JFK November 19, 2006
Posted by anton in : Race Report , 1 comment so far
Saturday was the 44th running of America’s Oldest Ultramarathon…The JFK 50 Miler.
The race started in 1963 as a response to President Kennedy’s drive for physical fitness for Americans.
He felt that you should be able to cover 50 miles in one day. That anyone should.
I have a sister with a picture book from the early Kennedy years that shows Kennedy,as President, driving around Florida and setting up aid stations for friends and family as they walked a 50 mile route. Just JFK in a station wagon cooking steaks and bringing water to the Radziwells and Shrivers. Too cool.
This was my 8th JFK and I am honored to be a part of a family that extends back that far to that kind of beginning.
There are two starts 5 and 7am…5 has a 14 hour cut off and the 7am cutoff is 12 hours. I can finish the race in under 12, but love the early start, the sunrise, the smaller crowd.
The shirt from my running club says on the back “Welcome to the dark side” and indeed at 5am it is!
Racing starts from the one stop light in the town on Boonsboro and proceeds up to the top of South Mountain. In the first two miles you can tell the newbies. They are running up the mountain. The veterans walk. It’s all about saving gas for later. I talk with Fred who has already run 30 JFKs and is hoping for 31. It is about traditon here. The runners who haved finished their 10th,15th, 20th or 30th held in higher esteem than those who run it fast.
You turn onto the Appalachian Trail and on come the lights. Hand held disposables (my choice) head lamps and recycled lights from last year that you can pick up at the turn. Running through the woods on single track,rocky, with lights all around is sort of like some bad acid trip that passes quickly. A mile later back onto a hard surfaced road to the top of Lambs Knoll…very steep…the newbies running, the smart walking. At just about mile 6 you are back onto the trail proper but the sky is getting lighter,a red dawn, and it is beautiful. No need for a light by now but you should still use it as it helps to tell rock from root from leaf pile. The trail is in good shape…some slow going but some good speed too in places…the newbies hang but they are starting to slow already…a long day for them….Into Gapland and the second aid station at mile 9 ish…”Hey everybody!” I yell and get cheers back. Pringles,Gatorade, drop the light off and keep moving… the rest of the trail section is slow at times and not at others…the newbies disappear. I chat a bit with Vince, our man from Dublin, as we run along. We talk about the history and the trail and how special it is to even be able to finish this race.
Soon, the cliffs at Weaverton and the end of the trail section…switch backs leading down. Into the crowd and I yell again…then a quick spin over to the C&O Canal.
My timing was perfect. The race permit for the canal doesn’t allow this race to start running there before 8:30 am. I arrive at 8:28. Time for a bottle fill, some chips, and chat with the RD about runners with treking poles. We are released and head off up the towpath for 26 miles of flat.
The AT section is easy. The canal is hard. This is where your mental game has to be in top shape. 26 miles where one mile looks like the next and you go from station to station about every 3 to 4 miles.
I have a bad patch at mile 25 to 27 but that’s to be expected in an ultra…let it go and it will pass. It does after some Pepsi,Pringles and a neck rub at mile 34.
The race leader rom the 7am start passes me..I can hear his breathing, see his gait. This will not be the one who finishes first I feel…later I’m proved right. He says nothing. Almost everyone from the 7am start who zips by has words of encouragement, which I return in kind.
I have these shoes…North Face Arnuva trail shoes. Great trail shoe…for short distances. By mile 38 I’m having some doubts about the last 8 miles on hard surfaced road. Not that I won’t finish…but that the last 8 miles are going to hurt.
I usually wear my road shoes for the whole race…much better cushion. But didn’t this year. Won’t make that mistake again.
I play leapfrog with a woman for the last 10 miles on the canal section. I try and talk to her since we are the only runners around…She is quite grumpy! I leave her in her misery and take a longer than normal walking break so she can get ahead. The vibes around her are not good. The day so far has been great and I’m not going to let grumpy bear screw it up for me.
