2019 Barkley Fall Classic 50k

2019 Barkley Fall Classic 50k
September 21, 2019 at Frozen Head State Park in Wartburg, TN
My first ever DNF - what happened?!?!
Watch time: 9:17:26 after I finally decided to cross the mat
Position: DNF! Made it ~24 miles (19.8 "Laz miles") with estimated 8,570 feet gain/8,380 feet loss - mapped using Gaia GPS software, definitely didn't wear GPS on race day

Exhausted at the finish line

TLDR version: I went all in attempting to get the 50k finish, but got my butt kicked all day and ended up dropping out after about 9 hours. Immediately swore off running anything ever again, then looked back 2 days later and realized I've made huge gains in two years and I'm already thinking about taking another shot at it.

REALLY Long version:
Back Story

A bit of background about my running history first. I never ran anything before I was 30 years old unless it was up and down a basketball court. While playing in a city league with a bunch of 30 somethings trying to hang on to their glory days of competitive ball, I destroyed my ACL/MCL because of a dirty play. After surgery my doctor said I definitely wouldn't be able to play basketball anymore. My injury was the worst he had ever seen after years of working on college football players. He even suggested I might need to wear a knee brace when mowing the lawn! Well I wasn't having any of that. Once I started PT I had a goal that by the end of 6 weeks I was going to be able to run 1 mile on the treadmill without stopping. I started the couch to 5k program from there, as I could run the few miles from work to home. A co-worker at the time had signed up to run his first half marathon, and being that it was 6 months away I decided to go for it. That progressed into training for my first marathon the following spring, and I held onto that fitness enough to finish the Run Woodstock 50k (my first trail race). That was 2013. And then..... nothing. Didn't do any consistent running for about 3 YEARS!

Fast forward to 2016 and my family moved from Michigan to North Carolina and didn't know anybody, so I decided to get involved with the local run club to meet some people. That jump started my running and I started signing up for races. Not long before someone asked me if I had heard about the Barkley Marathons. I went and watched the documentary and was fascinated. Soon I found out about the Fall Classic 50k, a chance to get a taste of Barkley. I really had no idea how difficult it would be, but I'm always up for a challenge so I put my name on the waitlist a few months before the 2017 race, for the hope of running in 2018. Mother Nature had other ideas and brought about a hurricane, which caused many runners to have to drop out of the race. It wasn't long before Laz was asking for anybody who wanted to run the race to let him know, and I had secured a spot at the start line, despite having done no trail running and definitely no training that would help me out at BFC. Needless to say, it was a sufferfest, but I enjoyed getting to climb some of the hills they talk about in the documentary, and putting myself to the test. Ultimately, I came up way short of finishing the 50k, but was ecstatic with a near 12 hour "marathon finish".

Registration for 2018 was opening and I wanted no part after being completely humbled in 2017, but figured I'd throw my name on the waitlist "just in case" I felt better about things later in the year. Throughout the winter I got a few more ultras under my belt - a 40 miler and a road double marathon with 7,500 feet of gain, so when the call came again for who wanted to run BFC last minute, there I was ready to answer. Surely with more experience, and knowledge of what suffering the park can dish out, I should have a better result. Little did I know that my brain would be baked that day on Rat Jaw from 2:00pm until 5:00pm, yes 1 mile that took me 3 hours. Despite that disaster, I got another marathon "finish" that was 8 minutes faster than 2018.

Weeks before race day

2019 was to be my year of redemption. I put in the lottery ready to do everything it took to secure the precious 50k finish. The lottery pulled name after name after name, but I knew all along that even if I wasn't selected that I would get in at some point, due to other runners dropping out. My name was called as one of the last few of the lottery, and it was go time! I did everything differently this year - way more time on trails, working on fast hiking and downhill running, lots of time on the treadmill at max incline (only 15% but way more than I've done before), even some workouts at the track to keep improving speed for the runnable sections of the park. I did the vertical mile race in North Carolina back in June (16 miles with 5,280 feet elevation gain and loss), before taking a four week vacation out west to South Dakota and Yellowstone where I spent a lot of time hiking up mountains and running down them. Even convinced my wife to stop at Frozen Head on the way home for a quick 2 mile run up Bird Mountain, which I did 15 minutes faster than in the 2018 race - training was paying off! Continued ramping up the training through the summer, which ultimately culminated in a 20 mile training run around Frozen Head in August, at the end of which I felt great. Nobody knew what torture Laz had waiting for us in September, but confidence was at an all time high...

Reviewing our map, wondering how
we can possibly do this?

That is until we saw the race map on Friday! From everything I knew about past races, this would be the hardest course yet. I would truly be tested to make the 50k cutoff, and even if I made that, it would be a challenge to complete the last section before being timed out. But I put together a plan for each part of the race - what time I wanted to be to the top and bottom of each climb. I would track my actual time to these spots for comparison later, something I also did in 2018. Having that reference of how long each section took last year was helpful, however it showed me just how hard I would have to be pushing all day to make it happen. Sections where I spent an hour last year would have to be done in less than 45 minutes. There would be several thousand more feet of climbing and, despite Laz's measurements, I'm pretty sure more mileage before reaching the decision point. Oh and the power line sections would all be done during the hottest part of the day, right before the decision point. I went to bed on Friday night ready to throw everything I had at the race, and hoped I could hold on long enough to get the result I so desired.

Race Day

Traditional race start - lighting of the cigarette

I lined up near the front, knowing that I would want to run fast to that first climb, and not get stuck behind a slow moving conga line. I ran past the yellow gate at a decent pace, and got into the first climb with a group that was moving almost exactly how I wanted - mostly fast hiking, mixed in with 30-60 second runs on the easier parts. Made it up the first climb just over 45 minutes - exactly what I planned! Was a bit winded at the top, but it was time to run, so no time to relax! We fly down the switchbacks, and I'm pushing hard, but as anyone who has been in this race knows, it wasn't long before I was completely alone! I knew there were others maybe a switchback or two above or below me, and I knew we would group back up on the next climb. Got down to the bottom and it was time to start hiking again. Now an hour into the race, I used this section to catch up on hydration, and downed probably a liter of the on-course electrolyte drink in the next long climb. To put in perspective how hard I was pushing, on the training run in August we did this section in reverse (all downhill) and spent 96 minutes (granted we were taking it easy at the end of a long day), but today going uphill (2.8 miles with 2,100 feet of climb) I did it in 74 minutes - 22 minutes better in the much more difficult direction. This effort did take it's toll - throughout that climb I battled cramps that started in my hamstrings, then moved to my calves, then caused pain in my hips and knees. But it would come and go, and I wasn't going to let that stop me - there will always be some pain at BFC. I would stretch them out, or take S-caps and drink more electrolytes, and after a bit they would go away. Even resorted to using a few sticks I found as make-shift rollers, with varying effectiveness. But once I got to the aid station, I felt a surge of confidence because of how good my time was to that point. Got my bib punched and thanked the awesome volunteers, and zoomed out of there for a 3.5 mile downhill run.

