Sunday, August 1, 2010

Day 7: It has been completed

Well I've fucking done it. I had a hell of a night last night attempting the world record time of 150 hours. I didn't quite make it, but gave it a hell of a shot. I was sitting at 94 miles and 12 beers deep on the night and I honestly thought I could make it. There was a relatively lively group of drinkers surrounding me and I thought "Hell might as well make a run at it." Probably the biggest mistake I made was not running when I was at 12 beers. Needless to say I woke up at 6:30AM on the couch of downstairs moontowers effectively pulling a Curt. All said and done I drank 17 beers last night in the effort and I'm pretty happy with that. I wasn't feeling good at all when I first started drinking, but with great encouragment from my friends and teammates I just dug deep and pounded the beer. However, I ended up throwing up which sucked and meant I'd have to drink to compensate which I did upon waking up on the couch. Fucking hardest four beers I've ever had to drink. I found that drinking a beer and then noming on some chips and salsa helped a lot.

After sleeping off the drunkness I woke up at 9:40 and headed downstairs. Palma was packing up his car as he prepares to head to LA for his semester there. Veroline and I hung around while he packed up and unfortunatly said our goodbye. It sucks to see him go as he has been a great friend and supporter of everything I've done. So Palma if you're reading this, best of luck on your time there, I know it will be great, and you will be missed here. At around 10AM I said fuck it and went for my last run of this experience. I did a nice little juant down the trails off of cinders. I couldn't help but feel really happy while I was running and I was probably smiling for the whole thing. Having drank 98 beers in 6 days I only had 2 left to drink. It didn't end with a huge bang or anything, it was just myself and Veroline watching shark week(I still want fucking bear week) and it was a pretty relaxed drink. All said and done I ran 100 miles and drank 100 beers in 156 hours, just 4 hours short of the world record.

I don't really like to sound cocky, but I'm fucking proud of this shit. This was hard as hell and I was a fucking man about it and did this god damn thing. This was something that no one on my team has ever done and I can honestly say that I'm extremely proud to have been the first to complete it in a program that has some pretty storied drinking history, but also a fast running history.

I've had some time to really reflect on my life a good amount in this whole experience. This past year has been a pretty rough year for me. A good friend of mine passed away(the third in four years), my mom was diagnosed with a mild form of skin cancer and underwent surgery and I wasn't there to support her, I loved and lost, and did somethings that hurt some people and for that I am truly sorry. However, I also had some pretty great times this year as well. I had a fucking blast with my friends and teammates at various parties this year as lazy river and magical journey this year were a hell of a good time. The beer pong thursdays that we started doing this year are just some of the best times I've ever had in college just Broing out, listening to Motion City Soundtrack and blink 182, and having a great time. I also had a hell of a season running wise as I was all-state in cross and outdoor track and missed being all-state in indoor by one place. I found a new passion in the steeplechase and am hopeful that I can qualify for nationals in cross and also maybe hit the provisional time in the steeple. Ya know life can be hard sometime and I've had some moments where I've been stressed and pretty low, but ultimately you just need to be happy. I am a very fortunate to be surrounded by great people that care about me and as the saying goes "Life is to short to be anything but happy" And that's what I am. Thank you to everyone that supported me through this, I am full of love.

Saturday, July 31, 2010

Making an effort

So as I posted earlier, I'm on world record pace. According to the website, http://www.beermile.com/faq.beer, the fastest well documented 100, 100 is 151 hours. Right now, if I finish everything by 6AM I'll be at 150 hours which is a new world record. I'm currently pretty drunk so I think I want to go for it. I've had 12 beers so far so I'm on good pace. It's really up to a matter of running while hammered. It's something I've done before, but I don't know. I'm going to be super drunk soon enough so we'll see how it goes. I'll let you guys know if I do it though. Be easy.

Day 6: Diggin' Deep

Today has been all in all the toughest day so far. I only got like 4 hours of sleep last night and the workout left my legs pretty sore so I knew going into my run that it would likely be a rough one. It was. I hadn't hadn't eaten anything since the Texas Toast that I had at 2:30 AM so I was pretty much running on empty and I chose to run it in the heat of the day. As soon as I was on cinders all I could think about was how badly I wanted to be finished. But I just kept telling myself to get to a certain point and then give myself another small goal to accomplish that way making the run more bearable. I just flat out did not want to be running. At around 7 miles I started thinking about how nice it'll be to finish and was hurting pretty badly at that point. For some reason I started thinking about these apples I have in my fridge. I don't even like apples, I don't think I'd rank them in my top 20 favorite fruits, but for some reason this apple was just the best god damn thing I could think of right then. I wanted that fucking apple so bad and I was gonna get that apple. I used it to push myself for 3 more miles to hit 10 miles for the day leaving me with only 6 more miles until 100.

