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Thread: [Engaged] Silly run for MacMillan Cancer Support.

  1. #1

    [Engaged] Silly run for MacMillan Cancer Support.

    My apologies if this is not the correct place for this,

    Through Ango I have been training for a 24 hour race. A lot of my motivation for this is that I have a friend who, at 34, has been diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer. Just because COVID is here doesn't mean that all the other illnesses and problems in the world take a vacation and it is so easy to let those other problems slip out of view. Macmillan Cancer Support ( https://www.macmillan.org.uk/ ) here in the UK do a great job helping to support people affected by cancer, so I'm also raising a bit of awareness for them.

    As of 10pm GMT on tonight I will be heading a long run from Reality Checkpoint, Cambridge. I have 24 hours to get as far away from the start as possible, but I need to make it back within 24 hours. If everything goes perfectly, I'll be covering around 100 miles (161km). We're in lockdown here in the UK, but allowed to do unlimited solo exercise, so there are no checkpoints providing food or support, I just have to keep putting one foot in the other. I had only run a total of 66km between January and September, so it will be interesting to see if I can go from couch to ultramarathon in 66 Days.

    For anyone interested, you should be able to follow my progress here (Tracker 252): https://track.trail.live/event/day-release

    Gassho,
    Phill
    sat

  2. #2
    Kyotai
    Guest
    Well done Phill. All the best to your friend.

    Gassho, Kyotai

  3. #3
    ALL OF LIFE IS OUR TEMPLE

  4. #4
    Good luck on your run, and hoping your friend is doing well.
    Gassho,
    Krista
    st/lah

  5. #5
    Quote Originally Posted by Phill View Post
    My apologies if this is not the correct place for this,

    Through Ango I have been training for a 24 hour race. A lot of my motivation for this is that I have a friend who, at 34, has been diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer. Just because COVID is here doesn't mean that all the other illnesses and problems in the world take a vacation and it is so easy to let those other problems slip out of view. Macmillan Cancer Support ( https://www.macmillan.org.uk/ ) here in the UK do a great job helping to support people affected by cancer, so I'm also raising a bit of awareness for them.

    As of 10pm GMT on tonight I will be heading a long run from Reality Checkpoint, Cambridge. I have 24 hours to get as far away from the start as possible, but I need to make it back within 24 hours. If everything goes perfectly, I'll be covering around 100 miles (161km). We're in lockdown here in the UK, but allowed to do unlimited solo exercise, so there are no checkpoints providing food or support, I just have to keep putting one foot in the other. I had only run a total of 66km between January and September, so it will be interesting to see if I can go from couch to ultramarathon in 66 Days.

    For anyone interested, you should be able to follow my progress here (Tracker 252): https://track.trail.live/event/day-release

    Gassho,
    Phill
    sat
    That sounds fantastic. Glide or the UK equivalent in all the important areas. Let us know how it goes!

    Gassho,

    Shinshi
    空道 心志 Kudo Shinshi
    I am just a priest-in-training, any resemblance between what I post and actual teachings is purely coincidental.
    E84I - JAJ

  6. #6
    Wow!! Good luck Phill, make sure to stay hydrated! Much metta to your friend, how sad to have a diagnosis like that so young.

    Gassho,
    Jakuden
    SatToday/LAH

  7. #7
    Thank you for the good luck messages. And my friend is doing well, they are responding well to treatment, and even though a cure isn't on the cards, if they get more good quality time to spend with their daughter then that is something to be grateful for.

    For those interested in a little race report:

    I did not have a fun race. I covered enough distance out and back to the start to complete it and get a medal, but I didn't manage to go as far as I had planned. I had said I'd do 100 miles (161km) and instead did 87 miles (140km). I just need to get fitter, stronger and go again.

    Even from the start nothing was working well. That wasn't a problem I knew I had 24 hours to run and things would pick up and get easier at some point. (Spoiler alert: they didn't). By 25km into the run I was on pace but still grinding the miles. Through the first night I found a pothole, slipped in roadkill and then ran out of water. My knee stopped working correctly 49km into the run, so I had to jog/limp/walk the rest of the way. It was an out and back race so I was heading further away from Cambridge knowing I wasn't going to make my target distance and only making my return harder. That became an interesting mental challenge. I spent a lot of time working my way through the pain cave, putting one foot in front of the other. As the saying goes: pain is inevitable. suffering is optional.

    At one point in the second evening I hallucinated there was a regular-person sized BFG sat in the hedge. He seemed happy enough there. That was my first ever ultra-running hallucination. Usually after spending 20 hours or so on my feet I end up with great feelings of warmth and being connected with the world. I've done long runs where at the end I've been overwhelmingly proud of the person passing me only an hour or so before the finish line, because they were doing so unbelievably well. I've almost been in tears when filled with gratitude for the people showing me support online or cycling alongside me to provide food and water along with moral support. There was none of that in this race. I didn't even have the usual voice in my head to give me a motivational internal monologue. That voice had decided to take a vacation. So for a long time it was just me, just walking. Even then, I'm not sure how much of me was left at that point. (Not in some profound mystical way, but some sleep-deprivated, brain-starved of fuel way.)

    Still, I made it to the end, where everything became a struggle. Some out-of-focus man with what seemed to be a dog tried talking to me. Then I decided I needed a little lie down on the grass and crumpled to the ground. It was cold so I sat instead. And that was that. It ended with me in a heap on the ground, having taken me 22 hours 25 minutes to finish some sort of run/walk/limp to the same place I started. It wasn't quite a success, but not an abject failure either.

    One sleep and once ice-bath later, and other than a few minor aches everything seems to be mostly fine. The warmth and gratitude and feeling connected has made a belated appearance and most importantly I raised over £300 for MacMillan Cancer Support, so totally worth it.

    Thank you again to those who wished me luck, either in a post, or just in their heads.

    Gassho,
    Phill
    sat

  8. #8
    congratulations, Phil. well done!



    aprapti

    std

    hobo kore dojo / 歩歩是道場 / step, step, there is my place of practice

    Aprāpti (अप्राप्ति) non-attainment

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