Yeti Ultra 24 Hr Challenge 2020 race report, pandemic edition.
This is what happens when there is a pandemic and all the races are cancelled and people have nothing better to do than sit at home and come up with dumb ideas.
Monday, 3/30 (Meredith's birthday), 4:19pm, Trista says to Meredith: Wanna do something stupid in honor of your bday?
The stupid thing in question is the Yeti Ultra 24 Hr Challenge, wherein some time during the month of April, you run 5 miles every 4 hours for 24 hours. It's a virtual race, so you just do it on your own, wherever you can. But obviously it's going to be more fun with friends doing it at the same time, suffering together even when apart, so we all had it on our radar as a fun thing to do.
Eerily accurate race logo? Stay tuned to find out!
Monday, 3/30, 7:16pm: Meredith agrees we should do this stupid thing in honor of her birthday, and Trista starts asking when we're going to do it. It wasn't even April yet, so I wasn't too worried.
Tuesday, 3/31, 1:35pm: Meredith says "My vote is Friday evening at 6." "ThisFriday?" I ask. "Yes. Busy then?"
I most certainly was not, but as a life-long overplanner and overworrier, that was precious little time to both plan and worry!
But it was decided. Trista, Meredith, Hilary, and Frank would all start at 6pm Friday, and since they live much easter than I do, I would start at 5pm Friday, so we could all check in before and after each run. Almost sort of like doing a race together.
The plan: Austin Edition
And after that, there was very little actual planning or worrying to do, aside from making sure every piece of workout clothing we owned was clean by Friday. I had joked about how terrible (hot and humid) our weather was going to be, but as the week crawled on (as it does during a WFH pandemic) and I actually LOOKED at the weather, it looked.. like it might be kinda cool. Cold, even. And rainy. In fact, by the time Friday rolled around, it looked like it would probably be rainy the entire time. And cold. Oof. Well, I'll take that over 80 degrees and 90% humidity any day, so sure!
Again, for an overplanner, I actually did very, very little planning. Matt had decided to sign up, as well, even though he was even less prepared to run a (non-contiguous) 50k than I was, and I was excited that we would be doing this together. Our incentive for making it to the "finish line" was all doing a Fireball shot together for Meredith's birthday.
On Friday, I worked a "normal" day, inasmuch as anything is normal these days. A full day of work from home, which is how things work currently. We ate breakfast tacos for breakfast, a turkey sandwich for lunch, and then maybe around 3pm, a pb&j. I'm pretty unpracticed at evening runs, since 99% of my runs are in the early morning, so any time I have a night race, I basically have no idea how to prepare for it.
As it neared 5pm, Matt took over the kitchen table and I took over a laundry basket on the floor, and we basically just dumped out all the running clothes that we might possibly foresee ourselves wearing. I had 6 pairs of shorts, even though I really only like 2 of them currently. 2 are a smaller size that fits, but not as comfortably at my current weight. One is the same size as the 2 I like, but they changed the pattern at some point and they don't fit as well. And then a pair of compression shorts in case I had to change shorts every time, and needed another pair. Also 5 pairs of socks, 5 sports bras (including 2 that I never wear running, but desperate times), 5 short-sleeved shirts, and two long-sleeved shirts. I figured that planned for most contingencies. And for each run, I'd just go shop out of that basket.
With 45 minutes to go, I ate half a package of Clif Bloks (I've been enjoying those more than gels for pre-run sugar, though I still eat GU for during-run sugar), and then with 30 minutes to go, I put on my first running costume. Initially I wore my compression shorts, because it was so rainy outside and those move around less, but my recent pandemic diet has made those tighter than I really wanted to deal with, so I switched to one of my "good" pairs of running shorts. Might as well start out comfortable. It was about 55 degrees, so I wore a short-sleeved shirt, but also absolutely pouring rain, so I wore a hat. I don't wear hats. I hate wearing hats. But it makes it easier to ignore the rain, and even though I love running in the rain, adding that to this whole list of reasons to be uncomfortable seemed a little overwhelming. So.. hat.
Just before 5pm CST, we had a little facebook messenger video meetup with the whole crew, wished each other luck, and then it began!
The whole gang!
Run 1: 5pm
There may have been a small misunderstanding when I mentioned on facebook that we were doing this "race", and my mom made a comment, and I joked that if she wanted to come stand out on her porch at 1am and cheer for us, she could. Firstly, since we were supposed to START a run at 1am, unless I drove to her house and started there, it was definitely going to be some time AFTER 1am that I went by her house. If I went by her house at all, since I had several routes planned out, not many of which went by her house. AND then she thought this was Thursday night, not Friday night. Which is how I ended up with a voicemail on Thursday night at 1am from my mom, on her porch, asking where I was. Oops. Sorry, mom.
Anyway, the point of that story was that I asked my mom when she DID want to cheer for me, and she chose the first run, 5pm on Friday. I planned my first run's route to go past her house, and said I'd be by some time around 5:15 or 5:20pm. It was nice to have my route sort of decided for me. Matt was planning on doing the same route every time, but I have run in my neighborhood so much lately, I already have route fatigue from most of the places that I feel super safe running, so I knew I had to mix it up. Going by mom's early in the run meant running up the frontage road and up to Jollyville. Which meant a hill in the beginning, but at least there was a mile of flat to warm up a bit first.
Actually, a little about the routes around our house. (This run 1 recap is gonna take a lot longer than run 1 actually took.) There's a great loop near our house that is great and safe and lightly car-trafficked and there are lots of runners and walkers, so everyone expects runners and walkers. To GET there, though, it's uphill. The most direct way, and the way I normally take, is straight up Spicewood Springs. 1 gradual mile up to Mesa, where it flattens out. It's painful, but it gets the pain out of the way immediately. Alternately you can run down the frontage road in either direction, which is flat, but delays the inevitable uphill, which means maybe you're a little more warmed up. I had routes planned on all three of these choices for my 6 runs. But the point is, you don't get out of our neighborhood without a stupid, dumb, terrible uphill of some sort.
Okay, so, down the frontage road, pouring rain, and even though it's flat, I felt terrrrible. It felt like I'd never run in my life before, and had no idea how. And I was definitely doing it wrong. Part of it was running right after a day of working, sitting in a chair all day, just wanting to eat my dinner and go to bed. Part of it was my stomach not really cooperating, so I had a body full of all the day's foods. Part of it was dodging all the puddles and lakes, trying to keep my feet as dry as possible, even though that was pointless when there were constant ankle-deep streams to ford. And THEN there's the uphill on Jollyville, which was just painful. Couldn't catch my breath. Felt like I was wheezing, and I was only a mile into my run. If it was this bad in the first run, how was I going to do this 5 more times?! Ugh.
