JFK 50 2008 (Race Report)

Well, it's finally over and my life can revert back to just it's usual level of craziness.

It's been a tough time getting ready for my first 50 miler, even if it was the JFK 50 and so fairly easy in the general scheme of things. Lots of long runs that have really eaten into my free time and really left little room for anything else. The family have been pretty awesome about this though MLW has told me in no uncertain terms that this was my "first and last" 50 miler (we'll see!)

Training was going pretty well for a while early morning and evening runs meaning that the head light was working overtime and I was seriously beginning to wonder what it would be like to run in the light. More recently the weight of the miles and some injury issues with my right calf cut the number of miles dramatically. Initial plans were to build up to consecutive 100 mile weeks, run a 30 miler and run two 20 milers on consecutive days. None of this happened though I did run at least one 20 miler pretty much every week for the 5 weeks leading up to the race. Sore leg meant the final week was restricted to a solitary 5 mile very slow effort (the 20 miler on the previous Saturday having been marred by a startlingly painful right leg from 11 miles in).

So the preparation for the trip to Boonsboro Md had not gone exactly to plan and I was a little nervous checking into the Red Roof Inn on Friday night. Early to bed with the realization that there was nothing to be done about lack of preparation at this point and "toeing the line" as ready as possible was all that could be hoped for. Guess I was nervous cos I had a very vivid dream about the race that included a bus ride up a freakin' mountain and then getting lost and chased by the police trying to find the start line!

Race day didn't exactly dawn for me because I was up at 4:30am - long before the sun! Bit cold to say the least! In fact when we got to the start in Boonsboro the bank sign was indicating a temperature of 19 oF (TOASTY!). After huddling together with the other racers like a group of nervous penguins for a few minutes the gun was fired and off we went. The course is a story of three sections, the Appalachian Trail section (first 15.5 miles) that is a mixture of road and single track. This is where the vast majority of the hills are and the running is challenging because of long rocky sections. Seemed a lot of the runners were marathoners who had little trail experience and this section was tough on them - impossible to get into a rhythm as you need to keep changing your stride length to accommodate rocks. Hills were walked and rocks were tripped over. I was lucky I only fell once, the lady running behind me called out "are you alright sir!" as I fell and the only real damage done was to my pride - Sir! How bloody old do I look? My training partner Sean was not so lucky, he fell a couple of times the last time (at 9 miles) hitting the ground hard and dislocating his finger - an injury that would end his race at the aid stop at 15 miles.

The hours past as we trailed across the ridge, past a radio tower - always a cheery sight as they don't put those things in valleys! A tower normally means that the climbing is done, and so it proved. Down a wicked section of switch backs and the AT portion was over 15.5 miles in almost exactly 3 hours. Now the real business would start. Onto the C&O trail clutching a PB&J sandwich and some cookies and life was good. Found out earlier in the day the M&Ms were a bad idea - so cold the damn things were as hard as bullets, more likely to break my teeth on them than gain any nutritional benefit. Picked up the pace a wee bit on the C&O trail tried to get into a groove, but it wasn't really happening just had to slug it out. Tried to run "within myself" waiting for the big crash. Twenty miles came and went, I didn't crash, but it wasn't getting any easier either I was pretty much just surviving between aid stations, at each station I got my bottle refilled with Gatorade, grabbed a handful of potato chips and cookies and headed out again. Slow and easy! At 25 miles my right knee felt ominously like it was locking up - not great after not even a marathon! But as I pushed on it got no worse then slowly eased. Between 30 and 40 miles I had a fairly tough time (as expected - the long dark teatime of the soul), checking my watch showed that I was unlikely to break 8 hours 30 min but should be O.K. for sub 9 hours so that became the target. My initial aim was between 8 and 9 hours so that was fine and my spirits began to rise.

After the 38 mile aid station life started to look more rosey - the end of the second section (the C&O trail) was almost at an end - finishing at 42 miles and that just left the "undulating" 8.2 mile road section to the finish. This was the section that was really worrying me for two reasons, firstly I was very unsure how my fried legs (and mind) would cope with any kind of hills after 26 miles of dead flat running and secondly my right calf was in real danger of seizing solid on asphalt (as it had done the week previously). Fortunately I had been talking to some seasoned JFKers as I had traversed the C&O portion and knew that the initial climb off the trail was tough but the last real tough climb of the day. So when it came into view it wasn't a shock and I was resigned already to walking it. At the top we passed the 8 miles to go sign and the running was pretty flat. Quick mental math confirmed that if I ran 10 min/mile for last 8 miles I would come in just over 8 hours 30 min, so if I just kept running sub 9 hours was in the bag! Every running step made the sub 9 finish more likely as it meant the less walking to be done. At 6 miles to go "aid station" I caught up with a guy I had run with on and off for the past 4 hours - he had asked earlier if I was going for sub-8:30 and I had said I though that was a bit beyond me today. As we headed out for the last 6 miles he asked me what our time was, 7:36 - which meant 9 min/mile would get us in at 8:30 exactly! BUGGER, now I had something to run for!To be honest I didn't feel that 9 min/mile was possible but we marched on. Sometime later (not sure when) my compadre suddenly swore and stopped running! I could have stopped to see if I could encourage him but by now it was "every man for himself". At 3 miles to go I was still spot on target for 8:30 then disaster struck! I felt fine, I didn't think I was slowing, but the 2 mile to go marker just didn't arrive! I passed a mark on the road that I thought might be it but then 4 minutes later I passed the marker! So the last mile had taken me 13 minutes and I only had 14 minutes to get the last mile done. GAME OVER! As I relaxed and resigned myself to jogging in to the finish (still well under 9 hours) I entered the final aid station, just past the 2 mile marker. As they filled my bottle for the last time one of the volunteers said, come on nearly there, only a mile and a half to go! WHAT?! I continued on and in no time I could see the 1 mile to go marker! Looking at my watch confirmed the time 8 hours and 21 minutes. The 2 mile to go marker must have been misplaced! So it all came down to this, 49.2 miles done - 1 mile left and 9 minutes between me and a 8:30 finish. I picked the pace as much as I could (or dared) and just concentrated on keeping going. Up the final straight and I could see the clock at the end was still reading 8:28 something. Relaxed a tad and finished with a big stupid grin on my face at 8:29 and change!

Whole time the temp had never gone about freezing point but I was glad to be done before the sun started to go down and the temperature started to fall again - for many running into a cold sunset was a reality - God Bless'em Every One!

Hard race! Fantastic Fun - too early to say weather I will ever want to repeat this experience. But glad I've done it and it's over! Last race of my 2008 season.

Now I can get back to some decent Mtbing and might even post in a more timely fashion.

Cheers

DogzBollux