Onto the last road section at mile 42, and yes…it hurts. The bottoms of my feet are sore and I feel every footfall. The fields and farms roll by. The sun makes an apperance and all is right with the world.
The top woman leaders go by in step with each other. One of them over 50 years old the other in her 30’s. The woman over 50 will win by ten minutes in the end.
On track to break ten hours, I know with 6 miles left it isn’t going to happen. The feet are a problem. With six miles to go I am reduced to the survivor shuffle and walking up anything with a grade percent in excess of 0.25%. The down hills are worse.
Into Williamsport, the finish line approaches and I hear the shouting of Claudine, John, Janet and my lovely bride Mary Lou. I almost desolve in tears…I am so lucky to have such wonderful people in my life. So lucky to have days like this.
Thanks to Mark Z for the photo.
Waiting for Godot November 11, 2006
Posted by anton in : Training , add a commentSitting around,waiting for a race that is still a week away, is sort of like that…Waiting for Godot.
“Waiting for Godot” Is an absurdist play, written by Samuel Becket right after WWII.
In the play, these two characters are waiting around for someone named Godot… who never shows up.
Tapering for a race…like I am right now, is like that. You sit and wait and think that race day will never show up. Sometimes it doesn’t. Injury,illness,or a bad day and it doesn’t happen for you.
I’ve been cutting back milage and conserving energy and (heaven forbid!) putting on a few pounds to get ready for the JFK 50 Miler. Not complete inaction…Will run today and tomorrow about 6 or 7 miles each and that’s it..a little time on the bike this coming week a few shorter runs. Done.
I am sure that on this beautiful fall day there are folks shoving in one last 15 or 20 miler…then they’ll wonder six days from now where their legs went. I KNOW several people, doing the JFK as their first 50 miler next Saturday, who are running the AT section today, about 15 miles. I tried to flag them off, but no dice. They know the trail..”Just want to get in one more!”
That’s probably the hardest thing to learn about doing endurance events…and it comes right out of Godot.
Progress and motion do not have to be physical.
You make great advances sitiing on the couch before a race. Sitting on the couch all the time …well, that’s a bad thing.
You can move toward your goals mentally and be better prepared than someone who hasn’t trained mentally for a long day.
This game is 90% mental. It’s interesting to watch those who don’t mentally prep themselves come unglued when it all goes to hell in a handbasket. The winners are those who, when obviously having a bad day, are still smiling and moving ahead. The mind moving the unwilling body forward.
And that’s the Razors Edge. You can wait for something to happen TO you..or you can make it happen FOR you.
It really is all in the head.
Tried to find a picture of Bert Lahr from my favorite rendition of ‘Waiting for Godot” to include here, but couldn’t.
Where every step may be your last. November 4, 2006
Posted by anton in : Training , add a comment
This is the view from my High School. It has special meaning to me for the Ridge of South Mountain in the background is the first half of the AT section of the JFK 50 miler.
Ran there today with a great bunch of folks from the MCRRC. Looked like about 30 people in the group altogether.
Very slow going…Leaves down everywhere and since the trail is quite rocky in many sections it made it impossible to see where it was safe to put your feet…hence, where every step may be your last.
You just sort of shamble along and hope there isn’t some gnarly rock hiding there to send you tumbling… Had a great time chatting with Paul about tri’s and how fit tri’s make as compared to being just a plain runner.
The Morning was just glorious and cold in the mid 30’s. Blue sky. No wind….just a tremendous fall day.
Had to ask myself if this will be the year the Stuff hits the fan.
This will be my 8th JFK and and up till now, the weather has been great each time I’ve made it through the day. Cold, maybe, but not bad. Other years it’s snowed or some kind of frozen gack has fallen from the sky pushing the DNF rate to close to 70%. Something to be said for finishing an epic event. Just ask the folks who finished IM Wisconsin this year. I almost want it to happen.
14 days to the JFK
35 days to the start of IMLP training cycle.