The ENDURrun is an 8 Day, 7 Stage event where runners test themselves on 160 KM of roads and trails. We call it the ultimate running challenge, well, because it is the running experience of a lifetime.
It attracts runners of a wide range of experiences and goals. This year, we recruited local runner Will Spaetzel, who is generally new to running. He first hit the pavement in the fall of 2009, and ran his first race in the spring of 2010. Less than two years later, who would have guessed he would sign up for The ENDURrun?
Well, he did it, and he inspired a lot of people along the way. Of all the stories from throughout the week, the following Running Story is Will’s recap of the the eighth and final day of The ENDURrun, the marathon:
So here it is, the last stage of the great adventure that is the ENDURrun. The whole week had been a huge challenge and adventure, and I’ve loved every moment of it. Throughout the week, I’ve gone through so many different emotions and come out of it a stronger runner and a stronger person.
So with today’s final stage of the marathon, I felt unusually prepared. I was honestly thinking that it’s “just a marathon”. After all the tough stages I’ve had this week, I knew that tackling 4:30-5 hours of running on relatively flat roads would be a piece of cake.
I didn’t have a great sleep on Saturday night, so I was awake before my 5:15 alarm went off. I was going to be taking advantage of the early 6:30 start so that I could finish at about the same time as the other Ultimate contenders and to get an hour cooler weather. With a predicted high of 26 degrees, I knew a cool start would be very beneficial.
When I rolled into Contestogo park I was surprised at how many people were there, 16 of us had decided to take the early start. I was happy to see that both the race director and his wife were there. His wife, Julie has been taking great race photos all week, so this meant that she’d be there to capture the early morning start.
We set off a few minutes after 6:30 and headed down for 42.2 KM of adventure. We immediately spread out as it was such a small group, so I was by myself almost immediately. The country road part of the course was much prettier than I expected, I loved crossing the grand river and watching the sun rise as we were running along.
At about the 6K mark I met up with a small group of fellow early runners and finished the first loop up with them, I had my headphones on listening to podcasts most of the way, but it was nice to have others to pace off of and to have for a bit of company.
I finished the first loop in just under 2:20, so I knew that I was well on pace to beat my previous marathon PB of 4:49. I just had to avoid slowing down too much for my second loop.
After crossing the start/finish I lost the women I was running with, so it was back to solo running for the rest of the race. I started to get passed by the faster runners at this point too, so it was nice to see them powering by.
I managed to maintain my 10:1 walk:run plan very closely for the whole race. Even for the tough hills up Woolwich St, I kept on motoring. I had a bit of trouble keeping it up when we were climbing University Ave the second time, but once I hit the mini-turnaround it was just over 3K to go and I still had plenty of time to hit a PB, so I was feeling great.
I still took one more walk break just before the finish, and was passed by the women’s leader Catherine with just a few hundred metres to go. I finished in just over 4:44 taking almost five minutes off of my previous best.
This was really my easiest marathon yet. I think that the mental preparation I had done over the week helped so much. Also, it was much better that I started out slower, expecting to run out of steam. With the energy I saved on the first loop, I was able to continue strong all the way through the second loop.
The ENDURrun was really an amazing experience. I’m not sure if I’ll be able to fit it into my schedule yet for next year, but I definitely plan to run it again as soon as possible.
This was originally posted here.
I talked to Will to get some more context on his running history. At the time he started running in 2009, he was 295 lbs, and he was inspired to join the sport partly by other new runners, and partly to lose weight. Now at 230 lbs, he hardly thinks about the weight loss aspect of running, and he runs now because he loves to and wants to improve.
So, to recap: Will is hooked on the sport and exceeded his own expectations at The ENDURrun. Moreover, in what was his fifth full marathon, he took almost FIVE MINUTES off of his previous personal record with the 118 KMs warmup. You can’t say it’s too common, but it’s definitely awesome!
If you want to see more about this, check out Will’s other race recaps from Stages 1 2 3 4 5 6 and Stage 7 recaps from ENDURrun veterans Vicki and Paul. Thanks for reading this latest running story!
