Cleburne, TX Adventure Run #1
11/14/2009-11/15/2009
I will start this entry by explaining what the hell Adventure run #1 means. This is a concept my younger brother Jacob and myself came up with one of our many nights discussing runs and ultras and the endless possibilities we have when it comes to running. We have a tendency to dream and with that we have the mentality that the sky is the limit...and for us it truly is. Our plans were to step up our Ultra effort by running a 50k on Saturday and driving to San Antonio and running the RocknRoll Marathon on Sunday. We had the time off and were looking at race prices. $60 each for the 50k and $110 each for the marathon. Plus gas to San Antonio and hotels on top of that. This led to the brain storm...why pay for races? what do we get out of a race beside some land to run on, some aid stations, and a finishers prize. Do we really need the support of others while we run? So within minutes we were dreaming of runs where all we had was a credit card, GPS, and a means to carry water for 20+ miles. With that the sky was the limit....well wherever there was a road mapped on my Garmin Nuvi 205 was the limit! Over the next few weeks Jacob brainstormed and discovered CamelBaks. Gave them a trial run at the Palo Duro 50 miler(in which he won). So now everything was taken care of we just needed a place to run. I was up for anywhere, so I let Jacob decide. The final decision became Cleburne, TX. About 35 miles by highway from my doorstep. 39.39miles by backroads and country state highways. Our plan was to load up only what we needed into the Camelbaks(water, snacks, creditcard, GPS, camera)and run to Cleburne. Our route was iffy and determined by how safe we felt on a road when we got to it. Our plans once we arrived were just as iffy. Did we stay the night and run back the next day? Do we turn around and head back in the middle of the night? Again our options were left to how we felt with the safety of the roads, how we felt, and how long we can maintain without an aid station(gas station). And so we have the birth of Adventure Running, part #1...Cleburne:
Friday night we are pumped and packed early around 8pm. I am excited about getting to bed early and resting up like an old man for the upcoming run. Apparently my younger bro Jacob had other plans. Her name will be excluded from this blog, but her beauty and charm is what drove Jacob into convincing me to accompany him to her house at 10:30 at night. Fortunately by 11:30 we were heading home. In bed by 1am for a 6am start sounded about right for my luck.
Saturday morning I was cawling out of bed in a ad mood from lack of sleep. Jacob was bouncing off the walls and harping at me to wake up for at least 30 minutes before i rise. Our plans to be on the road at sunup are foiled because of me. We are packed and making a final check of the GPS, and I start my watch at 7:05am.
Friday night we are pumped and packed early around 8pm. I am excited about getting to bed early and resting up like an old man for the upcoming run. Apparently my younger bro Jacob had other plans. Her name will be excluded from this blog, but her beauty and charm is what drove Jacob into convincing me to accompany him to her house at 10:30 at night. Fortunately by 11:30 we were heading home. In bed by 1am for a 6am start sounded about right for my luck.
Saturday morning I was cawling out of bed in a ad mood from lack of sleep. Jacob was bouncing off the walls and harping at me to wake up for at least 30 minutes before i rise. Our plans to be on the road at sunup are foiled because of me. We are packed and making a final check of the GPS, and I start my watch at 7:05am.
We felt perfect. It had been awhile since we had run together(Leadville 07/09) and for the first mile Jacob complained about my pace being too slow. After that either I picked it up or he got comfortable with my pace, or decided to quit whining and enjoy the run. The run through my town was great even for me. I had never ran this direction so I was excited to immediately be on fresh turf. We hit our first turn and were rolling. About 5 miles in I take my first fall trying to get up a curb. More of a stumbling fall until i hit forearm and rolled. Jacob just looks on while i gather my lost gear and with one phrase "Not Cool" we are running again. Around 8miles Jacob(now setting the pace and taking lead)pulls us over for snacks and pictures.
So finally at last I am enjoying a nice iced latte at Mill Street Coffee. I am enjoying the time to wind down and relax, not to mention the small talk with the cute girl that runs(and owns) the place. Unfortunately, my overactive younger brother is not comfortable at this coffee shop that he picked and wants to go run to another...2 miles away. After about an hour i finally cave. So we run deeper into Cleburne. I follow Jacob into the darkness running along the main road through Cleburne, which has no sidewalks only ditches to run in, for what seems like forever. My temper is brewing and my knee is killing me. I am on the verge of snapping at him if only i could catch him. When finally I see him standing and waiting on me. The mythical coffee shop he had to see did not exist anymore. I explain how the GPS isn't always accurate and that I saw a Starbuck about a mile back. This satisfies us both and on we run. I keep up with him(or he hangs back for me) and we stroll into Starbucks like a couple of vagrant ultra runners. 43 miles down in just under 10 hours. 9:43 to be exact. So at starbucks I enjoy another coffee searching for some energy and telling myself I am getting a hotel soon. Jacob sems unphased by the 43 miles just ran and is bouncing off the walls before he orders 2 large mocha something or others...
