I found myself standing in total darkness in Great Falls Park on the Virginia/Maryland border about 15 miles outside D.C. at 4:55 a.m. on Saturday August 4th, 2007. I was wearing a Patagonia dri-fit shirt, a pair of Adidas dri-fit running shorts, Thorlos dri-fit socks, Salomon XCR trail running shoes, a Fuel Belt holding a 16 oz. waterbottle filled with Accelerade and a few ClifShot energy gels, and a headlamp designed for illuminating your way when running in darkness. I was surrounded by about 40 of the most insane and outrageously fit lunatics all geared up exactly as me, including ultramarathon legend Dean Karnazes. A man shouted a few last minute instructions to us with a loudspeaker mainly about how the course was marked with pink and orange ribbons tied to trees about every 100 meters. And then he blew a horn at 5 a.m. and we all took off running across the start line and into the woods in a quest to cover the 50 mile course and return to the finish line in the 13 hour time limit.
So to go back for a moment, I have been running quite a bit now every week and my weekend long run has gotten up to about 20 miles. Also have been reading a lot of adventure seeking books of late including Ed Viesteurs "No Shortcuts to the Top", Jon Krakauer "Into Thin Air" and "Into the Wild", and Dean Karnazes "Ultramarathon Man". So when I got an email a month ago about a 50 mile trail race out in Great Falls Park, I thought what the hell and signed up. When I started researching about how you're supposed to train for an ultra, I read that the current thinking is to do back-to-back long run days. So 3 weekends before the race, I went out and did a 20 miler on Saturday. Starting at my house in Georgetown, I did a loop out to Capital Hill and around the Capital, then down to East Potomac Park and did the loop around Haines Point, then over the Memorial Bridge into Virginia, along the Mt Vernon trail abutting the Potomac River west to the Key Bridge leading back into Georgetown. Then on Sunday, I went back out and did it all over again. The legs felt a little bit tired when I started on Sunday and every time I stopped running to fill up my water bottle, it was a little harder to get the legs moving again. But for the most part, I felt good and more mentally strong. The weekend before the race, I went up to Hudson Trail Outfitters and found a pair of trail running shoes that I love - they are made of Gore-Tex, a material that is water-resistant so the shoes can be used to run through streams, mud, and such. One of my med school buddies Pat Lenaghan took me out for a 5-6 miler on the trails around Georgetown for my first trail running experience, but I really took it easy for the most part the rest of the week leading up to the big event.
So here I was a couple miles into the run making my way along in the middle of the pack tramping through the woods with the only thing I could see being the ground a few feet in front of me that my headlight was illuminating. Although I was keeping up, I knew from the very
beginning that I was in way out of my league. The first person I talked to at the start was quite the veteran ultra runner and had just run some other one the weekend before. And everyone else appeared to be in a similar boat with their bulging shaved legs and determined looks. So I tried to keep calm and just keep putting one foot in front of the other.
The pace the group was running from the get-go was pretty insane considering we were aiming to cover 50 miles on the day. But I didn't want to drop back and not be able to find my way along the trail. I wanted to keep my headlight focused on the ground I was running on, not on the trees ahead looking for the pink ribbons marking the trail as the leaders of group must have been doing. So I did what I thought was the best thing to do - keep up with the group for the time being until the sun came up and then start running a more practical pace.
I found trail running to be quite enjoyable. It was fun running through the woods, tromping through streams, jumping over downed trees, dodging roots and rocks, ascending/descending over rugged terrain. This was only my third run not on flat paved surface and I immediately
realized what an amazing sport I have been missing out on. But as the miles passed along, I also realized that trail running requires a great deal more concentration and energy than running on a road.
So to go back for a moment, I have been running quite a bit now every week and my weekend long run has gotten up to about 20 miles. Also have been reading a lot of adventure seeking books of late including Ed Viesteurs "No Shortcuts to the Top", Jon Krakauer "Into Thin Air" and "Into the Wild", and Dean Karnazes "Ultramarathon Man". So when I got an email a month ago about a 50 mile trail race out in Great Falls Park, I thought what the hell and signed up. When I started researching about how you're supposed to train for an ultra, I read that the current thinking is to do back-to-back long run days. So 3 weekends before the race, I went out and did a 20 miler on Saturday. Starting at my house in Georgetown, I did a loop out to Capital Hill and around the Capital, then down to East Potomac Park and did the loop around Haines Point, then over the Memorial Bridge into Virginia, along the Mt Vernon trail abutting the Potomac River west to the Key Bridge leading back into Georgetown. Then on Sunday, I went back out and did it all over again. The legs felt a little bit tired when I started on Sunday and every time I stopped running to fill up my water bottle, it was a little harder to get the legs moving again. But for the most part, I felt good and more mentally strong. The weekend before the race, I went up to Hudson Trail Outfitters and found a pair of trail running shoes that I love - they are made of Gore-Tex, a material that is water-resistant so the shoes can be used to run through streams, mud, and such. One of my med school buddies Pat Lenaghan took me out for a 5-6 miler on the trails around Georgetown for my first trail running experience, but I really took it easy for the most part the rest of the week leading up to the big event.
