Dates selected

Now that law school midterm schedules are out, I can finally announce the dates for the 48 Miles in 48 Hours run. It will be Saturday, October 18 and Sunday, October 19, 2008.

I'll provide more details as to timing for each run as soon as those details are available.

American Cancer Society selected as charity

After much thought, I decided that the 48 Miles in 48 hours event will benefit the American Cancer Society. They have more than 3,400 local offices internationally and offer support to all types of victims of cancer, including the loved ones this horrible disease can leave behind. They help through patient services, advocacy, research and education.

We have all been touched one way or another with cancer. I lost my grandmother and most recently a former colleague to this terrible disease. Every little bit helps and I greatly appreciate any money you can donate to help the cause. It's all tax deductible, as you might imagine.

My fund raising page is here. I'll put a link in the upper right corner of this blog as well as PhillytoLAonFoot.com. Please consider donating and then look forward to rooting me on in October.

Not a crazy enough run?

I finally shared the details of the race with my parents over the weekend. I was a bit worried to share the details with them since it tends to make them worry. But this time, they didn't seem worried at all. They simply asked questions and said it sounded like a good idea.

This makes me wonder. If they aren't worried, then maybe this run isn't as crazy as I originally thought it to be. I was looking for crazy when I developed this concept but it may not be crazy enough. I'm not about to change it, but it does take some wind of my sails that they weren't as concerned as I thought they would be.

It could be that, or it could be that they are confident in my running abilities and now that I can do it, especially if I put my mind into it.

I'm hoping for the second one.

Replenishing the calories from 48 miles

I started to think about how I was going to replenish the calories I burned during my 48 mile run.

At this point, I run 6 miles in about 54 miles (or 9:00 a mile) and I burn about 900 calories an hour. So, for 8 miles at around 1:15, that averages 1,125 calories per 8-mile run. At that rate, I'd burn 3,375 calories a day (8 miles x 3 segments) and 6,750 calories overall through both days.

I could start with the Clif Shots, but they're only 100 calories a pop and I'd have a maximum of 2 per hour for a total of 200 calories. I'd still be down 925 calories. I can eat almonds as well, but I'm thinking I may need to go the junk food route to get more calorie dense foods into me.

I don't like the idea of eating things like Doritos or pizza while I'm running, but I know Dean Karnazes did it during his ultramarathons because he had exactly the same problem.

So what do you think? Any tips for consuming enough calories to keep me from fainting?