Part 1 Here
Part 2 Here
I was looking forward to the road. Not only did it mean a change in terrain, but it meant I had less than 9 miles to go. An hour and a half if things went well. Funny how you can feel relieved that you only have 90 minutes left to run.
I chowed down on the jelly beans as I walked up the first and only significant hill on the roads. Bad idea. There were a lot of weird flavors in there! Thankfully I had some water to wash them down with. No company this year so I just wound my way to the top. The sun went behind the clouds again and I threw on my orange shades so I could pretend the sun was still shining on me. They also helped as it was a bit windy and my contacts were getting irritated.
I looked forward to the first countdown mile marker and was a little dismayed to see it had taken me a bit longer to get to 8 down than I anticipated. I had thought I actually had 90 minutes to finish 8.4 but when I got to 8 I had 80 minutes to get in at 8:40. I definitely didn't have much breathing room. Last year I ran something like 10:20 pace on the roads. I just kept trucking running many of the hills I had walked last year.
LW past me as I chose to walk one. She looked great and went on to finish her first 50 in 8:33. Not too shabby. One gentleman who had been going back and forth with me on the towpath finally made his last pass. He commented that it kept getting harder and harder to catch me.
I looked forward to the aid at 6 to go. Some girls were standing ahead of the aid station to refill water and I asked them if there was soup. They said yep so I was happy. I asked for the soup as I jogged into the aid station and then noticed the hot chocolate and went for that instead. It was so good. Grabbed another cup of cola and moved on. Less than an hour now. I had gained about a minute so I had 60 seconds to play with.
Between 6 and 4 to go I passed two more women. One was struggling. It was her first 50, she said she had hoped to finish sub 8. She said she ran a 3:16 marathon and she thought 8 would be doable. I told her that might have been ambitious but if she could hold onto 10 minute pace she would finish under 8:40. I pulled ahead on a roller but I saw her finish shortly after me.
Somewhere in here I saw a guy and his son holding up signs. I thought oh how nice of them to come out and support. Then I read the first sign "Go home JFK Runners and stop clogging up our roads. You Jerks" I said Thanks for coming out, glad you are having a good day. Some people are just ridiculous. What a waste of their time. I secretly hoped some crazed runner would sucker punch the guy. What a lesson he was teaching his son. Just so readers are aware the race travels on 10.4 miles of road total. 8.4 at the end which are open to traffic. So these people were really just wasting their time, the race does their best to accommodate the town and if they have a problem they should take it up with their city or their town not with runners who paid money to come and race. Not to mention that all those people will be bringing money to the hotels and restaurants in their city. Okay enough of a rant.
Just before 4 to go a younger guy went flying by me. I commented that he looked great. He said his shins were killing him. I told him it didn't look like it but he ended up pulling over at 4 to go to talk with his crew and I didn't see him again. At 4 to go I took a cola and some broth and moved along. I was ready to be done. My head was drooping again and I head to focus to keep my posture good.
I passed one more lady going up the only other big hill which I believe ended at 3 to go. At this point I didn't want to walk any more but I didn't want to push pace. I had 2-3 minutes to play with and I didn't want to hammer and end up with a stitch or cramp and not achieve my goal. My quads and calves were definitely worn out by now and were getting that painful close to seizing feeling in them.
I made myself a bargain that I could walk through the aid station at 1.5 to go if I didn't walk any hills up until then. So at 1.5 I took a cola and walked a few seconds then I made my way down hill toward the 1 mile to go marker. A nice spectator took my cup for me as I didn't want to litter. It felt good to be closing in on the finish and I got my final boost of energy. I was very careful here as you cross some highway ramps and I didn't want my day to end by getting hit while not paying attention.
With about .5 miles to go I spotted SG and he ran with me to the finish. This pumped me up as we chatted about how DM did (8:14!). The volunteers at 0.5 to go shouted hey we keep seeing you all over to SG and I told them he was out picking up hot ladies. He laughed and said he still had one ugly mug (SH) to go back for. I let SG know I might get loud at the finish so he pulled up and let me hammer in. I knew I had my goal now it was time to try and finish under 8:35. I sneaked in just under at 8:34:58 pumping my fist in the air.
