As mentioned on a previous blog post I am running the Surf the Murph 100 mile race in October. As I prepare to take on this challenge, I will be providing monthly updates on my progress. This is as much to hold me accountable to my training as it is for anything else, but I’m hoping others find this interesting and maybe inspirational as well. I will also be mixing in some advice I’ve learned over the years on running and exercise that I hope will be useful for anyone interested in starting or continuing an exercise program.
This month, I am splitting the update into two parts given the breadth of topics I want to cover. Part 1 will provide an explanation of why in the world I want to take on this challenge as well as a little background as to how I got to this point. Part 2 will provide details on my training and racing plans leading up to the 100 mile race. So here it goes.
Why run 100 miles?
I think the short answer to this question is “because it’s an option” but that only explains part of the story (and doesn’t make for a very interesting blog post). Many of the challenges I’ve taken on throughout my life are things that seem completely out of reach when the idea pops into my head but once I break them down into smaller, achievable goals they become much more reachable. But I’m getting ahead of myself so let’s back up a little to see how I got to this point.
Back in 2008, Lindsay and I became engaged. With the wedding looming in fall 2009 we both wanted to lose weight in order to look our best on that day. We immediately started eating healthier but I knew that this would require an exercise plan as well. The problem I have with exercising is that it’s seemingly a plan with no end goal (Jerry Seinfeld once quipped that “…we’re working out, so that we’ll be in shape, for when we have to do our exercises”). So I sought out an end goal and I really wanted something that seemed completely unreachable at the time: a marathon.
My first marathon attempt was a failure (sort of)
I thought about running a marathon for years but assumed it wasn’t in the cards for me given my lack of running experience. At this point in my life, I hadn’t run a race of any kind and could barely run a few miles without stopping. I found a beginner plan that seemed doable and started working on it. Unfortunately, this story does not have a happy ending; likely due to pushing too hard too fast (more on this in a later post), I ended up injured about 15 weeks into training and skipped the race. The silver lining to this is that it was over 90 degrees on race day and I did lose a fair amount of weight during training. However, this experience turned running from a short term goal for me to the beginning of a lifestyle.
Moving from a short term goal to a lifestyle
Fast forward several years and I was running several marathons a year as well as shorter distance races. Eventually, those got old so I took a detour in 2015 and began doing triathlons in addition to running. But the big shift towards trail running (most races over marathon distance take place on trails) came in April 2016 when I “paced” my friend during a portion of his 100 mile run. I use the term “paced” loosely here since I had no trail experience at that point and this was more an excuse for him to convince show me how awesome trail running is.
This experience was an eye opener for me. Trail races are much smaller with a very supportive community with the goal for most runners being to finish and encourage others to finish than anything else. So I signed up for a 50K in the fall of 2016 and ran a 50 mile race in 2017 and 2018, all through Surf the Murph. Once my friend and I learned that the 100 mile distance would be brought back for 2019 for only the second time ever, we decided to give it a go.
So that’s the story of how I got to this point. The race also fits my overall narrative of taking on challenges that sound impossible until you start to break them down with a plan. Later this week, I will post my general training plan and race plan for 2019 (it’s my most ambitious ever). I hope people look forward to following my progress on this site over the next 9 months!
What challenges are you pursuing that stretch your current limits?