Well 2 hours later I have a fresh pair of socks on and Jacob has convinced my tired, achy knee that we are going to run 40 miles home.
So off we go. I actually feel refreshed and a little excited about breaking my "most mileage in one day" total. We stop at HEB grocery to refill on snack. We know ther isn't going to be many gas stations open on the way back...if any.
Now the run back is pretty hazy for me. I remember alot of pain, even more frustration, and my temper flaring but kept underwraps a few times. I remember stopping at a gas station at I-35 i believe. Going into this I hit a massive dip and fell for the second time. I remember this gas station because it was so large and I refueled plenty and was able to dry my soaking wet shirt(which was making me freeze in the chilly night air) on a bathroom hand dryer. From here I remember the run becoming much slower due to my throbbing knee. At time I collapsed on the side of the road eyes watering with the intense pain. At times the pain was so great I could not see and no weight was ale to be placed on that leg. This only enraged me further. If you know me you know that I hate being the weaker person, and I hate anything that holds me back. My leg was making me both. I pushed myself to run through the pain. When the pain became to great i walked. Sometimes I limped, sometimes I shuffled, but forward progress was my goal. Slowing down Jacob was not. I knew he wanted to run. I knew I was slowing the pace dramatically. i ran more than I should have, and looking back I think I ran more than most humans could have in my condition. Gas station after gas station appeared closed as we suspected. I remember checking the GPS and realizing we were 10 miles from the last gas station and at least 15 miles from the closest city that'll have an open gas station. I think this was around 3am. I'll go ahead and show the rest of our pics from the run back. There aren't many. I wasnt in the mood for the camera and I am pretty sure Jacob wasn't either, doubting why he let me tag along. Hell I don't think my mind could escape the pain and the focus to get me home.
On we run everything is going perfect find our turn that paces into our first official town to rest and fins a gas station about 45 minutes later. I would guess about 12 miles in we stop for snacks, I needed a change of socks(i was giving thin socks a trial run...no go...).
A few minutes later and barely time to check our route via GPS Jacob was shuffling us onward. It was then I realized it wasn't going to be the casual run to Cleburne I was expecting. We ran on for a few minutes when Jacob makes an abrupt stop and cuts into a small city park. He saw a slide and yes we had to get picture on it.
Now we run onward into unknown territory, road that I had no clue as to what would be like. This was where I knew the run could turn from a 40 miler into a 60 miler, or nice fun run into a nightmare. This is where i calculated the variables to be. Again fortune was in my favor and the roads were all runable with adequate shoulders and minimal traffic. We were even surprised by a few gas stations. Around 20 we make our next gas station break. it couldn't have come at a better time as I had run out of water about 1 mile before, and was developing some soreness in my left knee. We stopped, topped off the camelbaks with ice water, and some quick food we were running again. I was moving too slow out of the gas station for Jacob. He was rushing me as soon as I sat down to organize my Camelbak/check GPS/eat a powerbar. The next 10 miles or so were pretty uneventful. Back country farm roads. Beautiful scenery with wonderful weather, was making our run become top notch.
Somewhere outside Keene, TX we stop at a garage sale and have 2 nice older ladies snap our picture. We explain to them what we are doing and that we are about 30 miles into our run, and they agree we are absolutely nuts. They did take a nice picture though!
A few minutes later and barely time to check our route via GPS Jacob was shuffling us onward. It was then I realized it wasn't going to be the casual run to Cleburne I was expecting. We ran on for a few minutes when Jacob makes an abrupt stop and cuts into a small city park. He saw a slide and yes we had to get picture on it.
Now we run onward into unknown territory, road that I had no clue as to what would be like. This was where I knew the run could turn from a 40 miler into a 60 miler, or nice fun run into a nightmare. This is where i calculated the variables to be. Again fortune was in my favor and the roads were all runable with adequate shoulders and minimal traffic. We were even surprised by a few gas stations. Around 20 we make our next gas station break. it couldn't have come at a better time as I had run out of water about 1 mile before, and was developing some soreness in my left knee. We stopped, topped off the camelbaks with ice water, and some quick food we were running again. I was moving too slow out of the gas station for Jacob. He was rushing me as soon as I sat down to organize my Camelbak/check GPS/eat a powerbar. The next 10 miles or so were pretty uneventful. Back country farm roads. Beautiful scenery with wonderful weather, was making our run become top notch.
