What started as a way to keep myself motivated during the summer, turned into a summer long challenge.
Let me set the stage here. The date was April 15, 2023. We had just completed our 12 mile long training run for the KDF Mini Marathon. This is a fun training run. We start at The County, and run to The Patriot. A typical training run is an out and back kind of thing. But this one you cover 12 miles, without retracing steps. It also allows for a car ride back, with time to talk. I floated the idea of this challenge to the group on the ride home. I’m sure I will forget someone, but those I remember in the truck were Virginia Slims (driving), Glowsticks (because we stopped to pick up something he left on the course), and BigBird (because his level of excitement is what pushed me to proceed with this idea.)
When I threw the idea out there, I had already had the conversation in my head a dozen times. Am I crazy to suggest running 300 miles over the summer? Would anyone join me? Would it just fizzle out? But you know BigBird, always looking for that next challenge.
The idea was simple: run. But what runs would count? What shouldn’t count? Well, the general idea behind the challenge was to run. Not post to a bootcamp workout, and happen to sneak a few miles in. So I would limit it to dedicated running miles only. No Dora, no Elevens, etc. After starting this thing, and a few discussions we would later amend it to allow run heavy bootcamps. But it needed to be a minimum of 3 miles. While the idea of the challenge was to run, it wasn’t to force PAX to avoid bootcamp workouts.
I would set the standards to hopefully allow newer runners to join and not feel overwhelmed, and experienced runners to push themselves. The breakdown was basically 1 mile a day for the lowest tier, and 3 miles a day for the highest. Here were the standards:
100 Miles – “Wendy Peffercorn”
150 Miles – “Smalls”
200 Miles – “The Great Bambino”
250 Miles – “Benny The Jet”
300 Miles – “The Beast aka Hercules”
The registrations started to come in. It was exciting to see other guys get excited about this thing. When all the dust settled, there were 34 guys who stepped up to the challenge. Of the 34, 5 must have somehow accidentally registered, because they hardly put in more effort than a few clicks of a mouse.
Each person had their own plan to accomplish their goal, whether it be 100 miles, or 300 miles. For me it started on Memorial Day. A group of us started this challenge off with an almost 6 mile trail run. This was my first trail run, and a welcomed change to the normal road run.
Fast forward a few weeks. I tried to keep everyone engaged, throwing stats on our local Slack about who had the most miles that week, elevation, etc. This would last about a month, and then it seemed over the top. But what developed was the fun banter of leap frogging each other on the leader board. I’m sure most of it wasn’t intentional. But a few times, it almost had to be. When a guy happens to run .10 miles more than the guy above/below him on the leader board, you kind of assume they looked before they started that last run.
As the miles added up, the true elite runners showed out. A guy (that I assumed had to be a robot based on the numbers he was posting) named Jonathan Kraft quickly became the “White Rabbit” for us all to chase. His trajectory is the blue(ish) colored line, that seems to be all by itself. Accomplishing the 300 mile challenge on July 15th, only needing about half of the days originally planned for the challenge.
In the middle of this challenge, I noticed a change in myself, and notably Jolly Rancher (aka my brother from the very same mother.) Those random dance practice, or soccer practices became an opportunity to sneak in a few miles. For me, prior to the challenge that was time just spent mindlessly scrolling on my phone. But now they had a purpose. Also, since it was summer, and I didn’t have to rush home to get my kids off to school, I was able to extend my normal weekday runs. So a normal 4-5 mile run became a 5-6 mile run. Add in a Sunday run with the kids on scooter/bikes, and you have a recipe for success.
A lot of those extra credit miles were me joining PCI. He was in the process of training for an Ultra Marathon race. So he needed the extra distance. He would later go on to cover the most distance during the challenge. Holding back the last few hundredths of a mile so that his 30 mile race could be the finale.
On (or about) August 1st, I crossed paths with Kitty Litter. He historically was one of those dudes that could just run circles around me. I teased him about his total miles. At the time he was sitting at about 145 miles, and the “schedule” had him about 50 miles behind pace to achieve the 300 mile goal. Whether it was me, or just good timing, Kitty Litter would go on to log 32 runs over the next 31 days, averaging 5 miles an outing.
Fast forward a few weeks again.
I had been keeping pace with Dauber fairly consistently. He would pass me on the leader board, then I would pass him, etc. He claimed he wasn’t checking it, but I’m pretty sure that was just his way of motivating me. “Oh, did I pass you? By only a tenth of a mile? I didn’t notice.” It wasn’t a matter of if I would get 300 miles, but when, and would it be before Dauber.
In perfect BigBird fashion, on a Sunday afternoon he sent both Dauber and I a text message with a screenshot showing just how close we were, and said “Last one, best one! Only question, who’s getting there 1st?” A discussion ensued, and it was worked out so Dauber and I would be able to finish the challenge together on Wednesday morning at EP Tom Sawyer. At this point BigBird was about 24 miles behind us. We offered to delay our finish, allowing BigBird some extra time to log some miles, but like a true HIM, he encouraged us to finish.
At about 9 PM, I had just pulled into the driveway, and I put the truck in park. I received a text message from Jolly Rancher. I glanced at the message and immediately got as giddy as a kid on Christmas morning. BigBird had decided 24 miles was a nice challenge and decided to just knock it out, and meet us Wednesday for the final 4(ish) miles. He completed an 8 mile run at 0530, then 7 miles in the afternoon, and when I had received the text, he was out for a final 7 mile nightcap. I looked at my daughter, and said, buckle back up, we’re going to find BigBird. Surprisingly we found him. I yelled as we went past. I turned around, I yelled again. It was magical. Well, on my end it was. I can only imagine the pain he was feeling.
So we arrived on Wednesday morning and knocked out the final few miles. It was fun to finish together. I likely won’t remember one specific run throughout the challenge, well maybe that 13 mile trail run where I died. But I know I’ll remember all the feelings. I’ll remember Kitty Litter’s crazy consecutive runs, and wondering when he will rest. I’ll remember BigBird’s push to the finish, and tracking him down on his final push. I’ll remember the extra texts from/to Jolly Rancher about extra runs. I’ll remember thinking how crazy I initially thought it would be to accomplish this challenge, and then accomplishing it.
When it was all finished, there were 12 runners that achieved “The Beast” status, they were: Jonathan Kraft, Tex Mex, DeVitto, Tipsy, AirRaid, PCI, Crocs, Dauber, BigBird, LifeLock, Kitty Litter, and myself.
3 achieved “Benny The Jet” status, they were: Gisele, Jolly Rancher, and Double Pump.
Brown Water was the only “Great Bambino” finisher.
With this group finishing somewhere behind that status: Trask, Rip Van Winkle, Patty, HBK, Depends, Viking, CatDad, Meter Maid, Tinkle, Honey Do, PK, Cold Call, Scott Bennington, Huckleberry, Lucky Charms, GlowSticks, and Rett Rhodes.
Each participant will receive their very own finishers medal, as displayed here:
After messaging with some participants, and getting feedback, you can mark your calendar for Memorial Day 2024, the start of The Summer Sandlot Running Challenge. I will hopefully find a better way to communicate with participants next year. I really think part of the fun was the banter that took place along the way.
F3 Louisville 