Once I got to the top of the hill, I had a couple minutes to pull myself together on the downhill before I turned the corner to pass my parents' house. And that part was WONDERFUL. My mom and dad were standing on the porch cheering for me, my mom holding a sign that there's no way I could read, and their little yorkie running down the sidewalk to bark at/cheer for me. That reminded me that I was loved and that I was strong and that I'd get through this.
With a new smile on my face, I ran on through the rain and puddles.
The rest of the run still didn't feel great, but around mile 2, I was able to breathe a little more normally, and running didn't feel quite so unnatural. It wasn't GOOD, but a little better. I ran down onto my normal beloved loop, but only had to do a small out and back there before I headed back for home. (I didn't intend for this to happen, but even though I altered the beginning of my routes for several runs, I ended up running the exact same way home for every run. The last 1.5 miles of each run was identical. It's a nice, safe, predictable downhill on a sidewalk that I know very well.)
On the way back in, I got to pass by Matt running the other way, and cheer and laugh with him about how ridiculously rainy it was.
Things were going well, I had about 3/4 of a mile left to go, and then my body was like, "Hey, remember all those foods you ate today? Would you like me to go down a list and review every one of them, as they clamber over each other in an attempt to exit your body?" It was a very long 3/4 of a mile. If there had been a portapotty, I would absolutely have stopped at it. But knowing these routes so well, I also know where every portapotty is on these routes, and there are none in that last mile. So I just employed some very loud birth-inspired breathing, some mantras and prayers to any gods that might have been available, and some very tight core, and somehow managed to make it back to my house, where the dogs were first happy to see me, then confused when I ran right past them into the bathroom. It was a very frantic and productive bathroom episode. The good news is, that basically emptied me out completely, and I had no other incidents or really need to ever go again the whole "race".
Whew.
One run done! I looked at my watch, and my pace for that first 5 miles was slower than any run I've done for a long time. For my first run. And surely I was only going to get slower as this went on. That was briefly a little depressing, but then I realized I didn't care about pace, I was just out to have fun and get through these 24 hours of runs healthy and happy.
Garmin suggested I recover for 28 hours after this run. How 'bout 3, Garmin?
As I mentioned, we had no real plan, and that especially applied to eating. Or sleeping. We clearly needed to keep taking in calories for these 24 hours, but in small, stomach-manageable chunks, not the meals we would be eating if we were having real dinner or breakfast or lunch. We decided to eat a recovery pb&j after this first run. We also had no shower plan, but it was very clear after eating my pb&j that I was going to have to take a shower in order to warm up after running in the rain.
Having eaten and showered, we decided to try sleeping, even though it was only around 6:30pm at this point. We had limited opportunities to sleep, so might as well take advantage of every one offered. Our next run started at 9pm, so we set the alarm for 8:15pm.
In hindsight, I probably should have just skipped this attempt to sleep. I did not sleep. If I did, it was maybe 2 minutes. I just sat there fretting over the fact that I couldn't sleep. That I was ruining this opportunity to sleep. That I was going to be so tired later, but I couldn't sleep. WHY COULDN'T I SLEEP?! It just made me anxious and frustrated.
Run 1: Complete.
Run 2: 9pm
Since we didn't really sleep, we didn't really have trouble getting up again for the 8:15pm alarm. I ate another half pack of Clif Bloks. It's possible I then panic-ate the other half. I did that on some runs, but not all. We settled into a pretty good pattern, really. Run, eat a recovery food, shower (sometimes those two were reversed, if we were really, really cold after a run), sleep, up with an alarm 45 minutes before our next run, eat some Bloks (or a gel, for Matt sometimes), drink some water, realize we had about 10 minutes before started and get dressed in a panic, record short video, then head out on time to run. We never fell off schedule at any point, even though we'd put zero planning into said schedule.
For run 2, the rain had stopped, but the temperature had dropped. It was 48 degrees now, which meant a long-sleeved shirt. And a short-sleeved under it, for me, because I was afraid of being too cold. Which was really over-dressing, especially with a hill early in my run, but again.. sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do to even get out the door, in an experience with so many discomforts associated.
I also wore a headlamp. I'm not even sure why, exactly, except everyone else was, and I felt obligated. I do all my during-the-week runs between 4am and 6am, and I never wear a headlamp for those. I just run in places that I know, and I know the light situation, and I'm comfortable in them. But somehow 9pm just felt different than 5am, so I wore a headlamp. And I hate wearing a headlamp, because it digs into my forehead, so I wore a hat again. I hate running in a hat! Ugh. So many hats.
Oh, and I wore different shoes. I only have one pair of road running shoes in my rotation currently, and those were soaking wet after the first run. I had to decide whether I'd rather wear drenched shoes, or wear my retired pair with 500 miles already on them. I decided to try those. At least they were dry.
This time I headed out the opposite direction on the frontage road. This is the same direction I start out when I run to work, and it was weird remembering running to work, because it feels like I haven't done that in 4 years. (I just checked, it was March 12th. Pre-full-on-pandemic.)
This route gives me about a mile and 3/4 before I hit the uphill, and as I chugged up the hill and into my normal neighborhood route, I passed by a few pockets of people. Unlike the people I normally encounter in the early morning, who are usually runners and dog walkers, these seemed to be couples and families out for their final evening walk. There weren't a ton of people, but there were a TON of delivery drivers. 99% of the cars that passed by had delivery signs on top of them. I'm not sure is that's regular-normal or new-normal, since I'm usually asleep at that time, and not out running around the neighborhood.
Oh, one unusual thing about these runs is that I was running with my phone. I usually only ever run with my phone when I run to work, because it's too bulky to fit in my handheld, so I have to run with a waistpack to bring it with me. And I don't do that unless there's a reason (like transporting my phone to work with me). But since I was going to be out on my own so much, and so would Matt, we figured we'd err on the side of safety and carry our phones for every run. That meant I could try to document anything interesting! Which.. there's not really much of in a neighborhood you constantly run, especially at night. I did try to take one selfie with a yard full of deer, but when I tried to turn on my camera while still holding my handheld water bottle, I ended up flinging my phone up into the air and onto the ground, which startled all the deer, who then got up and ran away. Then when I tried to take a selfie with who was left, I couldn't even see well enough to see if the deer were still in the photo at all. I make a terrible millennial.
Truly an amazing photo, which DOES contain deer, even though you can't tell.
The main thing about this run was that it felt pretty good. It was cool, it wasn't rainy, my body felt 100x better than it had for the first run, and this challenge felt pretty doable. When I saw Matt on my way back toward home, it was a great boost leading into my last mile, and I finished with a smile on my face. 2nd run ended up being faster than my first!
