David Goggins 4x4x48 challenge 2020 "race" report.
I've done a few dumb things so far this pandemic. The Yeti 5x4x24 challenge. The Mirage 50k. But both of those things were virtual races. I paid money, I got a shirt, it was a "race".
This 4x4x48 challenge has none of those things. It is purely a result of making bad life decisions and choosing my friends poorly.
The challenge is: run 4 miles every 4 hours for 48 hours. That should net you 48 miles, but if you're us, of course, you run an extra 2 to get you to 50, because why not?
Originally we planned to get the Yeti crew back together and do it "together" again, but at the last minute, that plan completely fell apart. Trista ended up starting Thursday at 6am, MeredithHilaryFrank ended up starting at noon on Friday, and I started at 6pm on Friday. We still messaged each other throughout, but it was definitely a lot lonelier this way, especially in the last few runs when everyone else was done and celebrating.
I had considered starting earlier on Friday, but it looked like Friday's weather would be terrible and hot, and then Saturday and Sunday would be blissfully rainy and/or stormy. I figured I'd have one miserable Friday run in the sun, but then would get several rainy Sunday runs to make up for it. Best laid plans.
Editor's note: Because I'm smart, I decided to log my runs AFTER I DID THEM. Then the race report would basically write itself by the time I was done! Brilliant idea. Let's see if it lasts!
Additional editor's note: While trying to decide which headband to wear for my first run, I discovered I have exactly 12 (thick) headbands! Therefore I wore a different one for each run. And since I have precious few photos for this race report, I took a picture of each one. Please enjoy 12 photos of the top of my head, some sparklier than others.
Run 1, Friday, 6pm: 91 degrees, feels like 101, full sun:
I started my run, and thought "Oh, well this isn't bad. It's shady. I think the sun has gone down enough that it's not directly overhead. This feels fine! Then I turned the corner onto Spicewood, and there was the sun. Right overhead. And it felt pretty terrible.
But actually it was fine. I was fully anticipating terrible, since my Monday run felt terrible, and my first run at 6pm for Yeti felt terrible. The kind of terrible where your legs just feel bad from the first step. And your intestines are full of all the foods you ate throughout the day. I was anticipating that again. And it wasn't that. It was fine. Even though it was hot and bleh outside, my legs felt Normal.
The worst part was how many PEOPLE were out. I never run at this time of day, and it was all walkers and cyclists and so many cars. I added a tenth of a mile to my run just running through parking lots and crossing the street repeatedly to avoid other people. Not my favorite.
But I had a blissful breeze in my face for the run back home, and Matt met me at the front door with a glass of ice water, and now I am 1/12 of the way done!
Matt also made me a pb&j because I couldn't decide if I should eat, and if so, what. <3
Laid down for 90 minutes, but mostly just chilled and read, no sleep possible yet.
Run 2, Friday, 10pm: 82 degrees, 67% humidity:
10 degrees cooler and a whole lot less sun. A whole lot fewer people, too. I saw maybe 2 cyclists and 2 walkers? Didn't have to zigzag at all.
Felt pretty okay, so decided to go ahead and add on one of my 2 extra miles that will take this ridiculousness from 48 miles to 50 miles, because why not? Just need to tack one more mile onto one of my runs, or break it up over some of the other runs. I have 10 more to choose from!
Hilda and Matt were waiting on the front porch with more ice water, and Hilda was SO EXCITED that someone knew her name as they ran up in the dark. Recovery drink, shower #2, compression socks, and hopefully SOME sleep this time.
Run 3, Saturday, 2am: 79 degrees, 76% humidity:
Well, still not much sleep, between dogs and snoring and anxiety that I might sleep through BOTH alarms I set. For this one I took my phone, just for extra security, and my headlamp, which I hate. I managed to wear my headlamp for 3 miles before wrapping it around my wrist for the last mile (one I know intimately, even in the dark, and which is on a sidewalk).
No other runners, walkers, cyclists. A few cars. Mostly just me and the deer. And the humidity. No sun, though! Thanks, 2am!
I felt hungry in the last mile, which isn't really good, so I had chicken and rice when I got home. And Matt woke up long enough to tell me good job.
Run 4, Saturday, 6am: 77 degrees, 83% humidity:
Revisionist history. I ended up with 11 photos and had to go back and figure out which headband I didn't photograph. Turns out: owls. So I took this photo right before I this back off and put on headband 12.
Got some sleep, woke up feeling exhausted. But still well before my alarms went off.
During Yeti, 6am is where things started to feel good again. I'm used to running at 6am! Not the case here. Felt sorta like death. And the humidity made everything feel so hard. But I knew it was just going to get warmer, and I knew as the day(s) went on, I wasn't going to feel much BETTER, so I went ahead and did my other 5 miler. Now I can do all 4s from now on, and my total will end up being 50. Hopefully. Math is hard.
I saw my teensy baby deer friend from my Sunday run. Probably. Probably the same deer.
Got home and had a protein bar and started some workout clothes laundering. I don't have enough clothes to not do laundry in the middle. Or.. before the middle. May have to do it again. I have two outfits not laundered that I can wear while these air dry.
Oh, and just like Yeti, I've started having weird sorta side stitch during my first mile. I assume, based on Yeti, it will be every run from here on out. Feels sort of like a side stitch in my high lower ribcage. Not my favorite, but at least it seems to go away after a mile. I'm trying to breathe deeply and not hunch over, but I'm not sure it's helping.
Run 5, Saturday, 10am: 84 degrees, 74% humidity:
Got a couple short blocks of decent sleep, and woke up feeling much better than I did for my 6am run.
