River to Sea 2012

On Saturday, August 4th, while battling crazy heat, humidity, and hills, The IT Band & Other Maladies ran 90 miles, consisting of 14 legs across New Jersey from Milford to Manasquan in 13 hours and 11 minutes! This was the 2012 River to Sea Relay, and we conquered it! The team consisted of Andy, Joe, Justin, Melissa, Pete, Sachin and myself. Also along for the ride was our official team photographer and cheerleader, Chris. Each of us did two legs that ranged in distance from 2.5 to 9 miles. Everyone put forth a tremendous effort.  We were all hurting at some point and we were all supporting each other to get through each leg.  In the end, it was well worth the struggle.  It was a truly awesome experience both from a running and social standpoint.

Very Long Blog Post Warning: This is going to be my longest post.  There is a lot to cover and I don't want to skip anything.  I want to remember this day as well as the very long lead up to it and so there will be lots of details. It's very likely that some of these details will not be interesting to you, but like I've said from the beginning with this blog, this is more for me than for you :) Please feel free to skip around. I'm not even going to get to the actual relay until you start scrolling for a while.  After all, we didn't just show up that day unprepared.  There is a whole back story, and that's going to be covered here as well. Now that I have warned you, let me start from the beginning.  First, the Earth cooled. Then I started putting together a relay team.

Putting together the team

Ever since I ran the River to Sea Relay with my buddy Frank last year, I knew I wanted to captain my own team with some of my long time friends. I had such a great time even though I only really knew Frank, and I just figured doing it with more of my friends could only make it better. Right around this time Andy, Pete and Joe were doing the Steelman Triathlon together as a relay.  Being there with them was such a cool experience and I realized that this was definitely something I wanted for 2012.  I brought it up to them soon after, and they were all interested. Even though Joe had just started running at that time (his first fitness love being the bike).  But, I knew Joe could handle it no problem and he was very excited.

So now we had 4 people so we were trying to figure out who else could join our team. Frank was already going to be part of another team with his running club, the Hamilton Area Trail Runs so he was out. Chris had not really been running too much recently, and whenever I would bring up my interest in long distances, he would insist that they were not for him.  He was more interested in doing faster, shorter stuff with a 5k being on the longer side.  But I figured this was such a cool thing to do with our group of friends that he'd be willing to go a bit farther. I figured right and he was down for it and now we had 5.

Then I started thinking about Sachin.  Sach has never expressed any interest in running, but I knew that it was possible I could convince him to do it as a cool thing to do while hanging out with friends.  And, there was the added benefit of getting into shape. We talked it over and I was pleased that he didn't flat out reject the notion. He was tentative to say he officially wanted to do it until he ran a couple times with Joe and by himself.  But, after a couple weeks, he was ready to commit. Then I remembered that Justin was interested in doing this years back so he was an easy 7th choice. We had our team, and we were going to blast through the training with no problems! Ha, right...

Sickness and Injuries, like the IT Band and Other Maladies

This is how we got our team name. Runners get injured all the time.  Anyone who has run for more than a few months has gotten injured or will get injured soon (sorry to break it to you if you just started running).  I'm using the word injury in a very broad sense.  I'm just referring to anything preventing you from fully training the way you want to.  Sometimes these are nagging little things that last a week.  Sometimes they make you stop indefinitely. As runners we expect that this will happen.  And so it did, and then again, and then again, and then again. You get the idea. These are the injuries we dealt with, somewhat in chronological order.

Andy was having an awesome winter.  He had come off a crazy fast 8K in 32:47 (6:36 pace) and was just getting faster and building miles. He got up to a 17 mile run and we had signed up for the Marine Corps Marathon. Then on a 12 miler we did together, his knee started bothering him. He decided to keep running, but then it escalated rather quickly and forced him to stop. He stopped for a week and tried to go again for a while thinking it would go away, but it wasn't happening. It was his IT band and in April he had to stop completely for almost a month.  Stopping training when you can see your fitness improving is awful, but he was lucky to find a great physical therapist.

I heard fantastic stories of how she would stick these needles into him to find trigger points which would cause his muscles to spasm.  All of this torture was paying off, and very slowly, and very carefully he started coming back. But, he was the first big injury and for a while it looked like he might not be able to run in the event.

I too was having an awesome winter and then an even more awesome spring. I was running every day. I had PRd in daily miles, weekly miles and monthly miles. I ran a PR for a half marathon at Rutgers and I completed my first 50 mile ultra! I had not been injured in a long time and I was looking to really ramp up the mileage in the summer for the Marine Corps Marathon.

But, then after the soreness subsided from the 50 miler, it left a bit of a sore knee.  I didn't think it was too bad (runner's injury denial) so I took it easy but kept going. Then a few weeks later I ran 14 miles with ultra legend, Scott Jurek! I figured it was a once in a lifetime opportunity and I was already compromising by not doing the whole 50k around Manhattan.  The next couple days my knee was really aching and actually kept me up at night.  This was not a good sign.  I went to the doctor and he said I most likely have bursitis (inflammation near the tendon below my knee).  He wanted me to get an MRI to rule out anything more serious but at $500 out of pocket, I opted to just wait and see.  So I took a week off running for the first time in at least a year and really reduced my miles. 

I was always thinking that I would still do R2C, but I was a bit concerned about the lengths of the legs and how well I would do them, and with other folks getting injured, I needed to be reliable. 

Pete has known injury for a large part of his running career. He's had issues with his knees, feet, back, Achilles, calves. I may have missed a few there. But, somehow he has always been able to continue training after taking a few breaks. But then things got really bad with a problem he's had for a while. Pete's foot goes numb after running for a few miles. He went to the doctor and it was revealed that he had a pinched nerve.  And on top of that he had some Achilles tendinitis. At the end of June and early July he stopped running completely. He wasn't sure he would do the event. 

Jeff had started running on the weekends with us at this point, and we thought we may have to ask him to fill in. Then we decided that if we reduced his miles a bit, it might work out alright.  We did this, but honestly, going into this thing, I was most worried about Pete re-injuring himself.

Justin had some scares in the Spring with his heart, and you don't fool around with your heart. After getting it checked out and running all sorts of stress tests he was good to go and started to ramp up to some serious weekly miles. Then, only a month out, we got a scary email about his knee saying he might not be able to run! Luckily, after some PT and taking a little time off, it wasn't as bad as he thought, but as a result we did reduce his miles a bit.

Chris for whatever reason refused to jump on the RunningAHEAD bandwagon.  I knew he was running, but I wanted to see it and I wanted the whole team to see and be able to help with motivation and all.  Finally, at the end of May, I convinced him to log his runs, so he went back and logged the last month of running, and I was very excited because it was more than I had expected.  Things were looking good.  

The next day, Chris suffered a high ankle sprain and that was that.  Unlike the other injuries the rest of us had, Chris was not going to recover in time before the race.  This was very upsetting, especially considering how good he was doing.

We only had two months until the race at this point and we now needed to find a 7th. Justin suggested his friend, Melissa. She had run the same half marathon as me in the Spring so we knew she could handle the distance, and plus we didn't really have anyone else.  Luckily, she was available and she joined our team.  And let me tell you, it was a good thing she did, because she ended up having to pick up all of the slack from the various injuries. She ended up getting 2 of the toughest legs of the race. I should clarify that.  It's not like it happened by accident. I knew she was a strong runner so I gave them to her :)

Joe and Sachin had some minor tweaks here and there but luckily did not suffer anything that forced them to stop for too long.  Our two newest runner were the ones most likely to make it to the day of the race!

Team Runs

Starting early on in winter, we started getting together for some team runs on the weekends. Sometimes we had 5 people, other times it would just be 2 of us. With the exception of 4 or 5 weekends, we had at least 2 people every weekend from the End of February, until the relay! I'll take a break from all the words and let this compilation of team runs video show how it was.

Logistics

One of the hardest parts of this relay, at least for the captain of the team, is the organization involved. I'm not a very organized person, so this was a bit tough for me, and up until the very end I was nervous I was going to forget something.  

There were a slew of emails involved of course, but there was also dealing with who will run each leg so that it's spaced out alright and that the level of difficulty of the legs are inline with the runner's ability. This was especially challenging with our injuries. The second part that was very challenging was creating a schedule so everyone knows where they are supposed to be and what they should be doing for each leg of the race.  Of course, I created a spreadsheet.  I largely copied this from what Frank put together for the relay last year.  This was extremely helpful but even so, putting it together was quite challenging. 

