A Life-Changing Night

The year was 2014, I was at my friend’s apartment and we were enjoying an episode of a TV show called Stan Lee’s Superhumans. The show was about people around the globe with extraordinary physical or mental abilities. The episode we were watching was about a very special man, an Ultra-marathoner who is capable of running extraordinary distances non-stop. I was shocked to hear that the human body was capable to sustain running for much greater distance than the Marathon. That was in big contradiction with all I knew about running. A couple of days have passed and that idea persisted in my head : How was it even possible? A seed took root inside of me.

Ultramarathon Man

I went on Google and found out that his name was Dean Karnazes and he was the author of “Ultramarathon Man” a sport bestseller. That made me remember that my brother gave me a running book for my previous birthday, written by a hardcore runner. I picked up the book on my shelf and… it was THAT book!
It totally captivated me. After reading the first half of it the previous day, I went to the market and bought myself a backpack and a frontal lamp. I could feel the excitement of a new adventure, in which I was just about to embark…

That evening, I was feeling very tired, so I decided to read before going to bed. I finished the rest of the book and went to sleep. Just before entering my bedroom I saw the new backpack that I had bought earlier in the day and for some reasons… It just couldn’t wait! It was cold and rainy outside but going out was more appealing to me than ever. It was 1 am and without much thinking, I dressed up for running, filled my backpack and hit the road.

I was totally euphoric! I had absolutely no idea where I was going, the only thing that I knew is that tonight, I was going to run farther than I ever did. I had a song playing in my head, “Rising Force” by Yngwie Malmsteen, it was so clear that I could almost hear it for real.

"The lightning strikes cracking the night
It feels like never before
The moon is full, in the heart of the night
I’m not the same anymore, no
I feel a rising force"

I headed toward the largest road, just outside my home town so I would have more options to improvise a good route from there. I decided to go downhill as much as possible. That way, I would finish by climbing and it would be harder. I headed west and I soon passed in front of a bar with a bunch of guys smoking cigarettes outside. “HEY! It’s late, go to sleep idiot!” One yelled at me. That was strange, I realized that from the standard point-of-view, drinking alcohol in a bar at 2 am was much more socially accepted than being out there running. But as eccentric as what I was doing might have seemed to the drunk guys, it was feeling extremely right to me. It has been just as if it was meant to happen and that I was in the very right place.

At some point, fatigue and pain set in and that is exactly what I was waiting for. I decided to keep going farther and farther from home until I would feel that I have to stop. That way, I would have no choice but to push my limits, if I wanted to go back! When I decided to turn back, reality kicked in like a punch in the face. I started to regret the lunatic idea that I just had, to do such a thing. I was in a bad shape, shivering in the cold, rain was getting intense, I was fighting sleep, I wanted to be in my bed!

That was a very tough run just to go where I was, now I had to do it all over again! I kept putting one foot in front of the other and eventually, the sun began to rise. The city started to wake up slowly as I was struggling my way home. I could feel the temperature warming up and there were now some people walking outside. The last K was a “power” walk more than a run, but I finally made it! I was home! That run was the most challenging “event” I had ever done and there were no finish line, no crowd, no cheers, no medal, nobody was even aware of it. I was feeling fantastic. I was laughing out loud thinking of what I just did… I was standing there, in a Tim Horton’s, waiting for my order along people who were starting their day routine. That was crazy. Tonight, I have learnt a great lesson : On any ordinary night, I am always free to make it become an epic adventure. I just have to open the door, go out, and run!