I was glad to be done. The day was long and that towpath just really takes it out of you. On a trail the hills let you walk a bit and you get to change up your footing, but on that towpath you just grind it out. Very tough, much more so the second time around. I'll have a special place for JFK because it was my first, but I don't think I will be joining the "500" mile club anytime soon. 50 might not be my distance. Only time will tell I guess.
Thanks for all the well wishes. I definitely think I had some outside support helping me to chug along later in the day when I would have much rather walked. I am really happy that I exceeded my super secret goal, mostly because I think that means that I have a sub 3:25 marathon in me for sure. Originally I had thought I might go run a marathon in December depending on recovery, but I think I am going to take it easy. My body has earned a break. Took two days off and tonight I will do yoga. Tomorrow I will probably swim. I'm just going to play it by ear. Everything is feeling fine other than my toe. My right knee hurt pretty bad when I got done but has since been fine. I'm already walking down the stairs semi normal again. I'm glad as I really hoped the higher mileage training would result in a quick recovery this time around.
Splits:
15.5 AT 2:58 (11:29 PACE)
26.3 Towpath 4:15 (9:44 Pace)
8.4 Road 1:21 (9:40 pace)
Final Time 8:34:58 (10:16 pace)
Place 159 out of 1079, 25 out of ~250 women, 5 out of 36 Age group
Showing posts with label JFK 07. Show all posts
Showing posts with label JFK 07. Show all posts
2007 JFK 50.2 Mile Race Report-C&O Canal Towpath
Be sure to read Part 1 here
I tried to fall into a groove as I headed onto the towpath. I was a little worried about the shoes since I had stupidly washed my trail shoes in the machine after running with scissors, I figured they'd be fine for 15.5 miles but I wasn't sure how they would hold up for 50.2. With 1,000 plus runners though odds are you are going to miss your crew every now and again and it definitely was not the end of my race if I had to wear my mizuno ascends since they are pretty lightweight and feel more like road shoes than any other trail shoes I've tried.
I quickly fell into a comfortable pace and just tried to assess my body as I moved forward on the towpath. I was very happy to get off the path so quickly and was hoping I'd have a good day on the towpath as well. DM caught me within the first mile of the towpath. She went flying by. I had looked at the first mile marker and knew I was somewhere under 10 minute pace and I did not want to go any faster so I encouraged her and watched her go.
The runners were pretty spread out now. I just focused on myself and enjoying the view of the river. I noted that the trail seemed to have more leaves on it than last year and I wanted to be sure I didn't lose too much focus and take a spill on the trail.
It wasn't long before I was heading into the first towpath aid station. I saw SH ahead of me and called out to him as I grabbed some fruit and a sip of gatorade. The aid station timed perfectly with my 1 minute walk break so when the watch went off I told SH I was sure I'd see him again. He was limping, said he stepped on a rock, I laughed and told him I thought I'd probably stepped on 300 of them on the trail as I pushed ahead.
The pace felt comfortable and for some reason I decided to keep track of the towpath miles and my approximate pace. I knew as long as I kept to a 10 minute pace I'd have a shot at 8:40 so I was looking to do 4:20 on the towpath (26.3 miles). Well mentally counting down miles is probably not the best tactic. It works fine when you are doing what you want but can start to get to you when you slow down or you start to think about how many miles you have left. I did my best not to play too many mind games and mostly just watched splits to make sure they stayed below 10 but there were many miles where I noted how many miles I had left on the towpath and later miles where I noted how many miles I had left to the finish.
I didn't find too many running buddies this year. I passed many trekkers and would give an encouraging cheer "Great Job," "Looking Good," or "Have a great race." There were a few runners I went back and forth with, a few pulled away, but most fell behind me. I passed quite a few women which surprised me. One gentleman I passed was not impressed by my encouragement and retorted "It will be a good job when I finish standing." Guess he wasn't having the best of days. I remarked to a runner near me that I'd still encourage everyone because it's better to make 20 peoples days and piss off one guy then not to make anyone's day. I ran with him for a bit and he pulled away when I had to take a walk break. I was doing really well with my 20/1 plan again this year and didn't want to mess around with it. During the early walk breaks I would try to eat a peanut butter cracker. Later I just made sure to sip some water while I power walked. Many of my walk breaks fell in line with the aid stations which was good but discouraging when you started to look forward to more walking.
