100 miles....Check!!!
Speedgoat Karl Meltzer has won more 100+ mile races than any other person in history....granted the 100 mile history is only 41 years old... but his tag line is "100 miles is not that far". If you look at a map, driving 100 miles really isn't that far. If you look at an ultra endurance race, 100 miles is a LONG freaking way. And now, I can officially say that I've completed it....
A lot of the successes in my life have come out of epic failures. As I have stated on numerous occasions, I was never a good student and will always have problems taking tests. My drivers test took me 3 shots to pass, I failed 3 classes in college before finally graduating, my insurance licensing tests took 3 times to pass. I do my best work by failing, rebounding and pushing forward. This isn't always the best strategy, but it is what has worked for me. I don't like failing, but I have chalked it up to a piece of life that I just have to get used to. On January 24-25, 2015 however, I was not going to be a failure. Not this time.
My journey for the 24 Hour Challenge started a couple of years ago when a good friend of mine, Larry, was working with a great group of runners out of Omaha called the G.O.A.T.z to create an event that would pit runners and walkers against their own minds by placing them on a treadmill for 24 straight hours to raise money for the MS Run The US. This was an event that intrigued me more than anything but I had no desire to do. I honestly spent more time focusing on the fact that participants would spend 24 hours on a treadmill as opposed to what the event was supporting. MS wasn't something that I had any familiarity with and (said in an Elizabethan voice) "I am a trail runner, I can't spend that much time on a treadmill". And for 2 years, that was that. No interest.
In 2013, I had an outstanding fundraising campaign but a miserable run at the Equalizer Endurance Run, in 2014 I had my fist ever DNF at the Zumbro 100, and an EPICLY horrible race at the 2014 Equalizer. What all of these races have in common are they all were meant to be my "100 mile debut" but ended with disappointment in my own performance.
At some point in 2013, I became "friends" with ultra running legend and creator of Moeben arm sleeves Shannon Farar-Griefer. She is one of a handful of people that has completed the grueling Badwater 135 mile race an amazing 5 times and was essentially the creator of the arm sleeves that are so popular in running around the world. I added her on FB, because let's be honest, I love to live mountain life vicariously through other people :) After adding her though I started to notice a trend in her posts. They weren't your typical mountain runner pictures of beautiful scenery, healthy meals, race photos, etc. They were posts like this
What? MS? How does someone who spends most of her life in the mountains running 50-135 mile races have MS? This can't be real. And the more I read, the more I found out how real it was. As the posts kept coming about treatments and being a part of the MS Run The US, I just became amazed. How does she do this? Running races that most people are intimidated by while being treated for MS. Amazing. I had almost retreated from a life of helping and serving others to a "well, that sucks" kind of attitude. I realized that I had been running these events solely for myself and I didn't like it.
After the Equalizer run and my disappointment in the 85 miles that I completed I began looking for another challenge. I didn't really know what I wanted to do. I like the 24 hour thing but there weren't any around that I was going to be able to adequately train for and honestly I kind of put racing on the back-burner until I remembered the 24 Hour Treadmill Challenge. It wasn't far from my house (about a 2 hour drive) and I could train really easily on my home treadmill. This might be pretty cool. Then I remembered what the event went to support and I knew that this was my chance to give back once again to others.
Early December I took a gamble. A lot of the runners I follow on FB have 5,000 friends and most of the time probably just hit "accept" without really thinking too much about it. But knowing Shannon's struggle and seeing the pain that she has been going through with this disease, if I was going to run the 24 hour challenge, I was going to do it for someone, not just the cause. I reached out to Shannon with this message
I honestly thought that the request would go unanswered, but within 5 minutes I had the chat icon show 1 new message. It was from her and she accepted with open arms and with that the fundraising and training began again.
Training for a race in December/January in Iowa is challenging. Days are short. Beds are warm but I knew that I needed to do this for a purpose that was bigger than me. I busted my rear end for nearly 2 solid months putting hours upon hours on a treadmill (which I hate by the way) and spending much of that time without TV or music. What people don't know about training for events that take a day, literally, is that training your body will only get you so far. You have to train your mind to endure hours at a time running in a circle or in this case on a piece of plywood and a rubber belt. I wanted to go into this event both physically and mentally solid.
With days leading up to the event donations were trickling in. $25 here. $50 there. But I was so thankful for all of the donations that were being made but I was a little disappointed that it didn't appear that I was going to hit my goal. Then all of a sudden a day before the event my First Giving page exploded and before I knew it I had hit over $1,000 and taking my fundraising efforts to the 3rd highest for the event!!!! Money raised......Check.
I had been taking extra good care of my body leading up to the event. I had run a total of 3 times in the 2 weeks leading up (I was nursing REALLY tight hips), taking vitamins, trying to overdose on Vitamin C & D and trying to sleep and hydrate as much as humanely possible. The night before we left, I had a couple of beers, fell asleep and slept surprisingly well. I woke up at 5:30am, spent some time in prayer, and got ready for our drive. Now, one thing I forgot to mention was the fact that this event started at 7:00PM and we had a full day planned with some friends prior to the event, so go ahead and do the math in your head as to how long I was going to be awake before the event even started :)
After our day with my best friend, who we hadn't seen in years, I kissed my family goodbye so they could make the 2 hour trip back home without me. This was a weird goodbye because I put the kids to bed every night and if I'm not at home I at least call them and tell them goodnight. Since I was going to be in a gym during the event and their bedtime was an hour into it I wasn't going to be able to talk to them until roughly 6:00am on Monday. We said our goodbyes, I went with my buddy to have some supper, he brought me back to the Lifetime Fitness and preparations were underway.
