Weather no match for gritty Yup’ik runner

ALEX DeMARBAN

May 15, 2008 at 1:00PM AKST

If a spring blizzard miraculously pounds the East Coast during the Boston Marathon, you should put your money on Sam Crow.

The Yup’ik runner, who recently completed his fifth straight Boston Marathon, trains in sub-zero conditions along frozen rivers and snowmachine trails, bundled in layers of clothing and eschewing water because it freezes rock-solid.

He’s one of a handful of hard-core Bethel residents who get miles in during the winter. It’s all part of the challenge of running a marathon.
“I like to see how tough I am,” he said.  

His coldest run?

With the wind chill at 72 below. That day, the middle school English teacher ran 2.5 miles to his house after classes were canceled.

“It’s me against the elements,” said Crow, a tall and chiseled 42. That cold-weather training has its drawbacks. It makes runners tough, but not fast, he said.

With temperatures often dipping to 20 below and colder, Crow must sometimes shuffle because too much sweating could cause hypothermia. His body also becomes accustomed to not drinking water, a habit that doesn’t help in Boston’s occasionally woozy spring heat.

This year, he finished the 26.2-mile race in 3 hours, 16 minutes and 20 seconds. That’s about 7.5 minutes per mile. In the 40-49 age division, he finished in 978th out of 4,644 men.

Bethel’s winter training causes another problem in the marathon, he said. His skin gets no sun because it’s buried for months under an assortment of long underwear, vests, jackets, multiple hats, gloves and mittens.

After this year’s race, his bald head peeled for a week.

An assistant coach cross-country coach at the high school, the father of four began running about 15 years ago. One of his boys needed surgery on his legs at an Anchorage hospital, and Crow spent a lot of time pushing his recuperating son in a stroller at a lake. At one point, Crow just decided to run instead of walk.

Every winter, he’s a regular feature on the white landscape around Bethel, jogging to work or during lunch hours along snowmachine trails that web across the snowy plains.
A favorite training run is a weekend trip down the frozen Kuskokwim River, several miles from Bethel to Napakiak village, with his children sometimes tagging along by snowmachine to haul him home.

Crow hopes his passion has inspired others.

During his 10 years of coaching cross-country running, the Bethel team has produced several top 10 finishers at statewide meets and two state champions. Some have continued running in college or as a hobby after high school.

“I like to think I might have planted that seed in their head,” he said.
Crow was a huge inspiration, said Katie Baldwin, the state 3A cross-country running champion in 2000.

Now a professional photographer, Baldwin ran cross-country at the University of Montana, but said the workouts there, or anywhere, weren’t nearly as intense as at the former Bethel sandpit.

“Nothing compares to those workouts with Sam running behind you in the Pit, yelling and encouraging me,” she said. “It was the most painful 20 minutes of your life, but it definitely shows in your races.”

“To be honest, he has more heart when it comes to running than anyone I’ve ever met.”

Alex DeMarban can be reached at (907) 348-2444 or (800) 770-9830, ext. 444.