A few weeks ago, a great friend of mine came up with a stupid, but amazing idea. Run for 24 hours around a 1km circuit to raise awareness for Movember and Men's mental health. I laughed at the idea and thought, absolutely no way am I prepped or ready to run for 80+ kms let alone for 24 hours!!
Then I realised he wanted to organise it for the 28th of November. The day of my deceased brothers birthday. It then hit me like a tonne of bricks and I realised, I had to do this for him.
My brother was a clearance diver in the Australian Navy. He had done tours spending days on end awake in treacherous conditions, so I thought, how hard could running 24 hours be?. I knew this was a powerful way in which i could honour his name and also put my body to its true test, the same way he always did.
I set off with my team mates at 8am on Saturday the 28th November. Starting off the morning at around 7am with 100ml shot of Modex. I felt ready for action, body and mind. Just 2kms in though, the bandaids on my toes had started rubbing on the inside and i already had torn skin.. I knew this was going to be a long day.
We ran for 2 hours, I rested for a few minutes, then set back off for a further 2 hours. At this stage I was nearly 50kms in and my body started to hurt. I took another little break but my body wanted to keep going and actually started to feel better. I knew this feeling, it was that second wind. Whilst the body was tired, mentally and aerobically i had plenty left and thats where i knew Modex was doing its thing.
By the 80km mark, I was hurting, I was really hurting. My mind was going to places I didn't want it to go and my toes were in agony.
I took another 30ml of Modex to help get me through the last Half Marathon. It hit at 90km. I broke down, I started to tear up, in agonising pain, but I stood back up, fuelled by the fire of accomplishing my goal of 100kms and I ran on. The pain you feel when someone so close to you is taken away so suddenly, no pain could ever match that. So what are superficial wounds ever going to do to me.
I did it. I hit the f***king 100kms. Filled with pure joy and love I did this for my brother and for my Hunter Athletics family. I then went back out and walked a few more laps at the early hours of the morning to support the people who support me.
- Harry Young
Looking to do a marathon or ultra marathon and need some motivation to train? TRY THIS
What an amazing tribute from a younger brother to the “fallen athlete” who was his older brother and mentor and was tragically killed in 2015. You are my hero Harry xx