As I cruised through Palo Alto, the sun had come up and turned the overcast skies from black to charcoal grey. The weather forecast for today indicated that there was a chance of showers in the morning, and there were brief periods where I felt a light mist falling on me from the clouds above. As I ran by a park near Palo Alto High School, I felt the urge to pee. I asked the Police officer who was parked nearby if the restrooms were open, but he sympathetically told me they weren't. I reluctantly continued along and tried to contend with the mounting bladder pressure. I hammered through some steady rain in Atherton, and was enjoying the experience of running along El Camino, but the growing urge to relieve myself was becoming a distraction. I ran past construction sites with portable toilets right on the other side of the fence and every one that I ran up to that wasn't fenced off had a padlock right through the handle. As I cruised through Redwood City, I began seriously evaluating the probability of me getting arrested if I peed behind a building or on a tree in a park nearby. I didn't know exactly what charges I would face under California law if I got busted, but I know that when I was growing up in Michigan, if you were caught, depending on the circumstances, you could be forced to register as a sex offender for exposing yourself in public. I wasn't about to take that risk, so I continued along, dismissing the temptation to pee in a public area. As I came to the intersection of El Camino Real & James Avenue, I saw a porto about a half a block down near a small park area. When I approached it I was delighted to discover that it was open. "Yes!" I said out loud to myself. The inside was disgusting, but it was open, nonetheless. After drifting through Redwood City, I passed through the cities of San Carlos, Belmont, San Mateo, and Burlingame before reaching the twenty-five mile mark just inside the city of Millbrae. As I took a seat on a bench at a bus stop, I noticed how different this northern stretch of El Camino was compared to my neighborhood in Sunnyvale. In my area, the road is three lanes on each side with a large median, with businesses and stores lining the road. Up here in Millbrae, it was quite different, with apartment buildings lining the two lane road on both sides. As I rested and regrouped on the bench, I took out my phone to let my friends know that I had made it to the halfway point. My thirty-fourth birthday was two days prior and my friends from the local running groups I belong to were kind enough to throw me a virtual birthday party over Zoom. We all chatted for a couple of hours and I let them know that I was going to be attempting a virtual 50 miler up and down El Camino on Saturday, and if anyone lived near that area, if they felt like waving to me from a street corner as I ran by and cheering me on, that would be amazing. Since I started running very early in the morning while most people were sleeping, I suggested if anyone wanted to come out, that they do so during the second half of the run on the return trip. To my delight, a few people said they'd try to make it, so I told everyone I'd update them as to where I was about every hour or so. I received several congratulatory messages after I shared that I was halfway through. Their support was a powerful tonic, but I still had twenty-five miles to go, and a lot can happen during that time. The thought of seeing them was uplifting though, and I stood up and began making my way back south, hopeful that I could keep it together for the second half of the run.
