As I was boarding the plane from STL to DEN after the GO! St. Louis Half Marathon I was standing next to a guy carrying the same SWAG bag I was. He had that lean build of a marathon runner and was wearing a visor with www.SeeDaneRun.com across the front. I put two and two together and figured he must have run the race that day (I'm quick like that), so I asked, "How was your run?"He answered "around 3 hours" adding that this was his last long training run for a 12-person team relay from Gettysburg, PA, to Washington, D.C.
But then he said, "Only I'm doing it solo."
Now, I've driven from Gettysburg to Washington and know its not a short drive! "How far is that?" I asked. Dane calmly replied, "202 miles." You can imagine the rest of the conversation...
"Seriously? Your going to run 202 miles? SOLO?"
"Yes."
"Dude, that's crazy."
Based on his recent blog post in Blue Ridge Outdoors magazine titled, "I'm not crazy," I guess he gets that alot (sorry, Dane, I didn't mean to "irk" you!).
We continued chatting. He asked about my run. I shared that I was thrilled to run a personal best 1:50:34 (see results at left). I told him about the Ironman Boulder 70.3 triathlon I am training for and asked if he'd ever done a triathlon. "One," he said, "and I was fortunate enough to win so I decided to retire. Figured I'd quit while I was ahead."There are lots of different levels of athletes. There are guys who dominate the court at the local gym then there's Michael Jordan. There are snowboarders who hit the slopes every weekend then there's Sean White in his private halfpipe perfecting the "Tomahawk" (the gold-medal winning move he named after a 30-0z. steak he ate in an Aspen restaurant!). There are weekend warriors like me then there are "extreme" runners like Dane.
That's what they call Dane, an extreme runner. He once ran 52 marathons in 52 weeks. He's going to run 202 miles in two days, essentially back-to-back 100-mile ultra marathons. Yea, I'd say that's extreme!
When we deplaned in Denver Dane asked me to stay in touch. So I e-mailed him this week and wished him luck in the American Odyssey Relay (or, in his case, Dane's American Odyssey Solo) 202 mile run.Of course, I had to ask, "Do you eat beef?"
"One simple sentence," Dane replied. "I love beef."
See Dane run. Dane loves BEEF. Run, Dane, run!
Follow Dane on his own personal American Odyssey via Twitter. Send him notes of encouragement and let him know that beef-loving athletes across the country are rooting for him to reach his incredible goal to run 202 miles solo in 48 hours!
Ride on!
Daren
Dane is off and running in his solo 202-mile American Odyssey run. As of about an hour ago he had completed the first four legs (27.4 miles) and reached the parking lot of Ski Liberty in PA (about 15% done). Follow his progress on Twitter (DaneRunsAlot) or his Strands profile (http://www.strands.com/seedanerun).
ReplyDeleteDane is HALFWAY through his solo 205-mile run! According to his latest tweet he has completed Leg 20 of the American Odyssey for a total of 103.4 miles in the first 24 hours. Incredible. Only 102 miles to go!
ReplyDeleteDane is in the homestretch of his solo 205-mile run! As of his Twitter post "about 2 hrs ago" Dane was beginning Leg 34, 184 miles into the run. But I love his post about 19 hrs ago -- "Leg 24 done. 118 miles gone. I want a steak." Dane loves BEEF!
ReplyDeleteDane has finished his solo 202-mile run! About 30 mins ago he tweeted "202 miles: 50 hours. Done." Congratulations, Dane! I can't even imagine. Wish I was there to buy you a steak! See Dane recover. Dane loves BEEF. Rest, Dane, recover.
ReplyDeleteI had to go to his blog and read them all. Thanks for posting this - VERY cool. My new mantra...today, I get to run! -Barb
ReplyDelete