The Aftermath Of A 48 Hours Race
This is a part of my upcoming book, "Running For My Life". The book is already on pre-order on Amazon, for $2.99, until the official launch, which will be on December 21st. After that, the price will be $8.99.
The first lesson is that logistics and strategy are more important than physical fitness. If I would have had a mattress and a sleeping bag (or if I could have been more instrumental in finding another place to sleep, like other runners did) the hypothermia could have been avoided. That would have meant at least 8 more hours of running, which, translated in distance, would have meant at least 40-50 more kilometers, easily.
The second lesson is a technical one: the watch should be in the simplest setting ever. Even if I run a 48 hours race. I know now that I can recharge it while running, by using a USB battery, and that’s exactly what I’m going to do at the next race. I’ll keep the most accurate measurement setting and, if the battery drains, I will just carry a USB charger with me. The demoralizing effect of not having the correct number of kilometers versus the 100gr of extra weight is simply too much to bear.
The third lesson was about goals, or, at a more profound level, about wrong mental views. This race took me so far outside of my comfort zone that I had no other chance than to recognize some very disturbing truths about myself. I’m very happy I did this. You can’t lie to yourself after you ran 90km. You simply can’t. You have to confront yourself, accept who you are and change course if you don’t like that person.
That’s probably the most important lesson I learned from this race.
The Aftermath
I will skip over the funny parts were I fell asleep in the hotel room, while still talking and while Raluca was massaging my feet, making her laugh for a good half an hour. Because she kept talking to me after I was asleep (without knowing it, of course, I was perfectly coherent in my incoherence). I’ll also skip over the deep feeling of satisfaction and comfort when I was finally able to lie down on a real bed.
I will just tell you that the next day we took a walk near the center of Athens, where we acted like tourists. We visited Acropole and just enjoyed the nice weather that was finally taking over the city.
We got back at the hotel after a few hours, packed our suitcases and we headed towards the bus station. In the station, surprise: one of the two runners who got injured, and who was cheering all the time, was there too, with his girlfriend. We instantly bonded an we had a very nice conversation for the 45 minutes that we had to spend on the airport bus.
And during this conversation I learned one of the most disturbing, but, at the same time, funny, stories of this competition.
One of the 48 hours runners, with whom I was in constant challenge, was actually cheating. I remember that I was always either 1 km in front of him, or he was 1 km ahead of me. Sometimes I was crossing paths with him, sometimes not, and I assumed he was inside during those periods.
But being on the track all the time, without running, the injured guy was able to see a lot more stuff. And here’s what he saw: every 2 or 3 laps, my “challenger” pretended he was taking a piss (something quite common, though) near a gate, but when nobody was looking, he was trespassing on the other route, cutting half of the course.
The organizers couldn’t believe it until the injured runner asked them to look up the numbers for his laps on the computer. A 4 minute lap after 40 hours of running is something HIGHLY uncommon. And yet, this guy seemed to be able to run 1km in 4 minutes.
After a few tribulations, the organizers eventually told to the cheating guy that he will no longer be admissible for a medal, but if he wanted to continue running, he was free to do it.
The guy argued a bit, but then he continued to run.
And now comes the funny part: while he was out of the race, he still continued to cheat…
You can pre-order "Running For My Life" until December 21st for $2.99.
image source: personal collection: Deer's Valley, Omu peak, Carpathian Mountains
I'm a serial entrepreneur, blogger and ultrarunner. You can find me mainly on my blog at Dragos Roua where I write about productivity, business, relationships and running. Here on Steemit you may stay updated by following me @dragosroua.
https://steemit.com/~witnesses
Hiya Dragos,
Super cool to find you here on steemit. I guess I found it in Oct, same as you, I remember you from earlier days of blogging (I run learnthis.ca) but wasn't too active blogging until I found steemit. Super interested in some of you posts about witnessing and stuff now as well, that's cool. Good job on the running, great scenery to run in the mountains!
I thought I'd also let you know, I just released Steem Writer, I hope you will check it out, as I know it might suit you for easier writing !
Whoaaaa! That is some really nice encounter.
Of course I remember you, it was a writing challenge with you that lead to the writing of two of my most popular books ever, I'm talking about the "100 Ways To Live A Better Life / Screw Up Your Life" series. Very happy to see you here and I'll definitely take a look at your project. Let's keep in touch, man! :)
Right on Dragos, ya those 100 series are still bringing in the coin for my site as well, it was tons of fun. The project has been fun and I'm definitely going to use it lots for posting now as well, I hope you can also. And absolutely, stay in touch here also!