Crooked Road 24-Hour Ultra

I blame Iris. 

She's the one who brought the Crooked Road 24-Hour Ultra run to my attention. 

This is not a race. The point of a 24-hour run is--quite simply--to see how far you can run in 24-hours. If you want to walk/run, you can. If you want to run for 2 hours then take a 4-hour break, you can. If you want to run for 20 minutes then bag it and go home, you can do that too. Or, you can give it your all and find out just what you're made of (cue inspiring music).  

I of course decided I can't do this run alone and asked my closest running friends to suffer along with me. Amazingly, a number of them agreed. (At least that's what they're telling me. I sent my check in this week. You guys DID send your checks in like you promised, right? Right??)

Here's the rub. The run takes place on a loop that's just under a mile. You can put up tents in the middle of the loop, but we'll be running one big circle for many, many, MANY hours.

"You'll never last," said Blair, when I told him about the race. "I can already hear you. 'Eh, I'm tired. And this is bor-ring. I hate going around in this little circle. I'm going insane. I can't take it.'"  He pointed at me. "And sweetheart, that's going to happen on lap number two for you."

He may have a point. Monotony is not my strong suit. But that's why I'm encouraging every runner I know to sign up for the race. Time will go faster, I believe, if we're surrounded by friendly, familiar faces. Plus we're less likely to turn on each other in a exhaustion-induced killing spree. (I think.) 

It concerns me that people like Barefoot Josh, who does things like run the Grandfather Mountain marathon (tagline: "One of America's Toughest Marathons") barefoot considers this run too extreme even for his taste. But that didn't stop me from asking Blair to participate.

"This is your big chance!" I urged. "You are completely right that I'll have a mental breakdown early on but this run is taylor made for you. This is your chance to beat me in a race." 

(That led him off on some sidetrack on why would beating someone you love in a race be important and blah-blah-blah. I stopped listening.)

So... calling all running friends. Go HERE and sign up for a chance to earn your "Bad Ass Runner" merit badge.

See you there!