High Country Running: Dead outlaw Elmer McCurdy and a 1928 ultramarathon like no other

Ten years ago in this column, I wrote about my decades-long obsession with C.C. Pyle’s Route 66 Transcontinental Los Angeles to New York Foot Race (3,422 miles) that passed through Flagstaff on March 17 and 18, 1928. The 55 of 199 runners who finished averaged 40 miles a day, or basically 84 consecutive ultramarathons.

My latest intrigue with the race occurred on the morning of this past March 21 where I talked about it at the historic Hubbell Trading Post in Winslow. In the talk, I dove into the curious case of the “Dead Outlaw” featured in the race’s accompanying carnival.