While chatting with other runners on Friday, we all agreed that to be at aid station #2 by 10:15 would be in great shape. I rolled in there for another punch, refilled my hydration pack, and took off up the next climb at 10:03. I couldn't believe how well my day was going and knew if I could cover the next 10 "Laz miles" in 4 hours, the 50k was within my grasp. The problem with that was I had never been on the next section of trail and had no clue what was ahead. The Chimney Top Trail, as far as I know, has always been the last loop of the race, reserved for those who made the decision point in time. It was a trail I was waiting to earn the right to climb, but because of the course being changed every year, Laz decided to put it early in this race. I am a huge numbers geek and I think that knowing how many switchbacks there are in the early climbs was a huge help - it gave me small easy goals to focus on and I absolutely count every one of them - makes the mental battle easier. Unfamiliarity can be extremely difficult, and I experienced much of that on the next trail. It starts with a really steep climb (one that I think can rival Testicle Spectacle or Methlab), followed by a short downhill, and then another steep climb of almost the same caliber. It is here that the cramps returned along with some lightheadedness of which I have never experienced. I would be hiking along at a good pace and a crew of 7 or 8 runners would be behind me. I must have been doing ok because nobody was asking to pass, but then I would suddenly get nauseous, dizzy and out of breath and have to step off trail and let that group pass. I would usually turn to see who it was in case I recognized a familiar face. Several past BFC finishers I recognized, even a certain Barkley Marathons finisher and a 2 time Fun Run finisher - that definitely made me question what in the world I was doing in front of them at that point in the race!! I would try to latch on to the tail of each group and that worked until it didn't. Then I'd be solo until another group caught up, I'd have to step off again to let them pass, repeat and repeat and repeat. The only thing more mentally defeating than getting passed by so many was what felt like the 73 endless false summits (maybe actually 5 or 6)! I couldn't understand what was happening to me, especially since I thought I had been executing well on nutrition and hydration (the major fail of 2018). I had done quite a few workouts in the 4-6 hour range and never had problems like this before.

Anyways, I trudged on to the next aid station. In my head my plan had completely crashed, which is completely ridiculous in retrospect. I wanted to be to that checkpoint by 12:40pm and I got my bib punch from Laz around 12:50pm. Chimney Top had taken 20 minutes longer than I had planned, but because of the early cushion I built I was still only 10 minutes behind plan - and I had given myself 2 hours on Rat Jaw (but hoped it would be more like 1.5 hours). But that 10 minutes seemed like an eternity and the first thought of doubt crept into my head. It didn't help that I heard Laz announce that we were getting close to the point of it being a real struggle to make the 50k cutoff. A few runners in front of me used that as a reason to stop, but I stepped right up to Laz and asked him to punch my bib because I was still going to go for it. I had four hours to make the decision point and only had a downhill run and the power lines ahead of me. Once we started the run was when the severe cramps and muscle weakness really took hold. This was an easily runnable down yet at the time it seemed like it was non-stop uphill. I knew I had to really push here to make a bit of time back, but I had absolutely nothing left in the tank. I was reduced to walking most of this section, with a few 30 second jogs here and there - which quickly resulted in cramps in my calves or hamstrings. I felt my 50k finish being ripped away because I couldn't run, what I thought was my biggest strength. I ate a Snickers, drank more, took a few more S-caps, nothing really helped. Finally we hit the last short uphill section right before the power line sections, and it broke me. It only gains a few hundred feet, but in this short quarter mile I could barely move between the cramps, dizziness and fatigue. I knew there was no way I could climb up Testicle Spectacle and Rat Jaw with any kind of pace to make the cutoff, and the marathon was meaningless to me this year. I lost all the fight I had left.

I walked into the aid station and the volunteers were awesome - all smiles and encouragement, but I told them that I was quitting. One told me if I was dropping, I had to hike back to the road where the EMTs were and they could drive me back, or I could sit down and re-consider. I sat down, drank some powerade and water, and for the first time in an athletic event, I cried. I buried my face in my hands and let my emotions get the best of me. It was kind of embarrassing to sit there and do that, but this was such a monumental undertaking that I had built up for so long, it was a crushing defeat to realize that it wasn't going to happen - and I couldn't understand why. I watched as several runners came back up with smiles on their faces (???). My friend Jenny told me that it wasn't so bad this year - it was only halfway down Testicle Spectacle to get the bib punch, then back up. That was all I needed to hear to re-light a small bit of fire! I jumped out of the chair and started heading down. No way was I leaving Frozen Head without at least a few briar scratches and a filthy outfit from buttsliding. I worked my way down to the bottom in about 15 minutes, which was 5 minutes faster than planned - was I going to rally and still have a shot at this? That rally lasted about as long as it took me to try to push up the first climb. Soon it was back to all the problems I'd had before, and I was climbing 10 feet and sitting down for a few minutes. I checked my watch and did some quick math, and there was no chance I could finish the climb, go down Methlab, through the prison and up Rat Jaw in 2 hours. It took me 40 minutes to go up TS and Rat Jaw was more than twice as hard. When I got to the top of TS, I knew I could then easily make it to the prison. I took another break, and profusely thanked the volunteer for helping me rally and keeping me going at least that far. She was sure I would get there and decide to climb Rat Jaw, but not on this day. I headed down Methlab and had some fun trying out some new techniques on the really steep sections (for next time?), and helping a few other runners find their way when the trail split a couple times - it's easy, stay under the powerline. A little over 30 minutes and I was rolling into the prison.

Escaping the prison and this hell of a race

And this is where I knew I had to stop. I still had plenty of time to finish the marathon, but I considered the constant dizziness/headache/cramps all as signs that something could go really wrong on Rat Jaw. Did my fear of repeating what happened last year (3 hours on RJ) play a factor? Most likely. Was I mentally beat down my Laz and Frozen Head and let it get the best of me? Most likely. Could I have kept pushing and made it up Rat Jaw? Most likely, but I'll never know. I made the call that I felt was right for me in that moment. It was an extremely difficult decision that I did not take lightly. This would be my first ever DNF, in the race that I invested more than any other that I've done.

As I was walking up to the prison's aid station, I saw my friend Tommy's wife Polina and we chatted for a while. I found out Tommy had been there 90 minutes prior - that absolutely made my day because that meant he was going to finish. And another run club friend Rich who had only got into the race 6 days before was making great time and ended up doing the marathon. Another friend Rick had a massive blister and had to stop at the prison also, so we chatted for a while at the aid station. I decided that I was going to still go through the prison yard, climb the wall, and go through the tunnel to ultimately stop before climbing Rat Jaw. After covering the first "10" miles in just over 3 hours, I spent 6 hours and 17 minutes to go the next "10", and then my day was done. I headed back to the aid station and saw my buddy Mark, who was intent on getting his marathon finish. I told him I'd see him at the finish line, then got a ride back with Polina so we could watch the finishers.

Post Race

At the finish line I saw several friends finishing, then decided I had time to go get a shower before Mark, Tommy and Rich finished. I grabbed my bag, headed across the field and to my surprise I saw Mark walking up. I gave him a big hug thinking something had happened and maybe he dropped half way up Rat Jaw. Turns out he was not allowed to even start it despite making it past the prison cutoff by 15 minutes or so. Sounds like there was concern about runners going up Rat Jaw that late in the day and were trying to avoid the risk of having to extract runners. We were both disappointed that he didn't get that chance to at least try, but understood it was a tough call for race officials to make. Now I'm hearing that Laz is looking for those runners and I'm sure will take care of them in some way. After showering and eating a delicious steak sandwich provided by the race, we sat there until the 13hrs 20mins final cutoff time, screaming and cheering for every runner that came down that last stretch of road. It hurt a ton to be on the sideline and not be running through the finishers chute, but it just wasn't my day.

