Start of the 50

Start of the 50
Super excited at getting candy back!

Saturday, May 2, 2009

50 Miles on foot!

So my New Year's resolution this year was to give up candy for an unknown period of time, which was until I hit a physical goal for myself. I had the initial goal of getting up to 215 pounds, but with the work I do it proved to be next to impossible. So, I decided to change it to going 50 miles on foot in a day. That brings me to this Wednesday at 9:30 am. I set off from Gabriels, Ny. headed for Potsdam, Ny which is exactly 50 miles away. I was pretty pumped up going into it and was yelling and playing loud music right before I left. My buddy Bodie dropped me off and took a pre-run picture of me look excited. I jogged about 18 of the first 25 miles of the deal, which took me to the Hill Stop Station where I would eat and ice my legs down for the next 25 miles of the deal. Something about going 25 miles and knowing you still have that many to go is a bit on the alarming side of thoughts. Nevertheless, I got going again after my 30 minute ice down and started moving up the road. At this point, I wasn't jogging a whole lot due to the fact that my left hamstring was starting to cramp up pretty badly. 30 miles past and so on. A lady I work with passed me driving in the opposite direction, but told her self it couldn't be me because why would I be hoofing it to Potsdam on foot. Mostly because I'm an idiot is the reason she would come to find out. Around 33 miles in an old man stopped and offered me a ride to Hopkinton, which is about 10 miles up the road. "You look awfully tired son." Is what he told me. I thanked him for the offer, but told him I was off on an adventure and need to get to Potsdam by myself. At mile 35 the pain in my left ankle was becoming SEVERE and I made it to the junction of 458 highway and 11B which headed into Potsdam. It was now 8:30PM and the light was fading quickly. I went into the gas station on the corner and picked up a Red Bull and Gatorade in hopes of hydration and much needed energy. I asked the clerk if I could borrow the phone as my cell phone didn't have reception there and made a call to my friend Heather who was going to let me crash at her place for the night. I told her I had made it to the 35 mile mark and that it would probably take me until 2 AM to get there and that I would be in horribly bad shape and might need carried, etc. I headed off down the road again into the setting sun and soon it would be completely dark out by the time I hit mile 38 on the trip. My hip ligaments felt like they were ripping off. My ankle was causing moans, groans and grimaces. I had a blister on my left foot about the size of a half dollar and I still had 12 miles to go. I would watch with horror as car's would pass me on the long straight aways with there brake lights trailing up the road forever and then finally disappear completely in the distance. All I could think was "Jesus! I have to make it to there!" And then when I got there another one would pass and I would have all the same thoughts again. 10:30PM. It had been two hours since I left the gas station and I kept telling myself "Two and a half hours and your pain will all be over and this will be a memory." I threw one foot in front of the other. The temperature outside had fallen considerably since sunset and was around 40 degrees and I was in shorts and a super thin shirt and getting damn cold fast. 11PM. My body was coming apart with each minute and mile that I continued. My ankle was hurt so bad that I would walk for ten steps and stop because of the pain and then tell myself "2 hours you can do this". 11:30PM. I began getting scared. The pain was overwhelming me. I was on the verge of tears with each agonizing step. A car would pass and I would have to fight an internal battle to not put my thumb out to hitch a ride and end the pain. Each time one would pass I would watch it as it disappeared ahead on the road and leave me alone in the dark to fight the pain. Every time I would pass a barn or an old beat up car in a field I would think to myself "You should have brought a sleeping bag so that you could just lay down for a while." Around midnight I couldn't justify the pain anymore. I had pushed myself close to the limit of my body. I had gone 45 miles without training at all. Not bad I told myself. I had wanted the 50 though. A car passed. I put out my thumb and said out loud "Dear God, please stop." It passed out of sight and up the road. Not to many cars on this isolated stretch of road and the idea of that none of them might pull over and I would be walking, crawling or laying in a ditch became a definite possibility. Another car passed and another. I continued shuffling along and grimacing. And then I put my thumb out and then car slowed down and stop about 75 feet ahead of me. I moved slowly to get to it. I don't know what would have happened if I would have had to walk those last five miles. I'm sure I would have made it, but it would have been horrible. The guy that pulled over asked me what I was doing and I told him. When I got out of his car I couldn't lift my leg by themselves, but rather I had to lift them with my arm and set them down outside the car and pull myself up. I shuffled the 25 feet or so to the apartment door and made my way up the five stairs to my friends apartment. When I got in her and another friend Dan that I work with were there and helped me. I sat on her couch and shook uncontrolably for more than 20 minutes. I could move enough to take my own shoes off and took some ibuprofen in hopes of a better tomorrow. I had made it 45 miles on foot. Not 50, but not bad. I decided to throw in the other 5 and begin eating candy again. So when someone asks you "Do you like chocolate?" You might say yes, but have run/walked/hobbled 45 miles for it? I will say yes I love chocolate and have a story to prove it.

1 comment:

  1. only made it 18 miles and then stopped? how ever will you run 26.2 nonstop to beat me in the marathon? 45 miles or not, I will beat you

    ReplyDelete