With a couple days to go, I was trying to think of all the things we needed in terms of food, drink, clothes, and anything else.

Race Day!

Congratulations, you've made it to the part of this post where I actually talk about the race!

Pre Start

Andy and I woke up at 4 am to get ready to leave.  We had a bite to eat, drank some coffee and packed up the Mazda.  We arrived at Pete's right at 4:45, like we planned.  Within a few minutes, everyone was there.  So far the plan was working! This was also the first time most of the team got to meet Melissa. Andy, Sachin, Chris and I got in my car and Joe, Justin, Melissa and Pete got in Pete's car and we were on our way to Milford.

On the way, Chris started singing "River to Sea" by Jeremy Enigk, and no matter what music we listened to on the way there and throughout the event, it remained in everyone's heads all day. We were in great spirits despite the early morning and having fun taking turns listening to some tunes from way back in the day. Sometimes when I say things like this, I think am I old enough to make comments like this? Yes. Yes I am.

We got to the check in location with plenty of time to get situated with our race numbers and make sure we were all set and everyone knew what was happening next. Chris snapped this nice group photo of us before we headed to the start of the race a couple miles away, right at the bridge in Milford that connects NJ to PA. 

This was a nice shot, except I felt the need to go alternative camera. 

After Pete dropped off Joe, we stopped at the market to grab some ice and a few more snacks before Joe's start. After all the planning and training and injuries and close calls, we were finally ready to start this event.  I was so excited!

1st Leg - 4.75 miles - 6:45 am - 9:22 pace - Joe

Joe hamming it up and
feeling good

Joe started 5 minutes early at 6:45 which was just fine with me because I thought we might be cutting it close with the 8:30 cutoff and my estimate of us finishing at 8:15. Because it was so early it was still in the mid 70s and the sun hadn't really come out, but it was darn humid. We stopped about a mile up the rode and all got out of the car to see how he was doing. He came by all smiles and was off to a great start.  As expected, he started a bit quick with an 8:30 pace.

We stopped a couple more times and every time we saw him he was in good spirits which is very impressive.  That is one lesson I would like to take from Joe - to keep smiling and being in a good mood even when I am pushing hard. I am fully aware that I can come off a little bit prickly.  More on that later.

2nd Leg - 8 miles - 7:29 am - 7:55 pace - Me
Joe and I slapped hands and I was on my way for my first leg.  The weather hadn't really changed too much.  Still in the mid 70s, a bit foggy and sticky. I started out at what I thought was a conservative 7:5X pace.  I was feeling good for the first few miles and I decided I would keep it at that pace which would keep my HR in the mid 160s. The support was great for my leg with folks stopping pretty much every mile or two. The route was all on one road and just a little hilly, but nothing too crazy. 

At around the 3rd mile I started to slow down a bit, but my level of effort was increasing.  I was a little upset that I couldn't maintain a pace under 8 minutes, but I didn't want to work too hard with my 2nd leg being so much more challenging. The humidity was really getting to me, even though the temperature was still below 80. I continued just above 8 minute pace with my HR in the low 170s until the last mile when I figured I was feeling pretty good and I'd pick it up a bit. I saw Pete waiting for me in the distance at the transition, and I couldn't help myself so I sprinted it in a little and slapped Pete's hand.  I was very happy with my level of effort despite a little bit of a slower pace than I wanted.








3rd Leg - 5.95 miles - 8:32 am - 9:45 pace - Pete
Pete's third leg was mostly on a path which is nice to run on, but hard to support because there were only a few spots we could access it from the road. I was a little worried about Pete's leg (I mean the stage of the race, but come to think of it also his actual legs) because it was 6 miles which is farther than he had run in quite a while.  I know Pete can get through anything which just made me worry more because I was afraid he would push too far through the pain.

We saw Pete for the first time at about the 2 mile mark and he was already starting to hurt. He also had started way too fast in about 8:2X pace.  He still had 4 miles to go, and I wasn't sure where we would see him again to support him. Plus, the temperature was starting to creep up.
We found another spot a couple miles later and he had slowed down a bit, but was still going. He walked with Melissa as she gave him some water and then he was on his way again. We were able to stop one last time with around 1 mile to go and even though I could see he was hurting, I knew he was going to finish this thing, because I know Pete. We were not able to park at the next transition but we were able to find a spot not too far away which meant we could see the Pete -> Andy transition! I was so happy to see Pete finish this leg.  It was a really gutsy performance and I could see how much effort he put into it.  After he took some time to recover he told me that he would never be this unprepared for a race again.

4th Leg - 8.5 miles - 9:30 am - 8:10 pace - Andy
Andy took off for his first leg, but unfortunately we were not on top of who was going to be supporting him.  We were stopping to grab some bagels and use the bathroom, and the other car was mistakenly waiting for us. By the time I realized this, Andy was already a couple miles in. We started driving to support him and of course we hit some traffic.  This was just the beginning of the traffic problems in this event. Luckily the other car caught up with him after he was a little more than 3 miles in. 

Andy's leg was the only one that had a nickname - "The Beast", and this was certainly deserved. I remember talking with Andy about this leg a few days before the race. I had warned him that this thing was really hilly, and mostly up hill. He had looked up the elevation on a map online and it didn't seem as bad I thought. Although it had a huge gain for the first couple miles, afterwards it seemed to go back down and level out. I figured my memory must have been hazy so I figured maybe it wasn't that bad.  Unfortunately, we were both wrong.  After the initial hill, which was pretty intense, it was followed with several rolling hills including two more very significant hills. This thing truly was the hardest leg in this event. On top of the difficulty of the course, it was really starting to warm up.  


I would guess that it was already into the low 80s at this point. But, even with all this, I was pretty confident that Andy was going to handle this thing no problem.  I knew it was going to hurt like hell, and he might not go as fast as he would like, but he was going to push through it. You could tell that most of the other teams put their faster runners on this leg. But even so, as we drove past the last hill, we saw plenty of people walking. We were all able to park in the next transition area to see Andy come in. After almost 9 grueling miles, he finished strong. 

5th leg - 5.9 miles - 10:39 am - 8:30 pace - Justin
I know I keep saying it kept getting hotter, but I think this is where we really started realizing we were in for a really hot day. With the sun overhead and a lot of the remaining legs having little shade and on asphalt, we were going to be dealing with extreme heat. Justin's leg started with some rolling hills, and he was moving along at a good pace and looked very strong. We stopped in downtown Hopewell and when we got out of the car to help support him, it was uncomfortable to be standing, let alone running! This was the point where we started to introduce the ice towels.

Despite the heat, Justin just kept going and surprisingly kept a pretty steady pace. I was impressed that he was able to keep it up. I had done my best to come up with an estimate of how long each leg would take. I really was trying to stress to everyone that this was just a means to help us figure out approximately when we could expect each runner to come into a transition area, but of course everyone ended up taking it as some time they needed to hit. I had estimated an 8:31 pace for Justin, but I did not think it was going to be this hot already, or that his leg was so hilly in the beginning. Despite these challenges, he took the last mile in at sub 8 pace to finish his leg averaging 8:30 pace!





6th Leg - 8 miles - 11:29 am - 8:53 pace - Melissa
Remember how I was just saying how hot it got during Justin's leg, well this would just get worse with Melissa's leg. I ran this part of the course last year and I started out way too fast and was really hurting by the end. So much so that my team was a bit worried about me and asked if I wanted to trade to an easier second leg.  

Now Melissa was going to be doing this and it was hotter than last year. The only thing I knew about Melissa before meeting her this morning was that she was very fast and had run a half marathon in the Spring. Like I said before, with our injuries, I figured I'd give her two long legs. I did not know that running 16 miles in one day would be a distance PR for her. She just took it in stride. I've seen from some of her races, that Melissa likes to start fast, and this was no different. 

We caught up with her after a couple miles and tried our best to offer her water, Gatorade, something, but she was all set. I didn't see her again until the end but I remember the hills in the last mile from last year, and I was thinking about how hard it would be. It was great to see her running it in hard at the end of her leg.

7th Leg - 4 miles - 12:40 pm - 9:15 pace - Sachin
On February 5th of this year, Sachin went for his first run in preparation for this event. He ran 1 mile in just under 11 minutes. Today he was going to run more than a 10K, in the heat and at a much faster pace. Sachin had obviously come a long way, but this was not going to be easy. The sun was directly overhead at this point, and although there were a couple spots of shade, it was mostly out in the open. 

