This Fall has been a great one for running, trailrunning, and hiking for me. In October and November, I managed to have three exciting achievements – an 11-hour ultra-trailrun, a lonnnng hike, and an indoor 5k.
THE GREENWAY ULTRA: Since July, I have been training for the Greenway Ultra, an ultra of my own devising, where I would run for 12-hours on the trails of the Milwaukee River Greenway. These trails are dear to me, as they are near to where I live, and where I do 99% of my running. I have probably run 100s of miles along the Milwaukee River over the past decade. This year was the 15th anniversary of the Greenway, and I thought that training for an ultra, and posting about it on social media would be a good way to call attention to the Greenway, and make more people aware of it.
So, since July, inspired by the amazing runners of the Six Days In the Dome race, I ran 3x/week, slowly building my endurance back up to ultra-levels. I mainly ran on the river trails, but also sometimes ran in other parks, too, and did lots of hiking with my girlfriend, Naomi. The plan was to run 12 hours, and see how many miles I could get. I was hoping for 40-50 miles.
When the race-day came, Oct 23, I was feeling pretty ready to go. I did not quite hit the training benchmarks that I was hoping for, but still felt confident. The plan was to run from 7a till 7p, which would mean running from sunrise to an hour past sunrise. I got started on time, going at my normal rate of 3-4 minutes jog/1-minute walk. I’ve found that this style of running works well for me, and I can get some very long runs in this way.
The course that I was running went from the North Avenue pedestrian bridge up to Port Washington Road/Hampton Ave. At each bridge I came to, I’d cross the bridge to add mileage. A single lap came to about 9.75 miles. When I took off at 7a, heading east and north, Naomi started fast-hiking west and north. She did the same lap, but without the bridges. She did one lap, 8.25 miles.
Naomi was my crew for the day, meeting me each time I turned a lap, bringing me food or supplies I’d ask for, via text, as I neared the turn point. The main things I asked her to have for me were Culver’s for lunch (a 5-min break to gobble up a butter-burger, fries, and soda), and later in the day, a package of Skittles! Otherwise, I was snacking on trail mix and Gatorade and apples.
I was feeling good throughout the day, but near the end of the 4th lap, three things happened that would make my 12-hour run end at 11-hours. First, my Garmin tracker’s battery died just as I passed the 38-mile mark! Second, the sun had just set, and the temperature was dropping quickly. Thirdly, I was having some real annoying chafing going on. As I was just doing this ultra for myself, I decided that it was OK to call the run at 4 laps, 39 miles. I proved myself, and was quite pleased – 11 hours, 39 miles in the lovely Milwaukee River Greenway.
THE LONG HIKE: Ever since the pandemic started, Naomi and I have been doing a LOT of hiking together, and slowly increasing our mileage. Until this Fall, our longest hike had been 15 miles out at Devils Lake, and we were feeling the need to up that. So, we set out for a long hike in early November, planning to do two sections of the Ice Age Trail: the Stoney Ridge and Eagle segments. It was a great hike, and ultimately, we did 18 miles, 9-miles out, 9-miles back! It was a beautiful, cool and cloudy, Fall day. We always have our cameras with us and it’s fun to compare photos afterwards, seeing what each of us found inspiring on the hike.
THE WONDERFUL WORLD 5k: I do social media for a local camera store, where I work two days a week. After accomplishing the previous two running/hiking achievements, I was wondering what I could do next, and tie it in with the store. I decided that it would be awesome to run a 5k…inside the store, and if I could do it fast enough, our customers would get a discount on our Used Gear. So, for another three weeks, I trained on my trails, focusing on speed, while knowing that my challenge was going to be flat, hard ,and full of some tight turns.
Reaching out on social media, I told a writer-friend about my intentions, and he did an article about it – and within 24 hours of that article’s release, two other news websites contacted the store, wanting to do interviews about the event, also! The Milwaukee Record, Journal Sentinel, and Brookfield Patch all did stories about the upcoming Wonderful World 5k (based on the store’s jingle, “Mike Crivello’s world is a wonderful world of cameras…”).
Again “race day” showed up, and I was pretty sure I was ready, but really unsure, too – I’d never done anything like this before! I was lucky in that another customer wanted to do the run with me, and he helped me keep on pace. Marcelo and I took off running and had to do 86 laps inside the store to hit a 5k. It went real well, I walked twice (allowing Marcelo to lap me and get 88 laps!), and finished with a time of 31:06, earning our customers a 10% discount on most of the store’s Used Equipment. We live-streamed the whole thing and had a great response from the store fans on social media! Even recently, I had an older woman stop by the store to pick up her photos, and mention, “Aren’t you the guy who ran around the store? I saw the article, that was really neat!” So, mission accomplished for that bit of silliness – do something fun, benefit the store’s customers, and give them something neat to talk about! Wonderful World 5k photos by Kelly Frost.
It’s been a great year for running for me – and now I wonder what next year is gonna hold? I already know that I want to do the Greenway Ultra again, and this time on the longest day of the year, so I can have sunshine for the entire 12 hours. I just need to keep motivated through the winter, and keep collecting my miles! 🙂
