Dakota Beerman

Yesterday I ran 35 miles.

I was panning this for about a month or two. I’m on track to run 50 miles in May and 100 in October. Here’s how it went.

When I planned this run a month ago, I did not have in mind snow covered sidewalks, and single digit temperature. BUT, when you have a big goal, I felt I had to try.

I woke up at 5:30 am. I didn’t sleep great because of the excitement as well as overeating. Carbo loading is great to a point, I learned.

I had some coffee and started drinking lots of water. I used the bathroom, laid out my stuff and started getting dressed. I’ve learned from long runs in the past that chafing is a killer to your run. I used petroleum jelly all across my chafing parts. Underarms, thighs, and other crevices. I also loaded up my toes. I get blisters on my toes, so I figured this would help there too.

For fuel I drank PRIME electrolyte mix and consumed a variety of GU’s. Some people hate GU but I’ve found that my body absorbs it well while running.

I ran with my friend Ben. He’s done a 50 mile run once. He’s athletic and helped keep me distracted for the first half of this thing. The plan was for us to run 20 miles together, then I’d finish the last 15 solo.

Something that frustrated me so much was that there was snow everywhere. It made the run tougher than I expected. The problem with the snow is it’s like sand. It forces different parts of your muscles to strain. I felt tension in my hips, my calves, and feet. I could tell things were getting tighter than I had planned.

We got through it, made it home, and I was feeling good. 20 miles down, 15 to go.

My right knee was starting to hurt a little bit, but not bad enough to do anything but keep going. So I did. I refueled with more GU and some water and took off for the second half. The second half was miserable. About 7 miles in at 27 miles total, my knee REALLY started hurting.

Then the thoughts come. “Can I do this? Am I going to make it?” I keep going. I started walking for .1 mile, jogging .5 miles.

I stop at 32 miles. This tied for the furthest I’ve ever run. I record a reflection and realize this is why I do this. To get to a limit and push past. In every part of my life I want to fulfill my potential and that means (to me) pushing past limits. At work, at home, in my marriage, in my friendships, I want more. I want full. I want relationships that are deep, I want a marriage that is very loving, Purposeful, and fun. At work I want to be a leader that fights hard, loves well, and has great ideas that move people forward. This requires not settling for normal, or less, or easy. And that’s what I love about running, it’s a microcosm of what I want out of life.

I push past 32 and hobble run into 35 miles, the furthest I’ve run (for now)!

My wife had a sign with my nephew, and we celebrated a great finish to a long day.

Run distance: 35 miles

Run time: 6 hours 23 minutes

Pace: 11 minutes per mile

Calories: 4,381