El Paso's elite ultramarathoner

(First posted April 3, 2008.)

Mention El Paso elite runners these days, and most think of the UTEP men's cross-country team. As they should -- UTEP's team finished 10th at the NCAA Championships last November, and that was after a performance many considered sub-par.

I'm sure the football and basketball teams would love to be 10th in the nation. But for the runners, led by Kenyans Stephen Samoei and Patrick Mutai, coming in 10th was a consolation prize after being ranked in the top five most of the season.

But they aren't the only star runners in El Paso. The city is also home to Carilyn Johnson, who in the past year has become one of the top ultramarathon runners in the country. She's currently training to run with the U.S. National Team at the 24-Hour Run World Championship in South Korea in October.

That race will follow her being the third-place woman finisher in the Ultracentric 24 Hour National Championship in Grapevine, Texas, last November. She ran 126.75 miles in that race. She also was the third woman finisher at the Ulmstead 100 Mile Endurance Run in North Carolina, which she completed in 19 hours 44 minutes.

Yes, you read that right. Carilyn's races are typically 100 miles or more. It takes a, well, special kind of person to do what Carilyn does. Others might say you have to be nuts.

I don't know if Carilyn's nuts. I know she doesn't fit the stereotype, if there is one, of an ultramarathoner, someone I would imagine to be a loner and aloof. Carilyn isn't that at all -- she is dedicated, of course, and she enjoys running, but she's actually fun to be around and enjoys people.

So much so, she is starting to lure others into her sport (others say she's "brininging them to the dark side," but that's just semantics).

One of them is Salvador Almeida, a local marathoner, has run a 50-mile race with Carilyn. And his brother, Francisco Almeida, last month ran a three-day ultramarathon in the Sahara Desert. Another one of Carilyn's running buddies, Chris Rowley, owner of Up and Running, is training for the 100-mile Lean Horse Ultra-Marathon in August in South Dakota. And Luis Tueme, who recently moved to El Paso, is gearing up to run in July what is one of the two hardest ultramarathons in the country, the 100-mile Western States Endurance Run in the Sierra Nevada.

As for us mere mortals, we still think the marathon is hard enough. But El Paso's ultramarathoners have earned our admiration and respect.

By the way, if you'd like to keep up to date on Carilyn's training (and entertaining musings on life) as she prepares for the 24 Hour Run World Championship, check out her blog at http://www.runreadwrite.blogspot.com/.

Jim