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You are here: Home / Adventures / Running Back To Back Marathons

Running Back To Back Marathons

October 16, 2012 By Joel Runyon 15 Comments

A few years ago, I had never run more than 3 miles.

After a few triathlons and some other short distance races, I ended up running my first marathon – barefoot.

When I finished that, I basically told myself I never want to do that again – I was done running marathons – at least that’s what I thought…

Sometime after my legs had forgotten how much pain they experienced during my first marathon, the idea of running an ultra got planted in my mind. I pushed that thought away and told myself that I didn’t need to do it…and I thought that would be the end of it.

But it wouldn’t just go away…and it kept coming back again and again.

I don’t particularly enjoy running and I’m certainly not the fastest on the course, but I enjoy the challenge of pushing myself to go farther and do stuff I haven’t done before…I think I have a problem…

Finally, I decided if I was going to do it, and realized that I might as well put it all to good use and decided to run a 50k in order to raise awareness and help build an #impossible school in Guatemala (We’re a little past 50% of our goal as a community. If you’d still like to be a part of the campaign, you can find out more info here).

So, I kicked off the training a few months ago and I’ve been slowly adding miles to my long runs every weekend which somehow culminated in me running back to back marathons in consecutive weeks – yup, I surprised myself too.

Why Back To Back Marathons?

My simple answer is why not?

It certainly seemed to be the best option given my training schedule.

See, a big part of running is dealing with the boredom. While some might be especially fast, if you’re not, it can take a little while to get from point A to point B. So when my training schedule said I was supposed to run 22 miles one week and 24 the next, I wasn’t terribly excited about the prospect of spending 3+ hours running around Chicago on my own as the temperatures began to drop.

While training runs aren’t always fun, races aren’t too bad. There’s water stations, usually a few spectators – no matter how sparse – a timed result and food at the finish line. I realized I’d be much more excited, motivated and interested in running a marathon than I would be to run 22 or 24 miles for “training.”

I should note, that this is probably not the smartest way to choose races and most running coaches would probably hate me, but it seemed more interesting to me, so I decided to do it.

Prairie State Marathon

First up two weekends ago was the Prairie State Marathon.

I literally decided the night before the race that I was going to do it (like I said, most running coaches would hate me).

But, I realized I probably wouldn’t run the 22 miles on my own given the upcoming weather conditions. Either way, I showed up early, paid my $90, got my bib number and started running.

The first 18 miles were pretty straightforward. 9 out and 9 back on the north side of the course. I felt pretty good as evidenced by the picture through the first 18 miles of the course. Of course, my legs were tired, but you have to look pumped for the camera. Joel Runyon Prairie State MarathonComing back, you run right by the finish line as you pass the 18 mile marker and head out for another 4 mile out and back on the south side of the course.

It was not amusing.

After being teased by the finish line a little less than 2/3rds trhough the race, the four mile out and back weaved through a marshy/swamp area that seemed to be endless cruel joke where the race director sent you to run for eternity – never to return. Again. Not amusing.

After what seemed to be forever, I finally hit the turnaround and made my way back the same 4 miles to the finish line. It wasn’t pretty but I finished.

Over the next 7 days, I took lots of ice baths, ate bananas and rested. My legs hurt.

Stone Bridge Marathon

The bridge marathon was this past Saturday. After taking the past 7 days off, my legs were feeling better and I figured I would have no problem. We showed up early and somehow it got darker between the time we left and the time we got there – I have no idea how that happened.

When we showed up, I thought maybe 10 people were going to run the race – there was practically no one there. About 15 minutes before the race started a bus with about 50 people showed up.

Whatever the final total was, it was under 100 athletes – easily the smallest race I’ve ever been a part of. Seriously, this was the start line.

Stone Bridge Start

But at 7am, off we went.

Stone Bridge is advertised as a flat course, but there were definitely hills – especially the first 12 miles. I realized about 6 miles in that I was going to feel the effects of the previous week’s race. Around mile 14, my legs decided to let me know how tired they were and my quads were just screaming at me. There were a few time where I had to stop and stretch them out, but I just had to keep going.

After I hit 20 miles, I told myself – It’s all over in less than an hour. You just have to make it 60 minutes. And I did. Again, I finished – it wasn’t really pretty – but I finished.

Back to Back Marathons: DONE.

—

Both of my times were well over 4 hours which was fine with me – considering they were training runs more than anything (and believe me: that sounds as ridiculous to me as it does to you). I’m taking this week easy, filling it with ice baths, stretching and (unfortunately), probably more ice baths.

