100 miles on a Treadmill for Domestic Violence Awareness

Running is a state of mind. This is a story of a small idea snowballing into a community event for a great cause. I can't thank West Cook YMCA enough for supporting me in this event. A huge thanks to all the supporters who cheered in person and virtually, and donated to Sarah's Inn to help the victims and families impacted by domestic violence. A special thanks to my wife, Amy, who did everything to ensure I had was in the best mental and physical state throughout the event. 

Dreadmill Challenge: I signed up to run a 100 miles on a treadmill called the Dreadmill Challenge early in the year. The challenge is to run a 100 miles within 48 hours in the month of December, all on a treadmill. I had almost forgotten about this until the Race Director sent a reminder email a few weeks before December.

West Cook YMCA: I visited the West Cook YMCA near my home and asked if they would mind I use one of the treadmills at the Y for a couple of days without interfering in their operations. Their President and CEO, Phillip Jimenez, readily agreed to allow me to do the Dreadmill Challenge. Little did I know that he and his team are master planners of events. They repurposed the babysitting area into the Dreadmill Challenge race course, as this space was unused due to COVID-19. It was at a corner of two streets with windows on both sides. Two treadmills were moved here, just in case if one fails. They moved two couches for my wife to hangout, two picnic tables for me to place my things while running, a refrigerator and a microwave. This is way more than what I had expected, but I am very grateful for all the arrangements. 

With Phillip Jimenez, President & CEO, 
West Cook YMCA

Sarah's Inn: I joined the Board of Sarah's Inn, a non-profit that provides free services to victims and families of domestic violence for 40 years in June this year. Having personal experience in my family with domestic violence, this is a cause close to my heart and I wanted to serve in any ways I can. I met with the Sarah's Inn team to suggest that I have signed up for this challenge. I expressed my desire to use the event to raise money for Sarah's Inn thereby bringing awareness to their cause. Sarah's Inn had events planned previously for this time of the year but they graciously agreed to support me in this endeavor.

Looking back at this moment, what started as a small idea snowballed into something much bigger and meaningful than I envisioned.  

Sarah's Inn team

Training: My training for this event was minimal to none. Though I have run some long races, I have hardly trained on a treadmill. I don't have a treadmill at home. I was really not sure what I was thinking when I signed up for the Dreadmill Challenge. As far as I can recall, I have not run more than 10 miles on a treadmill. I went to the Y the weekend before the event to train on a treadmill. I learned that the default settings is a maximum of 60 minutes and it shuts down. Yet another reason to train so that I can learn the various buttons and settings. The Y had removed this setting for the event so that I can run beyond 60 minutes. 

West Cook YMCA team

Race morning: We packed all the race stuff needed for two days and went to the Y at 8.30 am. I hadn't slept the previous night. So I was already tired before starting the run. I knew I have to be awake for 35+ hours at a minimum. Though the event has given me 48 hours, I wanted to complete in 24 to 30 hours. My fastest 100 miler was 26.5 hours, my longest race was 160 miles for 65 hours. So I knew I can push it but each race is different. 

"Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth" - Mike Tyson.

All set to start running, with Amy

Start Line: My plan was to start the run by 9.30 am on Friday December 11th so that Amy can see me start and go to work. But there was a wrinkle in our plan. Sarah's Inn had notified the media. ABC News came in at 9.30 and were filming me run. Amy had to take off before I started. Once I started running for the filming, I continued to run. That became my official start. 

ABC News Coverage

Nutrition: My wife Amy did all the food purchase, hydration needs like Gatorade, Ensure, Coke, etc. An ultra marathon involves eating real food. In theory, I would have burned 10,000+ calories based on how much effort I put in.

 

Sarah's Inn staff were wonderful in helping with the update to the donations page indicating "Siva's 100 miles on a Treadmill Challenge". They also helped with the content for the social media posts, posters to be placed at the Y, QR code for visitors to easily go to the donation page. The Y had updated graphics and signage on their display TVs and walls. 

