I ran 43 miles overnight pacing a runner for the 20 in 24 Ultra Marathon. I had placed a post on The Facebook offering my services as a pacer, and a friend hooked me up this guy Sebastian who was shooting for 100. I started pacing him after his 5th lap and I stayed with him until his 10th lap.
43 miles. Ok - so my marathon is done - I just did one last night :)
I love this race. I had volunteered for the whole 24 hours last year with Lynne and Cat, and at the time, I was still suffering through my injury, but I made a vow that I would run the race the next year. I would have loved to have done a relay team this year, but I wasnt motivated to put one together. The whole atmosphere at race is crazy. The start and finish area is a tent city, with the relay teams creating these whole elaborate setups as they each wait for their respective team members to come back from their lap.
It's very surreal running on the Drives in the middle of the night. The only people out there are the other knuckleheads running like lunatics in the middle of the night, and the four rest stops that are scattered along the course. It's very surreal to see the glow of the luminescent running vests and the bobbing headlamps off in the distance.
All of that being said, I dont think there is enough appeal for me to do this ultra running thing as a habit. But, if I can do this, then mentally, the marathon is cake although I should be- and hopefully will be - running much fast than the paces I was pulling for this event. Granted, we did some walking in some spots, and took some breaks after each lap.
I saw a ton of familiar faces at the race - a pretty large showing from some folks on my running club - some of whom were part of a relay and a few who were also pacers. Then theres the random people I know just from the running community. Philadelphia is a small running town and race timing puts me in contact with alot of people, so it's kinda neat to be out there and run into lot's of people that I know. Mr. Popularity.
It was good night of running. I had some stomach issues about 30 miles in, which only lasted a few miles. My feet felt great with respect to any sort of hotspots or blisters - I am OCD about blisters. I swear by these thin Wright Socks. Highly recommended by me.
Ok, I am starving.
