Finished my 13th 100 miler trail race today (112th marathon overall) at the Long Haul 100 near Lakeland, Florida. My knee issue held up pretty good but doing a couch-to-100 miler is not recommended to anyone!
They say you shouldn’t try this at home, and after this weekend, I can officially confirm: I do not recommend the “Couch-to-100-Miler” training program to anyone!
This past weekend, I lined up at the Long Haul 100 near Lakeland to tackle my 13th 100-mile trail race (and my 112th marathon-plus distance overall). To say I was undertrained would be the understatement of the century. My longest “training run” leading up to this was simply pacing a half marathon the weekend prior.
I knew exactly what I was signing up for: a ticket on the “pain train.” When you skip the miles in training, you pay for them in interest on race day, and the interest rate this year was high.
Surprisingly, my recurring knee issue held up remarkably well, but the rest of my body certainly felt the lack of prep. I spent the better part of the day (and night… and the next morning) managing levels of soreness I haven’t felt in a long time. It wasn’t about speed or finesse; it was about pure, stubborn refusal to quit.
After 27:39:11 of grit, dirt, and a lot of deep breathing, I crossed the finish line.
It wasn’t pretty, and it definitely wasn’t easy, but checking off my 13th 100-mile finish reminded me that sometimes the mind can carry the body when the legs haven’t done the homework. Long Haul always puts on a great event, and while I’m definitely feeling it today, there’s nothing quite like that finish line feeling.
Time for some serious recovery—and maybe some actual training for the next one!
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