body do?!”
We F***ing Did It: 6 Hours, 17+ Miles, and 27% Hills
Yesterday was the big day.
The event we’ve been training for finally arrived.
Our 6-hour endurance race.
And…
WE FUCKING DID IT! 🎉
Six hours of doing the same 2.1-mile loop over and over again.
Sounds simple enough, right?
Well, there’s one tiny detail.
The first mile has two absolutely nasty hills, with sections reaching a 27% incline.
Twenty-seven percent.
Whoever designed this course clearly had some unresolved issues. 🤢😂
The Goal: 7 Loops
Going into this race, I had a goal.
7 loops.
That would already be farther than I ever imagined myself doing at an event like this.
The rules were pretty straightforward.
You had six hours.
Run, walk, hike, crawl, question every decision you’ve ever made…
Whatever.
Just complete as many 2.1-mile loops as you can before time runs out.
So we started.
One loop.
Then another.
And another.
Every time we came back around, those damn hills were waiting for us again.
Seven Wasn’t Enough
Eventually, I hit my goal.
7 loops.
I could have stopped.
Goal accomplished.
But there was still time on the clock.
And apparently I’ve learned absolutely nothing about knowing when enough is enough.
So I went out for one more.
Loop number eight.
I crossed the finish with about 15 minutes left on the clock.
8 LOOPS.
17+ MILES.
I went into this hoping for seven.
I walked away with eight.
I don’t even know how to properly explain how that feels.
And Jon Absolutely Crushed It
Jon went into the race with his own goal:
4 loops.
He didn’t do four.
He did SIX.
That’s about 13 miles on a course where every single loop meant facing those hills again.
I’m incredibly proud of him.
We both went into this event with goals that would have been accomplishments on their own.
And we both blew right past them.
My goal: 7 loops. Finished: 8.
Jon’s goal: 4 loops. Finished: 6.
Not a bad Saturday.
This Was Absolutely Awful 🤣
I’m not going to sugarcoat it.
This was HARD.
Those hills somehow got bigger every loop, my body questioned every life decision I’d ever made, and by the end I was exhausted.
And somehow my first thought afterward was:
I can’t wait to do it again. 😂
What Else Can This Body Do?
The crazy part?
I just started running in March.
Never in my dreams did I think I’d be in my 40s completing a six-hour endurance race and covering 17+ miles.
It makes me wonder:
What else can this body do?
You Can Do Hard Things
You don’t need to run 17 miles or sign up for something ridiculous like this.
Just start somewhere.
Walk a mile. Move for ten minutes. Do something today that you couldn’t or wouldn’t do yesterday.
It’s not too late to start, and you’re probably capable of a hell of a lot more than you think.
I’m sore, tired, incredibly proud…
and already thinking about doing it again. 🤣
Real miles. Real mom. No filter.
– Shannon
