Paper: Contra Costa Sun (CA)
Title: CAMPOLINDO'S ARMSTRONG PREPARES FOR ULTRA-MARATHON IN OREGON
Date: July 10, 1996

Bill Armstrong goes to great lengths to run. And then runs for great lengths.


The Campolindo junior will be participating in the 196-mile "Hood to Coast Relay" later this summer for the second consecutive year. And for the second straight year, Armstrong will be one of the youngest runners in the race. Runners in a variety of categories trek from the Timberline Lodge on top of Mt. Hood, Oregon's tallest peak (elevation 6,000 feet), to the Oregon coast in teams from six to 12 athletes : or lunatics, depending on your point of view."Some people think I'm crazy," says the 5-11, 160-pound Armstrong.


After reading about the race in Runner's World magazine last year, Armstrong sent in an application and was picked to be a member of a men's open category team, the Pillsbury "Not-So-Doughy-Boys."


"It was strange. When they saw me, they thought I would be slow. I guess I startled them," says Armstrong.


His teammates recovered enough to place eighth in the men's open category, finishing the ultra-marathon in 20 hours, 34 minutes. Armstrong ran three seven-mile legs in the race. "I was almost all alone; it was like a solitary run," he says.


On his first leg, Armstrong was faced with temperatures nearing 100 degrees. "It was about 95 in the afternoon and then I ran again at 2 a.m. and thought I had heat exhaustion. I had been sitting in a hot car all day and I couldn't cool off. It was cold that night, but I couldn't cool off."


His third leg provided the answer to the heat problem :cold, fog and rain. "I was running at 6 a.m. in down-pouring rain. I almost collapsed. The first leg was just like another run, the second leg I was kind of sore, the third leg I could barely run. I was exhausted," Armstrong says. It took him two full weeks to recover.


The Hood to Coast race, dubbed "The Mother of All Relays," attracted more than 13,000 runners last year, including four European teams and a team from Wellington, New Zealand. The youngest racer ever was 9 years old; the oldest was 87. This will be the 15th running of the race and upwards of 40,000 spectators are expected to gather at the finish line.


This year, back and ankle injuries will keep Armstrong from running on a competitive team, but he still thinks his group will be able to cover a little more than nine miles an hour to finish in 21 hours. "I'm still a little sore, but I'm getting there. I'm not going to take it seriously, but we'll see if we can move up to get a medal."


Armstrong tries to train seven days a week, combining distance running with short sprints : short sprints for him being two miles. "I run until I can't run anymore. I run for the rush, until I get to the point of exhaustion, until I'm lightheaded."


He runs along the streets near his Walnut Creek home, sometimes for as many as 18 miles at a time, chasing the fabled "runner's high," he says. "I push myself to the limit every time I run."


Armstrong didn't run for the Cougars track or cross country teams last season, but did try cross country his freshman year. "He showed great promise as a freshman," says Campo coach Chris Walsh.


Armstrong's secret for enduring the hours and hours and miles and miles is his radio. He puts his headphones on and tunes the dial to Live 105 or KRQR. "I get myself to my pace and then let the music run my legs. Then I run at that pace until I can't go any farther," he says.