Half-Magical Half-Marathon
Running a half-marathon on a micro-dose of shrooms
This story is not meant to be advice.
I ran the Montreal half-marathon this year after adding 0.42g of golden teacher to my breakfast. Here’s how it went.
6:45AM Breakfast
A honey and peanut butter sandwich helps conceal the taste of dried shrooms. It’s still not delicious, but better. A bowl-size mug of coffee washes down and gets me moving.
7:15AM Metro
It took longer to get onto the metro with all the other runners hopping on at the same time. No effects being felt yet. I rushed the gear bag drop-off once I arrived at the starting camp, fearing that I would be late after the slower metro ride.
7:48AM Starting
Feeling it, just a little, as I try to find the starting box. My hands got shroomy-normal-for-me-sweaty, and my heart rate was up (possibly just from the excitement), but I was feeling steady and calm. Usually I have to take two nervous pees before a big run, but not this time.
However, I was concerned because I had forgotten to confirm my starting time the day before when picking up my race bib. Not knowing when or where I was supposed to be starting, I ended up hopping over the start box barrier to join a random corral of runners, which turned out to have the 3:40 pace bunny for the full marathon.
The announcer called the start of the wave just as I landed on the inside of the barrier, and I set out on the run with a wave of a few hundred other runners. I stuck with the 3:40 pace bunny for the first 7 kilometers or so, then pulled ahead of them for the remainder of my run.
8:15AM Fully In It
By this time, my microdose was fully online, I was fully aware of it, and I was feeling great. My body and mind felt in harmony and I was able to control my breathing, set my pace, and keep a great rhythm.
By the time I crossed the 6th kilometer, I had checked out of the run and let my mind wander. It was almost like entering a meditative state. I didn’t really pay attention to the running, and instead I thought about friends, made up some rhymes in my mind, and kept loose track of which kilometer I was running.
8:45AM Checking In
Around the half-way point, maybe at the 11th kilometer, I took a slow and conscious check of my body while I was running, to see how everything was feeling. This was the first time I looked down at my feet as I ran. I admired how well things were going in my new shoes down there, then kept my eyes forward.
I found that I would fall into something like a trance, staring at the end of each stretch of road I was running until the course turned a corner, moving my attention to the end of a new stretch of road. It was peaceful. I would look around once in a while, and definitely stopped to walk at every water station, but I’d say 90% of this run was spent with my head level, my eyes forward, and my mind wandering all around me; like a happy dog exploring on the end of a leash.
I was getting pretty warm by this point. The sunshine was beautiful and the shrooms were still keeping my heat up, so I took off my shirt and used it to wipe my face when needed. This turned out to be a great move. It’s a real joy to have a cool, damp shirt to put against your warm, shroomy forehead while on a run like this.
9:30AM Near The End
The race was nearly over and I was having some negotiations with myself about running an appropriate speed at the end. My trance states and meditation were now over, and my hands were no longer clammy, although I still felt the shrooms, keeping me centered and in the zone.
But my attention had been brought back into the current moment by how close I was to the end of the run. I was tingling and hot from exhaustion, and as usual for me on long runs, I was trying to finish strong in order to pick up extra time with a final sprint. I think the shrooms helped me keep in better touch with what my body could do though, and held my ego in check. I took the last few kilometers a little easier than I normally would, although I couldn’t help a little sprinting in the last half kilometer. :)
The spectators began to form clusters, which morphed into little groups, and the groups began clumping into crowds, and the crowds started getting louder, and their cheering got more intense, and then the finish line, that glorious finish line, was finally in sight!
I understood that the end of the run was coming by the mile markers, but I felt that the end of the run was coming through the changing energy of people lining the road.
9:41AM Finish Line
With the end in sight, I put in a little sprint to cross the line. It felt great, with no pain. Yet.
After the run I had a hard time climbing some stairs, but all in all it wasn’t so bad in terms of after-race pains. Writing this post, two days later, I am having no issues climbing stairs or anything like it. This is great, considering that I only ran three times before the race day in preparation.
The rush of crossing the finish line flushed out any conscious awareness of the microdose, and things were pretty much back to normal by 10:00 or so. I was feeling grateful for finishing the race in a good time, thankful to all the people volunteering to organize the event, and eager to get home and make food.
11:00AM Home
I bought raspberry mocha balls and lime sparkling water to celebrate my time, then grilled up some sausages on my porch and fed some bread to the birds in my back courtyard. It was a great morning.
Other Reflections
Would I run on shrooms again? Yes. Do I recommend it to others? No.
I believe that something like this should be your decision to make, because everyone has their own relationship to psychedelics. I can only recommend that you listen to your intuition faithfully. If you’re not comfortable with shrooms in general, it’s possible that they could give you a panic attack when you add them to an already-stimulating event, such as running 21 kilometers with 15,000 other people while 25,000 spectators line the streets.
Personally, I am a big fan of shrooms and am delighted that Canada is exploring their use more widely through initiatives like the Special Access Program (SAP), which is researching the therapeutic potential of these plants. You can read more about the SAP at this link. 🇨🇦
That’s my story. Next year I might try going for a 1:30 finish, but with proper training in advance.
Training that I will augment with mycelium.