I had some email exchanges with some of the G.O.A.T.z prior to the event and knew some of the people around from the FB posts on the group page. Scott, the G.O.A.T.z President introduced himself to me and I found out there was 4 of us shooting for 100 miles. I settled into my place, scattered all of my junk around, claimed my territory and got ready. This was the least nervous I have ever been for an event like this. It was an eery feeling. I got my treadmill all set up with my signs, my prayer flags and all of my other junk and was ready to start.
We had a short meeting and group photo and before we knew it, we were off.....well everyone except for me. Ya see, as I hit the start button on my treadmill (which I picked because it had a brand new belt) I got an error message. CRAP!!!!! It's happening already?!?!?!?!? The other three 100 milers were settling into their pace and here I am re-setting the stupid treadmill. This was not a great way to start. It all worked out and was fine. I spent 10-15 seconds getting it reset and picked my speed. 23:59 minutes left.
The cool thing about this event is that most of the people were in a section of the gym facing each other. Which meant that we would be spending much of the next 24 hours looking at each other and chatting. I LOVED this part because it really gave me the opportunity to meet some really cool people. The one problem that I had with it though is being a "shoe junkie" and very aware of my own mechanics, I spent an unbelievable time staring at Ron, Charlie, Kim, Laurie and others shoes and footstrike. Sorry if that was creepy guys :)
Everything was going well right away. I set my pace at a conservative and conversational 9:30/mile pace just to ease in and start "banking" some miles. I was having some great conversations with Josh, David, Doug, Ron, Larry and others during the first few hours and really focusing on body mechanics, eating, drinking, eating, drinking and staying calm. I really have a hard time controlling myself in "race" mode because I just go BONKERS. The thing that I eventually found about being on the TM it really helped me to curb that desire to go all out.
Things were good until about 10PM. I was ~20 miles in and my stomach went south, just as usual in these events. I seriously didn't know what was happening. I was using the same fueling strategy that I used in training. Honey Stinger gel every 30 minutes washed down with water and/or Nuun. What the hell was happening?!?!?!? I hadn't planned on using headphones for the first 10 hours of the race, but 3 hours in I put the headphones on because I knew it was going to be a rough night.
Shortly after my stomach went south I was reduced to a slow walk. Maybe my stomach just needed to settle a bit. I wasn't going to stop fueling though because I didn't want to go into "the well" too early and start burning fat stores already. Fellow Turkey, Gary, showed up around this time and was asking how it was going. I told him about my stomach issues and we tried to assess what could be going on. "Are you eating?"
"Yes".
"Are you drinking?"
"Yes."
"Are you taking salt pills?"
"Not really because I'm taking Nuun and it has it in there".
"How much are you taking?"
"One bottle an hour."
"Maybe you're taking too much?"
"I don't think so"
"Huh, I don't know then"
And that was how the conversation went. I stopped to stretch a bit as I was having some quad/hip issues and it was suggested that I go get stretched out by the PT that was there. I thought, "hell, at this point it can't hurt anything." I went over and the demon woman grabbed my leg and put me into a full contortionist move and POP went my hip. Aaaaahhhhh. Sweet relief. Now let me be clear, the female PT was not really a demon. She was a very nice person and had a terrible job stretching out us stinky runners. I joked with her and it was really fun. When she was getting done though she made a comment that changed the event entirely. As she was finishing stretching my legs she brushed her hands and said "Oooh. Salty." That simple statement made me realize that Gary "The Carrot" was correct in his assessment of too much salt. I jumped back on my TM and just walked for the next 1.5 hours sipping solely on water and gels. It was a death march, but let's see if this experiment works.
I was continuing to have conversations with Josh and the others and just kept making comments about my sour stomach. I had pulled out my chart that I carry and was trying to make sure that I was not going to set myself up for absolute disaster. About midnight BOOM!!! my stomach was back and I was back running again. YES!!! I finally figured it out. For me, I need to alternate a bottle of Nuun and a bottle of water for optimal hydration.
The next 6 hours or so was filled with so much laughter and debauchery that I couldn't hardly stand running. From Scott running in women's pants and keds, to Charlie wearing a sumo suit, to a couple of people dressed in a huge goat costume "galloping" on a treadmill, it made me realize that I was super excited to be at the event.
I was tweeting from my phone during the whole event. Mostly to reassure Mrs Messenjah that I was OK, but also to just let people know what goes through someones head when they are on a TM for an insane amount of time. I know that this may seem weird but for me the experiences that I go through I want others to have to. I've been given the ability to do these really strange events and not everyone is able/willing to try. And that is OK, but everyone should be able to know what it's like 20+ hours into an event...Tweets are not in chronological order but each image reads from bottom to top :)
Every hour that went by was a countdown. I had told myself coming into this event that I was going to take adequate amounts of breaks. This wasn't a strategy because I didn't think I could do the whole 24 hours, but more of a mental strategy to give myself milestones to hit. I knew that every 55 minutes I would stop and take a 5 minute break. I would use the 5 minutes to go to the bathroom (which was a terribly long ways away), grab some more liquids, eat, change clothes if I needed to, etc. There were a few times during the event where I would jump off a little early or stop in the middle for something but make up the mileage (speed-wise) on the next hour. This REALLY helped. I can't even begin to stress how well this worked. I would take the 5 minutes. Sit down for spell and then I was right back up.
One of the funniest parts of this was that for the first 15+ hours or so, when the clock would go even one minute past the top of the hour, Ron would yell "We have SOOOOO much less than (number of hours) left". At first I thought to myself, "What the heck is this guy doing" and "This is going to get really obnoxious", but then I started to get to know Ron and looked forward to it every hour. There was one point in the event that I was working with the PT and Ron came to find me just so he could tell me (because I wasn't there when it happened) how many hours we had left. Hilarious!
As the hours counted down people began to drop all over the place. There was still a core group of people that were going to gut it out until the very end. Doug and David were both suffering incredibly bad from blisters and both had said 100 miles were out. It sucked to see them call it a day, but blisters are terrible. That meant that Josh and I were left to see who would still be able to do 100.
