On July 28th, my husband celebrated his upcoming 50th birthday by running 50 miles in one day. He's talking about doing it for months and tried to train enough that he wouldn't collapse at 40 miles the way he did last year.
July 28th was the day he chose because the weather was remarkably cool. He started at 3am (he only got about 4 hours of sleep that night) and ran with a friend for almost 5 hours. He says that really helped. At 8am he had run 27 miles and he came in for some breakfast and a little stretching and rest. After about an hour, he took off and ran by himself for another 17 miles.
He came home again at 12:30 and had some lunch and rehydration with a little more resting and stretching. He did the last 6 miles with Mindy riding next to him on her bike. He had to talk her into it but promised her a trip to Wendy's for French fries if she did it. About 3pm, 12 hours after he started, he finished!
Here is what he wrote about it in an email to our kids:
July 28th was the day he chose because the weather was remarkably cool. He started at 3am (he only got about 4 hours of sleep that night) and ran with a friend for almost 5 hours. He says that really helped. At 8am he had run 27 miles and he came in for some breakfast and a little stretching and rest. After about an hour, he took off and ran by himself for another 17 miles.
He came home again at 12:30 and had some lunch and rehydration with a little more resting and stretching. He did the last 6 miles with Mindy riding next to him on her bike. He had to talk her into it but promised her a trip to Wendy's for French fries if she did it. About 3pm, 12 hours after he started, he finished!
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| I was in Salt Lake when he finished and this is the picture he texted me from his GPS. |
Here is what he wrote about it in an email to our kids:
One lesson that seems to sound out from all those miles is that sharing my journey with others makes the journey better. I don't know if I could have completed the distance on my own. Another lesson is that preparation helps. I tried to be realistic about difficulties of the run. I knew it was going to be hard. I experienced some very difficult times in training, and I tried to be mentally prepared for the dark times on the long run. It was a little funny because a few times on Tuesday I felt great – I mean really awesome. But I knew those times were going to end and be replaced by more challenging ones. The mental preparation might have been as important as the physical training. Oh, and the lower temperatures were very nice.
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