After running the marathon in Kansas I felt great. Usually I hurt for a couple days after and
don’t seem to run well for a couple of months but for some reason I felt
good. I felt so good that I was easily
able to run another 8 miles the next day with no soreness at all. The challenge of running a marathon had
gotten almost “easy”. Since I had
already qualified and ran Boston it no longer was an obsession about how fast I
could run but instead it became about how far.
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| Base Camp for the race |
During my running and travelling, I came across an author
named Dean Karnazes. His books were
extremely inspirational and inspiring.
He is known for countless running feats such as running a marathon in
all 50 states in 50 consecutive days. He
also once ran 48 hours straight on a treadmill in Times Square, ran from Los
Angeles to New York and has done more ultra-marathons around the world than
anyone I could imagine. Dean has done
more in his running career than I can begin to fathom, he is a superhero. I want to be like Dean Karnazes. After reading all three of his books, I
decided to jump into the ultra-marathon game and decided to sign up for a 54mile race in Nebo North Carolina in December.
I started training and then realized that this distance is a huge step
up from a marathon and would require a tougher approach to my training regimen. To stay motivated I signed up to run a 50k
trail race outside of Atlanta as a training run and to knock another state off
the list. I had no idea that this new
distance would be filled with lots of treats.
I first saw an advertisement for this race in Runner’s WorldMagazine and was sponsored by The North Face.
Usually when a big name company sponsors a race there is always lots of
good perks so I could not turn this down.
To make the deal even sweeter, The North Face is Dean Karnazes’ official
sponsor and they pay him to go and do all of his wild races and so he was on
the list to be there after the race for a meet and greet at the finish line
festival. I have met plenty of famous
people before like Hulk Hogan and Leila Ali and have been on TV shows like
American Gladiators, One Man Army and Homicide Hunters but meeting Dean would
mean more to me than all of those combined.
I could not wait to cross the finish line and go to meet the man
responsible for motivating countless people to push the limits of what the
human body is capable of, and so I headed off on the morning of the race with
extra incentive to run well.
Early in the morning I lined up in the start corral,
prepared to push my body longer than it had ever been challenged before, I
listened to the race director’s instructions when he announced that Dean
Karnazes would be running the 50k with us as he handed the microphone off to
THE MAN for some last words of encouragement.
The whole game changed for me right then and there because I knew I
would be sharing the race course with a legend.
After Dean handed the microphone back to the race director, he filed in
with the rest of the pack and then the gun went off and my long day of glorious
pain and suffering started.
The race began in complete darkness through a densely wooded
single track trail with only a few people that had headlamps, excluding
me. It was a slow start since everyone
packed in tight with the folks that had lights and we would all call out to one
another whenever there was either a low limb or large step or obstruction on
the course, this continued for the first 3 miles until the morning sunlight
illuminated the forest enough for the pack to expand. Once the trail became somewhat visible a
group of runners darted past to get in the front position, when this occurred I
was pushed to the ground and in the process lodged my right foot under a rock
which immediately sent a sharp pain through my toe. Later I would realize that it had ripped my
big toenail apart from the quick. From
this point on I spent the next 28 miles limping up and down the extremely rocky
and rollercoaster trail of hills as I could feel the warm blood being absorbed
by my socks. It sounds pretty gross but
in the Ultra marathon world, this is considered a badge of honor although it is
not one that I would like to experience very often. At about the halfway point, I had another
fall over some of the rough terrain, this time my middle toe on the opposite
foot was the victim along with a bloody knee to show for it. This proved to slow my progress even more
than it already had been.
I hate it when people ask me about my times on trail races
because most people compare it to their accomplishments on road distances. Running on trails versus roads are two
completely different animals. Even
though some road races may have a few hills, the pavement is still smooth and
allows for the runner to get into a regular groove with their stride and
perform with more efficiency. Running on
a trail is seldom ever smooth, even on flat surfaces you constantly have to
adjust your stride to negotiate a path over rocks, roots, tree stumps and the
occasional creek crossing. The terrain
is notorious for constant tripping hazards; it is not a matter of “if” you will
fall down but “when”. Dean Karnazes also
became a victim to a nice spill during the race. The medic tent at the finish line venue was
filled with lots of people with gaping wounds from head to toe; this is a
unique camaraderie that trail runners get to share.
Running this 50k was not so much about going all out to try
and race everyone, I never done a race at this distance before and especially
not on a trial either. I did not have a
clue as to even what my goal race pace should be, running on feeling and
impulse was the main tactic I employed.
I will admit that I did start taking walk breaks during the later parts
of the course on some of the large uphill sections. During the last 5 mile stretch as I started
to crest another long hill, I heard a woman toward the bottom of it whom I
passed earlier yell out “hello Dean”. I immediately
knew that the legend was back behind and gaining ground fast on me. This added a new amount of pep in my running
so I began to pick up the pace. I did
not care if I beat the legend at his own game, I just wanted to finish somewhere
in the same timeframe as him. I managed
to keep him at bay until the very last aid station with 2 miles to go in the
race. We both stopped to get some Gatorade
and started running in line together down the single track trail to the
finish. I started talking first and
joked about him being the person I blame for the serious pain that I was
in. I told him that I had read his books
and felt inspired to try and get into ultra running and run a marathon or
greater in each state. We then got into
chatter about different races that we had done and he recommended a few for me
to try. I told him about the upcoming 54
mile race in December and my running partner in that race, Brad Farmer, who was
also a big fan of his and was racing that one as his first race ever. I must say that, although I was in a lot of
pain, I forgot about it during that 2 mile span and really enjoyed running with
Dean. Coming up to the last stretch of
the race I broke away from me on the last hill and beat me to the finish line
by about 100 yards. I thought it was
funny because he came out of the woods first where my wife and daughter were patiently
waiting and when she saw me she began screaming “Jeff, look it’s Dean, it’s
Dean” I smiled and said “I know, we have
been talking for a while”. I crossed the
finish with Dean waiting at the line to give me a high five and a hug, it was
awesome. I went immediately over to my
wife and daughter and he followed and began chatting with all three of us. We talked about our kids and took a couple
pictures together before heading to the medical tent and ice baths. I can honestly say that was a cool experience
and has made me enjoy running even more.
I hope that by looking back on that day, it will give some added
motivation to push through many more races in the future.
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