North Coast 24 Hour Endurance Run

1 day, 24 hours, 86400 seconds, 92 1/2 laps, 12 Facebook updates, and 83.41 miles.  Those are just a bunch of numbers that don’t really mean anything, other than a set of memories that will last a lifetime.  On September 17th to September 18th, 9am to 9am, I ran and walked the North Coast 24 Hour Endurance Run in Cleveland, Ohio. It was also the USA Track and Field National Championship for a 24 hour event.  I completed 83.41 miles, and placed 15 out of 29 in my age group and 72 out of 186 overall. Solidly middle of the pack, which is right where I expected to be.  My original goal going into the race was 78.6 miles, or 3 marathons, and I more than exceeded that so I’m happy.  The course was a 0.9 mile asphalt loop at Edgewater Park on the shoreline of Lake Erie.  The winner completed 153.37 miles by comparison.

I will say, this was an amazing experience.  About 10 months ago, I never dreamed that anything like this would be possible. I changed my training and focused on ultra marathons this year, training for distance and not speed.  It was an interesting transition, something that seemed to agree with me.  The longer I ran, the more I seemed to enjoy it.  Training went well.  In December 2010, I laid out a plan that would consist of many months of progressive building with scaled cutbacks, and overall, it worked.  I ran my first 50k training run, then a 50k race, then an 8 hour race, hit 70, 80, and 110 miles per week.  It was more than enough to get me through this event.  And overall, I remained injury free through late spring and summer also, so it ended up being a very productive cycle.

I don’t intend to give a mile by mile account of what happened during the race.  Some of it I don’t even remember at all, and there are other things that I’d just as soon forget.  And of course, there are some things that just don’t need to be said. I ran for 4 minutes, then walked for a minute. I did that for the the first 14 to 16 hours.  And then it was more walking than running, and finally down to just walking, and eventually just hobbling.  And I likely started out too fast, but that's OK.  In order to learn, you have to make mistakes along the way. 

The event started the night before with a great face to face meeting with some of the other runners from Runners World, most of whom I’ve chatted online with for a couple of years.  We had a picnic at the same park that we would be running, and I think it helped to set the stage for what would be an awesome day.

The weather during the daytime during the race was really nice. A nice breeze to keep us cool, and cloudy skies until mid afternoon so it didn’t get too warm.  Yes, it did start to get warmer when the sun came out by 1 or 2 pm and temperatures were near 70 degrees, but overall, it was a beautiful, gorgeous day.   It rained both the day before and the day after the race so we got very lucky.  And I’ll never forget all of the laughs we shared.  I laughed so much during the race while talking with the other runners, and laughed at some of the things I saw.  Yes, it’s a race and it’s serious business, but you have to have fun too!  There was always something to keep my mind busy. 

I can’t speak highly enough of the other Runners World runners whom I shared this journey with.  Bob, Eddie, Dave, Chuck, Lori, Jenn, Sue, Susan, Angela, Terri, David, Chris, and Katrina.  You all are the best, and I’m grateful to each one of you for helping to get me through this.  I feel we truly helped each other get through this event and I’m proud to call you all friends.  Also our crew for this race was outstanding.  Laura, Dena, Pam, Tracie, Jenny, Rich, Joelie, Bridgett, and Jerry.  This would have been so much harder without you there for your support and gentle prodding to get back out there and to keep eating and keep going.

That’s not to say that this was all sunshine and roses because it wasn’t.  I did have a bad headache for a few miles at the beginning.  It was a borderline migraine.  I never get headaches, and this was something I couldn’t shake.  It eventually went away thankfully after I started drinking some pop for the caffeine.  My right hamstring did cramp and seize pretty bad later during the race, and by about 60 miles in, I did visit the medical aid station to have them massage it out after it got dark because it hurt so bad, and the cool temperatures made it even tighter.  And later in the event, as the miles continued to build, so did the blisters. I’m especially prone to blisters on the bottoms of my feet.  They didn’t disappoint, and I ended up in the medical aid station again to get the half dollar sized blisters popped and taped very late in the night.  They hurt very bad and made it painful for every step after that, but it comes with the territory I guess.  In retrospect, I should have visited the medical aid station much, much sooner, and perhaps they could have helped prevent them from becoming as bad as they got.  It also got brutally cold during the middle of the night, with a relentless wind of 15 to 20 mph, which created wind chills near 40 degrees.  It was so cold about 6 am that I retreated to the sheltered men’s restroom for an hour and a half break/nap on a hard bench for fear of succumbing to hypothermia.  There was also a timing malfunction during the race, and for several hours, the display board was not working and a lap or two was occasionally missing.  I think it was eventually worked out, but I know it caused a lot of undue stress for just about everyone.  I did not chafe too badly thankfully, only some mild chaffing in the nether regions, but nothing serious, although I did discover that Body Glide doesn’t really function at a certain point, I guess it’s only effective for so long.

