The group text
arrived on Friday, March 20 at 8:54 p.m. Amazingly, it didn’t stress me out
like group texts usually do – probably because it involved only three people:
me, Denise Grohn, Emily Burns. Amazingly, I was still awake. Amazingly, I
replied right away at such a late hour (for me). Here’s how the conversation
started.
Denise: Hi Pete! So now that Emily and I are retired (😔) we have a new idea to keep us busy in this
crazy time. We want to run a 100-mile week. Is that totally crazy? We were
thinking because we both aren’t very injury prone, and bored, that it might be
kind of fun! What do you think about this? Should we build up to it or just do
it?!
Pete: This is so implausible that I
cannot determine if you are kidding or not (fyi I love it). I was about to settle
in with my big book (for those who care,
the book was “Bully Pulpit” by Doris Kearns Goodwin, an endless tome about
Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft and the muckraking press of that era …
good stuff!) and go to sleep. But now I’m excited.”
Emily: Do you think it’s a good
idea/possible for us?
And so it
began. The quest for two prematurely retired collegiate athletes to do
something that would never have crossed their minds in the usual mad rush that
is the spring outdoor track season. But alas, there was no track season; we
already know THAT. So, when life gives you lemons, you make lemonade! Or
something like that …
Well, here’s
the thing! After more than a month buildup, Denise and Emily did their 100-mile
week. Last week! They culminated it with a 20-mile run on Sunday, an impossibly
beautiful spring day when they should have been dueling it out in the
1,500-meter run at Day 2 of the MAAC Championships at Rider University. After a
week of relentlessly miserable weather – standard issue mid-Hudson Valley
weather for any day in April – miraculously the weekend dawned sunny and warm
for the completion of their task. Coach Chuck was there to record their finish
– he posted a video interview with our triple-digit conquerors that was
circulated on social media outlets. Thankfully, Emily and Denise were willing
to answer my questions for this much slower and antiquated version of social
media – the blogosphere. So, for today’s Pandemic Papers, a slightly different
format, as we do a dual-interview with two soon-to-be Forever Foxes about their improbable but awesome quest for triple digits.
When, why and how did you come up with this idea?
Emily: After our season got
cancelled, I was very disappointed and felt like I had unfinished business with
running. In the beginning of quarantine, my housemates (the senior girls
on the team) and I decided to come up with a bucket list for the rest of the
year. Denise and I were brainstorming and half-jokingly I said, “how
about we do a 100-mile week?” (I remembered that my dad had mentioned how
he had run a 100-mile week, so that’s how this whole idea started). Denise was
unsure at first and said she would put it at the bottom of the list. When we
brought it up again later in the day, we both were still a little hesitant to
commit to the idea. I think I said something along the lines of “maybe
this is too crazy,” but we decided that since we were freshly retired college
runners, we should just go for it. Running 100 miles (in a week) over the
course of a quarantine seemed like the perfect time to do it because there is
no structure in the day and we needed something to do. I felt that I
needed something to work for to replace the goals I would have been chasing in
outdoor. Going for distance over speed seemed like a fun new challenge
for us. I probably never would’ve done a 100-mile week if we weren’t in
the middle of a pandemic.
Denise: Emily actually came up
with the idea when we were in North Carolina (at Alyssa’s house) for spring
break. We were coming up with a list of things we wanted to do during
quarantine to make it fun and Emily just tossed up the idea of a 100-mile week
and immediately I was interested in it. I really liked the idea mainly because
in my mind I had allotted for another two months of hard training/running
before “retirement” and although I desperately wish it was in the form of an
outdoor track season, this was kind of the next best thing. We had nothing to
lose! Ironically, it is probably the only time in our lives that we could ever
do something like this so I definitely felt like there was a need to do this.
It was probably (and hopefully) a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, so it was
also really nice to have a goal and a little control during this time of
uncertainty.
What was your plan, the buildup, how did it go and
how did your bodies react to the increased volume, day-to-day, week-to-week? Specifically,
what were your weekly mileage totals each week during the build-up phase?
Emily: When planning the
100-mile week, we were trying to figure out how much of a base we should build.
At first, we were playing with the idea of just running a 100-mile week
after our 65-mile week, but then decided we should make it something we worked
towards for longer. With some guidance from you (Pete) and Chuck, we
decided that we should work our way up a little more gradually. We ended up
doing 65-70-75-80-90-100. Looking back, I would’ve maybe liked to do a down
week the week before the 100-mile week, but it ended up working out fine!