Josh looked incredibly strong all day. It's hard for me to describe Josh to paint and accurate picture of him. He's incredibly tall. Massively intimidating dude. Long hair, amazing beard. He's a metal head with some nice tattoos. He's got a very nice wife who brought him some supplies at the early morning hours. He loves energy drinks. He seems to be a low hassle dude. He's methodical. He's focused. Grateful and the dude just loves to run. All day he was telling me about the other races he's done. About what he's got on his 2015 calendar. About what he wants to do in the future. He was telling me things about his past and how he's gotten to where he was at today. It really was a lot of fun to spend some time getting to know him. That's one of the things that I really liked about this event. In a lot of the races that I/we do, we may get to spend an hour or two with someone, but when you are stuck on a treadmill next to someone for a day, you can get to know a lot of the persons character and past. It was pretty awesome.
As the hours clicked on and Josh and I were 2 of a handful remaining that were still pushing on, I found that I had to go a lot of different places in my head to just remind myself why I was still doing this. I have failed so many times in running because of my arbitrary goals that have no bearing on anything but I didn't want to fail this time. I know that this isn't an event where we were on the national spotlight, but I had made a commitment to my family, friends, donators, and Shannon that I was going to push until I couldn't push any longer. I prayed. I dug into my memory banks of being told that I wasn't good enough to play sports. I had the memories of my treatment for my stroke when I was 17 going through my head because I was told they didn't know if I would be able to walk. I had visions of my kids and what they were doing. I had my beautiful wife in my head telling me that she loved me regardless of how far I went. I had the images in my head of Shannon giving herself shots in the middle of Javelina Jundred. So many things.
One of the things I had going through my head was just getting that 100. 100 miles has no bearing on anything that I will ever do for the rest of my life. 100 miles doesn't determine who I am as a person. I've just had the goal for so long and disappointed myself so many times. Something that kept repeating in my head was hearing Sally McRae during her race at the Sean O'Brien 50 as she was trying to secure a spot at the Western States 100 as documented in the short "Western Time". She was coming out of one of the final aid stations with just a handful of miles remaining and she said "I want that Western States spot so bad". In this moment she was so vulnerable. So passionate. So determined that I found myself just repeating that over and over. "I want this so bad" and in those remaining 7 hours or so. That's what I leaned on. I didn't need to do this, but I wanted it so bad….On a side note, if you haven't seen "Western Time" and you have little girls in the house. Let them watch it. Beautifully directed and edited and it shows the struggle and will power of one of the strongest women in the sport of ultra running. It's fantastic.
A thing that made this event so much different than ones that I've done in the past is that I didn't really find myself "bored" that often. People were constantly coming in and out. We were near a window so I could look outside. I had my headphones and created one of the most EPICALLY terrible playlists of all time. I was staying well fueled and hydrated...Special shout out to Gary for getting us McDonalds breakfast burritos at one point. I had 2 and they were GLORIOUS...We were celebrating peoples milestones. We would let out a cheer when people got to 50, 60, 100k, 70 miles, etc. We got a lot of pissed off looks from gym patrons, but we didn't care.
As we got past noon on Sunday, Josh's 100 was in sight. 2:00PM was his goal. He was methodical. 5 miles each hour. That's what he kept saying to himself. With one hour left he was in "beast mode". He was pushing so hard during that final push and it shows in this video. 101 miles in 18:58. CRUSHED IT!!! I had to stop and watch him finish. It was amazing. There was screaming, cheering and a crowd that hadn't been gathered together in a long time. And then he was done. I was by myself. Alone for the next 8 miles and that was the toughest 2 hours I had all day.
As the crowd dispersed, some folks went back on to the treadmills they had previously been on. I had been next to Josh and David so much of the day and now both were gone. Now, don't get me wrong. People were still walking around, having a good time. Getting people food and drinks but when you had spent 19 hours with someone right next to you, it was kind of like losing an arm (even though I don't know what that feels like)…You have it and then POOF…where did my arm go? I went to a really dark place for about 2 hours. With 7 miles left I almost called it a day once again.
Everything was starting to hurt. My back, my shoulders, my knees, my brain, my **cough cough** undercarriage. I found myself almost listening to the demons in my head telling me that I wasn't good enough. That there was no way I was going to do this. Telling me that I was still too fat and couldn't possibly cover 100 miles. You hurt too much to keep going. The voices were there and I had to fight. I put my headphones in one last time and just ran when I could. Walked when I needed to. I kept looking at my watch and for the first time during this event it seemed like time was standing still. I found myself leaning on the treadmill more during this stretch than I had the entire time. I kept looking at Charlie and just giving him a shrug like "I might be done". It was disheartening. I had come so far and now I was going to give up. But then I had an image of my UVU team manager Basti, who was tragically killed in an avalanche, go through my head. He was the first "captain" I had ever had who told me when I had doubts in my abilities that it wasn't me competing against others but that it was me competing against what I think is possible. He told me once that I just give it my absolute best and amazing things will happen. With less than 10km left that's what I needed.
I just kept moving. Before I knew it, I had 4 miles left and 3 hours to do it. This was going to happen but it was going to be SLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW. Laurie, Scott and others kept checking on me but I have to give a HUGE shout out to Colleen. She saw how much I was struggling and jumped on the machine right next to me. She kept telling me to not look at the clock, the mileage or anything and to just focus on other things. I had gone into this event not wanting to break down in tears like I do at every event, but focusing on the running was keeping me from just that. Focusing on my kids and my wife made me bawl and I did bawl a lot of the last few miles. But Colleen was keeping me moving. I was actually running again. It was unbelievably painful, but exhilarating. 3 miles left. 2 miles left and with 1 mile left I was going to go all out.
