Tweet
So I broke my foot April 30th during an event called "Rock the Ridge" which is an ultra marathon that takes place in the Mohonk and Minnewaska preserves. If is all on foot meaning running, jogging and walking. No bicycles or motorized vehicles. My wife and I did it side by side and was an awesome time. We are both active in training, prepping, and learning. We signed up for it in November or 2015 so had about 5 months to train hard for it. We both are very active so the trick for us was more keeping our bodies used to moving for extended periods of time. The maximum distance we trained up to was 32 miles per our training schedule.
Through the cold winter mornings of 0 degrees, through a training gap while recovering from pneumonia, and from working 3 jobs, I trained.
The race started at 6am on April 30 and we had a great pace going. Mind you, the first place winner last year completed the 50 miles in 5 hours and 57 minutes I believe. Insane, right? We were shooting to finishing in 11.5 to 13 hours tops. Well, between mile 34 and 35, I tripped over a rock and a root and broke my foot. I heard a pop and knew it right away. We were both running with camelbak backpacks on and being a prepper I had all kinds of stuff in there. I elevated then taped my foot TIGHT so blood wouldn't pool and keep the swelling down. I put my shoe back on and we continued on our race. Five miles later we got to where a medical tent was set up along the path and had them check it out. Yup, it wa s bruised and broke. Against their will, I had them retape it and we kept going. We had slowed to a pace of 35 minutes per mile since I was basically limping and dragging my foot behind me. As you can see from one of the pictures below, we crossed the finish line in 17 hours and 10 minutes. The race is a one day event and you are given 24 hours to complete it so we still finished ahead of the limit and there were about 30 people still behind us.
Many people talk about prepping and bugging out. If you think your up to really doing it, give this a shot. Going 50 miles, carrying a pack and not stopping to sleep, rest, etc is a true test of bugging out. We used headlamps in the dark once the sun went down, had to manage our water and calorie intake / output, etc.
Below are a few pics!
Through the cold winter mornings of 0 degrees, through a training gap while recovering from pneumonia, and from working 3 jobs, I trained.
The race started at 6am on April 30 and we had a great pace going. Mind you, the first place winner last year completed the 50 miles in 5 hours and 57 minutes I believe. Insane, right? We were shooting to finishing in 11.5 to 13 hours tops. Well, between mile 34 and 35, I tripped over a rock and a root and broke my foot. I heard a pop and knew it right away. We were both running with camelbak backpacks on and being a prepper I had all kinds of stuff in there. I elevated then taped my foot TIGHT so blood wouldn't pool and keep the swelling down. I put my shoe back on and we continued on our race. Five miles later we got to where a medical tent was set up along the path and had them check it out. Yup, it wa s bruised and broke. Against their will, I had them retape it and we kept going. We had slowed to a pace of 35 minutes per mile since I was basically limping and dragging my foot behind me. As you can see from one of the pictures below, we crossed the finish line in 17 hours and 10 minutes. The race is a one day event and you are given 24 hours to complete it so we still finished ahead of the limit and there were about 30 people still behind us.
Many people talk about prepping and bugging out. If you think your up to really doing it, give this a shot. Going 50 miles, carrying a pack and not stopping to sleep, rest, etc is a true test of bugging out. We used headlamps in the dark once the sun went down, had to manage our water and calorie intake / output, etc.
Below are a few pics!
Comment