Nono, Garmin. THREE. Three hours.
Since we had now passed the time we normally would have eaten a real meal, I decided we should take in some real calories if we could. I made some scrambled eggs and toast, and we ate those, showered again to warm up (though I didn't wash my hair this time, because it was only sweat-damp, not rained on or fully sweat-drenched), then climbed into bed.
Tasty.
I really hoped that I could sleep this time, because 9pm is normally my bedtime, and we were entering into the realm of potentially really grumpy Amy.
Run 2: Complete.
Run 3: 1am
I did not sleep. I think I got more than 2 minutes, but it was very spotty and sporadic, and not in any way restful. When it got to be the 12:15am alarm, I definitely wondered what the hell I'd been thinking. We had been texting each other at the beginning and end of each run, and when I "woke" up for this run, I texted "Oh yeah, baby. There's that regret." But I ate some Bloks (okay, this may have been the first one where I comfort-ate extra Bloks, actually), pulled on some new clothes, and prepared for another round.
So it's 1am, and that's far, far outside my comfort zone. As such, I decided to stick to a route I run all the damn time, and am very comfortable with. That means going straight up Spicewood to Mesa, uphill first mile, and then doing a little lollipop loop in that neighborhood. My standard "5 mile loop".
It was dry again for this loop, which was nice, because we could see more weather heading our way on the radar.
I was a little afraid of this run. As I said, I'm very comfortable running in the dark, but I felt like maybe 1am dark would be very different from 5am dark. 5am dark contains a decent amount of other runners and people walking their dogs. If you see another person, you know they're probably doing what you're doing. I don't know what the 1am people are out there doing.
That was a non-issue, as it turned out, because there WERE no other people. Matt was the only person I saw during my 1am run, other than a handful of cars. It was peaceful, not stressful as I had feared, and went by fairly quickly. It WAS a little misty, made worse by the headlamp shining through the water particles, which made vision a little weird at times, and was a reminder that this dryness would probably not last.
Just hangin' out in the middle of the street at 1:30am with my best friend.
But it did last through the end of the 1am run, and we celebrated with another pb&j and a shower.
Okay, Garmin, y'know what? Sure. 72 hours.
Back into the pajamas and back into bed, this time for some actual sleep. I don't know how much, and certainly less than the 90 minutes I was in bed, but some was better than none at this point. And we were half done!
Run 3: Complete.
Run 4: 5am
Even though we were certainly sleep-deprived at this point, and with a lot of dehydration building up, even drinking nearly my full handheld each run, and supplementing with a small bottle of gatorade after every other run, I got up at 4:15am feeling pretty darn okay. My 1am run was about the same pace as my 9pm run, and my legs were feeling pretty decent. I was putting on my compression socks before climbing into bed each night... er.. each sleep? and that seemed to be helping.
As we got dressed, I looked at the radar and it looked like there was another storm on its way. I hoped that perhaps we would be done before the storm arrived, and get to enjoy the storm as we attempted to sleep between runs, instead of being out in it. For these night runs, I was wearing my smaller shorts, figuring nobody would see me anyway, so I didn't need to be self-conscious. I was also still wearing a damn hat, because of the potential for rain. This time, though, I didn't wear a headlamp. I KNOW how the light, or lack thereof, works at 5am, dammit. This is MY running time now. My comfort zone.
We stepped outside to begin our run and were greeted by a brilliant flash in the sky. Hello, storm. Please hold off.
For this run, I decided to do the same loop I'd done for run 2, the run-to-work route, over to Far West. Giving my legs a little chance to warm up before the hill. For the first 2 miles, the rain held off, and it was just some lightning flashes and some rumbles of thunder. And a bunch of guilt that we'd forgotten to put the dog bed back in the bathroom for Enzo the Thunder-Fearing Greyhound. Around mile 2.5, the lightning show got pretty intense, and every 2 minutes or so, the sky would light up completely and destroy my night vision. And the thunder got pretty intense. And the rain picked up until it was pouring. It was actually an amazing storm, and I didn't ever really feel unsafe, though I'm sure that running in that storm wasn't the WISEST of my life choices. It was really neat, though, with some bonus surreality due to general fatigue.
Also now both of my pairs of shoes were officially drenched.
Whoever's idea this was, this is for you.
When I came across Matt, we did a short video of how ridiculous things were, then carried on to finish this very wet run. Even though normally there would be a dozen people out on this route at this time of day, the storm kept everyone inside, and so the only people I saw on my 1am and 5am runs were Matt and Matt. It was nice having the streets to ourselves.
The deluge slowed me down a bit for this run, but only barely compared to 2 and 3, and still faster than my first run.
Garmin held steady at the 72 hour recovery suggestion, but started insulting me in other ways.
It was 45 degrees for this run, which is ridiculous for this time of year, and when I stopped running, I was IMMEDIATELY freezing. I just wanted to be warm and dry and asleep, so I took a really hot shower, ate a protein bar because I couldn't even be bothered to cook myself up a pb&j, and climbed into bed. I think I really slept that time. I was really looking forward to running in the light again.
Run 4: Complete.
Run 5: 9am
Next to last run! And it was no longer night! Which meant.. well, it didn't exactly mean the sun was up. I mean, it was, but it wasn't OUT. It was overcast, and raining, and threatening to continue raining. It was really just sort of entertaining at this point. Might as well finish like we started, right?
I had saved some of my favorite sports bras and shorts for these last two runs, because I might as well be comfortable where it was still possible. And I was re-wearing some socks from some of the dryish runs from earlier. AND I did NOT wear a hat, because I was TIRED of HATS. Dark and late and rain is too much to fight against without a hat, but rain in the daylight I could handle hatless. Of course, I had to put on wet shoes, because all I had were wet shoes at this point.
I didn't feel like thinking about routes at all at this point, so I decided to just do my standard 5 again. Known quantity, no thinking. As I turned out of my neighborhood onto Spicewood, rain coming down in a steady but manageable stream, just past the local taco joint, a car turned from a side street onto Spicewood. It wasn't in my way, nor was I in its, so I didn't pay any attention to it. Until it pulled up beside me and rolled the window down. Inside were two retired CS faculty members who I see not-infrequently walking in the area to get tacos. I assume they live around there somewhere. She leaned out the passenger window and said, "Do you want to be running in the rain? .... Are you okay?" She said it with such concern. Like, are you okay emotionally, not physically. I laughed and said that I was out here on purpose, and thanked them very much. They drove off, and I continued my journey with a smile on my face.