I have seen photos and videos of people just giving everything they have in running events. I'm not the person who pushes really hard at anything. I push to a reasonable extent but not to the point I think my heart might explode. I watch people who race Usain Bolt and they give every ounce. I've never done that in a race, but this time was different. I was going to hit 100 miles in less than 22 hours. With 1 mile left, I hit the button to go a 10:00/mile pace. Now, that may not seem like a lot, but after 99 miles, that is fast. Colleen was counting down. The crowd had begun to assemble. There was screaming and chanting. I felt like Rudy from…well…"Rudy". I pushed the button to 9:00/mile pace. I was actually running again. I pushed it up to 8:30/mile pace. What the hell is going on?!?!? With .40 miles remaining I hit the walk button. I had to get my heart rate back down. It was going through the roof. Colleen came up with a great plan. Walk until .20 remaining and just push. Once she told me to run, I somehow became a different person. I instantly was no longer myself. I was a man possessed. I didn't even know what I was doing or really recognize the people around me. I was totally focused for the first time in a long time. I was in full fledged "beast mode" and this is what happened!!!!
I had done it!!!!!! 100 miles in 21:40 minutes!!! The end of the video doesn't show it clearly, but I collapsed on the machine immediately and prayed. God had given me the energy and ability to run at a 6:30/mile pace for the last .20 miles and complete 100 miles in less than 22 hours. WOW!!! So this is what it felt like. 100 miles....check!!!!
After I sat down and caught my breath, Laurie quickly gave me one of the best falafels I had ever eaten and I was taken over to a table and given a massage. Now, for those who know me, I don't even like to get my hair cut because I don't like people touching me so this was WAY beyond my comfort level. I was probably more tense from getting a massage than I had been all day. But at this point, I really didn't care. Honestly, the thing that I was most concerned with was farting when this lady was giving me a massage. Weird, I know, but that's where I was :)
Massage complete, all I wanted to do was shower and head home but Charlie was still moving well and had a goal of 80 miles. I had some time so I took the elevator to the bottom floor to the locker rooms. I must have looked incredibly ridiculous. I had taken my shoes off, was walking around in my toe socks looking like I had just been hit by a bus and went to endure the most painful shower I have ever taken in my life. For anyone who has ever been so chaffed that it hurts to move, you know what I'm talking about.
Showered and feeling a little bit better I sat around and chatted with some really great people. Texted some people, cried again because of the photo my wife had sent me with my girls holding signs (which I accidentally deleted). Called my parents. The usual. I don't really recall a lot of the conversations past showering so I am sorry if I didn't make a lot of sense. I had been up for over 38 hours. We jumped in Charlies car for the ride home. What an experience and I was kind of sad it was over.
After the 2 hour ride home, I gave my wife the longest hug ever, recounted what happened and basically fell asleep as soon as I sat down on the couch.
The next morning, I was greeted by some of the most beautiful faces. Lil Red and I teared up as I embraced her in an incredibly long hug. My kids mean the world to me. They had both made me signs and even a "medal". It was beautiful, but that moment just holding my oldest in my arms after completing something that I had wanted for the better part of 4 years was incredible. She, especially, had seen the pain in my eyes after the first 24 Equalizer. She bawled with me when I got home from Zumbro. She heard the disappointment in my retelling of my stomach problems at the 2014 Equalizer. She is incredibly results driven and it was good to finally show my kids that no matter what, you just keep moving when life hits you in the stomach.
I spent the next couple of days "liking" stories that were done about the event. Sharing the video of me finishing. Responding to peoples messages. Accepting the new friendships that I had created during the event. It was a great experience and one that I am so grateful to have been a part of. We, as a group, were able to raise over $18,000 to fund the MS Run The US Relay. I know that the event will cross the country and make people aware of the disease and spur more events like this one. But as much as I want to celebrate this as a win for me, I find myself struggling to stay humble. Yeah, what I was able to accomplish was pretty awesome, but I still feel that there is so much more to be done to fight this terrible disease. I see Shannon's posts still and I don't want the message of what we were doing to be overshadowed by individual accomplishment. The 24 Hour Challenge will change lives regardless, but I urge people to continue to get the message out for Shannon and those struggling with MS.
As always, I am so incredibly blessed to be a part of this sport. God has gifted me with a lot of things. He has given me the ability to...just run. He has given me the ability to fight. He has given me the opportunity and responsibility to inspire others. I am so thankful for every gift that I've been given.
I want to thank the G.O.A.T.z for their organizing of this event. It was beautiful and I hope to be able to participate again in the future. I want to thank Mrs Messenjah, Lil Red, Mini Me & The Bean for their love and support. My family and friends, I thank you for your financial support. The $1,060 that I was able to raise with your help will go to benefit a lot of people.
I most certainly want to thank the wonderful companies that believe in me. UVU Racing has been an incredible partner in making me always remember that during races and in life, it is not always you vs the competition, but many times it is You Vs You. This event humbled me to my core and made me realize that this was truly a You Vs You (me vs me) moment. It taught me that no matter the stomach problems, the cramping, the mental or physical fatigue, you just....keep....moving!!! To all of my UVU teammates for their text messages and FB messages. You all kept me pushing and were in my head during the whole event.
To Nuun Hydration and Honey Stinger, thank you for allowing me to be an ambassador for 2015. I have been a fan of their products for quite some time and were my main source of fuel and hydration for my training and participation in the 24 Hour Challenge.
I especially want to thank Shannon for her courage to show the world what it's like to take on this disease head on. She is amazingly inspirational in her willingness to show treatments and the terrible part of what this disease can do to you. Find Shannon on FB, Instagram and UltraSignup. Send her some messages of encouragement. She is a wonderful person with a huge heart and love for people.
I also want to thank you for taking the time to read.