Right before Sachin started, we ran across his parents.  I hadn't seen them in a while and I thought it was so cool that they came out here to see Sachin run.

It was clear that they were really proud of him.  They ended up following us for the rest of the relay, stopping to take pictures and even ended up at the finish.

Sach kept a nice and steady pace throughout the whole thing. Every time we saw him he just kept moving.  After his leg was over, he said there were a few time in the last mile where he wanted to stop for a bit and walk. He figured no one was around and nobody would know. But, then he realized he would know, so he kept on running. This may sound a bit cheesy, but these kinds of moments is what an event like this is all about.






8th Leg - 5.2 miles - 1:19 pm - 11:32 pace - Joe
We were now half way  done, but the hardest legs were still to come for some of us. I think Joe's leg was the hottest of all. I would guess it peaked in the low 90s with some lingering humidity. Even though my leg was coming up and it would still be crazy hot, I got a bit of a break with some cloud cover.  Joe had absolutely no cloud cover. Also keep in mind that with this leg, Joe would be running 10 miles today, making this a daily distance PR for him. He started out at a nice pace, but eventually the heat started to catch up with him and it would force him to slow down a bit.

His HR started to skyrocket so I told him to just take some time to walk to let it come down a bit. Once again, despite this tremendous effort, Joe kept a positive attitude throughout the whole thing. Then with less than a mile to go we hit some really bad traffic. At some point Joe passed us and we realized it was possible he would make it to the transition before I did.  We yelled out of the car for him to walk some more.  He mixed in some more walking but still made it to the transition area before us.  Luckily, it had only been about a minute.  I jumped out of the car, and tagged his hand. Joe was done for the day.

9th Leg - 9 miles - 2:19 pm - 9:11 pace - Me
Wow.  This was really hard. I knew going in that my predicted pace of 8:26 was a bit unrealistic. I knew that I wasn't really trained enough for 17 miles in one day. I figured I would just take it nice and easy and try to keep my HR low and just make it through. It's funny how your state of mind changes during a run. Everything started great. I was running really easy at just under 9 minute pace.  My HR was in the 150s and I was getting great support and feeling pretty good. Even though it was super hot, the ice towel under my hat and constant water was working for me. I actually had the thought I could pick it up a bit if I was still feeling good later.  Ha!

Somewhere around mile 4, I entered some part of town where the traffic was ridiculously backed up. I just thought to myself , "OK, be cool. You are not going to have support for a couple miles, but you have a bottle of water in hand and you are just going to take it easy".  Well the traffic eventually let up after a mile, but then a mile later there was still no sign of my team. I still had half a bottle of water left so I figured it would be OK, but then in an attempt to fix the position of the ice towel under my hat (at this point it was a hot warm wet towel) I dumped out the entire bottle of water by mistake! 

Now I was starting to get a bit upset.  I was approaching 3 miles unsupported with no water, and I was really starting to drag.  My earlier thoughts of picking it up sounded hilarious right now. But, I also thought, this is nobody's fault.  When I do see my friends I need to keep a positive attitude just like Joe does. I really did think this. Unfortunately, I was unsuccessful in implementing this idea. When I did finally see Andy, Joe and Sachin, I was all business. No smiles, no thank you. But what really made it worse was the dumbest thing. At some point Joe mentioned that he thought I had passed Frank, when in fact it was just someone who looked like him. Andy thought so as well so it was the second time it was mentioned. Instead of saying something like "Oh no, I think that's some other guy.", I yelled "That wasn't Frank! Why the hell do you guys keep saying I passed Frank?! It's not Frank!!" So, yeah, the whole be pleasant to the support crew didn't work so well. Sorry guys :( I think I was a bit nicer to Chris, Pete, Justin and Melissa though.  At least I think so. Needless to say, they all did an amazing job supporting me when they could get through the traffic.  Constant water and ice towels got me through this thing, as well as the cheering out the car window.

I was now about a couple miles from the end and this was probably the longest 9 miles I've ever ran. Luckily, there was some cloud cover.  Even though I was still really hurting, I think if it continued to be this hot, walking might have become a possibility. With a half mile to go, I saw the transition area and I took off. That last half mile was under 8 minute pace, so I guess I did have something left. I tagged Andy and I was done. Unfortunately, there was no one at the transition area when I finished.  I was pretty upset, but I don't need to go in to more detail about this, as it really wasn't anyone's fault, and I think I've already maxed out my act-like-a-princess quota. I was done for the day.

10th &11th Legs - 13.8 miles - 3:41 pm - Crazy Fast pace - Andy & Pete
Andy and Pete decided that they were going to take turns doing mile repeats with Andy starting and ending with a 2 mile. I was a little concerned about Pete doing 5 more mile repeats, but I was also concerned about Andy doing too many more miles after "The Beast" this morning. I guess I was just concerned about everyone doing everything because I can be a bit of a worrier. Pete assured me that this made the most sense since his numb foot wouldn't be an issue if he kept it to a mile at a time. Also, with them being able to come in to the car after each leg and sit in the air conditioning and drink some water, they wouldn't get the cumulative effect of the heat. This plan made sense to me, and though it was by no means easy, I think it definitely worked. How else can you explain the crazy paces these guys were running?

I won't go into every single one of their legs, but they were really moving and they just kept it up. Everything was working great.  The only hiccup was again due to traffic. We couldn't get to Pete for his first leg so he ended up running 1.5 miles, but I think that was better to happen in the beginning rather than near the end. Andy was easily under sub 8 minute pace for all his legs, including his first 2 miles in 7:16 pace, and his last mile in 7:17! I don't have Pete's times, but I am pretty sure he was sub 9 for all his legs and in the low 8s for some of them. Despite my super slow 9th leg adding time to my estimate, by the time these guys were finished we were 16 minutes ahead of schedule! This was my single biggest estimation failure having figured a 9:12 pace for Pete and an 8:14 pace for Andy, but I was darn happy about it :) Pete and Andy were done for the day.

12th Leg - 6.3 miles - 5:32 pm - 8:44 pace - Justin
Justin took off for his last leg, and even though it was starting to cool down a bit, the start of his leg was still hot. I know that a lot of this post has been about the heat, but you have to realize that the majority of races are held in the spring and fall and in the morning when it's cool.  Perfect running temps are in the 50s.  Anything above 60 already means a slower pace. This past spring during the Boston marathon when temperatures reached the 80s, a lot of runners dropped out of the race, and there were a ton of people in medical tents.

Justin looking very intense, finishing up his last leg

Even though we all knew going in that this would be in the middle of August, nothing can really prepare you for it, other than experience. There's not much to say here about Justin.  He was just a machine. He kept up pretty much the same consitent pace throughout the whole leg. It's very typical to start out a bit too fast and then fade in the end, but Justin had the most consistent mile splits of anyone. The only thing he was a bit upset about at the end, was that he wished he knew that it was a bit short so he could have started his kick earlier. Even so, he brought in the last 3rd mile in 7:40 pace. Justin was done for the day.









13th Leg - 7.7 miles - 6:27 pm - 8:50 pace - Melissa

This was the last hard leg left, because after Melissa, Sachin just had 2.5 miles and then we would be done. As we drove by, all of us completely exhausted from our efforts, we couldn't believe Melissa still had to run 8 miles. Just driving through to the final transition area seemed to take forever. Melissa was running this whole way and we were done.  I kind of felt a bit guilty.  Maybe I should not have given her two long legs like this. But if not her, then who? Regardless of how I felt about it, Melissa was handling her leg like a champ. She did also, finally accept some support from Pete with some water :)


I remembered this leg from last year.  The last couple miles are on a trail and even though it's nice to get off the road for a bit, it does feel a lot longer than it really is. It's hard to see when the transition area is coming up, but before you know it, there it is. Melissa saw the transition area and really sprinted it in hard.  I would say her sprint at the end was the fastest any of us had ran all day.  She tackled two challenging legs, and she finished in style.

14th Leg - 2.5 miles - 7:36 pm - 8:15 pace - Sachin
Sachin was last to go.  With the short distance and the cooler weather, I knew he was going to have no problem.  I was no longer worried and just looking forward to meeting up with everyone at the finish. It had been a long day, and after 88 miles, there were just a couple miles left. Sachin really took it fast.  We weren't sure if we would be able to support him at all because I wasn't sure what the traffic situation would be like at the beach. Luckily we were able to see him one time, about a mile in and he was looking strong.

