Post Race Report - What went well

It's hard to imagine that a week ago I was going through final preparations for the 48 Mile run that I did last weekend. At the time, I was telling people about how scared I was that I had made a mistake and how worried I was that I wouldn't be able to finish. Those turned out to be valid concerns, but by the time I got up early on Saturday morning, most of them were gone.

I wouldn't be doing my job as a runner blogger if I didn't provide my lessons learned for those of you who want to try something like this.

What went well

I've previously talked about the individual segments and how I fared on each one. I had originally planned for 6 8-mile segments, but that turned out not to be as realistic as I originally thought. It ended up working out, though, as I used some of the energy I had earlier in the weekend to get more miles in.

We decided to run farther than the 8 scheduled miles as long as I felt good. And, for the first couple of segments, I felt great. We finished 10 in segment 1, 9 in segment 2 and a little over 8 in segment 3, giving me over 27 after the first day. It was a great feeling going home after the first day knowing that I had less to do in day 2 than I had already done in day 1.

Twitter

I've never been a huge fan of Twitter or other status update web sites, but I found that it worked perfectly for this occasion. At the beginning and end of each run, I'd let people know where I was and how I finished. All I had to do was send a text message of 140 characters (or less) which would then populate my profile.

This proved to be one of the best ways for people to keep up with me and make sure I was OK and not lying on the side of the road. Family and friends kept the page up all weekend and refreshed it to stay aware. It also allowed them to send me text messages of encouragement when I finished, which were VERY welcomed.

Twitter also allows me to now remember different parts of the two-day race so that I can discuss it later. It keeps records of how I finished and when I was struggling. If I do something like this again, I'll be all over Twitter. Finally, with Twitter, I had the ability to link it with my Facebook status so that others at school could stay current.

Running with others

Although I train by myself, I absolutely could not have completed this race without other people running with me. We stayed conversational the whole time and they ran my pace, walked with me, etc. and just generally made sure that I was OK.

My friend, Karl, was especially good with me in segment 5/6. Had he not been there, I likely would have quit. We were able to talk about lots of different things to ensure that my brain continued to function.

Mile dedications

Like I did for my marathon, I did mile dedications for each of the 48 miles. This time, I dedicated miles to those people who were either currently fighting their battle with cancer or had lost their battle. Their strength, patience and determination helped me through when times were getting tough.

Charity

Related to the mile dedications, it inspired me to run to benefit the American Cancer Society. So many people have been affected by this terrible disease that it helped to have a strong cause behind me. If you're interested in donating, the link is still active here.

The back pack

I used The North Face Thresher as my back pack of choice for the race. It holds about 70 ounces of water and has enough room for a cell phone, wallet, gels and some other things. I found it to be very light weight and comfortable throughout the entire race.

Consistent weight

I tried to be conscious of my weight during this race so that I didn't lose too much. It turns out that I gained a pound in between segment one and two but ended up losing 2 at the end to bring me back to a net of -1 pound. That seems a bit odd since I burned 6,500 calories, but I guess that was an indication that I was at least eating enough to keep my weight up.


Tomorrow, I'll walk through what didn't go so well.