Stay Strong, Run Long
Tha Messenjah
Items used during the 2015 24 Hour Challenge
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A lot of the successes in my life have come out of epic failures. As I have stated on numerous occasions, I was never a good student and will always have problems taking tests. My drivers test took me 3 shots to pass, I failed 3 classes in college before finally graduating, my insurance licensing tests took 3 times to pass. I do my best work by failing, rebounding and pushing forward. This isn't always the best strategy, but it is what has worked for me. I don't like failing, but I have chalked it up to a piece of life that I just have to get used to. On January 24-25, 2015 however, I was not going to be a failure. Not this time.
My journey for the 24 Hour Challenge started a couple of years ago when a good friend of mine, Larry, was working with a great group of runners out of Omaha called the G.O.A.T.z to create an event that would pit runners and walkers against their own minds by placing them on a treadmill for 24 straight hours to raise money for the MS Run The US. This was an event that intrigued me more than anything but I had no desire to do. I honestly spent more time focusing on the fact that participants would spend 24 hours on a treadmill as opposed to what the event was supporting. MS wasn't something that I had any familiarity with and (said in an Elizabethan voice) "I am a trail runner, I can't spend that much time on a treadmill". And for 2 years, that was that. No interest.
In 2013, I had an outstanding fundraising campaign but a miserable run at the Equalizer Endurance Run, in 2014 I had my fist ever DNF at the Zumbro 100, and an EPICLY horrible race at the 2014 Equalizer. What all of these races have in common are they all were meant to be my "100 mile debut" but ended with disappointment in my own performance.
At some point in 2013, I became "friends" with ultra running legend and creator of Moeben arm sleeves Shannon Farar-Griefer. She is one of a handful of people that has completed the grueling Badwater 135 mile race an amazing 5 times and was essentially the creator of the arm sleeves that are so popular in running around the world. I added her on FB, because let's be honest, I love to live mountain life vicariously through other people :) After adding her though I started to notice a trend in her posts. They weren't your typical mountain runner pictures of beautiful scenery, healthy meals, race photos, etc. They were posts like this
After the Equalizer run and my disappointment in the 85 miles that I completed I began looking for another challenge. I didn't really know what I wanted to do. I like the 24 hour thing but there weren't any around that I was going to be able to adequately train for and honestly I kind of put racing on the back-burner until I remembered the 24 Hour Treadmill Challenge. It wasn't far from my house (about a 2 hour drive) and I could train really easily on my home treadmill. This might be pretty cool. Then I remembered what the event went to support and I knew that this was my chance to give back once again to others.
Early December I took a gamble. A lot of the runners I follow on FB have 5,000 friends and most of the time probably just hit "accept" without really thinking too much about it. But knowing Shannon's struggle and seeing the pain that she has been going through with this disease, if I was going to run the 24 hour challenge, I was going to do it for someone, not just the cause. I reached out to Shannon with this message
 |
| My name has been removed to protect the innocent :) |
Training for a race in December/January in Iowa is challenging. Days are short. Beds are warm but I knew that I needed to do this for a purpose that was bigger than me. I busted my rear end for nearly 2 solid months putting hours upon hours on a treadmill (which I hate by the way) and spending much of that time without TV or music. What people don't know about training for events that take a day, literally, is that training your body will only get you so far. You have to train your mind to endure hours at a time running in a circle or in this case on a piece of plywood and a rubber belt. I wanted to go into this event both physically and mentally solid.
With days leading up to the event donations were trickling in. $25 here. $50 there. But I was so thankful for all of the donations that were being made but I was a little disappointed that it didn't appear that I was going to hit my goal. Then all of a sudden a day before the event my First Giving page exploded and before I knew it I had hit over $1,000 and taking my fundraising efforts to the 3rd highest for the event!!!! Money raised......Check.
I had been taking extra good care of my body leading up to the event. I had run a total of 3 times in the 2 weeks leading up (I was nursing REALLY tight hips), taking vitamins, trying to overdose on Vitamin C & D and trying to sleep and hydrate as much as humanely possible. The night before we left, I had a couple of beers, fell asleep and slept surprisingly well. I woke up at 5:30am, spent some time in prayer, and got ready for our drive. Now, one thing I forgot to mention was the fact that this event started at 7:00PM and we had a full day planned with some friends prior to the event, so go ahead and do the math in your head as to how long I was going to be awake before the event even started :)
After our day with my best friend, who we hadn't seen in years, I kissed my family goodbye so they could make the 2 hour trip back home without me. This was a weird goodbye because I put the kids to bed every night and if I'm not at home I at least call them and tell them goodnight. Since I was going to be in a gym during the event and their bedtime was an hour into it I wasn't going to be able to talk to them until roughly 6:00am on Monday. We said our goodbyes, I went with my buddy to have some supper, he brought me back to the Lifetime Fitness and preparations were underway.
I had some email exchanges with some of the G.O.A.T.z prior to the event and knew some of the people around from the FB posts on the group page. Scott, the G.O.A.T.z President introduced himself to me and I found out there was 4 of us shooting for 100 miles. I settled into my place, scattered all of my junk around, claimed my territory and got ready. This was the least nervous I have ever been for an event like this. It was an eery feeling. I got my treadmill all set up with my signs, my prayer flags and all of my other junk and was ready to start.
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| UVU Kit, Nuun Hydration & Honey Stinger nutrition |
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| My prayer flags and memorial for UVU team Captain Basti - #run4Basti |
We had a short meeting and group photo and before we knew it, we were off.....well everyone except for me. Ya see, as I hit the start button on my treadmill (which I picked because it had a brand new belt) I got an error message. CRAP!!!!! It's happening already?!?!?!?!? The other three 100 milers were settling into their pace and here I am re-setting the stupid treadmill. This was not a great way to start. It all worked out and was fine. I spent 10-15 seconds getting it reset and picked my speed. 23:59 minutes left.
