JFK 50 Miler Recap

[mrshandy]

Anybody else working today and bored? Enjoy!


Background

The JFK 50 miler has been on my radar since I read this article over 7 years ago. I had just finished running Marine Corps Marathon. I was intrigued by the history and traditions surrounding it. I put it on my bucket list.


www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/wellness/jfk50-a-soft-american-accepts-the-challenge/2012/11/05/6066df4a-1d86-11e2-ba31-3083ca97c314_story.html?fbclid=IwAR001J5SUYVsBYIaDRJGjtApg3WjVyfVshZDZnFQvz7NCjV0iElndAl4UJ8


Well last year I decided this year was going to be the year I was going to do it. I knew I was doing the Boston Marathon in the spring so I figured I would have the running base that would be good for my first foray into ultras and trail running.


I ran my first trail run in May and enjoyed it. It was a whole different animal from road racing. Pace didn’t really matter that much, there was walking. You had to stay constant focused on your footing. While the logistics of getting to a trail were more challenging, I really enjoyed being outside and enjoying nature, which is what I love most about running.


Training

I did some googling for 50 miler training plans. I found a few of them and ultimately settled on one I found that was simple and reasonable. It didn’t have speed work and the mileage was similar to marathon mileage. I did not want to make my family and me miserable by pushing the mileage and stress too much.


I had to shift a few things around when I realized there was no way to run 20+ miles on a Friday morning before work even if I was working from home. I did the training, tried to build in a few trail runs in when I could. Running 28 miles solo is no joke and probably why I won’t be doing too many ultras in my future. I did most if not all of the runs and stayed injury free. I didn’t really care about pace which was rather freeing.


I had wanted to run the 13.3 mile Appalachian Trail section of the trail before the race, but every time I tried to do it something came up. Finally, Veterans Day I found a buddy and was able to get out on the trail. It was a beautiful day. The trail was definitely challenging, very rocky in certain sections. Big uphills that you really had to walk up to save your legs for the rest of the trail. The views were spectacular, but hard to enjoy since you really had to stay focused on your footing the entire time. I was happy that I made it through unscathed and with a time I was satisfied with.


Race Day

I made it to race day uninjured and illness free. Yay! We drove up Friday mid afternoon to avoid some DC traffic (still hit some). My work friend R had decided to run too and we gave him a ride up since he didn’t have a car. Our hotel was across the street from the Expo. So I hit up the expo as soon as we arrived. It was in the lobby of another hotel. I picked some swag: a magnet, a shirt, a pint glass and my pre-ordered jacket. The jacket was very cool and I was excited to actually run the race so I could wear it with pride. I got my bib and headed back over to the hotel.


We had dinner that night at a place in downtown Hagerstown. It was ok, I think the best part about it was the beer list, which I didn’t get to enjoy. I choked down some pizza and tried to calm my nerves. I let my husband take the kids to the hotel pool while I found my zen and made sure I had everything ready. We all went to bed around the same time (930-10) and I set my alarm for 410AM. 

I slept ok, although I kept waking up and glancing at my clock. Finally, I glanced at it and it was 407 so time to get up!


The weather that day had improved a lot over the last week. The high was in the mid 40s with race temps in the low 30s to start. I settled on a tank top, capris, throwaway gloves, arm warmers, ear warmer and a visor since rain was expected later in the day. I wore my trail shoes to start and my running shoes were safely in the car for my husband to deliver to me at mile 15.5. I had a hydration backpack that I thought I might give up too at this point, but was leaving it open. For fueling, I had packed a few Salted Watermelon GUs and a few strawberry shot blocks. I knew I would need real food at some point so I planned to take advantage of the aid stations, which had a reputation to be wonderfully stocked with delicious food.


A running friend of mine M was nice enough to pick up me and my work friend R at our hotel and give us a ride to the race. That was great so my husband didn’t have to drag the kids out of bed at 5AM to drop us off. We got to the race site around 520AM. Everyone convened in a high school which is one thing I really love about this race. No freezing in the cold dark. I found my way to the women’s bathroom line which was way shorter than the men’s! There were 219 women and 959 men registered.


We had our pre-race meeting in the gym at 545AM, then I hung around for a little while and around 615, I gave up my warm clothes at the bag drop, met up with M and we followed the crowd and walked towards the start line. The race starts in the downtown area of the tiny town of Boonesboro, MD. It was a cute little downtown area and lots of people had turned out to cheer the start of the race.

By the time I found a good spot in the corral, it was 6:29! I stuffed my space blanket in some of the fencing since I couldn’t find a trash can and turned on my watch. Suddenly it was time to go! It felt good to run to warm up. It was a beautiful morning with the sun starting to rise. Then we started to go up and up and up. I tried to take it easy and run at a steady but relaxed pace. There were a lot of miles to go!


Once we got up the huge ass hill, at mile 2.5 we ran into the area where we would meet the Appalachian Trail. I was happy to be on the trail since I don’t particularly like running on the road with my trail shoes. I met up with my work friend R at this point and he ran ahead. I was slightly annoyed since I had wanted to beat him. LOL. But I had This brought another long up hill. I ran up a decent portion of it albeit slowly, but then walked some as well.


