My Running History part 6 (ultras and MCM in 2007)

After recovering from Boston 2007, I had to decide what to run next. My wife was training for the Frederick Marathon in early May. She forwarded to me an email from one of her running buddies. His company was sponsoring a team in an informal ultramarathon relay race called Tom's Run on June 9, 2007 and they needed more runners. They said they needed to fill 27 more miles and I volunteered to run them all. Tom's Run is a 200 mile relay from Cumberland MD along the C&O Canal then to the Capital Crescent Trail in DC and up to the NIH campus. My leg was from Brunswick MD to Sycamore's Landing, 27.8 miles. Technically in ultramarathon territory although not at any recognized ultra distance (the first common ultra distance is the 50K 31.1 miles). The catch, my estimated start time was 2 am. So I arrived at Brunswick around 11 pm, tried to catnap in the car. Our team captain arrived around 1:30 am to tell me that because of the earlier heat and thunderstorms, we were about an hour behind schedule. I was now up and so just hung out in the dark along the trail with the captain until around 3 or so when we saw the runner and bike escort approach. Not much tell of the actual race. It was foggy from the humidity and there was not much to see outside the cone of light from my headlamp and the bike escort's headlamp. I ran mostly in silence with an occasional conversation with the bike rider. When the sun finally came, there was not much to see with the fog. Anyhow, 3 hours 49 minutes later, I passed the imaginary baton to the next runner, was driven back to my car, drove home, and went to bed. But I did decide I wanted to run a "real" ultra. Come July, I signed up for the JFK 50 miler in November 2007.



Meanwhile, I was training in earnest for the 2007 Marine Corps Marathon. Again determined to break 3 hours. To train a ran a pair of half marathons Riley's Rumble in July in 1:28:39 (17th out of 573) and the International Peace Half Marathon in September in 1:26:50 (10th out of 211 and 2nd in my age group). These were great predictor times. The thrill was that in the second race, I got to run about 3 or 4 miles with Dane Rauschenberg the year before Dane ran 52 marathons (one every weekend) to raise charity. We talked about my goal of breaking 3 and his goal of breaking 2:50 (neither of us has met that goal as of yet). Dane has an excellent blog called the DaneGer Zone http://danerunsalot.blogspot.com. I highly recommend it.

Race day October 2007 came and I had a nagging hamstring soreness. I felt good otherwise. For most of the race, I held a sub 3 hour pace. But once again that damn 14th Street Bridge!! My hamstring soreness was really bothering me and I started to get concerned that it might cramp up altogether. Needless to say my pace started slipping and I went from an overall pace of 6:48 at mile 18 (sub 3 pace) to a 6:55 pace by mile 22 that crept up to an overall pace of 7:01 at the finish. But I can't complain as I finished with a 3:05:55 and placed 274th out of 20,667.

I took the next week off, then put in a 35 mile week as part of the taper for my first true ultramarathon 3 weeks later -- the JFK 50 miler. Race day arrived as good as you could ask for. Sunny with temperatures (eventually) in the 40s, no wind.

The race starts in Boonsboro, MD at 7 am (there is also a 5 am start to accommodate slower runners --- the cut off time to finish I think is 5 pm). We travel about 3 miles uphill on the road to get to the Appalachian Trail, and then its about 13 miles south along the A Trail. Once we get up to the top, it's a mostly flat trail run with two exceptions --- the downhill/uphill at Gathland State Park and the descent at Weverton (known as the cliffs --- a very steep switchback). Weverton is where the A Trail joins up with the C&O Canal Path, and the race continues upstream along the towpath for about 26 miles or so. The last 8 miles are along road to the finish in Williamsport, MD (and the bus ride back to Boonsboro).

