While I was building my way up to a 100-mile week a friend of mine said that he would like to try to run 30 miles on Thanksgiving. I laughed because although he is a frequent biker and in fairly good shape, he is not a runner.
I told him about my current streak and that I should more than fine to run a 50k by then. I continued grinding away when I noticed on Strava that he was actually logging some runs. After I finished my 100-mile week he congratulated me and asked if I was ready for the 30-miler.
Turkey Day
We left early at 5:10 am, to beat the weather and try to still have enough time to spend with family on Thanksgiving.
I remember carrying so much food and water that my pants were sagging as soon as we started running. A quarter mile in, I had to take a break. My friend got a good laugh, the guy who runs every day couldn’t even last a half-mile.
We planned on doing an out-and-back on a trail that would take us to a lake. We found a comfortable pace and maintained it the first 15-miles. We took a break and changed out of our sweaty clothes.
We kept going at slightly slower pace, but made it to mile 25 without too much trouble. That’s when the sun felt like it was burning our flesh and we pounded the remaining liquids that we had.
I was starting to get a little tired, but new I could make that last 6. My friend on the other hand looked like he was dreaming of eating Oreos by the sleeve while playing Zelda. I knew I needed to shift away from trying to maintain an achievable pace to making sure my friends legs didn’t stop working before he made it back to his house.
After you’ve been running for four hours, once you stop, your body doesn’t want to start moving again. Even after re-fueling you lose hope and struggle to regain focus on why you were even running in the first place.
I tried slowing down but my friend was now near walking pace. I struggled as a pacer wanting to help him but also knowing that he was clearly out of gas.
His misery helped me forget about my own tiredness. I was able to look at how much he was struggling and understand that my pain was not on the same level. Miles 28, 29 & 30 were the hardest, but with just a mile left we were able to slightly speed up and finish strong.
Unfortunately, as we turned the corner to make it back into his subdivision I learned that my watch’s battery life was around 5h15m.
His family made us congratulations signs and after some Gatorade, I drove back home and ate about as much as I usually do on Thanksgiving.
That was enough excitement for 2018.
2019 brought on a new set of challenges…