I immediately decided I wasn't going to run this race again, and felt empty and defeated. I felt that the work I had put in was more than sufficient to finish, despite the more difficult course, and I couldn't understand why my day went so poorly after starting off so perfectly. Considering all of my symptoms and thinking back on my nutrition for the day, I firmly believe that I was suffering from a case of hyponatraemia - excess sodium in my system, which leads to retaining fluid and being over-hydrated. I drank three fills of my hydration pack of Sword - probably 3 servings each fill at 470mg per serving. Definitely not blaming the product, as I've previously had success with it - just not in this large amount. The food I ate also contributed another 300mg. All this while I only drank maybe 8 ounces of plain water all day. From a Runner's World article about sodium supplements while running: "Symptoms of hyponatraemia include nausea and vomiting, headache, confusion, and muscle weakness or cramps" - pretty much everything that I was suffering from after the first few hours of the race (minus the vomiting). Call it an excuse to quit if you want to, but trust me when I say that nobody wanted to finish this race this year more than I did. In the moment it felt like the right decision. The risk just was not worth the reward for me at that point. It also helped me realize that it wasn't my training or the effort I put in on race day that was my downfall. Despite all of the problems I had during the race, if I had continued to push and gone up Rat Jaw without issues, I probably would have just missed the decision point and finished the marathon distance with over an hour improvement. Considering that most of the top runners this year were around an hour slower than they were in 2018, I'd say I definitely could have finished on a good day. Of course, all that does is light the fire under me, and makes me want to give the Fall Classic yet another shot some day, armed with even more knowledge, experience and another year of growth. I'll definitely be back to continue chasing after that goal.

Lessons Learned

• Obvious lesson - it takes many many things to go right to finish an ultra of this magnitude. Even one thing wrong can derail your race. Every runner I talked with afterwards said that you almost have to have the perfect day to finish this race (unless you are an elite or a long time veteran). You need a combination of sufficient training, good weather, fueling, pacing, and several other factors. My downfall was in my fueling strategy - which was overcompensating for my lack of fueling last year. Hopefully after this I can find the right balance for my next race.
• DRINK WATER! It seems obvious, but plain water sometimes is all your body needs. It's important to pay attention to how much nutrients you are putting into your body over a certain period of time. Drinking Sword has been great to me all summer and I still think it's a great product, but it should be taken in smaller doses along with lots of plain water. Too much of a good thing can become a bad thing.
• The 'F' is for did not FINISH, not FAILURE. Immediately after I was done, I felt like a failure. The fact that I built my entire training plan and race strategy made it sting even more. If I had been following a plan from someone else, then I wouldn't have to shoulder all the blame. It still all sits with me, but I've come to grips with what happened. I realize that my growth since starting this trail and ultra running journey has been far from a failure, and much more a success. I'm very proud of the growth I have achieved as a trail runner. The 2017 me would never have made it as far, as fast as the 2019 me did.
• A day spent hiking on the trails (or running on the roads) is always a blessing. Some days you don't have your best performance, but this is what I do because it's something that brings me joy. Whether I finish first or last or not at all, I have to remember how lucky I am to even be able to do these things. To have the love, support and encouragement from family and friends - some even crazy enough to join me in these adventures - makes it even better.
• I got a DNF, but also got a DNP, and that's WAAAAY cooler! Maybe I Did Not Finish, but at least I Did Not Poop my pants!
  

2018 Cape Fear 24 Hour Endurance Run - 100 MILES!

2018 Cape Fear 24 Hour Endurance Run
November 3/4, 2018 at Parks and Recreation baseball fields in Lillington, NC
A lesson in running 100 miles from someone who doesn't have a clue about it
Watch time: N/A - didn't want the hassle
Chip times: 100.0142 miles in 23:56:45.3
Position: 8 of 63 (tied 5th most mileage but took longer to achieve it)

100 mile finishers with the best support crew ever

Back Story

I guess this race is the culmination of my past 3 years of running. When I realized I needed some friends after moving 750 miles away from everyone I knew, I joined a run club that was started by Mark Campbell and some others a few years before. What was once a club that ran every other Saturday at the beginning was now organizing group runs every morning and also most evenings. I went from running 3 miles 2 or 3 times a week alone to running 5+ miles almost every day, and meeting a world of new friends. Several races and several thousand miles of running later....

2017 was my year of the marathon - I ran my first back in 2013 and hadn't ran a race since then. Family, wife back in school, little kids, new job, moving, etc all took priority over running. After the move I started working full time from home, and running became my outlet for stress and a way to get out of the house and see other adults. At my 3rd HSRC run, I committed to running another marathon - the Blue Ridge Marathon, no big deal (just labeled "America's Toughest Road Marathon"). I would also end up running Myrtle Beach, Rock n Roll Raleigh, the Barkley Fall Classic, and Kiawah marathons.

I decided 2018 was my year of the ultra. I had a little taste of ultras from the BFC, but that was a failure. I had signed up to run the Blue Ridge Double Marathon, and as part of my training I also added the Uwharrie 40 miler in February. I maintained decent mileage (30-40 miles/wk) through the summer while chasing a goal of running 2018 miles in 2018. Then I got to go back to Barkley Fall Classic again, and again I was under-trained and had to settle for a marathon finish. But this year I was able to share the experience with Mark and it was an awesome weekend despite not great success in the race.

All the way back in May, Mark suggested I join him for this 24 hour run he had signed up for. I was very tempted (as I always am when it comes to racing), but knew it might not be a great idea. I already had the Marine Corps Marathon on my schedule - 6 days before this race. His argument was that it's not a measured distance race, it's a short 0.59 mile loop around a park that you repeat as many times as you can/want to. If my legs are too tired I can stop any time I want to, and go home/shower/sleep/whatever. Mark was planning on pushing Brandon Rizzuti in his chair, and I remembered how much fun we had during the Team Smile and Roll border-to-border run (VA to SC - 162 miles), and how inspirational it was. It was time to add another chapter to that book. Finally in October, I caved and decided to register, but wasn't setting any kind of goals because there were so many unknowns. But in the back of my mind, I secretly wanted the 100 miles...

Weeks before race day

Well I can't keep my mouth shut about anything - our plan to keep the gender of our children a surprise to others until they were born usually lasted about 8 minutes after we found out. So as this race approached, I put a post out on Facebook about how I wanted to go for 100 miles and I wouldn't be able to do it without the support of my friends. So now everybody knew, but that also meant I would have my people to help. Our awesomely supportive friend Julie Jones was planning on being there the entire race, doing whatever she could to help us. A few others mentioned they would come out and help as well.

Marine Corps Marathon was an absolute disaster.  I had put another huge goal out there (sub-4 hours) and my friend Dave Karls tried pacing me - until I fell apart. Under-trained, poor planning, and poor execution. Made me question what I had been doing as a runner, and if I really had any idea about how to set realistic expectations. I did wonder though, if my training had been more appropriate for ultras (low heart rate, time on feet) than a marathon PR attempt. Either way, I backpedaled a bit on the 100 mile goal, and decided that my main goal was to set a distance PR (52.4 miles) and still be able to move by 7:00am on Sunday morning.

All the clothes I packed, almost
none of which were used

I did as much research as I possibly could, about how to survive your first 24 hour/100 mile run. Every article and race report I read gave little tidbits that I would use in this race. I packed shirts/shorts/pants/jackets/headwear for every scenario, multiple pairs of socks and shoes, food and drinks. I obsessed over an Excel spreadsheet with formulas about run/walk ratios, at what paces, and also included backup plans for increased walking/decreased running when everything went to hell. On several solo runs around our 0.3 mile neighborhood block, I practiced my "ultra shuffle", basically a very slow relaxed jog focusing on good form and keeping my heart rate extremely low. I would run a lap or two, then walk a lap, to try to simulate what I wanted to do at the race. I figured out a plan to run Strava my phone in airplane mode (GPS still works) with external batteries so that I could get the stats of my entire run (last minute decided not to do that). I even dug out an old iPod so I could have some music for the night time to help keep me awake. I was armed to the teeth with knowledge and gear, ready to do battle. Just had to remember to pack the determination and mental focus.