About a mile in, I decided to alter my route a little bit. To do 6x5miles, we'd end up at 30 miles. Which is nice and all, but the first real "ultra" distance is kinda considered to be 31 miles, so we all figured if we were doing 30 miles, we might as well run 1 extra mile to get to 50k. Most of my runs so far had been 5.15 or so, adding a tiny bit here and there, that would add up over the runs. But I hadn't had the mental wherewithal to add any distance on to my 1am run, so I was a little behind on that extra mile. I decided I wanted my last run to ONLY HAVE TO BE 5, so I needed this one to be a little long. And my 5 mile loop is really right at 5 miles, so I decided to turn my loop into an out and back, and get my extra distance here. I didn't know WHAT that extra distance would be, because my brain was not braining at a very high level, but I figured if 3 of my runs were ~5.15-5.19ish, and one was just over 5, that 5.5 should be pretty safe to get me where I needed to be. To make it so my last run could just be 5. So instead of my loop, I ran out and back on West Rim over to Far West, and when I hit 2.75ish, I turned around and headed back.
I felt good on the way back in. The rain was moderate and pleasant, the kind of rain that works with you instead of against you. I got to see my favorite husband on the way back in. It was daylight again. And I only had one more run left.
Sun's up! No headlamp! No hat!
This last mile of run 5 ended up being my fastest mile. I mean, I didn't push intentionally, and it was nothing to write home about, but it was my fastest mile.
I celebrated with Another Damn Pb&j. Ugh. Then a shower and one last attempt to get a little rest before we finished it off.
Run 5: Complete.
Run 6: 1pm
I slept some, but woke up well before the 12:15pm alarm. My body and my brain knew that I just had to get through this one last piece, then I could ACTUALLY sleep. I could eat REAL food. I was pretty excited. And still felt pretty good!
Obligatory jazzhands.
And what do you know: it was raining! Will wonders never cease! But it was still a gradual, kind rain, and I had to figure it was helping keep the temperature tolerable (somehow it was STILL 48 degrees! at 1pm! in Texas! in April!).
Matt and I headed out in opposite directions for our runs, and maybe 45 seconds into my run, a car drove by slowly, then stopped up ahead and me and rolled down the window. Again! What is going on here?!
Turns out it was Devon and Steve! They'd driven over the cheer for us as we started our last run! Which was awesome. Of course, THEY didn't ask if I was okay, and if I needed a ride. Probably for the best, since I might have. Even though I was literally 45 seconds from my house.
They cheered and cowbelled and I waved and thanked, and then we went our separate ways so I could finish this shit up.
I actually felt really good, which surprised me. I had already run 26 miles, my eating had been very strange, I was definitely sleep deprived, and I felt very dehydrated, but my legs weren't particularly sore, my problematic hamstring hadn't been a problem at all, and I still had a pretty positive attitude. It helped that I knew I didn't have to run more than 5 miles for this run.
It was a little surreal how much Stuff was going on. After running through the night and through some storms and rain, I was very used to being mostly alone out on the road. Now it was 1pm and the world was awake and out and about. Not a ton of runners/walkers given how late and rainy it was, but a lot more car traffic. Even though I felt good, I made sure to stay away from cars and on sidewalks when I needed to, since I was definitely fatigued and not thinking incredibly well or fast anymore.
Second attempt at deer selfie: Much more successful than the first.
When I got to mile 2.5, I wheeled around and headed back home. Half done. And feeling good. And I decided to push a little bit, just because I felt like I could. I've been doing so much of my exercise for time lately instead of distance, and it doesn't matter how fast you go when you're doing things for time, so it was nice to realize.. if I run FASTER, I could be done SOONER! Of course, fast is relative, and I knew this wasn't really "fast", but it felt good to still feel like I could push a bit. It wasn't a complete slog. And ultimately my last mile of my last run ended up being only 1 second slower than my fastest mile of all (which had been the last mile of my next-to-last run).
Run 6: Complete.
And then done! I opened the front door, soaking wet, and the dogs were so happy to see me (again! each time!), and we all did a happy dance together.
What? Normal.
And then, before I started to stiffen up and lose motivation, I followed through on a joke we'd been texting about, wherein people said I should just do my last run in my swimrun costume. I wasn't willing to actually put on my wetsuit, but I did put on my compression socks (over my FILTHY, debris-covered legs, thank you, puddles) and swimrun shoes, swimcap, goggles, buoy, and paddles. Then I took video while I ran up and down my street a couple times, thankful that the rain and social distancing meant nobody else was out.
Once everyone was done, we gathered together again as we had Friday at 5pm, and we finally checked the last thing off our list, the whole point of this venture, the Fireball shots!
Yesssss.
And then we showered one last time, ate some real food, and took a very long nap.
This was a really fun challenge! I wasn't sure how dividing a 50k up into parts like this was going to feel, but it actually went much better than I anticipated. Of course, normally my 50ks are on trails, and there are a lot of hills, both up and down, and I end up crippled by the end, having slowed down very much and with my quads insanely sore for days afterward. I really didn't end up with any DOMS from this, just muscle fatigue. It was nice to feel pretty good after running 31 miles! The average pace for all my runs was within 30 seconds of each other, and I never felt like I needed to walk (other than maybe that first uphill in my first run, ugh).
Even though I might not have picked exactly the weather we had, if given a choice, I will NOT complain about temps ranging from 45 to 52 this time of year. It made the whole thing so much more tolerable, and I'm sure it would have been a VERY different challenge if it had been in the 80s-90s, 90% humidity, and sunny.
Warmer weather would have probably meant less CLOTHES, though. This is the laundry (minus socks) we generated from 2 people doing this 24 hour challenge.
I really enjoyed doing this with a (socially distanced) group. It was fun to share and complain and cheer for each other between every run, and now hold ridiculous stories against each other for the rest of time. And I'm so glad that Matt decided to do it, and SO proud of him for finishing a challenge he was so undertrained for. He's so strong, and always so encouraging to me and proud of me, and that helps so much.
And finally it was fun to post videos and photos over those 24 hours. I wasn't sure if anyone would care, but it turned out that when nobody can watch sports or go to movies or anything, people get really invested in this sort of thing! Everyone was so supportive, and it really made me smile to see peoples' comments each time I posted, and when we finished. So thank you to everyone who cared!
There's another challenge going around out there... 4x4x48. 4 miles every 4 hours for 48 hours. I wasn't sure I was interested in that, before we started this challenge, and now I'm DEFINITELY not sure. 24 hours of this really messes up your life/weekend, and I imagine to do the 4x4x48, I'd have to take some vacation time to recover before trying to normalize my life and work schedule again. So.. we'll see! Not saying no. Maybe depends on how much pandemicking we have left, and how stir crazy we go.