Denise: Our weekly training
progressed like this: 65, 70, 75, 80, 90, 100! I thought 80 was the hardest
week. I think because my shoes were remarkably worn down at that point… As for
how the body felt, it was a little sad to watch all of our middle-distance
speed go away as we pounded out the miles but my perspective about running has
changed for sure. An 8-mile distance run used to feel like a long day, but now
8 miles sounds like an easy day. Because we have spent all of our running
careers on trying to go as fast as we can, it was kind of fun to see how long
we could run instead. It was definitely a different kind of hurt and most days
our legs just felt kind of heavy. When we would have a fast run, we always make
a joke after saying something like “these ol’ legs still got it” (making fun of
how we are retired and “slow” haha). We
also saw some regulars on the bridge that we would waved to every morning. That
was kind of fun!
How and when did you get your mileage in? (please
tell me you were appropriately social distancing, etc!). Talk about this
100-mile week. Break down each day's mileage in runs, doubles, etc., and how
you felt as the week progressed. Were you nervous about embarking on this
week's training?
Emily: Since we are just taking
online classes, we didn’t have much of a schedule to follow during the day. We
usually did our longer run in the morning and our double at night. We jokingly
would say “another day another dollar,” which was pretty fitting of the
constant miles we were running during days that seemed to blend together. We
made sure to wear masks when we ran across the bridge, but we also created new
routes on the roads so we wouldn’t have to encounter other people.
One
of the highlights of the 100-mile week was when we decided to do a triple with
a “midnight” run. We ran 8 miles in the morning, 4.5 before dinner and then ran
3 miles at like 12:45 a.m. It was funny that an 11-mile day became our
“easy” day. While the 100-mile week was
tough to do, until the 20-mile run I felt pretty good. My legs were feeling a lot worse during the
80-mile week. After changing my shoes, I
had slightly more pep in my step.
Running that many miles didn’t really make my legs feel sore the way
they are after track workouts or pre-season training, they just felt dull. The breakdown of the 100-mile week was:
Monday:
9 + 4
Tuesday:
10 + 4
Wednesday:
8+ 4.5 + 3 (late night triple)
Thursday:
8.5 + 4
Friday:10
+ 4
Saturday:
7 + 4
Sunday:
20
Denise: We broke up our days
usually with a longer run in the morning (8-10 miles) and then a double in the
evening (usually 4 miles). We also did a long run each week that started with
12 miles and got to 16 by the end. We also got in the habit of practicing good
pandemic etiquette and we always brought our mask and would quickly put them on
if we were passing people. The Walkway could get pretty packed on nice days so
we would explore some of the routes on this side of the river to avoid the
crowds. Luckily, the weather was pretty horrible, so most days the Walkway was
pretty clear!
The
100-mile week was actually easier than the others because we were pretty
excited about it. We had a little fun on Wednesday and did a triple! We started
our triple at like 12:45 a.m., and ran until like 1:10 a.m. A midnight run was
on my bucket list before this whole thing, so I was able to cross that off too!
Other than that, I don’t think we were any more nervous about it than any other
week. We also joked about how we didn’t need to do it fast, we just needed to
complete it! Maybe that wasn’t the best mentality, but it got the job done.
Most of our runs were 7:30 paced, so not too fast, not too slow.
Talk about your culminating 20-mile run on Sunday.
How did it go, what were the splits like, and how did it feel to go so far in a
single run (assuming it was your longest run to date)?
Emily: The 20-mile run was a
bit of a roller coaster for me. To set the scene, it was by far the
hottest day of quarantine (around 70 degrees). I felt completely fine the first
10 miles, but started to feel the effects of dehydration after mile 14.
At mile 9, I started to bring up to Denise maybe racing a marathon in the
near future, but quickly retracted my statement a few miles later. Miles 14-20
were rough for me, but I was just happy that I made it through! We ran from our
off-campus house to the rail trail all the way to New Paltz. We ended up
getting the full tour of our XC New Paltz sites as we ran across the mile
repeats bridge and finished in the parking lot of the other workout site. It
was pretty symbolic to be doing our own sort of workout at the places where we
ripped workouts for 4-5 years. Overall, our pace averaged out to be 7:28 pace.
Denise: I think the 20-mile run
was definitely the most daunting of all the runs. We decided on a route from
our house in Poughkeepsie to New Paltz. Unfortunately, New Paltz is only 11
miles away so we had to add on 9 miles on the rail trails. It was kind of
symbolic because we ran by the sport where we do mile repeats on the New Paltz
rail trail and then finished in the parking lot at the other workout location
where we do 2K repeats. It was definitely much hotter than most of our other
runs, but I felt pretty good! (maybe one day I’ll do a marathon…maybe). Our run
ended up being 7:28 pace, so not bad!
