Keep Running Fatkids: MFP 24-hour tribute relay

Orphia
Orphia Posts: 7,097 Member
edited October 2018 in Fitness and Exercise
A group of 27 My Fitness Pal runners around the world ran a 24-hour tribute relay “Run For Dennis”.

Dennis (aka @KeepRunningFatboy) had run marathons in over half the US states, and his goal was to do them all. He chose his username from an “insult” a passer-by called him, and he turned it around to boost his determination.

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He had been posting in the MFP Monthly Running Challenge threads often, every month since December 2016.

In January 2018 Dennis wrote a post on his profile about being kind to Tomorrow You. He wrote about how doing things like eating and drinking sensibly and looking after yourself are not punishments, but a lovely thing to do for the person you will wake up as. The person in the morning is the same person that has to deal with your behaviour the day or night before.

This thought process, together with friends doing Dry January, inspired me to try not drinking on February 1. I haven’t had a drink since. Dennis’s thoughts inspired many others in the Less Alcohol Challenge to moderate or quit their drinking.

In the MFP Monthly Running Challenge threads, Dennis’s wit, wisdom, and running achievements were very inspiring.

In late August Dennis passed away suddenly. This resulted in a flood of tributes and tribute runs in his memory, including Garygse running a marathon distance on his own in Texas the morning after we heard the news. Through our shock and sadness, we kept on running, inspired by Dennis, then the idea of a 24 hour relay tribute emerged. With Elise4270's help co-ordinating, we planned the relay.

On October 14 I started the relay off, doing the Melbourne Marathon, my third marathon, and my toughest due to the warm, sunny conditions. I started counting calories on MFP in April 2015, started running September 2015, and lost 80 lbs / 35 kg and reached goal weight by April 2016.

When I started running, I started posting in the MFP Monthly Running Challenge threads in the Challenges forum in MFP Community.

I got to know many of these lovely, informative, inspiring, supportive, and fun people in the threads, including KeepRunningFatboy. I’d made friends with him on Facebook which was how I heard of his passing.

Dennis liked a Seinfeld clip about Tomorrow Guy who “always screws Evening Guy”. Time and time zones certainly screwed with us on the relay. Juliet3455’s half marathon ended up being the day before we started the relay, and shanaber also ran early due to time zone calculation difficulties. But we got there in the end! I'm including juliet3455 and shanaber because I like exceptions to the rule, and RunsonEspresso and marisap2010 ran at some point during the time period so let’s agree that cancels out the “missing” hours.

We started Australian Eastern Daylight Savings time 7 am on Sunday 14 October 2018 (20:00 GMT / 13:00 Los Angeles time on 13 October 2018).

The list of participants who ran in tribute:

GMT - Hour - Runner
2000 0 (2001-2100 GMT) - @Orphia 42.2 km
2100 1 - Orphia
2130 1.5 - Orphia
2200 2 - Orphia
2230 2.5 - Orphia
2300 3 - Orphia
2330 3.5 - Orphia
2400 4 - Orphia
0030 4.5 - Orphia
0100 5 – Orphia, @garygse
0130 5.5 - garygse
0200 6 - @bubblegum2fitness 2.5 miles
0230 6.5 - @HonuNui 7.2 miles
0300 7 - HonuNui
0330 7.5 - HonuNui
0400 8 - HonuNui
0430 8.5 - HonuNui
0500 9 - @juliet3455 21.2 km
0530 9.5 - juliet3455, @shanaber
0600 10 - juliet3455, @RunsonEspresso
0630 10.5 - juliet3455, @marisap2010
0700 11 - juliet3455
0730 11.5 - juliet3455
0800 12 - @_nikkiwolf_ 16.47 km
0830 12.5 - _nikkiwolf_
0900 13 - _nikkiwolf_
0930 13.5 - _nikkiwolf
1000 14 - @workaholic_nurse 5.57 miles
1030 14.5 – workaholic_nurse
1100 15 - @girlinahat 5.5 miles, workaholic_nurse
1130 15.5 - girlinahat, @Teresa502 5.55 miles
1200 16 - girlinahat, @Scott6255, @Tramboman 10.5 km, Teresa502
1230 16.5 - girlinahat, Scott6255, Tramboman
1300 17 – Scott6255, @kevaasen, Tramboman
1330 17.5 – @Elise4270, @kgirlhart , Scott6255, kevaasen
1400 18 – Elise4270, kgirlhart
1430 18.5 – Elise4270
1500 19 – @OSUbuckeye906
1530 19.5 – OSUbuckeye906
1600 20 - @RunRachelleRun 1.94 miles
1630 20.5 - @Marissaxzxzxz 5.05 miles (4-5 pm GMT), kevaasen
1700 21 - Marissaxzxzxz
1730 21.5 - @Avidkeo 3 km
1800 22 - Avidkeo, @rusgolden
1830 22.5 – rusgolden, @MobyCarp 8 miles
1900 23 - @bubblegum2fitness 3 miles, @Butterchop 6.2 miles, MobyCarp
1930 23.5 - bubblegum2fitness, Butterchop, @ctlaws44, MobyCarp
2000 24 - @biketheworld, ctlaws44
2030 24.5 – biketheworld
2100 25 - @MegaMooseEsq 10.4 miles, @sarahthes
2130 25.5 – MegaMooseEsq, sarahthes, @katharmonic 2.8 miles
2200 26 – MegaMooseEsq, katharmonic
2230 26.5 - MegaMooseEsq



We plan to keep running and add US marathons to Dennis’s tally to continue the memory of his goal. The first one is Scott6255 doing Houston Texas January 20 2019, then Garygse doing Phoenix Arizona February 9 2019, followed by MobyCarp doing his fourth Boston marathon in April.

I’m not religious, but I feel a part of something bigger after this. Dennis had big goals. Thank you, Dennis.

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[Edited by MFP Staff]

Replies

  • Avidkeo
    Avidkeo Posts: 3,190 Member
    Fantastic write up @Orphia I sadly had not known Dennis long, I joined the monthly challenge in May, but his support, motivation and humour made him very memorable and I always looked out for his posts of encouragement. He will be missed.
  • shanaber
    shanaber Posts: 6,373 Member
    Excellent writeup @orphia! Dennis will continue to inspire us and encourage all of us to continue moving or get up and move! Thank you and @Elise4270 for putting this all together and for the write up!
  • Scott6255
    Scott6255 Posts: 2,408 Member
    Thanks @Orphia for this beautiful and inspiration post. Great job!
  • Orphia
    Orphia Posts: 7,097 Member
    MobyCarp wrote: »
    Thanks @Orphia for this writeup, and especially the shareable link to it on FB. Runners who have never been on MFP will hear about Dennis from my FB feed of your link with my comment that I'll run Boston 2019 in honor of Dennis.

    I'd be very grateful if someone would post the link as rules won't allow me.

    Thank you all, and thank you to the MFP Monthly Running Challenge regulars who couldn't participate on the day. @rheddmobile @PastorVincent @polskagirl01 and very sorry not to mention everyone.
  • polskagirl01
    polskagirl01 Posts: 2,010 Member
    Posting here so anyone who has a "Dennis run" on Strava can send it over. I'll be working on getting the times standardized soon. And if anyone has a GPX file not on Strava, I think I can work with that, too!
    Let's try this on Strava:

    Miles for Dennis
    https://strava.com/athletes/milesfor_dennis If the link doesn't work, just search for him. "Miles for" is the first name, "Dennis" is the last name ;)

    Once you're connected as followers of each other, tag him on the run you dedicated to him (under "edit activity". That's the "add a friend who didn't log" option.) Once we get the notification, one of the administrators can save it as a Dennis run. When we have everyone's runs logged, someone who is good at the fun mapping tools can come up with some visualizations for us :) This will work for the marathons people are doing in the future as well.

