So how does a 50 mile run sound?!
Crazy huh? Well for me it was a
challenge. I had only ran one other Ultra
marathon (24-hour run in Virginia) in 2012, before the JFK 50 Miler. I have done many marathons, I felt good and had
my great friend Brian Burk encouraging me in the months, weeks and days before
the race. Brian is a huge mentor for me,
fellow runner and ultra marathoner.
Additionally, I recently signed up to be a member of the US Military
Endurance Sports (usmes.org) organization so we had a total of 6 members at the
race. It is always a good time when you
are at race with a group of people. They
all had ran many races so it was good to get some perspective prior to the
race. We also had a great dinner at
Olive Garden...that never ending pasta bowl is amazing! And bread sticks and
salad to boot! After dinner we headed
back to the hotel, readied our clothes for the race and Brian and I caught up
on old times and just life. I then
turned in earlier than normal for a night before a race (10 pm). I woke at 0400 for a 0430 breakfast with the
team and then we left for the high school in Boonsboro at 0500. As we reached the school it was really starting
to hit me that it was prime time and the race was only hours away. The briefing at the school was well put
together, we dropped our after race bags and then the race coordinator gave us
the rules for the race, our timing gates throughout the day...yes I had to
finish certain sections of the race in a specific timeframe, so I had the
pressure of just finishing but also the added pressure of the time gates. If you missed one of the time gate you would
be removed from the course. I had never
ran a race that had timed sections and luckily I never got close to missing
one.
Let me go back to before the race...Brian had described the race to me
and even sent me a link to his blog which provided a few videos of the course
etc. He described the quick altitude
change but as seen below...it was literally straight uphill in a few places the
first 8-9 miles. Nothing can prepare you
for what is ahead of you unless you experience it for yourself, so if you want
to find out..sign up for 2017 :):).
The dramatic increase
was then just as dramatic coming down the mountain and off the Appalachian Trail
(AT). As I finally reached the bottom of the mountain I arrived at the aid
station at 15.5 miles. It was an amazing
stop. PB and J sandwiches, oranges, gatorade,
water, coke, M&M's, and peanuts.
This turned out to be the standard for the aid stations till Mile
42. At Mile 42 they switched to hot
chicken noodle soup...boy did I need that, you will read why here in a minute.
The next 26 miles or so
was defined as "Flat", "Easy Run" along the Potomac
river. HaHa, you can see it is a slight
increase the entire way and as you looked out on the Potomac river I was
running against the flow of the water.
Yes, they claim that the trail was "flat" was just dead wrong.
LOL. The trail along the river was
scenic with the amazing tree foliage and a few deer. At the beginning of this part of the race it
had warmed (62ish degrees), but the trees did well to keep the sun off of us. At Mile 20 I stopped and went Face book Live
showing everyone the beautiful Potomac River.
I then pressed to the Mile 27 aid station and at this point the heat was
starting to take a toll. As I pushed and
passed two fellow runners named Robby and Kate, who I had passed a few times
earlier in the race. This is the norm at
races. People speed up and slow down and
you will eventually either start running together or walking. As we ran and walked, we talked of our
previous races, and professions. Both of
them had multiple ultra marathons under their belts. Robby had multiple 100 milers and Kate had
done several 50 milers, so I was in good company to finish the race and before
I knew it we made it to the aid station at Mile 34. As we ran into the aid station the weather
suddenly took a turn towards winter. The
temp dropped dramatically, the wind kicked in strong and yep rain drops
started. I told them I needed to stop
and put on my long sleeve shirt, beanie hat and gloves. I also took advantage of the theme (It was
decorated with a theme of Miracle on 34th St...all Christmas'd up :). I ate
some Christmas cookies and PB&J sandwiches.
With this extra time Robby and Kate pressed forward and I thought I
would catch up with them. Needless to
say, that never happened. LOL. As I
pressed to the Mile 39 aid station, the temperatures continued to drop and the
rain started to really come down, difference now is sleet started to mix in and
for a bit it really came down. I
remember thinking...really! The AT from
earlier and now...sleet! C'MON!! As I pulled into the Mile 39 aid station I
decided to stop and stay under the tent for a few minutes (Turned into 10 mins)
to get out of the rain. It had amazing
sandwiches, M&Ms and drinks. I moved
out and meet up with a older gentlemen named Charlie. It was his first 50 Miler, but he had been
running marathons for many years...yep crazy like me! We reached the Mile 42 aid station and
received our "Strip of Courage", it was a reflective arm band required
due to darkness. We left the aid station
and finally finished the trail part of the course and moved to the road for the
8 mile home stretch. Within a half a
mile we were greeted by a gentleman providing hot chicken noodle soup. With the rain and cold and now darkness, it
really hit the spot. We moved on and I
noticed a small sign on the side of the road that had the number "8"
on it...could this be the sign I was looking for? Yes, Yes it was, 8 miles left before the
finish line. This was my countdown. I
broke out the cell phone and let my teammates know where I was. 8 turned to 7 and 7 turned to 6, then another
aid station with hot noodle soup...yep that hit the spot. 6....5....4....3....2...1. I finally reached the final 1 mile of the
race. I remember thinking, Jason lets
kick it into gear and finish strong and you know what, the body responded to
the mind :). At about 1/2 mile to the
finish Tiffany my wife Face Timed me and asked how was doing...I said
"hurting" but finishing. I
made it to the downtown area and saw the bright lights...yep the bright light
at the end of the tunnel. It was like I
was running to Heaven. LOL. I made it across the line in 12:20, so proud
and happy. I remember the first aid
worker looking at me and saying "need anything?", I don't really
remember the response other than "I think so" and "where is the
bathroom"...yep I was a bit out of it.
I walked to the high
school gymnasium and was greeted with a high five and huge hug from Brian. I finished!
What an accomplishment! This was the toughest race since I started
racing in the 2009. Would I do it
again...that requires some praying!
The below picture
gives you a perspective of the entire race.
Until the next
race....
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