Race Day

After loading up all of my gear the night before, I made the short 25 minute drive from home down to nearby Lillington to meet up with Mark, Brandon and Julie. They had camped in the park Friday night and told me they hadn't slept very well - it was chilly, rainy, and apparently some people there like to intentionally make their cars loud (some muffler thing I don't know about) and drag race up and down the road right next to where they slept. I quickly set up my camp chair and unloaded the car, got my bib from the race staff, and chatted with a few other runners while we waited for this thing to start. Mark and I discussed what our plans were for the day, and it was just to keep moving. We figured we would get separated at times and we were both ok with that. It's a short course and we were bound to see each other frequently no matter what.

Nerd alert! Let me geek out on some numbers for a bit. After obsessing over another Laz race - Big's Backyard Ultra - I knew that to hit 100 miles in 24 hours required a 4.1667 mph pace. That equated to just over 7 loops needed per hour (7 * 0.5918 = 4.1426). In my planning, I had settled on running one loop around 10:30/mile pace, and walking half a loop around 17:00/mile pace, and I wanted to maintain that for 6 hours. Those combined paces would give me about 8 total laps per hour, and I would use the walking breaks that coincided with passing the aid station as queues to grab something to eat and drink - and of course do that on the move - no standing around wasting time! I also did some math during the race, although Mark wasn't sure he trusted it because of past running math experiences. I was certain our average pace needed to be 14:24/mile to hit 100 miles. The math was easy - 1440 minutes in 24 hours, divided by 100 miles = 14.4 minutes/mile. 0.4 minutes is 24 seconds (0.4*60). One nice thing we had with the live tracking was that it not only showed our lap times and total distance, it showed our overall average pace.

Starting off way too fast

So back to the race. Of course I ran the first 3 laps in 20 minutes. In typical fashion, I went out too fast, even at a 24 hour race. The good news was that "too fast" was still over an 11:00/mile average pace, which is still a few minutes slower than a good effort pace for me. Mark and Brandon had decided that they were just going to walk the entire first hour. It was going to be a long day and there was no need to overdo it early.  Once I finished my 9th loop just after the first hour, I decided I needed to get onboard with the strategy that Julie had suggested the few days before the race - run a lap, then walk a lap. She messaged me a few days before the race and said although she has no experience with ultras, she just had this nagging sense to tell me that this should be our strategy.

Neither of us was wearing a watch, so we just settled into a comfortably easy pace (the ultra shuffle), focusing on being able to chat easily. That meant our heart rate was low and we weren't going to burn up our glucose stores. When you do that is when you end up hitting the wall, as I experienced 6 days earlier. That easy pace had us finishing the run laps around 6 mins 30 secs and the walk laps were around 9:30 (8 mins/loop). That meant 7.5 laps per hour, which was enough to keep us on pace. But we still never talked about a goal of 100 miles. That would be ridiculous. And terrifying. Instead we decided we would run/walk until we got to 10 miles. Once we hit that milestone (around 2 hrs 10 mins), we said why not run to 20. And so it continued on throughout the day that we would make small goals that would give us something to focus on for just the next few hours. It kept our minds off the fact that we still had 22 hours, 20 hours, etc, to keep running.

We maintained this for two hours, however I think a combination of walking more than I was used to, walking at a much faster pace than was comfortable, and wearing some older shoes was causing the walk laps to be a bit painful. I decided I was going to switch back to the run a lap, walk half a lap for a while. After doing that for an hour, I finally met back up with Mark, Brandon and Julie. I had added 1 lap in an hour. It seemed stupid to have done all that extra work that didn't really benefit me much. So for hour 5 and 6, it was back to the trusty 1:1.  Surprisingly, our lap times were exactly in that same range as when we first started, and we were still feeling good.

We hit the marathon point somewhere around the 5:30:xx point. We had been doing a great job of staying hydrated and eating food up until this point. Generally, we would grab stuff on our walk laps at the end of every hour. A few times in the middle of hours I would get hungry or thirsty, so I would go into the all-you-can-eat buffet a.k.a. aid station, and get whatever looked good. It was now around 1:30pm, and was a beautiful clear sunny day. I made it a point to focus on hydration for the next few hours - knowing dehydration (and eventual muscle cramps) was something that was on my quit list. This is when I told Mark that I thought hitting 100k was an almost certainty, and I thought a triple marathon (78.6 miles) would be my stretch goal. That seemed like a good logical progression after the Blue Ridge Double Marathon. But if we got that far and still had time, we should probably just go for 80 miles.

We made a plan that we would stop every 6 hours for an extended break. This was just like a pit stop in a car race: in and out as quickly as possible, and get as much done as possible: stretching/rolling, changing socks/shoes and foot rub with intensive care lotion, a big snack/drink, bathroom, re-applying anti-chafe stuff everywhere, etc. We felt like we were very efficient. Mark asked me if we had taken 5 or 6 minutes, but when we finished our lap we saw it took us almost 23 minutes - so our break was about 13 (after you take away the 10 minutes of a walking lap). It amazed us how quickly time passes on a break. It was time well spent, but we hoped we could be more efficient on the 12/18 hour breaks.

After 7 hours, we crossed the 50k distance. This was a big deal for me, as I had only covered this distance 3 times previously. However, I also started having some minor problems here. Just some general foot/knee aches and pains. I decided that since I had 3 extra laps under my belt compared to Mark, that I was just going to walk for an entire hour. I still ended up logging 6 laps that hour, so I was still in great shape after my nearly 9 lap first hour. But I needed to make a slight adjustment to the plan. Mark had been ticking off the laps like a machine, but I didn't feel like I could maintain running an entire lap and then speed walking for an entire lap. So I switched to my "half n half" strategy. We would run to the half way point of the lap (the big gray pole) together, then I'd walk the rest of that loop while Mark ran. Then Mark would do his walk loop, and I would run another half loop to catch up. We would walk the remainder of the loop together. This worked well for an hour, things started going south again, and I decided to walk another entire hour (the 9th hour). Still had a long time to go. This was how I battled through the lows - just keep moving, no matter how slowly.

My motivation (boys were busy on the playground)

Hour 10 brought some much needed relief and a huge pick-me-up. I had been looking forward to this point all day - when Katie would finish her make-up day of class and bring the kids to the race. They had been excited when I told them they would be able to run a few laps with me. Hearing them cheer for me as they ran out of the van gave me a nice adrenaline rush. They tried to run with me for the half lap, but apparently I was still running too fast for them after 10 hours! So we ran a bit, then I took a walk break to let them catch up, then they played on the playground while I sped around the rest of the course to see them again. Lots of I love yous, kisses and hugs were exchanged in the time they were there and their visit really got me back on track. Katie has always been my biggest supporter, and having her at the race telling me I looked great, she was proud of me, and she knew I could do it (whatever "it" ended up being) made all the difference.

I felt refreshed after 50 miles. Katie was ready to take the kids home, but they stuck around to see me hit 50. No matter what, I was now going to achieve my main goal of a distance PR. We hit 50 miles at 11 hrs 52 mins. Somehow, we were STILL on pace for 100. However, a lot of my research and some other runners we had asked earlier that day said that a first-time attempt at 100 should probably hit 50 miles between 10 and 11 hours to have a legit shot. You assume that things will go downhill in the second half and you will need a few more hours for your second 50.