That.. didn't last. It was warm. It was sunny. It was humid. It was actually sort of misting when I started, despite being full sun. The "Feels like" temp was in the mid 90s. At 10am.
I decided to try to liven things up by doing a different route. All my routes had been the same out and back so far (of varying distances). This time I went over by my parents' house after the first uphill mile. I soldiered through fairly well the first 3 miles. Then I had to come back on the frontage road, which I was HOPING would be lowish traffic and still shaded at 10am. It was neither of those things. And just before I hit 3 miles, the strap on my water bottle broke. So the last mile was full sun, lots of exhaust from cars, trying to hold my water bottle in a way that wasn't terrible since it was no longer tightly strapped to my hand, and trying to figure out, if it was already this bad at 10am, how I was going to survive 2pm and 6pm.
But I tried to just live in the moment and keep moving forward. Get through THIS run, which was hard enough without worry about 4 hours from now. And I managed to get through it. I did walk up the short hill to my street. I was just so defeated at that point. But started running again for the last block to my house.
I immediately got into the shower, and kept the water way colder than I ever do when I shower. Just needed to lower my body temp. While waiting for Matt to return with breakfast tacos, I chugged a Gatorade and dragged my compression socks back on.
I honestly have no idea how my legs feel. I think they're doing okay. But my body is having such issues with the weather, I can't even tell.
Hopefully eating 2 breakfast tacos isn't going to spell doom for my stomach in the next run. Can't decide whether I should try to nap a little before my next run, or drink some caffeine. The nighttime blocks are easy to decide. The daytime blocks are weird.
Ultimately I split the difference, laying down for 45 minutes with a little bit of sleep in there, then drinking a tiny can of Coke.
Run 6, Saturday, 2pm: 90 degrees, 54% humidity:
I really thought I was just gonna have to endure one really warm run, but I was wrong. Feels like 100.
After having a bit of a breakdown during the last sunny, terrible mile of run 5, I came home and assessed what I could do to get through the next 2 blocks, both of which promise to be sunny and hot. I decided taking out the first mile of shadeless hill might be the answer, so for run 6, I drove up to my old high school and started my run from there. It's mostly the same route I've been doing, just starting already up at the top of the hill, and running mostly the shaded bits. Mostly.
It was about as bad as I anticipated. At least it's less humid, but the sun is relentless. When I was in the shade with wind in my face, it was tolerable. Otherwise it felt like death. It WAS nice having fewer hills, so I think I'll probably do this again for 6pm, which promises to be just as painful.
On the way back to the car, I had to stop at the light at Spicewood and Mesa. When the walk sign came on, I .. walked. There's a short hill there, and I walked across the street and up the hill. Then made myself run again, and I felt a little light headed. So I walked again for a bit. Then ran in the rest of the way.
If I have to walk the whole damn thing at 6pm, I will. If it's smarter.
Then it will get dark, and the forecast still looks like it SHOULD be mostly overcast to rainy tomorrow. If not, I'm not sure I'll get through this.
Matt had an ice bath ready for me when I got home. Which was terrible, but good. Ice bath, pb&j, lots of water, lay down for a bit with the dogs. Don't think about 6pm.
Taken to send to my squad, to verify I hadn't died, but had gotten really close.
Run 7, Saturday, 6pm: 90 degrees, 47% humidity:
Feels like 98. That's.. better? It's under 100!
I managed a few minutes of sleep, and woke up feeling very groggy and my stomach felt kinda gross, and I realized I was only half done with this nonsense. Definitely a low point, especially heading back out into the heat.
I parked in the same place as before, intending to do the same out and back as before. But then I decided to see how the 1 mile loop I normally do as warmup before a track workout was. And if it was shaded and less hilly than I remembered, maybe I would do that 4 times. If it wasn't, at least my remaining out and back would be shorter.
(Oh, Matt loaned me his water bottle for the remainder of my runs, so I didn't have to carry my terrible broken one. If that had been the case, the rest of my report would be 100% me complaining about that.)
And it was fine. It was 75% shaded. The hill wasn't terrible. Not a ton of traffic. So I did 4 of those. I don't love loops, so it was a little mentally challenging, but it was worth it for not feeling light headed and beat down at the end, like I had at 2pm.
Had a Gatorade on the way home, then had more chicken and rice for dinner.
(Editor's note: My brilliant plan to log all my runs right after I did them, and make my race report super simple to post later, broke down here. When I finished my 2nd 10pm run, I just couldn't bring myself to take any time to write stuff down, so from here on out we're working from day's-ago memories, like a normal race report. Damn you, past me. (Just kidding. You had a rough time. Proud of you, past me. Thanks for the work you DID do, that made my job easier.))
Run 8, Saturday, 10pm: 82 degrees, 72% humidity:
Having broken the seal on not-running-from-home, I found I couldn't stop. I don't mind parking by the high school in the dark in the early morning, but didn't feel as safe doing it late at night, so I drove up to the Randalls at the top of the hill, normally at mile 1, and ran an out and back from there.
A deer had died across the street. I ran by it during my 2pm run, and I smelled it before I saw it then, but it wasn't terrible. Now it had been baking in the sun for 8 more hours. It did not smell good at all.
It was blissful having the sun gone, though. Made such a difference. It was, of course, now humid as fuck, but I tried to just appreciate the darkness of it all.
As much as I could, when everyone in the world was still out at 10pm because, I guess, graduation? So many cars driving around and pulling into and out of driveways, people out partying in their yards, and a group of graduates (possibly drunkenly) driving a golf cart in tight circles in the middle of the road. (I saw golf carts 3 times during this challenge, and I'd never seen one in my neighborhood before, and I don't think they're legal to drive in the street? Certainly I don't live anywhere near a golf course.)
