LOCATION: 24 Hour Fitness, Beaverton,Oregon
Tim and I decided to take advantage of the Yours Truly 50k again in February. We tried to think of a crazy way to run a 50k, so we decided to run a 50k on a treadmill. At the time the Maniacs allowed for these types of races, but now this would not count unless you got at least 5 runners to do it.
Tim and I went to church that morning and then packed some supplies and went to the gym. We arrived at 24 Hour Fitness at about noon; we had to wait a few minutes in order to have two treadmills next to each other. We started about 12:15; the treadmills will only go for one hour. So that meant we had to restart the machine each hour. To make it easier I wanted to stop in a mile or half mile mark. So in the first hour I ran 6 miles in 59 minutes a pace of 9:50. In the next three segments/hours, I ran 5.5 miles in each hour. But after 22.5 miles and very tired legs I had to slow it down and in the fifth segment I ran just 5 miles. At that point I had run a total of 27.5 miles needed just 3.57 miles more and pushed the pace a bit, and got it done in just 38.5 minutes.At the start of the run, I jumped ahead of Tim by about 3/4 mile, but as I slowed down, he kept going and beat me in the final 5 minutes.
So you might be asking, what was it like? My first thought was it was dreadful. But after much thought, with better preparation, it would be made much better. First off, make sure you bring food and take breaks to eat it. We didn't take breaks like you would in a normal race, partly due to the fact that we wanted to keep the treadmills. In the future we should properly get the treadmills reserved by the staff. Secondly, make sure that you stay cool. There was no circulation of the air and it got very hot. Thirdly, make sure that you keep your mind of the repetition of the treadmill. I had an iPod and was able to keep my mind on the music.
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