Forget the carbo loading and the stretching.
Kelly Hostetler ran 360 miles from Skagway to Haines in 12 days on a diet of eggs and fish, and day-end dips in frigid water.
“If I stretched I think I would pull something. In yoga, I can’t even sit Indian- style, my hips are so tight… There’s something to be said for soaking in an ice-cold lake and taking Advil,” Hostetler, 50, said this week.
She finished her Golden Circle Run, a benefit for Hospice of Haines, at 4 p.m. Sunday at Fort Seward, where friends greeted her with a rocking chair and chilled champagne.
Ralph Borders of Haines, who has run up to 26 miles training for a marathon, said it’s difficult to imagine running the Golden Circle. He ran 40 miles beside Hostetler Friday and Saturday. “I couldn’t do it. I can do it for two days, and then I need a rest.”
An ultra-marathoner for seven years, Hostetler doesn’t eat Power Bars or “goo,” a carbohydrate paste used by some endurance athletes. She didn’t want fruit or vegetables and she drank wine at night. “If I eat a big bowl of pasta at night, I’m hungry halfway through the next day. You have to find what works for you.”
Company helped. Hostetler made the same run a year ago with resident Melina Shields. “Having a person there, going every step of the way with you makes it easier.” This year Jessica Edwards served as cook and driver of the RV that shadowed Hostetler. More than two dozen residents showed up along the way, many running or bicycling beside her and making conversation.
Two friends ran alongside on the first day out of Skagway, when she put in 34 miles, including scaling White Pass. “We were just talking and running along at a doable pace. We didn’t stop. Before we know it, there was the (car) to take them back down.”
Recorded music had its limits. “One day I listened to the iPod for five hours, then it was, ‘Quit screaming at me.’”
A wife and mom who manages the Southeast state fair, Hostetler said the run helped refresh her mentally. “I consciously didn’t want to think about the things on my plate. I wanted to remove myself from all that and just be there. It was more of a purge.”
Compression calf-warmers she used for the first time eased some of her physical pain, reducing swelling in her feet and helping avoid blisters. They’re similar to the tight socks worn on long-distance flights to improve circulation. “They helped with fatigue, and protected my shins from shin splints. The one day I didn’t wear them (because of warm temperatures) was the one day I truly had pain in my legs.”
Hostetler lost eight pounds. “That’s a lot. I wasn’t hungry and I wasn’t craving anything. It was all Jess could do to get me to eat a couple fried eggs and a bagel.”
Interestingly, she wasn’t particularly hungry when the run finished, either. Although she went to work, the idea of running even five miles the day after finishing was unthinkable, she said. “The exhaustion is crushing, but it’s only that way because you know you’re done. It’s a weird, brain thing.”
Hostetler ran at about five miles per hour, and her training included runs from Canada Customs to Chilkat Pass. She plans to run a marathon in Bellingham Sept. 26 and a 50-mile race near Kalispell, Mont.
“It amazes me that at 50 I can still do this. I don’t know if I’m really lucky or stupid. And I’m not quite sure why my body is able to do it. Maybe it’s because I go so slow,” she said.
Hostetler’s hoping the run will raise up to $6,000. Last year’s netted $8,500 for Hospice of Haines. Pledge sheets are up at downtown markets.
Hospice director Beth MacCready said the run amounts to a good chunk of the group’s $33,000 budget. “I’m awestruck she’s so determined to help us this way. Besides being a big fund-raiser for us, it’s such an inspiring thing to be a part of.”