I have officially kicked off Project 30 by running on the Mediterranean Sea! I was on board the MV World Odyssey, the same ship I sailed on for Semester at Sea 5 years ago during my Spring 2017 Study Abroad semester. I am very grateful and excited to say that my first run was done in the middle of the Mediterranean sea! Throughout most of my 30 miles my view was the vast and seemingly endless seascape of the Mediterranean. As I pushed harder and harder during my run, so too did the waves crash harder and harder. It made for what I imagine will be a rare running experience as it required me to be both prepared for the intensity of maintaining a running pace as well as enduring the heartbeat-like rhythm of crashing waves.
Fore-Run
Before I get into the run, I want to quickly set the scene for where I was and what the plan was for this first run and the New Years trip I had planned. I spent the Christmas holiday in a beautiful, small town in Northern Italy called Sesto Calende situated just south of one of the largest lakes in Italy, Lago Maggiore. Sesto Calende is where my father lives and is where I have actually logged in many of my training miles as it has a beautiful running trail that hugs the Ticino river. After spending a food-filled Christmas with family there, I took a short flight down to Naples where the MV World Odyssey was docked and would depart from on its 2021/2022 Homecoming New Years Voyage. An added layer to the excitement of this voyage was the fact that I was going to be spending it with close friends that I originally met on my Spring 2017 voyage. Five friends and I were going onto this voyage making it a great crew, and better yet, their families were also joining bringing a total of 12 people that I know well onto the ship. But, as with all best laid plans, something can still go wrong. In this case all that could go wrong did go wrong (thanks Murphy!). Due to Italian COVID protocols, testing is required 24 hours prior to embarking and then another test is required right before entering the ship. Upon taking the 24 hour prior test, one of my friends’ family members tested positive resulting in them not being able to make it. Then if that wasn’t bad enough, another friend of mine tested positive at the pre-embarkation test resulting in himself and the rest of his family that he was staying with (which included the rest of my friends that I was going on the ship with) to be forced by Italian authorities into a van and sent to a quarantine hotel. So, I went from going onto the ship with five college friends to having ZERO college friends joining me. Selfishly, I immediately thought about the fact that I would no longer have running partners to join me on the 30 mile run. And just in case having my friends and their family taken off the voyage wasn’t enough, I ended up getting the seemingly required annual cold that I always get around this time. So that was a fun way to start off my New Years trip. Though, not all was bad. I was able to make it on the ship and even with a slight cold I knew I was fully trained and prepared to tackle my first run! And luckily, I wasn’t going to be completely alone; I knew some professors, faculty, and board members that were going to be onboard and they provided the boost of support that I needed to push through the run and enjoy the voyage!
The Run
I began my run at the way too early time of 4:30 in the morning. I was so restless the night before that the idea of lying in bed imagining having to run sounded way worse than the actual running. Initially, I planned to run the perimeter of the ship about 160 times in order to clock in my full 30 miles; however, due to ship maintenance on the back half of the ship’s decks (and, frankly the fact that it’s ridiculously dangerous to run around a moving ship), I wasn’t able to run around like a crazy person. Instead, I ran the full 30 miles on one of the few treadmills that are conveniently placed inside a tiny gym located on the back of the ship allowing for an unobstructed view of the sea. While it wasn’t ideal to run my first Project 30 run on a treadmill, I just couldn’t miss the chance to run while crossing the Mediterranean Sea and being onboard one of my favorite places on the planet.
By the time that I set my feet upon the treadmill to run my first P30 run I had been training my body and mind for this moment since February of 2021. During that time I logged in 246 runs for just under 243 hours of running with a total annual caloric burn of 209,700! All in all, I ran 1,492.2 miles in order to be ready for this moment! I was in as much running shape as I possibly could be. The only problem was, none, and I mean NONE, of those miles logged were on a treadmill! Stepping up to that treadmill I felt a rush of fear. I had no idea if I was going to be able to make it without either falling off due to the movement of the ship or misplacing my feet while running, or worse yet running with a form that would result in a stress fracture. All of those thoughts came swirling in as I fumbled with the speed button until I found my usual running pace. As I began to run, my trained body and mind kicked in and my worries began to dissipate. I found my groove and just did what I had been doing over the past year, I just kept putting my feet down one in front of the other.
Usually when I run I find that putting on an audible or podcast to be perfect for keeping my head engaged with content and to keep my pace at the correct tempo in order to stay in the correct Heart Range range (140-150 bpm). However, an added benefit of running on a treadmill is the ability to upgrade my distraction to watching a movie or tv show. So, that’s what I ended up doing during a portion of my run. For the first 2 hours or so of the run, I watched Inglorious Bastards. It seemed fitting in my head to watch that movie. I was watching an American movie that has scenes in French, a hilarious scene in Italian, and scenes in German all while I was running on a German ship that took off in Italy to head towards France filled with mostly Americans. And yes that’s how my simple brain works, I got excited about making those connections. After Inglorious Bastards, I gave myself a break and just listened to my breath and movement but since the sun still hadn’t risen, I decided to continue my entertainment binge by putting on the final episode of season 2 of The Witcher.