The cool thing about this event is that most of the people were in a section of the gym facing each other. Which meant that we would be spending much of the next 24 hours looking at each other and chatting. I LOVED this part because it really gave me the opportunity to meet some really cool people. The one problem that I had with it though is being a "shoe junkie" and very aware of my own mechanics, I spent an unbelievable time staring at Ron, Charlie, Kim, Laurie and others shoes and footstrike. Sorry if that was creepy guys :)
Everything was going well right away. I set my pace at a conservative and conversational 9:30/mile pace just to ease in and start "banking" some miles. I was having some great conversations with Josh, David, Doug, Ron, Larry and others during the first few hours and really focusing on body mechanics, eating, drinking, eating, drinking and staying calm. I really have a hard time controlling myself in "race" mode because I just go BONKERS. The thing that I eventually found about being on the TM it really helped me to curb that desire to go all out.
Things were good until about 10PM. I was ~20 miles in and my stomach went south, just as usual in these events. I seriously didn't know what was happening. I was using the same fueling strategy that I used in training. Honey Stinger gel every 30 minutes washed down with water and/or Nuun. What the hell was happening?!?!?!? I hadn't planned on using headphones for the first 10 hours of the race, but 3 hours in I put the headphones on because I knew it was going to be a rough night.
Shortly after my stomach went south I was reduced to a slow walk. Maybe my stomach just needed to settle a bit. I wasn't going to stop fueling though because I didn't want to go into "the well" too early and start burning fat stores already. Fellow Turkey, Gary, showed up around this time and was asking how it was going. I told him about my stomach issues and we tried to assess what could be going on. "Are you eating?"
"Yes".
"Are you drinking?"
"Yes."
"Are you taking salt pills?"
"Not really because I'm taking Nuun and it has it in there".
"How much are you taking?"
"One bottle an hour."
"Maybe you're taking too much?"
"I don't think so"
"Huh, I don't know then"
And that was how the conversation went. I stopped to stretch a bit as I was having some quad/hip issues and it was suggested that I go get stretched out by the PT that was there. I thought, "hell, at this point it can't hurt anything." I went over and the demon woman grabbed my leg and put me into a full contortionist move and POP went my hip. Aaaaahhhhh. Sweet relief. Now let me be clear, the female PT was not really a demon. She was a very nice person and had a terrible job stretching out us stinky runners. I joked with her and it was really fun. When she was getting done though she made a comment that changed the event entirely. As she was finishing stretching my legs she brushed her hands and said "Oooh. Salty." That simple statement made me realize that Gary "The Carrot" was correct in his assessment of too much salt. I jumped back on my TM and just walked for the next 1.5 hours sipping solely on water and gels. It was a death march, but let's see if this experiment works.
I was continuing to have conversations with Josh and the others and just kept making comments about my sour stomach. I had pulled out my chart that I carry and was trying to make sure that I was not going to set myself up for absolute disaster. About midnight BOOM!!! my stomach was back and I was back running again. YES!!! I finally figured it out. For me, I need to alternate a bottle of Nuun and a bottle of water for optimal hydration.
The next 6 hours or so was filled with so much laughter and debauchery that I couldn't hardly stand running. From Scott running in women's pants and keds, to Charlie wearing a sumo suit, to a couple of people dressed in a huge goat costume "galloping" on a treadmill, it made me realize that I was super excited to be at the event.
Large amount of photos at the bottom of the page as well :)
I was tweeting from my phone during the whole event. Mostly to reassure Mrs Messenjah that I was OK, but also to just let people know what goes through someones head when they are on a TM for an insane amount of time. I know that this may seem weird but for me the experiences that I go through I want others to have to. I've been given the ability to do these really strange events and not everyone is able/willing to try. And that is OK, but everyone should be able to know what it's like 20+ hours into an event...Tweets are not in chronological order but each image reads from bottom to top :)
Every hour that went by was a countdown. I had told myself coming into this event that I was going to take adequate amounts of breaks. This wasn't a strategy because I didn't think I could do the whole 24 hours, but more of a mental strategy to give myself milestones to hit. I knew that every 55 minutes I would stop and take a 5 minute break. I would use the 5 minutes to go to the bathroom (which was a terribly long ways away), grab some more liquids, eat, change clothes if I needed to, etc. There were a few times during the event where I would jump off a little early or stop in the middle for something but make up the mileage (speed-wise) on the next hour. This REALLY helped. I can't even begin to stress how well this worked. I would take the 5 minutes. Sit down for spell and then I was right back up.
One of the funniest parts of this was that for the first 15+ hours or so, when the clock would go even one minute past the top of the hour, Ron would yell "We have SOOOOO much less than (number of hours) left". At first I thought to myself, "What the heck is this guy doing" and "This is going to get really obnoxious", but then I started to get to know Ron and looked forward to it every hour. There was one point in the event that I was working with the PT and Ron came to find me just so he could tell me (because I wasn't there when it happened) how many hours we had left. Hilarious!
As the hours counted down people began to drop all over the place. There was still a core group of people that were going to gut it out until the very end. Doug and David were both suffering incredibly bad from blisters and both had said 100 miles were out. It sucked to see them call it a day, but blisters are terrible. That meant that Josh and I were left to see who would still be able to do 100.
Josh looked incredibly strong all day. It's hard for me to describe Josh to paint and accurate picture of him. He's incredibly tall. Massively intimidating dude. Long hair, amazing beard. He's a metal head with some nice tattoos. He's got a very nice wife who brought him some supplies at the early morning hours. He loves energy drinks. He seems to be a low hassle dude. He's methodical. He's focused. Grateful and the dude just loves to run. All day he was telling me about the other races he's done. About what he's got on his 2015 calendar. About what he wants to do in the future. He was telling me things about his past and how he's gotten to where he was at today. It really was a lot of fun to spend some time getting to know him. That's one of the things that I really liked about this event. In a lot of the races that I/we do, we may get to spend an hour or two with someone, but when you are stuck on a treadmill next to someone for a day, you can get to know a lot of the persons character and past. It was pretty awesome.