  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
    What a beautiful tribute!
  • rheddmobile
    rheddmobile Posts: 6,840 Member
    It took me a minute to figure out how to get my run in Strava, but I see it on Dennis's page now!
  • Orphia
    Orphia Posts: 7,097 Member
    edited November 2018
    Djproulx wrote: »
    I don't visit the boards much lately, so late to this thread.

    I am saddened to hear this news. I met Dennis on MFP this spring, when he reached out to talk about his interest in entering a triathlon as a cross training effort in support of his marathon goals.

    We had many pm chats about training for his race. (Think it was Ironman 70.3 Ohio?) He became very interested in the Training Peaks tool for tracking his workouts and dove into it with enthusiasm. Soon, he was peppering me with questions about TP acronyms, tending charts and the like. I really enjoyed these exchanges with a guy who was clearly very motivated, disciplined and humble. I always thought it would be fun to meet Dennis at a race, but I guess it wasn't meant to be.

    RIP, Dennis. You have set quite an example for the rest of us.

    @Djproulx Thanks for the reminder! Now I remember him recommending Training Peaks. I looked into it and thought it was great, but couldn't afford it at the time. It's Joe Friels' system, I think? I love his "Fast After 50".
  • Orphia
    Orphia Posts: 7,097 Member
    Bump with developments!

    Flashback to 2017

    @HonuNui tragically lost her son Steve to melanoma. She organised a physical & virtual 5 km run for melanoma awareness. My Fitness Pal Monthly Running Challenge (MFPMRC) regulars ran and raised over $1,000, and HonuNui’s run raised a lot more.


    Flashforward to January 4 2019 Hawaii, Hilo to Volcano 50 km Ultra Relay

    MFPMRC runners, HonuNui, @Elise4270, @Ericjayh, and HonuNui's neighbours Sookyung and Evita each ran a leg of this relay and ran in memory of KeepRunningFatboy.

    Elise and Eric flew to Hawaii from the States to be there!
  • Orphia
    Orphia Posts: 7,097 Member
    @HonuNui's recap:
    HonuNui wrote: »
    January Goal: Do more than last month

    1/1 1.25
    1/2 2.20
    1/3 rest
    1/4 carb loading dinner
    1/5 7.75

    Total: 11.25

    Upcoming races:

    January 4, 2019 Hilo to Volcano Ultra 50k Relay. In memory of @keeprunningfatboy

    Ticker is my goal for 2019 and progress to date:

    exercise.png



    Race Report:
    We started at 6am at Reeds Island Park in Hilo. Our team members were Sookyung (my neighbor), Evita (who is the niece of another neighbor, and who is visiting from Manilla, Phillipines), @elise4270, Eric and me.
    Sookyung took the first leg of 2.7 miles (in the dark...), handed off to Eric, then Elise, me and Evita.

    Repeat x 3...EXCEPT, when we got to the summit, the route turned off the main highway to Wright road. The race was to end at Cooper Center, and on my last leg (remember, I'm fourth), I turned where I was supposed to....and Cooper Center was .25 miles away. Which means, somehow we were short a leg. I asked a passerby who told me the route continued on PAST Cooper Center, and the turnaround for last leg was much further up the road.
    So, I called our driver (DH) .....who didn't answer. I texted him. While running. He called me. The call dropped. He texted me, "we are waiting at Cooper Center". Finally was able to connect and told him to keep driving up Wright road. He said "they are all walking to meet you so you can all finish together. "

    NO!!!Keep driving.....but they didn't. I finally reached the handoff site for the last leg....and figured if they were walking to meet me, it would be awhile (since I had now run a mile past my scheduled leg).....so I kept going, made the turnaround, and finally ran into them all about .75 miles later....tagged Evita and she took off. Eric ran again, as he liked the terrain. The others kindly kept me company cause I was....done. DH finally came with the car, picked us up and drove us back to near Cooper Center, where we waited for Evita, and all ran together to finish...at 12:03.
    At the first handoff, a local reporter was there and asked us a few questions. She stopped again at the second handoff, we told our story of Dennis, she took pics and names. We'll see if we make the papers!