Aside from the lack of sun and surfeit of People, I don't remember anything from this run. My pace chart shows I must have walked for a few seconds in the last mile, so clearly it didn't end on a high note.
I think Matt made me another pb&j after this one, before he headed to bed. I couldn't eat the whole thing. It was just.. too much. My body didn't want to put anything else in. But I got most of the sandwich in, and drank more gatorade.
Eat, drink, shower, sleep, repeat.
Run 9, Sunday, 2am: 77 degrees, 88% humidity:
I'm wearing a jacket here, because it was cold in the house. The jacket came off the second I stepped outside.
Oof. 2am. I woke up before my alarm (spoiler: I never had my alarm go off, I always woke up well before it; Thanks, anxiety!) and laid there in bed thinking about what I was doing. This was the one and only time where I wondered, "How upset would I be with myself if I just stopped here?" I'd already done a lot. Would I be okay if I quit at this point? I decided I would not. I was finally (only barely) on my last day. 4 more runs. I could do this. It didn't have to be pretty. I just had to gut out 4 more iterations of 4 miles.
As I was getting ready, my stomach felt pretty terrible. It felt.. either hungry or the exact opposite of hungry. Making noises, but completely unsure what the noises meant. I hadn't pooped this entire time, really, and I wasn't sure if I was eventually going to REALLY NEED TO, or whether we were past that ever happening again, because of dehydration. I'd seen several people mention having stomach issues at the end of this challenge, and I hoped this wasn't the start of that.
I ate my usual half a pack of Clif Bloks and headed out. In.. the car. Because man, if I'm going to run these 4 mile blocks, especially at 2am, which is a stupid time no matter what, cutting out the major hill in my run is a win I'd become addicted to.
Back to Randall's where the deer was still there, and the smell was even worse, and my stomach was already pretty displeased with everything. Oof.
It was warm. It was humid. It was late (early?). It was dark. But it wasn't the most terrible run I'd had. I took my promise to just go slow and steady very seriously. No walking needed or wanted on this one. Blissfully few other humans in evidence, maybe saw 4 cars drive by total.
The only notable thing really was in the last quarter mile, as I was cruising a mild downhill, there was a REALLY LOUD TERRIBLE NOISE BEHIND ME. I spun around, because it seemed to come from the middle of the street, and I had JUST run by there and hadn't seen anything, and then I realized the sound was the weird cough-yell thing that deer do to warn people off. I didn't see the deer in question, but clearly I ran too close to it for its comfort, and it was barking at me. I was really hoping that I'd be able to see the MASSIVE SPIKE in my heart rate graph, but alas my heart rate was already so high and all over the place, I can't pick it out specifically. Helped make sure I was awake for the last bit of my run, and the drive home, though!
Since I still wasn't sure whether my stomach issues had been too many calories or too few, I decided to err on the side of taking in more calories. I figured maybe having to finally poop was probably better than keeling over from lack of calories, right? So when I got home, I made myself 2 eggs which would have been scrambled if I'd been more awake and paying attention, but instead were just.. rubbery and sorta friedscrambled, and a piece of white toast with a whole lot of butter. I ate the eggs with my fingers, because the pieces were so solid, managed to cram the toast in, then shower and bed.
Run 10, Sunday, 6am: 78 degrees, 81% humidity:
3. More. Runs. And hopefully the rain/storms would be arriving soon! They weren't here yet. It was very, very humid, but no rain in sight. Stomach had rallied and felt relatively normal, no unidentifiable ache, still no poop.
I decided to man up and do this run from home, and do the run I'd done at 10am on Saturday. It's a good route! It had just been bad conditions. It wouldn't be nearly so sunny or trafficky this time. Bound to be better.
Welcome back, uphill first mile. I'm not sure I really missed you. I took it VERY conservatively. My legs still felt just fine, really. Some left adductor sensitivity, but otherwise they were really never the limiting factor. That was my breathing and heart rate. It was intensely warm and humid, and I think this run was the sweatiest of the entire challenge. Which is saying a lot.
I was doing okay, if very slow, until I got about half a mile from my house on the frontage road. There's a light there that I can normally sorta cruise through so early in the morning, but there were a lot of cars when I got there, and the light was against me. So I stopped my watch, hit the walk button, and stopped running. And immediately felt SUPER DIZZY. I leaned on the light post and tried not to look like I needed assistance from passing cars, and by the time the light turned, I felt okay to try moving again. But only at a walk. I walked across the street, up onto the sidewalk, and by then I felt more normal, and was able to slowly run the sidewalk back to my house. I walked up the last short hill, too, just out of an abundance of caution.
I felt okay after the run, other than actively dripping sweat all over the floor (much to the dogs' delight). I took another salt pill, drank a recovery drink, figuring that had the right balance of whatevers that I needed, and then showered and hit the bed again. 2 more runs. I could do anything for 2 more runs. Right?
I wanted to be sure I didn't forget how much this weather sucked.
Run 11, Sunday, 10am: 83 degrees, 72% humidity:
Looking at the forecast a couple days before, even a day before, I was a little nervous that the weather would be dangerous to run in. Because there were very high probability chances of thunderstorms. Heavy thunderstorms.
That.. did not happen. It was warm and sunny and humid and terrible. I don't even understand how it can be so terrible at 10am. That's still morning. It shouldn't be terrible until at least 11 or 12. I'd like to file a complaint.
