It has been a couple of days since the toughest race I have run to date. After the initial shock of DNF and missing the cutoff time, being a annoyed that I didn't get credit for the 50K. Which I have gotten over and totally understand. My toes are still numb. I need to realize it was a tough race, tough conditions on a tough course. I probably held back a little too much, but it was tough and there is not much that I could of changed.
Going to race with Scott was great, I can learn a lot about running tough trial courses from Scott Martin. He picked me up at 79th and Broadway at 5:!5 am. Then we drove up to Millborn, NJ. Stopped at the library and it was a little confusing were to park. We went over the race site, where Rick and Jennifer were doing packet pickup. The best packet pickup of my life, I just had to give my first name. Nothing like it. They put on some great races, and are some of the nicest people you will ever meet. After packet pick up Rick called the local cops to see where to park, he told everyone to park at a certain section of the train station.
As the race got closer, everyone was putting there stuff where they could access it easier after each loop. It was great seeing Mark who i met at the trail mixer a couple of weeks ago. He had a great reace coming in third. That is where I met Cheryl, whom I have heard a lot about. Took some pictures of the start and then headed off. It was icy at first, and I was glad I had my ice spikes. They made the footing a lot easier. Then there were the spots with no ice, they were muddy. The race was picking up, a lot of up hills on the first section. It was also strange running without the Garmin 405, because I was trying to save battery life.
The course was pretty neet, two sections that were tough running. A few runnable sections, a lot of ice and a lot of mud. After the first loop I was feeling good, took my pants off and just went with my shorts. I lost a couple of minutes, but think I caught up with time pretty quickly on the second loop. I caught up to the woman from the DC area i met and her boyfriend and passed them pretty comfortably for a while. They finally passed me near the end of the race. I guess the third loop is when it seemed the course was getting muddier, slicker, and the paint showing the directions were starting to fade. I was trying to keep in eye distance of the guy I nicknamed "the navigator" at Mountain Madness. I ran with the Navigator till the end, when I reached the finish line. Rick told me I was done, and had a DNF. I was told I could run 42, but I would still have DNF. Since this was my first DNF, not on my own call. I was a bit shocked, saddened. But I couldn't of done better and didn't have the will to go run a another 3 hours on that course. Decided to partake in some of Rick's beer and cheer on the rest of the finishers. Hell a good shirt, and a pint glass not too bad. Rick puts on great races and I will be back for the Ultra Fest next month. I should of signed up for the 50K after, realizing it took Carol who runs close to a 3 hour marathon 14 hours to win the 60K in the spring on the same course.
Overall Febapple 50 was a great time, great course, very technical and very tough conditions. Great training for Umstead 3 30plus mile runs, 3 weeks in a row not bad training.
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Sunday, November 21, 2010
JFK 50
JFK 50, my 2nd 50 miler. Great race, great time, good stories.
It started off Friday morning meeting Keila to take the bus to the car rental place. We headed down to Maryland, stopping at a dinner near the NJ/PA border for lunch. Then drove down to Maryland, stopped at Antietam battlefield to take a look around and get my NPS stamp, stamped. Then we headed to the Hampton inn in Hagerstown, but my room was at the Hampton Inn on the wrong side of Haggerstown. I called frantically to the days inn and they had a spot for me. Stayed at the shittiest hotels, the Days Inn, one can imagine, under construction. Went to bed, woke up early, picked up Keila at the Hampton Inn. Grabbed some coffee and some pbj on a bagel. Then we drove down to the Boonesboro HS parking lot.
Shit, can't the JFK 50 be more eco-friendly, lets get some shuttle buses so people don't have to drive like crazy around the parking at 6am.Not too mention on the styrofoam cups on the course
We waited in line for porto-lets and checked in on the meeting in the hs gym. Walked over the finish line so Keila could get to the front so she could place well.