That is me in the background, for 2 days

Day-1 started well. I really didn't have a plan but decided to go with the flow and depending on how I feel. I was going to pause at major milestones like half marathon (13.1 miles), 20 miles, full marathon (26.2 miles), 50k (31.1 miles), 50 miles, 100k (62.2 miles), etc. and note my mileage. Amy had a white board on an easel where I could track "Siva has run __X__ out of 100 miles". This turned out to be the best idea of the event as the photos spoke for itself.

Tracking: The race logistics while easier than an outdoor event, I had to be mindful of the mileage tracking rules. I had to take a picture of the mileage with the current time for evidence. I emailed the pictures to the Race Director periodically. I had a white paper and a Sharpie to track the Time On (the treadmill), Time Off (the treadmill), Miles for that segment, Total Miles that I will note down every time I momentarily paused the treadmill. I was constantly worried that I am going to hit the red button on the treadmill and it is going to shut down on me, thereby not having evidence of that segment of the mileage. Luckily, this happened only once but I was able to capture the mileage before the treadmill reset.

 

Supporters: We had a quite a few visitors stop by including friends, coworkers, neighbors and strangers. Amy posted about the event in the local neighborhood Facebook page. At 6 pm, it turned dark outside and I noticed a father and his daughter were holding a sign saying "You are Awesome" in pouring rain under an umbrella. I thought it may have been Amy's student. But they were a good hearted neighbor who came to cheer me on.

My running friend Jung

Neighbors Paulie & Gussie
  

Entertainment: Slow Run podcast S2, Land of the Giants podcast S2, Room 2802 The Accusation Netflix docu-series, Netflix movie Ava, House of Cards S1, music from Cardi B to Bollywood.

Night-1: Amy came over after school, got me McDonald's lunch, tacos for dinner, hung out with me until after dinner. After she left around 9 pm, I was all by myself until 8 am. I didn't take much breaks at night, just kept moving. At 3 am, I felt super sleepy. I tried to shut eye for less than 5 minutes, but my mind was busy. So, I got up and continued running. 

Day-2: I had underestimated the power of a treadmill. The monotonous run, view and the same motion was mentally challenging for a few hours during the night when I was all alone. I felt a sharp pain on my left shin around mile-40. And both my IT bands and hips started to get very sore much earlier than it would in a long race. I tried to slow down to ensure I do not end up with a serious injury, like it happened last year. I couldn't shake this off. But I kept moving. I projected that I will finish around 4-5 pm on Saturday December 12th. My game plan was to not stop at all and keep moving. This worked out well. The countdown was motivating when I hit key milestones like 70 miles, 80 miles, 85, 90, 95..... 

Weather: I have run ultra-marathons in severe weather, in lightning and thunder storms, at 125F in the middle of summer in Death Valley, in the winter rain, in -20F windchill pulling my supplies in a sled for 3 days and 3 nights. Weather is one thing that I didn't have to worry about running indoors on a treadmill. 

The Finish Line: After 31 hours, I was finally DONE. 100 miles on a treadmill. It was a long two days, but whenever I hit a low point, the thought of supporting Sarah's Inn kept me going.

Now, it was time for a hot shower, Thai food and a good night's sleep.

  

I ran every street of my village during a global pandemic and here's what I learned

An athletic store in my village conducts a fun challenge every November, called GOvember. The residents are encouraged to run or walk every street of the village. Since this will be my first year living here, I thought it would be a fun way to see my neighborhood. It will also give me a chance to get out and train in November when the weather usually turns cold. 

On day-1, I almost gave up before starting. It was 16F windchill on November 1st, so when I woke up I decided not to do the GOvember. My running friend, Jung, messaged me that there are various challenges within the GOvember challenge like running the entire length of one of the busiest streets, completing all north/south streets, all east/west streets, etc. I can do any of those or all of them. Though I didn't want any of the fun prizes, I thought it would be a fun challenge. 