Back to the start. Unlike a marathon or shorter, when the gun when off most of us just started slowly moving out. The pace is much slower than a marathon --- while I might do a marathon at around 7 min per mile, I was aiming for something around 8:30 or so. When we got to the steep trail to take us up to the ridge line, most everyone just started walking --- after all, we still had about 46 miles to go at this point. Once on the A Trail, it was wonderful trail running. There had been some windy days earlier in the week, so most of the fallen leaves were blown off the trail so we could see where the rocks were (don't want to sprain any ankles!). If I wasn't constantly looking down to avoid tripping, I'd tell you how beautiful trail running the A Trail can be. But I rarely lifted my gaze beyond 10 yards in front of me. I probably was running this bit too fast, but I felt great. At Gathland State Park, we encountered the first major group of spectators. The isolation of the mountain was quickly replaced by loud cheering, which encouraged slightly faster running. But as quickly as it occurred, we were back to the isolation of the mountain. Eventually, we descended the steep switchbacks at Weverton. We had been warned to take those slowly or even to walk to avoid falls. But I flew down that trail. It was like mogul skiing --- you find a line and pray you don't wipe out. It was quite exhilarating!!

At the base of the cliffs, we had the first major aid station. At marathons, you have water stops --- some water, some gatorade. Maybe someone with oranges or gel packs. Not at an ultra. The aid stations (all volunteers and there is a contest for who has the best) are fully stocked with: baked potatoes and salt, soup, PBJs, M&Ms, pretzels, chips, Coke, Mountain Dew, gatorade, variety of gels and power bars, tylenol, gummy bears. I topped off my water bottle (another difference from marathons --- almost everyone runs with a water bottle as the aid stations average about 5 or so miles apart), had a PBJ and some soup, chips, some coke (you'd never think that Coke would taste so delicious after 16 miles of trail running). And then I was off for the C&O portion.

At first, the C&O was quite lovely. It was sunny. The Potomac was on the left, the canal on the right (or rather the overgrown ditch that used to be the canal), and the packed gravel towpath ahead. But after 26 miles, it became very very very very very boring. When I hit the aid station at the half way point, I hit my first mental low point. I thought yippee I'm half way done, and then oh crap I've still got another marathon to go. They say that the first half of an ultra is all physical and the second half is all mental. That is true. Luckily, some soup and sugar and salt chased the mental low away and continued on the trail. At 27.4, I entered new territory --- I'd never run that far in my life. Wow, I thought, and kept on running. As I entered the 30s, I had several mental low points (i.e. you hit the wall multiple times in an ultra). My hip started bothering me, I was feeling tired, and my brain was numb. I started trying to figure out if I'd still get a finisher's medal if I just walked the remaining 20 miles. But like all walls, I'd hit an aid station, fuel up and feel recharged. Although it was getting more difficult to start running again after leaving the aid station. Still I plodded along. Finally, the end was in sight --- the end of the C&O portion that is.

At around mile 42, we left the monotony of the trail and took to the roads. Similar to the halfway point, my mind had one of those simultaneous happy/depressed moments ---- hurray only 8 miles to go, wait, 8 miles is another hour or so of running, when will this end. By now, my hip was aching, my legs were drained, my mind was numb. Aid stations were every two miles at this point and all I could do was focus on running those 2 miles. I'd stagger into the aid station, down some soup (all hail the blessed hot salty soup) try to manage a few chips and then stagger on out. I was doing what they call the ultra shuffle (enough said). At the final aid station (mile 48), I knew the end was finally mercifully near. At the beginning, I had a goal of running the race in under 8 ½ hours (conventional wisdom says to take an average marathon time, double it, and add 2 hours, which in my case I rounded to an even 8 ½ hours). I had forgotten all about it but now that I was 2 miles out I started wondering could I do it? From out of nowhere (and this is what is truly special about running an ultra ---you discover reserves of strength and energy you never thought existed), my pace picked back up. The shuffling stopped and I was running (dare I say racing) again. I passed several runners, including a pair (male and female) of runners from the Naval Academy. I made the final turn and unbelievably started to sprint the final quarter mile or so to the finish. Exhausted, I stumbled pass the finish line: 8 hours 29 minutes 45 seconds. I made my goal with 15 seconds to spare.

After getting my medal, I headed into the Williamsport HS to down several cups of (what else) more soup and hot cocoa and about 6 or so slices of pizza. Then the bus back to Boonsboro, the drive home and into a hot bath. I was, surprisingly, no more sore the next day than after a marathon. I was exhausted, drained, but quite proud that I had actually run 50.2 miles. The instant amnesia hit and I was determined to run it again in 2008.