Somewhere outside Keene, TX we stop at a garage sale and have 2 nice older ladies snap our picture. We explain to them what we are doing and that we are about 30 miles into our run, and they agree we are absolutely nuts. They did take a nice picture though!
And so we are momentarily off to running again. It turns out to be about 5 miles into Keene. Lucky for me Jacob is starving and ready to find a subway! My left knee is starting to be a pain in my...well...leg. Otherwise I felt great! So Keene was a pretty little town we stop for a few photo ops outside of Southwest adventist University or something along those lines. We find our Subway Shortly after.
From Subway it was exactly 4.6 miles to our destination. Mill St Coffee, Cleburne, TX. We ran on I think I still felt really good. Especially about finally getting to our goal. At this point i was still dreaming of a hot shower and ordering some pizza and relaxing for a few hours before falling asleep into a hotel bed. And man did my knee need it. I was fighting the pain to keep up with Jacob, and push on the the end. Finally we make it. It feels great to be there.
From Subway it was exactly 4.6 miles to our destination. Mill St Coffee, Cleburne, TX. We ran on I think I still felt really good. Especially about finally getting to our goal. At this point i was still dreaming of a hot shower and ordering some pizza and relaxing for a few hours before falling asleep into a hotel bed. And man did my knee need it. I was fighting the pain to keep up with Jacob, and push on the the end. Finally we make it. It feels great to be there.
So finally at last I am enjoying a nice iced latte at Mill Street Coffee. I am enjoying the time to wind down and relax, not to mention the small talk with the cute girl that runs(and owns) the place. Unfortunately, my overactive younger brother is not comfortable at this coffee shop that he picked and wants to go run to another...2 miles away. After about an hour i finally cave. So we run deeper into Cleburne. I follow Jacob into the darkness running along the main road through Cleburne, which has no sidewalks only ditches to run in, for what seems like forever. My temper is brewing and my knee is killing me. I am on the verge of snapping at him if only i could catch him. When finally I see him standing and waiting on me. The mythical coffee shop he had to see did not exist anymore. I explain how the GPS isn't always accurate and that I saw a Starbuck about a mile back. This satisfies us both and on we run. I keep up with him(or he hangs back for me) and we stroll into Starbucks like a couple of vagrant ultra runners. 43 miles down in just under 10 hours. 9:43 to be exact. So at starbucks I enjoy another coffee searching for some energy and telling myself I am getting a hotel soon. Jacob sems unphased by the 43 miles just ran and is bouncing off the walls before he orders 2 large mocha something or others...
Well 2 hours later I have a fresh pair of socks on and Jacob has convinced my tired, achy knee that we are going to run 40 miles home.
So off we go. I actually feel refreshed and a little excited about breaking my "most mileage in one day" total. We stop at HEB grocery to refill on snack. We know ther isn't going to be many gas stations open on the way back...if any.
Now the run back is pretty hazy for me. I remember alot of pain, even more frustration, and my temper flaring but kept underwraps a few times. I remember stopping at a gas station at I-35 i believe. Going into this I hit a massive dip and fell for the second time. I remember this gas station because it was so large and I refueled plenty and was able to dry my soaking wet shirt(which was making me freeze in the chilly night air) on a bathroom hand dryer. From here I remember the run becoming much slower due to my throbbing knee. At time I collapsed on the side of the road eyes watering with the intense pain. At times the pain was so great I could not see and no weight was ale to be placed on that leg. This only enraged me further. If you know me you know that I hate being the weaker person, and I hate anything that holds me back. My leg was making me both. I pushed myself to run through the pain. When the pain became to great i walked. Sometimes I limped, sometimes I shuffled, but forward progress was my goal. Slowing down Jacob was not. I knew he wanted to run. I knew I was slowing the pace dramatically. i ran more than I should have, and looking back I think I ran more than most humans could have in my condition. Gas station after gas station appeared closed as we suspected. I remember checking the GPS and realizing we were 10 miles from the last gas station and at least 15 miles from the closest city that'll have an open gas station. I think this was around 3am. I'll go ahead and show the rest of our pics from the run back. There aren't many. I wasnt in the mood for the camera and I am pretty sure Jacob wasn't either, doubting why he let me tag along. Hell I don't think my mind could escape the pain and the focus to get me home.
