I ran 100km on Saturday!
aarar
Posts: 684 Member
I completed my first ultra marathon on the weekend. It took me longer than I expected (18 1/2 hours) but I'm damn proud! According to my GPS watch the total distance I covered was actually 105.8km because I got lost a few times.
2 years ago almost to the week I was over 230lbs and had a hard time walking up a flight of stairs. I started running (for the first time in my life) in January 2013; 7 1/2 months later I completed a full marathon and since then my focus has been this race.
I don't believe in excuses, I think if you want something bad enough you can find ways to make it happen. My biggest struggle throughout training was finding balance and not letting it interfere with my limited family time. I have a full time job that takes me out of the house 50+ hours a week as well as 2 young kids so even without running, life is incredibly busy. That means 3am & 4am wake ups were very common over the past 4 months. The longer my training runs went the earlier my alarm was set. Each day my goal was to be home before my family woke up which meant I would run 15-20km before my day even started. As training peaked, it became inevitable that my 6-8 hour weekend long runs would go on long after the kids woke up and it was very difficult to continue running knowing I was missing time with them. Luckily I didn't have too many of those days.
The race was an amazing experience. It was the most difficult thing I have ever attempted in my life and I'm SO glad I did it. I had so many fears coming into this race: running at night, getting lost, encountering wildlife, running through the exhaustion and nausea, the 20+ barbed wire fences I had to climb through, falling etc. But I faced each one and it makes my finish that much better. I literally took everything one step at a time.
Also in case anyone was wondering my step count according to my fitbit was 123 900 steps for Saturday (and about 10900 steps on Sunday because it reset after midnight)! The total calories burned was about 7000 (so if anyone wants to lose a 'quick' 2lbs that's probably the only way you'll lose 2lbs of fat in one day! I actually lost 7lbs but most was water weight).
On Sunday I was asked if I'd do it again next year and my answer was 'no way'; less than a week later I already know I'll be doing another ultra in 2015 and now just trying to decide which one.
2 years ago almost to the week I was over 230lbs and had a hard time walking up a flight of stairs. I started running (for the first time in my life) in January 2013; 7 1/2 months later I completed a full marathon and since then my focus has been this race.
I don't believe in excuses, I think if you want something bad enough you can find ways to make it happen. My biggest struggle throughout training was finding balance and not letting it interfere with my limited family time. I have a full time job that takes me out of the house 50+ hours a week as well as 2 young kids so even without running, life is incredibly busy. That means 3am & 4am wake ups were very common over the past 4 months. The longer my training runs went the earlier my alarm was set. Each day my goal was to be home before my family woke up which meant I would run 15-20km before my day even started. As training peaked, it became inevitable that my 6-8 hour weekend long runs would go on long after the kids woke up and it was very difficult to continue running knowing I was missing time with them. Luckily I didn't have too many of those days.
The race was an amazing experience. It was the most difficult thing I have ever attempted in my life and I'm SO glad I did it. I had so many fears coming into this race: running at night, getting lost, encountering wildlife, running through the exhaustion and nausea, the 20+ barbed wire fences I had to climb through, falling etc. But I faced each one and it makes my finish that much better. I literally took everything one step at a time.
Also in case anyone was wondering my step count according to my fitbit was 123 900 steps for Saturday (and about 10900 steps on Sunday because it reset after midnight)! The total calories burned was about 7000 (so if anyone wants to lose a 'quick' 2lbs that's probably the only way you'll lose 2lbs of fat in one day! I actually lost 7lbs but most was water weight).
On Sunday I was asked if I'd do it again next year and my answer was 'no way'; less than a week later I already know I'll be doing another ultra in 2015 and now just trying to decide which one.
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Replies
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This is awesome. Nice work.0
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Wow, amazing perserverance and strength! (*)0
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Nice job!!! Keep it up!0
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Wow
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great job 0
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Thats just mind blowing0
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Super accomplishment. You go girl.0
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Wow!! That's inspiring0
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That's crazy! Massive well done!0
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Wow, wow, wow!! Simply amazing0
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I can't even wrap my head around running that far. Awesome!!!!
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You are absolutely insane, in the best way possible.
Congratulations, you've literally done something that so few people would even attempt let alone accomplish.0 -
Wow Congratulations that's a huge acheivement. Inspiring.0
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That is incredible. I bow before you. I just completed a marathon and cannot imagine how much dedication what you did took, because just training for 26.2 miles was emotionally and physically exhausting. Very impressive!0
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So, for your 1st ultra you just decided to skip the 50K or 50M option and just go straight to 100K? WOW! Congrats. 0
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Very impressive, good job!0
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At first I thought the title of this thread was a typo. Just wow. Amazing work, great job. You're a little nuts, but good on ya!
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365andstillalive wrote: »You are absolutely insane,
You're not the first person to tell me this, especially this week. lolDonPendergraft wrote: »So, for your 1st ultra you just decided to skip the 50K or 50M option and just go straight to 100K? WOW! Congrats.
lol. Thanks! I was originally planning on the 50k road race that the Calgary Marathon was doing in June for their 50th anniversary but they wouldn't let me participate because it was only open to those who had previously run a marathon in under 4:30. I didn't qualify and they wouldn't budge, so I had to find something else. I picked the last ultra of the season to give me the most time possible to train.0 -
Wow you are bad *kitten*!! Seriously! Good job!0
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Great work!!! 0
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Congrats on an awesome accomplishment. I'm with you on 'no excuses' and understand the difficulty of getting the mileage in your legs while living life.0
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Love the "new excuses" part. Congratulations!!!0
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Wow just wow, you are freaking awesome!!!!!0
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Holy Moly! That is fantastic. Great job!0
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Holy!!! that's awesome major hats off to you! 0
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That's ridiculous. My legs are sore just thinking about it. Congrats to you.0
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Holy cow that's amazing! Well done, especially considering where you started!!!!0
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I applaud you! You are truely an inspiration!
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Awesome! Great job!
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Awesome job! Congrats.0
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