Shortly after hitting 50, we took our second break. Did everything we did during the break at 6 hours, but apparently our minds and bodies weren't functioning quite as well. This was new territory for me - I had never done a race that went beyond 12 hours. This break/lap took us around 28 minutes - 19 minutes of no movement. For the first time, our average pace was slower than 14:24/mile, and the break was so long that our average actually dropped from 14:07/mile to 14:30/mile. This had an interesting affect on me - I was disappointed at all. It was almost a relief and I said "oh well, we aren't on pace for 100 anymore, now there is no pressure." So we conversed and we both somehow still felt good enough to continue running, and so we did. Back in my plan building, I had expected that by the second half I would only be running half a lap and then walking a full lap. But Mark was still running his full lap (aside from walking the mountain on the NE corner of the park), so I wanted to keep up with him. My half n half strategy sort of morphed into an 80%/20% run walk during Mark's run lap, so I would then have less to run during his walk lap before I caught up. We were doing the same pace as we had way back in hour 2. We had a perfect plan, we had been pacing ourselves perfectly (without watches!), and so we decided on our next goal - lets get from 50 miles to 100k (62 miles). That's a huge accomplishment in the ultra world.

At this point, we had some new friends visit us. Candice showed up with the great energy that only she has - and ran some loops with her unicorn hat on. Dave is one of the most encouraging members in our run club. He is unable to run currently but he showed up anyways and joined us on the walking laps, telling us we looked great every time he saw us. Derek also joined us for a while, which was awesome having him there after he just finished running the Tuna 200 mile run by himself. He knew just the right things to say to keep us feeling confident. When you feel like you must look terrible and things might start falling apart, having friends there constantly telling you that you look great can actually convince you that you feel great - even though it makes no sense and there is no way you should be feeling that way. Julie earned the title of best support crew person of all time all throughout the day and night. Whether it was mixing water with Carbo Pro/Malto Dextrin, preparing food or salt tabs for us, plugging in my phone to charge, whatever we needed she was on top of it. As we ran by our camp we would tell her what we needed the next time we came around on the walk lap, and she always had it ready. While we were in good shape and didn't need her help, she joined us for several laps on the course. She actually ran her most miles ever in a day - 35+ officially on her watch, but I think more like 38-40 because there were several laps she didn't record. She is the most humble person and will take no credit, but there is zero chance we could have done anything close to what we did without her help.

This is the time in the race where things get confusing. Any pains I had felt in my feet/hips/knees/muscles had gone away. I didn't have any stomach issues all day (due to keeping pace slow and easy), so I wasn't hungry or thirsty, and was still eating/drinking regularly. The temperature had dropped quite a bit - probably in the 40s. I had worn a tank top all day but now had on a long sleeve shirt and a jacket (mostly for the pockets to carry my phone, gloves, etc), with compression sleeves on my legs, but still shorts #nopants. I think this cold weather resulted in us being much more alert, and I never even once considered that I needed any sleep. I'm sure lots of Coke helped with that too. We said repeatedly how despite running this same 0.59 mile lap over 100 times, it didn't feel repetitive. The 1:1 strategy was so embedded in our brains, that we didn't even question what we had to do. We crossed the timing mats, it was time to run, almost like an on-off switch. I ran to my checkpoints then short walks while Mark pulled away a bit, then he walked and I usually caught up around our camp spot and we walked. Then repeat, over and over again. If this was any other race and we didn't have that short loop/timing mat to tell us when to run/walk, I guarantee we wouldn't have had any sort of consistency. At the time when we should have been falling apart and becoming more inconsistent, was the time that we became more consistent than ever. I was surrounded by this strangely calm euphoria, and everything felt great. We were executing this plan perfectly even though it didn't make any sense, and I was going to keep it rolling as long as I could.

How are you still running? I don't know but I feel great!

I had been constantly checking the live tracking results, and just before we hit 100k, our average pace was back under 14:24. I announced this fact to our crew - we were back on pace for 100. When we hit 75 miles at 17:55 (5 minutes ahead of 100 mile pace), things started to actually get real. For the few hours leading up to that, we kept wondering when things were going to fall apart. We said it would be heartbreaking to get up in the 90 mile range, and then not hit 100. We knew we had a break coming up at the 18 hour point, and we had to make it quick. Another 19 minute break would probably make it impossible to hit 100, and we wanted to keep the chance open as long as we could. We had a small cushion, but when we ended up taking another 14 minute break, so we had some time to make up again. But it wasn't as much of a hole that we had to dig out after the 12 hour break - and we had added a 5 minute cushion on top of that hole. This break actually got us back on track together for the first time - while I took the break, Mark ran an extra lap with Derek to make up the 1 lap difference we had been on since the beginning. We wanted to make sure we finished our race together.

At the break, we had 40 laps left to complete 100 miles, and I debated counting down each lap. It ended up being too much, so I was announcing every time we had 10 lap less. It took us 17 laps after our break before we made up that time we lost on the break. We were over 85 miles at that point and there was no chance we weren't going for 100. It just became a fact that we were going to run 100 miles, there was nothing that was going to stop us. Every time we ran past runners and race crew they told us we looked great and asked how much further we had until 100. We would say "20 laps (or 15 or 10, etc) but that's still a LONG way to go." We still expected that at any moment things could go south. We knew we had to be careful about every little detail from here on out, as we were still just one small issue away from being derailed. We told Brandon that if he needed a bathroom break or anything, he would have to sit out a lap and have Julie help him, as we didn't think we could sacrifice the few minutes it would take. We also made an agreement that if one of us had to stop for a bathroom break or anything, the other person had to keep going on the regular pace, and it was up to the guy who took to break to catch up. No sooner did we make this agreement than Mark had to jump in the bathroom. I continued on and he caught up shortly. 2 laps later and I was looking for the bathroom. Without getting into too many details, when you eat 10,000+ calories of ultra race food, and then pile on top of that 7 or 8 chocolate meal replacement shakes, the results aren't always pleasant. This felt like the most stressful 4 minutes of my life, as I stared at my phone every second, watching the time slowly tick away, 3:25am, 3:26am, 3:27, 3:28, 3:29.... I finally got out and knew I had a lot of work to do to catch up. But I was happy Mark had continued on at pace. I think it took me 5 laps of pushing quite a bit (without a lot of my regular walk breaks) before I finally caught back up. Thankfully it was right as Mark was starting a walk lap and I walked the entire lap.

Around 90 miles, we still had 2 hrs 30 mins to go. There finally weren't any more "another 10 miles" goals to make, except for the final one of 100. We called this our "sit-down" goal - once we reach it, we get to sit down for a long time. Finally with about 10 laps to go, we were almost to the point we felt we could walk the rest of the time and finish the 100. We weren't going to take that risk, as we didn't trust any math at this point. We still felt ok to run so we did. Mark did finally relent on running the entire lap and joined me on my regular walk breaks. The run loops finally deviated from the 6:20-6:30 times, not because of pain, fatigue, sleep deprivation, or necessity, but by choice because we knew our goal was in hand.

Crossing the line to 100 miles

We were counting down the loops for Julie, so she could wake up and head over to the finish line to record us running in. We witnessed a runner who almost quit at 90 miles have a resurgence, thanks to another runner strapping his shoes back on after he had limped around for a while. They were sprinting around the last lap to finish his 100 miles. This was a testament to how awesome the ultra running community is - even when George was feeling awful, he knew Tait needed someone to push him so he could reach that 100 mile milestone, and he did. They asked us to join but we had 13 minutes to do the last lap and we weren't in a hurry. We walked the last lap and heard a few others getting cheers as they finished. Once we made the last turn, we ran in to the finish line together, to what felt like a massive audience all cheering for us. We shared hugs, tears, and thanks, and all acknowledged how perfect everything about the last 24 hours had been, and that there was no way any of us could have done what we did without each other.