Around mile 25 I caught up to TJ Hawk. I didn't even know he knew me but he talked to me for a bit commenting on how I was having a great year and that I looked strong. He asked me my goal and I replied that I would really like to break 8:40. At 25 we were at 4:25 and he remarked that I was right on target. It was nice to be half way done and know that 8:40 was still possible. I still felt strong here and I pulled away after the aid station.
One of my goals was to make it through the entire race without taking any pain meds. I remembered having to pop ibuprofen before I even got off the trail last year and I have just made a decision this year that I don't want to mask my pain. Surprisingly other than the regular residual soreness of 25 miles of running I wasn't feeling too bad. Nothing was standing out other than my left big toe feeling a bit numb. It was cold and I had had the same pair of shoes on for the entire day so I figured that was pretty normal.
At the mile 27 station I again kept an eye out for Rootsrunner as I thought he might be there. I didn't see him and figured that I probably was just running the wrong pace to catch them at all during the day. I thought that his other runners must be near to me but wasn't sure at all. So I was pleasantly surprised to see him under a big bridge around mile 28. At that point I was feeling good still and the shoes felt good I told him I'd just get the shoes at mile 38. But he encouraged me to take them now in case I missed them again. I got the shoes on and grabbed a piece of Mojito Mint Orbitz gum to chew on for awhile. I thanked them and moved along. They let me know that MT and the other Second Sole runners were right behind me. It was nice to know that everyone was running so well.
The next 10 miles were a bit of a struggle. I was keeping pace but the miles seemed long and I just wasn't feeling very perky. The towpath just seemed to stretch on forever and I kept myself occupied thinking about the aid station at mile 38 where I would get to refuel. I had starting hitting the soup at mile 27 and was excited to have some tomato soup at 34. It tasted great and surprisingly goes well with mint mojito gum :) I took my first swig of cola at this station hoping that the caffeine would improve my energy.
One of the ladies I had gone back and forth with for awhile commented that this was her first 50 and it was much harder than a 50k. She said all her friends on her team were ahead of her and she couldn't understand since she normally ran with them. I went for empathy but didn't really know what to say to her. She eventually pulled away from me for good so she must have started to feel better!
I kept trucking along on my 20/1 plan which was pretty close to a walk break every 2 miles, actually a little farther as I was still managing sub 10s. When I finally arrived at mile 38 I was excited to take a brief break and refuel. I still was feeling down so I grabbed some extra energy. I took a few apple slices, a pb and j, a cup of cola, and some soup and started walking.
I ran a little ways and saw Rootsrunner and asked for some caffeine as I was still not perking up. I grabbed a can and ran with it for the next two miles. Right after I left them the sun came up and my energy levels seemed to increase dramatically so I decided I didn't need it. I noted that I had been letting my head hang to the side, something I haven't done since high school track which is a sure sign I am tuckered out and I was glad I was coming around.
As we neared the end of the towpath Rootsrunner's friend LW passed me. She was feeling good and looked strong. I passed her going through the aid station and let her know to grab some extra grub as we were about to climb a big hill. I grabbed a handful of jelly beans and took an electrolyte pill as I had noticed my face was salty, I would have given someone quite a bit of money for a wet washcloth to wipe my face. Took another drag of cola and some soup and made my way onto the road.
I finished the towpath miles in 4:15:47 and was ecstatic to see my overall time was 7:13:50 meaning I could run 10 minute miles the rest of the way and finish under 8:40. I knew the race wasn't over yet but I felt good and I knew 10 minute miles were doable.
In general on the towpath this year it just felt a lot lonelier. I didn't run with many people and it even seemed there weren't as many cheerleaders along the way. Although there were a few that were fantastic! I am guessing it gets more crowded the slower you go as there are more people running 9 hour+ than under. It was cool at one point I passed a few trekkers and cheered for them and the one remembered me from last year. Another gentleman was really kind stating that he wished he could run as fast as me and hoped that I'd have a great race. All the friendly faces I did see more than made up for any down points I had when I was alone on the trail.
It was hard to encourage myself to keep up the pace when I wasn't feeling great. I think last year was easier because I didn't know what was ahead whereas this year at every point I knew exactly just how far I had to go and I knew in order to meet my goal I couldn't slack.