I’m not that fast on the trail so I got passed by a lot of people in the beginning. I did emerge somewhere and heard that I was in the top 70 female. I was very excited about this (although I didn’t realize at the time that there were only 219 women registered lol).


A few miles onto the Appalachian Trail, we went off the trail onto a service road that was a very steep climb. I actually not run this section in my training run, since I didn’t know that the race did this. I walked up a good portion of these hills and once I got to the top, I was relieved because I knew that this was the peak. There would be other uphills but nothing as crazy as the one I had just gone up.

It was a while before I actually passed anyone on the trail. There were a few sections where I got passed a lot. I tried to be as courteous as possible. There were a few rude runners who were very pushy in their passing. Towards the latter half, miles 8-12, I found my pace and started passing when I was able. I forced myself to focus on the trail and ignore everything else. I didn’t enjoy the views very much or try to see what was ahead of me. Just focused on my footing and ensuring I stayed upright.


The last mile on the AT was very slow despite being extremely downhill. The switchbacks were insane and I didn’t trust my wobbly legs so I took them very slowly. My main goal for the day was to not break anything on this trail and I was so close to meeting that goal. I knew that if I could make it through the AT, the rest of the race was nothing to sneeze at, but at least one on even footing with very little chance of a catastrophic injury.


I made it down the mountain and out into the Weverton Cliffs cheer area. It was wonderful to see the crowds and know that I had made it past the toughest part of the course. I started scanning the crowd for my husband. I had actually called him about an hour earlier to let him know that I was going faster than expected and to let him know to get there soon. He had called me back and texted me about 15 minutes ago, but I was too focused on the trail to respond.


I finally caught sight of him and he saw me. I met him slightly off the course and he had my shoes laid out for me. I switched them standing up, because my legs did not want to sit at that point. I had a hard time with the laces, but finally got them tied, gave hugs and kisses to the kids, and headed back onto the trail. It felt great to be in my running shoes, although there was some trail still left that had me worried about falling.


I made it past the train tracks and onto the tow path which was wonderfully smooth. At this point, I had had a few GUs and one shot block. I had been sipping water occasionally from my hydration pack. I decided the next aid station I would try some real food.


I settled into a relaxed pace and had my fastest mile of the race at mile 19 with 8:54. I was doing ok, although it was a little unsettling to realize that I would be running on this trail for the next 26 miles. So I broke out my phone and listened to a few podcasts on speaker, since headphones weren’t allowed. I did pass a decent amount of runners. There was some chatting here and there, but also a lot of alone time. I would’ve loved to have found a buddy and have them tell me their life story. LOL.


I saw cinco at the next aid station mile 20 or 22?, which was great to see a friendly face. I grabbed one of the beautiful cookies that they had and a quarter of a grilled cheese sandwich. I stopped at a portapotty at one point to use the restroom. I had had to go for a while and couldn’t hold it any longer.


Once I reached mile 30 I thought I would be relieved and start the 20 mile countdown, but that’s when things started to derail. Running my easy pace was not so easy anymore. This was uncharted territory, my training runs had peaked at 28 miles. I walked a little bit after the aid stations, but had to bring in walk breaks at this point. I started with walking the first .1 of every mile. However, after a few miles of this I had to switch to running for 30 seconds at .5 of every mile and 1 minute after reaching the mile. My body needed some kind of break every .5 miles.


Mile 34-36 my stomach started to fail me as well. I had been eating real food at every station, usually something sweet and something savory. I had been drinking water from my hydration pack. I decided to try some coke at one of the aid stations. I drink soda maybe 1-2 times a year, but I knew that the bubbliness might help so I tried it. At first, it did not help at all. I was about to puke after the mile 34 aid station. I have a fairly strong stomach so I did not. But those were slow miles. I kept up with my run/walk pattern and it helped me get through.


Mile 38 aid station had ginger ale, which was a godsend. I wish all of the aid stations had had this. I also drank some warm broth at one point. As I reached 40, I started dreaming for this end of this godforsaken trail and hoping that I would never see another tree, river, or leaf in my lifetime. Every runner around me shared this sentiment and I finally heard from someone that the bridge up ahead marked the end of it.


I did realize at this point that my mileage was off by about .5 mile, which was a rather depressing discovery. But at mile 41.8 (42.3 for me), I gave the C&O towpath a middle finger and ran out on the road. The first half mile or so off the trail is a huge hill, which is kind of a gut punch. I ran up as much as I could, but walked a fair amount as well. My feet and legs were really happy to be on the smooth roads again. It was nice to not have to think about my footing. I kept up with run/walk intervals which were a little more tolerable since I had landmarks to chase down.


There were mile markers too. I stopped thinking about the mileage on my Garmin and focused on those. I kept taking salty and sweet and coke at the aid stations. It started raining a little, but it was minimal and nothing too bad. Even when there were only 5 miles left, it still felt like 500. I had to keep going, keep finding landmarks, keep counting down the mile markers.


