The Start of the "Moronic Quadzilla"

I am definitely giving credit to what has been dubbed the "Moronic Quadzilla" to Eric. The plan is to run 4 marathons/ultras in 4 days beginning with The Last Chance Marathon on New Years Eve and ending with a 50k on what is typically the Western Washington Fat Ass course. Since the original inception of the plan, there has been at least one speed bump. The Western Washington Fat Ass 50k got cancelled due to some of the worst conditions the race directors have seen in the 16 years they have been putting on this event, which is really not an event, but that's a whole different post.

As I was thinking about the prospect of the "Moronic Quadzilla" I decided this would be a good opportunity to run 4-50k's in 4 days. Since there was no actual 50k's taking place, except for the one on New Year's Day, I decided I was going to have to run my own on New Years Eve while Eric was running the Last Chance Marathon. My wife had to work on New Years Eve, which prevented me from running the Last Chance Marathon. I decided on a 1 mile loop course in Puyallup at Bradley Lake, which consisted of about 75% trail and 25% paved trail around the quaint little lake.

Day 1 - Jamal met me at 6 a.m. to run the first 8 loops with me, primarily in the dark. It was slow going navigating the trail without tripping on roots and rocks along the way. I had to make a few pitstops to the bathroom and to the car to take a Gu and make sure to stay hydrated. After mile 6, I commented to Jamal that I was glad it wasn't raining. Literally, within a minute, the rain started and was heavy at times. Add in the cool temperatures, in the high 30's, and it made for a bit of misery to say the least.

After mile 8, Jamal took off and I ran the next 8 miles on my own. I found out that the loop course was both good and bad. It was nice being able to stop by the car and the bathroom when needed, but all the stops added quite a bit of time onto what was already looking like it might be a slow one. At the end of mile 16 Monica and Tom from the Y-runclub came to join me. It was a welcome break and nice to have someone to talk to and let a few more miles fly by before I was on my own again. Monica ran 4loops and Tom stayed for 6 and carried me through mile 22.

Once they left it became a fast walk the rest of the way. I knew I would need a walk break after running with Tom, but I didn't really expect it to last the rest of the way. I think I just got into a rhythm and the combination of tired legs, no one to run with and the rain led my motivation to stray. On the bright side, I was determined the entire way to make it to 50k and kept up a good power walk all the way to the finish.

After getting home I took an ice bath, tried to get some food in me and then went to a New Year's Eve party arriving back home and in bed a little after 1 a.m.

Day 2 - At 6:40 a.m. I met Cat, Steve and Rick to carpool to the First Call Marathon/50k. This race will actually count on my Maniac marathon stats...NICE! My plan was to run with Jenny and hopefully be able to keep pace all the way and not have to walk the last 5 miles. We started out on a bit of a slushy, snowy, slippery trail before reaching a clearing. My legs felt good and I was confident for the day ahead.

We kept a good pace stopping at the restrooms several times and to refill our bottles, but other than that we ran. We were at the back of the pack, but we were running. The course was a double out and back and after running 31 loops the previous day I was thankful for that. We made it to the turn around not far behind the others. Things felt good and I was making sure to consume more calories today. I was going to need them to keep my body moving.

We finished the first half in just under 3 hours and were blessed with some nice warm pancakes that seem to have been made just for us. Jenny gave me a Starbucks doubleshot and I was feeling good again. We headed out for the second half feeling good and keeping a good pace. Somewhere along the way we caught up to Michelle and Margarett and stayed with them for a little over a mile before heading out on our own again. The routine stayed the same, stopping at the restrooms and to refill our bottles, but we continued to run consistently. Not until the final 7.5 miles did we begin taking extra walk breaks and even then they were few and far between, well...until the last 2 miles anyways.

We caught up to Michelle and Margarett again right near the finish, they turned around before we did, and crossed the line together. I think our time was a little over 6 hours, but I am not sure exactly and it doesn't really matter anyways. Number 2 is done and in the books. Another successful ice bath and the road to recovery has begun for day 3.

Two 50k's are finished, but the final two are a different story. The 50k on Friday will be run on the Dumb Ass course and consists of 5 loops and 12,500 feet of climbing along the way. It will probably have some deep snow as well. Saturday's 50k will take place on the cancelled Western Washington Fat Ass course and breaking trail may prove to be too difficult. I'll keep you posted...

"Unless a man undertakes more than he possibly can do, he will never do all that he can."Henry Drummond