As the hours clicked on and Josh and I were 2 of a handful remaining that were still pushing on, I found that I had to go a lot of different places in my head to just remind myself why I was still doing this. I have failed so many times in running because of my arbitrary goals that have no bearing on anything but I didn't want to fail this time. I know that this isn't an event where we were on the national spotlight, but I had made a commitment to my family, friends, donators, and Shannon that I was going to push until I couldn't push any longer. I prayed. I dug into my memory banks of being told that I wasn't good enough to play sports. I had the memories of my treatment for my stroke when I was 17 going through my head because I was told they didn't know if I would be able to walk. I had visions of my kids and what they were doing. I had my beautiful wife in my head telling me that she loved me regardless of how far I went. I had the images in my head of Shannon giving herself shots in the middle of Javelina Jundred. So many things.
One of the things I had going through my head was just getting that 100. 100 miles has no bearing on anything that I will ever do for the rest of my life. 100 miles doesn't determine who I am as a person. I've just had the goal for so long and disappointed myself so many times. Something that kept repeating in my head was hearing Sally McRae during her race at the Sean O'Brien 50 as she was trying to secure a spot at the Western States 100 as documented in the short "Western Time". She was coming out of one of the final aid stations with just a handful of miles remaining and she said "I want that Western States spot so bad". In this moment she was so vulnerable. So passionate. So determined that I found myself just repeating that over and over. "I want this so bad" and in those remaining 7 hours or so. That's what I leaned on. I didn't need to do this, but I wanted it so bad….On a side note, if you haven't seen "Western Time" and you have little girls in the house. Let them watch it. Beautifully directed and edited and it shows the struggle and will power of one of the strongest women in the sport of ultra running. It's fantastic.
A thing that made this event so much different than ones that I've done in the past is that I didn't really find myself "bored" that often. People were constantly coming in and out. We were near a window so I could look outside. I had my headphones and created one of the most EPICALLY terrible playlists of all time. I was staying well fueled and hydrated...Special shout out to Gary for getting us McDonalds breakfast burritos at one point. I had 2 and they were GLORIOUS...We were celebrating peoples milestones. We would let out a cheer when people got to 50, 60, 100k, 70 miles, etc. We got a lot of pissed off looks from gym patrons, but we didn't care.
As we got past noon on Sunday, Josh's 100 was in sight. 2:00PM was his goal. He was methodical. 5 miles each hour. That's what he kept saying to himself. With one hour left he was in "beast mode". He was pushing so hard during that final push and it shows in this video. 101 miles in 18:58. CRUSHED IT!!! I had to stop and watch him finish. It was amazing. There was screaming, cheering and a crowd that hadn't been gathered together in a long time. And then he was done. I was by myself. Alone for the next 8 miles and that was the toughest 2 hours I had all day.
As the crowd dispersed, some folks went back on to the treadmills they had previously been on. I had been next to Josh and David so much of the day and now both were gone. Now, don't get me wrong. People were still walking around, having a good time. Getting people food and drinks but when you had spent 19 hours with someone right next to you, it was kind of like losing an arm (even though I don't know what that feels like)…You have it and then POOF…where did my arm go? I went to a really dark place for about 2 hours. With 7 miles left I almost called it a day once again.
Everything was starting to hurt. My back, my shoulders, my knees, my brain, my **cough cough** undercarriage. I found myself almost listening to the demons in my head telling me that I wasn't good enough. That there was no way I was going to do this. Telling me that I was still too fat and couldn't possibly cover 100 miles. You hurt too much to keep going. The voices were there and I had to fight. I put my headphones in one last time and just ran when I could. Walked when I needed to. I kept looking at my watch and for the first time during this event it seemed like time was standing still. I found myself leaning on the treadmill more during this stretch than I had the entire time. I kept looking at Charlie and just giving him a shrug like "I might be done". It was disheartening. I had come so far and now I was going to give up. But then I had an image of my UVU team manager Basti, who was tragically killed in an avalanche, go through my head. He was the first "captain" I had ever had who told me when I had doubts in my abilities that it wasn't me competing against others but that it was me competing against what I think is possible. He told me once that I just give it my absolute best and amazing things will happen. With less than 10km left that's what I needed.
I just kept moving. Before I knew it, I had 4 miles left and 3 hours to do it. This was going to happen but it was going to be SLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW. Laurie, Scott and others kept checking on me but I have to give a HUGE shout out to Colleen. She saw how much I was struggling and jumped on the machine right next to me. She kept telling me to not look at the clock, the mileage or anything and to just focus on other things. I had gone into this event not wanting to break down in tears like I do at every event, but focusing on the running was keeping me from just that. Focusing on my kids and my wife made me bawl and I did bawl a lot of the last few miles. But Colleen was keeping me moving. I was actually running again. It was unbelievably painful, but exhilarating. 3 miles left. 2 miles left and with 1 mile left I was going to go all out.
I have seen photos and videos of people just giving everything they have in running events. I'm not the person who pushes really hard at anything. I push to a reasonable extent but not to the point I think my heart might explode. I watch people who race Usain Bolt and they give every ounce. I've never done that in a race, but this time was different. I was going to hit 100 miles in less than 22 hours. With 1 mile left, I hit the button to go a 10:00/mile pace. Now, that may not seem like a lot, but after 99 miles, that is fast. Colleen was counting down. The crowd had begun to assemble. There was screaming and chanting. I felt like Rudy from…well…"Rudy". I pushed the button to 9:00/mile pace. I was actually running again. I pushed it up to 8:30/mile pace. What the hell is going on?!?!? With .40 miles remaining I hit the walk button. I had to get my heart rate back down. It was going through the roof. Colleen came up with a great plan. Walk until .20 remaining and just push. Once she told me to run, I somehow became a different person. I instantly was no longer myself. I was a man possessed. I didn't even know what I was doing or really recognize the people around me. I was totally focused for the first time in a long time. I was in full fledged "beast mode" and this is what happened!!!!
