Day One: 13.1 Miles

Day: One

Daily Mileage: 13.1 miles (21.08K)

Total Mileage: 13.1 miles (21.08K)

It’s been roughly a year since I started running seriously. My wife and I bought minimalist footwear (Vibram Five Fingers), and slowly I have come to view the car as an inferior means of transportation of oneself to nearby places. This month I’d like to come back to one of the oldest forms of sustaining oneself, and honor my bipedalness by running every day.

I recently watched a runner chase a wild elk until it collapsed from complete exhaustion. Three runners began the hunt, called a Persistence Hunt, but only one would complete the 8 hour exertion, because only one is needed. Running great distances has not been the way of life for every person at every time, but at least one person at all times. Such a dangerous exertion is not often undertaken for the benefit of the runner alone. That’s why when I decided to try and run further than I had before, for 31 days, I chose to focus the attention it brought on our health, particularly on how we are winning a war against cancer. That’s why I’m raising money for Livestrong, one of the foremost advocates of the treatment, research, and prevention of cancer.

It’s hard to believe you’re getting up at 5 am, after going to sleep at 1 am on New Year’s Day, but my wife and I did just that, and drove south from LA to Huntington Beach. I had originally hoped to complete the Happy New Year marathon, but a test run close to my event had led me to decide to tackle only the half-marathons, until I have run 365 kilometers in 30 days. On that day I do hope to run as much as a full marathon or more to see how far. I certainly can’t run a wild elk to death, but in just a year my body has rebounded from couch potato to long-distance runner. People told me this was somehow unnatural, unsafe, unhealthy, and unlikely. But shows like the Biggest Loser have reminded me that fitness is the natural state of the human body. We are all related, and no matter what your recent family tree shows, our genetics are that of powerful wild animals, with a range that surpasses all other primates. For most indigenous people, there is a rich cultural history of long distance running, to communicate, to trade, to socialize, and most importantly, to eat.

I admit, I spent more than half of my beautiful run down a temperate and foggy Southern California beach thinking, “If you walk now, you’ll never catch a wild elk.” Ahead was an aid station, with snacks, and sugary beverages, of which there were more waiting in my car. But there’s something compelling about feeling physically like you’ve earned your food. Half-marathons work wonders for your appetite. Just now as I was writing this, I ate leftover turkey with vegetables (originally meant for pasta) with Greek yogurt on them instead. To my knowledge, the undiscerning palate of the runner rivals that of even the most intoxicated.

Having completed two hours of running, I should need an additional 1500 calories of wholesome and varied food to avoid losing almost 1/2 pound of fat today alone. For heavier and slower runners, this figure is even higher. Frequently marathons require as much as 3500 calories, or the equivalent of 1 pound of body fat. Since, at 6 feet tall, I still weigh the approximate amount of a scrawny adolescent, I cannot afford to run on body fat. Before the run, I ate 1/2 cup of walnuts, a banana, a few slices of bread, Greek yogurt, orange juice, and milk. I didn’t stop eating on the run either, consuming sugary beverages, a Monster, more bananas, more walnuts, and 2 carb gels.

Running far is surely intuitive for us all, but most of us are starting late. Having missed out on years of experience, we must use what science tells us of eating, sleeping, and running, to find out how far we can go.