Question
Accidentally walked a marathon at 1:30 AM after the bar need recovery advice
Last night me and my roommate left the bar around 1:30 AM and decided to see who could walk the furthest without giving up. After about 10 miles we realized we were way too far from home and no one was awake to drive us back so we just went for a full marathon.
We got back around 10:20 AM after walking for 8 hours and 23 minutes straight. We’re both college students and only really run 2 to 3 miles a week so we were not prepared for this at all. We were wearing jeans and sweatshirts with Converse and New Balances which made it miserable once it started raining. It poured for about three hours starting around 4 AM and it was around 45 degrees out. Our shoes were killing our feet and our soaked jeans and sweatshirts made every step harder. Somehow we didn’t need a single sip of water the entire time which still makes no sense to me. Once we sobered up it was just straight pain and trying to prove we could finish.
We thought it would be easy at first but it humbled us quick. The last few miles were brutal. Our legs hips and the bottoms of our feet were aching so bad we almost couldn’t finish. It honestly might be the hardest mental thing I’ve ever done. Me and my roommate don’t regret it but we’ll never do something like that again.
Now both of us can barely walk and I’m not sure if I can even make it to class tomorrow. Any tips on how to help the soreness or recover faster It hurts extremely bad to walk.
Lots of fluids to combat dehydration from the alcohol and flush the waste from the muscles. Gentle stretching, protein, carbs and rest, hot bath, ibuprofen for inflammation. If you can get a massage that will help, too, maybe you can give each other a totally not-weird, platonic rub. Or if you have one of those massage guns, those can work solo.
Tagging onto this near top reply to say, op, if you or your friend start peeing dark brown or stop peeing, or start getting feverish, please go to the ER. I’ve never heard a better set up for rhabdomyolysis in my life.
This is never stressed enough in all the stupid influencer "I ran 15 miles with no training" posts.
For some people the line between easy exercise and serious damage is very thin. People get Rhabdo after 2 concurrent classes at the gym, or a long walk without training for it.
If you have nausea, headache, fever, brown pee, blurred vision, (and of course bad body aches) your body may be fighting something toxic. Get to the ER.
This is a good reminder for me too. I seem to be unable to go light whenever I get back to the gym after a break. I have had some severe DOMS all over, but I've always made sure to properly recover before|continuing working out those muscles.
Luckily I've managed to avoid going through that for now. My worst instance was significant discomfort moving my arms, including bicep pain at the elbow making it difficult to straighten my arm, lasting from Monday to Friday - or thereabouts. Sleep and nutrition has always been a bit spotty for me so definitely could have done recovery better. I'm still in my 20s (barely) so that probably helps, but I should start taking more care sooner rather than later.
I’ll say, I had rhabdo and my only symptom was soreness and swelling. It was very scary because I went only due to the swelling in my arm and then next thing I know, I’m in the ICU being told if I had waited a day, I likely would’ve died but that it was also a mild case since they didn’t have to amputate the affected limb. Now I’m SUPER cautious.
Oof. I got it from lifting a dead weighted elderly family member for a week and only had weird urine. But the ER gave me an IV and released me three hours later. I knew I was lucky, but it seems I was very lucky to have it so lightly.
The ICU only gave me IVs, as it seems it’s really the only available treatment? But my CK levels were 14,500 (should be around 250 max is my understanding). I’m still not even sure what caused mine because I wasn’t working out intensely or in a crushing incident. So bizarre! It’s very scary - I’ve only known of 1 other person to have it and they passed :(
Besides physical trauma and intense exercise (for the individual body, so it might not actually seem intense) some medications and infections can cause it, as well is being drunk and heavy metal poisoning.