So here I was a couple miles into the run making my way along in the middle of the pack tramping through the woods with the only thing I could see being the ground a few feet in front of me that my headlight was illuminating. Although I was keeping up, I knew from the very
beginning that I was in way out of my league. The first person I talked to at the start was quite the veteran ultra runner and had just run some other one the weekend before. And everyone else appeared to be in a similar boat with their bulging shaved legs and determined looks. So I tried to keep calm and just keep putting one foot in front of the other.The pace the group was running from the get-go was pretty insane considering we were aiming to cover 50 miles on the day. But I didn't want to drop back and not be able to find my way along the trail. I wanted to keep my headlight focused on the ground I was running on, not on the trees ahead looking for the pink ribbons marking the trail as the leaders of group must have been doing. So I did what I thought was the best thing to do - keep up with the group for the time being until the sun came up and then start running a more practical pace.
I found trail running to be quite enjoyable. It was fun running through the woods, tromping through streams, jumping over downed trees, dodging roots and rocks, ascending/descending over rugged terrain. This was only my third run not on flat paved surface and I immediately
realized what an amazing sport I have been missing out on. But as the miles passed along, I also realized that trail running requires a great deal more concentration and energy than running on a road.It must have been around 6:00 or 6:15 a.m. and 8 or 9 miles in when the sun was starting to break the horizon and we could see the forrest we were trekking through. The group 
immediately spread out and I got my first sight of the lunatics I was running alongside. There were at least a couple of females running with us, two of whom left me in the dust within minutes of sunrise as I began slowing down to a more maintainable pace. After completing a 3 mile out and back loop called "Difficult Run", we entered a section of the run called "the cliffs" about 13 miles in. I reached a point where I was climbing on all fours over boulders on a cliff overlooking the Potomac River. I stumbled a little bit on the rocks and banged my knee pretty hard on one of the boulders that did not feel too nice. It made me realize how dangerous traversing along the bluffs with sheer drops hundred of feet into the river below actually was.
immediately spread out and I got my first sight of the lunatics I was running alongside. There were at least a couple of females running with us, two of whom left me in the dust within minutes of sunrise as I began slowing down to a more maintainable pace. After completing a 3 mile out and back loop called "Difficult Run", we entered a section of the run called "the cliffs" about 13 miles in. I reached a point where I was climbing on all fours over boulders on a cliff overlooking the Potomac River. I stumbled a little bit on the rocks and banged my knee pretty hard on one of the boulders that did not feel too nice. It made me realize how dangerous traversing along the bluffs with sheer drops hundred of feet into the river below actually was.After "the cliffs" I found myself back at the start/finish line of the race with the first of three loops completed and set out to run the second loop supposedly around 23 miles. I passed the third aid station of the course only a couple of minutes into the loop and stopped to fill up my water bottle. There was cut up fruit, potatoes, M&Ms, pretzels, peanuts, sandwiches, towels soaked in ice water. I was ok with just some Accelerade and a gel at the moment but hoped that all the other aid stations would be so well stocked as I knew I would need some nourishment further down the road. As I kept moving along, the temperatures were already beginning to soar. It was to be a typical August day in Washington, D.C. - hot, humid, and definitely not the conditions you should try running 50 miles in. The temperature was reported to hit 98 degrees that day. Ouch! About 3 or 4 more miles of solo running and I found myself out of fluid to drink and ascending and descending such steep terrain that I was not capable of running across and had to walk several hundred feet off and on. Then at some point the trail I was running on began to deteriorate and I found myself back along the Potomac River with no sight of the pink ribbons tied to the trees every so often. There is nothing more discouraging than knowing you have gotten off course when trying to run 50 miles. I climbed on all fours up some slippery and steep terrain using trees to pull my way up back into the forrest. I eventually found a trail but didn't know which direction to start going. Suddenly three other runners came over a rise and said they were also lost. They had come from the left that they believed to be the wrong way so we all started along to the right. They all had a lot more energy than I did as they were running the 50K race (31 miles) that started at 7 a.m. and left me behind such that I was back to running by myself after not too long. It was at this point that I first started to feel uncomfortable. I was very thirsty and out of water and I could feel blisters forming on my toes. It seemed the fourth aid station would never arrive when suddenly it appeared as an "oasis in the middle of the forrest". Apparently the volunteers staffing the station had had to hike 10 minutes in carrying all the wonderful goodies. I stopped and drank and drank and drank and cooled off with an ice-soaked rag along with a couple other runners who were already there or arrived while I was relaxing. It felt good to rest but I knew I still had a long way to go so I grabbed a brownie for the road and headed off for the next aid station.
