Goodleaf conquers Arizona Monster

Tehorakwaneken Goodleaf is no novice when it comes to ultramarathons, having been doing them for close to five years now.

But even to someone like him, the 308-mile-long Arizona Monster, held in Southern Arizona’s Sonoran Desert, was like nothing he had done before.

“When I first started doing ultramarathons, 100 miles was the big thing that was really going to push my limits. I did one last year, and it was really hard. I came away with injuries and stuff, but I felt that I could have pushed myself a lot harder,” said Goodleaf.

“He just really enjoys doing these, challenging himself and learning,” said Audrey Leborgne, Goodleaf’s partner, who drove down to Arizona with him.

Even faced with the daunting task of a more than 300-mile race, Goodleaf had a blast, and achieved his goal of finishing the race, which he did in six days, 12 hours, and 34 minutes.

“It was an amazing experience. Super, super, super hard, but I guess it brings out the better parts of me,” said Goodleaf.

“I wasn’t too worried about my finishing time. The main goal was to finish, and I did that, so I’m happy with how it went.”

For Leborgne, even just starting the race is an accomplishment, let alone finishing it.

“I’ve been to so many of his races, and it’s always the same at the start of a race. I have a lot of nerves and emotions and excitement, but the main thing is just an overwhelming sense of pride. It takes so much to just get to the start line,” said Leborgne.

During the almost seven-day trek, Goodleaf said keeping himself focused and breaking down the race was his key to success.

“For a race that long, it’s almost, I’d say, 90 percent mental and 10 percent physical. A major thing is you’re just looking at it as being aid station to aid station. ‘Let me get to the next part and reassess when we get there.’ You’d be surprised about how amazing you feel after a 20-minute break at one of these aid stations, or a few hours at the bigger ones,” said Goodleaf, who added that he trained hard during the year physically as well, including training in the heat to get ready for the desert.

As for the cold, which he admitted he performs less well in, he packed a lot of layers – except the first night, which he regretted and made sure not to repeat again.

For the last 18 or so miles, which he ran in the early hours of Friday morning, Leborgne joined Goodleaf.

“It was nice to just be out there with Tehorakwaneken. And I was so surprised that the last seven KM, we ran straight through with no break, like he knew that it was the final stretch,” said Leborgne.

“He said ‘time to drop the hammer,’ so we started running. The whole time, I just kept thinking, ‘he’s running right now, after seven days, he’s still running.’”

There are more races out there left to conquer, but right now, Goodleaf and Leborgne will be taking it easy, enjoying the rest of their trip to Arizona.

But they both know the next big race will come sooner rather than later.

“There are a whole bunch of races that are out there. I’m going to find one that motivates me,” said Goodleaf.

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