What a day. Planned for a big one and it did not disappoint. Idea was to do the entire thing overnight and practice moving in the dark and cold and dealing with tiredness, etc.
Tried to relax all afternoon and planned to leave at 7pm so it would be fully dark. Walked down the steps to the big Stupa at the bottom of town around 6:30 and got some footage before heading off right at 7 on the dot.
Had a lovely time to start. Kept the effort nice and low w/ HR in the 120s for the most part on the way out of town and on the flattish section until the steep downhill to Funky Town. Split my watch at the bridge (58’ and 125 avg HR).
From there, started the first longer, steeper climb up to Tengboche. Felt good here and let the HR drift into the 140s, walking. No problem. Made good time on the segment (35’54 for 3rd overall) at what felt pretty moderate. Nice and easy down from there to the bridge across the river before going up into Pangboche. Took my first longer break there to get water from the stream and filter it out. Also picked up a friendly dog around here who would end up running most of the route with me.
Felt quite good still at this point and was moving well over rolling terrain all the way into Pheriche. I remember feeling good passing through Pheriche before the steeper climb up to Thukla and Lobuche. Started to feel a bit tired and slow down at this point. 1h29 to Lobuche.
Was going alright but getting a bit down on myself for slowing down and then finally got a bit lost on the section just before Gorak Shep where it’s a bit rocky. Got super turned around in heavy fog. Ended up on top of this very loose rocky ice-cliff and had to downclimb some big loose rocks to get back onto the trail. Super sketchy. Basically gave up caring about time at that point and was kind of freaked out but finally got back on trail (still with the dog) and made my way into Gorak Shep.
Always feels longer on this last stretch that I think but I finally made it there in 6h53. Spent 5’ there taking some photos, eating some food, etc. and then finally headed down.
The descent was a bit slower than I’d expected. Very foggy and very tired getting down to Lobuche and Pheriche. Started to get light around the approach to Pangboche. Really spectacular sunrise. Stopped in Pangboche to refill water and then finally headed back down and up to Tengboche. Was kind of checked out on the descent down from Tengboche, but got to the bottom and saw I just might be able to break 13 hours if I really pushed it.
I am proud of myself for doing a good job of re-engaging at this point on the steep climb up from the river and then really, really pushed the last stretch. This is some of the best running I’ve ever done 12+ hours into a race/run before. Felt really strong and had energy left to push really hard, HR got much higher.
I was counting down the km and trying to do some basic math to see how close I was going to be to this arbitrary barrier and knew it would be very close. I knew the last 800m or so would be very slow as it’s running down the steps into town, so I tried to push super hard before that and then basically sprinted down the stairs w/ reckless abandon. I finished in 12’57’08, just before 08:00am.
Overall, this was a very, very strong day and a lot of learning. I am very proud of myself for handling the all-nighter, as well as the scary-getting-lost part, as well as all the little problems that came up, and especially for checking back in during that last hour. I fueled well, paced myself well, and finished strong.
This was also by far the longest thing I’ve done (by any metric) since my surgery and my achilles held up fairly well. I definitely felt it at times, but I was still able to run at the end which is saying something.
I think this is a big step forward and sets me up extremely well for our big goals over the coming months. Let’s get after it!
Total 70.55km, 12h37 (moving time), 12h57 total. 3811m+.