Post Race

It was a surreal feeling, accomplishing something that I had thought about as a dream goal I might chase in a few years. I never seriously thought it was possible on this day. Even now, we can't begin to fathom how there was absolutely no downfall. I downloaded all of the data I could from the timing company, and did some further analysis to look at lap pace and average lap pace. Aside from my fast start in the first hour, and the 3 long breaks at the 6/12/18 hour marks, our average pace is nearly a straight line. It fluctuated between 14:20/mile and 14:25/mile for almost the entire last twelve hours. Our splits were insanely close - our first 50 miles took 11:52:28, our second took 12:04:17. If you subtract the extended breaks we had, the moving time for the first 50 was 11:39, and for the second 50 it was 11:31 - in a sense A NEGATIVE SPLIT.

What went wrong? Honestly, only a few small things. For the first six hours, I wore some shoes that were too old and my feet let me know. I had some pains and the beginnings of a blister on the side of the ball of my right foot. During our break I quickly stuck it with the safety pin from my bib to let it drain, re-applied lotion and got a new pair of socks. I also switched to a newer pair of HOKA Clifton's which felt like stepping on pillows and that problem was quickly resolved. I had some lows during the 7th and 9th hours, but I embraced them - knowing that there will always be highs and lows in an event this long. I didn't let it affect me mentally, I just knew that I would take things easy until I felt better, and I think not having a set goal going into the race helped a lot. I knew just continuing to move forward - even walking for an hour straight - would be fine with me, whatever the final result. The only other thing was the bathroom break, and 4 minutes out of 1440 wasn't ever going to make or break my race, despite how I might have been feeling during that moment.

In the days after the race, I haven't really had any more pain than typical post-race soreness.  I did have some swelling in my left ankle (no idea why), but with some compression and icing that went away after a day. My leg muscles got pretty tight two days post-race (Tuesday), so I focused on stretching and hydrating and they are feeling much better now. Because of careful preparation and monitoring/maintenance throughout the race, I had no chaffing issues and no blisters. The shoes I wore were perfect and I didn't have any toenail problems. I did get a slight sun burn from being exposed to the sun all day, but nothing too bad.

There is definitely a question of where do we go from here? There are obviously several other 100 mile races that are quite different than this race. There are also multi-day journey runs such as the Tuna 200, Tarheel Ultra and Last Annual Vol State. I may attempt runs like that at some point, but not any time soon. For now I'm just going to run a few half marathons in the next few weeks, hit my goal of 2018 miles in 2018, and then take some rest before I focus on the Barkley Fall Classic 50k goal for 2019.

Lessons Learned

• Don't dwell on failures, they don't define you as a runner. I've seen my fair share of failures in the past year, with the two marathon finishes (50k DNFs) at the Barkley Fall Classic, where I missed the cutoff for the 50k by two hours both times. I also had what I considered an epic failure at Marine Corps Marathon just 6 days before this event. We all have those days in training that seem like failures, because we don't hit a distance or a speed or whatever arbitrary goal we have set for that run. Sometimes it is just not your day, and that's perfectly fine. I've learned to put my ego aside, accept that there will be bad runs/races, and I move on to the next one. That mentality helped me remain confident in what I was doing all day, and that led to one of my greatest successes as a runner.
• Do research and learn what you can from others, but ultimately find what works for you and stick to it. I read all I could, and tried some different things throughout training and this race. Some things worked, some didn't. I went into the race fully prepared for many situations, with all the different clothing and food options. However, I wasn't running into any problems with the outfit and gear I was using, so I ended up wearing the same outfit all day (aside from adding a layer when it was cold at the start and end). I found some food that I could consistently eat, so I stuck to eating that at least once every 2 hours - turkey cheese roll up and corn chips with gatorade or coke. The same can be said for our pacing. I had a few variations of the run/walk strategy which still ended up finishing two laps in the same total time as Mark. The 1:1 was working for him, but I had to find what worked for me, and we were both able to find our own way to a successful 24 hours.
• Break an ultra into smaller, more manageable pieces. I think this was one of the biggest components to our success. We had a few times when we wondered how far we could really go as the day went on and we continued to feel great. But for the most part, it was 10 miles at a time, and we weren't really even tracking that distance since we weren't wearing watches. Our race was really approached as one lap at a time, thanks to Julie's plan! This idea can also be applied to any other race, even distance races - if you are able to mentally block out the end goal. Running to the next big climb on a mountain trail, or running to the next aid station or mile marker on a road race could be smaller goals that lead to multiple successes throughout the race.
• The Cape Fear 24 Hour Endurance Run is a must do race. This was my first experience with a timed race, and a looped race. It never got boring as there were 60+ runners spread out on the short loop. We were constantly interacting with all different people, even through the night as several runners stopped running, but either walked the rest of the course and cheered us on, or stayed in their chairs or at the aid station to encourage those of us that were still going. The aid station was an all-you-can-eat buffet and held true to the phrase that "ultra running is just an eating contest." Different food I ate included pizza, cheeseburgers, hot dogs, grilled chicken tenders, PB&J, turkey/cheese and ham/cheese wraps, trail mix, pretzels, corn chips, cheeze its, bananas, oranges, candy bars, rice krispy treats, muffins and danishes. There were also several other things I didn't eat - quesadillas, bacon, several different soups, etc. This race offers maximum support and is the perfect opportunity to go challenge yourself to run a distance you never thought possible.
• Give back. One of the biggest thoughts in my head about "what's next" is that I need to give back. I need to be the one in the support role for somebody. Now that I have this experience I would love to be the one to help somebody else the way Julie helped me this year. Maybe next year we will get some other friends to run this race and I can do that. We have already told Julie she is running it next year and will get 50 miles, and if she does I will be there, up all night, attending to whatever she needs to reach that goal. Or at least to run just one more lap!
• Find a friend, and tackle a challenge together. This is a cornerstone of what our run club has been - we run together, but we are also just as much a social club as we are a run club. I put out the call for help to get this done, and friends and family responded. Without all the encouraging messages, I easily could have gone to a dark place mentally and quit early. Without the help from Julie in camp, we would have spent several extra minutes getting our own things around, and would have ran out of time. Without having Mark and Brandon there running with me, going through the same challenges and feelings as I was, I would have ran slower and walked slower, ran less and walked more as the night went on, and possibly would have stopped before the 24 hours was up. We accomplished what we did, because we had each other's back the entire way.

Woooooo! Sub-24 hour 100 mile belt buckle!

Sporting our semi-colons; supporting those who battle with mental illness

Mark and Brandon with their buckles!

Post race junk food binge - a KrispyBo - made famous by Barkley Marathons finisher John Kelly.
It's a cajun chicken filet from Bojangles with two Krispy Kreme donuts in place of the biscuit,
and it was everything I dreamed it could be!
P.S. Couldn't handle the BoKrispy (Krispy Kreme inside the biscuit), maybe next time.

Not long after finishing my dinner, this is how you crash after running all night.

A group of friends set out to do something crazy............

My Excel data mapping skills. This shows each lap pace in red, and our overall pace in blue.
You notice it is almost completely flat for the second half of the race. Still can't explain how that is possible.

2018 Marine Corps Marathon

2018 Marine Corps Marathon
October 28th, 2018 at Washington, D.C.
A lesson in how NOT to run a marathon
Watch time: 4:40:35 (26.64 miles)
Chip times: 4:39:21
Position: 920 of 1,756 (M35-39), 8,389 of 20,700 (Overall)

Back Story

In 2017, I had marathon fever. As part of that chaos (3 marathons in 7 weeks in spring 2017), I decided to put my name into the Marine Corps Marathon lottery.  Of course I was picked!  I was excited because this would be my first big marathon.  Every other one I have done was maybe 3,000 people, and this would be 10 times that amount!

But I also had developed an obsession with everything Barkley Marathons, and had put myself on the wait list for the Barkley Fall Classic 50k in September. Lo and behold, a few weeks before that race, I got in.  Luckily, it was still within the deferral period and I decided it would be a bad idea to attempt a marathon after a brutal trail race like that, so I deferred to 2018.