As I approached mile 12 I felt a pang of pain throughout my legs and a feeling of exhaustion. I began to seriously doubt myself and doubt the project. I thought to myself, “If I feel this bad this early on during run one, “then how the hell am I going to make it through another 29 of these?!” Doubt crept up and began to do its seductive stranglehold on me but then I remembered a part in Christopher McDougall’s Born to Run where he mentions that the greatest of runners push through pain and exhaustion because they are smiling, they are enjoying themselves. Once I got that thought in my mind, I just smiled and that little act gave me the momentum boost I needed to release myself from my doubt and to embrace the pain. I kept moving and told myself that all my training was done to get past this exact moment. ”I got this,” is all I kept repeating as I smiled. Right around this time, the sun began to inch itself above the horizon, sparking up the sea for the first time during this run with a view of the vast, blue sea topped with the white foam of turbulent waves. As the sun and sea awoke, so too did something awake inside me. I began to find even more energy and willingness to keep running. There’s something powerful and inspiring about being able to look out to what seems like an endless sea. Maybe it has something to do with the reminder of just how small we are in this world like a water droplet in the ocean or maybe it’s a reminder of the strength and energy that we give and receive in this world. Not really sure, but whatever it was it gave me the necessary boost I needed to keep pushing!
As I closed in upon mile 17 I once again felt a wave of tiredness but this time around I knew that I could push through it by telling myself to keep smiling and enjoying the fact that I was here and able to perform. Just beforehand, a new friend that I just met the night before came in to run a fore-promised couple of miles with me. We didn’t really speak much but we didn’t need to - it was just the presence of another person that helped keep the rhythm and pace up. A mile later, I was lucky to have support from a couple more friends who gave me two already peeled oranges (the extra step of having the oranges already peeled was such a small but deeply appreciated gesture!) to help keep my sugars up. It’s hard to explain just how phenomenal those oranges were to have! I ate one piece at a time as treats for every mile that I finished until the last mile.
It was in approaching the last 10-7 miles that the more intense mental phase of the run began. It seems like no matter the amount of training that I put in, I can’t help but reach this super tough phase. I know I am in it when everything in my body screams to just be done with running. So, I have to kick into a sort of mental overdrive and push past once again using the smiling technique. During this phase, it feels as though time slows down to the same degree that it does when you sit waiting at a doctor’s office with a wall clock that persists on ticking for every passing second. During the last 6.5 miles I used one more technique that I like to save for the last moment - I allowed myself to listen to upbeat music. Those last miles were really tough and the beat and tempo of music gave me the extra boost that I needed to keep moving and pushing past the exhaustion and pain.
Then the moment finally came. My watch buzzed with a notification stating that I have run 30 miles. I was so excited that I could help but scream out to the world, “FUCK YES!!!” I couldn’t contain the pure joy and elation that overwhelmed every sense in my body. After nearly a year of training, my time had finally come! I finally ran 30 miles straight for the first time in my life! I pushed through every mental and physical obstacle that came up to achieve something that I chose to do for myself on my own accord. Project 30 is my attempt to live an uncharted life filled with awe and travel. I chose to run directly towards challenge in order to prove my grit to overcome a life of ease and comfort. Only 29 more places and runs to go!
Post Run:
The post run was a lot more brutal than I expected it to be. The first hour or so I had the usual soreness, but nothing too bad. All the months of training had certainly paid off. The first time I ran a marathon my legs felt like jello for the rest of the day. This time around though, at first I was able to easily climb up and down stairs and get into my stretching positions. However, it wasn’t until a couple hours later that everything came to a crashing halt for me. Pain began to really kick in, but not really muscle pain. I felt as though I had gotten sick. My head felt like a jackhammer was going off in it and my body was struggling between being too hot and too cold. In retrospect I believe two things happened. First, it was the most running I have done in one sitting. Second, I was on a rocking moving ship on the Mediterranean Sea which I am not used to. It didn’t help that 15 minutes after I finished running, the captain of the ship warned us of high winds and rough seas ahead. I believe the combination of rough seas and just being physically and mentally drained was enough to put me down for the rest of the day. Fortunately, I was able to replenish my calories with buffet style food, relieve my headache with a ibuprofen and rest by taking some naps and a very long night of sleep!
Thank you to all of you who have read up to this point. I truly am grateful for every one of you that have decided to follow my journey. I look forward to the rest of this year and engaging with all of you because it’s the first time in my life that I am truly in charge of my time and how I get to spend it. So, as always please reach out to me with any suggestions for locations or any tips that you may have. Much love to all of you and happy start to 2022!
For those interested, below I have listen the tools and nutrition items that I used during my run, and added links to each. The links are just generic and will take you either to Amazon or the products homepage.
Tools:
Theragun: Having the Theragun was essential. It helped with my feet especially. I believe I am still prone to heel striking when I am running, and the Theragun has been really helpful with relaxing the muscle and almost completely relieving any foot pain. I personally use the newest version of the Theragun Pro an I am complete advocate.
Brooks Glycerin 19 shoes: these have been my go-to shoes throughout my entire training year and I used a pair during my run. Nothing but praise for them!
Vuori running shorts: Vouri makes some fantastic athletic wear. They are similar to LuluLemon in that they are higher priced and higher quality then other options. However I find that these shorts in particular are fantastic because they are so light and versatile
Nutrition:
Endurance Powder, Tailwind Nutrition powder: I no longer use gel packets during my runs, just use this great product from a Colorado native.
Hydration Powder: 1st Phorm Ultra Performance Hydration Sticks: 1st Phorm makes great products and these hydration sticks do the job without having any nonsense in them.
Amazing read! I’m so curious about two things. First, to know if anyone else has run 30 miles on the water and if you are able to get an idea from the captain about how many miles the boat traveled while you ran?
Just amazing grandson…I told you “you got this”! You are inspiring and so many are looking to vicariously join you in your journey❤️🙏