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What does it feel like to be the pioneer of ultra-distance trail running?
It feels old, you know. It's like - I used to be the new kid on the block.
I was reminiscing to one of my friends you know there was a time when I'd go running and you know,
get into these things sometimes I'd just feel like a winged God and now I kind of feel like a...
oh, I don't know... a shuffling old man. It really sucks. I'm totally unprepared for aging.
I was raised in an apocalyptic religion.
And we were always told that the end is right around the corner.
They truly believed God has chosen a separate and peculiar people to be consecrated only unto him,
and boy they tried to make us a separate and peculiar as they possibly could.
I figured it was about a 50/50 chance that I'd ever reach adulthood;
and not even worth considering that I would live to grow old;
and I'm just amazed to be here. I'm unprepared; I don't know how to deal with old age.
So, I'm just in denial for as long as I can. That's... that's me.
So that's how it feels to be a pioneer.
I was involved in the whole world of Wendell Robie.
He started 100-mile horseback riding and he just started all kinds of stuff.
The most important thing in life was the 100-mile ride and you know, I did it in '71 and '72 -
I did it bareback in '71, so I was welcomed into their inner circle because they were so impressed...
that a person would be so unwilling to quit that he would go through that much pain.
I mean, it was 10 days before I could walk straight you know, without a limp.
When my horse went lame in '73, Drucilla invited me to do it the next year on foot.
I said, "Well, maybe." And I was thinking, "I'll have a better horse by then."
And I didn't get around to it and so in '74 as the spring rolled on, I ran.
I ran because it was the most important event of the year,
the most important thing in my life at the time and I just wanted to be a part of it.
You have to realize that the night before I ran my epic run,
I scooped out the horse manure from a horse trailer, laid down my sleeping bag,
spent the night with the wafting aromas around me. I got dressed in the dark...
and Ralf and Betty Deaver were the timers -- they were sitting there with a gas lantern on their table
and ten minutes before the start, you know it's like - nobody was there.
They were all back there taking care of their horses and I walk up to them and I say...
"well I guess I'll be heading out now" and they said "good luck Gordy"
and I disappeared into the darkness and that was it you know, it was just the most inauspicious thing...
its almost like nobody knew what happened.
It was so hot it was just unbelievable I couldn't even see the road. But I just...
you know, I just wasn't willing to quit... because I wanted to be a part of that experience.
It was really clear that I was going to hit bottom real soon. And I knew I couldn't finish, but...
I came to the point where I said, "Well, I could just take one more step."
And I just decided to keep on taking one more step until I could no longer take one more step.
I arrived at the fairgrounds, to the track kind of happy, kind of full of myself you know, so I...
jogged around the track and I did a dive forward roll over the finish line. Yes it seemed like a good idea.
I never was good at handsprings I had to do a dive forward roll.
I didn't realize how close it was going to be. I mean I only finished 13 minutes under the wire.
24 hours was the criteria for the horses. Now, you know we allow 30.
Good thing, it allows old farts like me to make it sometimes.
It was horrendous; I look back and wonder, "How did I do that?"
I didn't realize how difficult of a challenge it was.
Such an amazing place. So many memories.
So anyway, Cowman came along and he did it and after that Wendell came up to me...
and said what I was waiting for. And he comes up to me and he goes...
"Gordy lets make this a yearly event!" and I said, "With publicity and all that?"
And he said "With publicity and all that."
I wrote the ad that went into Runner's World and it said 'The Ultimate Challenge' in bold block print,
'100 miles of cross-country running through the high mountains and deep canyons of Northern California's...
Sierra Nevada mountains'. Write Western States Trail Foundation Auburn California.' And you didn't have ...
to put anymore than that on the envelope, it would get there.
Like most pioneers I didn't know what I was doing really. I didn't know I was starting a sport.
I never expected it to change my world. I didn't.
We now have more people who have finished the Western States run than have finished the Western States ride.
All I can say is -- thank God Wendell created the ride so that I could run it.
so that all these people could come afterwards
because I know it's going to do the same thing for their lives that it did for my life.
When I look at how much happier I am as a long-distance trail runner, I just can't compare to the way I was before.
I'm just glad so many people thought it was a good idea. I'd just be out here running alone if it wasn't for that.