This next stretch of the course brought us out of the woods and into the ragingly hot sunlight as we ran alongside a golf course for a couple miles. I was still feeling pretty good along this flat stretch as the leaders started to pass me on their way back to where I had come from. A couple more miles trail running through the woods and I arrived at the next aid station and turn around point of this second loop. I took a seat with some cold water and thought about what I was doing. Here I was 25 miles in - half way done with 25 more miles to go. One of the volunteers told me it was now 10:30 a.m. I had been traveling for 5 and a half hours. I took off my shoes and socks and one of the medical volunteers helped me bandage up my blisters and bleeding toes. Then one of the runners who had been a few minutes ahead of me sitting in a nearby chair starting throwing up. He kept vomiting and vomiting and I just had to leave for fear of getting sick myself.
Somewhere a little more than a mile down the trail I crossed the 26.2 mile mark. There were no crowds cheering. There was no sign saying "congratulations, you've just completed a marathon". There was nothing but 23.8 more miles of trail layed out before me on this ridiculously steamy summer afternoon. So I just kept running. And when I couldn't keep running, I walked for a while. And then ran some, and then walked some. Each step I took was farther than I had ever completed in a single day before in my life. It was magical and I was still in high spirits though my feet were hurting, my legs were aching, and I was starting to have terrible pain in the muscles/tendons that raise and lower my right foot. It was taking me a lot longer to traverse back along the same route that I had just run out. I eventually made it back to aid station that was little more than a tent set up in the middle of the forrest. I was so happy to make it as I had run out of Accelerade in my single water bottle at least 15 or 20 minutes back and really needed something to drink. There were no chairs at this aid station so I just laid out on the forrest floor.
After what seemed like 30 seconds but was more likely several minutes, I managed to pick myself back up and start moving, not running, in the direction of the next aid station. Whatever high spirits I had been in were now over. I hurt and had at least 6 or 7 miles of tortuous terrain to cover to reach the next aid station back very close the start/finish line at the end of the second loop. What before was mostly running with some walking mixed in was now mostly walking with some attempts at running mixed in. I made it back to the spot on the course where I had previously gotten lost. The volunteers at the aid station told me that some pranksters had moved the ribbons to screw everyone up. The only way I knew to go was back down the steep enbankment I climbed up from the edge of the Potomac River and then traverse the steeply sloping bluff until I reached the point where the trail picked up again. My legs were weak and uneasy and I was scared about tumbling down into the Potomac tens of feet below. I managed to stay upright and got back on the trail I had previously followed before getting lost the first time. Following this route I eventually picked back up on the larger main trail lined with the pink ribbons it was so nice to see again. This brought me back to the section of the trail with the incredibly steep ups and downs that I had had to walk on the way out. I was now using all fours. Either using the trees lining the trail to help slow me down on the descents or at times literally pulling on the ground with my hands to make it up some of the ascents. Somewhere in the middle of this I began to feel very dizzy and realized that I was probably very dehyrdrated and hyponatremic. I drank the rest of my Accelerade and ate a gel but I still had at least 3 more miles before the next aid station. I was beginning to realize that I might not be cut out for 50 miles on this particular day. There just wasn't much left in me as I worked on getting to the next aid station. Every time one of the 50K runners passed me, I tried to start running and keep up but my body just wouldn't do what I wanted it to be able to. The chaffing was terrible - I couldn't believe I wore the shorts I did. And the tendons connecting my right foot to my leg were not in good shape but I was limping my way along anyway. As I reached a parking lot with less than half a mile to go to the next aid station, there was a fire truck parked with its lights on and an ambulance taking off up the road. Apparently one of the runners had collapsed and was being taken to the hospital. As a side note, I later read that he was indeed very sick and was still in the ICU more than 10 days after the race the last I heard.
