I am not a member of Marathon Maniacs, but over the course
of this weekend, I have spent quite a few hours with several members during the
accomplishment of what they refer to as Quadzilla—four marathons in four days.
This is as much of a logistical accomplishment as it is a physical one. Had
this happened on nearly any other weekend of the year, I would not have been
able to participate, nor had it happened anywhere but in my own town of Houston,
TX.
So why should you care that I just ran four marathons in
four days? You might find the details interesting as I have through the course
of the experience. First, a little perspective.
As some of you know, I’m a triathlete and ultra distance runner. I have
run somewhere between a dozen and 20 marathons, although I haven’t taken count
in a while. I’m typically a sub-4 marathon finisher and my PR is 3:43, which
usually puts me right around the top third of finishers in the big races I run.
It’s nothing extraordinary and I’m on the fast side of average. I’m also
training for a 100 mile trail run.
On Friday, I ran the End of the World Marathon. On Saturday,
I ran the After the End of the World Marathon. On Sunday, I ran the Apocalypse
Survivor Marathon (see a theme here?) and this morning, I ran the Tired Santa
Fatass Marathon. Here are my Garmin numbers:
As you can see, I went into each of them shooting for a
5-6 hour finish which is considerably slower than my typical marathons. I
played it cautious and I think it was the right choice. There were a number of
things that went about like I expected and a number of things which I was not
prepared for. Much as you would expect, fatigue accumulated throughout the
weekend and I became more and more tired with each progressive race. The mental
fatigue was harder than the physical fatigue and part of this was due to the
multiple loops especially on the 3rd and 4th days. The
string of races took its toll on my immune system as well and by the 3rd
day I was coming down with a head cold and by today it was full-on, which made
running a marathon just that much less pleasant.
What I found surprising was that the soreness in my legs
seemed to peak after the 2nd race and stayed fairly consistent throughout
day 3 and 4, although my calf did seize up a bit toward the end of the 4th
race. I would run a race and then come home and soak in an ice bath for as long
as I could stand it and then try to just rest up for the next race. I also
gained weight from eating and drinking during and between races. Maybe I shouldn’t
be surprised by that, but considering I probably burned in the neighborhood of
10,000 calories as well as the 2000 or so I normally burn in a day, I really
didn’t think I ate all that much.
So, all of this being said, why did I subject myself to
this?
For one thing, it sounds pretty awesome! I ran four
marathons in four days and it was quite challenging. It’s also something that I
have been curious about and until now I had not easily had the opportunity to
do so. I got to meet some really neat people who probably have mental
conditions (meant in the kindest way, of course). I cannot otherwise explain why someone would feel compelled to run
100+ marathons in a year and meticulously document all of them. Of the group
this weekend, there were at least five people who can claim that. Should I wish
to join Marathon Maniacs, I can now jump straight to level 6, having finished
Quadzilla. The real reason I did it,
though, was because I’m running a 100 mile trail race in February and running a
marathon on tired legs is a fair simulation of how my legs may feel and behave 70,
80, 90 miles into the race.
In the process, I put up some pretty neat running
numbers. If you take the week from last Tuesday through today, I ran over 123
miles and put in just shy of 24 hours on my feet. I ran Friday and Saturday
with my friend Stef who is also doing the 100 with me. She also ran some more
on the side and logged over 80 miles this weekend. I ran Sunday and Monday with
my friend Rosie who ended up with 94 miles on the weekend. All three of us are
preparing for Rocky Raccoon 100.
Some of the other guys there finished up today and drove
off to San Antonio where there is a “12 Days of Christmas” series of marathons
and they can keep their consecutive streaks alive all the way to 17 races in 17
days or perhaps even more. No thanks! Right now, my focus is on recovery,
getting over this head cold, and paying off some of the time debt I have
accumulated from my wife this weekend.
I got to spend some quality time with good friends. I got to meet interesting new people. I got to get some quality swag along the way, and I picked up some ridiculous oversized medals. All in all, a quality weekend.
