Never have I ran so far...

As many of you may have been aware I have finished my first ultra-marathon distance this past weekend at the Earthly Unicorn 720. How long is an ultra-marathon you may ask, well in the classic distance it's 50k, but in truth it is any distance beyond a marathon. Usually you should prep for this with lots of training. Well, I did not, with little preparation and not too much thought I jumped into this race. In all fairness I new it was coming and had committed to it months ago, I just did not training as hard as I should have. In the weeks leading up to this event I think the longest run I had engaged in was a weekend five miler. That is not the distance needed to be able to go out and own a distance of any great length. So keep that in mind.

Now let me paint the scene for you (keeping in mind I am not a fast runner usually around 11 min per mile) as I pull up to my friend Eddie's house (aka the race site) I meet several people there for the run and they were all faster then I was, a lot faster. As I get out of the car and hear the "snap, crackle, pop" of various joints and various body parts I get a chance to meet everyone. Eddie's father Ed was there and he is a great guy who was super supportive of my efforts and stayed out in the driveway, if he was not running the whole time I was running. I also got to meet some of Eddie's other neighbors and ran across some guys from church, it was good to meet with other runners. As I prep for the course it takes mere moments for Eddie and a friend come around the corner and I quickly fell into line to learn the route and the pace...the very fast pace. It was not a pace that would be maintained (9 minute miles is what I do in my sprints not a long distance race...or I could try running faster...a thought for another time).

I have ran many miles before, I have ran many miles in many different settings, and I have ran for long periods of time and never really covered a lot of distance before. Never before, though, have I gone though so many different mindsets in a run. I started out focused on getting miles done, then I ran on remote, then I walked, then I totally just made it a point to muscle through the miles, and then back on remote. All and all it was an exercise of mental toughness that I had not experienced in years. I have experienced several different challenges in my life that have required a mental toughness of their own, but this was a completely different mental toughness and, not to sound pretentious, I can honestly say that running a marathon was easier this time for me despite the poor prep.

The course was easy enough a loop that was one mile and some change and after seven hours I started to feel like a slow motion NASCAR race always making left turns! I was there though pounding out the miles and I felt great for a long long time. I was doing really good truth be told, but the miles really started to wear me out around mile 23 and for the record 31 miles is way longer then 26. I took needed breaks and ate and drank to keep myself in as good of a shape as I could stay into and finally after much effort I ran across that finish line and ever so thankful to be done! I was ready to be sitting and relaxing and so was my body.

I hurt mostly in my hips and feet that day and to say I was tired was an understatement, but what I really surprised me was not being hungry, until that is I got home and then I got hungry. I slept well Saturday, I slept better Sunday, and I slept even better Monday. I wonder why I slept so much better the further from the event I got? I guess a smart medical person would have to tell me.

I was also sore, but I did not really hurt until Sunday when my hips simply did not want to function, but how do you explain that to people, especially my little people, who simply want their daddy around. So, I got up and kept going walking tall, walking stiff, and not understanding why at church they kept insisting I stand. I did not make a production out of it, but honestly I can praise the Lord from a seated position. My pain ebbed and flowed that day and since then it has slowly improved. The areas of soreness have changed along with my recovery this time around. It seemed the further I got away from the event the more tired I was despite my sleeping and napping. I can say that at the end of today though I feel close to charged up.

I have been using my muscle rub and taking some Advil (but only when it was safe to do so since it is an NSAID) and I tried out a new concept to aid in my recovery. I used KT Tape to help my sore shins and I think it really is helping or its a placebo. Another way I changed was I did not get sick at all this time. You may recall after the marathon I was sick for about two full days; but not this time. I think both my body and mind were in a better place to handle the recovery.

As I sit here in my race t-shirt I think to myself about what now, but I remember the old adage that "you are not ready for your next marathon until you can forget about your last one" and I can assure you I have not even gotten close to forgetting my ultra, so I think I will...oh I know really do something nuts and train for back to back marathons in the fall! Sure that's what I will do! Run a 1/2 in October (if allowed), then a full in December followed by the Goofy Race Challenge in January, that should be enough of a challenge to make most people question my sanity, but hey what's the point of running if you don't enjoy the odd looks everyone gives you. I wonder why they never do that to football players or baseball players? Hmmm another topic for another day.