The race...

Wake up:

I got out of bed and felt more calm than I did the night prior. “More calm” is the appropriate phrase. Not calm exactly. But I will say that I also felt confidence. I kept thinking of those stories about very well-trained soldiers being excited to go into battle and face death.

I knew I would give this a good run. I kept telling myself, “You’ve run over 1500 miles to train for this! You’re going to do it!” I also kept thinking of all of the runs I did that were over 10 miles and 15 miles. I did 45 runs that were over 10 miles since December. This was merely 5 more of those. I began to feel excitement. I WAS prepared and I knew it… The only question in my mind was whether it was going to be a good run or an ugly one. I read in an article that in a 50 mile run if you “bonk” at mile 30 you can still finish but if you “bonk” at mile 20 you won’t.

My solid goal was to keep running through mile 30 without walking. I felt that if I did this and felt crappy, I could still muster up the confidence to finish.

I started getting my things ready and got dressed. This took about 30 seconds because I had already triple-checked everything the night before. And let’s face it, there’s just not a lot to bring along when you run. Then I left my room and went upstairs to the kitchen. The place had a semi-bi-level feel with the bedrooms downstairs and the living room/kitchen area upstairs with a terrace that overlooked the lake. Its too bad I was so jacked up on adrenaline all weekend or I would have really liked to relax and enjoy the surroundings.

Steve came upstairs within about 2 minutes and immediately made coffee. We ate some oatmeal and I ate a banana and were ready to go. Next up the stairs was Laura. She would drive us to the starting line. Liz slept in with the kids. Laura took a couple of photos of us and next thing we were off in the GTI listening to Metallica (Steve’s request – fine with me).

We pulled up to the community college. Steve and Laura knew exactly where to go. We parked and the parking lot was sprinkled with a small and eccentric sub-culture of folks known to only a limited portion of the general population as “ultra-marathon runners”. From old guys with scraggly beards to middle-aged women whose bodies looked more like they’d spent past months eating boxes of cookies instead of running 18 and 30 milers on the weekends. These were the elite athletes I was to participate with… Perfect… I loved it!

There was food and stuff to stock up on… didn’t need any. Had to pee… went pee… met up with Laura outside… had to pee… went pee… why nerves make me pee I’ll never know the connection. Then we went to the starting line. Unlike any marathon or 5k I’ve been in… It was dark still and it felt like we were some group of old acquaintances waiting for a yellow school bus to go on some 30th year high school reunion ski trip.

“5 minutes to start!” yelled the race organizer. I think that was Tom… No bull horn or microphone needed. He then made some comments about having to run through some mud at the beginning of the race and to take it easy with each other saying something to the effect of “No one’s going to win this in the first two tenths of a mile…”

Laura then took a couple more pictures at the start. Steve and I turned around and said goodbye (he was going out much faster than me)… see you at the finish, brother! And we waited for the “gun” which was Tom saying “go”…

“GO!”

The Race:

Off we went, all 100 or so of us onto the campus of the college, through grass, next to fences, and stomping in muddy areas from rain the week before. The energy was high with the group. I could sense a heightened intensity from everyone. And you could hear soft murmurings of light conversations cropping up between people who don’t really know each other but have at least one very unusual thing in common… that they’re making the attempt to run 50 miles today.

I hit the mile one marker at nine minutes, forty five seconds… way too fast. I needed to calm down. So I kept an eye on my watch for the first 5 mile markers. I felt that a ten and a half to eleven minute per mile pace would keep me strong through the first 30 miles or so. After that it would be unexplored territory for me.
I hit mile two at around 20 minutes… better but I still need to slow down. Mile 3 was about 31 minutes. Perfect. Keep this pace.

I just ran right by the first two aid stations. Everyone was stopping for drinks and food already. I had my camelback filled with 100 oz of water and my “Chomps” electrolyte cubes that I began popping after mile 5. I was feeling great. The tapering down of the training runs for the previous 3 weeks worked the way it was supposed to. My legs felt like two pistons pumping on and on with no sign of letting up. I blasted through the first 13 miles feeling like I was floating on air. My confidence began to build… I’m going to do this!

