As deployment drones on it will cause you to come up with ideas of ways to better yourself, break up the monotony, or literally anything to possibly take your mind off of counting down the days until you’re home again. Most people come up with a fitness routine or a new diet to adhere to, not us, oh no we went to the extreme. We decided for the month of October we would not only run a 100k, but we would also stay sober while doing so. 31 days to run 62 miles and 31 days of no alcohol.
I know, I know you read that first paragraph and thought what the fuck is this lady thinking. I thought the same thing as well. How am I going to go from running 2-3 miles every once in a while, to running 62 miles in a month? So, I set out with a plan I had to run at least 2 miles every day in order to meet this goal. First let me actually start off by saying there are 2 days left in this competition and I still have 20 more miles to go. No, I did not finish that goal for the month. I started out super motivated sticking with my plan. Even had a few days that I went for 5 or even 6 miles. I was so pumped thought I’m going to actually do this. But as the month went on my legs felt like they needed to be amputated from my body and work and life got in the way I realized….. I can be ok with having completed 42 miles in a month.
I felt like I succumbed to be a quitter, but then I realized well I ran 42 more miles more than I normally do so that’s something. Which is my nice way of saying if you came here to read hero tales of how I rise up and overcome life’s obstacles and find a way to persevere through it all. Then you have come to the wrong place. Welcome to my open book about how sometimes shit just doesn’t happen and your body hurts so you make a bowl of ramen noodles and watch Netflix in your sweatpants instead of going out for run because it feels better.
Now any other time that line would have read you pour a glass of wine and watch Netflix in your sweatpants but yes you had read correctly I also was spending October sober. Now this wasn’t a tough one for me. While I do very much enjoy my wine, whiskey, beer, margarita, and the list goes on and on. It has been a nice break not having any alcohol, now have I wanted a damn drink when work and life gets stressful. The easy answer to that is I currently have a bottle of champagne in my drawer in my barracks room waiting for the clock to turn to November 1st. But I was going to cross the finish line on one of these “challenges” no matter what. And as I was icing my knee week 2 and had shooting pain going down my back into my leg, I just had this feeling that the 62 miles were not going to be the hilltop I ascended October 2020.
The worst part of all of this was the guys in this 100k competition. Let’s talk about them. One guy finished the 62 miles in 6 days. Yes, less than a week this guy just thought oh hey guess I’ll run, run again, oh maybe I’ll run some more. Must suck to have no friends and so much time on your hands to just keep running. What a sad life he must lead. I just feel bad for him that’s all (I type as I shove another piece of sea salt dark chocolate in my mouth) what a sad life of just running, my knee throbs thinking about it. Now to my bigger bitch about two of the other guys running their little hearts out with me. Why is it that a month of consistent running and eating well and starting intermittent fasting, I have lost 2 pounds and an inch, but my buddy who has ran 5 more miles than me has lost 20. Oh I’m a man and I just shed weight whenever I want look how masculine and amazing I am…..gross. I keep telling myself that I just have less weight to drop so it isn’t happening as quickly as them. Which is obviously what is happening it’s the only logical explanation.
But I will continue to keep running and try to up my total miles for each month and go from there. But 2 more days and that bottle of champagne is gonna be a poppin!!!!!!
Meander With Mal 