After that, Joe and I dropped off Andy and Melissa at the finish and went to park.  We knew that Chris, Pete and Justin would already be there but we wanted to be sure that someone would catch Sachin crossing the finish line.

An exhausted Sachin with other team members. Finished!

Finish

Happy to be finished!

Joe and I parked the car and had to walk about a half mile back to the beach to meet up with everyone. We were now all together at the finish, and we could finally celebrate. It was over, and it felt great. As I walked around the beach, I was thinking about how the day went. 150 teams started this relay, but only 129 were able to finish. They announced at the end that in the relay's 17 year history, this was the second hottest day! That made our accomplishment even greater.  

I thought about the many other teams we saw along the way.  There were young and old, elite and not-so-elite. Some teams had super team spirit down to matching blue ribbons in their hair. Some had questionable running form, hunched over with bad posture, while others flew by us near the end at 5 minute pace. It was great to be part of this community of runners making their way across the state.

Enjoying some well earned pizza

But most importantly, it was great to be part of a team, supporting each other. I think the best part of this event for everyone was not only the accomplishment of finishing your legs, but supporting the other runners as they fought through theirs. And of course along the way, there was much joking and just being in each other's company. I had very high expectations for this event when I first thought about it a year ago, and they were, without a doubt, exceeded. R2C 2013? Absolutely!

Team Awards

Just one last thing that I'll leave you with. I started thinking about how each person contributed and it made me think of the high school cross country awards we had at the end of each season.  So here are my list of team awards (in order of relay appearance).


Best Attitude - Joe
Everyone knows that Joe is a pleasure to be around.  Sure, he is funny and charming, but really it's his awesome positive attitude that is so contagious. 


Most Upset About Confusion Regarding Which Other Runners Were Passed - Me
Contagious to everyone but me.  This is for me acting like a princess due to a simple misunderstanding and also being annoyed anytime my schedule wasn't followed exactly.

Most Gutsy - Pete
Considering the injuries Pete faced going into this, taking on 11.5 miles is pretty much insane. Managing to get through 3.5 more miles of his first leg after his foot went numb was something few folks would do, but then afterwards running 5.5 repeat miles in the heat?! Impressive stuff.

The Beast - Andy
This is pretty self explanatory.  When you conquer the hardest leg on the course called "The Beast", then you become "The Beast". So move over Yohan Blake, although I would recommend to Andy that he does not start to do Yohan's pre-race beast pose, because frankly it looks rather silly.

The Machine - Justin
I was happy to support Justin on both of his legs, and he was all business. From start to finish of both legs, he maintained a very consistent pace without fading.  Ever the competitor, he sprinted in the last part of his last leg, at 7:42 pace, passing a guy who he'd been running behind for a while. Also being a good sportsman, he went up to the guy after his leg to thank him (Well at least that's what it looked like, I actually didn't hear their conversation :)

Atlas - Melissa
I know Atlas holds up the Earth, but he didn't have to pick up the slack of a bunch of injured team mates. This is of course for carrying the team on her shoulders while handling two 8 mile legs and doing so with style.

Most Improved - Sachin
Going from 1 mile at just under 11 minute pace, to finishing 2.5 in 8:15 pace after already having run 4 miles?! That's some serious improvement.

Best Cheerleader - Chris
When Chris sprained his ankle, I was very upset. Not only because he was doing so good with his training, but I was looking forward to hanging out with him for this event. But then it turned out he was going to join us for the whole way! So although he didn't run the legs, he was very much a part of the team, helping with driving and support in a way that only Chris can. As I'm typing this I have "River to Sea" in my head, so thanks buddy :) And of course he took some awesome photos, many of which are included here.

Running with Scott Jurek

Scott Jurek is in the center down on one knee with the yellow singlet. Can you spot Peter Sarsgaard?

Most of the time I run alone. Occasionally I get to run with friends. But on Tuesday I went for a long run around Manhattan with ultra running legend Scott Jurek!!! (and a few other folks, so it's not like it was just me and him) For those who don't know who Scott Jurek is, he is probably one of the most dominant ultra runners in the competitive history of the sport.  He won the Western States 100, which is like the Super Bowl of ultra running, 7 times in a row! He has won the Badwater 135, a race through death valley in July, 2 years in a row.  He holds the US 24-hour record at 165.7 miles (that's 6.5 consecutive marathons). But, more than anything else, he is one of the most humble, nicest, down-to-earth guys I've ever met.  He is pretty much my new hero.


I've been listening to the ultrarunner podcast for the past couple weeks and last week, Scott Jurek was on because he had just finished writing his new book, Eat and Run. The podcast was great and I was definitely interested in picking up the book.  Ever since I read Born to Run, I wanted to know more about Scott's life and his journey to become of the best ultra runners and now I could read all about it in his own words.  I was also starting to think more about diet and nutrition so I was definitely curious about his Vegan diet. After the podcast was over, I went online to see exactly when the book was coming out and low and behold, he was kicking off his book tour in NY by running around Manhattan! This was too good to be true. On top of that, Chris McDougall, author of Born to Run, and Peter Sarsgaard were going to be there as well, because he is adapting Born to Run into a movie! As anyone who has there priorities in order, I promptly took the day off.


The morning run started at 5 AM on the east side at 42nd st. and went all the way up and around counter-clockwise and back to the start. The whole thing was a little more than 50K. I really wanted to do the whole 50K and I certainly was in shape for it having done 50 miles a couple weeks ago, but my knee had been giving me problems and I thought I would play it safe and do more like 10 - 15 miles. My plan was to go into work an hour earlier just to use the gym as home base for the run.  Then I would run up the Hudson River Greenway toward the group and meet them after a couple miles and then run the rest of the way around Battery Park, up the east side to Bryant Park. And that's exactly what happened.

The Run Itself


After I came up with this plan, I took off from the WFC like I always do on my lunchtime runs, except in this case I'd be going a bit further than I normally would to meet up with the group. It was a beautiful day and I even wore my orange sweatshirt because it was in the 50s at the start and I knew I might need it after the run if I was cold and I wouldn't have time to come back to the gym and change.  This was a wise choice.


I started at a very easy pace but my HR was a bit higher than normal.  I felt fine but I guess maybe I was so excited to meetup with the group and a bit nervous that somehow I would miss them. My knee was so-so. Not that painful, but I was definitely aware that there was something there.  But I didn't think about it too much because I was so excited. I took a little video when I got to my usual 2.5 mile turn around point.

Then I stopped again at the furthest point I've ever run during work.

Finally, a little after the Intrepid, I spotted them! I tried to take some video but I was embarrassed to do it when they were close, so I was left with this clip of me being so excited to see them, but you cannot at all tell what I am looking at so I did not include it. As they came up, I saw Scott and asked if I could join and he said "Of course!" As if they were going to tell me to get lost.  I just wasn't sure what the protocol was. I joined the group and there was about 30 or so runners at this point. I started talking to a random guy about how it was going so far and whether they had a lot of people join in like me and he said there were a few.  They also lost a bunch along the way who had started but then left to go to work or something else. It was such a cool and friendly vibe. There was about an even mix of some very experienced ultra runners, and newbies such as myself. 


As we ran along back to the WFC where I started, I could hear a conversation behind me from a guy talking about the farthest he had run up to this point and I knew right away it was Peter Sarsgaard because he has a pretty distinctive voice.  I turned around and there he was.  I admit I was a bit starstruck.  I'm definitely a fan of his. I waited a little while and then when he was running by himself I ran next to him for a bit.  I wasn't really sure what to say without coming off like a complete idiot, but I knew I wanted to say something.  So I just said "It's so cool that you're doing this and running the whole way...  I'm a big fan." He smiled and said "Oh, thanks." And I left it at that. But, that was enough for me, and I really did mean what I said.  I thought it was impressive that he was going to do his first ultra today as part of the kick off for this book tour.


After that, I spotted Mike Arnstein, aka the fruitarian. I heard him on the ultrarunner podcast the week before the Scott Jurek one.  I had heard of this guy before that, but I really became fascinated after listening to the podcast. I won't go into too much detail here because I want to dedicate an entire post about my recent thoughts about diet and running, but let me just say it was very fascinating talking to this guy who takes raw food veganism to another level, and is apparently thriving on it and breaking PRs left and right.


