After a long day at work on Friday, December 18, 2020, I drove 112 miles from Atlanta to Chattanooga. Usually when I told people I was planning to run a 50 mile race, they have one of three questions. I'm going to answer each of them here, as I had plenty of time to think about it on my way to the mountain (the race was mountainous terrain) 1. "Why are you doing that?" There is something simply brilliant about exploring human potential. We all have the ability to set and achieve goals to explore our potential- but none of us really know what we're capable of. I decided to start training to summit Mount Saint Everest in the summer of 2020 to wrestle through some questions about my own potential. I signed up for the race after I realized several friends were already doing it, and also because running farther than I had ever ran before seemed like a good way to get my mind used to embracing new challenges and pushing limits.
The second question folks ask is, 2. "Wait, is it 50 miles all at once?" or "It's not a relay?" or "How long does that take?" I used to ask people questions like this all the time before I was doing longer endurance runs. If you ever want to track someone down who is miles ahead of you on their running journey, stop and talk with some of the volunteers at your next 5k. Already an avid 5k runner? Ask a few volunteers next time you run a 10k or a marathon and see what they say about how long they've been endurance running. For some reason, the volunteers at these events seem to be cut from a different cloth. Maybe not always for a 5k, but this is more true for marathon volunteers. The lady who mapped the course, a local shoe store owner, the race director, etc. They have all run the race more times than they can count, and usually have good stories. Anyway to answer my second question, yes its a full 50 miles all in one day. Its not a relay. You start at the starting line, and the finish line is 50 miles away on the other side of mountainous terrain. There are lots of rest stops with plenty of food, and some runners even change their shoes. I was concerned that if I sat down long enough to change shoes, I would not have gotten back up. So I skipped that part. The race took me 13:28 (13 hours, 28 minutes).
For some, after they've heard the answer to these first two questions, the third question is skeptical. So after I explain why I do this sort of thing, and they realize it doesn't fit into the mold for their life, so they have some quick witted response about why its not for them, or why its a waste of time. In all fairness, most curious friends are generally positive and supportive about my ridiculous goals. Most don't have any smart-ass remarks to make (or if they do, they bite their tongue. But 1 in every 10 will say something like, "my doctor said running that long will tear down your body and its bad for your knees." or "I was going to start working out around the new year, but I just didn't have time." or my new personal favorite, "You're training to summit Mount Everest? I saw a documentary (or read a book), you're not going to make it."
Regardless what these skeptics think, I want to get in the habit of pushing the pre-conceived "limits" of my potential. I'm convinced that if we set our minds to achieve something and work tirelessly to move ourselves forward, we can each achieve much more than we thought was possible. Many of my peers find some way to challenge themselves that steps outside of where most others would typically stop and turn back. Most choose some traditional path to challenge themselves. Some pursue their PhD or some other advanced degree. Some set financial goals or travel goals or family goals. But the point is for most of us- at some point in life, we step off the path of mediocrity and try to forge a new path. For me, the path is Mount Everest, and I can't stop moving toward it until I realize where my potential will arrest me. Where will my body give up? I want to know what altitude is too much for my lugs. Where will I have to turn back? 15,000 feet? 20,000 feet? I'm going to find out.
Anyway I was thinking about all of this on my way to Lookout Mountain. Lets be honest, there isn't a whole lot of overlap between running up and down Lookout Mountain, and summiting Everest. But I had to start somewhere. It was the longest run I had planned to attempt in a single day, I was with several good friends, and it was in the mountains on an unusually cold day in December. It seemed like a good place to start. I don't know how my body would hold up to the elevation, but I had all the tools I needed to stay fueled and hydrated. The image below shows all this swag. When I run marathons, i tend to bring as few things to the starting line as I can. This race was different, and all of these things in the image below came with me to the race. I showed up 10 minutes before the start, which wasn't really enough time, and it was pretty crowded. I almost didn't meet up with the group. But I made it just fine, and we all started together. The story of the actual run will be in an upcoming post. But for what its worth, I was ready and had everything I needed to get going. The journey had begun.
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