I ended up running 133 miles. Though the entire village is only 110-ish miles, I had to go back and forth on many streets. And as luck would have it, I was the first person to complete GOvember this year. The winner gets a $100 value balloon display from a local store and a $25 gift card at the athletics store.

Here's what I saw and learned during my runs:

November is a beautiful time to run, with the fall colors. The leaves were particularly beautiful during sunrise and sunset. 

There were a lot of parks. It was good to see our tax dollars at work.

I enjoyed the beautiful historical houses. Frank Lloyd Wright built many of them. And there were houses influenced by his style.  

There were a lot of churches. When I googled to see how many in my village, there were 50.

There were block parties. I am unsure if I was more surprised that the block parties were in the November cold or that they were mingling during a global pandemic. 

One needs to be incredibly careful running on the sidewalks, I tripped only twice and luckily avoided any fall. But those cement slabs can be brutal.

Public schools were closed for virtual classes, private schools were open for in-class sessions. I learned that private school teachers don't have a union. 

I had to run a slower pace. When running in the streets, the running pace significantly slows down as you have to watch for traffic, stop signs, traffic lights and traffic.  

When running early mornings or evenings, always wear reflective materials. I also had my headlamps during night runs. 

It is a good idea to carry a mask. When running through busy areas, sidewalks, parks, it can come handy to be safe. And carrying a mask in one of my pockets was no big deal.

The only way I can run the New York City marathon

One day last week, I woke up with a thought that I can run a marathon distance of 26.2 miles on Halloween day and just call it the New York City marathon as it was canceled this year due to COVID-19. 

Virtual Finish Line Pic

The NYC marathon was originally scheduled to be held on Sunday November 1st 2020. NYC marathon is one of the six world major marathons. The others are Chicago, Boston, Tokyo, Paris and Berlin.

A little about New York City marathon: Not everyone who can run or who has a credit card can run the NYC marathon. Since it is a popular international marathon and due to the course size limits, there are a few ways to get to run the NYC marathon:

• You can qualify if you are a really fast runner, like elite level. 
• You can run as part of a charity to raise money. The dollar limit has increased over the years. I don't know the latest requirement but it used to be $500 for a charity. I think it is over $3000 or $5000 now.
• You can get to run if you are part of the New York Road Runners club and you sign up for a series of race. This could be challenging if you are not living in or around NYC. 
• The last category is for a common person like me is a lottery. They say only less than 8% of the folks who enter the lottery get in. The number could vary but the odds of getting in through the lottery are slim.

This house always has great decorations for all the occassions

I have entered the lottery for the past few years but no luck. While I had the idea to just run the distance and call it the NYC marathon, I was checking their website if there is an option to sign-up for the virtual marathon. When they canceled the marathon they had this complicated process, where the first few hundred folks who sign up for the virtual marathon will get entry into the race in one of the following years. I was online at the time of registration. But the website said I had a two hour wait, a TWO HOUR WAIT to sign up for the virtual marathon. I got distracted as I had some meetings that day. I am sure even if I was able to sign in, I wouldn't have been in the first few hundreds.

Halloween

To my surprise, they had a virtual marathon option to sign up for. And I did. While I am on it, I thought I may as well run it this weekend instead of the Halloween day. So, I moved up my marathon plans by a week, WHY NOT!

If you are not into running races, and you are wondering 'what is a virtual marathon?'. Let me explain. A virtual race is a race that you sign up on the race website. You can run anywhere on the planet, upload your GPS tracking for evidence of running, and you will be considered completed. There are variations of this depending on the virtual race committee. You can do free virtual races. You can pay some money and get the race t-shirt and the medal. In some cases the results are a honor system. 

