Kuperberg finishes tough

by Maria Converse

Dan Kuperberg finished a 103-mile ultra-marathon in Chamonix , France with a broken foot.

Foul weather added to Kuperberg’s challenges at the start of the race. Temperatures dropped below freezing at higher elevations. Kuperberg started the race in 900th place in the pack of an estimated 2300 runners.

At about 4 a.m. Sunday, 120 kilometers and 28 hours into the race," “Dan slowed drastically," according to Casey Ruud. .” He later texted his right foot “felt like a club.”

“I stayed awake most of 38 hours following Dan,” said Ruud, who was among a number of Methow Valley residents following Kuperberg’s progress.

Rudd received regular texted updates from Kuperberg’s wife, Sally, as well as checkpoint arrival updates on Kuperberg’s brother’s facebook page. Ruud sent words of encouragement, as did other well wishers.

Kuperberg ran on through the pain to place 346th with a time of 38:39:25.

The following day Kuperberg had his foot examined and discovered it was broken. "Ice elevation, compression, Ibuprofen, crutches and time are the cure," he said.

“Pain is temporary, glory is forever,” said Kuperberg, quoting Steve Ward, an eight-time ironman veteran.

Dan Kuperberg trained hard to run the ultra-marathon. The trail climbs and drops counter-clockwise around Mont Blanc—with a total elevation gain of 30,000 feet in a route that goes through Italy and a total of 11 different villages.

Finishing was Kuperberg’s goal. He said he signs up for big races in order to motivate himself even more here at home, where he also loves to run. “The race is the reason,” to push himself, he said earlier. “I want to complete it.”