Weeks before race day

How to describe a training cycle that doesn't have a training plan? How about a hot mess? Especially hot because most of it was done during North Carolina summer heat.  That's not to make excuses, because many others do it, but it's not exactly easy for me to get motivated to go run for three plus hours when it's 90 degrees and 95% humidity.

And so I just..... didn't.  I didn't follow a training plan. I didn't do long runs. I didn't do track work. I didn't do tempo runs at my target race pace. I didn't really even set a race goal until a few days before the race. What did I do? I definitely logged the miles. I set a goal for the year to run 2000 miles. What that resulted in was the desire to get out all the time and keep adding to that number, which meant I was running 5-6 miles almost every day. That meant I wasn't getting enough rest days (maybe 1 a week), and my long runs suffered because of that... I'll detail my failures at the end of this report.

So about that goal..... I have said it for a while that this was going to be my last road marathon. Right now, I'm enjoying trail running and getting into the ultra mindset, and I think that racing a road marathon requires a different mentality - or maybe just a better running ability than I currently have. If this was to be my last, I was going to go for that elusive sub-4:00 race. I've been close a few times, only to have things fall apart in the last few as I trudged on alone. My friend Dave said he would run the whole race with me and keep me on pace as long as I was up for it. My ego spoke much louder than my brain and I decided to go for it.

Best race shirts ever!

We drove up early Saturday morning, a 5 hour drive that ended close to 6 because we stopped for lunch. We couldn't decide where to eat until we saw an exit sign for Fuddruckers, which is where we ate the night before Myrtle Beach marathon - where Dave BQ'd and I set a PR of 4:04. So we upheld that tradition. We got to the expo around 3:00pm, picked up bibs and our beautifully ridiculous shirts that got trashed on social media. We met up with Doug and of course had to get a group photo with said shirts to share with all of our friends back home. I also was able to buy the very last Marine Corps themed buff at the expo, even though it was from 2017 it still looked awesome (2018's had sold out before noon).

After wandering around for an hour we headed to our hotel. At this point, we still weren't exactly sure how we were getting to the start line. I had called them a week before to ask, and the man I spoke to said it wasn't very far away. When I checked in, someone asked the receptionist about walking and she said it was way too far - maybe she wasn't a runner because to me a mile is just a short warmup. We did some research and found that to get on metro and then take a shuttle and then walk could take us over an hour, so we decided we would just walk. Grabbed some dinner at a restaurant next door, and then got back to the room thinking we should get to bed, and it was... 6:00? Well that would be silly, so we stayed up and watch some of the World Series game until about 10. Alarms set for 5:15 since it is a later race start than usual (7:55).

Race Day

Alarms went off after an unusual good night's sleep. Must be I'm just not too stressed about this race - whatever happens, happens, and I'm ok with that. Maybe things hold together, and maybe they fall apart completely <shrugs>. Usual morning race day routine, and we are out the door to walk to the start at 6:10. It was a perfect morning for a race - starting at upper 40s and warming up into the 50s, and overcast so no worry about the sun making it too hot. Lots of people sitting around in the hotel lobby, but one other guy is walking so at least we aren't the only crazy ones. It ended up being a bit longer than we thought (about 2 miles), but I wasn't worried about it. I did get a little hungry so I went ahead and ate one of my Snickers bars - yes I know, not your typical race fuel but it works for me.

Calling my shots

The one complaint was how far we had to walk to for bag check. Had I known that, I wouldn't have brought one, but I wasn't sure how I would be feeling after the race. I wanted to have a long sleeve and some gloves to wear in case I got cold. But it made sense to have them at the very far end of the corrals, since that was where the shuttles dropped everyone off. I think it was an extra mile of walking to get from our place in the corral, to the bag check area, and back. After that we hit one of the seemingly 1,000 port-a-johns (no wait lines), then we got into our space between the 4:00 and 4:15 sign and I hoped these would be the people I would hang with all day.

The start was pretty cool. They had skydivers bring in the flag, then a few motivational words from a World War II veteran, and the National Anthem. They started the push chair racers at 7:45, and we had an Osprey flyover for that, along with a cannon blast. The duo racers (near and dear to our run club's hearts) started at 7:50, and then right at 7:55 we were off with a cannon blast, which kind of surprised us as there was no countdown or notice that it was going to happen.

We started running, and then we were jogging/trotting. Never have I been so crowded at a race, and we were running down a 4 lane highway! I figured it would probably thin out a little bit after the first few miles of "hills". I say that because to us, they weren't really hills, compared to what we are used to running.  So we hit our first mile about as expected, 9:30, knowing that the crowd would be an issue early on. The next mile had a few downhill sections and we just went with the flow, and ticked off an 8:48.  Figured I would check my heart rate as I wanted to keep it pretty low early on, but for whatever reason there wasn't good contact with my chest strap, so I had no reading (didn't get one until near mile 5). I wasn't too worried as we were chatting along the way so I felt like that was a good sign.

Flags lining both sides of the course
just past the Blue Mile

I have only been to D.C. once in my life, over 20 years ago, so I wasn't too familiar with where we were or what we should be seeing. There were some cool looking old church buildings across the Potomac River, in what I guess to be the Georgetown area. I feel like we ran around the Washington Monument area 3 or 4 different times. We ran right up to the Capitol Building shortly after mile 18. I guess at some point we ran past the Lincoln Memorial, the Jefferson Memorial and all of the museums, but I had blinders on at those points of the race and completely missed them. Probably the most moving section of any race I have done was at mile 12-13, the "Blue Mile", in which poster boards line both sides of the course of Marines that have paid the ultimate sacrifice for our country. Every few feet I looked at pictures of young men and women, and the one thing I noticed was their ages - most were 21 or 22 years of age. It hurt thinking about their families, many of which were out there next to their lost love one's signs, cheering us on. That helped give me some motivation to run when things hurt - it was the least I could to honor them.

The support from the Marine volunteers and all the spectators was unlike any other marathon I've done. There were only a few short sections that I didn't feel like the streets were lined with people cheering. There were 7 or 8 different live bands out there playing. The aid stations were plentiful and never felt like more than a few miles apart. They were chaotic as you would expect at a crowded race, but they usually had a dozen or more tables handing out Gatorade, and then the same amount handing out water. Might have worked better to have them on both sides of the road, but I managed to get in and out without ever having an issue. They also had food stations with gu, oranges, trail mix and Halloween candy, etc, and another thing I've never seen - Vasoline on a stick to help anyone with chaffing issues. I just stuck with the chews and Snickers bars that I carried in my pack. Late in the race there were a few places giving out small cups of beer, and I stopped for that, but skipped over doing the shots of Fireball - my one regret as maybe I would have felt better at the finish!

So what about that pace? As I said the first few miles had some hills and were crowded, but after that we hovered between 9:05-9:15/mile for the entire first half of the race. A few miles crept below 9:00 and when I noticed that I backed off a bit. The pace was a little bit faster than I had planned - I was hoping to be around a 9:15-9:20 average at the halfway point, then run the second half faster.  There was one point when I checked my HR monitor again and it said I was around 145 which I thought was perfect.  I wanted to keep it below 150 for the first half of the race. But now looking at my HR data I don't know how reliable it was, and if it really was 145 when I checked, it was steadily rising to much higher than I wanted (170s). My legs felt great though, and I had been able to eat and drink all morning - never felt hungry or thirsty.

