Few of you will probably remember monthly reports of marathons prior to August, 2008 when my wife and I adopted our daughter Grace.
After a full year off from running marathons, the wanderlust bug bit again and bit hard. Having totally forgotten how painful the marathons could be, I signed up for a 12 hour event in Wakefield, MA (a small town about a dozen miles outside Boston). Really crazy race that starts at 7:00PM and finishes at 7:00 in the morning. There is no set distance, with runners going round and round a lake with each lap 3.16 miles. And if all this doesn't sound crazy enough my longest run in the last year was only about 10 miles (under a two hour run).
As the race was about to start I met a fellow gyrene and enjoyed hearing his story. His name is John Mortell and he lives in Weymouth, MA. A vietnam era Marine and now 63, John was aiming to qualify for Boston by running a sub-4 hour marathon time.
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Three races were actually run at the same time... a marathon, a 12 hour run, and even a 24 hour run. Here the ultra marathoners meet to hear race instructions...
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The area was a very peaceful setting...
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... though the graveyard area didn't help pick up the mood...
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As darkness settled over the lake, it was tough mentally preparing for about 8 more hours of running in the dark of night.
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Around 5 in the morning daylight started bringing all of us 12 hour folks still on the course hope that the end was near.
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Ran on blisters the last 10 miles and ended with 50.6 miles covered in the 12 hour time span. Definitely one of the craziest things I've done, though I have to say they're are definitely folks even crazier. After returning to the hotel, showering, catching a few hours z's, and eating lunch, I returned to the course and took this photo... it was a little after 3pm and the 24 hour folks still had over 3 hours left to run
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"The Marines I have seen around the world have the cleanest bodies, the filthiest minds, the highest morale, and the lowest morals of any group of animals I have ever seen. Thank GOD for the United States Marine Corps." Eleanor Roosevelt, 1945
Good for you bud!
