Midnight Madness 50 Miler

The race was held in Tulsa, OK on a 10.3 mile loop surrounding a section of the river.  Temperature at the midnight start was 85.  At the time I finished it was 97.

Without exception, every person who heard I was running this event said I was crazy.  I laughed, but I didn't argue.  As I began the training, I quickly realized this was a much different event from a marathon.  It is an endurance event while a marathon is a running event.  I learned that running ultra-long distances is hard no matter how slow you go.  In the last few days before the race, I determined to focus on finishing, staying healthy, and recovering quickly.  I had been saying all along that I didn't care about my time, but finally it was true.  I really didn't care.  I decided to run during the hot night and walk during the even hotter day.

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I came prepared with 5 different pairs of shoes.  I found during training that I could only run in a pair of shoes for about 20 miles before they became soaking wet.  Since there were 5 loops, I allowed for the possibility of changing shoes for each.  Shelly kept them at our tent where she sat up all night.  The plan was for her to get some sleep while I ran.  Things didn't go according to plan though.  At one point in the night a sprinkler came on and soaked our camp site while she was in the bathroom.  She came back and found all our stuff was wet, including my last 3 pairs of shoes and the bathroom scale I used to monitor my hydration throughout the race.  The scale was electronic and did not survive.

The race started off very uneventful.  I settled in to a comfortable 9:30/mile pace.  We alternated clockwise and counter-CW loops.  I drank as much gatorade as I could stand.  I basically lost 1 lb of fluids per 10-mile lap.  That was pretty good, but to accomplish that I had to run feeling bloated with all the gatorade sloshing around.  In the days after the race, my ribs hurt more than anything else.

My experience was humbling.  It went pretty much like I planned, except it hurt a lot more than I visualized.  It was a good plan.  Finishing was never in doubt.  It was amazing how bad I felt though, even walking.  I probably ran too fast in the early race.  Others who started slower were able to continue that slower pace long into the hot daylight hours.  Kudos to them for knowing themselves better. 

I saw the young lady who won as she passed the 47 mile mark.  I moved off her line and told her to "bring it on in".  She smiled and told me I was looking good.  Ha ha.  Nothing impresses me more than someone with so much talent who is still willing to support others.  She was awesome.  She finished in 7:02!

I finished #64 out of 150 people who started.  Only 105 finished.  My time was 12:12.  You could have timed me with a calendar.

Backstory

After a Sunday afternoon visit with my grandmother in the spring of 2006, I came to the realization that people of her generation got a lot more exercise in their daily life than we do today.  Then it hit me.  Part of my problem with sticking with an exercise program had been the days off.  One day of rest becomes two, then three, and so on.  Pretty soon I wasn't exercising anymore.  That night I climbed on my stationary bike and began a streak of continuous daily exercise - a really, really, long streak.

The first few days, all I could manage was about 15 minutes on the stationary bike.  Within a week though, it was 20 minutes, no problem.  That was my original goal, 20 minutes a day because that is the conventional wisdom.  I tend to push myself though, and soon my goal became 25 minutes, then 30 minutes.  Within 6 months I was doing 40 minutes a day.  At that point I decided no more.  I may do more than 40 minutes, but I won't hold myself accountable for any more than that.

I do some form of cardio exercise for at least 40 minutes a day.  Sometimes I run.  Sometimes I ride.  Sometimes I carry my luggage up and down a flight of stairs in an airport for 40 minutes and garner strange looks from everyone around.  I just make sure I do something every single day.

It was 9 or 10 months of exercise before I even got on a bathroom scale.  I didn't want to be disappointed by what it said.  When I finally did venture onto the scale, I had already lost about 50 lbs.  That was awesome, but I still vowed to not make that my focus.  Any day I workout is a success regardless of what a scale might say.

I lost maybe 60 lbs that first year, followed by, perhaps 25 and 15 in the subsequent years.  My total weight loss is now somewhere between 115 and 120.  I don't know for sure.  With glycogen depletion and hydration variation so much a part of marathon training, I never know exactly what I weigh.

Along with the weight loss, I was also pleased to see all symptoms of diabetes disappear.  When I was originally diagnosed my morning blood glucose level was 280.  With medication, I was able to control it, but I hated how the drugs made me feel.  They gave me an "afternoon swoon" where my blood sugar level would drop quickly.  I hated that roller coaster.  With exercise and weight loss, I found my blood glucose levels are very good and stable, even with no medication.  A typical morning now is 85.  I still consider myself "pre-diabetic" and monitor my levels periodically, but so far so good.

I almost didn't finish the Boston Marathon

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In the last 2 miles I was beginning to get muscle cramps.  I tried to slow down a little to ease the pain but after rounding the last turn, with the finish in sight, my right calf totally locked up on me.  I couldn't run.  I couldn't even walk.  I hobbled to the side of the road in agony and stretched and rubbed it till it felt like I could walk again.  Then it immediately locked up again.  I looked towards the finish and for a brief moment I really didn't think I could make it.

The crowd was awesome the entire course but even more so at the finish.  They had seen this drama play out countless times before, many times that same day.  They knew I could make it even if I didn't.  There were people standing there at the side of the road with me giving me encouragement and telling me just what to do.  "Just stretch it out."  "Give it a minute."  and "You can do this."   They were awesome and they were right. Eventually I was able to continue again towards the finish.  A cheer erupted in that small area of the crowd and I knew it was for me specifically.  Wow.

Just as I got a good walking stride going and started feeling better again I heard a weird thing from the crowd.  A cheer like no other I had heard all day -- "I love you!!!!".  I looked over and it was my wife Shelly!  She stood there just a few feet away.  That was all it took.  My walk became a jog and then I ran across the finish.

Introduction

My sister Andrea thinks I should write a book.  She thinks people will be interested in my story, how I used a daily exercise regimen to lose weight, fought back diabetes, and re-discovered my inner athlete.  I think she is biased.

Nonetheless, this blog will allow me to record my story about my running specifically and my fitness journey more generally.  Most entries will likely be race reports since that is what I enjoy reading in other runners' blogs.  It is nice to be able to learn from my peers.  Perhaps someone will be able to learn from my mistakes.