Category: Adventure

So I signed up for the Labor Pain 12 hour endurance trail run a week ago, and here I am with the follow up.

It took just less than 7.5 hours, but I got in 25 miles on the 5 mile course. That’s the most I’ve ever run. Went out way too fast. Didn’t rest enough in between laps. Flamed out on that last lap.

1:16:10 lap 1
1:10:29 lap 2
1:21:05 lap 3
1:32:07 lap 4
2:06:45 lap 5
Total time was 7:26:33

I got two shirts out of the deal, all the grilled cheese and coke and cookies I could ever eat, had so many great conversations with people, and even got paced by a puppy on my last lap.

I really wanted to hit 30 miles, buy my feet had other plans. Next time I really need to rest like 10-15 minutes after each lap. Put my feet up. Recover more.

When I signed up for this race, I already had “a cough,” but didn’t think much of it. Eh, it’ll go away, right? Well, it was still there on Sunday, but I powered through. It really didn’t affect my breathing, except when I was coughing, which wasn’t too often. And really, I figured if I got in 25 miles (holy crap), it must not be that bad.

Well, finally I went to urgent care, and it turns out I have bronchitis. Oops.

According to Wikipedia:

“Bronchitis is inflammation of the bronchi (large and medium-sized airways) in the lungs that causes coughing. Bronchitis usually begins as an infection in the nose, ears, throat, or sinuses. The infection then makes its way down to the bronchi. Symptoms include coughing up sputum, wheezing, shortness of breath, and chest pain.”

Again, I didn’t have a sore throat. The coughing didn’t keep me up at night (I slept 10 hours straight after the run). I was fine!

But yeah, I ran 25 miles with bronchitis. If it gets worse, it can turn into pneumonia, which is not ideal.

All that to say, I am still able to walk 10+ miles per day, I feel good, and now I’m on medication to take of the bronchitis.

Three hours a day on our phone is 21 hours a week, so I figured why not just go for a walk instead? I mean, I do look at my phone of course, but.. hey… 20+ extra hours not looking at the phone is nice, too.

The thing about “doing a thing” for so many hours per week is you don’t really know where it might lead. I can imagine someone practicing guitar for three hours a day might get really good in a few months time.

It’s like the Kobe Bryant thing, where he practiced multiple times per day, when everyone else was just practicing once a day. Do that over multiple years, and you’re miles ahead of the other players.

I’m not trying to win this 12 hour endurance trail run, but I’m excited to see what I can do from walking 10+ miles per day for 100 days.

• Dolly Parton and Tim Curry passed away.
• Matt Walsh (Veep, Upright Citizens Brigade) is Death in a YouTube series “Near Death.”
• Jeff Browning suffers a heart attack during an ultra race.
• “Meta agrees to pay $18 billion to settle US lawsuits over children’s social media addiction“
• “Prop up your phone and drop down. Every real rep, counted live by the camera, strikes a blow against the dark.” This looks fun.

I’m losing my zeal for pro sports and finally cancelled NFL Redzone, figuring there’s got to be a better way to spend seven hours every Sunday. So I started the “RUN OVER REDZONE” club on Strava.

Just go for a run from 1-8pm EST on football Sundays. Run a mile. Run a mile every hour. Run for seven hours, whatever.

After watching more backyard ultra stuff, and walking 10+ miles per day for almost 100 days, I dunno… just sounds like something fun to try and do during the football season.

He’s not dead, just threw in the towel. This was how the Last Soul Backyard Ultra ended.

It’s “6.7 km per lap, every full hour,” until there’s just one person left.

This was lap 94, so 94 hours of running, just over 390 miles in total.

American Mark Dowdle won.

I slept on my porch last night. Lived here for like six years now, but finally did it. A piece of tyvek, an inflatable sleeping pad, my camping quilt, and a for-real pillow. Laid under the stars, but I could only see three of them because of all the light pollution. I absolutely had to wear an eye mask.

Nearby a refrigerator compressor would kick on every 10 minutes or so. It got cold enough to put on a hoodie in the middle of the night (it’s August). I woke up about quarter to six in the morning. It was cloudy, but I could see the sky brighten.

Part of me wanted to do this just to try the “cowboy camping” thing in a safe place. I can’t believe people really do that in the woods, or on mountains. But that was fun, and I’m camping again later this week, so maybe I won’t set up the tent and instead I’ll lay in the middle of the woods and see what happens.

Today was day 70 of walking at least 10 miles per day. Since May 26th I’ve walked 787.6 miles, about 11.2 miles per day.

I start most days with a three mile walk, which takes about an hour.

After I get through some of my work, I try to get in another three mile walk before noon.

My afternoons are still up in the air, but my best days I get in another 2-3 miles before 4pm, then another 3+ miles in the evening, usually at a park or some trails.

I do run some of these miles, but not much. Maybe 10-15 miles per week. I was able to run 30-ish miles per week a few years back, but then I’d get some sort of injury and just grind to a halt. I wanted to do something like this because it felt more sustainable.

I bought two new pairs of shoes during these 70 days, and I’m definitely going to need to buy another soon. Right now I’m fond of the Brooks Men’s Ghost Max 3 Neutral Running & Walking Shoe.

At 50 my car is filled with running shoes, bags, various gear, and jackets so at certain points of the day I can go for a spontaneous adventures. Today was a run and a hike. Not much has changed since I got my drivers license some 33 years ago.

Good run up and down my favorite hill (880′ feet or so up to the Appalachian Trail). Then a solid hike 3.5 mile hike around the lake. Dusty roads and lots of sun. Day 61 of moving at least 10 miles a day and feeling great.