Rousseau Picks Running Over Reclining
Pioneer Press
It’s impossible to determine whether Ed Rousseau has greater amounts of enthusiasm or stamina.
One thing is certain: The passionate and long-winded Rousseau has another jewel on his running crown.
A 67-year-old retired project manager from Minneapolis, Rousseau is a moving testament to the joys of Long Distance Running, three words in Rousseau’s world that deserve capitalization.
“A guy’s got to run or head for a recliner,” he explained. “I’ll take running.”
Rousseau runs like many people dine, voraciously and daily. He establishes an annual schedule that always includes the Twin Cities and Grandma’s marathons, the Edmund Fitzgerald 100-kilometer race and several 24-hour races, with a fixture being the FANS 24-hour event at Lake Nokomis, just a few blocks from his home.
In addition, he travels to Park Rapids, Minn., where for nearly two weeks every month he works on a lake home he has been building from the ground up. He works inside and out on the place, then takes a daily break to run.
As if that’s not enough, every year Rousseau focuses on one significant ultramarathon. This year, he chose the Ultracentric 48-hour race Nov. 17-19 in Grapevine, Texas.
For Rousseau, a veteran of several six-day races, you could almost label the little two-day event a “fun run.” But there are two things wrong with that designation: Every time Rousseau runs it’s a fun run, and every time he races it’s a helter-skelter dash in search of fast times and state or national records.
Here’s how Rousseau readied himself to run 48 hours on a 2.4-mile loop along park roads: He set the U.S. 65-69 age-group record for his 100-mile time in the Cornbelt 24-Hour race in Iowa last spring, then logged 91 miles at his 17th consecutive FANS race, then placed third in his age group in 3 hours, 56 minutes at Grandma’s in Duluth (”my slowest Grandma’s time ever”), finished seventh in his age group in 3:44 at his 25th consecutive Twin Cities Marathon and then covered the 62 miles of the Ed Fitz along Minnesota’s North Shore in 13 hours (”a disaster”).
After that impressive string of events and before the Ultracentric, he had five weeks “to heal and train.”
“I ran short, hard training runs with my YMCA New Marathoners training class, and they inspired me,” he said. “I did long runs of up to six hours on indoor tracks at the YMCA and at Bemidji State University near my cabin. I ran wooded trails with steep hills.
“I felt strength and speed and endurance coming back.”
The field was just 20 for the 48-hour event at the Ultracentric, where the U.S. 24-hour championship was also contested. Also entered were two threats to Rousseau’s age-group dominance, but he demonstrated his focus as he allowed several participants to move in front of him early while he stayed with his formula of running interspersed with fast walking plus regular stops to stretch.
“I adopted this method a few years ago, when I found I could still run the same pace and be pain-free after six or more hours,” he said. “Otherwise, if I just run steady, I’ll really slow down with creeping leg pain after several hours.
“It’s tempting to run with the other runners early on, but I know I’ll catch and pass a lot of them in 12 or more hours.”
These are only numbers, but if you think about them for a moment … holy cow!
Rousseau cruised through 24 hours with 100.8 miles behind him and set off for Day 2. A few 10-minute naps revived him as “Fast Eddie,” as he signs his e-mails, pushed ahead at a less rapid pace. But he was unstoppable.
“Ed was amazing,” said Kristine Hinrichs of Milwaukee, who ran the 24-hour event. “He just kept moving.”
Late in the race, Rousseau eclipsed the U.S. age-group record of 158.8 miles held by Michael Allen of Arizona. He kept chugging and finished second overall, claiming a national-record distance of 166.3 miles and a warm handshake from Allen, who was there.
“Michael told me he was pleased to be at the event where he could meet the runner who ultimately broke his record,” Rousseau said, “and for me, it was a real treat to meet him. What a gentleman. The visits we had and the hug we shared after the race were as significant to me as anything that happened during the race.”
Four days after returning home, Rousseau was back to his old habits, running around Lake Nokomis and preparing for 2007. He’s planning to do “some snowshoe races, add long training runs and probably shoot for a 24-hour race or possibly a six-day race in April,” he said.
Neither the enthusiasm nor the speed has waned for Ed Rousseau.
Bruce Brothers can be reached at bbrothers@pioneerpress.com.
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