    Handoff, Hill from He!! and happy finishers!
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  • shanaber
    shanaber Posts: 6,373 Member
    @girlinahat - I think we are planning for next year about this time to do the relay again or another race if @elise4270 finds something else! Definitely start saving!
  • Teresa502
    Teresa502 Posts: 1,685 Member
    Scott6255 wrote: »
    Thanks @Orphia for this beautiful and inspiration post. Great job!

    Good luck running your marathon in Houston this weekend Scott!
  • Orphia
    Orphia Posts: 7,097 Member
    Two more for dear Dennis’ list. These people are my heroes. :heart: :heart:

    Please let me know if I’ve missed any other tribute marathon. @Elise4270


    @scott6255 January 20 2019 Houston Texas
    Scott6255 wrote: »
    Houston Marathon 2019 Race Report

    It was the best of times, it was the worst of times....
    Sorry to be so dramatic, but being my first full marathon, it was pretty epic.
    About a week before, my wife says we should rent a car to drive down to Houston, because both our cars are quite old and held together with duct tape and chewing gum, and she didn't really feel safe driving 4 hours each way in either of them.
    So there is that extra expense. We drive down and pick up my son in College Station on the way, and then head over to the expo to pick up bib and packet. Traffic and parking are crazy in downtown Houston, so I park at the curb of the convention center, and hop out and my wife says she will just stay there and wait for us.
    The convention center is huge, and it takes a long time to get packet, then have to go into expo and go the very back to get T-shirt (they give out nice t-shirts for everyone, then a finisher technical shirt at the finish). So rush through to get back to the car. Get back in the car and realize I don’t have my glasses. I know I had them after packet pickup and going to the expo because I put them in my pocket after getting bib. So run back and retrace my steps until I hit the expo, but never saw them. More $$$$.
    From there we go to the hotel and check in. That actually worked out well. They said since we booked it through the marathon, check-out was already set for 2pm. Well, that’s nice! But why couldn’t someone have mentioned that during any one of the numerous requests for late checkout?
    Drive back to my daughters house outside of Houston, have a nice dinner, then drive back to hotel for an earlier bedtime. Don’t know why, because I never sleep well in a hotel, and then add marathon anxiety to that, and you get zero sleep. I seriously never remember falling asleep.
    Get out of bed at 4:45. Eat, get dressed, put in hand-warmer in gloves and shoes and walk a mile to the convention center to check gear and meet my niece for pre-race hugs. They announce Coral A will be closing in 30 minutes, so head out. It is a fairly long walk, and know I need to use a port-a-potty and warm up some. Get to the start of the Corals, and they announce there are no port-a-potties in the corals this year! All are outside the gates. So try to find the shortest line, and after a few minutes, the line next to mine said “Uh, this is the line. That isn’t a line.” WTF?? So run over to another line and wait….
    Finally get in the coral with a minute to spare. Find the 4:00 pace group and warm up a little. Shed some clothes, but forgot to take out the hand-warmers in my shoes. I realized that as we were jogging to the starting line, and they were slowly creeping down to the end of my toes. I figured I would stop at some point soon and take them out, but didn’t want to lose the pace group. So just ignored it for now.
    First few miles were very cold and windy, but as the sun rose, the wind died down considerably. It started out at about 30F with a wind chill of 18F. But Garmin says over the entire run the temp averaged 32F. That is much colder than I normally run, but felt pretty good, except for Raynaud's on my fingers and toes.
    My brother was nice enough to lag back with me for the first 8 miles before the HM split, and we stayed with the 4:00 pace group. I stuck with my plan to take ½ a GU every other aid station, and that worked out rather well. Energy level stayed pretty even. Saw family in the crowd at the split and that picked me up. But then I was on my own as my brother peeled off to finish his HM. Was still feeling good when saw family again at 17, but soon after I started to feel like my feet were being abused. My pace fell off a few seconds each mile after that. Around mile 19 I succumbed to the fact I wasn’t going to break 4:00, and waved goodbye to the pacer. For the first time in the race, I walked at the water station at mile 21 for about 30 seconds, then again at 23 and 25. After 25 I knew I would finish, and picked up the pace back to around 9:00/mi. Saw family at the finish line and almost cried. Finished at 4:09:03. That was one of the hardest things I have ever done. I bow down to all of you one-time and multi-marathoner. I knew it was going to be hard, but I really didn’t think it would be that exhausting. And all you ultra-marathoners…you are just insane .
    I was also think about @keeprunningfatboy and knowing I was running in his memory. That also kept me going, knowing he would finish and be able to cross Texas off his list of states running a marathon. You are still and inspiration to many of us!
    Thank you all for your support! I was running with all your thoughts and prayers as well. They really meant a lot!


