World record by chance

For approx. 2 weeks ago I got a mail with the somewhat strange title "Butcher's Endurance Challenge 10Min ON X 50min OFF X 24 HOURS".

After a little googling and some phone calls, I found out what the title meant. It was simply to run for 10 minutes every hour for 24 hours. The winner would be the one who could run the longest total distance. There was even a world record for this discipline set by an American who had run stable 68 km. I quickly convinced myself that this would be a great competition for me. Voila! I was enrolled.

On Friday, approx. 24 hours before start, I was still in doubt about what my tactics should be. I was clearly in for running like hell and hope it was enough to get in front quickly. The rest of the time, I would just have to remain behind number 2. The danger of this was if there was another strong runner with the same idea.

I also considered an alternative plan: it was to run my very own race at a pace I could hold for all 24 hours. The downside of it was that I could happen to start too "soft", and some other competitor would be able to get in front of me and then keep the same pace as me.

As the race started Saturday morning, I made the decision to run at my own pace, unless there were someone who tried to get in front of me in the beginning. I started off at a pace that I felt was 80-90 percent of my max. To my relief there was no one to start out harder. Then 10 minutes and 3,000 meters later I was still in front - even with a nice gap down to number 2. Now I would only need to keep right behind number 1 for the last 23 laps, and I would be the winner.

But what if I would not be able to keep up the pace all the way? I had to make a bigger gap, so I decided to run 3,000 meters for each of the first 6 laps and then see if I would have a comfortable gap down to number 2. That worked out fine and 6 hours later I had a gap of approx. 1 km. Now I would be fine just keeping right behind number 1 for the last 18 hours. Well, if not the organizers from Crossfit center Butchers lab had talked me into trying to set a world record. This would be possible if I could just keep the pace for the last 18 hours. Goodbye cozy evening and night, and hello sore muscles and blood taste in my mouth.

The next four passes were all fine, and I felt comfortable about keeping the speed of 3,000 meters for every lap. But the 10th - 11th lap were completely different. My legs hurt and I had to fight hard to maintain 2750 meter per lap. I began to consider seriously whether I really bothered to run around in circles on a boring naval station in Copenhagen for 24 hours. I had difficulty finding any reasons why not to stop after 12 hours as a winner of the 12-hour class. But like many times before stubbornness conquered common sense.

Press to see a movie from the event

Aided by my good team mate Gorm I came through the crisis. He arrived directly from another competition, and ran two laps with me. His cheerful attitude and the feeling of confidence in running with someone I know so well, was just what I needed. The next six laps went smoothly. Though my body performed well, my muscles and tendons began complaining tremendously. And to make things worse, I got diarrhea at the 11th lap and it went on for the rest of the competition. During the remaining laps I felt totally drained of energy.

Running the last laps was an effort fuelled by pure desire and stupidity, and I ran as fast as I could. I remember not really so much of the last laps, apart from feeling pain, and that the 50 min rest between the laps felt like very little time.

As the organisers shouted "hold" at the end of the 24th lap I felt lactic acid, joy and pride flowing through me in such a familiar way. Yes, this was all worth it. I had run 69 km and 600 meters during the four hours of effective running, which is an average of 2,900 m per lap. My best and worst laps deviated no more than 300 meters.

I'm not feeling that I have run the perfect race, and I do think a better preparation could make me reach 72-73 km. Should I run a similar race again, I'd do the following:

- Run at my very own pace, without watching other competitors.

- Pack 24 bags of food, in order to control my energy intake. The desire to eat is not so big when you run very fast.

- Do 5 min. warm-ups before each laps on a bicycle or similar.

- Have a supporter to take care of food, time registration, filling water bottles, spare clothes, etc.

- Choose a day when the wind speed is less than 10 meters per second :o)

 Who will be the first to run more than 70 km?