It was a bit draining mentally when we hit the half marathon point and the clock read 2:04:xx. I knew we were a few minutes after the clock time, so we were really around 2:02 chip time, but the course was also measuring long (my watch was at 13.3x at the 13.1 timing mat) so I immediately had thoughts of not breaking 4 hours. I think Dave sensed the same doubt in me, and asked if I thought it was going to happen. Of course, that's when I started making all the excuses - course was long, both hips had been hurting, left knee hurt, I thought I had a blister on a left toe (I did but other things hurt more so I ignored it), etc. I said probably not and then....

As quick as a snap of your fingers, my race goal was gone. I lost the mental battle (in addition to the physical failures of training) and my legs responded by feeling like someone had tied cinder blocks around my ankles. I felt like the Tin Man from Wizard of Oz and it took every ounce of strength I had to run one step. I told Dave I needed to take a 30 second walk break to try to reset myself. That resulted in a 9:45 mile 14. I thought I would try to run a few miles around 9:30 and that might get me through the rough patch, but it never happened. Mile 15 required two 30 second walk breaks, and it was all downhill from there.

In front of the Capitol Building
after the disaster began

At one point I texted Katie, because she had told me the tracking alerts weren't working for her. I let her know that things were falling apart but I was going to grind it out to the finish. I also got on Facebook and noticed a friend had commented that our pace had slipped from 9:15s to 10 minute miles and the tracker must be drunk. I started posting on there also to let everyone know I was ok, just having a bad day. Being the great friends they are, they tried to encourage me and told me to get off my phone and run, but I just didn't have it. I had decided to just take some pictures and try enjoy the rest of the day.

It wasn't long before I was thinking about a 4:30 finish, or longer. This was going to be a miserable 12 mile death march to the finish line. I tried to settle into a 3 minute run / 30 second walk cycle, and that lasted for a bit, but eventually went to 3:1, 2:1, and finally ended up about 2:2 for the last few miles. And the running pace wasn't anything fast, as all the muscles were aching. The bargaining began, and I had to reset every goal I had in the race. For a while it was "don't run a 12 minute mile", then "don't run a 14 minute mile", then "just run for 2 minutes", and finally just actually finish this thing. I really wanted to be able to run up the last steep hill at the end, to the finish line, but I only made it about half way up before I had to walk the rest of the hill, before running across the finish line around 4:40:xx, my slowest marathon besides the Blue Ridge Marathon in 2017 (which wasn't even attempted to run and was more a run/walk party with friends). I ran the gamut of emotions from embarrassed to proud. Embarrassed that I had called my shot of a 3:59:59 the morning before, and had imploded so epically, but also proud to be a marathon finisher for the 8th time, something we were told before the race that only 2 out of every 1000 Americans will do this year. I also can't complain too much - despite having what I would consider a "slow" time for me, I know there are many people that would love to run the time that I did, and so I am proud and content with my results.

Post Race

Relieved to be finished

After the race, we were hoping to get back near the finish line to cheer in several of our friends, however we were herded like cattle through the finishers area and had no clue if it was even possible to get back to cheer. We got our medals, had some food and a beer, and then walked the 2 miles back to our hotel. Thankfully we were granted a late checkout at 3:00pm, so we had time to shower and sit for a minute before the long drive home. Surprisingly, it didn't take long to get out of D.C., but we had to stop 3 times along the way to get out and stretch, each time more painful than the last. My legs have been pretty sore for the past 48 hours, but I did get out for a 1 mile run around the neighborhood today (Tuesday) and felt a little better afterwards. Hopefully I can get one more run to flush out my legs, and then it's time to go for a 24 hour on Saturday!

Lessons Learned

• Respect the distance. In 2018, I have done race distances varying from 1/4 mile, 5k, 10k, half marathon, marathon, 50k, 40 miles, and a double marathon.  All of them present unique and interesting challenges, both within the race itself and with how you train for them. For me, without a doubt, the marathon distance is the most difficult. The shorter distances seem easier to me, because I'm able to maintain a much better pace and I know the pain will be over with quickly.  It's also fairly easy for me to get out and run for 1.5 - 2 hours every weekend - as long as I get out of bed at 5:30 - so a half marathon distance just feels "normal". I haven't trained specifically for shorter distances much recently, but I think it will be fun to focus on getting faster. The longer distances I have always been able to handle mentally. I approach those races knowing that I will go at a slower running pace and do a lot of walking. My goals for those races have just been to finish and that was something I could easily accomplish. The marathon is a different kind of beast. A distance you should train hard for and race hard. A lot of things have to align to even have a chance at a good race, i.e. weather, getting to the start line healthy, good crowd support/motivation, race day nutrition/hydration, and many other little things that all need to cooperate. I had all of those things lined up perfectly for me, except for just one teeny tiny little problem...
  
• Log the miles - but make sure they are the right miles. To say I didn't train for this race would only be half the story. I did train in a sense, but not necessarily for this race, more like for overall fitness. I logged 30-40 miles every week this summer/fall, except for the one week following BFC. But I know the most important thing for a marathon is the long run, and I failed miserably at that task. I have been chasing the 2,000 miles for 2018 as I mentioned above, so I was logging low mileage almost every day. I think that may be a good plan for ultras (focusing on total time on feet over the course of a week), but not so much for a 26.2 PR attempt. It was almost laughable when I got home from the race and looked back at my long runs ( > 10 miles) this training cycle:
  July 8th - 10.17 miles @9:53/mile pace
  July 15th - 10.01 mi @ 10:23/mi
  July 20th - 10.01 mi @ 12:23/mi
  July 28th - 13.11 mi @ 10:09/mi
  Aug 5th - 10.01 @ 10:48/mi
  Aug 19th - 12.01 @ 10:07/mi
  Aug 25th - 15.31 @ 10:42/mi
  Sept 1st - 15.51 @ 11:27/mi
  Sept 8th - 10.31 @ 11:13/mi
  Sept 15th - Barkley Fall Classic - 26.2 in 11 hours 40 minutes
  Oct 4th - 16.51 @ 10:05/mi - Heather Jones's run for her son Cam, where I ran 2-3 miles at a time then took walk breaks or sat down for 10-15 minutes in between.
  Oct 20th - 10.72 @ 10:47/mi
  
  WHAT IN THE WORLD MADE ME THINK I COULD RUN A SUB-4:00 MARATHON? I only had 2 legit runs barely over 15 miles, and those were not even close to the pace needed (most likely they were 3:1 interval run/walks). Because I had been doing so much higher weekly mileage, I thought I was better trained than I had been before. I didn't realize how terrible I had been about getting in the long runs.
  
• Respect it, but also CHALLENGE the distance. This is something I try to do at every race. Putting aside the fact that I wasn't trained for this thing, I think it is more exciting to shoot for a goal that is just a little bit more than what you think is attainable (even when properly trained). As someone once said, "There can be no great success without the risk of great failure."  With a level head, I could have reviewed my training and set a finish time goal somewhere in the 4:15-4:20 and probably achieved that. But I would have felt like I sold myself short if I didn't risk it all and shoot for the PR. So I did, I blew up completely, and I'm ok with that. I tend to learn more from epic failures than small successes and this race is no different. I can be proud of the grit I showed to continue after everything fell apart with more than 10 miles to go.
  
• Learn from mistakes, and move on. Part of why I write this blog is to have a personal record of success and failure. Next time when I think about signing up for a marathon and attempting a PR, I will look back on this report and see what I did wrong. Hopefully, I will do things differently next time and get a better end result. In the end, I had a great experience at a great event, and I would recommend the Marine Corps Marathon to anyone.
  
  So what's next? Oh, just a small little thing on Saturday - running for 24 hours. A few weeks ago I was considering going for 100 miles, so of course I let everyone know about it. What that probably means is that I will get somewhere around 30 and quit! Either way, find enjoyment in whatever you do, I'm sure I will find it at my next race!

A unique medal that I will always be proud to have