I tried to fall into a groove as I headed onto the towpath. I was a little worried about the shoes since I had stupidly washed my trail shoes in the machine after running with scissors, I figured they'd be fine for 15.5 miles but I wasn't sure how they would hold up for 50.2. With 1,000 plus runners though odds are you are going to miss your crew every now and again and it definitely was not the end of my race if I had to wear my mizuno ascends since they are pretty lightweight and feel more like road shoes than any other trail shoes I've tried.
I quickly fell into a comfortable pace and just tried to assess my body as I moved forward on the towpath. I was very happy to get off the path so quickly and was hoping I'd have a good day on the towpath as well. DM caught me within the first mile of the towpath. She went flying by. I had looked at the first mile marker and knew I was somewhere under 10 minute pace and I did not want to go any faster so I encouraged her and watched her go.
The runners were pretty spread out now. I just focused on myself and enjoying the view of the river. I noted that the trail seemed to have more leaves on it than last year and I wanted to be sure I didn't lose too much focus and take a spill on the trail.
It wasn't long before I was heading into the first towpath aid station. I saw SH ahead of me and called out to him as I grabbed some fruit and a sip of gatorade. The aid station timed perfectly with my 1 minute walk break so when the watch went off I told SH I was sure I'd see him again. He was limping, said he stepped on a rock, I laughed and told him I thought I'd probably stepped on 300 of them on the trail as I pushed ahead.
The pace felt comfortable and for some reason I decided to keep track of the towpath miles and my approximate pace. I knew as long as I kept to a 10 minute pace I'd have a shot at 8:40 so I was looking to do 4:20 on the towpath (26.3 miles). Well mentally counting down miles is probably not the best tactic. It works fine when you are doing what you want but can start to get to you when you slow down or you start to think about how many miles you have left. I did my best not to play too many mind games and mostly just watched splits to make sure they stayed below 10 but there were many miles where I noted how many miles I had left on the towpath and later miles where I noted how many miles I had left to the finish.
I didn't find too many running buddies this year. I passed many trekkers and would give an encouraging cheer "Great Job," "Looking Good," or "Have a great race." There were a few runners I went back and forth with, a few pulled away, but most fell behind me. I passed quite a few women which surprised me. One gentleman I passed was not impressed by my encouragement and retorted "It will be a good job when I finish standing." Guess he wasn't having the best of days. I remarked to a runner near me that I'd still encourage everyone because it's better to make 20 peoples days and piss off one guy then not to make anyone's day. I ran with him for a bit and he pulled away when I had to take a walk break. I was doing really well with my 20/1 plan again this year and didn't want to mess around with it. During the early walk breaks I would try to eat a peanut butter cracker. Later I just made sure to sip some water while I power walked. Many of my walk breaks fell in line with the aid stations which was good but discouraging when you started to look forward to more walking.
Around mile 25 I caught up to TJ Hawk. I didn't even know he knew me but he talked to me for a bit commenting on how I was having a great year and that I looked strong. He asked me my goal and I replied that I would really like to break 8:40. At 25 we were at 4:25 and he remarked that I was right on target. It was nice to be half way done and know that 8:40 was still possible. I still felt strong here and I pulled away after the aid station.
One of my goals was to make it through the entire race without taking any pain meds. I remembered having to pop ibuprofen before I even got off the trail last year and I have just made a decision this year that I don't want to mask my pain. Surprisingly other than the regular residual soreness of 25 miles of running I wasn't feeling too bad. Nothing was standing out other than my left big toe feeling a bit numb. It was cold and I had had the same pair of shoes on for the entire day so I figured that was pretty normal.
At the mile 27 station I again kept an eye out for Rootsrunner as I thought he might be there. I didn't see him and figured that I probably was just running the wrong pace to catch them at all during the day. I thought that his other runners must be near to me but wasn't sure at all. So I was pleasantly surprised to see him under a big bridge around mile 28. At that point I was feeling good still and the shoes felt good I told him I'd just get the shoes at mile 38. But he encouraged me to take them now in case I missed them again. I got the shoes on and grabbed a piece of Mojito Mint Orbitz gum to chew on for awhile. I thanked them and moved along. They let me know that MT and the other Second Sole runners were right behind me. It was nice to know that everyone was running so well.