I had done it!!!!!! 100 miles in 21:40 minutes!!! The end of the video doesn't show it clearly, but I collapsed on the machine immediately and prayed. God had given me the energy and ability to run at a 6:30/mile pace for the last .20 miles and complete 100 miles in less than 22 hours. WOW!!! So this is what it felt like. 100 miles....check!!!!
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| Josh was a true sportsman |
Massage complete, all I wanted to do was shower and head home but Charlie was still moving well and had a goal of 80 miles. I had some time so I took the elevator to the bottom floor to the locker rooms. I must have looked incredibly ridiculous. I had taken my shoes off, was walking around in my toe socks looking like I had just been hit by a bus and went to endure the most painful shower I have ever taken in my life. For anyone who has ever been so chaffed that it hurts to move, you know what I'm talking about.
Showered and feeling a little bit better I sat around and chatted with some really great people. Texted some people, cried again because of the photo my wife had sent me with my girls holding signs (which I accidentally deleted). Called my parents. The usual. I don't really recall a lot of the conversations past showering so I am sorry if I didn't make a lot of sense. I had been up for over 38 hours. We jumped in Charlies car for the ride home. What an experience and I was kind of sad it was over.
After the 2 hour ride home, I gave my wife the longest hug ever, recounted what happened and basically fell asleep as soon as I sat down on the couch.
The next morning, I was greeted by some of the most beautiful faces. Lil Red and I teared up as I embraced her in an incredibly long hug. My kids mean the world to me. They had both made me signs and even a "medal". It was beautiful, but that moment just holding my oldest in my arms after completing something that I had wanted for the better part of 4 years was incredible. She, especially, had seen the pain in my eyes after the first 24 Equalizer. She bawled with me when I got home from Zumbro. She heard the disappointment in my retelling of my stomach problems at the 2014 Equalizer. She is incredibly results driven and it was good to finally show my kids that no matter what, you just keep moving when life hits you in the stomach.
I spent the next couple of days "liking" stories that were done about the event. Sharing the video of me finishing. Responding to peoples messages. Accepting the new friendships that I had created during the event. It was a great experience and one that I am so grateful to have been a part of. We, as a group, were able to raise over $18,000 to fund the MS Run The US Relay. I know that the event will cross the country and make people aware of the disease and spur more events like this one. But as much as I want to celebrate this as a win for me, I find myself struggling to stay humble. Yeah, what I was able to accomplish was pretty awesome, but I still feel that there is so much more to be done to fight this terrible disease. I see Shannon's posts still and I don't want the message of what we were doing to be overshadowed by individual accomplishment. The 24 Hour Challenge will change lives regardless, but I urge people to continue to get the message out for Shannon and those struggling with MS.
As always, I am so incredibly blessed to be a part of this sport. God has gifted me with a lot of things. He has given me the ability to...just run. He has given me the ability to fight. He has given me the opportunity and responsibility to inspire others. I am so thankful for every gift that I've been given.
I want to thank the G.O.A.T.z for their organizing of this event. It was beautiful and I hope to be able to participate again in the future. I want to thank Mrs Messenjah, Lil Red, Mini Me & The Bean for their love and support. My family and friends, I thank you for your financial support. The $1,060 that I was able to raise with your help will go to benefit a lot of people.
I most certainly want to thank the wonderful companies that believe in me. UVU Racing has been an incredible partner in making me always remember that during races and in life, it is not always you vs the competition, but many times it is You Vs You. This event humbled me to my core and made me realize that this was truly a You Vs You (me vs me) moment. It taught me that no matter the stomach problems, the cramping, the mental or physical fatigue, you just....keep....moving!!! To all of my UVU teammates for their text messages and FB messages. You all kept me pushing and were in my head during the whole event.
To Nuun Hydration and Honey Stinger, thank you for allowing me to be an ambassador for 2015. I have been a fan of their products for quite some time and were my main source of fuel and hydration for my training and participation in the 24 Hour Challenge.
I especially want to thank Shannon for her courage to show the world what it's like to take on this disease head on. She is amazingly inspirational in her willingness to show treatments and the terrible part of what this disease can do to you. Find Shannon on FB, Instagram and UltraSignup. Send her some messages of encouragement. She is a wonderful person with a huge heart and love for people.
I also want to thank you for taking the time to read.
Stay Strong, Run Long
Tha Messenjah
Items used during the 2015 24 Hour Challenge
UVU Vim Race Tee
UVU Vim Race Shorts
HOKA ONE ONE Stinson Tarmac (no longer in production) - 80 miles
New Balance 980 Fresh Foam Trail - 20 miles
Nuun Active Hydration (Lemon Lime, Strawberry Lemonade, Cherry Limeade Energy)
Honey Stinger Energy Gels, Chews and Waffles (Acai & Pomegranate, Fruit Smoothie, Fruit Smootie chews, Ginger Snap waffles, and Chocolate waffles)
New Balance 980 Fresh Foam Trail - 20 miles
Nuun Active Hydration (Lemon Lime, Strawberry Lemonade, Cherry Limeade Energy)
Honey Stinger Energy Gels, Chews and Waffles (Acai & Pomegranate, Fruit Smoothie, Fruit Smootie chews, Ginger Snap waffles, and Chocolate waffles)
Injinji Run 2.0 Lightweight No Show (Yes...toe socks) - Never changed socks. No blisters!!! :)
Water, homemade peanut butter balls (made by the Mrs), and McD's breakfast burritos, and Salt & Vinegar Pringles :)
All photos found on the G.O.A.T.z Facebook page :)
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