On Friday June 13th, 2008 John drove me to Union Station in Washington, DC where I caught a train to Baltimore where I then caught a bus to the Baltimore airport. From there I caught a flight to Philadelphia and then another one to Albany, NY where I rented a car and drove north through the Adirondack Mountains up to the Green Mountains in Killington, Vermont.I drove the 8 miles up to Amee Farm in Pittsfield, Vermont at 4:30 a.m. on Saturday morning where I had 30 minutes to prepare for the most extreme endurance event to date - the Pittsfield Peak Ultra Challenge, a 53.8 mile trail race in the Green Mountains with 14,005 feet of elevation gain.
As was told to me, this race is reported to be the 50 mile trail race in the country with the most climbing, the equivalent of going up and down the Empire State Building 11 times. There was a campfire near the 
barn at the farm that would be the start and finish of the race. We all got to drop off a bag of supplies that would be available to us at an aid station we would pass 3 times during the race. There was a quick pre-race meeting where the race director told us about the how the course was marked and stuff. Then the group of us 69 lunatics lined up a line drawn in the dirt and at 5:10 a.m. we were off.
As an early indication of the terrain we were about to cover, the course started with a climb from Amee Farm up into the forrest above. Some of the group at the front took off running up the hill while I stayed with the more conservative group at the back while we marched up the hill into the woods.
I started out the day running in a pair of Thorlos dri-fit socks, Salomon XCR Gore-Tex lined shoes, Asics spandex shorts, a sleeveless tri-style shirt (equipped with rear pockets good for carrying PowerBars and gels), a Brooks dri-fit visor, and a pair of arm warmers. It was rather chilly in the morning before the race got started and during the
first couple miles as we got warmed up so the arm warmers were nice to have then. I rolled them down not too long into the race and they functioned well as sweatbands during the hot humid day that it turned out to be. They were also nice to have on for protection later in the day as it turned to dusk and the bugs and mosquitos came out. I also carried a waterbottle that strapped to my hand so there was no effort involved in carrying and contained a small pouch that I kept a couple gels in. And I
had a Fuel Belt pack strapped around my waist that carried a waterbottle and had a pouch carrying a small headlamp, flashlight, BodyGlide, salt tablets, and some more gels.Aside from the elite sponsored ultrarunners (i.e. insane animals, not human beings), the only reasonable way to complete a 54 mile run in the
mountains like this is to start slow and aim to go at a maintainable pace throughout. This translates into power-walking the uphills and running the downhills and flats. But holy shit were some of the uphills steep! At times even a slow crawl up some of these climbs seemed unmaintainable, let alone a fast-paced hike.
... MORE TO COME SOON ...
"I was in 28th place at an aid station around 25 miles. My right knee started hurting ridiculously bad between the 32 and 38 mile aid stations to the point I could barely walk and was sitting on the trail. Thought I was going to quit when I got to the 38 mile aid station but I decided to sit down and rest for like 20 minutes and then see how it was feeling. Somehow, it was miraculously mildly better when I got up and then I just decided that I was going to hike the rest of the way in to the finish at 53.8 miles.
I finally arrived back at Amee Farm and crossed the finish line in 49th place out of 57 finishers around 8:30 p.m. for a total race time of 15 hrs 24 min.
It was thunderstorming off and on for the last 2-3 hours and starting absolutely downpouring for the last 15 minutes coming in to the finish right when it was getting dark. Not sure how many people after me were going to make it to the finish in that weather but there were still at least a few on the course (one of whom was supposedly "missing", whatever that means!)."
You can read a nice news article about the race at: http://www.rutlandherald.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080616/SPORTS/806160345/1007/SPORTS
Besides the downhills, the second thing I was most unprepared for was how much the race really wore me out. That night after finishing, I was so hungry I could barely eat and so tired I could barely sleep. The 10 minute ice bath was ridiculous to say the least. Then next morning I was surprisingly not too incredibly sore but sooooooo itchy from all the bug bites, chafing, and tromping through thorny bushes, the Vermont "stinging nettle" plants, poison ivy, etc. The nailbed under one of my toenails was a disgusting black color and hurt terrible. The next four or five days I found myself sleeping 9-10 hours a night and taking an afternoon nap when I got home from work. And the eating... instead of being out running every afternoon, my new sport was sitting on the couch seeing how many calories I could consume. One afternoon I finished off one pint of Ben & Jerry's ice cream and then went to the freezer and opened another that I then nearly finished. It was a good 5 or 6 days after the race that I finally started feeling like getting back on my bike, getting back in the pool, etc.
I don't know what the next one is going to be but the whole experience was definitely a blast, and I am already looking forward to another crazy adventure of 50 miles or possibly more!
