A Finish Line With a Real High: 8000 Feet

Joshua Lott for The New York Times

For runners who want more of a challenge than a mere marathon offers, there is the Mount Lemmon Marathon in Tucson.

ATOP MOUNT LEMMON, Ariz. The New York marathon is a walk in the park compared with what took place up the side of this mountain on Sunday. Boston's famed Heartbreak Hill? A molehill.

In what was billed as the world's toughest road marathon, 26.2 miles at high altitude that went up and up and then up some more, hundreds of runners huffed and puffed up one of Tucson's highest peaks.

They did it for bragging rights, for the challenge, for the health benefits, for the pure absurdity of it all.

Runners are like fishermen, said Bart Yasso, a well-known marathoner who was on hand as a celebrity guest, not a participant. They re going to talk about how steep this race was forever. It's steep. It's tough. But it will get steeper every time they tell it.

It was indeed a steep and long and winding route even in a car. It followed the General Hitchcock Scenic Byway from the cactus and desert landscape of the Sonoran Desert to the pine forest of the Catalina Mountains. Along the way were not just mile markers but altitude signs showing runners that they were climbing, from about 3,000 feet above sea level at the start to more than 8,000 feet at the finish line.

Whether it is the toughest race is open to debate. The Pikes Peak Marathon climbs over 7,700 feet to the top of the 14,115-foot mountain in Colorado, and it passes not over pavement but dirt tracks, rocks and other obstacles. The Everest Marathon is certainly no slouch. And there is the Antarctic Ice Marathon, in which participants crunch atop snow and ice.

Those who took part in the first Mount Lemmon Marathon ran the gamut, from weekend warriors to die-hard runners who no longer consider a run-of-the-mill marathon a challenge. With the glut of triathlons, ultramarathons and other such races, there seems to be more and more runners who need more than 26 miles to break a sweat.

To be honest, I just decided two days ago to do this, said James Miles, 25, the winner. It was only his third marathon, and the first one he won. His time, 3 hours, 13 minutes and 42 seconds, was more than a half-hour longer than his personal best, which he attributed to the steep inclines and thinner air.

There was also the temperature to deal with, which ranged from the high 80s to so chilly in some mountain passes that racers could see their breath.

Your legs are getting tired and, at the same time, you re getting less air, Mr. Miles said, breathing heavily at the finish line. He suddenly leaned over and clutched the back of his thigh. Don t worry, he said. I m just stretching. I m not going to throw up.

Among the runners was Pam Reed, 49, who has won the Badwater Ultramarathon, a 135-mile endurance test through Death Valley, and who, just for kicks, runs the Boston Marathon from finish to start before running it from start to finish with the rest of the pack.

Why are people going further and harder and stronger? she asked. It makes other things in life seem much more doable. We have so many challenges in our lives with the economy and people losing their jobs and their homes. This is a way of defeating them and breaking the monotony of life.

Ms. Reed said she had done higher altitude marathons than the one on Mount Lemmon, including one at 10,000 feet that had her gasping for air after 10 minutes. But even those races have considerable downhill parts, she said. All that Mount Lemmon offered in that regard was a little slope at the end.

I don t love pain, but I do like challenges, Ms. Reed said. And unless something is difficult, it doesn t seem that satisfying.

Ms. Reed just finished the Hawaii Ironman competition and is planning to run across the United States. When not running, she organizes the Tucson Marathon, which has more of a downhill route.

There were first-time marathoners who ran up Mount Lemmon, including Emily McGregor, 25, who was the first woman to cross the finish line at 3 hours, 59 minutes and 13 seconds. Oh, my gosh. Oh, my gosh. Oh, my gosh, she said, repeating the phrase at least 15 times. Asked why she did it, she replied: If you can do this, any other marathon is a piece of cake, right?

Nobody was sure what pace they ought to use to run uphill for so long.

Everyone's asking me how to adjust their running, how many minutes they should add on, said Mr. Yasso, who writes for Runner's World magazine. I don t know what to tell them. I really don t. Some people are great on hills and others aren t. It will be grueling for everyone though.

Laszlo Otvos, the race organizer, was ready for the worst. He had 10 ambulances on standby and a helicopter ready for medical evacuations. In the end, no serious injuries were reported.

One of those finishing near the top of the pack was Jordan Camastro, 27, who lives near the mountain. He is running a 100-mile race this coming weekend and used the uphill marathon as training.

Once you conquer a regular marathon, you re left with a longing for more, he said. You reach a limit and then you push further. You reach that and then you do even more.

Runners took buses back down the mountain this time. By next year, who knows, maybe some will run back down.