Because we’re halfway through the 12athon, and because I wanted a challenge, I decided to tackle Macchu Picchu (Machu Picchu: 12 miles up a hill. Can be the same hill, but the distance you travel downhill to run back up doesn’t count. 24 POINTS), and the Slacker’s 12-Hour Race (Slacker’s 12-Hour Race (AKA The 12 MPH): Run 1 mile during every hourly increment for 12 consecutive hours. 24 POINTS. 4 more points if you end at 12 p.m. (noon).). And because I was doing it anyway, I claimed points for Sunrise (Sunrise: See the sunrise during your run. Find your local sunrise time on SunriseSunset.com. 4 POINTS).
Because we live very near a straight 1-mile stretch up a hill, my husband (who is awesome) came up with a great plan. We staggered the runs so that we started one on a “40” increment, and then started the next one on the hour. This allowed for around 1:20 between running legs, and still made sure I was running each leg within the allotted hour period.
During the Night Legs (first 6 miles) my husband took our car to the top of the hill, rode his bike down, and then rode the bike back up with me. This arrangement meant that I ran 3 extra miles (down the hill between legs) but felt safer in the dark.
During the Day Legs, he’d drive the car to the top, meet me there and drive me to the bottom, drop me off, and then drive to the top again. He was great about stopping partway up the hill to see if I needed water or any assistance.
Mile One
Mile Two
Mile Three
Mile Four
Mile Five
Mile Six
Mile Seven
Mile Eight
Mile Nine
Mile Ten
Mile Eleven
Mile Twelve
I managed to pull out a great split on the last leg, and it was pretty amazing to be done. It’s not that the 12 miles are hard (although the uphill is pretty killer), but being awake and having to run so frequently is mentally draining. We came back after every set and watched Big Bang Theory or Iron Chef America while snacking, so I wasn’t tempted to fall asleep and give up.
Elevation Chart for the Route
I’m so glad I tried these two challenges, and I hope I’m not too sore tomorrow! Video from my support crew will come when we’re not too tired. 🙂
Learning to Live 
Hi Jessica! Your comment on my blog sent me over and wow! I’ve read a lot of running blogs chronicling a lot of challenges but never one like this!! So were you sore???
So what kind of librarian are you? I’m arriving at ALA on Thursday night and will be there through mid-day Monday. I do want to run while I’m there, but I’ve been injured and am just getting back into it. I don’t know what my coach is going to prescribe for the week, but I’d love to have a buddy if it works for you and you don’t mind probably very slow short runs (if you do mind, I TOTALLY understand). My email is terzahbecker (at) gmail.com. Let me know what your schedule looks like.
Hi! I was extremely sore the next day…it reminded me of my marathon soreness!
I’m just getting out of library school actually, but I’m going to be a middle school librarian in a private school starting in August. I’ll be getting into town Friday sometime, and will probably leave Tuesday. And I don’t mind slower runs at all! 🙂
I’ll send you an email so you have my info, and if we don’t end up running, maybe we can at least say hi at some point.