The run: We started running through the streets of Boonesboro. Then the first hill came on the roads, and I decided not to waste energy running on a hill in mile 1 or 2. Then we hit the AT ran into Emmy, Frank, and and met Joe on the trail. Figured to follow them as rabbits on the trail so I wouldn't waste too much energy on the AT. Good plan. Then met fellow marathon maniac Rebbecca on the switchback phase of the trail.
The C & O canal didn't start out as boring as everyone said it would be. It was nice on the river overlooking WV and famous towns such as Harpers Ferry and ran passed Antietam. Felt like I was running through the sights of the Civil War.
On the canal I ran up to Elaine whom I met and Caumsett and at the Bart Yasso shakeout run at the Running Company. Then I was feeling good and ran ahead of her a bit. At mile 30 I really was feeling good, realized I had basically a half-marathon on the canal and should treat it as a half-marathon. Ran by a lot a people over about a 11 mile stretch felt real good till mile 41. Spoke with the guy from Brooklyn right before the turn off on to the roads and he gave me the best advice for the rolling hills walk the ups and run the downs. It worked perfectly. it felt like a nice little 8 mile road race. It started off great, by seeing the Ohio State Buckeye Flags with the volunteers cheering us on.
The road. It was awesome the support of Washington County Maryland is on par with Brooklyn (NYC) and Wriggleyville (Chi). If not a little bit more excitement, because you could feel it was a community event.
The final kick. At around mile 39 a girl came up to me, and I was like lets draft on each other for the last mile for a nice strong finishing kick. I felt good, great run. Saw the big Montrail sign and just started running. Awesome finish, nice medal with the JFK picture. Went to the junior high gym for a change of clothes and a vegan black bean burrito. Nice finish area, missed the finish line beer, but that's understandable considering the finish is in a school. They were giving messages and a great place to enjoy the festivities .
At the gym finish I met up with Keila, who finished 9th, even with a sprained ankle. She with out a doubt could of done better if not for the ankle. But with the ankle she did an amazing job for her first 50. 9th place in such a great ultra.
Overall I enjoyed JFK tremendously, would without a doubt do it again and again. Maybe I will try to get in the 500 or 1,000 mile club. We will see.
It started off Friday morning meeting Keila to take the bus to the car rental place. We headed down to Maryland, stopping at a dinner near the NJ/PA border for lunch. Then drove down to Maryland, stopped at Antietam battlefield to take a look around and get my NPS stamp, stamped. Then we headed to the Hampton inn in Hagerstown, but my room was at the Hampton Inn on the wrong side of Haggerstown. I called frantically to the days inn and they had a spot for me. Stayed at the shittiest hotels, the Days Inn, one can imagine, under construction. Went to bed, woke up early, picked up Keila at the Hampton Inn. Grabbed some coffee and some pbj on a bagel. Then we drove down to the Boonesboro HS parking lot.
Shit, can't the JFK 50 be more eco-friendly, lets get some shuttle buses so people don't have to drive like crazy around the parking at 6am.Not too mention on the styrofoam cups on the course
We waited in line for porto-lets and checked in on the meeting in the hs gym. Walked over the finish line so Keila could get to the front so she could place well.
The run: We started running through the streets of Boonesboro. Then the first hill came on the roads, and I decided not to waste energy running on a hill in mile 1 or 2. Then we hit the AT ran into Emmy, Frank, and and met Joe on the trail. Figured to follow them as rabbits on the trail so I wouldn't waste too much energy on the AT. Good plan. Then met fellow marathon maniac Rebbecca on the switchback phase of the trail.
The C & O canal didn't start out as boring as everyone said it would be. It was nice on the river overlooking WV and famous towns such as Harpers Ferry and ran passed Antietam. Felt like I was running through the sights of the Civil War.
On the canal I ran up to Elaine whom I met and Caumsett and at the Bart Yasso shakeout run at the Running Company. Then I was feeling good and ran ahead of her a bit. At mile 30 I really was feeling good, realized I had basically a half-marathon on the canal and should treat it as a half-marathon. Ran by a lot a people over about a 11 mile stretch felt real good till mile 41. Spoke with the guy from Brooklyn right before the turn off on to the roads and he gave me the best advice for the rolling hills walk the ups and run the downs. It worked perfectly. it felt like a nice little 8 mile road race. It started off great, by seeing the Ohio State Buckeye Flags with the volunteers cheering us on.
