After a while it’s fun
to try/find something new in running. I
have been running for about 15 years now and I have tried most race “types” out
there; trail runs, 5ks, 10ks, marathons, half marathons, ultras, relays, trail
relays, warrior dash, big races, small races, etc. Yesterday I ran a new format primarily for
the sake of “something different”. The
event was the “Christmas in July Run” in Lisle (IL). It’s a different format in that there is no
real finish line. You just run for a
pre-determined amount of time trying to complete as many laps as possible and
then you are done. In my case I ran for
6 hours which seems like a long time but in the context of this run it puts me
clearly in the “slacker” category since the other events were 12 hours and
(gulp) 24 hour runs.
The course is a roughly
1 mile loop in a park and the other different aspect is the start time… midnight. While I’ve had some strange start times
during Ragnar Relays and other such events, preparing for a very long run that
starts at midnight comes with a whole set of new questions most revolving
around what do I eat and when before the race?
I settled on a 6pm (t-6 hours) dinner of pasta with marinara sauce and broccoli. Good idea?
Maybe not.
Having no idea what to
expect made the starting line a bit more exciting. The 12 and 24 hour runners were already on
the course and there was a bunch of people with tents and lights and music
around the start line. Good pre-race
vibes!
We started at exactly
midnight and I spent the first loop with my flashlight trying to scope out the course. A nasty little hill at the start, an annoying
120-degree downhill sharp turn, a few hard to spot bumps on the pavement, a (yikes)
sidewalk section, and a few narrow sections where navigating other runners was
a bit tricky. It quickly became apparent
that the course was not “built for speed” but then again, neither was this
event. On the plus side the weather was
nearly perfect, low 60s, high humidity but no wind. My daughters made the midnight trek out to
see me for the first few laps which was great and helped my mood as I set off.
I felt good for the
first couple of laps just sort of soaking it all in and then after about 40
minutes I experienced something I don’t think I have ever experienced during a
race: boredom. I almost always run my
long training runs with headphones but never run races with them because I like
to be very “present” during the race and focus on the event (how’s my
breathing, how do I feel, what is going on around me, what do I see, scenery,
etc.). But because this was mostly in
the dark and I basically just had to focus on moving forward as opposed to any
specific pace or rhythm, I quickly found myself wishing I had brought my phone,
some podcasts or music and headphones.
Despite the boredom the
first hour went reasonably quickly, I had read that I need to make sure I fueled
during a race of this distance so every few laps I would grab some Gatorade and
the plainest food they had available, which was pretzels, to ensure I was
taking in enough calories. Shortly
thereafter, around the hour mark, I began to experience what would be my
nemesis for the evening… how should I say this… ummm … GI issues. I’m not sure if pretzels and Gatorade were to
blame (seems unlikely), or something I had eaten the day before, but whatever
the cause I began to cramp up and was unable to feel better no matter what I
tried. I stopped eating and switched to
all liquid for a while.
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| Popeye has his spinach, I have this |
A little after
the 3 hour mark I was getting nervous about my lack of nutrition so I passed
the (very well stocked) aid station and headed to my drop bag to get my
favorite race snack… Sport Beans. For
the uninitiated Sport Beans are pretty much just hyper sweet jelly belly’s but
for some reason they taste so good when you have been living on granola, and
pretzels, and clif bars, and bla, bla, bla boring food. I was struggling so I went straight for the “high
octane” version that also contains a bit of caffeine (hey, it is 3 am, why
not?). Now, I know there is a decent
chance this is a placebo effect at work but the next 3 laps my lap times
dropped by a minute/mile and I felt better than I had the entire race. Thank you super magic power Sport Beans 😊
You feel a different
vibe during a run like this. I guess it
is called a “race” but it has less of a “race” mentality and it seemed like most
people were focused on staying out there as long as they could regardless of
pace. (There were a few devastatingly fast people out there who must have
passed me 6 times or more but I could count them on one hand. Since there’s not much to focus on I almost
got to the point where I knew who it was about to pass me by listening to their
cadence behind me). There was a guy I
would pass every so often that was walking and listening to a book-on-tape
(without headphones). I saw a few runners
chatting on the side of the trail while they ate a semi-sit-down meal on lawn
chairs. And although I wasn’t quite that
leisurely about it I found myself not as focused on choking down food as fast as
I could. (Keep telling self: "Chill dude!")
I had a lot of time
to think in the middle of the night while going around a circle over and
over. What do I think about? Mostly dumb stuff; “hmmm, that’s a cool tent
I wonder where they got it”, “which way is east so I can look for the first
light of the sun?”, “aw, here comes the sidewalk part of the course, I hate
this part”; “wow, another train, I wonder if more of them come by at night”. Imagine this inane thinking going on for
hours and you pretty much have my mind during most of the race.
By the 4 hour mark
unfortunately I was back to my GI issues as the Sport Bean induced reprieve/high
was beginning to fade. I did have to
make a couple of stops in the last 2 hours for various reasons (I’ll spare you the
details) but generally with one hour to go the sun was up and I was feeling
more positive. It was weird now actually
seeing people when you were passing as opposed to the various “shadowy figures”
you had seen throughout the night.
Around 5 hours I knew I was going to make it all the way to
the 6-hour mark. I wasn’t sure what pace
but I knew I could hold a reasonably consistent pace for one more hour. Right before the final lap Len and Lisa
showed up at the finish line catching me completely by surprise and provided a
huge lift to help me bring it home. Lisa
was even able to pace me for the last lap. It was a great feeling!
Thanks to Len for the video above...
5 hours and 55 minutes after I started, it was done. (You don’t get credit for a half lap and I
wasn’t feeling a 5-minute mile at that point).
It was the second furthest I had ever run in my life and although I was hurting
I was not destroyed (as I have been after marathons). I didn’t dare sit down but I enjoyed just
taking in the happy scene at the finish line as others finished up as well.
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| Last few steps |
I probably need to figure out the whole stomach/GI
thing. In a marathon you can get away
with "Gu" and other “fake food” but that doesn’t work well for longer distances
where you need more calories over a longer period of time. I guess I need to figure out what to eat when
(including the night before). Oh well, always
something to work on.
I’m not sure what’s next, I need some time to process what
just happened and think about it in a larger context. (Key rule: never make a decision about “the
next” race until after the post-race mandatory 96 hour waiting period.) I really enjoyed this, I’m not sure I would
want to do it very regularly but it was different and I learned things that
will help me regardless of what I do next.
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| 2nd place masters division gets a sweet nutcracker prize!! |
Thanks again to my family and Len for coming out during the
race, it means so much to me and I know it doesn’t make it easy when the race
is between midnight and 6am. Also, the
organizers and volunteers did a great job and made it a memorable experience.
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