It Takes Two To Tradition

"If you do something once, it's a happening. It takes two to tradition." -- Me

Last year for my 30th birthday I thought it'd be a good idea to commemorate a milestone birthday with a milestone event: run 30 miles. Yeah...seriously. I wasn't going for time. I just wanted to finish, and I did -- barely -- in 6 hours and 30 minutes. Wanting to create a lasting tradition where every year I'll run my age in miles*, this year I set out to do 31. The * being that I want to run each year's distance faster than the overall time from the previous year.

Compared to last year's 10 day training program (4 mile run 10 days out, 18 mile run 4 days out), this year I took 3 solid weeks to train. It's still waaaaaay less preparation than I should do, and could easily lead to injury, but at least it was better than last year.

End result: 5 hours, 20 minutes.

To say I was ecstatic afterwards was an understatement. I mean, really...who drops 70 minutes? Me, that's who! There were definitely times during the run that I wanted to quit or told myself I wouldn't do this next year. I didn't and I will.

If you feel like running 31 miles and haven't properly trained:

• Plan your route. The southern side of White Rock Lake is the only part of the lake with noticeable hills. I cut them out. Instead of running 3+ 9.3 mile loops including the hills, I decided I'd do 5 mile "out and backs" 3 times on the flat part of the lake. This was by far the most important decision I made regarding my run.
• Start slow. I went out way too fast last year and had to walk the last 4 miles. I wasn't going to let that happen again. I kept my heart rate around 150 for the first 10 miles, 160 for the second 10, and 165 for the last 11. Never walked.
• Hydrate effectively. Nuun hydration tabs are awesome. They're little dissolving tabs that you put in your water bottle and are full of electrolytes. I used to get calf cramps every time I ran over 15 miles, but since I started using these last year in various runs and bike rides, I haven't cramped once. I drank 3 20oz bottles of Nuun/water on my run and another 12oz of water every 2 hours after until I went to bed.
• Make sure you can see. If you start a run at 4:26am, odds are the Sun won't be up for a couple hours. Take a headlamp. It's better than a flashlight because it keeps your hands free. I thought to take my headlamp that morning, and it was definitely the right thing to do.
• Check the weather the day before. I wasn't sure if I was going to run in the morning or the afternoon, but when I realized it was going to be 15 degrees warmer at 2pm than 6am, it was an easy decision to run in the morning. I also knew I wasn't going to need my jacket.
• Entertain yourself. You'll be running a while. My iPod playlist was great. The first hour was the All Day album by Girl Talk, a DJ who does amazing mashups of top 40 hip hop and 80's tracks. The artist posted the album online for free download. Get it here.