By the time I reached the aid station at 37 miles into the race, I pretty much knew I was done for the day. It was 1:40 p.m. I had been traveling on my feet for 8 hours and 40 minutes at this point. I was a few hundred yards from the start/finish line where I would have to set out on another 12-13 mile loop. Or I could just cross the finish line and get a medal for finishing 50K on the day. I had packed a huge picnic lunch the day before - one cooler full of sandwiches and fruit salad, and the other full of beer and rum punch. I had told friends to come picnic at the finish line where I predicted crossing the tape between 2 and 3 p.m. So I decided to call it quits and have a beer. Several friends came out to congratulate me and we all relaxed and threw the frisbee at the lookout over Great Falls for the afternoon. Of course I was disappointed I hadn't made it all 50 miles but I lived to run another day. Gotta keep running, gotta keep running.
I crossed the finish line officially after 37+ miles at 9:16:25 and was one of 7 runners to do so. There were only 25 runners out of about 40 something that made it the full distance that day, led by Leigh Schmitt coming in at 6:59:34 with Dean coming in third at 8:20:15. Read an article about the event: http://www.thenorthface.com/endurancechallenge/races/2007/2007_wdc_recap.html
After what seemed like 30 seconds but was more likely several minutes, I managed to pick myself back up and start moving, not running, in the direction of the next aid station. Whatever high spirits I had been in were now over. I hurt and had at least 6 or 7 miles of tortuous terrain to cover to reach the next aid station back very close the start/finish line at the end of the second loop. What before was mostly running with some walking mixed in was now mostly walking with some attempts at running mixed in. I made it back to the spot on the course where I had previously gotten lost. The volunteers at the aid station told me that some pranksters had moved the ribbons to screw everyone up. The only way I knew to go was back down the steep enbankment I climbed up from the edge of the Potomac River and then traverse the steeply sloping bluff until I reached the point where the trail picked up again. My legs were weak and uneasy and I was scared about tumbling down into the Potomac tens of feet below. I managed to stay upright and got back on the trail I had previously followed before getting lost the first time. Following this route I eventually picked back up on the larger main trail lined with the pink ribbons it was so nice to see again. This brought me back to the section of the trail with the incredibly steep ups and downs that I had had to walk on the way out. I was now using all fours. Either using the trees lining the trail to help slow me down on the descents or at times literally pulling on the ground with my hands to make it up some of the ascents. Somewhere in the middle of this I began to feel very dizzy and realized that I was probably very dehyrdrated and hyponatremic. I drank the rest of my Accelerade and ate a gel but I still had at least 3 more miles before the next aid station. I was beginning to realize that I might not be cut out for 50 miles on this particular day. There just wasn't much left in me as I worked on getting to the next aid station. Every time one of the 50K runners passed me, I tried to start running and keep up but my body just wouldn't do what I wanted it to be able to. The chaffing was terrible - I couldn't believe I wore the shorts I did. And the tendons connecting my right foot to my leg were not in good shape but I was limping my way along anyway. As I reached a parking lot with less than half a mile to go to the next aid station, there was a fire truck parked with its lights on and an ambulance taking off up the road. Apparently one of the runners had collapsed and was being taken to the hospital. As a side note, I later read that he was indeed very sick and was still in the ICU more than 10 days after the race the last I heard.
By the time I reached the aid station at 37 miles into the race, I pretty much knew I was done for the day. It was 1:40 p.m. I had been traveling on my feet for 8 hours and 40 minutes at this point. I was a few hundred yards from the start/finish line where I would have to set out on another 12-13 mile loop. Or I could just cross the finish line and get a medal for finishing 50K on the day. I had packed a huge picnic lunch the day before - one cooler full of sandwiches and fruit salad, and the other full of beer and rum punch. I had told friends to come picnic at the finish line where I predicted crossing the tape between 2 and 3 p.m. So I decided to call it quits and have a beer. Several friends came out to congratulate me and we all relaxed and threw the frisbee at the lookout over Great Falls for the afternoon. Of course I was disappointed I hadn't made it all 50 miles but I lived to run another day. Gotta keep running, gotta keep running.
I crossed the finish line officially after 37+ miles at 9:16:25 and was one of 7 runners to do so. There were only 25 runners out of about 40 something that made it the full distance that day, led by Leigh Schmitt coming in at 6:59:34 with Dean coming in third at 8:20:15. Read an article about the event: http://www.thenorthface.com/endurancechallenge/races/2007/2007_wdc_recap.html