I learned during the race that I could eat just about anything that was offered.  I trained with this strategy, so normal food worked well for me.  Since this was a 0.9 mile loop course, the aid station was readily available. Every lap, I grabbed something.  I ate regular food and never once ate an energy gel.  I ate cookies, crackers, pretzels, potato chips, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, turkey sandwiches, bean and cheese burrito wraps, grilled cheese, watermelon, bananas, oranges, candy, brownies, cake, doughnuts, MnMs, pizza, egg sandwiches, potato soup, vegetable soup, noodles, chicken broth, rice, mashed potatoes. Our makeshift camp also had huge tables of food, much more than we ever needed. Our Runners World camp was definitely the best stocked site out there.  You name it, I probably ate it.  I also drank water, Gatorade, Heed, and Coke and Pepsi, and sipped on Perpetuem.  And never once was I especially nauseous. I was surprised. Given that strange concoction, surely a handful of Tums would have been necessary, but I was fine.  Even through all that, bodily functions seemed normal throughout the 24 hours as well.   I also took 1 S Cap (salt) each hour to maintain electrolytes.

I did not listen to music during the race.  I did have my Ipod available, but found that I didn’t need it or even want it.  Looking back, I honestly could not tell you what went through my mind over 24 hours, other than it’s a lot of time to think.  What did I think about? Well, nothing in particular.  I found it was hard to focus on one thing for very long, as there was always something new to distract me.  But time passed.  Yes, it passed slowly occasionally, but it still passed. 

I never once changed my shirt and running shorts during the event, although I did discover early on in the race that my compression shorts underneath my running shorts were on backwards.  Ooops.  It wasn't causing any problems, so I decided to not fix something that wasn’t broken.  Honestly, I'm not sure I ever needed a change of clothes, so I didn't, although I did have about 4 extra outfits just in case.  I did add calf compression sleeves after about 31 miles, and added arm sleeves once the sun went down, and eventually added a running jacket, and finally a running vest on top of that to stay warm along with a running hat to keep my head warm.  I changed socks and shoes twice.

During the run, I did stop a few times for a quick break, mainly to sit for a minute or two, and occasionally to do some Facebook updates.  During a normal run, I would never do this, but I really wanted to give all my family and friends back home an inside glimpse of what I was experiencing in real time.  It was also a selfish means of motivation as their online praise and support was one of the things I looked forward to reading on each break and it was one of the things that kept me going.  I think it perhaps sums up my true experience of the race as well and shows a nice progression of not only the running milestones through the 24 hours, but also the range of emotions, from highest of highs, and lowest of lows.  I did also doze for about an hour, just before sunrise, while violently shivering trying to stay warm.

Facebook comments:

730 am:  Slept very well last night. Ready to run, for a really long time. Will post updates on breaks.

130 pm:  4:30, 25.2 miles done. Feeling great.

255 pm:  5:55, 31.5 miles. Getting hot, slowing down until sunset. Doing ok, but feeling the effects.

525 pm:  8:25. New distance PR of 42.2 miles. Feel about as good as you'd expect after running that far. Allergies are pissing me off. Don't have time to respond to everyone but thanks for the support!! I'm going to need it over the next 16 hours. Time is passing slow.

755 pm:  10:55. 52.6 miles. Two marathons done. Right leg is cramping bad but everything else is good. Watched a beautiful sunset over Lake Erie. Forward.

