CHESTERTON | Ask any normal runner "Which is easier, a 5K or a 150-miler?" and the answer would seem obvious.
But Paul Stofko isn't your normal runner.
"For me, a 5K is more difficult because it's over so fast," Stofko said. "You can't sit back and wait to make your move."
When Stofko won the inaugural McNaughton Park Trail Run 150-mile race in 2007, he sat back and made his move at about the 90-mile mark and won with a time of 35 hours and 22 minutes. When he returned to Pekin, Ill. the following spring to defend his title, he wasn't quite as patient and it cost him.
"I went out too fast," the 1994 Lake Central graduate said. "I slowed down too much at the end."
The result was a third-place finish (37 hours and 12 minutes), several hours behind winner Dave Groggins, a Navy Seal from California who took third the year before.
"I don't know if (Groggins) is going to be at this one," Stofko said of the next MPTR 150-miler to take place April 10-12. "I'm hoping he will be."
In 2007, 40 runners started and just 10 finished. In 2008, 50 started and 15 finished. As of Feb. 10, there were 49 runners signed up.
Why anyone would sign up for such an ordeal is a mystery. And if you view the photos and testimonials posted at the race's website at www.mcnaughtonparktrailruns.com, the message is further conveyed: Only the insane should apply.
First of all, the race field doesn't look like a group of runners -- rather a shift of coal miners with lamps strapped to their foreheads.
"The course takes place along a 10-mile trail, and of course, it isn't lighted during the night," Stofko said. "You could easily get lost, especially if you're dehydrated and not thinking right."
Along this trail are several water crossings, which beckon the question, "I didn't know this was a triathlon!"
"During the spring, they could get up to waist level," Stofko said. "Believe it or not, I kind of like them ... they can soothe your sore legs."
Stofko ran a little in high school, but didn't become a serious runner until moving out west to Arizona and then to Colorado. For the past seven years, he has competed in some of the toughest and most prestigious ultramarathons, including the Leadville (Colo.) 100-miler. In 2006, Stofko won the MPTR 100-miler.
"I usually do two ultramarathons a year," said Stofko, who recently moved back in the area to Chesterton with his wife, Rachel, and is an exercise physiologist at Duneland Health and Wellness Institute.
"But now we have a four month-old baby (Noah Alexander), and I got to start thinking more about my family. Still, I like to win that race one more time."
