Eating My Words for Six Hours (Last July)

Last summer, when I was all gung-ho about blogging, I started this blog post. I pretty much rewrote the whole thing this morning, though, because it was all OBE.

Anyway, there's this event called the Endless Summer Six Hour Run fairly local to me. For years, I said I'd never do it. Whenever one of my friends signed up for it, I went on about how they were begging for injury, heat exhaustion, or worse. Tick bites, lime disease, you name it, it was sure to happen on their six hour jaunt through a wooded park. Don't get me wrong, I love the outdoors, I love the woods and hiking, but six hours on a paved four mile loop? Ewww.

Then Mother's Day weekend 2014 happened. (Read all about it here.) Over coffee, one of my training partners put a bug in my ear to sign up for the July 2014 event. I pondered it for several days. I was tired of running races for distance and time. By then, I'd stopped wearing my Garmin, or any watch, on most of my runs. I was just running for enjoyment, with no real goals in mind. But I kind of wanted a goal, or at least an event, to train for. Six hours, with no real distance? Six hours, with the option to walk, or even take a break and sit down, whenever I wanted? Sure. I decided to give it a try. After signing up, I joked that I'd be eating my words for six hours. Years of going on about how it was a bad idea and how it didn't sound fun? Umm yeah, I'd be eating those words. For six hours.

May, June, and most of July went on without any unusual events. Also without much training. I went for a four hour trail hike one day in June. Surely that was sufficient training, right?

No

To say I was undertrained is an understatement. The first three laps were fun. Then the suck factor increased along with the heat and humidity. My walk breaks got longer. I sat down and rested a few times. (There were benches along the path, begging me to take a rest.) In a futile attempt to alleviate the pain in my feet, I changed into flip flops for my final lap. I completed 22 miles and change.

The day wasn't a total wash. The ride there and back was fun, Five of us kept each other company in the Van of Regret. I ran parts of several laps with my friends. The food was good. Unlimited gummy bears, M&Ms, and pretzels every 4 miles? Yes, please! There was a post-race cookout in a pavilion. Grilled burgers and more gummy bears? Cookies? Homemade blueberry cream pie, that one of my friends brought? Sign me up! And the race swag couldn't be beat. I got an awesome silicone pint glass and singlet. It did take me several weeks to wear the singlet and use the pint glass, though. I had to get over my regret. Plus, the race supports a very worthy cause, the Semper Fi Fund.

Worth running for six hours on a paved path for? Probably.

And look, now you know what my bed sheets look like. Creep away.

Last weekend, my friends started talking about this event again. Although the groundhog saw his shadow yesterday, July 2015 is right around the corner. This time, though, several of us are forming relay teams. While waiting around between legs sounds boring, it won't be. We'll have each other! Lemonade, magazines, and pedicures!

Maybe I'll still be blogging in July and you'll get a race report. I'm sure you'll be holding your breath for it.