What makes Waynesboro a special place? The special people who live here. Linden Showalter is a special person. When he completed the South African “Comrades” ultramarathon (54+ miles) last June at age 65, it made him the first person on record to do each of the world’s three oldest ultramarathons on separate continents. He also ranks six in the records of career length, having completed his first ultra, the JFK 50 miler at age 16 in 1975.
Showalter said he got started in 1974 at age 15 when he and his brother were running track at Heritage Academy and got the bug from the coach. That first year the run was in March, and the weather included 32 degrees and hard rain with ice on the Appalachian trail rocks. Mom made Linden and Lowell wear raincoats. The next year was better. The JFK moved to November, and 16-year-old Linden started his ultra career.
But Showalter had troubles in his 20’s with recurring shin splints that prevented him from competing. Growing responsibilities for family and career created time constraints. Then, in his 40’s, he stepped on a scale and looked at his posture and said “I’m not going farther down that road.”
He started running again. But after a cycling trip to Netherland and Denmark with his son, Austin, his right knee “blew up” while running. The swelling and pain confirmed what the doctors said, “No more running.” But after the pity party, his spirit said, “If I can’t run, let’s walk.”
And he did walk, slowly at first, then faster, always backing off if he did too much. Then he wondered if he might run again. He asked some running friends to meet with him for a spiritual event. He describes it like the man on the stretcher that friends lowered through the roof to Jesus. Then, they went off running! He went back to walking and running, and he found ways he could make it work.
Running is a complex mix of individual effort and camaraderie. It takes hours and hours to train your mind to aspire and your body to pace – to be gentle and respectful of your muscles, bones and joints – and fiercely demanding of your spirit. The companions you spend those running hours with create strong relationships. Showalter often ran with Clark Kreitzer. After a Christmas Eve fun run 12/24/22, it was Kreitzer who said “Linden, let’s run the Bieler 100Km. You could revisit your ancestral memories and do one of the oldest ultras.”
Showalter said, “That would be great, but it comes too close to tax season to allow for enough training.”
Linden Showalter is a CPA. Tax season makes it difficult if not impossible to squeeze out the time for training. But that exposes another aspect of running which few outsiders understand. To succeed, you need to study and learn and plan. How far can I go? How quickly can I recover? How fast can I go and still go further. Friends and coaches and training manuals can help, but it comes down to how fiercely you want this. Showalter developed a plan with 10-mile runs each winter weekend, ramping in late March.
“I looked forward to weekend runs to get me through the long working hours of tax season,” Showalter said. In June 2023 they ran/walked 62.1 miles/100Km in 17 hours 28 minutes. Kreitzer’s comment was “Linden helps people redefine what is normal for them.”
So what is Comrades anyway? Simply put, at 54+ miles, it is the world’s oldest ultra. Run in Durban, South Africa, it is the largest ultramarathon by far. It attracts more than 20,000 runners. (The JFK is 50 miles with 1,000 runners; Bieler about 600+.) Kreitzer needed to reorient more of his time to family and job, run less. But together with Dan Harvey Clark, he did become part of Linden’s support team. The addition of Diane Nel, a local guide suggested by Sally Sussman, completed the package.
“I was surprised and relieved I didn’t have the butterflies I get some years at JFK starts,” Showalter said. That was 5:30 a.m. Ten hours and 35 minutes later he finished the Comrades ultra.
And now he’s in the world record books.
This story hasn’t gone into the family he came from, or the family he and wife Ruth raised, but that is very special too. His brother Lowell and sister Carolyn also hold records in the JFK. Maybe check out his Facebook page. And maybe on a special day in our special town, you’ll say “hi” to a very special guy.
Article written by: Dr. Greg Lyon-Loftus