Cheers!
Monday, 3/30 (Meredith's birthday), 4:19pm, Trista says to Meredith: Wanna do something stupid in honor of your bday?
The stupid thing in question is the Yeti Ultra 24 Hr Challenge, wherein some time during the month of April, you run 5 miles every 4 hours for 24 hours. It's a virtual race, so you just do it on your own, wherever you can. But obviously it's going to be more fun with friends doing it at the same time, suffering together even when apart, so we all had it on our radar as a fun thing to do.
Eerily accurate race logo? Stay tuned to find out!
Monday, 3/30, 7:16pm: Meredith agrees we should do this stupid thing in honor of her birthday, and Trista starts asking when we're going to do it. It wasn't even April yet, so I wasn't too worried.
Tuesday, 3/31, 1:35pm: Meredith says "My vote is Friday evening at 6." "ThisFriday?" I ask. "Yes. Busy then?"
I most certainly was not, but as a life-long overplanner and overworrier, that was precious little time to both plan and worry!
But it was decided. Trista, Meredith, Hilary, and Frank would all start at 6pm Friday, and since they live much easter than I do, I would start at 5pm Friday, so we could all check in before and after each run. Almost sort of like doing a race together.
The plan: Austin Edition
And after that, there was very little actual planning or worrying to do, aside from making sure every piece of workout clothing we owned was clean by Friday. I had joked about how terrible (hot and humid) our weather was going to be, but as the week crawled on (as it does during a WFH pandemic) and I actually LOOKED at the weather, it looked.. like it might be kinda cool. Cold, even. And rainy. In fact, by the time Friday rolled around, it looked like it would probably be rainy the entire time. And cold. Oof. Well, I'll take that over 80 degrees and 90% humidity any day, so sure!
Again, for an overplanner, I actually did very, very little planning. Matt had decided to sign up, as well, even though he was even less prepared to run a (non-contiguous) 50k than I was, and I was excited that we would be doing this together. Our incentive for making it to the "finish line" was all doing a Fireball shot together for Meredith's birthday.
On Friday, I worked a "normal" day, inasmuch as anything is normal these days. A full day of work from home, which is how things work currently. We ate breakfast tacos for breakfast, a turkey sandwich for lunch, and then maybe around 3pm, a pb&j. I'm pretty unpracticed at evening runs, since 99% of my runs are in the early morning, so any time I have a night race, I basically have no idea how to prepare for it.
As it neared 5pm, Matt took over the kitchen table and I took over a laundry basket on the floor, and we basically just dumped out all the running clothes that we might possibly foresee ourselves wearing. I had 6 pairs of shorts, even though I really only like 2 of them currently. 2 are a smaller size that fits, but not as comfortably at my current weight. One is the same size as the 2 I like, but they changed the pattern at some point and they don't fit as well. And then a pair of compression shorts in case I had to change shorts every time, and needed another pair. Also 5 pairs of socks, 5 sports bras (including 2 that I never wear running, but desperate times), 5 short-sleeved shirts, and two long-sleeved shirts. I figured that planned for most contingencies. And for each run, I'd just go shop out of that basket.
With 45 minutes to go, I ate half a package of Clif Bloks (I've been enjoying those more than gels for pre-run sugar, though I still eat GU for during-run sugar), and then with 30 minutes to go, I put on my first running costume. Initially I wore my compression shorts, because it was so rainy outside and those move around less, but my recent pandemic diet has made those tighter than I really wanted to deal with, so I switched to one of my "good" pairs of running shorts. Might as well start out comfortable. It was about 55 degrees, so I wore a short-sleeved shirt, but also absolutely pouring rain, so I wore a hat. I don't wear hats. I hate wearing hats. But it makes it easier to ignore the rain, and even though I love running in the rain, adding that to this whole list of reasons to be uncomfortable seemed a little overwhelming. So.. hat.
Just before 5pm CST, we had a little facebook messenger video meetup with the whole crew, wished each other luck, and then it began!
The whole gang!
Run 1: 5pm
There may have been a small misunderstanding when I mentioned on facebook that we were doing this "race", and my mom made a comment, and I joked that if she wanted to come stand out on her porch at 1am and cheer for us, she could. Firstly, since we were supposed to START a run at 1am, unless I drove to her house and started there, it was definitely going to be some time AFTER 1am that I went by her house. If I went by her house at all, since I had several routes planned out, not many of which went by her house. AND then she thought this was Thursday night, not Friday night. Which is how I ended up with a voicemail on Thursday night at 1am from my mom, on her porch, asking where I was. Oops. Sorry, mom.
Anyway, the point of that story was that I asked my mom when she DID want to cheer for me, and she chose the first run, 5pm on Friday. I planned my first run's route to go past her house, and said I'd be by some time around 5:15 or 5:20pm. It was nice to have my route sort of decided for me. Matt was planning on doing the same route every time, but I have run in my neighborhood so much lately, I already have route fatigue from most of the places that I feel super safe running, so I knew I had to mix it up. Going by mom's early in the run meant running up the frontage road and up to Jollyville. Which meant a hill in the beginning, but at least there was a mile of flat to warm up a bit first.
Actually, a little about the routes around our house. (This run 1 recap is gonna take a lot longer than run 1 actually took.) There's a great loop near our house that is great and safe and lightly car-trafficked and there are lots of runners and walkers, so everyone expects runners and walkers. To GET there, though, it's uphill. The most direct way, and the way I normally take, is straight up Spicewood Springs. 1 gradual mile up to Mesa, where it flattens out. It's painful, but it gets the pain out of the way immediately. Alternately you can run down the frontage road in either direction, which is flat, but delays the inevitable uphill, which means maybe you're a little more warmed up. I had routes planned on all three of these choices for my 6 runs. But the point is, you don't get out of our neighborhood without a stupid, dumb, terrible uphill of some sort.
Click to viewOkay, so, down the frontage road, pouring rain, and even though it's flat, I felt terrrrible. It felt like I'd never run in my life before, and had no idea how. And I was definitely doing it wrong. Part of it was running right after a day of working, sitting in a chair all day, just wanting to eat my dinner and go to bed. Part of it was my stomach not really cooperating, so I had a body full of all the day's foods. Part of it was dodging all the puddles and lakes, trying to keep my feet as dry as possible, even though that was pointless when there were constant ankle-deep streams to ford. And THEN there's the uphill on Jollyville, which was just painful. Couldn't catch my breath. Felt like I was wheezing, and I was only a mile into my run. If it was this bad in the first run, how was I going to do this 5 more times?! Ugh.