    @RunsOnEspresso Great job finishing that tough HM. That shows how strong you are!
    @rheddmobile Nice race report! Sounded like a cold race, but very well managed!
    @louubelle16 contgrats on a PR for your HM!!

    :heart: :heart: :heart:




    @garygse February 9 2019 Phoenix Arizona

    garygse wrote: »
    Well I'm back home now...thanks everyone for the many congrats (@7lenny7, @Elise4270, @Avidkeo, @katharmonic, @MegaMooseEsq, @Mari33a, @amirahdaboss, @Tramboman, @ddmom0811, @kgirlhart, @JulieS3103, @girlinahat, @PastorVincent, @simcon1, @MobyCarp, @Scott6255, @noblsheep, @eleanorhawkins, @marisap2010, and @shanaber) - apologies if I missed anyone!

    Warning...long race report ahead, so TLDR: I needed a 3:20:00 time to qualify for Boston, I aimed for 3:10:00 to 3-15:00, and I got a 3:08:49, smashing my previous official PR at Long Beach by over 22½ minutes.



    And now the long version.

    The race was a point-to-point race, with buses shuttling everyone out to the starting point. I had hardly slept as I kept waking up afraid that I'd oversleep (even with two alarms set) and miss the bus. If anyone missed the buses, then it was an instant DNS as road closures meant that runners couldn't be dropped off by car. The buses started at 4am, so I got up at 3:15am and got ready before making my way to the pick-up point. After double-checking many times that this was the marathon bus (there were multiple races, so multiple buses), we were on our way.

    Once we were dropped off at the starting point, there were plenty of heaters and fire pits to keep everyone warm out in the cold desert air, so I stood by one of the fires as they gave out so much more heat. At 6:15am it was time for the national anthem, some fireworks, and then everyone was allowed to make their way to the start. I took off the hoodie and gloves that I was using to help stay warm, and placed them in a bag in the back of a truck to be dropped off for me to pick up later at the end.

    Looking around, I could see the 3:20 pacer, and I could see the 3:05 pacer, but the 3:10 pacer was nowhere to be seen. Someone asked one of the staff where the 3:10 pacer was, and we were told that he was starting at the half-way point. Great...I'd have to manage the pace myself and hope to get to the halfway point at around 1:35.

    The gun went off, and we all set off. In the dark with no lights whatsoever except for a faint light on the horizon from dawn starting to break. I was dependent on the other runners, and the lights that some had on as head gear. Now this is a fast course, starting out at over 2000 ft and dropping almost 900 ft with one small uphill section at mile 5 for about 1½ miles. Most of that drop is in the first half, and so it was easy to get carried away and go out way too fast. I made sure to heed the pace alarms I had set on my watch, so I generally let gravity pull me along for the first few miles, which allowed me to keep my heart rate down.

