My 1st 50 miler - thanks for the inspiration Club Fat Ass friends!!!

You can bet your FAT ASS I ran in my CFA shirt the whole way!!!  :D

 

50 miles. I've never run that far in "one shot", until today! With all of the preparation and anticipation I fully expected that I would be nervous - but I wasn't. I think it was because I knew going in that this is “just a training run”, or test, to get ready for the 100-miler I plan to attempt in early November. This isn’t the most difficult 50-mile race out there by any stretch, but I doubt it’s the easiest, either.

 

Regardless of the circumstances, biting off 50 was (if you’ll pardon the pun) a BIG step for me! LOL

 

The early part of the race was in pitch-black darkness. “Headlamps Required”. We toed the line at 5am Eastern Time. The sun didn’t rise until nearly 2hrs later. I’ve run a lot at night, but never on a trail. Navigation gets tricky in a very, very dark place that you’re unfamiliar with. However, the North Face crew that set up for the race did a PHENOMENAL job marking the course. You almost had to ‘try’ to miss a turn to get lost. Nevertheless, I did make a wrong turn or two during 50 miles of running, but hey – that’s just part of the deal! :D 

 

The early morning hours were extremely humid – about 95% humidity. Thankfully the temperatures were bearable at about 65 degrees. It didn’t rise to over 70 degrees until mid-day.  I’m a very “efficient” sweater, so I was drenched already after only a couple of miles from the start. Speaking of drenched, there were a couple of creek crossings in the first 12 miles that caught me by surprise because I couldn’t see them very well as I approached them. As I got very close to a creek crossing, I could hear the babbling water, and sure enough, I was treading through some mud & slop. It’s really the first time I’ve ever had to thrash hard through some creeks and it was FUN! I watched a couple of people actually STOP dead at the creeks, and just stare. They had a look at it as if they couldn’t believe they were supposed to run through it. I heard one runner say to another: “How do you suppose this works?” I came up quickly behind and said – LET ME SHOW YOU!, and crashed on through. Those guys were laughing by now and I think they quickly reached the same conclusion I did: No one has time to fret over wet feet, so let’s run! A good natured bunch, the ultra crowd! 

 

Cool features of the early morning portion of the run were the glow sticks that the North Face crew used to help the runners find their way in the darkness. It made it much easier as you ran along to look for the next glow stick, but it also brought a big surprise. At about mile 6.5, only 1 hour in to the run, the glow sticks appeared to be floating high above the course in front of us. Like REALLY HIGH. HUNDREDS of feet high. This was not an illusion – it was the first real hill in the race – a 300ft & (nearly) straight up hill. Fortunately, we were treated to a similar decent on the backside of this climb. I (wisely) quick-hiked this hill and decided that trying to “mow it down” was a really bad idea and unrealistic to boot. It was way too early to try something like overpowering this thing. Plus, I never do overpower hills – so why start in a race longer than I had ever run in my life? 

 

It flattened back out for the next few miles and I reached the Great Falls aid station. It’s named Great Falls due to the amazingly majestic falls that you run next to in the Potomac River. You can hear their roar as you approach – STUNNING views! Great Falls also brought about another beautiful site, Lauren, my wife and my only crew person for the day! She lied to me about how strong I looked coming in to Great Falls (thanks honey!) and sent me on my way to the next aid station. 

 

Until this point, there had only been a couple of 300ft hills to deal with, and the balance had been VERY flat and smooth single-track path. The next 21+ miles, or so, wouldn’t be so forgiving. Runners were challenged with 3 “loops” through the section of trail from the “Great Falls Aid-Station” to the “Difficult Run Aid-Station” – a series of trails that totaled roughly 7 miles, through somewhat technical and very hilly terrain. To say we had to “be on our toes” at times would be an understatement! Some sections of the trail along the river were literally inches from the Mather Gorge edge, which must have been at least a 40ft drop straight in to the Potomac River! Other sections that carried us away from the mighty Potomac would lead us high above the river, probably about 300-400ft high. 

 

After 3 loops of this section and 35+ miles in to the run, I was past ready  to get back to the start/finish area. Lauren and been at every aid station to help me with fueling and spirit boosting through this, the most technically difficult section of the course. A quick change of socks during my last pass through the Great Falls aid station would be the last I would see of Lauren until the finish, nearly 3 hours later. 

 

I must admit that I struggled a fair amount during miles 40-45. There was, again, some tough terrain, which I knew would reacquaint myself with since I had run that portion of the course earlier in the day. However, it looked A LOT different in the daylight. I felt it was actually more difficult to run while being able to see so much of the trail ahead of me.

 

This is not even a close comparison, but at about mile 42 I thought of Ferg Hawke – a 135-mile Badwater Ultramarathon legend. I met Ferg in Vancouver in May of this year. I lost a bet to him for a beer on the Canucks-Blues playoff series (yes, I’m a sucker). To make good on it, Lauren and I met Ferg and another friend, Kristie, at Steamworks in downtown Vancouver and share a drink and some running stories. Ferg told me of some of his experiences at Badwater, and about a stretch of that famous race (which he’s done very well at, more than once). It’s about 40 miles of dead straight road that seems to NEVER end. Ferg explained how that was a particularly difficult portion of the Badwater Ultramarathon because you just kept running, and you could see (what seemed like) FOREVER in front of you, but the mountains in the distance seemed never to get closer even after so much time had passed. This is EXACTLY how I felt nearing mile 42, being able to see so far ahead of me, unlike any other time in the race, but never feeling as though I was making progress. So, my experience is nothing like Ferg’s, except that I felt like I had an inkling of an understanding of what he meant. 

 

My attitude changed, however, when I passed an aid-station at mile 48.4. That’s right, only 1.6 miles left! Of course, 1.6 miles sounded like 16 miles at that point. I think 40+ miles has a way of sliding a decimal point one position to the right, in a mental sense. I was so glad to hear this, that I decided I would “get on the gas” for the rest of the way. Funny thing is, the “gas” was about 10mins/mile! LOL! Nevertheless, I managed not to take a single walk break as I rolled in near the finish, almost 8.5 hours in to this run.

 

I was SO happy to see the finish in the distance! More than that, I was happy to see Lauren at the finish line waiting for me. My main goal was to simply finish and my stretch goal was to finish under 10 hours. My finish time was actually 8hrs 31mins 51secs. This was beyond what I thought was possible! Lauren had warned us both after seeing me last at the Great Falls aid-station that I would be in MUCH earlier than expected, and that she would be there very early “just in case”. I’m glad you were right Lauren, and thank you for getting me through this race in one piece. I couldn’t have done it without you!

 

Next up is the 100-mile attempt at Ozark Trail 100 in Missouri. GULP. There’s a lot of training (both mental & physical) to take place between now and then. For now, I’m going to celebrate this finish and accomplishment!

 

The list of inspirational characters who give me the guts to try this sort of thing on is too long to list, but suffice to say, if you’re reading this, then you can be assured you’re one of them. For this, I thank you!