I was doing anything I could to make this easier on myself at this point, so I wouldn't just crawl under the bed and quit (it's gross under my bed, so good call on my part), so I decided to go run from Randall's again. I considered running from the high school, but then you have to go through the light at Mesa, and I didn't want to deal with waiting at lights, especially after my experience at 6am with stopping at a light. Randall's would let me get a straight out and back without any stops, theoretically.
Deer was still there. Gurk.
It was warm. And sunny. And humid. And terrible. I was kind to myself and just ran very slowly and easily, and got to the turnaround point with no problem. And basically as soon as I turned around, and was facing the sun with the wind at my back (so I couldn't feel it), I just fell apart. I started walking without even making a conscious decision to do so. I managed to start running again a minute later, but the 2 miles back to the car was probably 50% walking, 50% running, with one solid block of 5 minutes pure walking in there. I just felt like complete crap.
Again.. legs fine. Poor legs. They could have done so much more if given the opportunity!
But I got back to the car and checked my next to last run off my list.
Showing off the "thunderstorms" I was promised.
I didn't want to eat when I got home. I don't even remember what I DID eat, other than I did eat something, because I knew that even though I was so close to the end, I still had hours before I had to run again, and eating nothing was certain to spell doom for that last run.
I didn't really sleep after I showered, but I laid in bed and tried to get whatever rest I could. I was so happy this was almost over. I heard Matt pumping up the tires on his bike, and figured he was planning to come ride beside me, and wasn't sure whether this was a good thing or a bad thing. It was a really nice thing, though, so I took it for how I knew it was intended, which was to be supportive in any way he could.
Run 12, Sunday, 2pm: 94 degrees, 52% humidity, feels like 104:
Gold is the flashiest, so the favorite, so got to go last.
Earlier in the day, when trying to choose my routes for the last runs, I thought maybe I should do that 1 mile loop again by the high school, in case the storm got scary, so I'd never be very far from shelter. Well, I did end up doing that 1 mile loop, but I did it for the same reason I did the first time, which was so that it would be shady, and.. I'd never be far from shelter. Shelter from the relentless sun, it turns out. Because that storm didn't happen. Instead it was in the lowmid 90s and sunny again. I was evidently going to have to earn this finish.
This is fine.
Matt rode out to meet me and ride beside me, and I warned him this was going to be slow, and probably have a lot of walking. I just wanted to finish, I didn't care how fast it was or how pretty it was.
DEFINITELY gonna be thunderstorms for the last run.
And it was neither. I ran the first mile, slowly but it was running. Matt had offered to carry my water bottle, but I wanted to be able to access it whenever I needed it, so I held onto it. Until about a quarter through the second mile, and I was DONE carrying this thing, so I stopped to hand it to him. The second I stopped, again, I felt super dizzy. I just stood there feeling dizzy for 30 seconds, then realized that I could be dizzy while walking slowly, and actually making progress toward finishing this thing, so I walked. And from then on, I walked when I needed and ran when I could.
My wonderful bike escort. #sopro
It turns out this loop, which had been pretty okay at 6pm, was not as okay at 2pm. Significantly less shade. So a lot of walking. But with some running interspersed.
And with Matt to keep me positive and hydrated, I managed to muddle my way through the last 4 miles, and FINISH the 4x4x48 challenge.
Drinking an ice cold Diet Coke in the shade because I am DONE RUNNING. Bliss.
Summary
It was hard. It would have been hard no matter what, but the main thing I struggled with was the weather. I'm not sure any run had a dew point under 72, with most around 74. Part of me wants to do it again in January and see if I feel better about my performance, most of me never wants to do it again. I'd much rather just go run 50 contiguous miles. (In good weather.)
The sleep deprivation was challenging. I had about 90 minutes worth of chance to sleep each round, but in reality my body only took advantage of maybe 30-40 minutes each time, usually not contiguously.
The eating and drinking were challenging. I felt like I was constantly overeating, but I was also afraid to eat any less, lest I be wrong and severely undereat. I weighed myself each morning (as I do every morning), and I was down 2 pounds from Friday to Saturday, then another 4 pounds by Sunday morning. All dehydration, despite carrying and drinking water on every run, and drinking water and gatorade after each run, supplemented by salt pills and various other salty things. I'm not sure it's possible to keep up, but I tried my best.
Legs felt fine at the end, if a little wobbly, and haven't really had any DOMS, despite running 50 miles. Breaking it up into chunks seems to have really made it less taxing on the legs, which is nice. I also wore my compression socks between every run except the last 2, when I completely ran out of fucks to give about the state of my legs. I guess if my goal were just to run a LOT of miles with minimal leg impact, this is the way to do it. Good to know. Hopefully I'll never need to utilize that knowledge. The rest of my body feels a bit wrecked. Dehydrated. Hungry. Fatigued. Weak. Pretty normal post-ultra, though.
Recovery walk with my favorite sherpa/sandwichmaker/tacofetcher/icebathrunner/cycleescort/biggestfan the next day. I think he still loves me even though for 48 hours, if I said anything at all, I'm fairly sure it was something negative. Legs felt just fine for the walk.
And that is my tale.
Oh, and logistical notes, in case anyone comes looking for race reports like I did before doing this, I did laundry twice during the 48 hours. If it had been short sleeve weather, I might have gotten away with once, because I have a lot more short sleeved shirts I like, but I think I only have 5 pairs of socks that definitely don't give me blisters in hot, sweaty weather. And maybe 7 pairs of shorts. So maybe it would have been twice anyway. I also showered after every run, so 12 showers in 48 hours. The NC crew showered a couple times total. Trista in PA showered 11 times, mostly, she says, to warm up after her runs. I love her, but I do not LIKE her.
