One Man, One Treadmill, 12 Hours And Puppies

Not gonna pretend– the headline is a flat-out lie.

Chris McMahon needed not one, not two, but three treadmills to keep up with his 12-hour ultramarathon April 14.

Running in support of The League For Animal Welfare, Chris cranked out 68.31 miles and raised $9,211. He rotated treadmills every three hours to rest machines not used to that kind of stress, but Chris himself only took a handful of five-minute breaks to use the restroom or change shirts.

“I’ve seen a lot of different kinds of fundraisers, but nothing like this” said Marilyn Goodrich, League executive director. “Chris is unbelievable. We’re so grateful.

“There are going to be a lot of selfies taken with these puppies.”

And maybe some adoptions. TQL employees have given permanent homes to nearly a dozen rescue animals from the League since last August.

A patio party/running expo capped the event with representatives from events TQL will sponsor like the Flying Pig Marathon and Forest Hills 5K, as well as Physi, Tri-State Running Company and Hoist. And did we mention the puppies?

Chris burned about 110 calories per mile. He had all kinds of fuel at his disposal, including several 300-calorie beverages, bananas, pretzels and a jar of pickles.

Pickles?

“A lot of endurance fuel is sweetened and it gets old pretty fast,” he said. “I can’t be eating berry flavor all day. The pickles cut right through that sweetness.”

Chris hopped on the first treadmill at 5:30 a.m. without so much as a calf stretch and ran a marathon before 9:30 a.m.

Kristen Swilley of WCPO-TV asked him what he’d be thinking about on the run.

“Anything other than how much longer I have to go,” he said.

That was another reason for multiple treadmills. Fellow employees hopped on during the day to keep him company.

“Distance wise this is tough, but mentally, doing it all on a treadmill is really hard,” Chris said. “A lot of monotony.”

He divided the day into 11-minute increments of running followed by four minutes of walking. But even his walking pace was 3.5 miles per hour.

Chris’ run didn’t just benefit the League. Employees who donated got to guess on his mileage totals at different intervals and win gift cards.

By the way, he’s not taking Friday off. Your argument is invalid.

If you’re ready to run with the big dogs, consider a career at TQL.