With two miles to go, I kept run/walking. Finally, I reached the last aid station with 1.5 left and one of the volunteers told me I was in the top 35 females. I said “Holy shit!”. Everyone laughed. Whoops probably should watch my language around high schoolers. At that point, I knew I needed to run and mustered up the last bit of energy I had and enjoyed the nice down hill. I saw mile marker 1 and at that point, it became real that I was near the end.


I picked out landmarks and started counting down .1. We crossed a road a police man directed us up a little hill. We turned a corner shortly after and there it was. The finish line. I let out a few tears of happiness and relief. It was a little distance away and my legs were done. I again found a few landmarks, then I saw my kids and husband on the side of the road. I think they wanted me to stop, but I was on a mission and that finish line was too close for me to slow down or stop. I heard the announcer say name and say what a strong race and finish I had and that put a smile on my face.


I checked off a few more landmarks and then I crossed the finish line with tears in my eyes and my hands raised high in jubilation. I got my medal and a volunteer asked me if I was ok as I was crying with happiness. I was ok, albeit completely spent. I met up with my husband and he had a huge smile and gave me a huge hug. I had finished in 9:17:32 which had smashed my loose goal of under 10. After getting off the AT, I had some dreams of maybe going sub 9 even. But the later miles on the C&O took away that possibility.


Post race was inside the middle school, which made for a great post-race experience. Seriously, every race should do this. I grabbed some food and ate as much as my stomach would tolerate. Snapped a few pictures. I watched some of the award ceremony while enjoying sitting with NormaTec boots on.


We headed out after an hour or so since the kids were growing antsy. We had dinner at a yummy German restaurant that night and saw Frozen II so it was a fun evening for all. I had not beaten my work friend R. He finished about 30 minutes before me.  I ran my race and I’m pretty proud of it.


Running 50 miles is NOT something I ever thought I would do in my life. I’m not sure I’ll ever do it again. The JFK 50 miler did not disappoint. It was a well run race that had a wonderful energy surrounding it. The course was beautiful and challenging and has so much history.

[wawa]

You are freaking amazing. This is so impressive. You ran for a whole work day with overtime.

Also this recap is super satisfying and I loved reading it.

Bring back the regular recaps people! Every gu. Every blister. Share! How else am I supposed to find myself adding ridiculous things to my "to race" list?

[wambam]

You are amazing! What an accomplishment!

[hurricanedrunk]

You are so awesome! Great job and fabulous recap!

[sadlebred]

Congratulations! It sounds like you had an amazing race! I think the high schoolers have heard worse and will forgive you!!

[mrshandy]

Nov 27, 2019 11:46:18 GMT -5 wawa said:

You are freaking amazing. This is so impressive. You ran for a whole work day with overtime.

Also this recap is super satisfying and I loved reading it.

Bring back the regular recaps people! Every gu. Every blister. Share! How else am I supposed to find myself adding ridiculous things to my "to race" list?

Speaking of this. I had a monstrous blister on right toe. It was huge! I didn't realize it until I got back to the hotel and took off my sock. 

[breezy8407]

Congrats! Thanks for sharing. Sounds like an amazing experience.

[minzy]

Incredible! What an accomplishment! Being somewhat in the region, I’ve heard about this race forever, so it’s cool to read your firsthand account. Well done!

[thom]

This is AH-mazing!!! Congratulations on all your work toward reaching this huge goal!

[campermom]

I was so excited to see you did this, I followed some friends who ran it and caught up with one yesterday. It was also her first. Reading your recap brought tears to my eyes when you got to the finish!

So do you think you’ll do more trail runs? When you did trails did you run alone? My group tends to do trails a lot so I usually have company but I get very irrationally scared alone.

Thanks for posting this, I will end up reading it again and again!

[mrshandy]

Nov 29, 2019 6:10:27 GMT -5 campermom said:

I was so excited to see you did this, I followed some friends who ran it and caught up with one yesterday. It was also her first. Reading your recap brought tears to my eyes when you got to the finish!

So do you think you’ll do more trail runs? When you did trails did you run alone? My group tends to do trails a lot so I usually have company but I get very irrationally scared alone.

Thanks for posting this, I will end up reading it again and again!

I definitely think I'll keep up with trail runs when I can fit it in my schedule and maybe a few trail races. It's a new challenge for me and I'm excited to explore different trails and courses. 

[labbie]

Congratulations!! This is incredible, what a journey. Thank you for the recap, this race is on my bucket list for someday. I loved reading this, you kicked butt out there!
Could I ask what training plan you ended up using?

[MrsE]

That is amazing! Congrats!

[moreace01]

You are so badass!! Congratulations! Dear god that sounds like a tough race - amazing recap and I loved reading it - thanks for sharing.

[mrshandy]

Dec 2, 2019 5:55:48 GMT -5 labbie said:

Congratulations!! This is incredible, what a journey. Thank you for the recap, this race is on my bucket list for someday. I loved reading this, you kicked butt out there!
Could I ask what training plan you ended up using?

Thanks! It's a really great race and I would recommend it for anyone's bucket list. 

I found this one on ultra ladies. 

www.ultraladies.com/free-training-plans.html 

I didn't really do any speedwork. Just really followed the mileage. 

[sassystace]

Wow! Amazing job! Loved your re-cap, you had me crying tears to the finish line with you