AllTheHeadbands
This 4x4x48 challenge has none of those things. It is purely a result of making bad life decisions and choosing my friends poorly.
The challenge is: run 4 miles every 4 hours for 48 hours. That should net you 48 miles, but if you're us, of course, you run an extra 2 to get you to 50, because why not?
Originally we planned to get the Yeti crew back together and do it "together" again, but at the last minute, that plan completely fell apart. Trista ended up starting Thursday at 6am, MeredithHilaryFrank ended up starting at noon on Friday, and I started at 6pm on Friday. We still messaged each other throughout, but it was definitely a lot lonelier this way, especially in the last few runs when everyone else was done and celebrating.
I had considered starting earlier on Friday, but it looked like Friday's weather would be terrible and hot, and then Saturday and Sunday would be blissfully rainy and/or stormy. I figured I'd have one miserable Friday run in the sun, but then would get several rainy Sunday runs to make up for it. Best laid plans.
Editor's note: Because I'm smart, I decided to log my runs AFTER I DID THEM. Then the race report would basically write itself by the time I was done! Brilliant idea. Let's see if it lasts!
Additional editor's note: While trying to decide which headband to wear for my first run, I discovered I have exactly 12 (thick) headbands! Therefore I wore a different one for each run. And since I have precious few photos for this race report, I took a picture of each one. Please enjoy 12 photos of the top of my head, some sparklier than others.
Run 1, Friday, 6pm: 91 degrees, feels like 101, full sun:
I started my run, and thought "Oh, well this isn't bad. It's shady. I think the sun has gone down enough that it's not directly overhead. This feels fine! Then I turned the corner onto Spicewood, and there was the sun. Right overhead. And it felt pretty terrible.
But actually it was fine. I was fully anticipating terrible, since my Monday run felt terrible, and my first run at 6pm for Yeti felt terrible. The kind of terrible where your legs just feel bad from the first step. And your intestines are full of all the foods you ate throughout the day. I was anticipating that again. And it wasn't that. It was fine. Even though it was hot and bleh outside, my legs felt Normal.
The worst part was how many PEOPLE were out. I never run at this time of day, and it was all walkers and cyclists and so many cars. I added a tenth of a mile to my run just running through parking lots and crossing the street repeatedly to avoid other people. Not my favorite.
But I had a blissful breeze in my face for the run back home, and Matt met me at the front door with a glass of ice water, and now I am 1/12 of the way done!
Matt also made me a pb&j because I couldn't decide if I should eat, and if so, what. <3
Laid down for 90 minutes, but mostly just chilled and read, no sleep possible yet.
Run 2, Friday, 10pm: 82 degrees, 67% humidity:
10 degrees cooler and a whole lot less sun. A whole lot fewer people, too. I saw maybe 2 cyclists and 2 walkers? Didn't have to zigzag at all.
Felt pretty okay, so decided to go ahead and add on one of my 2 extra miles that will take this ridiculousness from 48 miles to 50 miles, because why not? Just need to tack one more mile onto one of my runs, or break it up over some of the other runs. I have 10 more to choose from!
Hilda and Matt were waiting on the front porch with more ice water, and Hilda was SO EXCITED that someone knew her name as they ran up in the dark. Recovery drink, shower #2, compression socks, and hopefully SOME sleep this time.
Run 3, Saturday, 2am: 79 degrees, 76% humidity:
Well, still not much sleep, between dogs and snoring and anxiety that I might sleep through BOTH alarms I set. For this one I took my phone, just for extra security, and my headlamp, which I hate. I managed to wear my headlamp for 3 miles before wrapping it around my wrist for the last mile (one I know intimately, even in the dark, and which is on a sidewalk).
No other runners, walkers, cyclists. A few cars. Mostly just me and the deer. And the humidity. No sun, though! Thanks, 2am!
I felt hungry in the last mile, which isn't really good, so I had chicken and rice when I got home. And Matt woke up long enough to tell me good job.
Run 4, Saturday, 6am: 77 degrees, 83% humidity:
Revisionist history. I ended up with 11 photos and had to go back and figure out which headband I didn't photograph. Turns out: owls. So I took this photo right before I this back off and put on headband 12.
Got some sleep, woke up feeling exhausted. But still well before my alarms went off.
During Yeti, 6am is where things started to feel good again. I'm used to running at 6am! Not the case here. Felt sorta like death. And the humidity made everything feel so hard. But I knew it was just going to get warmer, and I knew as the day(s) went on, I wasn't going to feel much BETTER, so I went ahead and did my other 5 miler. Now I can do all 4s from now on, and my total will end up being 50. Hopefully. Math is hard.
I saw my teensy baby deer friend from my Sunday run. Probably. Probably the same deer.
Got home and had a protein bar and started some workout clothes laundering. I don't have enough clothes to not do laundry in the middle. Or.. before the middle. May have to do it again. I have two outfits not laundered that I can wear while these air dry.
Oh, and just like Yeti, I've started having weird sorta side stitch during my first mile. I assume, based on Yeti, it will be every run from here on out. Feels sort of like a side stitch in my high lower ribcage. Not my favorite, but at least it seems to go away after a mile. I'm trying to breathe deeply and not hunch over, but I'm not sure it's helping.
Run 5, Saturday, 10am: 84 degrees, 74% humidity:
Got a couple short blocks of decent sleep, and woke up feeling much better than I did for my 6am run.
That.. didn't last. It was warm. It was sunny. It was humid. It was actually sort of misting when I started, despite being full sun. The "Feels like" temp was in the mid 90s. At 10am.