Once I got to the top of the hill, I had a couple minutes to pull myself together on the downhill before I turned the corner to pass my parents' house. And that part was WONDERFUL. My mom and dad were standing on the porch cheering for me, my mom holding a sign that there's no way I could read, and their little yorkie running down the sidewalk to bark at/cheer for me. That reminded me that I was loved and that I was strong and that I'd get through this.
With a new smile on my face, I ran on through the rain and puddles.
The rest of the run still didn't feel great, but around mile 2, I was able to breathe a little more normally, and running didn't feel quite so unnatural. It wasn't GOOD, but a little better. I ran down onto my normal beloved loop, but only had to do a small out and back there before I headed back for home. (I didn't intend for this to happen, but even though I altered the beginning of my routes for several runs, I ended up running the exact same way home for every run. The last 1.5 miles of each run was identical. It's a nice, safe, predictable downhill on a sidewalk that I know very well.)
On the way back in, I got to pass by Matt running the other way, and cheer and laugh with him about how ridiculously rainy it was.
Things were going well, I had about 3/4 of a mile left to go, and then my body was like, "Hey, remember all those foods you ate today? Would you like me to go down a list and review every one of them, as they clamber over each other in an attempt to exit your body?" It was a very long 3/4 of a mile. If there had been a portapotty, I would absolutely have stopped at it. But knowing these routes so well, I also know where every portapotty is on these routes, and there are none in that last mile. So I just employed some very loud birth-inspired breathing, some mantras and prayers to any gods that might have been available, and some very tight core, and somehow managed to make it back to my house, where the dogs were first happy to see me, then confused when I ran right past them into the bathroom. It was a very frantic and productive bathroom episode. The good news is, that basically emptied me out completely, and I had no other incidents or really need to ever go again the whole "race".
Whew.
One run done! I looked at my watch, and my pace for that first 5 miles was slower than any run I've done for a long time. For my first run. And surely I was only going to get slower as this went on. That was briefly a little depressing, but then I realized I didn't care about pace, I was just out to have fun and get through these 24 hours of runs healthy and happy.
Garmin suggested I recover for 28 hours after this run. How 'bout 3, Garmin?
As I mentioned, we had no real plan, and that especially applied to eating. Or sleeping. We clearly needed to keep taking in calories for these 24 hours, but in small, stomach-manageable chunks, not the meals we would be eating if we were having real dinner or breakfast or lunch. We decided to eat a recovery pb&j after this first run. We also had no shower plan, but it was very clear after eating my pb&j that I was going to have to take a shower in order to warm up after running in the rain.
Having eaten and showered, we decided to try sleeping, even though it was only around 6:30pm at this point. We had limited opportunities to sleep, so might as well take advantage of every one offered. Our next run started at 9pm, so we set the alarm for 8:15pm.
In hindsight, I probably should have just skipped this attempt to sleep. I did not sleep. If I did, it was maybe 2 minutes. I just sat there fretting over the fact that I couldn't sleep. That I was ruining this opportunity to sleep. That I was going to be so tired later, but I couldn't sleep. WHY COULDN'T I SLEEP?! It just made me anxious and frustrated.
Run 1: Complete.
Run 2: 9pm
Since we didn't really sleep, we didn't really have trouble getting up again for the 8:15pm alarm. I ate another half pack of Clif Bloks. It's possible I then panic-ate the other half. I did that on some runs, but not all. We settled into a pretty good pattern, really. Run, eat a recovery food, shower (sometimes those two were reversed, if we were really, really cold after a run), sleep, up with an alarm 45 minutes before our next run, eat some Bloks (or a gel, for Matt sometimes), drink some water, realize we had about 10 minutes before started and get dressed in a panic, record short video, then head out on time to run. We never fell off schedule at any point, even though we'd put zero planning into said schedule.
For run 2, the rain had stopped, but the temperature had dropped. It was 48 degrees now, which meant a long-sleeved shirt. And a short-sleeved under it, for me, because I was afraid of being too cold. Which was really over-dressing, especially with a hill early in my run, but again.. sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do to even get out the door, in an experience with so many discomforts associated.
I also wore a headlamp. I'm not even sure why, exactly, except everyone else was, and I felt obligated. I do all my during-the-week runs between 4am and 6am, and I never wear a headlamp for those. I just run in places that I know, and I know the light situation, and I'm comfortable in them. But somehow 9pm just felt different than 5am, so I wore a headlamp. And I hate wearing a headlamp, because it digs into my forehead, so I wore a hat again. I hate running in a hat! Ugh. So many hats.
Oh, and I wore different shoes. I only have one pair of road running shoes in my rotation currently, and those were soaking wet after the first run. I had to decide whether I'd rather wear drenched shoes, or wear my retired pair with 500 miles already on them. I decided to try those. At least they were dry.
This time I headed out the opposite direction on the frontage road. This is the same direction I start out when I run to work, and it was weird remembering running to work, because it feels like I haven't done that in 4 years. (I just checked, it was March 12th. Pre-full-on-pandemic.)
This route gives me about a mile and 3/4 before I hit the uphill, and as I chugged up the hill and into my normal neighborhood route, I passed by a few pockets of people. Unlike the people I normally encounter in the early morning, who are usually runners and dog walkers, these seemed to be couples and families out for their final evening walk. There weren't a ton of people, but there were a TON of delivery drivers. 99% of the cars that passed by had delivery signs on top of them. I'm not sure is that's regular-normal or new-normal, since I'm usually asleep at that time, and not out running around the neighborhood.
Oh, one unusual thing about these runs is that I was running with my phone. I usually only ever run with my phone when I run to work, because it's too bulky to fit in my handheld, so I have to run with a waistpack to bring it with me. And I don't do that unless there's a reason (like transporting my phone to work with me). But since I was going to be out on my own so much, and so would Matt, we figured we'd err on the side of safety and carry our phones for every run. That meant I could try to document anything interesting! Which.. there's not really much of in a neighborhood you constantly run, especially at night. I did try to take one selfie with a yard full of deer, but when I tried to turn on my camera while still holding my handheld water bottle, I ended up flinging my phone up into the air and onto the ground, which startled all the deer, who then got up and ran away. Then when I tried to take a selfie with who was left, I couldn't even see well enough to see if the deer were still in the photo at all. I make a terrible millennial.
Truly an amazing photo, which DOES contain deer, even though you can't tell.
The main thing about this run was that it felt pretty good. It was cool, it wasn't rainy, my body felt 100x better than it had for the first run, and this challenge felt pretty doable. When I saw Matt on my way back toward home, it was a great boost leading into my last mile, and I finished with a smile on my face. 2nd run ended up being faster than my first!