I couldn't quite put my finger on it. It could have been the fact that Vibram 5-Fingers may not have been good for running such long distances, or maybe it was because the run was self supported and it was harder to find motivation. I wasn't quite sure, but either way, by mile thirty-three, things had deteriorated, and I was hurting quite a bit. I was running low on Gatorade, so I went into a gas station and bought two quart-sized bottles. Sitting outside on the curb, I chugged down about half of one of them, then poured the rest of it and the other one into the internal bladder of my pack. I shared my location with my friends and began easing into forward motion again, feeling slightly more coherent. My phone repeatedly made notification sounds as I continued running and my friends let me know where they would be. Around mile thirty-five, as I was shuffling through San Carlos, I heard someone call my name on the opposite side of the road. I looked over and realized it was my buddy Stephan, who had ridden his bike up from San Jose, looking for me. A minute or so later he rode up behind me on my side of the road. Although we'd seen each other virtually several times, it was the first time we'd seen each other in person in two and a half months. He's an Ironman triathlete, a great runner, and was signed up for a local 50K that was supposed to happen around the time that quarantine began. When the race was cancelled, he ran the course on his own, with his girlfriend acting as his one-person crew. His company was just what I needed to pull me out of the low point that I was in, and I was glad he'd found me when he did. As we glided past a side street, my other friend Scott called my name out and waved me over to his car, where he had cookies and Gatorade. Having done his very first half marathon as a self supported quarantine run two months prior in rainy weather, it felt inspiring to have Scott out there for support. As the three of us chatted, I chugged down a whole twenty ounce bottle of Gatorade and stuffed the cookies into my pack for later on. After bidding Scott farewell, Stephan and I passed by James Avenue, and I again ran off to visit the open, but shitty (yes, pun intended) portable restroom. It was the second time I had peed in nearly thirty-seven miles. I would have felt more confident in my hydration levels if it had been at least three times, but I think subconsciously, my mind knew that my options were limited so my body was reacting accordingly. Stephan took off at mile thirty-eight and shortly afterwards, I spotted Ellen up ahead waiting for me. She planned to run a few miles with me into Menlo Park, where her husband was going to pick her up and drive her back home. Ellen, who I occasionally refer to as "Coach" is one of the leaders of the running group, has run the Boston Marathon, works as a certified running coach, and has been the glue that has held our community together during quarantine. Her virtual cardio boot camp classes and workout challenges have kept us all engaged with one another over the last few months, despite not being able to get together as a group in person. As we shuffled along together, we shared laughs and told stories. She told me that more people were waiting for me further down the road which heightened my spirits even more. As we ran through Atherton in the bike lane, Scott drove by and cheered us on from his car. When we reached the local Safeway store in Menlo Park, Ellen's husband,Tzong, was waiting for us and took pictures as we approached. Just before jumping in the car, Ellen said she'd be waiting at the virtual finish line in Sunnyvale with some baked goodies. Shortly after she left, I decided to take another rest on a bench at a bus stop. As I read the messages my friends had sent, I began to feel overwhelmed with joy knowing that so many people were there for me. The fact that more people were waiting for me further down the road excited me and I let everyone know as soon as I crossed into Palo Alto. A few miles later, my friend Julie was waiting for me near downtown Palo Alto and shortly after I approached, we took a seat on a bench. She brought water, Gatorade, and cinnamon buns, and all three, especially the cinnamon buns looked tempting, but I only accepted the water. I had been drinking Gatorade and eating trail mix all day, and I feared that having too much more sugar would make me feel nauseous. Despite the quarantine, working full time, and going to school, Julie had still been running around thirty miles a week on average, and I found it inspiring that she hadn't lost her motivation. Taking a short break to hang out with her had helped put some life back in me, but I had seven miles left to go and it was time for me to keep moving along. She had told me that our friends Olga, Misha, and Filip were waiting for me down the road, but shortly after I took off, I found myself feeling alone and vulnerable once again. Being with my friends had kept me going psychologically, and now that I was alone again, I began to feel burned out and fatigued, similar to how I felt before Stephan found me. I kept myself focused and reassured myself that I had less than seven miles to go. I was almost done.