I decided to try to liven things up by doing a different route. All my routes had been the same out and back so far (of varying distances). This time I went over by my parents' house after the first uphill mile. I soldiered through fairly well the first 3 miles. Then I had to come back on the frontage road, which I was HOPING would be lowish traffic and still shaded at 10am. It was neither of those things. And just before I hit 3 miles, the strap on my water bottle broke. So the last mile was full sun, lots of exhaust from cars, trying to hold my water bottle in a way that wasn't terrible since it was no longer tightly strapped to my hand, and trying to figure out, if it was already this bad at 10am, how I was going to survive 2pm and 6pm.
But I tried to just live in the moment and keep moving forward. Get through THIS run, which was hard enough without worry about 4 hours from now. And I managed to get through it. I did walk up the short hill to my street. I was just so defeated at that point. But started running again for the last block to my house.
I immediately got into the shower, and kept the water way colder than I ever do when I shower. Just needed to lower my body temp. While waiting for Matt to return with breakfast tacos, I chugged a Gatorade and dragged my compression socks back on.
I honestly have no idea how my legs feel. I think they're doing okay. But my body is having such issues with the weather, I can't even tell.
Hopefully eating 2 breakfast tacos isn't going to spell doom for my stomach in the next run. Can't decide whether I should try to nap a little before my next run, or drink some caffeine. The nighttime blocks are easy to decide. The daytime blocks are weird.
Ultimately I split the difference, laying down for 45 minutes with a little bit of sleep in there, then drinking a tiny can of Coke.
Run 6, Saturday, 2pm: 90 degrees, 54% humidity:
I really thought I was just gonna have to endure one really warm run, but I was wrong. Feels like 100.
After having a bit of a breakdown during the last sunny, terrible mile of run 5, I came home and assessed what I could do to get through the next 2 blocks, both of which promise to be sunny and hot. I decided taking out the first mile of shadeless hill might be the answer, so for run 6, I drove up to my old high school and started my run from there. It's mostly the same route I've been doing, just starting already up at the top of the hill, and running mostly the shaded bits. Mostly.
It was about as bad as I anticipated. At least it's less humid, but the sun is relentless. When I was in the shade with wind in my face, it was tolerable. Otherwise it felt like death. It WAS nice having fewer hills, so I think I'll probably do this again for 6pm, which promises to be just as painful.
On the way back to the car, I had to stop at the light at Spicewood and Mesa. When the walk sign came on, I .. walked. There's a short hill there, and I walked across the street and up the hill. Then made myself run again, and I felt a little light headed. So I walked again for a bit. Then ran in the rest of the way.
If I have to walk the whole damn thing at 6pm, I will. If it's smarter.
Then it will get dark, and the forecast still looks like it SHOULD be mostly overcast to rainy tomorrow. If not, I'm not sure I'll get through this.
Matt had an ice bath ready for me when I got home. Which was terrible, but good. Ice bath, pb&j, lots of water, lay down for a bit with the dogs. Don't think about 6pm.
Taken to send to my squad, to verify I hadn't died, but had gotten really close.
Run 7, Saturday, 6pm: 90 degrees, 47% humidity:
Feels like 98. That's.. better? It's under 100!
I managed a few minutes of sleep, and woke up feeling very groggy and my stomach felt kinda gross, and I realized I was only half done with this nonsense. Definitely a low point, especially heading back out into the heat.
I parked in the same place as before, intending to do the same out and back as before. But then I decided to see how the 1 mile loop I normally do as warmup before a track workout was. And if it was shaded and less hilly than I remembered, maybe I would do that 4 times. If it wasn't, at least my remaining out and back would be shorter.
(Oh, Matt loaned me his water bottle for the remainder of my runs, so I didn't have to carry my terrible broken one. If that had been the case, the rest of my report would be 100% me complaining about that.)
And it was fine. It was 75% shaded. The hill wasn't terrible. Not a ton of traffic. So I did 4 of those. I don't love loops, so it was a little mentally challenging, but it was worth it for not feeling light headed and beat down at the end, like I had at 2pm.
Had a Gatorade on the way home, then had more chicken and rice for dinner.
(Editor's note: My brilliant plan to log all my runs right after I did them, and make my race report super simple to post later, broke down here. When I finished my 2nd 10pm run, I just couldn't bring myself to take any time to write stuff down, so from here on out we're working from day's-ago memories, like a normal race report. Damn you, past me. (Just kidding. You had a rough time. Proud of you, past me. Thanks for the work you DID do, that made my job easier.))
Run 8, Saturday, 10pm: 82 degrees, 72% humidity:
Having broken the seal on not-running-from-home, I found I couldn't stop. I don't mind parking by the high school in the dark in the early morning, but didn't feel as safe doing it late at night, so I drove up to the Randalls at the top of the hill, normally at mile 1, and ran an out and back from there.
A deer had died across the street. I ran by it during my 2pm run, and I smelled it before I saw it then, but it wasn't terrible. Now it had been baking in the sun for 8 more hours. It did not smell good at all.
It was blissful having the sun gone, though. Made such a difference. It was, of course, now humid as fuck, but I tried to just appreciate the darkness of it all.
As much as I could, when everyone in the world was still out at 10pm because, I guess, graduation? So many cars driving around and pulling into and out of driveways, people out partying in their yards, and a group of graduates (possibly drunkenly) driving a golf cart in tight circles in the middle of the road. (I saw golf carts 3 times during this challenge, and I'd never seen one in my neighborhood before, and I don't think they're legal to drive in the street? Certainly I don't live anywhere near a golf course.)