Nono, Garmin. THREE. Three hours.
Since we had now passed the time we normally would have eaten a real meal, I decided we should take in some real calories if we could. I made some scrambled eggs and toast, and we ate those, showered again to warm up (though I didn't wash my hair this time, because it was only sweat-damp, not rained on or fully sweat-drenched), then climbed into bed.
Tasty.
I really hoped that I could sleep this time, because 9pm is normally my bedtime, and we were entering into the realm of potentially really grumpy Amy.
Run 2: Complete.
Run 3: 1am
I did not sleep. I think I got more than 2 minutes, but it was very spotty and sporadic, and not in any way restful. When it got to be the 12:15am alarm, I definitely wondered what the hell I'd been thinking. We had been texting each other at the beginning and end of each run, and when I "woke" up for this run, I texted "Oh yeah, baby. There's that regret." But I ate some Bloks (okay, this may have been the first one where I comfort-ate extra Bloks, actually), pulled on some new clothes, and prepared for another round.
So it's 1am, and that's far, far outside my comfort zone. As such, I decided to stick to a route I run all the damn time, and am very comfortable with. That means going straight up Spicewood to Mesa, uphill first mile, and then doing a little lollipop loop in that neighborhood. My standard "5 mile loop".
It was dry again for this loop, which was nice, because we could see more weather heading our way on the radar.
I was a little afraid of this run. As I said, I'm very comfortable running in the dark, but I felt like maybe 1am dark would be very different from 5am dark. 5am dark contains a decent amount of other runners and people walking their dogs. If you see another person, you know they're probably doing what you're doing. I don't know what the 1am people are out there doing.
That was a non-issue, as it turned out, because there WERE no other people. Matt was the only person I saw during my 1am run, other than a handful of cars. It was peaceful, not stressful as I had feared, and went by fairly quickly. It WAS a little misty, made worse by the headlamp shining through the water particles, which made vision a little weird at times, and was a reminder that this dryness would probably not last.
Just hangin' out in the middle of the street at 1:30am with my best friend.
But it did last through the end of the 1am run, and we celebrated with another pb&j and a shower.
Okay, Garmin, y'know what? Sure. 72 hours.
Back into the pajamas and back into bed, this time for some actual sleep. I don't know how much, and certainly less than the 90 minutes I was in bed, but some was better than none at this point. And we were half done!
Run 3: Complete.
Run 4: 5am
Even though we were certainly sleep-deprived at this point, and with a lot of dehydration building up, even drinking nearly my full handheld each run, and supplementing with a small bottle of gatorade after every other run, I got up at 4:15am feeling pretty darn okay. My 1am run was about the same pace as my 9pm run, and my legs were feeling pretty decent. I was putting on my compression socks before climbing into bed each night... er.. each sleep? and that seemed to be helping.
As we got dressed, I looked at the radar and it looked like there was another storm on its way. I hoped that perhaps we would be done before the storm arrived, and get to enjoy the storm as we attempted to sleep between runs, instead of being out in it. For these night runs, I was wearing my smaller shorts, figuring nobody would see me anyway, so I didn't need to be self-conscious. I was also still wearing a damn hat, because of the potential for rain. This time, though, I didn't wear a headlamp. I KNOW how the light, or lack thereof, works at 5am, dammit. This is MY running time now. My comfort zone.
We stepped outside to begin our run and were greeted by a brilliant flash in the sky. Hello, storm. Please hold off.
For this run, I decided to do the same loop I'd done for run 2, the run-to-work route, over to Far West. Giving my legs a little chance to warm up before the hill. For the first 2 miles, the rain held off, and it was just some lightning flashes and some rumbles of thunder. And a bunch of guilt that we'd forgotten to put the dog bed back in the bathroom for Enzo the Thunder-Fearing Greyhound. Around mile 2.5, the lightning show got pretty intense, and every 2 minutes or so, the sky would light up completely and destroy my night vision. And the thunder got pretty intense. And the rain picked up until it was pouring. It was actually an amazing storm, and I didn't ever really feel unsafe, though I'm sure that running in that storm wasn't the WISEST of my life choices. It was really neat, though, with some bonus surreality due to general fatigue.
Also now both of my pairs of shoes were officially drenched.
Whoever's idea this was, this is for you.
When I came across Matt, we did a short video of how ridiculous things were, then carried on to finish this very wet run. Even though normally there would be a dozen people out on this route at this time of day, the storm kept everyone inside, and so the only people I saw on my 1am and 5am runs were Matt and Matt. It was nice having the streets to ourselves.
The deluge slowed me down a bit for this run, but only barely compared to 2 and 3, and still faster than my first run.
Garmin held steady at the 72 hour recovery suggestion, but started insulting me in other ways.
It was 45 degrees for this run, which is ridiculous for this time of year, and when I stopped running, I was IMMEDIATELY freezing. I just wanted to be warm and dry and asleep, so I took a really hot shower, ate a protein bar because I couldn't even be bothered to cook myself up a pb&j, and climbed into bed. I think I really slept that time. I was really looking forward to running in the light again.
Run 4: Complete.
Run 5: 9am
Next to last run! And it was no longer night! Which meant.. well, it didn't exactly mean the sun was up. I mean, it was, but it wasn't OUT. It was overcast, and raining, and threatening to continue raining. It was really just sort of entertaining at this point. Might as well finish like we started, right?
I had saved some of my favorite sports bras and shorts for these last two runs, because I might as well be comfortable where it was still possible. And I was re-wearing some socks from some of the dryish runs from earlier. AND I did NOT wear a hat, because I was TIRED of HATS. Dark and late and rain is too much to fight against without a hat, but rain in the daylight I could handle hatless. Of course, I had to put on wet shoes, because all I had were wet shoes at this point.
I didn't feel like thinking about routes at all at this point, so I decided to just do my standard 5 again. Known quantity, no thinking. As I turned out of my neighborhood onto Spicewood, rain coming down in a steady but manageable stream, just past the local taco joint, a car turned from a side street onto Spicewood. It wasn't in my way, nor was I in its, so I didn't pay any attention to it. Until it pulled up beside me and rolled the window down. Inside were two retired CS faculty members who I see not-infrequently walking in the area to get tacos. I assume they live around there somewhere. She leaned out the passenger window and said, "Do you want to be running in the rain? .... Are you okay?" She said it with such concern. Like, are you okay emotionally, not physically. I laughed and said that I was out here on purpose, and thanked them very much. They drove off, and I continued my journey with a smile on my face.