With five miles left to go, my friend Kelly joined up with me and said she planned to run the last five miles with me to the finish. It felt great to have a pacer for the final stretch of the run, however at this point, I'm not really sure if I could call what I was doing "running". I was just kind of shuffling along, doing what probably resembled more of a duck waddle. Even though Kelly was barely running, and even power walking at times to match my pace, we managed to make it fun. She had also played a large role in keeping the community engaged during quarantine by scheduling weekly "Run and Brunch" Zoom hangouts, which consisted of a handful of us meeting virtually on Saturday mornings and eating brunch as we hung out together. She was supposed to run the Boston Marathon this year, which initially was pushed to September, but was ultimately cancelled. She said she was contemplating doing the virtual race, which I hoped she would do. It was better than nothing. We eventually came across our friends Misha, Filip, and Olga who greeted me with provisions including dried fruit and water. They even made a small sign help to cheer me on. Misha had also been participating in virtual races and said that what I was doing today inspired her to run a virtual 15K race earlier that morning. Filip, her husband, although not much of a runner himself, was always very supportive of our community. Olga, who is a regular at all of the group runs, is always good company especially because her and I have a shared interest in snow sports. As Kelly and I plodded down the sidewalk with less than two miles to go, a car honked it's horn as it came up behind us. It was our friend Samantha, or Sammy as we call her. At this point I was feeling more tired and defeated than at any other time during the run. I was exhausted, hurting, and barely able to shuffle at a thirteen-minute-per-mile pace. Sammy pulled over into a gas station a block down the road and took pictures of us as we ran towards her. Not only is she a solid runner, and has a fun, easy going personality, but since moving to the Bay Area seven years ago, Sammy has managed to support herself by being a self employed pet care provider and dog walker. Something she is passionate about and which I find to be very inspiring. When we reached the parking lot, Kelly and I took a quick break with her as I stood there with my hands on my knees trying to keep it together. It's hard for me to be vulnerable in front of other people. It's something I've struggled with for a while, and even though I'm still working on it, I've made a lot of progress over the last couple of years. Even then, I hoped that I could hold myself together in front of Sammy and Kelly, but I tried to not to dwell on it too much. They were there for me, and that was all that mattered.
Even though I was completely drained, I picked up the pace as Kelly and I ran that last quarter of a mile. It was time to get this bad boy done. After having to make up a little bit of distance by running down a side street, my Strava tracker app hit fifty miles, just as we ran by Sammy and Ellen who were waiting for us at the intersection of S. Mary Avenue & El Camino Real, close to where I had started running that morning. I threw my arms in the air and clapped in celebration as they cheered for me and took pictures. After hitting the "finish" button on Strava, I promptly dropped my pack and lied down on my back on the lawn, directly in front of an El Pollo Loco restaurant. I laid there for a few minutes taking deep breaths and staring up at the sky as my friends congratulated me. Fifty miles, eleven cities, and lots of highs and lows. It was an incredible day, and I reveled in the joy of finishing the run. Ellen had set up a folding table with some baked treats off to the side, and the four of us hung out for about another forty-five minutes chatting together and sampling some of Ellen's home baked goods. During that time, we got some strange looks from people in the parking lot, and at one point, a restaurant employee came outside to make sure everything was okay. Once we explained what was going on, the employee, although not too phased by what I had just done, said it was okay for us to be out there and went back inside. Despite California moving forward with easing quarantine restrictions, there were still social distancing measures in place. Even though the four of us were gathered in public, we were well over six feet apart, and as much as I wanted to hug everyone I saw that day, I refrained from doing so. Ellen was concerned that if the police saw us, they might give us a hard time, but in light of a disgusting act of racism recently committed by a Minnesota Police officer, riots and protests had erupted in San Jose and in several other cities around the country. Because of the fact that the Police had bigger fish to fry, and the fact that we weren't breaking any rules, I felt like we were fine, and even poked fun at Ellen by saying "oh shoot, here comes a police car". Later that night after I had taken a hot bath, cleaned myself up, had a celebratory beer, and was on my fourth slice of pizza at home by myself, I sent a big, giant thank you message to my friends on the Messenger thread and told them I couldn't thank them enough for the support I received during the run. I felt extremely lucky that I had such cool friends who were there for me on such an epic day. A couple of them thanked me in return for what I did, which confused me at first. They went on to say that my run brought us all together in person for the first time in months, for which they were very grateful. I felt even better knowing that today was enjoyable for them, because I'm not a fan of things being all about me. I felt grateful for all the support I received along the way, but what was even cooler to me was the fact that even though I was just some moron trying to run a virtual fifty mile race on El Camino Real, I was able to bring some joy to others.
