JFK 50 Mile - RunUltra Marathon

I didn't know what to expect. I knew this was going to be hard. I knew that I would have moments of weakness and brief moments that were good. I really had no idea how this day was going to go. I had a nutrition plan and that was about it. I met these two folks in the beginning who were veterans so I decided to kind of keep my eye on this chick at least for the first section so I didn't leave the gates too fast. About 1 mile into it she was falling back so I thought to myself that I don't need to follow anyone as my pacing has been pretty good during training. SO, off I went. This first few miles before you get onto the AT is really all uphill. I took it nice and easy for this. Didn't push it too hard - felt good. Lots of people were walking most of this. I managed to just run easy until it got a bit steep then I would walk. I think I handled this nicely. Heart rate was awesome.

I rocked the AT section, for me! I got to 9.4 with an unofficial split time from Linda of 1:45. This section was really rocky - really rocky! There were also some somewhat treacherous switchbacks. I did take a huge face plant on this section but thankfully landed where there were no rocks. I also rolled my ankle pretty bad but the pain from that soon went away. This was BY FAR my favorite section and I could have run this for the entire 50 miles.

Next section was the towpath. GOD this was awful. At first it was simply beautiful; however, it got old QUICK. Everyone was kind of telling me "just get through the AT section and pick up your speed on the towpath." This was opposite for me. I would have much prefered the entire race been on the AT. Mile 30-38 was mentally AWFUL for me which was obvious in my running split for this section. This section is where I did all of my unscheduled walks. It was tough here for me-not so bad, though. Here is also where I started to feel sick to my stomach. Nothing appealed to me; however, I knew I had to keep taking my gels and drinking my gatorade and water, at least. Around mile 40 this all passed. Linda met me around at about mile 36 and ran to 38 with me. After this aid station I picked it up mentally because I only had 12 miles to go. This is a much more manageable distance to wrap my head around. I still had a few more miles on the towpath but I focused on only 12 to go.

As I was leaving the towpath I stopped into the bathroom and ended up being in there for about 10 minutes. Oh well! It needed to be done! It was one of those visits to the bathroom where you wished you were in the comfort of your own bathroom with a magazine. I felt good and thankful that spent this time here. It certainly wasn't a waste of time as I don't remember seeing many bathrooms on the remaining miles, so I think I avoided a catastrophe here.

I was looking forward to getting onto these hill even to walk to change my muscle groups a little. I did much better on the road. Saw Linda at mile 44 ish and she ran me to 46ish. I'm so close to the finish at this point that I wanted to really run it in. I think I did a pretty good job. Mile 46-47 I was able to hold a 9 minute pace with walking up the hills. I was happy with how I was feeling overall at this point - still having gas in the tank was something I was worried about.

Some side notes: I was hurting during this run. My feet & knees were killing me, and my hip flexor was bothering me for about half of the run. I had to keep my stride in check because my leg was really painful. I expected a certain amount of pain and basically got what I expected.

Overall my issues have always been nutrition. I felt I did very well with this. I stayed on target with everything even through stomach issues. I probably could have ate a bit more and drank a bit more water but I felt good as far as energy throughout the entire run and I was peeing well. Was running with a fellow for a while who hadn't peed all day. He was concerned but he looked really good so I wouldn't have been worried.

Chrissy and Linda did a very good job at being were they were supposed to be. I fixated on this at times and it definitely caused a lift in my spirits when I saw them; on the flip side, it caused some sadness when I knew I wasn't going to see them for a while.

Honestly, there wasn't a single point during this run that I thought I wanted to stop or couldn't continue. Of course, I would have been ok if the end of the run would have been at about mile 35 but since I knew it wasn't the end I knew I had to keep going. I thought the way I did my training, by running on tired legs ALL OF THE TIME, really helped me keep running all day. I really did think this was going to be harder than it was. Of course, I wasn't lightening fast and this is something I can work on, but I just imagined the last 20 or 10 miles being a suffer fest with a walk/run strategy created on the fly as a plan C to get me to the finish. It was only mile 30-38 were I had to do some additional walking because my stomach was upset and I was mentally low. I really am surprised with how enjoyable and awesome this day was.

hmmm. I'm not sure. I would probably rest more in taper. My legs didn't feel that rested leading into the race. I think this was a problem - not a big one. I also probably would have done more back to backs. After this experience I'm not sure that increasing my long runs would have helped me out mentally & physically or not. What do I know? I don't have races to compare this to. My longest run had only been 27 and my longest back to back was 19 followed by 10 and I really didn't do a lot of back to backs. I did do a lot of 3-4.5 hour runs.

I had to build my runs slowly and didn't do any speedwork b/c this was my first one. Perhaps next time I can throw in a little bit of speed work and start with a better base mileage.

So faster training with a better taper next time :-)

Attempted to get a shower but the water wasn't hot. I rinsed off and sat shivering in the locker room. Chrissy said I reminded her of Rocky after his fight when he was shivering. I remember that scene - Chrissy doesn't make too many funny movie references so it made me laugh. Ate some food (not much though)which included a twinke and we drove home. I had trouble sleeping but was able to take a 4 hour nap the next day.


I'm not sure. I thought I had a good first 50 miler. My hip flexor issue really slowed me down for a bit there along with the upset stomach and the mental issues at mile 30-38, but what can you really do about that? Overall everything went as planned and again I enjoyed every second of the day.


This was a well run event. Plenty of aid stations, plenty of volunteers, nice folks, on time - loved it! Would definitely suggest this race to another.