About a mile in, I decided to alter my route a little bit. To do 6x5miles, we'd end up at 30 miles. Which is nice and all, but the first real "ultra" distance is kinda considered to be 31 miles, so we all figured if we were doing 30 miles, we might as well run 1 extra mile to get to 50k. Most of my runs so far had been 5.15 or so, adding a tiny bit here and there, that would add up over the runs. But I hadn't had the mental wherewithal to add any distance on to my 1am run, so I was a little behind on that extra mile. I decided I wanted my last run to ONLY HAVE TO BE 5, so I needed this one to be a little long. And my 5 mile loop is really right at 5 miles, so I decided to turn my loop into an out and back, and get my extra distance here. I didn't know WHAT that extra distance would be, because my brain was not braining at a very high level, but I figured if 3 of my runs were ~5.15-5.19ish, and one was just over 5, that 5.5 should be pretty safe to get me where I needed to be. To make it so my last run could just be 5. So instead of my loop, I ran out and back on West Rim over to Far West, and when I hit 2.75ish, I turned around and headed back.
I felt good on the way back in. The rain was moderate and pleasant, the kind of rain that works with you instead of against you. I got to see my favorite husband on the way back in. It was daylight again. And I only had one more run left.
Sun's up! No headlamp! No hat!
This last mile of run 5 ended up being my fastest mile. I mean, I didn't push intentionally, and it was nothing to write home about, but it was my fastest mile.
I celebrated with Another Damn Pb&j. Ugh. Then a shower and one last attempt to get a little rest before we finished it off.
Run 5: Complete.
Run 6: 1pm
I slept some, but woke up well before the 12:15pm alarm. My body and my brain knew that I just had to get through this one last piece, then I could ACTUALLY sleep. I could eat REAL food. I was pretty excited. And still felt pretty good!
Obligatory jazzhands.
And what do you know: it was raining! Will wonders never cease! But it was still a gradual, kind rain, and I had to figure it was helping keep the temperature tolerable (somehow it was STILL 48 degrees! at 1pm! in Texas! in April!).
Matt and I headed out in opposite directions for our runs, and maybe 45 seconds into my run, a car drove by slowly, then stopped up ahead and me and rolled down the window. Again! What is going on here?!
Turns out it was Devon and Steve! They'd driven over the cheer for us as we started our last run! Which was awesome. Of course, THEY didn't ask if I was okay, and if I needed a ride. Probably for the best, since I might have. Even though I was literally 45 seconds from my house.
They cheered and cowbelled and I waved and thanked, and then we went our separate ways so I could finish this shit up.
I actually felt really good, which surprised me. I had already run 26 miles, my eating had been very strange, I was definitely sleep deprived, and I felt very dehydrated, but my legs weren't particularly sore, my problematic hamstring hadn't been a problem at all, and I still had a pretty positive attitude. It helped that I knew I didn't have to run more than 5 miles for this run.
It was a little surreal how much Stuff was going on. After running through the night and through some storms and rain, I was very used to being mostly alone out on the road. Now it was 1pm and the world was awake and out and about. Not a ton of runners/walkers given how late and rainy it was, but a lot more car traffic. Even though I felt good, I made sure to stay away from cars and on sidewalks when I needed to, since I was definitely fatigued and not thinking incredibly well or fast anymore.
Second attempt at deer selfie: Much more successful than the first.
When I got to mile 2.5, I wheeled around and headed back home. Half done. And feeling good. And I decided to push a little bit, just because I felt like I could. I've been doing so much of my exercise for time lately instead of distance, and it doesn't matter how fast you go when you're doing things for time, so it was nice to realize.. if I run FASTER, I could be done SOONER! Of course, fast is relative, and I knew this wasn't really "fast", but it felt good to still feel like I could push a bit. It wasn't a complete slog. And ultimately my last mile of my last run ended up being only 1 second slower than my fastest mile of all (which had been the last mile of my next-to-last run).
Run 6: Complete.
And then done! I opened the front door, soaking wet, and the dogs were so happy to see me (again! each time!), and we all did a happy dance together.
What? Normal.
And then, before I started to stiffen up and lose motivation, I followed through on a joke we'd been texting about, wherein people said I should just do my last run in my swimrun costume. I wasn't willing to actually put on my wetsuit, but I did put on my compression socks (over my FILTHY, debris-covered legs, thank you, puddles) and swimrun shoes, swimcap, goggles, buoy, and paddles. Then I took video while I ran up and down my street a couple times, thankful that the rain and social distancing meant nobody else was out.
Once everyone was done, we gathered together again as we had Friday at 5pm, and we finally checked the last thing off our list, the whole point of this venture, the Fireball shots!
Yesssss.
And then we showered one last time, ate some real food, and took a very long nap.
This was a really fun challenge! I wasn't sure how dividing a 50k up into parts like this was going to feel, but it actually went much better than I anticipated. Of course, normally my 50ks are on trails, and there are a lot of hills, both up and down, and I end up crippled by the end, having slowed down very much and with my quads insanely sore for days afterward. I really didn't end up with any DOMS from this, just muscle fatigue. It was nice to feel pretty good after running 31 miles! The average pace for all my runs was within 30 seconds of each other, and I never felt like I needed to walk (other than maybe that first uphill in my first run, ugh).
Even though I might not have picked exactly the weather we had, if given a choice, I will NOT complain about temps ranging from 45 to 52 this time of year. It made the whole thing so much more tolerable, and I'm sure it would have been a VERY different challenge if it had been in the 80s-90s, 90% humidity, and sunny.
Warmer weather would have probably meant less CLOTHES, though. This is the laundry (minus socks) we generated from 2 people doing this 24 hour challenge.
I really enjoyed doing this with a (socially distanced) group. It was fun to share and complain and cheer for each other between every run, and now hold ridiculous stories against each other for the rest of time. And I'm so glad that Matt decided to do it, and SO proud of him for finishing a challenge he was so undertrained for. He's so strong, and always so encouraging to me and proud of me, and that helps so much.
And finally it was fun to post videos and photos over those 24 hours. I wasn't sure if anyone would care, but it turned out that when nobody can watch sports or go to movies or anything, people get really invested in this sort of thing! Everyone was so supportive, and it really made me smile to see peoples' comments each time I posted, and when we finished. So thank you to everyone who cared!
There's another challenge going around out there... 4x4x48. 4 miles every 4 hours for 48 hours. I wasn't sure I was interested in that, before we started this challenge, and now I'm DEFINITELY not sure. 24 hours of this really messes up your life/weekend, and I imagine to do the 4x4x48, I'd have to take some vacation time to recover before trying to normalize my life and work schedule again. So.. we'll see! Not saying no. Maybe depends on how much pandemicking we have left, and how stir crazy we go.
Cheers!