5.1 Mile Run Around Albany
2.0 Mile Walk At Buckingham Pond
7.1 Mile Run at Schodack Island State Park
Sunday, July 12, 2020
The BURCS (Berkshire Ultrarunning Community for Service) Circadian Challenge is the latest insane event to be dreamed up by Benn Griffin and his crazy BURCS cohorts. The concept is simple: pick a 24 hr period starting at either 8 AM or 8 PM. During the 1st 12 hours, cover at least 13.1 miles and earn the appropriate half (day or night) of the medal. During the 2nd 12 hours, cover at least 13.1 miles and earn the other half.
I went through any number of permutations of where I was going to run and walk during each 12 hour period: Minnewaska and maybe Mohonk for the day half, Jug End (thus finishing my BURCS Jug End 4.2 mile virtual race) and maybe the Egremont section of the AT for the day half... in the end I stayed close to home (literally, for the 1st run.) just because it was a whole lot easier and didn't involve lengthy drives which could potentially mess up my timing (and also wouldn't be much fun given that I expected to be on my feet for 4-5 hours of each 12 hour period and didn't expect to get much sleep during the 24 hours.
The first run actually went fairly well and felt pretty good. Walking around Buckingham Pond later in the morning started to remind me that my legs were getting tired. While I was eating lunch and resting up, the idea of finishing my day miles at Schodack Island came to me - easy trails! I probably walked a lot more than I ran there, but the whole time I was moving forward as quickly as I could (without burning my legs out and dooming my night attempt) so I'm counting the whole thing as a run.
In the end, between 8 AM and 8 PM I covered 14.2 miles in just under 4 hours (apparently the time doesn't matter) - more than enough to earn the day half of the medal. The idea to do shorter treks and rest in between was a good one - I could have finished the whole distance in one haul, but it would have involved more walking and my legs would have been more fried when I was done.
And about 90 minutes after I got home from finishing my Schodack miles - I hopped in the car to head to the Mohawk River for my night miles.
JMH