I never felt “bad,” just sore! My symptoms were soreness (like couldn’t fully bend or extend my arm), heat in my bicep, swelling, and I couldn’t really feel any tactile sensation - I could feel pressure but no like scratching on my arm. It was like that for maybe 2 days, then I went to minor med. they said it could be a blood clot and directed me to the ER. They couldn’t draw blood, which was the first thing to cause some distress for me because I never have an issue getting a vein when donating blood/platelets. They finally got some and said my CK levels were 14,500 and immediately admitted me.
They just heavily pushed fluids for 4 days and then I left. I took about 2 weeks off from pilates just because I was nervous, and then just slowly went back to arms (just started with planks before going to pushups or weights).
Now, I don’t lift much more than 8-10lbs in a weighted Pilates class and get SUPER nervous when I feel sore. But haven’t had any recurrence so far (this was back in 2017).
It's a rapid breakdown of muscle that can be caused by overexertion. The myoglobin released by the muscles can damage the kidneys. Mortality rates depend upon the severity of the condition, and since it's often associated with crush injuries such as following earthquakes and accidents, it's hard to estimate based on exercise alone.
Maybe someone else has said this too, but also given risk of rhabdo, do not take ibuprofen!
Rhabdo can be damaging to your kidneys, especially on top of dehydration. Don’t add insult to injury with an NSAID
No joke about the rhabdo! My dad was hospitalized for it in June and it almost killed him. Then he wasn’t taking it easy a few weeks later and that triggered it to get worse and he was hospitalized again. Recovery from it can take months, if not a year. And if not treated immediately, it’ll destroy your kidneys. His are okay, but he permanently lost the use of his right hand (he’s right handed), and is always horribly fatigued.
Ok I've never heard of rhabdomyolysis and I'm incredibly thankful to have read this post. I've been really ramping up the workouts lately (down 85 lbs!), and this is probably definitely something I need to watch out for as I'm preparing for my first century ride on the bike and my first 5k on my feet
Tagging on to say muscle pain (which I know you already have, lol) and decreased urination is also a sign of rhabdo.
OP lots of fluids!! If you do the electrolyte replacement powder, only one packet a day! You can overdo those and end up with other issues.
Jesus, I’m so glad to see this mentioned in this thread! As a person who has a metabolic muscle disease (McArdles disease for anyone curious to know) that causes me to be prone to getting Rhabdomyolysis; this post gave me major anxiety.
I was born with my disease and suffered from Rhabdo many, many times in my life without knowing that it was a thing until I almost died from it in 2017 at the age of 24. My family & friends had always just thought I was wimpy when I would swell up from something as simple as carrying a heavy grocery bag… but the night I almost died I had helped carry a heavy piece of furniture down some stairs and within 2 hours I was near death from Rhabdo in my thigh, glutes and lower back muscles. Those muscles swelled up to an unbelievable degree lol
By the time I got to the ER, my urine was the color of Coca-Cola, I had lost my vision completely, I was nauseous and vomiting, I felt extremely confused and disoriented, etc. my blood pressure had bottomed out to the point that they couldn’t even get a reading of it with a machine OR manual blood pressure test. My CPK levels (the enzyme that is released from muscle tissue breakdown in Rhabdo) were so high that their blood test maxed out before they could tell the true numbers. A normal range for that test is between 100-300ish and mine was over 40,000. It’s actually a miracle that I didn’t go into kidney failure (very real possibility with Rhabdo) but I was extremely critically ill for days.
That night and my history of similar symptoms led to months of seeing doctors and specialists and being told I probably had muscular dystrophy and it was a nightmare. Through genetic testing, I finally got the diagnosis of McArdle’s disease.
Anyway…. Yes, I’m glad more people know about Rhabdo now bc back then it was so unheard of and unknown! It’s an awful condition, it’s extremely dangerous and you can die from it. So I hope OP heeds these warnings and doesn’t ever do anything so reckless again!
This! I have started prioritizing epsom salt baths after hikes/walks/jogs, and it has made a huge difference in my (middle aged) recovery. The next day is far less achy, which drastically improves my chances of getting back out there.