I've discovered that weird shit like that happens a lot while doing this. There's just no way to really function properly. Two days ago I walked into a women's bathroom without even noticing, I almost ran into a parked truck yesterday, and tonight for dinner I ate toast with pasta sauce on it(what the fuck was that shit). I'll probably eat a more substantial dinner soon, but sometimes you just have to let your body do whatever the fuck it wants even if it means obsessing over apples. I sort of noticed the toll of running 70 miles in 4 days yesterday when I was finishing my cool down from the tempo. Palma, Nubbins, and Nancy were talking in the driveway when I rolled in finishing me run. Palma looked at me and said, "You look soooo tired right now" and I am. I'd like to say that I can do this thing and shrug it off as not too hard, but I'd be a liar. This really hasn't been too easy. I've had to work pretty hard at it lately, but like I've said time and time again it is the never ending support of my teammates and friends that have helped me. Runner and drinker Dan Potter gets a shout out today for his facebook post as it was big on getting me out the door.

Tomorrow is looming though and I only need 6 miles and 20 beers. The competitive side of me says fuck it and do a night run and get hammered tonight and be the fastest know documented attempt at the 100, 100. http://www.beermile.com/faq.beer
My body says no to that idea though so we'll have to see what happens. It's unfortunately the last night Palma will be in Ithaca. I'm sad to see him go as he is a truly great friend and has helped me a ton in this experience. Anyways, I've got some beers to drink. Curt said it well in his recent text "You can smell it! And it smells GOOOOD!" I'm right there. Just a few more pushes to the finish.

Day totals:
10 miles and 4 beers
Cocaine Blues by Johnny Cash, I think I'll just stay here and drink by Merle Haggard, and Memories by David Guetta

Week Totals:
94 miles, 81 beers.

My life is this.

Mountain Man night.


After getting back from my run yesterday I got a call from Corey saying that him, Jim, and Palma were going camping up at pinnacles. I said I'd go, but I wasn't really sure if I wanted to. For a while I just figured I'd be better off watching TV and pounding beers downstairs as this had been the routine throughout this week. However, when it came time to leave I said fuck it and went with them and it was a fucking blast. I had a pretty awesome time getting hammered in the woods with my friends, cooking Texas toast and kielbasa on a raging fire, and just relaxing and enjoying life. I drank the 10 beers that I brought with me(the only thing I brought with me on this camping trip to be honest) and then just said fuck it and pounded wine that Corey and Jim brought. Of course I'm not counting any wine drinking, and I'm hurting from it this morning, but I was out to have a good time and didn't want to stop drinking. The whole experience shed some knowledge on me as well.

As we tore down a back country dirt road, hootin' and hollerin' and listening to banjo tunes I had an Epiphany. I realized that this doesn't last forever. You only get to be young and reckless for a short amount of time before you eventually have to grow up, get serious, and start a life. In the summer before my last year of college I'm making it my mission to live free with no regrets. I want to do my best to go and do things like this camping trip with my friends. I want to hold nothing back and have as much fun as I can. I've watched as my friends have slowly left to start their lives elsewhere and although it's been sad, I can't help but feel really thankful for having had the opportunity to share the hilariously awesome times we've had together. Growing up scares the hell out of me. I've had the fortune of going to a college that suits me well and developed friendships that are truly one of a kind. I'm slowly coming to grips with the fact that my college years are coming to an end and I should just value every second of it that I have left. I think that's a big reason why I'm doing this now. I know I can't do shit like this later in life so fuck it, we'll do it live. I'm young, I'm having fun, and that's really all that matters to me right now.


Live fast, take risks and don't ever stop guys.

Friday, July 30, 2010

Day 5: Calm, Quick, and Relaxed

I know I posted only an hour or so ago, but I'm going camping tonight with corey, jim, and palma up at pinnacles so I won't be around later to post something. I was brief in my description of my night last night. I was pretty fucking hammered and recall very little after my conversation with tyler. Upon waking up I figured I probably should go through my phone because I remember being in an exceptionally chatty mood last night around 12:40. Sure enough I gave 2 of my ex-girlfriends a call. One didn't pick up, phew. The other, however, did pick up and it was a long one at 27 minutes. After calling her today to see what we talked about, I discovered that we had about a 20 minute conversation on the pluses to boating and drinking, how we should boat, drink, and can dance(I'll explain this in a second) when I return home in a week and a half. Alright can dancing is something done in my town from time to time where you get drunk, jump off the boat, swim to one of the shipping lane cans that sit in the harbor, and dance on top of it. It's hilarious and awesome. At some point I apparently went on a rant about the clean water act and how it is one of the weakest laws in our legislator which she really had no interest in and just told me to go to bed. I suspected that something like this would happen as every one's experience with this that I've read about has at some point called ex-girlfriends/girls their interested in. So if I call you ladies, just tell me to hang up the phone and drink more.