Shortly after that, we had arrived back where I started.  I had run the 4 miles back to the World Financial Center and it felt like nothing.

A little while later we stopped to say bye to a runner who was leaving after finishing his first marathon!

Over the next few miles, a few people kept peeling off the group and one or two others joined us. I was really enjoying running with this group and also covering new ground.  After running the same routes over and over again, it's fun to run some place new. We were approaching the building where my dad and sister work so I called them to let them know we were going to run by. I tried to get a hold of them right as we were passing and just as we were running away I got a call from my Dad that they were there.  I ran over and saw my sister and dad for a few seconds and they could tell how excited I was.  My sister was especially excited to hear that Peter Sarsgaard was there as well. I left after about 30 seconds so I could catch up with them. Since they were only doing 9:30 pace, it didn't take me too long. But, as I sped up to about 7:30 pace to catch up, I realized my knee was bothering me a bit.  I was a little annoyed but I didn't want it to spoil my mood so I ignored it and was soon back to running at an easy pace again.

Over the last couple miles I ended up talking to the organizer of the meetup who is a pretty accomplished ultrarunner.  I talked to him about the differences between a 50 and 100 miler.  As I've heard many times before, he told me that a 100 is in it's own category and he thinks of a 50 in the same category as a marathon.  I guess that's how it always works.  I was remembering telling someone once I finished my first marathon that a half marathon was closer to a 5k than it was to a marathon and that a marathon was in it's own category.  Just reminded me that I am not quite ready for a 100.... yet :)


The run was coming to an end, but there was still the book signing to look forward to in Bryant Park. We finally turned back into Manhattan and before I knew it, we stopped, having reached the end.  The whole run really flew by. It felt like I ran for 20 minutes. Scott was really happy and was giving high fives to a handful of people who had just completed their first ultra, including Peter Sarsgaard. 

Right as we finished, Chris McDougall showed up.  He was talking to Scott about what was happening next at Bryant park. Scott joked with him about how he didn't join us for the run. Chris was wearing a pair of Tarahumara-like sandals and stopped to talk to a guy who was wearing even more minimalist sandals of his own creation.

After that, everyone went there separate ways and I was trying to figure out whether I wanted to go back to get changed and come back to Bryant park or just hang around. As I was deciding, another runner who had dropped off a bit because he was just finishing his first ultra came by. He was completely exhausted and of course incredibly hungry.  I had overheard him talking before about how he was a Vegan when he spoke with the fruitarian guy and he informed some of us that he was going to find a Chipotle to get a massive bean burrito. This sounded perfect for me, so I decided to join him. I just got exactly what he got and we talked about Veganism for a bit.  Mostly he talked and I asked questions and listened. I'm not going to go into too much detail here again, because I will save it for another post.  After an awesome lunch we parted ways and I headed for Bryant park.


I've never been to Bryant park. It's quite nice, and I was in an amazing mood.  I found the tent where they were setting up and I saw them unpacking the new book.  I walked over and got myself a copy.  I think I was the first one to get it because after I bought it, other folks started to line up.  I found a seat in the second row and started to check out the book. This guy who ran the last 5 miles with us sat down next to me and he was wearing a Dirty German t-shirt. We spoke for a while about the race, Born to Run and ultrarunning in general.  It was cool to meet so many people and talk with them about ultras.  This was all new to me.  I probably ended up talking to 8 or 9 different ultrarunners throughout the day.


Then the event started with Chris McDougall playing the role of host. He talked about how he met Scott and a little about his own book Born to Run which was on sale there as well. 

The coauthor of Eat and Run, Steve Friedman, was there as well as Peter Sarsgaard. Peter spoke about how he met Scott and his own experience with running and how he came to deciding to write and direct Born to Run.  From what I understood, Scott Jurek is going to play himself in the movie. I was running out of battery and space on my iPhone so I couldn't shoot everything.  Here, Peter Sarsgaard talks about what running means to him and whether he has thought about running in races.

The whole event lasted about 45 minutes and then everyone got in a line for the book signing. Scott signed my book and wrote "Dimitri, Be Somebody." It's the title of one of the chapters of his book. I know that kind of thing may sound super corny, but when you put it in the context of this whole day and who Scott is, it wasn't corny to me at all. I thanked him again for doing this and I told him how awesome it was to run with him around NY. He said it was a great time, and he was happy I got to take the whole experience in with the run and the book signing. I don't know Steve Friedman to well, but as he signed my book next, I told him that I was very excited to read it. The last person at the table was Chris McDougall. I told him that I had to shake his hand and thank him for introducing me to this world of ultrarunning.  I told him that I just ran my first 50 mile ultra a couple weeks ago and how his book was a big influence.  I'm sure he hears that all the time, but this time it was my turn. He thanked me, and that was it. 


I left Bryant park with a big smile on my face.  You don't often get to meet the people you look up to, and when you do it can be a disappointment if they do not live up to the person you think they are. Scott Jurek is a truly remarkable person and gives off such a positive and sincere vibe, it feels great to just be in his presence. This took a really long time to write and I don't have too much time to go back and edit it and make it sound better.  I have to go now and be somebody.

What's Next?

With my first 50 mile done over a week ago, I'm thinking about what's next for me. I have a few things coming up in my schedule.  In two months, I'm running in the River to Sea relay with friends. Then, at the end of October, I have the Marine Corps marathon. Most of my training will be focused on preparing for Marine Corps. I'm not really going to do anything special to prepare for River to Sea, other than some more running in the heat.  There may be a 5K or a half marathon somewhere in there as well. I'm of course very excited for all of these events.  I know that River to Sea is going to be so awesome with friends, but it's probably more of a fun social and bonding experience than anything else. Running the Marine Corps with Andy is also going to be great.  It will be his first marathon, and it will be so cool to run it with him, or more likely behind him. But, after running on that trail in Pennypack Park in Philadelphia for 9 hours, I really am already craving another  trail ultra. 


I don't think I'm going to do one this year, but I'm pretty sure I'll be looking for another one around spring time next year. As much as I enjoyed the Dirty German, I don't know if I can top the experience there of having all of my family and friends and winning first in my age group. Right now I'm thinking about the North Face 50 at Bear Mountain. I actually considered this race while choosing my first ultra and ended up going with the Dirty German. The reason I did not choose this as my first ultra is it is ridiculously difficult:

Note the many stars. Apparently 7000 feet of elevation gain does not warrant a 5-star rating

From what I understand, it is one of the hardest courses on the east coast.  Considering I hadn't done any trail running, and this was going to be my first foray into the ultra distance, I went with the very "runnable" Dirty German 50.  The joke is that I thought the Dirty German was hillier than I expected. One good way to compare the relative difficulty of these two courses is to look at the finishing times. The median finishing time of the Dirty German this year was 9:52.  For the Bear Mountain 50, it was 11:54. That's right, two hours slower! Perhaps some of that has to do with the elevation change:

Just to give a comparison, the Western States 100, probably the most famous, crazy ultra, which goes through the Sierra Nevada mountains, has an elevation gain of 18,000 ft.  But that's for 100 miles.  If you half that, you get 9000 ft which to me is in the same ballpark as 7000 ft. As opposed to the hundreds of feet of gain I experienced at the Dirty German.


Now that I have covered the 50 mile distance and have run on some trails, I really like the sound of this Bear Mountain 50.  I've read some race reports and I've seen some pictures and I I see that 5 stars for "Scenery" and I know I want to do it. At some point, I may consider going with a longer ultra. Perhaps I could move up to 100K, but honestly I don't think it's that much more than a 50M. The real ultimate challenge is a 100 mile, but that still feels crazy to me and I'm not ready to make that leap... yet. So for now, I think the added challenge of this super hard course is what's next for me. So unless things change, or the timing doesn't work out, I think I've made my choice.

The End of a Streak

Because of the 50 Miler, and all that surrounded it, I kind of forgot about another pretty major personal running achievement. The 50 mile race marked the last day of my running streak. It was 141 days, just over 1000 miles (average of 7 miles/day) and I ended it by choice and not due to illness, injury or anything else outside of my control.

I had debated about whether or not I should continue to run and I figured ultimately I would see how I felt the day after the race. Well, despite being pretty sore, I was not too bad.  I know for sure I could have easily ran a couple miles. In fact the following day when I was even more sore, I did run 2 miles, and felt better afterwards. I decided to end it because I wanted to be in control of when it ended. I like that 50 miles was the culmination of the streak. I knew going in that this thing wouldn't last forever. I figured I'd get the flu or something and that would end it and I would get all upset.  Ending it by choice has made me come to peace with it.

