So there I was on January 6 minding my own business when I received notification that I had been added by John Price to a "Run Until You Drop" Facebook group. What's this? A quick read of the rules revealed in February you have to run miles or kilometers equal to the day of the month. February 1, run one mile or one kilometer. February 2, run two miles or two kilometers and so forth. Distances can't be banked or rearranged. Walking is allowed. Fair enough.
The first thing that struck me was this is a leap year so there would be "bonus" miles on February 29. I fired up Excel and calculated one would need to complete 435 miles for the miles challenge or 270 miles for the kilometer challenge. I looked farther in the thread and found someone had created this nice chart.
So I started out as a mile challenger. The first week was very easy to complete.
February 14 was the St. Valentine's Day massacre for me. We woke up to about three inches of snow on the ground. It was cold and raining when I headed out. I got soaked and ended up wearing a disposable transparent yellow poncho in order to keep going. I felt really beat up. I think I ended up walking the entire fourteen miles. Fortunately, Marie walked the last three miles with me. That night I decided to switch to kilometers.
Switching to kilometers meant I only had to run 15 km (9.32 miles) on Monday. That drop off in miles was all I needed to recover and got my mojo back.
Wednesday, February 24 was notable because strong thunderstorms were forecast for the evening. I told my boss I would be in late. I ran eleven miles and got to work at 10:30 a.m. Later that day we not only had strong thunderstorms, but several tornadoes in the area. I was able to squeeze in four more miles after work. I saw a partial rainbow and then more storms and tornadoes arrived in the area.
On Saturday, February 27 I felt totally burned out. One of the UK based RUYDroppers posted photos of the beautiful hills where he was running and that motivated me to go run the Berkeley Ravine Trail at William and Mary Woods. That was just the spark I needed to keep going.
On Monday, February 29 I took the day off and ran my eighteen plus miles at Freedom Park, a very inspirational place for me. A very nice park attendant took a finisher's photo for me.
Lessons Learned
1. Being a part of a Facebook group was great. Everyone cheered and encouraged each other. Since most of the runners were based in the UK and I'm an afternoon runner I would see their posts about finishing long before I had even gone out for a run. It was very motivational.
2. The challenge needs to be respected and treated as a month long ultramarathon. You have to fuel and recover properly. The foam roller is your friend. You have to take care of yourself. If you don't you will drop.
3. On some days you will need to make unexpected adjustments. The Hokas were starting to hurt the tops of my feet and ankles. I switched to cushioned zero drop Mizuno Cursoris shoes a couple of times and it really helped.
4. If you can get your daily miles in a single run it is probably better than splitting it up. Sometimes you have to split it up due to work or other reasons.
5. Sometimes you have bad weather or you need to run at night - deal with it.
6. Some days are great, some aren't.
7. You must commit to finishing before you start.
8. You will need support from your spouse, employer, etc.
9. You need to plan your days out as much as possible and have your gear ready to go.
10. Sometimes it's easier to run than it is to walk.
I really enjoyed the whole experience. I like facing challenges like this.
I have to thank Paul Ali for setting it up and John Price for adding me to the group.
Here is my Run Until You Drop Kilo Hero finisher photo. 330 miles for the month. I can't wait until my finisher shirt arrives.