Along the way I had some conversations with some folks. First I met a woman named Lauren (I think) and Sara who would later Facebook “friend” me after the race. We quickly found that the three of us were either already 40 or turning 40 in 2010. I dubbed us “the 40 club.” They stopped at one of the aid stations and I kept going. Then I met a guy from Connecticut who said that he was watching me for the past 5 miles or so and he thought my pace was really steady… I think he’d stopped at an aid station and caught back up with me… He said that for years he’d had a recurring dream where he was running forever and ever and that this was the manifestation of his dream. I was kind of fascinated by this because my motivation for doing this had so many other variables. There is a web of reasons that lead me to attempt to run this race. And this man’s dream seemed so much more simple and pure… “I dreamed of running forever. Now I am running forever…” Kind of poetic in a way. He then ran into the woods to pee.

Somewhere around miles 11 and 12 I ran up the first long incline and started coming down the long decent past the place we were staying. To my pleasant surprise I saw Liz, the kids and Laura at the side of the road cheering me on. I let out a scream, “Yeah!!!!!” And I stop, grab an orange from Liz and give the kids a kiss. Emily turns away as usual… “no Daddy, you’re all sweaty…” I can’t help it... I have to kiss her anyway… Down this road I ran with a young woman a young guy from the Jersey shore wearing a shirt that said “Smile Patrol”. They passed me when I paused to see my family.

I took the rest of the hill fast. I don’t know why it is but I tend to dominate other runners when I go down hill. Other than this one seemingly strong attribute I tend to be “below average” speed. I caught up and passed the guy and the young woman and ran alone for a mile or so. The “Smile Patrol” guy caught up to me and started a conversation. He was a very nice and up-beat guy. We chatted for a while and then hit Bopple Hill at mile 14. It was highly recommended that first time ultra runners walk the hills… After viewing the course I thought if I walked all of the hills I wouldn’t be finished running this until Christmas so not doing that… BUT Bopple Hill is the course monster as I described before so I walked this one with the Smile Patrolman. He’s from the Jersey shore. We started talking about his shirt and he said that smiling releases endorphins into your system that help you through painful experiences such as long distance running. He told the story of some female marathon record holder and how she smiles through all of her runs. Its something that I would normally think was absurd if I hadn’t read about it in “Born to Run”. Apparently the Tarahamura tribes smile through all of their 50-100 mile runs down in the mountains of Mexico. There is a beauty to this too. And this reminds me of Ghandi’s quote about how when you truly accept the pain you’re going through it transforms itself into elation.

Half way up the hill the young woman from the downhill with Liz and the kids caught up to us. We talk briefly but she seems intent on moving on a bit quicker. I later passed her only to have her pass me which went on for about 10 miles or so before she went up ahead. The smile patrolman and I almost made it to the top before we encounter an older gentleman with a shaved head walking up. The graveyard was now on the right. “How we doin?” I say. “Uhhh, I kind of feel like crap.” He says. He did look like he was struggling a bit… bad sign. Didn’t look like he was going to make it. I tried to be encouraging by yelling, “Well you’re at the top of the worst hill on the course!” Don’t think that helped much… There was a car of people at the top. “Do you need anything?” A young girl asked him. “Naw, I’m ok.” He said. The smile patrolman said, “well I think I’m going to be moving on…” “Ok,” I said, “good luck!” Off he went. And off I went… a little more slowly.

I looked down and saw mile marker 15 on the ground. I felt fantastic. I was very excited about this. My legs felt as if I hadn’t run a step. I was still feeling very fresh. It was the beginning of what was turning into a truly awesome experience. On I went up the much more gradual incline for a half mile or so and then the hill flattened out. I was alone on the run for the first time.

more to come...