Quarantine Backyard Ultra

Yesterday I drove down to the Watertown section of the Charles river and took part in the Quarantine Backyard Ultra - an all online event that is still ongoing!  This race is a keep-going-until-you-cant format where you run 4.167 miles (100/24 hours) at the top of every hour - getting a nice rest of 20-25 minutes in between.  I really enjoyed this event - probably one of my favorite 'races' ever.

Having said that - yesterday was really hot and super humid to start.  I felt pretty slow and sluggish for the first two hours.  The break in between felt oddly nice and cool in the shade - and I really think this time in between runs is why I liked the event so much.  The 3rd loop started to feel really hot and hard - especially in areas when the sun exposure was high - which felt like more and more of the course as the sun go higher in the sky.  I realized after the 3rd loop that I was going to run out of the water after the 4th loop at the rate that I was chugging it.  This meant that I was probably done at 16.  The 4th loop felt really hard - I even stopped and walked twice!  So even if I had water - I was probably done. 

Nevertheless - a really nice way to spend half a day. Thanks, organizers!  I would love to do this again.  Maybe in the fall when it is a little cooler.  My goal would be to hit 29 (7 loops).  A bit more training and some cooler weather - definitely feel like that is doable.