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.