Here I am being crazy. I decided a few weeks ago that I really wanted to do this: Run a marathon on a track. It's 105 laps; 104 is 26 miles and then an extra lap to finish up at 26.2 miles (even though it was really 26.25). I called a couple friends to see if they'd run some of it with me(to remove the monotony of running in circles for 3 1/2 hours). Pictured are Josh Udy and Jeff Dougherty.
We ran at the middle school just down the street from our house. I left at about 7:45 to walk over there and start. Jeff let me borrow his Garmin Forerunner (it's a GPS thingy that'll keep track of your pace, distance, and time), but I found out after the first lap that it was off by about 0.05 miles. Not a problem unless you're running forever. So I had to quick devise a way to count laps. You can't really tell in the pictures, but I was using my ASL numbers to count. My left hand was the 'tens place' and right hand the 'ones place.' It worked out fine.
Jeff showed up first when I was on lap 37 or so. I was starting to wonder if they were coming at all. Then Josh came slightly after that when I was in the mid 40's. Amy biked over with the kids around this time also. Zack really enjoyed playing on the bleachers and rolling balls down the wheelchair ramp.
We're running backwards on the track because Josh claimed that my left leg was gonna die if I did 105 laps turning left the whole time. So, at 50 we turned around. After the next 50 (when I was alone), I turned back the normal way. Everyone left me by the time I hit 80 laps (20 miles). But I definitely enjoyed the company.
I was pretty amazed at how well I felt (since I don't really train for things like this- I kinda just do them 'cause I can). I was running around 8 minute pace for a lot of it. When I was at 96 laps, I got all excited for now I only had a single digit of laps yet to run. I imagined a bell ringing when I crossed my finish line at lap 104 and I tried to kick it in. But I don't think I was going much faster than I already was. But I finally finished (with nobody to cheer for me). :(
I finished with a time of 3:37:29, which translates to 8:18 pace (per mile).
Here I am after an 18-mile run last week with the kids. I didn't even notice my shirt 'til I got home. But then I wanted Amy to take a picture so everyone could see that I was Andy (from 'The Office').
