In 2006, I had been running for just over three years and running ultras for 18 months. As a long time supporter of the American Cancer Society and their Relay for Life events I found it fitting that my first true run dedicated to fighting cancer would be at their 2006 Rockingham County Relay for Life.
At the time, I had lost two grandmothers to cancer, one in 1994 and the other in 2005. I promised myself I would attempt to run 70 miles during the one night event, which would represent 10 miles for every month my grandmothers fought cancer. In short, it was a tough, but incredibly inspirational night of reflection and community support. I met a lot of people, made some new friends, and a few hours after sunrise I completed my 70th mile. It was by far the longest I had ever run and it took 13 hours and 35 minutes to complete, which included walking most of the final 5 hours. My body and feet were beat up for at least a week, but for a cause that made it all worth it. And even though it was a run, it was definitely not about running. That's a motto I would revisit a decade later.
In 2008, I stumbled upon George Nelson's Hampton 24 Hour Run for Cancer and wanted to test myself with the challenge of running for 24 straight hours. In short, I failed, and failed miserably at that. I ran for just over four hours and walked another eight for a grand total of 52.5 miles in 12:15. I didn't even match my mileage from the Relay for Life two years earlier. It was a rough humbling day of stomach issues and learning from a lot of rookie mistakes. Little did I know, but it would be a long 8 years until my next run at Sandy Bottom.
Enter 2016. Exactly 10 years after my 70 mile Relay for Life run from 2006.
To be honest, I wasn't even sure I was going to be able to be at the 2016 24 Hour Run for Cancer. On top of that, the previous few months of "training" had consisted of modest 40 miles per week of running and 10-15 miles of hiking. Hardly enough to make a solid attempt at a 24 hour run, no less something like an ultra or even marathon. Given that, I decided to make a short term goal of running 71 miles, which would eclipse the 70 I had run 10 years earlier. The additional one mile would be in memory of my grandfather who passed away from cancer in 2008, ironically only four months after my first failed visit to the Hampton 24 Hour Run.
Needless to say the run was a pleasant surprise and it felt great to finally to put in some bigger miles again. It was my longest run in three years and strangely felt quite effortless and relaxed the entire time. I started out fairly slow and gradually picked up the pace to the point where my last 10 miles were the fastest of the day. At three hours in, I don't even think I was in the top 15 runners, but apparently by the time I had completed my 71.25 miles in 11:09 I had climbed to second place by a fairly large margin. Not that any of that was important, but it was nice to finish a run that had a lot of personal meaning feeling incredibly strong.
As far as performance, not that it was about that, but this may have been the best I have ever paced a run. I ran my first 31 miles in 5:00 and my final 31 miles in 4:42. My 50 mile split was 8:00 and my 100k split was 9:49. I also ran a 3:56 marathon split after mile 45, which was a total surprise, but proved that starting very slow really does pay significant dividends. In fact, my projected 100 mile time would have been somewhere between 16:40 and 17:00, which would have been a massive PR, though I still feel Like I was under trained to go for such an attempt. However, I think with a more appropriate training I may have figured out the best way to pace for flatter, longer races.
That said, it was great to spend some time on the trails with friends and run again for a the cause of fighting cancer. Cancer and running have had been almost synonymous and is one of the reasons I had run and survived some of my earliest ultras. I also think that I might be ready to test myself to run the entire 24 hours at the Run for Cancer and see what I can really do. I realize that yes running 71.25 miles was a solid run, but I also know I didn't come close to testing my body and mind the way it would have to run an additional 13 hours like many others did. In addition, though I have "run" for over 24 hours several times, there is something very different and mental about running as much as you can within the fixed time frame of a single day. That is something to think about.
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