Next weekend I’ll take it easy with a half-marathon followed by the 50k ultra on the 27th. After that, I’m not sure when my next big race will be. I’m not sure I’ll need to do any more runing after this – but then again, I’ve said that before.

Like I said…I think I have a problem.

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Filed Under: Adventures, Fitness, Hacks, The Impossible

About Joel Runyon

I started IMPOSSIBLE to push myself to try to live a life worth writing about by pushing my limits, living an adventure & telling a great story by doing the impossible. You can get free updates in your inbox via your new favorite newsletter, free fitness training tutorials, and see all my businesses at Impossible X and our philanthropic efforts at Impossible.org

Comments

  1. Priya says

    October 16, 2012 at 8:38 am

    Yeah, sure. “Take it easy.” I’m sure you can do 50k in your sleep.

    Reply
  2. Jason Fitzgerald says

    October 16, 2012 at 9:14 am

    I only kind of hate you. But we need to get you a real pair of running shorts, Joel. The kind with a 2″ inseam and split leg… they’re all the rage.

    Reply
  3. Kate says

    October 16, 2012 at 9:32 am

    That is awesome! I love that your reasoning for running races was ‘it sounded more interesting to me’. Story of my life. Where in Chicago do you like to run? I only ask because one of the things I miss most about living in that city is running on the lakefront path! There is no water in Denver.

    Reply
  4. Todd Kuslikis says

    October 16, 2012 at 10:01 am

    Way to go Joel! I’ve never run a marathon but have always wanted to. Will have to find one and sign up!

    Reply
  5. paurullan says

    October 16, 2012 at 11:12 am

    Congrats! 😀

    Reply
  6. Josh Crocker says

    October 16, 2012 at 12:52 pm

    Take a minute to reflect back on the last couple of years and realize that you just publicly wrote “I’ll take it easy with a half marathon”.

    Awesome.

    Reply
  7. Peter Phelps says

    October 16, 2012 at 1:16 pm

    Joel,

    Congratulations on both marathons and your “unique” way of including marathons as training.

    Boredom is the biggest factor, you nailed it. You might have much more fun if you participated in events such as the Spartan Race or any other type of adventure racing. These type events will push your mental envelope of what you consider possible. Plus, MAN THEY ARE A BLAST!

    If you don’t have a Spartan Race in your area, just google “adventure racing” and see what’s going on in your area.

    The upside is that you will meet a great group of people to train with which will also help with boredom.

    Reply
  8. Sergio Felix says

    October 16, 2012 at 1:18 pm

    Hey Joel, I thought I was crazy for running a half marathon with only 30 days of preparation but you are quickly becoming a running BEAST!

    Running marathons for “training” haha that’s really awesome man.

    Sergio

    Reply
  9. Caryn says

    October 16, 2012 at 1:19 pm

    As a fellow marathoner with one 50K in the books, I thoroughly enjoyed this write-up. A sense of humor is definitely key for distance running. Best wishes for the upcoming ultra!

    Reply
  10. crystal says

    October 16, 2012 at 1:30 pm

    This is the kind of insanity I can get behind. I definitely have Badwater, as #n on my list of things I gotta do.

    Reply
  11. Dennis Gravitt says

    October 16, 2012 at 3:08 pm

    Joel,

    What a huge accomplishment.
    Congratulations!!!

    Dennis Gravitt,
    Author of “The Reasons I Run”.

    Reply
  12. davidd says

    October 16, 2012 at 11:35 pm

    I wish there were marathons around here that attracted fewer than 100 participants, I’d be much more likely to seriously consider one. The idea of arriving hours before dawn to search for parking among thousands (or tens of thousands) of other people is more intimidating to me than the idea of slogging through the miles.

    Love this post. It’s “old skool” Blog of Impossible Things — a first-person account from Joel as he pushes his limits (both physical and, obviously, of his sanity).

    Reply
  13. Aamir says

    October 17, 2012 at 2:23 am

    Nice post…once a runner always a runner 🙂
    I would realy like to see your routine..

    Reply
  14. Chad Miller says

    October 17, 2012 at 9:56 am

    In the last few days I’ve read about a man base jumping from space and now you running back-to-back marathons… my excuses officially suck!
    Way to go, Joel! Good luck at the half and the ultra.

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. 26 Point Tuesday | Blog Of Impossible Things says:
    October 30, 2012 at 5:30 pm

    […] need to do that again. But of course, I did again and again. And I started to realize how much more there was to […]

    Reply

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