August 16, 2007

Running man

Almaden’s Ephraim Romesberg to tackle grueling South Dakota race

By Jeanne Carbone Lewis
Staff Writer

While many seniors are content to walk around the neighborhood or go to a health club for exercise, Ephraim Romesberg, 76, is preparing to run the Lean Horse Ultra, a 100-mile race in Hot Springs, S.D.

Ephraim Romesberg trains on Almaden trails for the Lean Horse Ultra 100. Photo by Jeanne Carbone Lewis

Romesberg is part of a select group of ultra marathoners—elite athletes who run over 26.2 miles with most events 50 or 100 miles or more through grueling conditions. The Lean Horse Ultra 100-mile takes place Aug. 25-26 and must be completed within 30 hours. Temperatures are expected in the 90s with cool evenings and rain or hail is possible in the Black Hills of South Dakota.

“I never know how I’ll run,” said Romesberg. “I went to mass on Sunday and prayed. And I’m training—one long run a week and other sporadic runs. And I don’t have a pacer yet.”

A pacer is someone who runs with a runner, keeping the pace, motivating and helping with food and water. His daughter, Laura Romesberg, has crewed for him many times in the past but was unable to attend because she is a teacher and will be starting school.

Romesberg is no neophyte when it comes to ultra marathon running. He’s participated in the 135-mile Badwater Ultra Marathon in Death Valley, where runners take on more than a marathon, at North America’s lowest elevation, in grueling 120-degree heat.

He’s also run the Grand Slam, Leadville and Big Sur. The latter he ran two years ago; “the good news was that I was first in my age group and the bad news is that I was last in my age group.”

His list of races includes more than 50 sub marathons, 52 marathons and 114 ultra marathons.

Last year, Romesberg ran “The Mother Road 100” in Oklahoma, which celebrated the 80th anniversary of Route 66. He completed the run in less than 28 hours with a better time than many of the younger runners who finished.

Ultra marathon runners Gene Weddle and Famida Hanif-Weddle met Romesberg through the Quicksilver Running Club. They also plan to run the Lean Horse Ultra 100-mile this August and have trained with him in Almaden Valley and the Coyote Creek area acclimating themselves in the mid-day heat for the event.

Ephraim Romesberg and daughter Laura Romesberg, his pacer, at the historic round barn near “The Mother Road” run in Oklahoma. Photo courtesy of the Romesberg family

“We’ve known Ephraim quite a few years,” said Weddle. “He’s quite remarkable and amazing at his age. Ultra marathon running is quite an adventure. You never know what’s going to happen, and it’s challenging. And you see different parts of the country in a new way.”

Romesberg agrees ultra marathon running is challenging and one of the foremost reasons he competes. He’s an advocate of physical fitness at any age.

But there’s another factor in these races that Romesberg finds enticing and that is the friendships that are created in this extreme sport. He’s has met athletes from around the world at these events.

When he wasn’t training or running ultra marathons, he decided to write a book, “Run, It Might be Someone.” The book chronicles his adventures as well as his life growing up on Pennsylvania farm during the Great Depression as one of 11 children. It also describes his 53-year marriage to wife Jean, raising their four children and living in Spain and Italy where he tested power plants for General Electric. His great- nephew has neurofibromatosis and all the proceeds from the book will be donated to find a cure for that disease.

“I run for fun,” said Romesberg. “It keeps me fit. I hunted, camped and hiked when I was a kid and marathon running is like that. And if I can influence physical fitness for other seniors that’s good.”

For information on Ephraim Romesberg’s book “Run, It Might Be Someone,” call (408) 268-2502 or e-mail romesberg@sbcglobal.net.