The road. It was awesome the support of Washington County Maryland is on par with Brooklyn (NYC) and Wriggleyville (Chi). If not a little bit more excitement, because you could feel it was a community event.
The final kick. At around mile 39 a girl came up to me, and I was like lets draft on each other for the last mile for a nice strong finishing kick. I felt good, great run. Saw the big Montrail sign and just started running. Awesome finish, nice medal with the JFK picture. Went to the junior high gym for a change of clothes and a vegan black bean burrito. Nice finish area, missed the finish line beer, but that's understandable considering the finish is in a school. They were giving messages and a great place to enjoy the festivities .
At the gym finish I met up with Keila, who finished 9th, even with a sprained ankle. She with out a doubt could of done better if not for the ankle. But with the ankle she did an amazing job for her first 50. 9th place in such a great ultra.
Overall I enjoyed JFK tremendously, would without a doubt do it again and again. Maybe I will try to get in the 500 or 1,000 mile club. We will see.
Monday, November 1, 2010
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Mountain Madness
On Saturday I ran the Mountain Madness Trail 50K in Ringwood, New Jersey. It was loads of fun, extremely challenging, and an overall good time. It was my first ultra that I ran that garnered a 5 rating of out of 5 in ultrarunning magazine. The beginning of the race was a little strange, because people took down the course markers and a lot of the runners got lost. But once we figured out the right way to go everything was fine. On a trail race you really need to be paying attention to the trail markers. In the future I will probably carry the course map, just in case something happens. I was thinking of the runner in Arkansas who was lost.
The course it was hilly, very rocky. As Yuen one of the other people from NYC that I rode up to the race with said "it was more of power hiking" than running. I am definitely glad I did the race to get help train my trail legs. Trail running is a lot different than road running, and you got to watch your step. Definatly a lot of fun, and a bit more diversity in the scenery.
I want to thank Scott for driving me up. It was great to meet Garth and Yuen in the car. It was nice running with Garth during the first part of the race and giving me a lot of insight to the sport of ultra running and strategy for dealing with the uphill climbs. It was great meeting other runners on the trail It was great to see all of the New Jersey ultra runners. Hopefully I can get back out to some more the New Jersey Trail Races. The race director Rick and Jennifer did a great job in putting on the race. Awesome time, not getting lost and finishing in a respectable time for this challenging race. The post race barbecue was great with Boca Burgers and some Pork Slab Beer, probably my second favorite canned beer after Dales Pale Ale.
Overall it was great race, felt I had legs for more at the end which is a good sign. Ready for New York in 2 1/2 weeks and JFK in November.
The course it was hilly, very rocky. As Yuen one of the other people from NYC that I rode up to the race with said "it was more of power hiking" than running. I am definitely glad I did the race to get help train my trail legs. Trail running is a lot different than road running, and you got to watch your step. Definatly a lot of fun, and a bit more diversity in the scenery.
I want to thank Scott for driving me up. It was great to meet Garth and Yuen in the car. It was nice running with Garth during the first part of the race and giving me a lot of insight to the sport of ultra running and strategy for dealing with the uphill climbs. It was great meeting other runners on the trail It was great to see all of the New Jersey ultra runners. Hopefully I can get back out to some more the New Jersey Trail Races. The race director Rick and Jennifer did a great job in putting on the race. Awesome time, not getting lost and finishing in a respectable time for this challenging race. The post race barbecue was great with Boca Burgers and some Pork Slab Beer, probably my second favorite canned beer after Dales Pale Ale.
Overall it was great race, felt I had legs for more at the end which is a good sign. Ready for New York in 2 1/2 weeks and JFK in November.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Training Widget
