And in case any of our fans were wondering: Samsonite did it. Our hard-headed 100-mile virgin had chosen December 23rd as his day to run 100 miles at Lake Hefner. In case you weren’t in metro OKC to experience it for yourself, that Tuesday was a day of classic and epic Oklahoma winds. You Lake Hefner faithfuls have certainly nixed more than one run due to these type of “sweeping down the plain” winds. But December 23rd it was going to be – 35mph winds, sub-35 degree temperatures and all!
It happened like this: Samsonite ran along the 9.5 mile running trail that circumnavigates Lake Hefner. He self-crewed himself out of vehicles parked at the Lake Hefner east parking lot and a small pull-off just past the marina. His magic fuel sources were orange gatorade, chocolate milk, ham sandwiches, Snickers Marathon bars, Ding Dongs, Endurolytes, ibuprophen, hot chicken soup, and peanut M&M’s. Also, hand warmers and the iPod were important components.
He ran 5 9.5 mile loops – and an extra 1/2 mile jaunt because one time forgot to take Endurolytes, so he went back to the car to get them – bringing him to 48 miles. Then, from the Lake Hefner east parking lot he ran down to the trails at Bluff Creek for 10ish miles with Maverick and Sweet Tee. Running on the dirt was a good break from the pavement for his legs and an important change in pace from the drone of the running path. Mav brought our boy some hot chicken soup, and wouldn’t let him go back to the lake until he had downed the whole thermos. When Samsonite got back to the east parking lot, his Spock watch Garmin X-64-NES-whatever told him that he was at 63 miles for the day. 4 more 9.5 mile laps would take him to 101 miles. At this point Samsonite had been running for approximately 12 hours. The first 4 laps took him 7 hours. If he could do the last 4 in 8, our boy would clock a sub-20 hour 100 miler!
4 more laps… Kind of like running a mile on a track.
When it got dark, Samsonite donned a headlamp and Army-issued black fleece, and settled in for the night shift. At about mile 65, Samsonite’s parents came out in the 69-mobile, christened at The Mother Road, and followed him point-to-point for the rest of the night.
T3 and Mav were planning on coming out in the middle of the night and heckling Samsonite, but Samsonite’s blistering pace forced their plans onto fast-forward. As Samsonite began his final lap, T3 finished up a business meeting at Kimray, and pulled out of some work at home, and raced out to meet Samsonite at MacArthur and Britton. Mav parked in the east parking lot and had to book it double-time to catch the surprisingly still-quick Samsonite. With 7 miles to go, the Brothers were together at last.
Samsonite was looking – and feeling – strong. It was no longer a battle to merely finish. It was a race against the clock to finish sub-19:30!!
With a mile to go, Samsonite made 2 phone calls to some of his very good friends from West Point. One of the recipients later said, “I have never been happier to receive a quasi-drunk dial at 2 o’clock [eastern time] in the morning.”
As Mav, T3, and Samsonite made the final turn into the Lake Hefner east parking lot (the 9th time Samsonite had done so on this day) spirits were high and voices raised with the Pirana Anthem. The day started at the STOP sign at 0610, 23 December. The clock stopped when Samsonite arrived at the same place for the 10th time at 0120, 24 December – 101 miles and 19 hours, 10 minutes later.
He’s crazy. But he did it.
After the finish the Brothers and Mom and Dad Swanson all went to IHOP for a little breakfast.
And just in case you get the impression that the Brothers do these things with no impact on themselves…
