"Half marathon in Hemlock Hills"
My goal is to run 13 Miles on the trails today. That's about 5 miles more than I've ever run on trails.
I think my feet started to feel the rocks on the trail about 6 and a half miles in. I definitely felt the burn in my thighs and calfs running up the steep hills at this point. This is the point where I would normally stop but I'm going to try to push through on sheer grit and determination.
I'm stopping every mile for a sip of water from my water bottles. It's actually water in each bottle plus four tablespoons of chocolate malt Ovaltine plus a dash of instant coffee. My own concoction.
It's beautiful and warm but I kind of miss the winter as you probably know. There are no bugs in the winter and I'm not blinded by the sweat running into my eyes and burning and burning and burning. Also ticks are inactive when it's below 32, so no worries there about brushing against underbrush.
I sat down under a shady tree at 7 miles which is just about a little more than halfway and ate a bag of mixed nuts. I know it's not the best choice with all the salt but I just love nuts. I'm roughly 2 hours in which means I have roughly 2 hours to go. Let's see how it goes. All it is is just one (progressively slower) step after another.
About 9 miles in I noticed my shoulders and back beginning a little tired. This is due to my using trekking poles with water bottles attached.
If you've read this far you'll be interested to know that I have two non-provisional patents pending on this design. I attach water bottles to trekking poles which also have the ability to attach from 1 to 20 LB of weight to each pole when I'm hiking. I call that Heavy Hiking and I alternate during the week between trail running (which one can't do every day) with 7 lb on each pole and Heavy Hiking with 15 or 20 pounds on each pole. My upper body is in pretty good shape. (I'm actually seeking a trustworthy fourth investor who will pay in gradual amounts up to $5000 and then split equally further legal fees from the patent attorney between the four primary investors going forward.)
Anyway at 9 mi it looks like I'll be able to finish because I'm essentially doing the same four and a half mile loop Trail that I do every Saturday at a minimum and though it is very hard right now it's just as hard when I run the day after a big night or when I'm otherwise under the weather. (I don't miss a day.) And I make it through those okay.
Anyway I do it for a full body workout and during this Trail run my poles have saved me from at least 10 falls so far, and of course from dehydration.
Now I'm 11 miles (and 3 hours 30 minutes) towards my 13.1 mile goal. normally two more miles would be a piece of cake but I'm really wiped out. If I did not have my poles I'd have fallen so many times and then I have to get up each time and that would have been so much harder even. I don't think I could have made it this far without my poles. The more tired you are the more you fall like a ton of bricks. And I'm really tired. This must be equivalent of what is called "hitting the wall" when you run a marathon. That takes place at around 18 miles.
I'm in the middle of the woods though, and 2 miles away from the end of the trail anyway so there's nothing for it but you keep going slowly. You really can't run any slower. Any slower would be walking.
Well now I'm at 12 miles with just one mile to go. There are no more big hills to climb and I'll make it. I guess my biggest mistake was I didn't eat enough before going on to the trail. I had two bowls of Cheerios with milk and two mandarin oranges and a bunch of water and that's it. I'm ridiculously hungry now and probably much weaker because of that.
I do have whatever energy is in my Ovaltine water but it's not that much and I ate some nuts halfway through and not wasn't much either.
Well, let's get this thing over with...
13.1 miles! I made it! The last few miles I was so tired I caught my feet on many roots, but the poles kept me from falling. Probably 20 times throughout the run. And before I started using poles 2 years ago I frequently would have scraped up palms and knees from bad falls but that hasn't happened once in the last 2 years. (Just sayin'!) And there was just one sip left in each of my water bottles. So I guess 13 sips is all there was. Good thing I rationed it!
Would I do this again anytime soon? Are you crazy?! But I know I can do it now. Just like when I ran the NYC Marathon in 1985, just to see if I could. And I did. And this is the hardest thing I've done since running the marathon. But that marathon's another story...
For additional information about the patents pending trekking poles, please contact Doug via email doug.djay@gmail.com.
R