When Morgan Windram or Dennis Koch need to get to the other side of campus, say from Sackett to the IM building, or from College Avenue to the Carpenter building, they don't try to get on a crowded loop bus or grumble about the length of the walk.

For them hiking across campus is a breeze. Heck, for them, running a marathon is a breeze.

Windram, a senior majoring in geography, and Koch, a graduate student in physiology, won the women's and men's divisions respectively of the Tussey Mountain ultra marathon this past Saturday outside State College. The term ultra marathon refers to a grueling 50-mile long course, up and down hills, through forests and meadows, from nervous anticipation at its beginning to utter exhaustion at its conclusion.

When Windram and Koch began running on Saturday, the air was still cool and fog still remained. When they finished some seven hours later, all the fog had burned off, the air was warm and their legs were rubber.

It takes a different kind of person to meet the challenge, to say the least, and Windram and Koch fit the bill. Windram runs about 90 miles per week while Koch logs about 40. Both are also used to competitive situations. Koch competed in the Boston Marathon in 2001 and 2002 and Windram won this same event last year.

Still, Saturday's challenge was a test of each runners' limits.

"The only way I can describe it is really tiring," Windram, a Chester County native, said.

Koch was also brief in his description.

"It was painful, really painful. This is one of the toughest things I've done," he said.

For both, just completing the course was a victory in itself. Running 50 miles is akin to completing two marathons in one morning. The seemingly endless distance and lonely moments can take their toll after a while.

"After I reached the 25 mile mark, I thought about quitting," Koch said. "It was discouraging knowing I had run the equivalent of a marathon but was only half-way done. But I figured I wouldn't quit as long as I could keep going. There were a lot of people that told me I couldn't do it."

In winning, Windram cut 45 minutes off her 2002 winning time, broke the eight hour mark, shattered the female course record and justified all of the training she does week in and week out.

"I do a lot of hill training and I come out here and do parts of the course by myself," she said. "Still it's hard to replicate the real thing"

Each plan to rest for a little while before resuming their regular running schedule. That would be a smart idea. On Sunday, the day after the race, Koch was still hurting and struggling to walk around.

As Windram and Koch gutted out the final few miles, they may have been cursing the people who came up with this torturous event. That would be Mike Casper and Steve Bodner, two experienced marathon runners and State College natives.

"This is such a gorgeous place," Casper said. "For years, runners have used these roads for long distance training so we wanted to bring a full-fledged event here."

Casper and Bodner did just that. A total of 20 solo runners and 40 relay teams entered this year's event, the fourth annual. Runners came from all over Pennsylvania and the East Coast. State College is described as a very "runner-friendly" community, a fact very much on display on Saturday. As each runner appeared on the not-so-distant horizon and made their way to the finish line, the assembled crowd paused their individual conversations and cheered support for friend and stranger alike.

As more and more runners finished their task, either the whole 50 miles or just a portion of it as a member of a relay team, old friendships were rekindled and new friendships were begun. For all its grueling aspects, it had been a day of friendly competition and enjoyment.

Maybe that's the reasoning behind Koch's response when asked would he ever do this again.

"You always say no but when the time comes, you're always there one more time."