How have you guys been coping with the sudden end to
our semester, spring season, college careers, etc. I know it's probably
difficult to put these emotions into words?
Emily: It was definitely tough
for our final collegiate season to end so abruptly. It was disappointing
as a fifth-year to come back and not be able to use all my eligibility. After
indoor ended, I felt I had a lot left for outdoor, so I was really bummed about
not having a season. It took me a couple days to come to terms with
collegiate running and running for Marist just being done. By the end of
that weekend I had a much better mindset and the help of my family, coaches and
friends (current teammates as well as alumni) made it easier. I’m glad
that I was able to quarantine with my friends during this time as one last
hurrah.
Denise: I think we are doing our best to keep it lighthearted and
fun by doing silly things like learning how to juggle or roast a whole chicken.
I would be lying if I said I’m not a devastated by this whole situation. I
think that this 100-mile week ended up meaning so much more than I could have
ever predicted. The hardest part about losing the season is just not having
closure to our running careers and 100-mile week was essentially a faux ending
to our career as Marist athletes. Both Emily and my indoor seasons were a
little bedraggled and we never actually got the opportunity to train or race
together until the week before ECACs, so it would have been awesome to have
worked together in outdoor. I still feel like there was so much left in the
tank for both of us and it hurts to think what we could have done out there on
the track this spring. It is also heartbreaking to think of all the fun events
in senior year that I looked forward to and will now never get to experience. I
think the hardest part is all the formal goodbyes I never got to say. There are
many people that I probably will never see again and it’s hard not knowing the
next time I will be able to see my teammates again. I am so excited for the
years to come (Go Buckeyes!), but I wish I didn’t have to leave Marist like
this.
This past weekend was supposed to have been our MAAC
Outdoor Championships. Would you have ever thought that instead of being at
Rider (ironically, in great weather!), you would both be doing THIS?
Emily: I definitely didn’t
envision this as the end of my collegiate career, but you can’t plan for a
pandemic! After a few days and more reports and news came out I realized that
this thing was bigger than me or Marist or the NCAA. While I am still
disappointed that things didn’t “go to plan,” I was able to put things into
perspective. I’m really glad that Denise jumped on board for the 100-mile
week. Denise is one of my closest friends and it really meant a lot to do this
with her. We definitely were able to push our bodies in a different way
than we normally would as milers. Who would’ve thought that a pair of
milers would be hitting a 100-mile week?! Having Denise as a “training partner”
for this in a way replaced what would have been our training on the track.
The 100-mile week (and the weeks leading up to it) is definitely
something that I will always remember.
Denise: If you told me less than eight weeks ago that we would have
done something like this, I would have laughed in your face! I remember walking
off the track after my last race (unknowingly) at ECACs and saying to Chuck
that outdoor was going to be so much fun. I had not even the slightest idea
that within five days the NCAA would be shut down. Deciding to complete the 100
miles during MAAC weekend was actually a complete coincidence. I wish we were
on the line about to run a 1500m rather than a 20 miler, but these were the
cards we were dealt in this situation. It is also a little comical that Emily
and I are middle distance runners cranking out this high mileage. Who would
have thought that we would be the ones to do this! But overall, it is an
experience that I will never forget.
Anything else you'd like to add ...
Emily: Final Thoughts
(unrelated to the week, but wanted to say something to wrap-up my time at
Marist): Through running at Marist I’ve been able to make so many memories and
travel to so many cool places (California, Disney, North Carolina, etc.). I
appreciate what you and Chuck have done for me over the past five years. Marist
XC/TF has given me good laughs and great friends. I will forever be grateful for the experience
I was able to have at Marist.
Denise: The weather was also
pretty horrible most days. It rained so much, and was SO windy. We literally
ran in the rain, wind, snow, sleet, and rarely the sun. The nice weather is
finally coming out now, when we’re done, of course. Hopefully the storm of this
pandemic is almost over too.
Coach Pete: I’d like to add one final
comment about these two Forever Foxes. There are great teammates, great
friends, fierce competitors on the track and in cross country, and about two of
the easiest athletes ever to coach. Motivated, consistent, always always ALWAYS
in a positive mood. We could ask for nothing else and we are forever grateful.
And, like so many Forever Foxes, we are eager to track their limitless futures –
Denise to veterinary school at THE Ohio State University, and Emily most likely
moving to Hawaii to start her teaching career. Great student-athletes, even greater
human beings. Thank you.
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