A Metric Century (then a little more)

Over and over again, people call me "insane" when they hear about my goals and achievements in running. Am I insane? American Heritage dictionary defines "insane" as "exhibiting, or afflicted with mental disorder; very foolish, absurd." I wouldn't say I have a mental disorder, and I wouldn't say I'm foolish, I just love to run.

In my goal to run a 24 hour race in March, I've been doing training the last couple of months. On November 17, I ran four overnight hours and put in 25.62 miles. On December 22, to celebrate the winter solstice, I ran from sunrise to sunset, over nine hours I ran 50.65 miles. Both of those runs were done around a one mile loop at Summerlake Park in Tigard, Oregon. It's a wonderful park, just a tenth of a mile from my house. It's a nice loop around a beautiful lake. So yesterday I decided to do a January training run. In doing so I planned a 12 hour run. The goal was to run 7am to 7pm with a mileage goal of 62 miles or 100k.

I know that running around a one mile loop for 12 hours (or even just one or two hours) can seem very boring. That is why I did a few things to make it better. One, I listen to music. It keeps me going, and takes my mind off the task at hand. Second, tried to get some people to run with me. My sister, Amy, joined me for four loops, and my friend Tim (Maniac#409) joined me for about 13 laps. Finally and most important, I broke the run down. Instead of looking at running 12 hours straight, I decided to run two hours, then take a 15 minute break, then repeat. This way I'm not worrying about the whole 12 hours, but only two hours.

I loaded up my car with lots of aid (water, sports drink, chips, fruit snacks, pretzels, m&ms, energy gel, peanuts, and much more). I drove to the parking lot at set that as my aid station and start/ending point. At the start it was cold and overcast. The temperature was 34°, and the sun had not yet risen so it was dark. I took off, and started with a very comfortable pace, of about 9 minute miles.

Each loop is .9557 miles. This means I lose .045 miles per loop, so in order to get to 100k (62 miles), I must run 65 loops. So that was my goal, I planned four 15 minute breaks, which meant I had 5 segments of about 2 hours to 2:15. In the first segment I was running from 7am to 9:15am. In this stretch I planned to run 14 laps (13.38 miles). Instead of doing the math for mile pacing I focused on my lap pace. As I started off I was running fast and smooth. I felt great, and even though it was cold and overcast, my body warmed up as I was running. I quickly realized that I could push the envelope and run 15 laps in that first 2:15. So that is what I did, and even finished with one minute to spare. So I ran a total of 14.336 miles and had a lap pace of 8:57, and a mile pace of 9:21.

I took a 16 minute break. But in getting some aid from my trunk, I locked my key in my trunk. So I had to call my sister and had her use the spare key to open my trunk. It cut my break a bit short. So at 9:30 I went back out, it was still overcast, and dry, but cold with a temperature of 36°. I was cold, but once I started moving I warmed up.

In the second stretch of 2:15, I planned to run 14 laps again, but I was still feeling strong I decided to keep it up. In the first stretch I was running 8:30-9:15 laps. In the second stretch I was running even faster with times of 8:30-8:50 laps. Also my average heart rate rose from 127 to 138. it felt so good, I was enjoying myself, but I knew I could keep it going. I ran another 15 laps and it only took me 2:10:27. I finished that stretch at 11:41, four minutes ahead of schedule. I ran another 14.336 miles giving me 28.671 total miles. My lap pace was 8:42, and a mile pace of 9:22 in that stretch.

I took a 15 minute break. I got some food and liquids, and rested a little bit. I decided to take only a 15 minute break, even though I finished four minutes early. This way I could get a little extra time in the next segment. So at 11:56 I went back out, again it was still overcast, dry and cold. The temperature was 39°, so it was getting a little warmer.

Going into the third stretch I had 2:19, I had planned to run 13 laps in this stretch. In the next couple laps I was running 9:30-10:00 laps. At lap 37, my sister Amy, joined me for four laps. She is not a runner, but wants to get into shape, so I encouraged her to join me for a few laps. We ran between 11 and 12 minute laps. It was nice to slow down a bit. But because of this the idea of getting another 15 laps was out, but I didn't really try for that. Instead I ran the projected 13 laps. I got done by 2:09, with six minutes to spare, and two laps ahead of schedule. I ended up running 12.424 miles and had a total of 41.095 miles. My lap pace was 10:16, and a mile pace of 10:44 in that stretch.

I once again took a 15 minute break. I drank so liquids and had some carbs. looking at my heart rate monitor I had burned a total of 5,219 calories, and had an average heart rate of 132 overall. It had warmed just one degree, but the conditions remained the same.

My fourth stretch was much of the same. I started back at 2:24, I planned another 13 laps, and knew that would be the goal, and all I could handle. Just two laps in I got a call from my friend Tim. He had planned to run with me, but had to work, so was going to join me later in the day. I figured he would join me for an hour or so. He joined me in lap 47 and told me that he could run with me until 6pm. I was surprised and happy to have someone to run with. He brought his camera and was taking pictures of me. He had much more energy then me, and had fun taking pictures. He took a total of 105 pictures! I enjoyed running with him. He kept me going and was willing to walk when I needed to walk. I pulled off the 13 laps in that stretch in 2:16 minutes. I added another 12.424 miles, giving me a total of 53.519 miles (a new personal record). My lap pace was 10:28, and a mile pace of 10:57 in that stretch.

In my final break the sun was setting and the sky was starting to clear. The sun peaked out and made the park just beautiful. I had some food an liquids, and had a chance to relax a little. My break was once again limited to just 15 minutes, this would give me a little more time in the last stretch. With the sun setting the temperature dropped to 38°.

The final stretch was difficult, I was for the first time looking forward to finishing. I started out at 4:55, and was running out the last 2:05. I had planned to run 11 laps, and if I could do that then I would run 67 laps, two ahead of schedule. Tim left to burn the pictures to a CD and then brought them back to me by 6pm. It seemed like a lonely stretch. I was not listening to music when I ran with Tim, and just put the music back on in the last couple of loops. It got dark fast and made it harder. I starting to crap up, but tried to run as much as I could. I was running the laps between 10:30-12:00 minutes. As I ran past the 65 lap mark, my goal was to keep going until 7pm. After lap 67, I had just one minute left, so I ran a small stretch to get an extra 0.1229 miles. I ran the 11 laps, which gave to 10.636 miles this gave me 64.115 miles in 12 hours, and 10:57:48 of running time.

When it's all said and done, I ran over 100k. I reached my goal, I felt great, and I'm looking forward to March. Today it rained, I guess I picked a good day, because even though it was cold it was dry. I know that to most people this seems insane. Maybe it is, but I have a love for running. To most people running a marathon is a huge achievement, but for me and many other ultra runners. We look toward the 100 mile races.

My next training run will be February 16, I plan to do another overnight run. But first I will be doing the PigTails 50k on Saturday, and then Yours Truly 50k on Sunday. So until then, thanks for reading.

Checkout the breakdown of this run (lots of fun statistics): http://www.marathonfreak.com/12hour_run.pdf