Good Sports

by Budd Glassberg

Reprinted with permission from the Zionsville Times Sentinel on June 6, 2007

The Obscure Celebrity

“Happy is the man who hath never known what it is to taste of fame—to have it is a purgatory, to want it is a hell.” – Edward George Earle Lytton Bulwer

In the nineteenth century, there were people who would publicly refrain from eating for long periods of time. They did this for the entertainment of the inhabitants of European towns and villages. Many would fast for forty days and more. Their plight was journalized in the short story written by Franz Kafka in 1922, A Hunger Artist. In the United States in the 1920’s and 30’s cities, and towns held dance marathons where contestants would shuffle for months at a time for 45 minutes of every hour of every day. The predicament of these endurance athletes was the setting of the very well made movie, They Shoot Horses Don’t They released in 1969. Other multi-day endurance events included six day bicycle races hitting their heyday in the 1920’s where Madison Square Garden hosted the “Super Bowl” of such events. There was even a transcontinental footrace held in the 1920’s run as a stage race. The contestants in these various endurance events had various reasons for embarking on such feats of stamina, but none of those reasons included fame or fortune. Other than the dance marathoners, who for some during the depression, danced for the food and shelter provided, the remaining embarked on their determined efforts for reasons the general public could not fathom.

Last week, I had the opportunity to run with one of those multi-day athletes. Glen Turner’s sister and mother live in Zionsville. He was passing through town. His sister, Laura Gangstad, asked me if I would like to run with him while he visited. Indeed I would. Glen established his credentials in endurance events by setting a 24 hour record at the Across-The-Years run near Phoenix, AZ in 1994. The event, held since 1983, is a set time, variable distance race. Glenn ran 130.73 miles in 24 hours and his record was not broken until 2000. In 2006 he entered his first multi-day event, the Self Transcendence Six Day run in New York City. Glen also won that race with a total of 421 miles, eighteen ahead of the next male’s distance. About a month ago, Glen competed in the Self Transcendence Ten Day run, finishing second after leading for eight days. His distance of 654 miles was sixteen shy of the winning total. He averaged more than 65 miles a day for ten straight days.

These multi-day races are not ones you might catch on ESPN. They seldom make it into the printed press and when they are reported, it is often done so in the manner one might report about a freak show’s entertainers. The interesting juxtaposition of this is that the field of athletes competing in these events is made up of international competitors who have traveled across the oceans to participate. While the sport has the television appeal of filming grass grow, the athletic prowess of the contestants is without equal. None of the names of these athletes would be recognizable to the average New Yorker, yet among this small group of incredible people, names like Yiannis Kouros and Jesper Olsen have taken on celebrity status.

While Glen and I ran with his niece, Lindsey (I had coached Lindsey in middle school cross-country seven years ago) I found out that he began his athletic career as a tri-athlete and cross-country skier. He found his way to long distance running and has turned that into his life’s work. He plans to run in Denmark and then participate in a six day race in Australia. Then in 2008 he is planning an 800 day excursion where he will be joining Jesper Olson on a running trip around the world in a north south route. I could see first hand some of the sacrifices Glen Turner had to make in order to follow his passion. His feet are still blistered from his 10 day race. He is constantly traveling without the security of a full time job or home. At every race a career ending injury is a distinct possibility. At 47 years-old he has had to forego having a family to pursue the unknown of how far he might go. He does this without the expectation of fame. There is no fortune in this sport. The most one might expect is subsistence living from a sponsor. Despite these obstacles, or perhaps because of them, he toils on, grabbing for the next adventure which might be on the horizon. He does this in a sport in which few outsiders could see any pleasure coming from it. Like the hunger artist, marathon dancer, and multi-day cyclist, Glen Turner has found something he can do that few others can. He has followed the road less traveled. And that has made all the difference.

Budd Glassberg is a resident of Zionsville who is active in the local running community. Visit www.runz.com for reprints of all his columns. You can reach him by email at budd@runz.com.