Atascadero graduate readies to run 100-mile race
Luis Escobar completes a 135-mile run on his own. Photo courtesy of Luis Escobar
‘Start easy, start slow, run simply, run gently,’ advises the athlete
Luis Escobar runs from Badwater in Death Valley to the summit of Mount Whitney with a friend in 2014. Photo courtesy of Luis Escobar
Luis Escobar is a high school cross country coach and professional photographer. And he runs 135-mile races in less than 48 hours.
Though he doesn’t plan to run that far this summer, he is preparing for a 100-mile run —Western States 100-mile Endurance Run —that will take place June 27 and 28. The run starts in Squaw Valley at Lake Tahoe and ends in Auburn. The course climbs more than 18,000 feet and descends nearly 23,000 feet.
He’s participated in Badwater 135 ultramarathon three times and did the course once on his own.
“I’ve done it three times as part of the race, I felt the next step would be to do it independently,” Escobar said. “I was right. It was very much a more pure experience to be in the desert alone as opposed to with 90 other people.”
Escobar didn’t do it completely alone. He ran with one friend and three support people in a vehicle.
“The most rewarding was being self-supporting for so long,” he said. “It takes a lot of support to go from Death Valley to the summit of Mount Whitney.”
Luis Escobar at the summit of Mount Whitney. Photo courtesy of Luis Escobar
Part of that support is providing enough nourishment through food and drink. During his presentation to the Atascadero Rotary Club on Wednesday, Escobar joked that long distant running is more of an eating and drinking competition with running thrown in because of how much energy is needed to complete such a long run. For the Badwater 135, runners transition from just running to climbing a mountain. The start in Death Valley is 280 feet before sea level and the finish line is 8,300 feet above sea level. In total, the runner has a total of 13,000 of ascent.
“A really good athlete can make it right around 23 hours,” Escobar said. At this prime, he said he finished the run seventh out of 90 people in 33 hours.
Only 90 people are selected from hundreds of people who want to participate in the annual run that happens each July.
“They select 90 people to do it. People are lining up to do it. It costs $1,200,” he said, adding that people come from all over the world to do it.
The 1981 Atascadero High School graduate has some advice for people who want to run long distance: “Start easy, start slow, run simply, run gently.”
“It is a fun thing to do,” Escobar said. “It’s a beautiful and natural thing to do. Our bodies are designed to be outside and moving.”
Luis Escobar gets cooled off as he runs through Death Valley in July 2014. Photo courtesy of Luis Escobar
