Last Friday, my three-year-old, Elijah, my niece, Aliyah, and I arrived in Philly for a much needed vacation. The plan was for the two of them to hang out while I ran the 24 hour Lone Ranger and then we would all spend the next three days sight seeing.
The minute we got into our hotel, we knew we were going to have a good weekend. We all ran out onto the balcony of our 24th floor room and looked down on Philly. Then we headed over to the most serious packet pick up I’ve been to yet. Usually there are vendors selling marathon gear and cheering aids. Instead this race had EMT's taking our vitals as a precautionary measure in case a paramedic had to pick any of us up off the course.
Next we headed to the famous Rocky Steps to gain energy and empowerment for the race ahead. I didn't realize when I put this on my short, must-do-list, that I would get my fill of these steps while running past them over and over again the next day.
The morning of the race, we set up a tent for E-man and Aliyah to hang out in during the day and me to sleep in if I needed to stop and rest at any point during the race.The first loop, I started out with a big silly grin on my face thinking, “I’m really doing this!”
I ran those first 8.4 miles nonstop, just taking in the scenery, the famous Rocky steps, the dam, covered bridges, Schuylkill River, people fishing, picnicking and having canoe races. It was a beautiful day for running.
The course was clearly marked with directions from the race crew such as, “Water stop ahead,” and with chalk messages that friends of runners had probably come out and written the night before such as, “You got this Heather!”
One sign pointed out a fountain up a flight of steps and I though to myself, “Hey, my muscles will probably get tired of running this mostly flat course, how about a little stair running to mix it up,” and took off up the steps. Such was my exuberance that first loop.
By the end of this loop, I was already a little tired, but ready to take on another loop.
I ran over to the tent where E-man was sitting and playing in the grass (this was his first camping experience) and came running up with a big smile and a hug when he saw me. But as soon as I left, Aliyah called and said he'd gotten so upset when I left, he cried until he threw up all over the inside of the tent, the sleeping bag and himself. (He does this some times when he gets excited.) So she ended up having to take him back to the hotel and I didn't realize 'till after she left that I'd sent her back with all my money and other things I’d so carefully packed. Still, once I knew they were safe at the hotel, I could fully focus on the run.The second loop, I did a 5:1 run/walk. At the end I was feeling a little tired, but still pretty good. At the end of this loop, I had run 16.8 miles in 4 hours and when the race volunteers recorded my time, I swear they looked just a little impressed. Or maybe they were wondering how long I was going to be able to keep this up.
Whatever they were thinking, just the act of deciding to go on running a third loop made me feel re-energized and ready to conquer the world, or at least the next 24 hours.
When I signed up for this race back in January, I was maintaining a steady and for me, hardcore, training schedule of about 30 miles a week. I had planned to build from there, but instead ended up going back to work and really I can’t blame that, I just lost the thrill and my race schedule lagged down to about 20 miles a week with an occasional long run of no more than 10 miles. It was so bad, I thought of dropping out of the race, but this race supports what I believe is such a great cause and I had friends who believed in me enough to donate to it (thanks Wendy and Michelle!). Besides, even though I hadn’t trained near enough, about a week before, I really started to get into the spirit of the race. Trained or not, I wanted to see what I could do. After all, the name of this charity is, "Back on my Feet."
So I was amazed and awed every time I put one foot in front of the other and landed still in an upright position.
The third loop, I did a mixture of running, walking, listening to music with my big bulky headphones and got to chat with some of the other runners. I tried to find a groove, but just couldn't seem to find it. I was feeling tired and sore, but still surprised by how good I was feeling. There weren’t a lot of people out this time around. It was around 2pm, the hottest part of the day, so I guess most of the other runners were either way ahead of me, way behind me or smartly taking a rest.Each time I finished a loop I would stop in this big air conditioned room where some people were napping in between loops, you could take showers and they had tables set up with oranges, sandwiches, bananas, drinks, potato chips and all kinds of other snacks. They also had several refuel stands along the course. The volunteers were just amazing! Apparently putting on this race has been a work in progress (and this year was by far their best yet!).
After the third loop, I decided to change into compression pants because my legs were starting to cramp up.
At this point, I was still thinking I would run until midnight, then maybe take a rest until 6 when the pajama race was scheduled to start. How quickly I went from feeling great (even though I was sore and tired) to loosing every bit of will power I had! It all happened because of a thought.
As soon as I started the fourth loop I hit the wall. Every step I took, I didn't know if my legs would carry me or give out and crumple underneath me. I came into this race thinking that I would go until I either fell over or the 24 hours were up. But now I had a thought that if I beat myself up on the course any more, I would be useless to do any of the things I had brought my kid and niece along to do. This little guy just jumped on my shoulder and said, "If your legs give out, you don't have anyone to carry you out of here. You have to carry your kid out of here," and he never got off.
It took every bit of strength and determination I had to finish that last 8.4 miles and smile and say, "Yeah, I'm ok," when the paramedics started making their regular rounds.
When I finished this loop, the person recording the times said to me, "Why does she look so happy, (some lady walking behind me in a ladybug costume) and you look so miserable? I WAS miserable and I just punked out. Maybe next time I will dress up in a costume, or bring my cheerful niece along to be my running buddy.I got back to the tent which now had no sleeping bag because E-man had thrown up all over it, so I was laying on the ground with my stiff back and barely any power in my phone and I called my niece and told her to get a cab and come get me.
I went back to the hotel and I went to bed after running for only 9 hrs, 38 minutes and 17 seconds. I slept very sporadically. I kept waking up throughout the night thinking should I go back out there? My eyes were swollen and bloodshot, my head was pounding, my feet were hurting, and each time I told myself it was best to save some energy to take care of and have a good time with my kid instead of going back out there and beating myself up any more on the course.
It was a decision between finding out just how far I could push myself and creating a memorable vacation with my kid.
Each day after the race, I spent some time beating myself up for quitting. But each night, I ran around the Swan fountain down the block from our hotel with E-man. Around and round it we would run, he screaming with laughter and me feeling like I was giving my feet an ice bath and letting the water and the fun wash over me and clear my head of all the doubts and self degradation.Five days later, I have no regrets. My feet are still a little sore, and when I try to run on them, they feel like too stiff logs that will surely turn into a million splinters if I pound them too hard, but mostly I am amazed by how good I feel and I can’t wait to do it again.
My Lone Ranger Statistics:
1st Loop 1:40:04
2nd Loop 2:20:26
3rd Loop 2:24:55
4th Loop 3:12:52
Total: 33.824 miles in 9:38:17
