Many athletes often gear up to run a marathon once in their lifetime. Filomeno Santos did just that, just over seven times longer.
As an avid ultramarathon runner, Santos participated in the Los Olivos Born to Run race in San Bernardino County from May 13 to 17. With a cut-off time of 98 hours, Santos finished the race with two full hours to spare.
“I started doing half marathons, and then marathons, and then I ended up doing my first ultra in 2018, which was the Valencia Trail Race. I was in the military, and when I got out and went to school, I started not exercising and gaining weight. I decided to make a change by doing endurance training again,” Santos said. “I started with 5k,10k, half marathons, marathons, ultras and ended up doing three Ironmans after that. Last year, I made a commitment to do 100 miles. I have a couple of friends who do ultras, and I heard about this race, so I committed and decided to train for it.”
Santos, who is a nurse at Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital, would train by running 60 to 70 miles a week.
“I pretty much stayed consistent. I would do 70 miles a week, and run 13 to 15 miles a day. It’s a lot of time of just being on your feet, and with the ultra, you don’t really go fast. You have to pace yourself. It’s very mental — I realized the last time I did this that it was a very mental process,” Santos said.
During the race, Santos averaged 40 to 60 miles a day.
“You have to do at least 50 miles a day to complete it. For the first night, I ended up doing 60 miles. Then after 60 miles, I took a three-hour nap. I ended up doing 60 the first day, 40 the second and third days and 60 the last day,” Santos said. “The first 80 miles were very hard. Mile 80 was the worst mile, but after that, I realized that the emotions and feelings and pain go away.”
Santos would continuously remind himself to keep moving forward, even with a total of nine hours of sleep in four days.
“Miles 150 to 200 were my strongest. I went the fastest I ever did the whole race. The best I ever felt were the last 50 miles. My average pace ended up being 21-minute miles. There were 60 people who signed up for [this particular race], and only eight completed the 200,” Santos said.
“The first day (afterward) I was pretty much bed-bound. I was really stiff and had a lot of shivering and chills. The second day, I was able to walk. Just did a lot of stretching and icing, and even the sauna.”
With training consisting of cardio and strength training, Santos fully believes that the power of the mind is the greatest strength.
“My advice is to stay consistent, and believe in the power of the mind. Being mentally strong. Try not to think of the race as a whole 200-mile race, or it will be too overwhelming and impossible. So break down the race into small segments and microgoals. If you do that consistently, you will eventually reach your goal,” Santos said. “My wife is my crew chief. She supported me — every time I came back from my runs, she would make sure my nutrition was good. I couldn’t have done it without her.”
