May 2022 Monthly Running Challenge

Disclaimer: I technically didn't do it "right", but nothing in the rules said I couldn't run Saturday into the night, then go home, shower, sleep, go to work for a few hours, then come back and run some more. So that's what I did.

This was my first time participating in a 24-hour race. My previous distance PR for one day was technically the 50k trail run/hike I did in Pennsylvania in 2019. Since I wasn't going to be there the whole time, my A goal was 25k (my long run distance on my training plan). B goal was something like 30+ and C goal was marathon, but I didn't think I'd get that far. My dream-in-the-clouds goal was to beat 50k and establish a 24-hr PR in an official race.

This race was pretty low-key. Donate whatever you felt was appropriate. I gave a gift in memory of my friends' son who had the same health problem as the girl this was benefiting. A sponsor was giving a matching gift based on total kilometers. They marked a 4.2k course in the forest with arrows and reflectors and told us to keep track of how many loops we did. My watch measured every loop about 100-150 meters shorter, but this time I'm blaming the GPS and going with their official distance. There was one decent hill at the beginning, then flat for a while, and back down. I really liked it. Which is good, since I'd end up doing it so many times, haha.

Start time was 18:00 Saturday, but I was at a meeting and got there later. Saturday night I did 6 loops. 1-2 were in daylight, it went dark halfway through lap 3, and totally dark for laps 4-6. Sometimes I was by myself and sometimes I could see lights from other runners a distance behind/ahead. Of course, when I tripped over who-knows-what during lap 4 *insert loud "umph" sound*, there were several guys pretty close behind me. The forest floor is softer than the sidewalk, so I was mainly scratched up, dirty & embarrassed, but the guys were encouraging. Later, it started hurting (knee/arm/shoulder) and that was actually my cue to wrap it up after lap 6. It was like my brain wanted to quit, but knew that I wouldn't listen to sore legs, so it got my attention via my knee instead. My "A" goal was met Saturday night. I put my time on the list and said I'd be back in the afternoon.

Today after church, I changed and went straight back to the race. The route conveniently went through the parking lot, so both days I parked trunk side out, and laid out my own aid station in the back of my car. An awesome feature of my new car is that it automatically unlocks when the keycard is near it, then relocks when you walk away, so I didn't even have to take the key out of my pack. I saw a lot of people had done the same with their cars. There was some food in the race office, and water outside by the start/finish flags, but I was afraid if I went in, I'd clock out and go home 😆 There were other family festivities, but I didn't pay much attention.

At some point when starting *another* loop, I realized that this really must be some form of insanity. The repetitive nature of seeing the same course, over and over again, and yet choosing to keep doing it... it's hard to explain what was happening in my head. But everyone had their own goals. Many participants did 1 or 2 loops and that was it. There were nordic walkers, and families walking together at their childrens' pace. And then there were the crazy people like me. I had no idea what I'd be able to do, after the night before, so started out at about the same easy pace as last night - walking up the hill and then mostly slow running the rest. My math told me that if I could manage to do that pace for 4 laps, I'd then have 3 hours left to walk 3 laps and would pass 50+k. But I wasn't sure I'd be able to run the 4, and just kept going to find out. After 4 (total 10) laps, I reached marathon distance and decided to slow down. Grabbed a sandwich from the car. Lots more walking, definitely running the downhill, but no pressure otherwise unless I felt like running. Before lap 13, I looked at the time and decided that if I finished it before 5pm, I'd do one more loop and make it 14 loops. I was kind of bummed when I finished at 4:55 and knew I needed to actually do it. Who wants to sit there for an hour regretting not doing one more when you had plenty of time? Not me. I could still power-hike, but by the time I started that last downhill run, my legs were doing it, but felt like they had no clue what they were even doing. Also hard to explain.

Alright, so 6 laps Saturday and 8 today = 14 laps = 59 KM!!! One lady put it on the chart, then I got a cupcake and drink and sat down. Asked another lady to fill out a certificate for me, and when she counted up my total, she came over and gave me a hug. I don't know yet where I placed, as the awards were only for top 3 overall (150, 150, 120 km 😲), but I might not have done too badly among the women. Definitely not 1st or 2nd, but I'll update whenever I do find out. I stayed for closing ceremonies, where they played "We are the Champions", then the winners and others had to dance to a song 😆, everyone said thank you - this was a charity race to help a girl with spina bifida get the equipment she needs to help her walk (which doctors said she wouldn't do, just like with my friends' son, haha), and we all ate cake.

I like this race format. Maybe next time, I can be there for more of it.

Recovery will be needed. But contrary to my expectations, leg soreness currently takes 3rd place, to knee/shoulder/arm pain from the fall in 2nd, and.... bra chaffing in 1st place for ouch, oww, I can't move, shower was painful. 2 different bras, front and back, it's worse than I've ever had. Now, what in my closet can I wear tomorrow that will allow me to not wear anything underneath? 🤔 Sorry if that's TMI; this is a running group, though. Chaffing happens. Ok, getting cream for next time.