While it was going on, there was something cool about knowing that every single day at some point I needed to run. I imagine that may make some people feel trapped, dreading that daily run.  To me it felt like the opposite of that. I looked forward to it almost every day. Every day I ran was another day I was in control and things were going according to my plan. There is so much that I don't control in my life. This was something for myself that I would not compromise on.  I know full well that at times this was quite selfish.  Some days it would have been a lot easier for my family to not have to work around a run.  April would sometimes get sick of me asking about what time everything was happening so I could coordinate my run. But, most of the time it wasn't that big a deal to sneak in couple miles somewhere.

I had some close calls where I almost broke the streak.  I had a couple colds, some calf pain and one time when April was very sick I decided to quit, but then when she and the girls were in bed and finally sleeping at 11 pm, I snuck in a quick mile. I was back before anyone knew I had gone.

But now with my 50 mile finished, I want a solid 2 weeks of rest. I could have just done 1 or 2 miles every day for two weeks, but I really want days off of running.  I want to completely recharge before I start back up with marathon training. So that's exactly what I'm doing. Last week, I ran 8 miles, and only 3 of the 7 days. It was pretty weird to not be running, but it was a nice change too.

It looks so weird to have that short column after a 70 mile week

After my soreness wore off from my race, it left a bit of a knee injury in my left leg.  I don't think it's anything serious, but it comes at a good time when I'm resting anyway. I am not planning on starting another streak anytime soon.  I'm looking to run almost every day when I get going with marathon training, but I'm not going to be a slave to it.  Will I try to get another streak going at some point? Maybe.  Maybe I'll go for a whole year.  Who knows.  For now, I'm happy with 141 days and 1000 miles.

Dirty German 50 Miles

At the finish with Pete and Andy holding my sweet 1st place age group award!

Wow! This is way up there as far as personal accomplishments go. It honestly went as well as it possibly could have.  That's not to say there weren't some surprises and issues that came up.  From everything I read, those things are inevitable.  The question is how they get handled. Well, I finished which was my real only goal in 9 hours and 11 minutes. What I really wasn't expecting at all was to get 1st in my age group!  I know this mostly depends on who decides to show up and the size of the field, but you know what, I will gladly take it.  I got an awesome German thermometer to serve as a memento for this incredible day. Being able to share this with my family and friends just made it even more awesome. Ok, now it's time to break this thing down.

Pre Race

I won't go into too much detail of the thoughts and preparation going into this, because I've covered most of it in other blog posts.  Lets just say that this was a long time in the making. Looking back at my training, I think my greatest accomplishment was not the two 50Ks or several 60 mile+ weeks or even running every single day of this year.  The best thing I had going into this was not being injured.  I realize there is a huge luck component to this.  But, I frequently made wiser choices in terms of scaling back and reducing or eliminating speed.  I think that was the single biggest thing I did right.

I did the usual carb loading a few days before and most importantly kept up on my hydration.  Some people forget about this, but this is really the most important thing. I set out all the stuff I needed for the next day.  This included the following:

3 sandwich bags of 6 S!Caps each
12 GUs
2 band-aids for the nips
Running outfit
Sneakers
Extra sneakers, socks, shirt
Water bottle
Suntan lotion
Hat
Garmin Watch
HR Strap
Backup watch (when Garmin runs out of batteries)

That is a long list and for those that know how forgetful I am, I somehow remembered everything!

The night before the race I started to get a little nervous and as such did not have the best sleep.  But, I was expecting this, and I did sleep well 2 nights before so I was satisfied. 5 hours is pretty good for me before an event. I woke up at 5:30 and ate my usual big bowl of Special K Fruit and Yogurt (my current favorite).  I had some coffee and a banana as well. At 6, I left my house feeling good.

I got to the start/finish area at 7 am, got my racing bib and was feeling pretty relaxed. I spoke with a few other ultra folks and they were talking about how this is such a great course for your first trail ultra because it's so runnable.  At this point, I was thinking that my plan of running at around 9 minute pace for the first 2/3 with breaks here and there was totally feasible.  Ha ha ha! I'll get to that soon :)

3.5 Mile Loop

because this race also has folks doing a 50K and a 25K, the 50M runners start off in a different direction to do a 3.5 mile loop before they do 3 main 25K loops. The race director said a few words and thanked a few people and then he just said "Go!" and we were off at about 8 minutes after 8. I would estimate about 40 - 50 or so 50 mile folks, with a lot more 50K and 25K runners. 

The first mile I took really easy just getting warmed up and I had a long day ahead of me.  I was actually closer to the back and going about mid 9 minute pace. There were a bunch of little rolling hills and I wondered how much of the course would continue like this. Soon after, we turned into some single track with lots of twists and turns and even more ups and downs.  At this point I was just following the person ahead of me and didn't concern myself with how fast I was going.  I walked a few uphills and I realized I was going still mid 9s and then with the 3rd mile I was doing low 10s. I was a little upset with the pace but I figured it was still early and who knew what the rest of this course would be like.  Perhaps this was just the hilly, twisty trail section. As I approached the start, I realized that my Garmin was almost .5 miles off meaning that I wasn't going mid to high 9s this whole time, but probably closer to 10s or maybe even 11s. At this point I realized my estimates were likely to be way off, but I had just started and I wasn't too worried.  I was feeling great and I was loving running in the trails.

"First Loop"

As I started on the first loop, the field started to thin out and I found myself running on my own at times.  I was in paradise. I decided right then that I can see how people completely turn away from road running and switch to trails.  Being in the middle of a forest with a river running near by, jumping over an occasional log, it felt so great and natural. Because it was early in my run and I was feeling awesome, my only emotion was pure joy. There continued to be more hills than I imagined, but I was also flying down the down hill portions too.  I averaged in the low 9s up to the first aid station.

When I got to the first aid station, I had already removed the top of my water bottle, and the folks there were very helpful and friendly. After they filled up my water I was on my way in just a few seconds. I made sure to thank them as I left, plus I was in an awesome mood.  Then came the best part of the course.  I had resigned myself to the fact that this was going to be a much slower race, but I was enjoying it so much, I didn't really care.  I just figured I'd let everyone know when I texted them after I finished the first loop. This section had lots of twists and turns and ups and downs like a tight roller coaster track. I felt like I was flying through this area and I wasn't stopping much but I was barely maintaining high 9s.

First Wrong Turn

And then the first problem arose. As I was about a mile or so from the "2nd aid station" I started hearing the accordion and I remember thinking "oh wow, they have music both at the start area and all the way down at the bottom too, that's really cool".  But then I started to recognize part of the path and that was not good.  The more I ran, the more I was certain that I was retracing my steps from the 3.5 mile loop I did at the start.  I couldn't figure out what went wrong.  I never felt like I was off course or I missed a turn.  As I came into the start/finish area I was so upset. I thought maybe this whole thing was over for me and that I would be disqualified.  As I came into the aid station, I asked to speak with the race director.  I explained to him my dilemma and he realized that I went the wrong way after leaving the first aid station.  This big loop is a figure 8 with the start/finish at the top, the 1st/3rd aid station at the intersection and the 2nd aid station at the bottom.  When I left the 1st aid station, instead of continuing on to the bottom loop, I went back up.  Honestly, it is the job of the aid station workers to direct the runners as well, and I think they just missed me. The race director was super cool.  He was really calm and figured out how to solve the problem. He told me that I just needed to do the bottom loop twice and then I'd be all set.  Once I realized that I could continue and I wouldn't be disqualified, I was so relieved.  I was on my way back down to the first aid station.

This whole time I was drinking water every 15 minutes, taking a GU every 30 minutes and an S!Cap every hour.  I figured as it got hotter, I would start taking an S!Cap every 30 minutes and I would start to work in other food then too. I continued the same pace as before, occasionally walking a bit for the hills, but I continued to run slowly while taking GU when I didn't have to look down at the trail.  Some parts were less technical than others.

When I got back down to the 1st aid station, I explained the situation to them and that I had talked to the race director about it.  They understood and were very sorry that they missed me somehow.  I grabbed a couple orange slices, a quarter PBJ, refilled my water and was on my way down to the 2nd aid station. 