    Mile 3 came really quickly, daylight was making things much easier, and it was time for the first aid station. My plan was to grab a cup of Gatorade at each station up to mile 21 (so 10 stations in all) to give me a small top-up of carbs. After mile 21, there would be no benefit in drinking any more Gatorade as the carbs wouldn't be absorbed until after the race by that point anyway. At that point I would switch to water if I needed it.

    I grabbed a Gatorade and slowed down enough to drink it and not waterboard myself. It was still a good downhill grade, so I picked up the pace a little to make up for slowing down before settling back to my race pace. By mile 5, the next aid station presented more Gatorade, and now it was time to start climbing uphill for a little while. It wasn't much of a climb...probably about 100 feet or so...but in keeping my heart rate under my lactate threshold, this marked the slowest part of my race. Once over the hill, it was time to open up again and let gravity gain my time back.

    The miles ticked away pretty uneventfully and I was feeling pretty good despite having no pacer. As I approached the half-way point though, I started to look ahead for any runner holding a sign. Nope, couldn't see one. My watch buzzed the time to let me know that I had passed mile 13 at 1:34:15...the pacer had to be a little ahead. I continued for a little while, and then I saw it: a 3:10 sign bobbing up and down just up ahead. By mile 14, I was with him and decided at that point to just stay with him. There were other people running with the pacer, but one-by-one, they dropped off. I chatted with the guy and he was really talkative, which helped the miles fly by. Mile 21 came, and I grabbed my last Gatorade from the aid station before catching back up with the pacer.

    At this point, a girl joined us, and she asked the pacer how he was doing for time. He replied that we were on target for 3:09 at that point and that he would slow down a little. The girl stayed with us for a little while, but then she too dropped back as she ran out of steam.

    Slowly but surely, we were overtaking other runners. Some were from the half marathon, and some were marathoners that were about done for as they were hitting the wall. At mile 22, another runner called Pike joined us...he was very chatty too and sounded like he was in good shape. He was excited because he was going to smash his previous PR of 3:25, and he had the pace to carry it through to the end.

    By mile 24, Pike and I thanked the pacer, and started to pull away together. By that point, I was starting to feel it, and every time I tried to push a little harder, I could feel my calves start to cramp up. I told Pike that I was starting to feel it, and he kept urging me on...just 1½ more miles, he said.

    We carried on together, passing many more runners that included a guy who had his phone playing the Rocky theme tune at full blast. "Just 0.7 miles" said Pike, and at this point I recognised the route as it was by the hotel I was staying at and I had run the other direction the previous day. I was hurting, and I could feel myself starting to get a stitch. "I'm fading" I said, but again Pike urged me to stay with him..."We've got this" he said.

    And then I saw the finish line up ahead, lined with a cheering crowd, so I dug in hard and started to sprint ahead. As I approached the line, I heard the announcer call out my name, and he thanked me for having a name he could pronounce. :smile: I ran across the finishing mat and stopped my watch. I guess I must have run some tight-ish tangents, as it showed I had run 26.18 miles.

    Pike came up behind me, and we collected our medals, water, and towels, and then made our way to get a photo with the PR bell. He then informed me that his time was actually quicker than what the clock said, as he was still sitting in the porta-pot when the starting gun went off. :lol: We then went to the recovery area where they were serving delicious-looking french toast, and that was where we parted ways. I'll always remember that guy as the one who kept pushing me towards the end and refusing to let me give in. Thanks Pike!

    After grabbing a slice of french toast, I went to get my results, and once I had an official time, it finally sunk in as to what I had just achieved. After all that training, the fact that I am almost certainly now going to Boston, and the pain my body was now feeling, I'm not afraid to admit that I started to well up. I had to compose myself though, because it's not easy eating french toast while sobbing.


    :heart: :heart: :heart:
  • 7lenny7
    7lenny7 Posts: 3,454 Member
    Where can I find the list of states Dennis still needs to complete?
    And would a trail run qualify? Either marathon or ultramarathon? I can understand if it has to be marathon distance and not ultra, since that's specifically what Dennis was going for.