The next 10 miles were a bit of a struggle. I was keeping pace but the miles seemed long and I just wasn't feeling very perky. The towpath just seemed to stretch on forever and I kept myself occupied thinking about the aid station at mile 38 where I would get to refuel. I had starting hitting the soup at mile 27 and was excited to have some tomato soup at 34. It tasted great and surprisingly goes well with mint mojito gum :) I took my first swig of cola at this station hoping that the caffeine would improve my energy.
One of the ladies I had gone back and forth with for awhile commented that this was her first 50 and it was much harder than a 50k. She said all her friends on her team were ahead of her and she couldn't understand since she normally ran with them. I went for empathy but didn't really know what to say to her. She eventually pulled away from me for good so she must have started to feel better!
I kept trucking along on my 20/1 plan which was pretty close to a walk break every 2 miles, actually a little farther as I was still managing sub 10s. When I finally arrived at mile 38 I was excited to take a brief break and refuel. I still was feeling down so I grabbed some extra energy. I took a few apple slices, a pb and j, a cup of cola, and some soup and started walking.
I ran a little ways and saw Rootsrunner and asked for some caffeine as I was still not perking up. I grabbed a can and ran with it for the next two miles. Right after I left them the sun came up and my energy levels seemed to increase dramatically so I decided I didn't need it. I noted that I had been letting my head hang to the side, something I haven't done since high school track which is a sure sign I am tuckered out and I was glad I was coming around.
As we neared the end of the towpath Rootsrunner's friend LW passed me. She was feeling good and looked strong. I passed her going through the aid station and let her know to grab some extra grub as we were about to climb a big hill. I grabbed a handful of jelly beans and took an electrolyte pill as I had noticed my face was salty, I would have given someone quite a bit of money for a wet washcloth to wipe my face. Took another drag of cola and some soup and made my way onto the road.
I finished the towpath miles in 4:15:47 and was ecstatic to see my overall time was 7:13:50 meaning I could run 10 minute miles the rest of the way and finish under 8:40. I knew the race wasn't over yet but I felt good and I knew 10 minute miles were doable.
In general on the towpath this year it just felt a lot lonelier. I didn't run with many people and it even seemed there weren't as many cheerleaders along the way. Although there were a few that were fantastic! I am guessing it gets more crowded the slower you go as there are more people running 9 hour+ than under. It was cool at one point I passed a few trekkers and cheered for them and the one remembered me from last year. Another gentleman was really kind stating that he wished he could run as fast as me and hoped that I'd have a great race. All the friendly faces I did see more than made up for any down points I had when I was alone on the trail.
It was hard to encourage myself to keep up the pace when I wasn't feeling great. I think last year was easier because I didn't know what was ahead whereas this year at every point I knew exactly just how far I had to go and I knew in order to meet my goal I couldn't slack.
2007 JFK 50.2 Mile Race Report-Appalachian Trail
This may be a long one folks, or it may not, it will be hard to surpass the report from last year. You can only do your first 50 once and let me tell you the second time around is definitely different!
So here's the first entry of (hopefully) 3.
Started the morning off right with a 4:30 AM wake up call. I actually woke up at 4:20 on my own and hopped in the shower. Helped MT get her stuff around and we headed to the gas station to try and locate some food. Got back to the hotel and thankfully the staff was up early and I was able to score some milk for my cheerios. Had my tea and cereal and then we were off to the start.
Missed most of the pre race meeting this time around while we waited in the bathroom line. We cut it close with a last minute porta potty stop but were lined up and ready to go a few seconds before the start. Timing worked out well as it was cold and standing around at the start would have sucked. I didn't have my watch ready when the gun went off so I figured I would be about 20 seconds over for the day from what my watch said. I had a super secret goal to hit 8:40 and I knew it might be close at the end of the day and I didn't want to take the watch for granted.
Took us about 20 seconds to cross the start and we were headed towards the Appalachian trail. MT and I were running together and our goal was to jog up the first 2 mile hill like I did last year. I didn't want to waste energy but I also didn't want to get stuck behind slower trail runners once we hit the rocky single track of the trail. We both were feeling good and made good time up the hill. Somewhere a little over 20 minutes. As we hit the top and moved onto the trail I took the lead. We wound through a mile or so of Appalachian. It seemed like we had placed ourselves well as there wasn't much jockeying going on. After a mile or so of trail you hit the first aid table around 3.5 miles. I grabbed a sip of Gatorade and we moved onto the paved section of the AT. This is a long rolling uphill to get you back onto the real trail. This year it seemed a lot longer. I had remembered hitting the steepest parts of the path pretty quickly but you do some rolling miles first and then you walk up to the top. Most everyone was walking here. I knew there would be plenty of time for running later and we power walked to the top and onto the trail.
