earns them a silver belt buckle. The cutoff times at the Western States 100 are 24 and 30 hours. There is no prize money.

The Western States 100 occurs three weeks after the Old Dominion in Front Royal, Va., and is followed by the Vermont 100 in South Woodstock on July 28, the Leadville Trail 100 in Leadville, Colo., on Aug. 18, the Wasatch Front 100-Mile Endurance Run in East Layton, Utah, on Sept. 9 and the Angeles Crest 100-mile Endurance Run in Wrightwood, Calif., on Sept. 22.

Last year, Marshall Ulrich and Gordon Hardman, both of Colorado, were the first to complete the six major 100-mile trail ultras in a one season, "buckling" at each race.

Writing in a recent issue of UltraRunning, Hardman began a synopsis of his accomplishment with the following paragraph:

"When someone hears that you have just finished, in one season, the six-major 100-milers in North America, you are liable to get some interesting reactions. These range from the blank, uncomprehending, 'Huh?, by car?' to the blase, 'Oh, yeah; I gotta do that sometime, but I'm working on a sub-40 minute 10K.' "

Hardman's sense of humor is shared by many ultramarathoners, often as a defense against detractors. Perhaps more than any other athletic endeavor out of the mainstream sports world, ultrarunners get their share of criticism. More often than not, they're described as insane, obsessive, and asinine, even by fellow runners who are more inclined to put their energies into 10-kilometer races and marathons.

"I've just heard that so much, I don't think about it anymore," Finkbeiner said. "But you can also talk to a lot of ultrarunners and they don't have any desire to run a 10K. They don't want to run with such intensity, particularly if it's only for 30 minutes or an hour."