JFK 50 Race Report

The JFK 50 is the largest Ultra Marathon in North America. There were over 1,000 runners.
A quick note... while we were gathered at the starting line, we looked across the street and there was a guy, with running gear and a race bib on who was smoking a cigarette! Just when you think you've seen it all.
There was an early 5am start for runners who thought they might need more time to finish. Most of the field including myself were in the 7am start group.
The first few miles of the race were on the roads, it started out flat for the first mile and the next 2 miles were pretty much uphill with no letting up, you just climbed up all the way until the start of the Appalachian trail. It was too early in the race to start walking already so I ran the whole thing.
When I was near the top, I turned around to look at the crowd......it was awesome. 1,000 people all charging up this hill with 47 miles still to go.
When we hit the Mountain it started out on a paved road for about a mile or so, I asked one of the runners next to me if this was the Appalachian trail because I was expecting an actual trail?
He assured me we would shortly be breaking into the trails.
Thank Goodness, I'll take the trails over pavement any day of the week. When we finally hit the dirt I felt rejuvenated. I do a lot of my training in the mountain trails, so I am very comfortable flying over the dirt, roots, and rocks. That is by far where I am at my best.
I noticed a lot of the runners cautiously watching there footing through the whole Mountain, especially on the downhills, while I charged on by.
There are risks of doing a face plant right into a boulder, but when you've been running on this type of terrain for years, you don't really think twice about it. After the Trail ends there is a 26 mile flat section(the tow path) that I was way more worried about than the mountain.
So my strategy was to just plow through the Mountain as best as I could and then just put it in cruise control for the long stretch.
When I reached the back end of the Mountain there were some serious switch backs taking you down the backside of the Mountain.
This cost me some time for sure, I was caught up behind a group of about 25 runners who were taking it really slow, and there was really no way to pass.
Plus we were 2 hours in to the race and we were already passing some of the 5am starters.
When we got to the bottom of the mountain there was a short run to the next Aid station, on my way there I kept hearing a train.
I've heard of racers in other races getting caught up from a passing train and having to wait but I didn't think it would actually happen to me.
Yup, I get to the Aid station and they are holding up all the runners for a freight train passing by.
Ha ha, for a minute I wasn't really bothered by it because I just tore through a pretty tough Mountain, but after 3 or 4 minutes I was starting to get anxious and felt like I was losing valuable time.
I'm not quite sure how long we got held up, but I would say somewhere between 3 to 5 minutes.
The Train finally passed and I bolted over the tracks and hit the Tow path. An extremely long, flat, and straight stretch that runs along a river. It was a nice section, just a little monotonous, but a dirt path, and mostly tree covered.
Some say that it is a very slight gradual up hill the whole way, maybe it is, the river is flowing the opposite direction that you are running, but it is still basically flat.
This section really drained me, I think because I am so use to running on some variation of hills, when it's 26 miles of just flat pounding, it takes the life right out of my legs.
I just focused on running from aid station to aid station through this whole section. My wife was able to meet me at a couple of points along the way.
I carried 2 handheld bottles through the entire race. One was usually water and the other was either gatorade or Hammer Sustained Energy. I've used the Sustained E, for my last few Ultras and I'm not sure how I would get by w/ out it now. I never really have enough of an appetite to put enough food into my body, so this liquid food is a great alternative for me.
The only thing I ate from any of the aid stations through the entire race was a few orange slices, and one pc of starburst. (Cherry yum).
Other than that it was the SE, Gatorade, water, and many Hammer Endurolyte salt tabs.
I found myself leap frogging with a lot of run/walkers. Most of them seem to have a system because I see them checking there watches and knowing exactly when they need to start running or walking again. I basically just run it by feel. I run at a comfortable pace until I feel like I'm gonna cry, then walk for about 30 second, and the painfully start to run again.
I did that the whole race.
After you finish off the towpath there is an 8 mile stretch back on the roads to the finish line. The course is a horseshoe shape, so you don't finish at the same place you start.
Coming off the towpath, you are met with a very steep hill. It was a nice change, but really tough. I think most people walked that one.
After that for the first time they marked the countdown of each mile. Starting w/ 8.
I have to say, as usual at the back end of a race......every mile felt like an eternity. I slowly ran almost the whole 8 miles w/ some walk breaks on some of the hills.
When I got to about mile 47 I told myself I would not walk again, and didn't.
I crossed the finish line in 9:10:25, and placed 217 out of 1010 runers.
My 3rd 50 miler and a PR.
A lesson learned for me right at the finish line, I was about 10 ft from the finish and cruising right in thinking I was all alone, and a female runner came up out of no where and sprinted by me to finish ahead of me.
If I just turned my head back to check, I could of avoided it.
Oh well, good for her for finishing strong. Grrrr.
This race was really tough for me, I didn't train as hard as I wanted to in October because of a busy work schedule, and because of it, I felt like my head was not in it like it usually is.
It goes down as a memorable one for overcoming and digging deep to the finish line.
2010 will be my year to go after the 100 mile distance.
I have no races scheduled in December, first time since last June.
Next race, Winter Watchung 50k in January.