Met some nice guys through here. A few Cleveland locals and some Michigan fans. Met a birthday boy who swore to us when he got done he would be eating three birthday cakes :) I swear it's the people that make these races so much fun.
We got to mile 5.5 or so in around 56 minutes which I thought was similar to last year. We hopped on the trail and other than one guy who went flying by "on your left." It was pretty easy going. At times I felt like I was holding back but I figured better safe than sorry. I wanted to feel like I was running strong but not putting in a "race" effort. I am still not quite sure how one should feel if racing a 50 but I figured I shouldn't ever feel like I was pushing pace. The group thinned out as we headed towards Gathland at mile 9.7. The trail was a bit rockier then I remembered but I reveled in how amazing it was that I could run over this terrain and how fast my brain must be processing all the "information" the trail was throwing at it. I also find it neat to think that although over 1,000 people would run this race, all of us were likely to take a different approach throughout the day ending in none of us running the exact same course. Kind of a cheesy metaphor for life. Hey I was on the trail in the cold, it's okay to be cheesy I guess.
We picked up a couple of runners from Wyoming who talked more than me (I know hard to believe). They talked about all kinds of things entertaining us on our way to Gathland. One was a taco store manager. He rattled off Taco John's slogan ad for us as he almost bit it. I guess that's why I should keep my trap shut on the trail, but I felt comfortable talking and staying focused on the task at hand. These guys were wild, talking about running on drugs and crazy goth hashers they had met. Definitely an entertaining duo.
Made it to Gathland and after smiling for the photographers had my bottle refilled and grabbed the only nutrition I could find which was a cliff bar. I grabbed one for myself and one for MT as we headed back up the trail. The hill wasn't as steep as I remembered but still a good chance to walk and eat. I was fairly certain we were going faster than last year and I felt great so I was excited. Most of the way here was clear and we could run at our own pace. Once again there were sections where I felt I could run faster but the way wasn't clear and there weren't any real good opportunities for passing. We weren't talking much through here. Tried to stay focused. I pulled ahead on the downs and even ran some of the shorter ups that I normally would walk. I felt strong and I figured I should take advantage of my high points during the day.
I knew we were doing well when we passed our first trekker long before the switch backs. Last year we had seen our first early starters heading down into the switch backs so I figured we were doing well. As we headed into a rockier descent I knew we were less than 2 miles from the bottom of the trail. I was stoked. I took it easy on the decline only passing one older gentleman. I got to the switch backs and felt so much stronger than last year. I actually was held up this time as a long line of runners were moving slower than me. I just took my time around corners so that I could jog to catch up on each straight away. As we neared the bottom I saw my girl DM leading the pack in bright pink. She looked great, but I think she was very happy to be off the trail.
I passed DM getting off the trail and called out to Rootsrunner to try and switch out my shoes. In the mass of people I never found him and just assumed he must be up at the next aid station. I cruised through the last section of trail and watched two runners tweak their ankles. Thankfully I made it through the trail unscathed again this year. I glanced at my watch knowing that to have a shot at 8:40 I needed to be off around 3 hours. I was happy to see that coming out of the aid station I was at 2:57. I was excited as I grabbed an orange slice, a piece of banana and headed onto the towpath.
So here's the first entry of (hopefully) 3.
Started the morning off right with a 4:30 AM wake up call. I actually woke up at 4:20 on my own and hopped in the shower. Helped MT get her stuff around and we headed to the gas station to try and locate some food. Got back to the hotel and thankfully the staff was up early and I was able to score some milk for my cheerios. Had my tea and cereal and then we were off to the start.
Missed most of the pre race meeting this time around while we waited in the bathroom line. We cut it close with a last minute porta potty stop but were lined up and ready to go a few seconds before the start. Timing worked out well as it was cold and standing around at the start would have sucked. I didn't have my watch ready when the gun went off so I figured I would be about 20 seconds over for the day from what my watch said. I had a super secret goal to hit 8:40 and I knew it might be close at the end of the day and I didn't want to take the watch for granted.