Aside from the lack of sun and surfeit of People, I don't remember anything from this run. My pace chart shows I must have walked for a few seconds in the last mile, so clearly it didn't end on a high note.
I think Matt made me another pb&j after this one, before he headed to bed. I couldn't eat the whole thing. It was just.. too much. My body didn't want to put anything else in. But I got most of the sandwich in, and drank more gatorade.
Eat, drink, shower, sleep, repeat.
Run 9, Sunday, 2am: 77 degrees, 88% humidity:
I'm wearing a jacket here, because it was cold in the house. The jacket came off the second I stepped outside.
Oof. 2am. I woke up before my alarm (spoiler: I never had my alarm go off, I always woke up well before it; Thanks, anxiety!) and laid there in bed thinking about what I was doing. This was the one and only time where I wondered, "How upset would I be with myself if I just stopped here?" I'd already done a lot. Would I be okay if I quit at this point? I decided I would not. I was finally (only barely) on my last day. 4 more runs. I could do this. It didn't have to be pretty. I just had to gut out 4 more iterations of 4 miles.
As I was getting ready, my stomach felt pretty terrible. It felt.. either hungry or the exact opposite of hungry. Making noises, but completely unsure what the noises meant. I hadn't pooped this entire time, really, and I wasn't sure if I was eventually going to REALLY NEED TO, or whether we were past that ever happening again, because of dehydration. I'd seen several people mention having stomach issues at the end of this challenge, and I hoped this wasn't the start of that.
I ate my usual half a pack of Clif Bloks and headed out. In.. the car. Because man, if I'm going to run these 4 mile blocks, especially at 2am, which is a stupid time no matter what, cutting out the major hill in my run is a win I'd become addicted to.
Back to Randall's where the deer was still there, and the smell was even worse, and my stomach was already pretty displeased with everything. Oof.
It was warm. It was humid. It was late (early?). It was dark. But it wasn't the most terrible run I'd had. I took my promise to just go slow and steady very seriously. No walking needed or wanted on this one. Blissfully few other humans in evidence, maybe saw 4 cars drive by total.
The only notable thing really was in the last quarter mile, as I was cruising a mild downhill, there was a REALLY LOUD TERRIBLE NOISE BEHIND ME. I spun around, because it seemed to come from the middle of the street, and I had JUST run by there and hadn't seen anything, and then I realized the sound was the weird cough-yell thing that deer do to warn people off. I didn't see the deer in question, but clearly I ran too close to it for its comfort, and it was barking at me. I was really hoping that I'd be able to see the MASSIVE SPIKE in my heart rate graph, but alas my heart rate was already so high and all over the place, I can't pick it out specifically. Helped make sure I was awake for the last bit of my run, and the drive home, though!
Since I still wasn't sure whether my stomach issues had been too many calories or too few, I decided to err on the side of taking in more calories. I figured maybe having to finally poop was probably better than keeling over from lack of calories, right? So when I got home, I made myself 2 eggs which would have been scrambled if I'd been more awake and paying attention, but instead were just.. rubbery and sorta friedscrambled, and a piece of white toast with a whole lot of butter. I ate the eggs with my fingers, because the pieces were so solid, managed to cram the toast in, then shower and bed.
Run 10, Sunday, 6am: 78 degrees, 81% humidity:
3. More. Runs. And hopefully the rain/storms would be arriving soon! They weren't here yet. It was very, very humid, but no rain in sight. Stomach had rallied and felt relatively normal, no unidentifiable ache, still no poop.
I decided to man up and do this run from home, and do the run I'd done at 10am on Saturday. It's a good route! It had just been bad conditions. It wouldn't be nearly so sunny or trafficky this time. Bound to be better.
Welcome back, uphill first mile. I'm not sure I really missed you. I took it VERY conservatively. My legs still felt just fine, really. Some left adductor sensitivity, but otherwise they were really never the limiting factor. That was my breathing and heart rate. It was intensely warm and humid, and I think this run was the sweatiest of the entire challenge. Which is saying a lot.
I was doing okay, if very slow, until I got about half a mile from my house on the frontage road. There's a light there that I can normally sorta cruise through so early in the morning, but there were a lot of cars when I got there, and the light was against me. So I stopped my watch, hit the walk button, and stopped running. And immediately felt SUPER DIZZY. I leaned on the light post and tried not to look like I needed assistance from passing cars, and by the time the light turned, I felt okay to try moving again. But only at a walk. I walked across the street, up onto the sidewalk, and by then I felt more normal, and was able to slowly run the sidewalk back to my house. I walked up the last short hill, too, just out of an abundance of caution.
I felt okay after the run, other than actively dripping sweat all over the floor (much to the dogs' delight). I took another salt pill, drank a recovery drink, figuring that had the right balance of whatevers that I needed, and then showered and hit the bed again. 2 more runs. I could do anything for 2 more runs. Right?
I wanted to be sure I didn't forget how much this weather sucked.
Run 11, Sunday, 10am: 83 degrees, 72% humidity:
Looking at the forecast a couple days before, even a day before, I was a little nervous that the weather would be dangerous to run in. Because there were very high probability chances of thunderstorms. Heavy thunderstorms.
That.. did not happen. It was warm and sunny and humid and terrible. I don't even understand how it can be so terrible at 10am. That's still morning. It shouldn't be terrible until at least 11 or 12. I'd like to file a complaint.