For the NYC marathon, you can run any day between October 17th through November 1st. You have to upload your GPS tracking results into an app call Strava, as Strava is sponsoring the event. I have been using Strava for many years, so really no prep work. Their website has this definition of a virtual race, A virtual race is a race that can be run at your convenience during a specified period of time. 

I ran the 2020 Chicago Marathon two Saturdays ago. I haven't run much since then, just a few training miles. I was not sure if my body was fully recovered. I was just gonna try running this Saturday, October 24th 2020.

It also dawned on me that this could be the only way that I may be able to run the NYC Marathon. 

With that in mind, I did no preparation :). My wife made pasta dinner the night before. I laid out my running gear all set to go. I went to bed a bit early than normal at 9 pm. I woke up at 3 am on Saturday early morning and got ready by 3:15 am. It was 31F weather outside. So, I was in semi winter gear for this Chicago weather. Yes, I live in Chicago area and I am running the virtual NYC marathon. If this is all confusing, no worries. Just keep reading :) 

Gear check: winter tights, base layer, jacket, hat, headlamps, reflector, red blinking light at the back for visibility. And out I go. 

It was COLD!!!. I think this was the lowest temps this year so far, but my mind was set in getting it done. The streets were lonely. Since I ran the virtual Chicago Marathon only a couple of weeks ago, I kind of knew what to expect. But anything can happen in 26.2 miles. I ran the same route in empty streets.

Love the lonely dark cold streets 

Also love the well lit bigger streets 

Safety first when you are running in the dark - red blinking light on my back

When I hit some milestones I did a Snapchat to the family at miles 6.2 (10k), 13.1 (half marathon), 16, 20 and 26.2. When I did the Snap at mile 6.2, I removed my gloves and it fell off somewhere! I had to backtrack a little to get it from the pile of leaves.

I had downloaded an NPR podcast 6-episode series and decided to listen to it. I like to learn about things that I usually don't come across in my job or life. This was an interesting podcast, the hosts were good and it was well made.

At around mile-12, I was listening to the podcast and just running on a lonely long dark street when I suddenly noticed two deer sitting on the grass near the sidewalk next to me. I had to stop and take a picture.

Two deer just chilling

A long lonely early morning dark cold run like this helps to slow down the time and enjoy everything. I admired the Halloween decorations in front of the houses, saw deer 3 or 4 times, an old rail track and an old train, various shades of the sky, fall colors and more.

Just liked this old rail track

The sun came out around 7 am. It felt nice to have some sunlight. It was still COLD! 

Love the fall colors

I was running on this street enjoying the fall colors when two runners were came up on the other side of the street. The lady went "Are  you Siva?". I am like "Yes". "I am Patty, Jung's friend. This is my son. We are also doing the virtual NYC marathon. Jung is looking for you. What time did you start?". Patty was going to go to NY and run the virtual marathon but decided to run in Chicago with her son Jimmy who is in college. We took a quick picture and went in opposite directions. 

Patty and her son are also running the virtual NYC marathon

At around mile-16, my running friend Jung joined me for a few miles. I had a quick pit stop around mile-17. Did I say I was not carrying any hydration. I want to see how much my body can push without hydration. It was 20 miles last time.  Jung is recovering from a plantar fasciitis injury. She ran a little over 3 miles with me. We ran towards her house. Once I dropped her, I had 6.2 miles to the finish. 

My running friend Jung

I switched to my favorite Bollywood songs for the last 6 miles which made me smile and push through the final miles. I picked up some pace and got it done!

It took me almost the same amount of time to finish the virtual 2020 NYC marathon that it took me to complete the virtual 2020 Chicago marathon a couple of weeks ago. I was happy with the outcome. My main goal was to enjoy a long run. Mission Accomplished!!

Customary Superman pose

I am grateful for good health, and everything in life. My wife Amy and our dog Nym came out to say "Congrats" when I finished! I was content to get it done. On to the next one!

Amy and Nym (if you can see our dog in the middle towards the back)