Took us about 20 seconds to cross the start and we were headed towards the Appalachian trail. MT and I were running together and our goal was to jog up the first 2 mile hill like I did last year. I didn't want to waste energy but I also didn't want to get stuck behind slower trail runners once we hit the rocky single track of the trail. We both were feeling good and made good time up the hill. Somewhere a little over 20 minutes. As we hit the top and moved onto the trail I took the lead. We wound through a mile or so of Appalachian. It seemed like we had placed ourselves well as there wasn't much jockeying going on. After a mile or so of trail you hit the first aid table around 3.5 miles. I grabbed a sip of Gatorade and we moved onto the paved section of the AT. This is a long rolling uphill to get you back onto the real trail. This year it seemed a lot longer. I had remembered hitting the steepest parts of the path pretty quickly but you do some rolling miles first and then you walk up to the top. Most everyone was walking here. I knew there would be plenty of time for running later and we power walked to the top and onto the trail.
Met some nice guys through here. A few Cleveland locals and some Michigan fans. Met a birthday boy who swore to us when he got done he would be eating three birthday cakes :) I swear it's the people that make these races so much fun.
We got to mile 5.5 or so in around 56 minutes which I thought was similar to last year. We hopped on the trail and other than one guy who went flying by "on your left." It was pretty easy going. At times I felt like I was holding back but I figured better safe than sorry. I wanted to feel like I was running strong but not putting in a "race" effort. I am still not quite sure how one should feel if racing a 50 but I figured I shouldn't ever feel like I was pushing pace. The group thinned out as we headed towards Gathland at mile 9.7. The trail was a bit rockier then I remembered but I reveled in how amazing it was that I could run over this terrain and how fast my brain must be processing all the "information" the trail was throwing at it. I also find it neat to think that although over 1,000 people would run this race, all of us were likely to take a different approach throughout the day ending in none of us running the exact same course. Kind of a cheesy metaphor for life. Hey I was on the trail in the cold, it's okay to be cheesy I guess.
We picked up a couple of runners from Wyoming who talked more than me (I know hard to believe). They talked about all kinds of things entertaining us on our way to Gathland. One was a taco store manager. He rattled off Taco John's slogan ad for us as he almost bit it. I guess that's why I should keep my trap shut on the trail, but I felt comfortable talking and staying focused on the task at hand. These guys were wild, talking about running on drugs and crazy goth hashers they had met. Definitely an entertaining duo.
Made it to Gathland and after smiling for the photographers had my bottle refilled and grabbed the only nutrition I could find which was a cliff bar. I grabbed one for myself and one for MT as we headed back up the trail. The hill wasn't as steep as I remembered but still a good chance to walk and eat. I was fairly certain we were going faster than last year and I felt great so I was excited. Most of the way here was clear and we could run at our own pace. Once again there were sections where I felt I could run faster but the way wasn't clear and there weren't any real good opportunities for passing. We weren't talking much through here. Tried to stay focused. I pulled ahead on the downs and even ran some of the shorter ups that I normally would walk. I felt strong and I figured I should take advantage of my high points during the day.
I knew we were doing well when we passed our first trekker long before the switch backs. Last year we had seen our first early starters heading down into the switch backs so I figured we were doing well. As we headed into a rockier descent I knew we were less than 2 miles from the bottom of the trail. I was stoked. I took it easy on the decline only passing one older gentleman. I got to the switch backs and felt so much stronger than last year. I actually was held up this time as a long line of runners were moving slower than me. I just took my time around corners so that I could jog to catch up on each straight away. As we neared the bottom I saw my girl DM leading the pack in bright pink. She looked great, but I think she was very happy to be off the trail.
I passed DM getting off the trail and called out to Rootsrunner to try and switch out my shoes. In the mass of people I never found him and just assumed he must be up at the next aid station. I cruised through the last section of trail and watched two runners tweak their ankles. Thankfully I made it through the trail unscathed again this year. I glanced at my watch knowing that to have a shot at 8:40 I needed to be off around 3 hours. I was happy to see that coming out of the aid station I was at 2:57. I was excited as I grabbed an orange slice, a piece of banana and headed onto the towpath.
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