Jessica Walhof: Quarantine Backyard Ultra by Personal Peak

Other than race cancellations my training hasn’t been effected by COVID19 restrictions. Due to my planned races being cancelled, I signed up for a race called The Quarantine Backyard Ultra by Personal Peak (QBYU).

A Backyard Ultra format consists of running 4.166667 miles at the top of the hour, every hour. You can go as fast or as slow as you need, just as long as you’re back and running again for the next lap at the top of the hour. You keep going until you decide you’ve had enough, you don’t get back in time for the next lap, or you are the last person left running. 

The Personal Peak QBYU was a live event with 2,400 registered participants from 55 countries all over the world. Most participants were connected via a Zoom chat and we all started together at 8am Central time on Saturday, April 4. I set my phone and zoom chat next to the door so that they could see me leave and come back and I could show my watch’s mileage at the end of each lap. This race format gave me the motivation I needed to make up for my 50 mile race that was cancelled and also gave me the push to complete the distance in less than 12 hours total! I chose a 4.167 mile route from my house that didn’t cross too many busy streets and included a few hills for variety. I was also fortunate to have my friend Amanda join me for an early lap and then my friend Kristina found me on lap 10,  joined me for lap 11, cheered me on, and provided race photography on my last mile! I called it quits after 12 laps as I reached my 50 mile distance goal, and I was sick of pounding so much pavement, even though I was still consistently finishing each lap under 45 minutes. When I wasn’t sore the next day I realized I could have easily done a few more laps, but there’s no way I would have been able to keep up with the eventual winner, Mike Wardian of Arlington, Virginia, who went 63 hours and ran 262.5 miles!