The running today was pretty good. As I said earlier I felt like doing a tempo today and that's exactly what I did. I warmed up for a little over 3 miles and then did a 6 mile tempo run out coddington and back. Now I fucking hate running on coddington. It is a long straight road that goes for miles and is relatively hilly with a lot of switchbacks. I always used to tell Curt how insane he was for loving the coddington out and back 10 mile Sunday run. However, I've discovered that it can actually be a really nice run if I'm doing tempo work on it. The speed of the workout makes it go by fast and once you get passed German Cross the scenery is pretty stunning. So curt I apologize for hatin', it's not that bad a run. The tempo went well enough. I had my GPS watch, but it shit the bed at 2.91 miles and gave me the typical "GPS Signal Weak" bullshit that it's been doing since winter. I think it's all the minus 15 degree runs. Anyways I ran until what I suspected would be my 3 mile split of 17:04 and then turned and ran back. I finished in 34:08 for 6 miles which breaks down to about 5:41 a mile. It would have been faster, but at around 5 and a half miles my right hamstring, which has been tight the last two days, started to feel a little shaky so I backed it off in the last half mile. I feel good now though. I'm on the final stretch and need only 16 miles in the next two days. I also only have a 30 rack left to go and I'm not even close to being done drinking wise.

My teammates have been crucial in helping me drink despite being no where near me. Billy seems to have a six sense about him and seemingly always texts me or writes on my facebook wall when I want to drink the least. It always makes me suck it up and throw a few back. After work today Riley and I ichat drank together. It was great talking to him again and talking about this and that while still getting a few beers in before the run. It's honestly the constant encouragement that has allowed me to push through an extreme distaste for beer.

The numbers for beer, running, and songs today
13 mile run with 6 mile tempo run.
8 beers so far
Won't back down by Eminem.

Week totals:
84 miles and 70 beers

What 70 beers looks like.

Do you know what it feels like to have your organs fall out

Because I'm pretty sure I do now. This is the first day of my bodies rebellion. My innards do not feel good and are pretty displeased with me right now. Today was interesting enough. I woke up feeling okay and not really that hungover despite a strong drinking effort last night. As I stated before, I set out to have a solid night of pounding beers and ultimately I had a decent night. I was alone for the whole thing which was pretty depressing, but also a blessing because I was focused intently on the task. Jersey Shore season two premiered so I drank a lot while that was on. During this time I was texting curt and ivory, both in Wildwood, NJ. Ivory sent me probably the funniest thing I've ever read. While discussing the cast of characters on the show he said "They are just so far from people I'm used to. It's hard to imagine they walk the same earth." I don't think I could agree more with this statement.

Anyways I pounded 14 beers solo and staggered up to my room thinking about calling it an evening. However, when I got to my computer tyla' baby facebook IMed me and we talked about how things were going. With some encouraging words from him I was able to do another 2 beers and end the night with 16 which I'm relatively happy with. I feel pretty good about my ability to hammer around 15 a night with some beers in the morning. Tonight's going to be pretty clutch though. It's Friday. My friends don't have work tomorrow. I'm looking for a 20+ night. I'm gonna take Tyler's advice and "give it hell and survive the weekend." I'm feeling bold today so I might do a tempo run on coddington. It might be 1,2,3s or it might just be a straight 5 or 6 miles. I'm a firm believer in quality miles and preventing staleness so we'll see how this goes.

But back to this morning, I woke up at 9AM. I have work at 11 on Fridays so I had to be up a little earlier than usual. I decided not to do a morning run this morning and instead drink some beers with my two hours. I honestly felt pretty low this morning about what I was doing to my body. I was on the can, drinking a beer, taking what was my third shit of the morning when I texted curt saying "This is what my life has come to." A few hours later he replied with some solid advice that made me a little less distressed about my current state saying "Man's gotta do what he's gotta do." True story. All though I might not want to do this, it's for the greater good. Get it done with, don't be a bitch, be a legend. So that's just what I'll do. I am reminded of a lyric from This Providence, "It called me to give my whole life, well that's what I'm gonna do."

Thursday, July 29, 2010