I was doing anything I could to make this easier on myself at this point, so I wouldn't just crawl under the bed and quit (it's gross under my bed, so good call on my part), so I decided to go run from Randall's again. I considered running from the high school, but then you have to go through the light at Mesa, and I didn't want to deal with waiting at lights, especially after my experience at 6am with stopping at a light. Randall's would let me get a straight out and back without any stops, theoretically.
Deer was still there. Gurk.
It was warm. And sunny. And humid. And terrible. I was kind to myself and just ran very slowly and easily, and got to the turnaround point with no problem. And basically as soon as I turned around, and was facing the sun with the wind at my back (so I couldn't feel it), I just fell apart. I started walking without even making a conscious decision to do so. I managed to start running again a minute later, but the 2 miles back to the car was probably 50% walking, 50% running, with one solid block of 5 minutes pure walking in there. I just felt like complete crap.
Again.. legs fine. Poor legs. They could have done so much more if given the opportunity!
But I got back to the car and checked my next to last run off my list.
Showing off the "thunderstorms" I was promised.
I didn't want to eat when I got home. I don't even remember what I DID eat, other than I did eat something, because I knew that even though I was so close to the end, I still had hours before I had to run again, and eating nothing was certain to spell doom for that last run.
I didn't really sleep after I showered, but I laid in bed and tried to get whatever rest I could. I was so happy this was almost over. I heard Matt pumping up the tires on his bike, and figured he was planning to come ride beside me, and wasn't sure whether this was a good thing or a bad thing. It was a really nice thing, though, so I took it for how I knew it was intended, which was to be supportive in any way he could.
Run 12, Sunday, 2pm: 94 degrees, 52% humidity, feels like 104:
Gold is the flashiest, so the favorite, so got to go last.
Earlier in the day, when trying to choose my routes for the last runs, I thought maybe I should do that 1 mile loop again by the high school, in case the storm got scary, so I'd never be very far from shelter. Well, I did end up doing that 1 mile loop, but I did it for the same reason I did the first time, which was so that it would be shady, and.. I'd never be far from shelter. Shelter from the relentless sun, it turns out. Because that storm didn't happen. Instead it was in the lowmid 90s and sunny again. I was evidently going to have to earn this finish.
This is fine.
Matt rode out to meet me and ride beside me, and I warned him this was going to be slow, and probably have a lot of walking. I just wanted to finish, I didn't care how fast it was or how pretty it was.
DEFINITELY gonna be thunderstorms for the last run.
And it was neither. I ran the first mile, slowly but it was running. Matt had offered to carry my water bottle, but I wanted to be able to access it whenever I needed it, so I held onto it. Until about a quarter through the second mile, and I was DONE carrying this thing, so I stopped to hand it to him. The second I stopped, again, I felt super dizzy. I just stood there feeling dizzy for 30 seconds, then realized that I could be dizzy while walking slowly, and actually making progress toward finishing this thing, so I walked. And from then on, I walked when I needed and ran when I could.
My wonderful bike escort. #sopro
It turns out this loop, which had been pretty okay at 6pm, was not as okay at 2pm. Significantly less shade. So a lot of walking. But with some running interspersed.
And with Matt to keep me positive and hydrated, I managed to muddle my way through the last 4 miles, and FINISH the 4x4x48 challenge.
Drinking an ice cold Diet Coke in the shade because I am DONE RUNNING. Bliss.
Summary
It was hard. It would have been hard no matter what, but the main thing I struggled with was the weather. I'm not sure any run had a dew point under 72, with most around 74. Part of me wants to do it again in January and see if I feel better about my performance, most of me never wants to do it again. I'd much rather just go run 50 contiguous miles. (In good weather.)
The sleep deprivation was challenging. I had about 90 minutes worth of chance to sleep each round, but in reality my body only took advantage of maybe 30-40 minutes each time, usually not contiguously.
The eating and drinking were challenging. I felt like I was constantly overeating, but I was also afraid to eat any less, lest I be wrong and severely undereat. I weighed myself each morning (as I do every morning), and I was down 2 pounds from Friday to Saturday, then another 4 pounds by Sunday morning. All dehydration, despite carrying and drinking water on every run, and drinking water and gatorade after each run, supplemented by salt pills and various other salty things. I'm not sure it's possible to keep up, but I tried my best.
Legs felt fine at the end, if a little wobbly, and haven't really had any DOMS, despite running 50 miles. Breaking it up into chunks seems to have really made it less taxing on the legs, which is nice. I also wore my compression socks between every run except the last 2, when I completely ran out of fucks to give about the state of my legs. I guess if my goal were just to run a LOT of miles with minimal leg impact, this is the way to do it. Good to know. Hopefully I'll never need to utilize that knowledge. The rest of my body feels a bit wrecked. Dehydrated. Hungry. Fatigued. Weak. Pretty normal post-ultra, though.
Recovery walk with my favorite sherpa/sandwichmaker/tacofetcher/icebathrunner/cycleescort/biggestfan the next day. I think he still loves me even though for 48 hours, if I said anything at all, I'm fairly sure it was something negative. Legs felt just fine for the walk.
And that is my tale.
Oh, and logistical notes, in case anyone comes looking for race reports like I did before doing this, I did laundry twice during the 48 hours. If it had been short sleeve weather, I might have gotten away with once, because I have a lot more short sleeved shirts I like, but I think I only have 5 pairs of socks that definitely don't give me blisters in hot, sweaty weather. And maybe 7 pairs of shorts. So maybe it would have been twice anyway. I also showered after every run, so 12 showers in 48 hours. The NC crew showered a couple times total. Trista in PA showered 11 times, mostly, she says, to warm up after her runs. I love her, but I do not LIKE her.
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