I started this challenge to try to see how far I could
go. I wanted to experience moments of doubt and pain because I believe that
those are the moments that cause growth. But the truth is, that during the last
7 days, I did not experience those moments. It wasn’t until this morning when I
slept in (6:15am??) and woke up to think about my journey that I realized that
the challenge itself was not just this past week. The challenge started the day
I came up with the 7 Dirty Thirties and it continued throughout the training.
The last week was just the test and the celebration of the end of the journey.
I did experience moments of doubt, exhaustion, and pain, but those came during
my hardest training weeks, when I was out running alone, vulnerable to negative
thoughts.
That being said, yesterday was Day 7 and I could not be
happier with how it went. I woke up feeling the most sore I had felt all week,
but as I had done 6 times before, I got up, got ready, and got out the door.
The weather was colder than it had been all week and it was even raining a
little. I was a little worried because I didn’t have any rain gear and I didn’t
want to get cold out there, but the forecast said it would be a partly cloudy
day and so I figured the rain would clear up soon.
At the Pima Canyon trailhead (South Mountain), my Racelab
teammate, Andy and his friend Stephen joined me for the first loop. These two
guys are very strong runners but they stayed with me and kept me entertained. About
4 miles into a 6-mile loop, we decided to take a different trail that I had
taken only once before that climbed way up over a mountain and dropped down into
another trail. At first I was hesitant to take something very challenging but
it was the last day and I decided to make it an adventure. The first loop ended
up being almost exactly 8 miles and it was very fun. Thank you to Andy and
Stephen for hanging with me at that painfully slow pace (for you)!
Stephen, myself, and Andy during our adventurous detour!
Loop 2 was much flatter and easier and my friend Cindy
joined me. We did about 7 miles so, by the time I got back to my aid station at
the end of loop 2, I was already more than halfway through. I couldn’t believe
how fast the day was going by! For loop 3, Cindy and I went up to a trail
called Hidden Valley. This trail was a little more challenging than the flat 7
miles we had just done and there were a couple of times where I started feeling
lightheaded. It was probably a slight deficit in calories caused by the first,
more strenuous loop so I just made sure to finish all the Honey Stinger gels
and apple sauces I had so I could get back to the car and make up for it. We
made it back looking strong and waiting for me was Katlyn, my parents, and a few of
my Racelab teammates. I only had about 8 miles to go and I was thrilled! 8 miles was nothing when I looked back at the 202 miles I had covered in the last 7
days.
This was my 200-mile mark for the week!
So to finish this off, I decided to break it into two
loops. One 5-miler, which I decided to push the pace on and see how fast I
could go, and the last 3-miler, which would be a slow, easy victory lap, joined
by Katlyn, my parents, and anyone else who wished to trod along.
So I took off for the 5-mile loop with Nathan, who had
run with me on the first day and from the beginning, I was pushing the pace. I
felt incredible and was able to really open it up on some of the downhills on
the Desert Classic trail. We kept going faster and faster and the miles flew by
in less than 10 minutes apiece. When you compare that to the average of 13-15
minute miles I had been doing for a week, this was super fast… Before we knew
it, we were back at the trailhead and I gathered a little posse and we were off
for an easy 3 miles.
The final, 3-mile group!
Katlyn, my parents, my brother (on his mountain bike),
Nathan, and Cindy joined me for those last 3 miles. We took it very easy and
just talked the entire way about how the week had gone. It felt like a little
moving party, shuffling along the Desert Classic trail. Soon, we turned around
and headed back and soon after that, my watch beeped at the 30-mile mark. I was
done: 210 miles in 7 days.
At the trailhead was a big group of people, clapping and
cheering (and probably confusing the hell out of the hikers that were walking
around). It felt weird having all those people there for me but I was really excited
and grateful that they had taken the time to come out and congratulate me. This
journey has depended a lot on the support of my family and friends, and
sometimes even strangers, so having a crowd there made it even more meaningful.
So what now? Where do I go from here? In June I start
training for Ironman Cozumel, and I am very excited for that, but I’ve done
Ironman before so I don’t really see it as the answer to “Where do I go from
here.” This challenge started because I realized that in order to stay engaged,
we have to continuously raise the bar and find new ways to challenge ourselves.
Don’t get me wrong, training for Ironman is immensely challenging and I look
forward to trying to find a love for the bike this time around, but I can’t
help but look further and think about what the next 7 Dirty Thirties-type
challenge will be. 100-mile ultra? 24 or 48-hour ultra? A point-to-point stage
run? There are all sorts of options out there and I think that’s what excites
me the most: the countless ways to test yourself, at increasing levels of
difficulty, to continue finding your limits and break through them. These types
of challenges break us down to our most raw, vulnerable state. And it is in those
moments that we find out who we are; moments of doubt and pain, when our masks are
stripped away and we don’t have the energy to hide our thoughts from ourselves
anymore. Those moments are ultimately what I am searching for.
So where do I go from here? Where, indeed.
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