910 pm:  12:10, 57.2 miles. I have come so far, yet I still have a mountain to climb. All my bodily functions are still functioning so I'm good. Beautiful view of downtown Cleveland from here. Getting cool. Forward!!

1037 pm:  13:37 into this mofo race and I just hit 100k. Thats 62.2 miles. Pace has slowed considerably. Right hamstring has really seized up. Still eating well though, not really nauseous at all yet. Still peeing good too. Going to be a very long night. Hot potato soup hits the spot though.

1208 am:  15:08. Tired. 66.4 miles. Moving slow. But moving.

120 am:  16:20, 70 miles done. I'm sure you're all asleep by now. Taking a break for a bit. Just a few more laps.

339 am:  18:39, 75.65 miles. Both balls of my feet are blistered and taped. Down to a walk for the duration. For a sport I love so much, I loathe it right now.

615 am:  21:15, 79.27 miles. That's three marathons. If I don't run another lap, I'm happy. I'm very cold. And in the pain cave.

900 am:  24:00. Official distance still being calculated. Should be about 83.5'sh.  I'm done.

At about 730 am, with an hour and a half to go in the race, most of our running group, who had since stopped and were essentially done with the event (3 runners in our group were still going, one shooting for 100 miles), all collectively decided to walk one last victory lap.  I honestly didn’t think I could do it.  We were all hurting very badly and could barely move because our bodies had stiffened up beyond belief.  But the sun was rising, and it gave me hope.  Those first few steps were some of the hardest steps I’ve taken.  And that one victory lap turned into 3 1/2 more, before the whistle was blown ending the race.  I found I was actually running through the pain in that last lap and was sad it was over.

And then it was done.  After the race, my body was trashed beyond belief. I could barely walk.  Every step resulted in sharp pain shooting through my legs and feet.  After trying to help to tear down our makeshift camp, I headed back to the motel.  After a hot shower (was too cold for an ice bath), I lied down and slept for about 4 hours.  I didn’t move because it simply hurt too much.  But I eventually was able to get back up off the bed though and put one foot in front of the other and was able to hobble enough to at least get around.  That evening after the race, a few of the runners got together for one last meal to relive some of the triumphs and tragedies.  It was a fitting end to a great weekend.

What an incredible journey, yet a wonderful adventure!  But, it's still, “just a run”.  It's just  a hobby.  Did it change me?  Yes, in some way, but really, deep down, I’m still the same person I was before.  I did however prove to myself yet again that I’m tougher than I’ve given myself credit for.  I’m stronger than I ever thought possible. I’m living my mantra, “Better than I was, but not as good as I’ll be, and never give up.”  Yes, at my lowest point during the run, I never wanted to run again.  I loathed it.  But after the event was over, after I’ve had time to reflect, I still love running.  Will I do something like this again?  I honestly don’t know. Perhaps. But sometimes, you just have to take a leap of faith.  Instead of asking myself, “Why?”,  I tend to say, “Why Not.”

Here are a few photos....

About 1/2 hour before the start on Saturday morning, feeling slightly nervous but ready to go!

Sometime on Saturday morning, maybe 15 or 20 miles in (not sure).  Feeling great, confident, and happy. (Thanks Jenny for the picture, one of about 10 she took that day).

The final lap, about 850 am Sunday morning.  I was in a lot of pain at this point, but also extremely happy that I was almost done.  On this last lap, I actually was able to run again, even though it hurt like hell.  (Thanks Dena for the picture!)

After the finish, about 915 am, ready to get some sleep.  I was a mixed bag of emotions.  I was glad it was over, I was exhausted, I was in the pain cave, yet relieved that I had endured.  I was also sad that a 10 month journey was over, and was thinking, as everyone else was talking, when would I get to do this again?

Post Race Recovery:

The day after the race, I traveled home.  I was slightly nervous about having to walk so far through the airport considering how slow I was moving.  By Monday morning, things were a little better and the trip home was uneventful.  It was a great feeling to do something so crazy as complete a 24 hour event, but it was an even greater feeling to come home.  By Tuesday, my legs really feel a lot better now, and the blisters are healing. And I'm just about ready to run in another day or two.