Second Wrong Turn

This is when I got lost again.  Somewhere I missed a turn and I was running somewhere along side the park.  I then picked up the trail again, but I was going against traffic.  I was happy to find the trail but I wasn't sure how this was going to work with me getting back to the second aid station going the wrong way.  As I was passing people in the wrong direction, I think most folks thought I was the top elite 50K guy and kept saying "Alright man! Great job!"  I couldn't explain to all of them that in fact I was just completely lost. As the crowd thinned out I came across an older gentleman who knew I was going the wrong way.  He asked me if I was lost, and I told him I was.  He had a map of the course on him and we realized that there was a bridge coming up that I could cross over to start going the right way.  I thanked him for his help and headed toward this bridge.  As I got closer I pulled out the iPhone and figured out where I needed to go.  The trail passes underneath the bridge on either side and there is a crazy steep way to get up and down near the bridge.  On my way down, I almost fell going down this steep section but when I finally got back on the trail going the right way, I was so happy! I figured out that I only added about a quarter mile so that wasn't too bad. I was determined to not get lost again.

As I got closer to the second aid station I entered my least favorite part of the course.  It was out in the open sun and on asphalt.  Normally I don't mind running on asphalt, but after the trails in the shade, this sucked. I got to the second aid station and stayed a bit longer this time and ate more orange slices (favorite food of this event).  I then realized that because I was doing the bottom loop twice, that I would not get back to my drop bag for extra S!Caps and GU.  Luckily they had S!Caps at the aid station and a different brand of gels.  I took a couple and a pretzel and I was off. A little while down the road at 19 miles I decided I finished the "first loop" and texted everyone that I was done with it.

Second loop

I was headed back toward the 3rd aid station and this included a water crossing.  On the website it warned that there were a few water crossings and it would mean at some point your feet would get wet.  But there were always some strategically placed rocks to use to get across, so I managed to avoid getting my feet we the whole time.  This was something I didn't want to worry about.  Running in wet shoes for lots of miles would probably mean blisters. This part also had some more serious climbs which again made me realize how much I underestimated the hills on this course.  The net elevation gain is deceiving because a lot of the hills are small and they don't even register on the maps.  But let me tell you, they register on your legs.

Once I got to the 3rd aid station I reminded them that I'd be doing the bottom loop again and they remembered and even said the race director called them to let them know about my situation. I grabbed some more orange slices, a PBJ quarter and another gel and I was off.  Now that I was starting the bottom loop again, I was finally back on track with everyone else. I had been running mostly alone for a while because of my lack of navigation skills, and now I started to run into a few folks. I passed a few people but it wasn't clear if they were slower 50K folks or 50 mile runners that had slowed down.  There was one guy in particular that I would pass, but then when I would walk to have a gel, he would pass me.  We kept doing that for many miles.

When I got back to the 2nd aid station again, there were 4 or 5 runners there.  Nobody wanted to leave because the aid station was under a bridge in the shade and it was starting to get hot out in the open sun.  I spoke briefly with a guy that I caught up to who was really taking the whole  "minimal" thing seriously.  He had on shorts and a pair of sandals that looked like these: <Photo Lost>

No shirt, no hat, no hydration pack, not even a handheld water bottle.  That was pretty insane to me.  I felt like this was the equivalent of climbing mount Everest without oxygen (well maybe not exactly).

I spent a little too much time there, but finally managed to leave after a couple minutes. As I headed back to the 3rd aid station for the end of my second bottom loop I had an awful coughing fit.  I've been having that this spring with all of the pollen in the air and I did not want to be dealing with this now. I had a couple bad coughs in particular that actually hurt my sides.  Luckily after 5 minutes they would go away. 

I reached the 3rd aid station and got some more orange slices and PBJ. When I got there, the guy who I kept going back and forth with was just leaving.  As he left, one of the aid station guys told me that this guy is a serious ultra runner and held records at some point.  He said he had won the 100K nationals and finished in the top of the field at a bunch of bigger races. I guess he was just taking it easy or recovering from something here, but I thought that was so cool.  The ultra community is small enough that when you go to a local event like this, you can rub shoulders with some of the elites in the sport.  I looked him up when I got home and everything that aid station guy said was true.  His name is Howard Nippert.  He is now a coach and you can check out all of his accomplishments on his site.

After I left the 3rd aid station I was headed back to the start/finish area for the start of my third and last loop.  I was definitely starting to slow down at this point.  I was exhausted and my legs were feeling really sore, but there were no real specific problem areas and my stomach was still holding out, which is what I was most worried about.  I kept telling myself I just needed to run 4 more miles and then the whole last loop was with Bieka, Pete and Andy. Plus, I would get to see my parents and April, Abby and Sadie. This was a huge motivator.  I don't know how I would have felt not having that to look forward to. I called my sister to let her know that I was about 40 minutes away and about 35 minutes behind schedule. That timeline I made with my estimates for everyone turned out to be way, way off.  I knew there was a chance I would be slower, but man was I naive about how much slower I'd really be going on these trails.

As I got within a mile of the start/finish, I started hearing the accordion music again and I knew I was close to seeing my family.  I was really excited. I came into the area and my parents were already taking video and my sister was ready to go.

My parents and sister said I was looking good compared to some of the other folks, and I was happy to hear that, but wasn't sure how true it was. At this point I thought about how tired I was and how I still had to run 15.5 miles. But then the thought of running with Pete and Andy and seeing April and the girls got me going again. 

Final Loop

Bieka and I started walking the start of the third and final loop while I finished eating a PBJ. after a little while we started to run very slowly.  It was so great to have her there to talk to. I had been running alone pretty much the whole time, with only brief moments that would last a few seconds of running with other people. I let her know about how I got lost, and she was really enjoying running on the trail and how beautiful it was.  We were going pretty slow because now every tiny incline meant I would stop to walk because I had a tough time running. Even so, our 3 miles flew by so quickly and before we knew it we were at the 1st aid station.  I came down and saw Pete and Andy waiting for me along with my parents.

I apologized to them for being so far behind my estimates.  At this point I was about 40 minutes behind my original schedule.  They seemed to be happy just to see that I was in good spirits and feeling pretty good considering the distance.  This was now all new territory for me.  The farthest I had run in training was 31 miles.  I was now at 38 and feeling alright. I warned them that it would just get slower and would include more walking breaks. I ate some more oranges and had coke for the first time. I read about how coke is a staple at ultra events, and now it was evident why.  The combination of sugar, caffeine and calming your stomach really helps late in an ultra. My stomach was starting to get a bit questionable but nothing too bad.

Pete and I took off and just as I promised, I walked a bit more.  Every incline, we walked, and instead of flying down the down hills, I was now really cautious not to fall. I felt like my legs were not super reliable so I wanted to play it safe.  I was starting to hurt more and my stomach was now starting to bother me a bit. I was dreading the open area coming up on the bike path with all the sun, but I was so thankful that Pete was there to run with me.  Once again, being able to talk with Pete the whole time, was awesome.  It really made the time go by. As we got to the open area, I spotted some porta-potties and decided that might be what I need.  Lets just say that after that I was feeling much better and got a bit of a second wind.

The course is quite diverse in appearance. There are these super secluded areas with very narrow twisty switchbacks, open areas going through meadows, trails where you can run side by side while looking at a river below and then there are these huge tunnels that pass underneath bridges.  A really cool mix.  Here is one of those tunnels I took some video of while running with Pete:

As we were approaching the 2nd aid station I really started to get pretty happy.  I knew that I was only going to have 8 miles left and I was actually feeling alright.  I was moving slower, but I was going to finish this thing. When we got closer, I got an awesome surprise.  April, Abby and Sadie were able to come see me earlier than I expected.  Seeing them made me so super happy! They were cheering me on and Andy joined Pete and I for the short jog to the aid station. Everyone was there! This was all really happening. I grabbed more of the same stuff from the aid station and Pete and I were off.  4 more miles to the 3rd aid station and then 4 more miles to the finish with Andy.  I was going to finish this!

As Pete and I were running to the 3rd aid station we got to a part of the course where for about a mile you pass people going in the opposite direction out on their last loop.  This was the first time Pete and I saw anyone for a long while.  We passed about 7 or 8 people and it started to occur to me that besides being happy to be able to finish, I may be doing alright in the field.  I figured based on how much slower I was going than expected, I was right in the middle, but now I started to think maybe I was a bit closer to the front.  In fact on the same portion where we were going out, we only saw 2 people ahead of us. I started to entertain the possibility of getting an age group award.  Maybe it was possible I could get 3rd, if I got lucky with who was there.  Pete seemed to think it was possible.  I was really in good spirits at this point, regardless of whether I got an award or not.  I was 45 miles in and I was starting to feel better rather than worse. Of course I was still going pretty slow, but I was fine with this. 