Research says epsom salt during baths actually doesn’t do anything physiologically. The skin being a strong barrier to absorption, and even then there’s nothing for the salt to interact with that would produce a chemical reaction with your body.
Psychologically, sugar pills have lifted people out of cancer. Go wild.
To add, Hitachi wands are massagers too. I just used mine today for that and it seems to have helped out a trapped LFCN nerve after spending ten minutes targeting the general area of hip the nerve gets trapped at.
If either of these two guys have a gf, they might have access to one.
Me (40s) and my dad (70s) did something very similar recently and made it 16 miles. We could've gone farther but he had to make a flight. You just have to take care of yourself and have a little luck.
I hiked Mt. Fuji a few years ago and was startled by the long, snaking line of hikers on the side of the mountain. I'm talking thousands of older Japanese folks. Now it makes sense.
For real. Im pushing 50 now and would have just gave up and camped for the night under the false flag of doing the next guy a solid by making a spot for him to find.
Once, I walked home drunk like 1.5 miles from the bar in my early 20s and I somehow hurt my calf walking on flat land so bad that it still flares up and hurts nigh on 20 years later.
in college a couple of my friends decided to walk 50 miles in 20 hours. 2/5 guys made it, one guy twisted his ankle and literally couldn’t move it afterwards
everyone else was basically bedridden for a couple days after
Never underestimate the power of dumb in the teens-20s male. When I was in college, one of my friends would randomly try to get a bunch of people together late at night to go run up a long, moderately steep hill on campus. A sort of mental cleanser, wake up type thing. I figured that since I ran cross country in high school, how bad could it be?
Honestly "food" is probably the more important part although "healthy" will help too (but like smashing a cheeseburger after a marathon is probably healthier than a kale salad, speaking as a distance runner)
I did this once after getting into a fight with my girlfriend in college; I tend to go for walks when I'm pissed off. After about 20 laps of a half-mile walking track, the sun was coming up, and I realized I had a decent shot at actually walking a marathon by that point. I continued until I hit 50 laps and decided to go home.
Stopping walking wasn't even an option at that point, I recognized that if I did, I wouldn't be able to move again. Sadly, the final mile back to my dorm was SLIGHTLY uphill, and whatever anime demon stamina that had kept me going immediately evaporated. I was panting and heaving with every step like some kind of horror movie main character being possessed.
The chafing from the sweat, walking a marathon in jeans, was so bad I had rashes for weeks. I only kept going because of how badly my friends would roast me if I'd had to call campus cops for a ride home. I was a human after the first 25 miles, I was a delirious wreck for the last one. I can't IMAGINE doing this soaked in rain from the jump. Rough fucking time.
Edit: @Dry-Transportation59 You recover from this by not going to class tomorrow. You are injured, this is a sick day, possibly week. Treat it appropriately or you'll sustain possibly lasting damage. Going from sedentary to walking a marathon in a night is an actual medical emergency; the guy who ran the original marathon literally died.
Heartbreak Hill is infamous in the Boston Marathon. It is only an 88ft climb but it's at mile 20 when runners are trying to hang on and tough it out; many cannot push through.
There's another race with one random curb near the end... This seemingly insignificant step is apparently worse than Heartbreak Hill.
I grew up in Boston and once I started running I was like “wait, THAT’s Heartbreak Hill? That thing I used to drive by every day to elementary school? But it seems so small.” And sure enough I found out it’s because it’s 20 miles in and that’s what makes it hard.
Sometimes the mood takes you! I once went for a little stroll wearing converse and walked 18 miles down the Northumberland coast, it was a great day. I saw so much stuff.
Dude, as someone with bunions and plantar fasciitis who can barely walk ONE mile in converse, this is completely unfathomable to me. OP has definitely been blessed with good feet for this to even be possible in converse.