So here we are around 3-4am been running for around 21 hours with no sleep, only a few hours rest at a coffee shop. I don't remember much. Only that it was easier to run, and if it were not for my knee that would be true. Walking (and Jacob confirmed this later) made it too easy for our bodies to rest. By rest I mean slow down and fall into a dream state. On several occasions I rememer seeing Jacob stop and sit down on the road, only seconds later see him walking as normal a few steps in front of me. Once I remember clear as day seeing 2 cheerleaders pass him and have a brief conversation. Again only to see them disappear. This was me dreaming while I walked. When we ran this never happened, we had too much going on too much to focus on more or less to think about. At one point I remember watching Jacob swagger(much like I have seen many old friends swagger in a drunken stupor) slowly left, then slowly right. This snapped me wide awake because he was quite far in front of me and swaggering closer and closer into the street in pitch black. I picked up my pace to catch him before some unsuspecting car could whip around a corner. When I caught him he snapped awake and immediately looked at me and said "walking is making me sleep".
And so it went until about 6am. We finally hit Mansfield...about 10 miles from home. I was counting on a Gas Station being home in this town. To my surprise all 6 gas stations we stopped at were not open. It did give jacob a chance to run ahead and stretch out his legs and forget about a slow poke like me was still around. But that only made him get to a closed gas station sooner. Finally somewhere around 287 we collapsed in front of a gas station i swore would open any minute. I remember freezing as we both passed out with exhaustion. It was short lived when a concerned commuter stopping for gas woke us up asking if we needed gas money :D Not sure the explanation I gave but I will never forget the "what is wrong you" glance I got from her. We decided we had to move on before we froze even more. We ran....as much as I could...it warmed me despite crippling pain I shuffled my gimp leg foward. We came to a donut shop called Y-Donut. An old Asian lady ran the place. We immediately order food. Jacob was asleep before i could even finish my first donut. Me, well I felt awkward sleeping in a donut shop that had only 4 tables, with sunday morning customers coming and going. Don't let me lie to you I slept! Man did I ever. Just made me uncomfortable I woke up every 15 minutes or so. Jacob on the other hand slept solidly for 2 hours. Finally at 9 I drug my stiff aching lower body outside to test the temp and get a signal in the GPS. 9.6 miles to my house. I go inside manage to wake Jacob by telling him I am going to call a cab. That wasn't my intention but it worked. As soon as we get started i realize my left knee is absolute toast. Not much running for me. Even walking was starting to make it painful. And so we walked. Not much talking between us. I could feel the tension whether it be real or a part of my imagination I felt terrible for being the broke leg that slowed the run down to a miserable crawl. We inched our way along in silence until finally we made it back to my house. at 12:23. 15 hours to get home. 29 or so hours from when we originally left Saturday morning.
What did we get out of it? A closer brotherly bond, A sense of accomplishment for running 83 miles, A leg that is still sore and painful a week later, a deeper knowledge that anything is possible, the conviction in our hearts that we will never quit, a knowing that we ran a route that no one has ever ran before...ever, a nice training run for a 100 mile race? I'd say Yes to all of the above.
And so it went until about 6am. We finally hit Mansfield...about 10 miles from home. I was counting on a Gas Station being home in this town. To my surprise all 6 gas stations we stopped at were not open. It did give jacob a chance to run ahead and stretch out his legs and forget about a slow poke like me was still around. But that only made him get to a closed gas station sooner. Finally somewhere around 287 we collapsed in front of a gas station i swore would open any minute. I remember freezing as we both passed out with exhaustion. It was short lived when a concerned commuter stopping for gas woke us up asking if we needed gas money :D Not sure the explanation I gave but I will never forget the "what is wrong you" glance I got from her. We decided we had to move on before we froze even more. We ran....as much as I could...it warmed me despite crippling pain I shuffled my gimp leg foward. We came to a donut shop called Y-Donut. An old Asian lady ran the place. We immediately order food. Jacob was asleep before i could even finish my first donut. Me, well I felt awkward sleeping in a donut shop that had only 4 tables, with sunday morning customers coming and going. Don't let me lie to you I slept! Man did I ever. Just made me uncomfortable I woke up every 15 minutes or so. Jacob on the other hand slept solidly for 2 hours. Finally at 9 I drug my stiff aching lower body outside to test the temp and get a signal in the GPS. 9.6 miles to my house. I go inside manage to wake Jacob by telling him I am going to call a cab. That wasn't my intention but it worked. As soon as we get started i realize my left knee is absolute toast. Not much running for me. Even walking was starting to make it painful. And so we walked. Not much talking between us. I could feel the tension whether it be real or a part of my imagination I felt terrible for being the broke leg that slowed the run down to a miserable crawl. We inched our way along in silence until finally we made it back to my house. at 12:23. 15 hours to get home. 29 or so hours from when we originally left Saturday morning.
What did we get out of it? A closer brotherly bond, A sense of accomplishment for running 83 miles, A leg that is still sore and painful a week later, a deeper knowledge that anything is possible, the conviction in our hearts that we will never quit, a knowing that we ran a route that no one has ever ran before...ever, a nice training run for a 100 mile race? I'd say Yes to all of the above.
