Birhanu Van Der Riet and the backyard marathon

On the morning of Monday, April 13, Birhanu Van Der Riet woke up and knew the day was going to be a challenge.

He forced himself out of bed just before 7 a.m., grabbing some water before heading out to the backyard of his family’s Winter Garden home with his younger brother, Mehari — who toted a video camera in his hands.

There, laid out in the backyard, was a running course two-tenths of a mile long that Birhanu Van Der Riet had set up recently. The end goal? Run a full, 26.2-mile marathon.

“The excitement made us just go, without any preparation or anything,” Birhanu Van Der Riet said. “It’s crazy. I was like, ‘Am I doing this?’ I was very excited, but I was like — at the same time — ‘Am I doing this? You know what, let’s go ahead and try it.’”

Birhanu Van Der Riet was inspired after watching some videos on YouTube of people who had attempted to run marathons in their backyards during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

The catch here — along with not preparing at all — was that this makeshift run was the first full marathon that Birhanu Van Der Riet had ever attempted. Before his run, the longest he had ever gone in his running career was 16 miles — a full 10.2 miles short of the mark he needed to reach to be successful.

‘ROUND AND ‘ROUND

There’s no denying that Birhanu Van Der Riet has a knack for running. He’s been doing it for the last six years.

After running 5Ks with his family for fun, Birhanu Van Der Riet was a part of the newly minted cross-country team at Foundation Academy before he graduated and joined the Palm Beach Atlantic University track team as a freshman for the 2019-20 school year.

Despite all that experience and effort, however, nothing could have prepared him for the most challenging run he had ever undertaken.

Starting was relatively easy, but about halfway through, the challenge increased. The first point of contention? The course itself.

“We have about five acres, but it’s bad — it’s sandy, and it’s not even,” Birhanu Van Der Riet  said. “You can’t avoid some of the uneven surfaces that I had to go through. My feet were hurting really bad, because of the uneven surface.”

Along with the varying surfaces that required more effort with every step, the simple act of running in circles proved to be exhausting both physically and mentally.

To hit 26.2 miles on a 2/10-mile track, Birhanu Van Der Riet had to run 131 laps. 

“It’s tough — it was going around and around, and watching my watch,” Birhanu Van Der Riet  said. “It’s just a loop after loop, and it is just kind of boring. The time doesn’t go fast — it’s just doing the same thing over and over.”

By the 18th mile, Birhanu Van Der Riet’s body began to give up on him. It was past 10 a.m., and the sun and heat were kicking in.

Two miles later — at mile 20 — Birhanu Van Der Riet’s other younger brother, Cole, appeared at just the right time to give him the boost he needed.

“My little brother — he brought me an ice cold water and sprayed it on me every time I passed — and he gave me something to drink,” Birhanu Van Der Riet said. “He was a hero — because of him, I was able to finish. He woke up at the right time when I needed the help and encouragement.

“It’s crazy. I was like, ‘Am I doing this?’ I was very excited, but I was like — at the same time — ‘Am I doing this? You know what, let’s go ahead and try it.’”

— Birhanu Van Der Riet 

“Toward the end, I don’t know what happened, but something in my nerve said, ‘Oh, this is the end,’ and suddenly I woke up from my sleep,” he said. “Even though I was about to collapse, I suddenly woke up.”

The physical pain still was there as Birhanu Van Der Riet continued to the finish line, but his mood shifted dramatically. His feet pounded away at the earth underneath him as his family cheered him on — watching him cross the finish line. 

After four-and-one-half hours, Birhanu Van Der Riet had conquered his backyard marathon, but the celebration was short lived — he was too tired to do much celebrating, he said.

“My brothers had to carry me — I had to hop on their shoulders, and they just carried me inside,” Birhanu Van Der Riet said. “I couldn’t even stand for a shower; I just hopped into the pool and got out and went to nap. After that, I was slowly recovering.”

A week removed from the marathon, the pain is still fresh in Birhanu Van Der Riet’s mind. The marathon makes for a great story, but don’t expect history to repeat itself, Birhanu Van Der Riet said.

“The mentality is so tough, I will tell you,” Birhanu Van Der Riet said. “Even if people say, ‘I’ll give you $1,000 to do that again,’ I would never do it again.”