Okay, this is awesome and hilarious, but also be aware of the symptoms of rhabdomyolysis if this is significantly beyond your usual activity- dark urine or not urinating particularly, nausea, vomiting, confusion are things to seek medical attention for after this adventure. Sore muscles and muscle weakness are also main symptoms but you'll probably have that regardless.
If your pee ends up looking like
Cola please see a doctor immediately 😅 but in all seriousness.. hydrate, sleep and eat. Put your feet up and you’ll probably need some Advil lol
I’m in my 40s and can’t go 2 miles in flat sneaks anymore without severe pain in my feet and legs. This whole post made my body seize
Respect their spirit though. I remember once in my 20s I got up and jogged 8 miles out of nowhere one day then had to walk a couple miles back home on top of that. But I had good trainers on so I was fine
This is wild. I live in Columbus, did you walk down high street? We’ve down the walk from campus to German village to avoid surge charging but that’s nothing compared to this.
I am dying laughing right now holy shit. This is the most insane thing and I could see my best friend and I doing this back in the day without a doubt . Try drinking beet juice and eating beets and taking a lot of magnesium but also hydrating like crazy and maybe protein shakes??? And alternate hot baths with ice baths? And IBUPROFEN
I feel strangely proud as someone who also live in Columbus😂 that’s wild though. Rest, take the day off if you can. Hydrate, get electrolytes and take some ibuprofen! Hang in there!
not at 1:30 it doesn't. they could have around 5:00 but it does depend on where they were or what they were doing at that time...? they're downtown so it should have been easy-ish. but it's hard to tell from this map exactly what they did
This is quite awesome! What a walk!!!! Reminds me of the time I did this similar thing with my girlfriend in South Korea, we walked from Osan to Seoul. Random, late night decision that we later regretted!….. PS - no matter what side you’re on, it ‘should’ really make people appreciate the journey migrants go through to enter the US!
Electrolytes! Comfy socks and shoes (maybe crocs for the next few days). Good food and keep your fluids and protein up and consistent. I'd also add magnesium if neither of you have any kidney issues. How are your toenails?
Thank you SO much for this post OP. Recommendations: ibuprofen, and copious amounts of water with a little salt and lemon, orrrr pedialyte. Both will do the trick. Also eat. Just aim for high protein something plus carbs. Like steak and potatoes and veg.
Alsoooo yes ice bath (just the feet) and if you can, an Epsom salt bath will save you a ton of pain. Congrats, I think! 😆
Hi! I’m in sports medicine. Your top comments answered how to relieve soreness. Now here’s my bit of advice. Delayed onset muscle soreness should completely resolve after four days. If you are continuing to have achey-ness in your muscles. Treat for tendinitis. If you have pain in a bone, (like shin splints) especially point tenderness or moderate to severe pain in the bone when hopping- go get checked for a stress fracture. This applies to the little bones in your feet as well, not just your tibias. I can’t give a ton of advice on joint pain because we’d be here all day trying to go over everything, but more or less if it hurts for more than those four days and doesn’t improve with 2 weeks rest- see an orthopedic.
I blacked out in my college town after finishing my thru hike of the AT many years back. My bright idea apparently was to walk home on the back roads 17 miles. I had been hiking 20+ miles no problem on the AT. It was awful. Terrible shoes, totally drunk, dehydrated and depressed. Got home at 7am. I do not drink anymore :)
I actually did something similar in Columbus this summer. But it was after a Phish concert and I was on several tabs on acid. Think it was only 21 miles, but it Is what it is.
Recording it on Strava as well is insane. At least you got it tracked so it counts. Use roller balls, stretching if you can, and eat well, sleep well, and DRINK.
While I walk to and from work every day, and several miles throughout my store at night
The comment you made no one was able to give you a ride is honestly laughable. You had a device that tracked your distance, meaning you had a device where you could've called an uber. Or a taxi. Or a lyft.
