Alaska Endurance 24-hour Trail Run

 

I've mentioned many times how running is a solitary sport. It's just you. But occasionally, you work with others, and they help you crush your goals. That's what happened yesterday. Ed spent the early hours of the race chasing his competition. Nothing makes you better than having good competition! But then, as the hours counted down and the miles started adding up, everyone began to realize what they might be witnessing. Could he do it? Could he really push that hard? What would it take? It took a lot. It took everything he had. 

The format of this race was: you had 24 hours(or 6 or 12, depending on which race you signed up for) to complete as many 6 mile loops of the trail as you could. Once you ran out of time to do another loop, you were asked to switch to a half-mile loop. You could then do as many of those as your body could take or until you ran out of time. Each time you ran or walked back through camp, the timer handed you a popsicle stick. Those were counted after you finished in order to get your final distance. It was so inspiring to watch people limping through those final short loops until they just couldn't anymore, in order to reach their own personal goals.

There were so many people there at the end, ringing cowbells, blowing horns, yelling, and also walking or running alongside their runner to support them. It was awesome to watch! There were groups of kids everywhere, even running laps by themselves! Making tired people smile, giving them high-fives. You could see this was perking up people who were beyond exhausted and in so much pain to go just a bit further. It was wicked inspiring! 

When they realized Ed was not only trying to win it, but also was close to breaking the course record? I overheard so many people talking about it. They were there for it and wanted to do whatever they could to help. I've never seen him cheered on so much. It bolstered him to keep pushing and then push just a li'l bit more! All those track workouts paid off so that he could sprint that last lap and come in under the wire! It was so exciting and so loud in camp!

In the end he ran 17 6-mile loops and 15 half-mile loops of the trail. He won the race and broke the course record with 109.5 miles completed!