The only thing that was occasionally starting to bother me were my legs were starting to cramp up. I figured this was just a matter of time, and I think the way I'd been hydrating and taking S!Caps actually held it off for pretty long.  I would feel that my hamstrings or calves would be on the verge of seizing, but then I would shorten my stride, or if it was worse I would start to walk a bit.  After a little while I would start to run again. I know from experience from my previous marathons not to stretch in this situation.  What happens then is in the process of stretching one muscle, the opposite one seizes up.  At my first marathon, I stopped to stretch my quad and got a muscle spasm in my hamstring. There are various degrees of cramping up, and this was so far completely manageable and I was not too worried.  

Pete and I arrived at the 3rd and final aid station before the finish and Andy was ready to go. I told him that it would be really slow, but that this was my favorite section of the course. I thanked Pete for being an enormous help during the hardest part of the course and he was off to drive to the finish area to meet us. I grabbed a few pretzels and Andy and I started walking the final 4 miles. The final segment starts with a pretty serious incline so we walked for a good 2 minutes while I finished eating the pretzels before we started to run.  When we got to the top of the hill, we were at the twisty, turny single track I love.  I was really feeling good and even though we were running 10 minute pace, I felt like I was flying through everything.  We walked the hills, and I would slow down or walk a bit more frequently when I felt my legs seizing up, but with every few minutes, I knew we were closer to the finish and this would all be over.  I was really in an amazing mood. I once again was enjoying being outside running on this awesome trail, this time with my friend. 

With a mile to go we saw the one and only person who passed us while we I was walking trying to recover from a muscle spasm.  After he passed, I turned back to ask Andy if he thought this guy was under 30.  He definitely thought so, trying to keep up my happy mood.  I still had the idea that there was a slight chance I could get an age group award. As we got within a mile of the finish, I really started to get excited.  I had no pain at all.  No stomach problems. As we got closer we actually started to pick up the pace. With about a quarter mile to go I turned to Andy and said "Let's do this!" And we picked it up hard. Even though my legs were still on the verge of cramping, I was able to modify my stride in a way to still run fast and I just went for it.  We crossed the finish line with the last little .18 mile split at 6:31 pace! Everyone was there and I was done! It felt incredible. And then after I finished, I got this little cherry on top of good news:

Post Race

As far as what's next? Rest.  I'll leave what my future plans are to another blog post.  If you read this far, congratulations to you! I cannot thank everyone enough who helped me and encouraged me to do this.  To my parents, thanks so much for being there and being so super supportive and not thinking this is stupid, dangerous and crazy. To Bieka, Pete and Andy who paced me through this thing, I really cannot imagine how that last loop would have gone without you. Most likely it wouldn't have. And of course, April and the girls for putting up with the training necessary for me to do this without breaking down, and then being there to motivate me through the finish. I don't know how many more times I can use the words awesome, incredible, amazing, etc. Instead I'll let these pictures and video tell the end of this ridiculously long post.

Finished, tired, happy!

Girls hanging out while waiting for their slow dad.

Feeling quite satisfied, for now

Getting Excited For 50 Miles

The Dirty German is now 3 days away and I'm getting really excited.  This whole week it's pretty much all I've been thinking about.  I'm going over my race strategy, creating a spreadsheet with possible pacing, coming up with a checklist of things to bring, checking the weather every hour (weather.com: 79, accuweather: 77), reading race reports from last year, sending out emails with logistics, writing a blog entry about getting ready.

I thought I would be a bit more nervous with this thing, and perhaps that will come later, but through out most of this training I've been more excited than anything else. My training went quite well, and I've definitely done my research with reading about ultras.  The only thing missing is experience which I can't really do anything about. Unfortunately, it seems that experience is probably the biggest factor with these thing. At least that's what I've read :)

Even though I've said many times to myself and everyone else that my only real goal is to finish 50 miles anyway I can, I still need to come up with an estimate of how long it will take me, if for no other reason than to let people know where I'll be when. I came up with a best case scenario pacing chart.  It includes running 9 minute miles for the first 50K with several short breaks making 10 minute miles and a few longer breaks making 12 minute miles.  Then for the last 19 miles, I factored in 11 minute pace for the 3 miles with Bieka and then 9:30s for when I'm running, and then the same breaks.  When I add this all up, I get very close to 8 hours.  This would be pie in the sky type stuff.  I really don't think this is very likely to happen because things always go wrong in ultras and this is my first one and it's going to be a bit warmer than I like and I'm sitting here at my desk in a comfy chair and I'm thinking optimistic thoughts.

Here is a copy of the schedule I sent out to my family and friends who are coming to support me on Sunday:

7:00 AM - I arrive at Pennypack Park Start/Finish area (if you zoom in satellite mode, you can see the parking lot along the trail) http://maps.google.com/maps?saddr=30+Ellis+Drive,+Montgomery,+NJ&daddr=Pennypack+Trail&hl=en&ll=40.089326,-75.068362&spn=0.003443,0.004823&sll=40.088406,-75.068507&sspn=0.006887,0.009645&geocode=FcQdaQIdpF2N-ymlwN3sS-jDiTHDvYfwBRe8Iw%3BFTK3YwIdBIqG-w&oq=30+ellis+drive+nj&mra=ls&t=h&z=18

8:00 AM - Race starts.

8:35 AM - I finish the small 3.5M loop and start the first of 3 25K (15.5M ) loops.

11:00 AM (+5 minutes) - I finish with the first big loop and start the second.

1:00 PM - Everyone arrives at the start/finish area of Pennypack Park where I parked. I am planning on calling Bieka at some point to let her know what my ETA is so Biek, make sure you have your phone on you and on :)

1:30 PM (+10 minutes) - I finish the second loop and meet up with Bieka who will pace me to the first aid station on my third and final loop. Mama and Papa can start to drive to the first aid station to meet us and pick up Bieka.  April, Abby and Sadie can of course do so as well but they could also just meet us at the second aid station.

2:05 PM (+15 minutes) - Bieka and I arrive at the first aid station where Mama and Papa pick her up.  (I don’t know exactly where this will be but if you zoom in close you can see cars parked and I think it should be somewhere near the intersection of Krewstown Rd. and the Pennypack Trail) http://maps.google.com/maps?saddr=Pennypack+Trail&daddr=Krewstown+Rd&hl=en&ll=40.075949,-75.054855&spn=0.003444,0.004823&sll=40.075785,-75.054994&sspn=0.003444,0.004823&geocode=FTK3YwIdBIqG-w%3BFSCDYwId7sCG-w&t=h&mra=pr&z=18

2:45 PM (+20 minutes) - I arrive at the second aid station and see everyone. Andy, if you want to come to this aid station, you’ll have a better idea of where I’m at and when I should get to the next one where you will pace me (Once again, I don’t know exactly where this will be, but hopefully it will be clear once you get there and park) http://maps.google.com/maps?saddr=Krewstown+Rd&daddr=40.049115,-75.033837&hl=en&ll=40.049636,-75.034486&spn=0.003445,0.004823&sll=40.048622,-75.034899&sspn=0.003445,0.004823&geocode=FSCDYwId7sCG-w%3BFdsZYwIdExOH-w&t=h&mra=pr&z=18

3:25 PM (+30 minutes) - I arrive at the third aid station which is actually the same location as the first aid station because the loop is kind of like a figure 8 with the 1/3 aid stations at the intersection. I meet up with Andy who will pace me to the finish.

4:05 PM (+ 1 hour) - Andy and I arrive at the finish with huge smiles :)

4:06 PM (+ 1 hour) - Rest, Drink, Eat, Repeat

Once again, the times in bold are highly unlikely and are there as a guide to the earliest I'm likely to arrive at each of these points. As you can see by the numbers in parenthesis, as the race continues, I'm allowing for more slow down. If I was going to give my best guess at my time, I would say 8 hours 30 minutes. But, I admit that somewhere in the back of my head I entertain thoughts of breaking 8 hours and finishing near the front of the field and getting one of these sweet age group awards:

Awesome age group award that I will not be getting

My next blog entry will hopefully be my race report! We'll see how naive I was with my finishing time guess!