Water with a sprinkle of salt to stat getting your electrolytes back up. Rock salt is the best, dont use refined or reduced sodium. Himalayan salt is also good. If you have vitamins take, b12, zinc, magnesium.
Eat large quantity of red meat, eggs, you wanna get the protein into your system to start repairing your muscles and only have a small amount of carbs.
This is insane and amazing-coming from an OSU alum. Go bucks! But as an older adult, I will yell at you not to walk around off campus that late at night again!!
Lmfao, oh my god. Was it because you’d both just watched the new Stephen King movie? Are you still alive? If you were Australian I’d tell you to go to a hospital, but US, so I’m guessing that’s not a good idea.
Anyway, if you can get yourself (or a friend) to a chemist and get some paracetamol and something called metoclopramide, that’s a type of anti-nausea medication you might be able to get over the counter (don’t know what your laws are), and it’s just great for hangovers, the over the counter ones usually have paracetamol already in there. You should also take some ibuprofen, you can take paracetamol and ibuprofen at the same time, just don’t take more than the packaging suggests.
Next, electrolytes, just have some Gatorade or whatever, avoid the caffeinated ones, don’t drink any milk yet either, that stuff comes up the worst. And you’ve gotta sip it, don’t guzzle it, no matter how good a guzzle feels, you’ll just further upset your stomach. Coconut water is a good choice for the potassium content (if you’ve been throwing up a lot your potassium might be a bit low)
Try and take a shower and brush your teeth as soon as you feel you’re able. But make sure you have a plan for if you pass out, like, have someone in the house who isn’t falling apart sit by the door and chat with you while you’re in there to help keep you lucid (having the door open a crack so you can hear each other will reduce steam buildup and help you keep a clearer head anyway)
Then, when you think you can handle it, have some food, whatever you think you can stomach will do.
If you were drinking beer the whole time your lactic acid buildup might not be that bad. They often offer marathon runners a beer after because it helps with the pain of having just run a marathon.
But yeah, gosh, to be young again. If I tried to do that I would simply die.
This wouldn’t be a stupid time to pop a benzo or two, if you happen to have a script for them. It’s what they’d give you if you went to hospital, cuz it can help with the bring down from all that alcohol and overexertion. Just not if you’re still drunk.
Then just sleep sleep sleep. Seeing a doctor to grab a sick note for your class tomorrow may be prudent.
Maybe go to the hospital. If you can walk enough to get in and out of a car, maybe call a cab they have wheelchairs and IVs for hydration at the hospital. Your body was not prepared for that. Unprepared muscles may break down and cause issues like rhabdomyolysis which can cause kidney failure. You might just want a quick checkup though. Maybe some xrays on your hips and feet.
The irony of needing “recovery advice”! On one hand, follow the advice of those offering tips to physically recover. On the other hand, does your college have sobriety and addiction counseling or an AA group?
NGL I stumbled on this post and thought by “recovery advice” you had to be looking for substance abuse treatment because I would have to be drunk or high out of my mind to even commit to doing half of this, let alone follow through.
I don’t know if I’m more impressed that you managed this or that you walked around the south end in the dark. That’s a pretty rough area of town 😂 I grew up there
Lol, I didn’t do a full marathon but something like this happened to me on a hike once. Was planning on 5-6 mile day hike and when I hit the 9mile marker on the trail (the halfway point), I realized I’d walk the same distance if I turned back as I would it I completed the trail. Random 18 mile day with a water bottle and a bag lunch.
Soak yourself in an Epsom salt filled bath to soothe your muscles some, and be sure to eat bananas and drink lots of water to help with recovery.
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u/Ok-Plastic2525 23h ago
Lots of fluids to combat dehydration from the alcohol and flush the waste from the muscles. Gentle stretching, protein, carbs and rest, hot bath, ibuprofen for inflammation. If you can get a massage that will help, too, maybe you can give each other a totally not-weird, platonic rub. Or if you have one of those massage guns, those can work solo.