Book Report: "The Road To Sparta" By Dean Karnazes

The Road to Sparta : Retracing the Ancient Battle and Epic Run That Inspired the World's Greatest Foot Race by Dean Karnazes
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

It's like a race report, but the race is following the footsteps of history. The historical event being widely regarded as one of the most important battles and turning point in time. Karnazes really does his work learning what is known. He writes beautiful conjecture about what is unknown. Then he invites you into his life and his family and the ups and downs of one of his most epic experiences.

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Dizzy JoJo 6 Hour Potluck Race

2016 ended quietly, no races after Thanksgiving. I did do the Runners World Run Streak, a challenge to run a mile every day from Thanksgiving til New Years. That tied in with the 3 for 31 challenge I came across, that bumps it up to 3 miles a day for the Month of December. I carried on the run streak for 60 days total culminating in my birthday run on January 22nd.

Many times when I've run around Josephine Jones Park and Open Space over the past year, I've thought about the possibility of hosting a race similar to the Dizzy Goat race I ran back in June. I ran the 6 Hour timed trail race, the course was a 3 mile loop, and we switched directions each time through the starting area. Josephine Jones Park is a little gem of outdoor area in Greeley, CO. It was willed to the city by the namesake when she died in the early '90s to become what it is and to be saved from developement. The exterior trail runs right at 1.5 miles and has a maybe 60 foot climb on an upper portion. It's all crushed gravel. I figured, as far as a spot in my home town, it would be ideal for a timed race like the Dizzy Goat. I'm no RD, the logistics overwhelm me a little bit. As I was running out there in September, it popped in my head that I could do a loose group run or fat ass pretty easily, and invite my run club friends out. I decided to do it for my birthday.

I put up the event on Facebook in November. I didn't publicize it much initially because it's hard to predict weather in Colorado 2 months out. As we got into January, I started seeing promising long-term forecasts so I started trying to rally my people. The response was promising. I said my goal of at least 36k, but I was planning to be out there for 6 hours and everyone was welcome to come whenever they wished and run as much as they want. I even printed up some bibs with custom names and numbers for a few people. It was a whole thing.

At 10am on Jan 22 I started a counter-clockwise loop at Josephine Jones Park. My wife had come to the park initially expecting to see friends show up early, but she took off after my first 1.5 miles was done. I was 10k in when my run club teammate Henrique showed up a little later. Another teammate from my run club, Kate, showed up while I ran to my parent's house nearby to use the restroom. That was a bit of delay. I talked to my mom and sister for a bit, and saw my 16 month old niece for a minute, but then had to get back to the park. I was 9 miles in when I got back to the picnic area of the park.

I had set up a personal aid station with some snacks and water and such. The idea initially was to loop into this picnic area every lap and loop back the opposite direction. I spent a little more time there than I would normally like, but this was really more of a social event than a race. Henrique and Kate and I all ended up there at the same time at this point, and thought we maybe saw some other people coming from the parking area, so we waited, and waited for quite a while really, until realizing it wasn't any of our crew. So we went back out. Kate took off pretty soon after that, then Henrique took off shortly thereafter, but he was proud about a distance PR. That's what this event was about!

Photo by Sue

I was expecting some people to show up about 1pm, but when Henrique left shortly after noon it was a couple hours where I ran alone. At around 2, I saw that Sue from run club had checked in and was heading out to start running. I caught up with her a little bit later. I think I had broken 36k (or 22.3333 miles or whatever,) goal by that point. Then Jessy from run club and finally my long time friend Peter would arrive shortly after that. I caught up with them when I had a minute.

20 Miles

Basically I just ran around the park back and forth. I'd chat with my friends when I'd see them. I'd grab a bite and a drink of coconut water or Nuun when I got back to the start. I broke the marathon mark a quarter mile out from the aid area, and made it in to see Sue standing there. She congratulated me. I told her I was a half mile away from my longest run ever, and at just over 5 hours, way ahead of the 6 hours it had taken me. But I was worn out. I felt accomplished, but I didn't think I had much left in the tank. I walked with Sue to the parking lot, and said goodbye to her. I caught Jessy coming back the other way and kind of jogged with her. Then I got the legs going again. I went back out and got the 27 miles and a little bit more for good measure. That's when I decided I was done for the day. Only Peter was left out there at that point, I figured he'd be wrapping things up pretty quick. So I sat at the picnic table and tried to get a head start on refuelling. I took my snack bag back to my truck and came back to see I had just missed Peter starting another lap. So I started another lap. I stuck to the lower portion of the park, fearing the hills a bit. I came back with about 28.5 miles. I waited for Peter to come back in, and he just wasn't. I looked at my watch and thought for a minute that if I'd quit waiting to be done and just went out and ran 2.5 more miles, I'd get to that 50k mark I'd been gunning for for the last year. My legs weren't thrilled about it right away, but they fell into the muscle memory of what they were supposed to do real quick, and I ran lap around the edge of the park, then a little on the lower section. I ran into Peter as he was leaving. I thanked him for sticking around because I was going to quit if he weren't out there and now I was going to accomplish a real goal. As I ran back up to my truck I hit that 31 mile mark, and I went an extra 10th for good measure. It took 6 hours and 5 minutes total, and that's with a lot of standing around, I didn't pause my watch all day until I thought I was done at 27.5 miles.

26.5 Miles (Photo by Sue)

 I look back now and wish I had gone after 36 miles for my 36th birthday. I think I'm falling back into the trap of the post run view. It was rough after about 20 miles. It was a real struggle to keep going after 27. I need to remember that. But also it's great to do something so above and beyond to build for later; To do something that is rough and learn that rough doesn't mean much.

That night I went home, I had a lot of pasta for dinner and relaxed with some beer. I woke up the next day surprisingly fresh. I went to work as usual and didn't seem like my legs were all that too upset about what they had been through. I still ended my run streak there, just out of an abundance of caution.

Now I'm formulating more ideas to make my little birthday race bigger. So put a pin in your calendar for January 21, 2018.