The first
weekend in June marked my third time participating in the The North Face Endurance Challenge trail race. This is the event
where, two years ago, I completed my first marathon. It’s also the event last year in which I
failed to complete my first attempted ultramarathon, dropping out at Mile 26 of
a 50K race. I was determined to finish
the race this time, and after failing to train properly for the Rock n’ Roll
Marathon a couple of months ago, I tried to make sure I was getting the proper
mix of long and short runs in training so that I would be able to finish.
My buddy Kenny
came down from Connecticut—he had signed up for the race before he and
Melanie moved up there in early March—and we drove up to Algonkian Regional
Park bright and early for the race.
Kenny’s strategy for the race was to keep his heart rate in his optimal
fat-burning zone, which in his experience is a pace that he feels he can run at
for hours and hours. What that meant was
that we had to walk up and down the big hills—last year we were a little too
aggressive on some of the steeper downhills, and that can be more taxing on
your legs than perhaps you might think.
So
that’s what we did, and it worked really well.
The temperature and humidity were manageable, especially compared with
how hot it got last year. The trails
were a little sketchy in a few spots because it did rain overnight, but it was
nowhere near as muddy and slippery it was two years ago. We were making good time and feeling really
good as we got into the Great Falls aid station, just under the halfway
point. About two miles before we got to
that aid station the race leaders passed us going back the other way—the two
guys in the lead looked phenomenal, and we figured they were going to finish
the race in about four hours (official time for the 50K winner was actually
3:58—that’s just awesome). At this point
we were on pace to finish in about seven hours, which would have been a great
time for us.
The
section right above Great Falls was, for me, the most difficult part of this
course. It is all up and down, and some
of the footing is very tricky, so this is a section that can really mess with
your mind. Up until this part, I was
feeling pretty good, but it took a lot out of me getting through that section,
and I was starting to struggle a little bit.
Kenny stuck in there with me, and his encouragement was greatly
appreciated, especially since I really struggled between Great Falls and the
Carwood aid station.
This
would be a good time to mention that the Carwood aid station was new this
year—in previous years, there weren’t any aid stations between Great Falls and
Fraser, a distance of about six miles, and that was very difficult for a lot of
runners, including me. The addition of
that stop was crucial for me, and I’m sure for many others, in being able to
finish this year. Like I said, I was
struggling and staring to have doubts that I would even finish the race, again.
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| That's TWO thumbs up, just for finishing. |
All
that said, I have to confess that I walked the entire distance between Carwood
and Fraser. At the start of that section
I was feeling so worn out and depleted, I was thinking that I would be able to
finish the race, but only by walking. I
told Kenny that I’m just not built for ultramarathons, that he should just go
ahead and run ahead without me, and that I’d see him at the finish line. To Kenny’s credit as a friend, he stayed with
me. His legs felt fine, but he was
having some pain in his lower back, so every so often we would stop so Kenny
could stretch out his back. We walked
pretty fast, it wasn’t like last year where I was barely conscious of where I
was, but for almost three miles we just didn’t run at all. Fraser was where I dropped out last year, so
just getting to that point was an accomplishment for me, but it wasn’t enough
to just get there, I wanted to get past it.
By
the time we got to the Fraser aid station and got some food in us, I felt like
I was ready to run again, so we did. Not
only did we start running, but we ran for the majority of the last five miles. And not only did we run for most of those
last five miles, but according to Kenny’s Suunto GPS watch, we kept a pace that
was our fastest of the entire race—looks like we did something right by walking
those three miles!
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| All smiles once it was all done. |
In
the end, we finished the race in 7:56, just under eight hours and four hours
after the winners crossed the finish line.
Not exactly a world-beating time, but I finished, and for me that was
huge. I cried at the end of the race,
with Mali and the kids around me and offering their congratulations, I
literally sat down and started to cry.
It was just such a relief to finally finish this distance, no matter how
slow and painful it might have been.
Just like last
year, after the race I said that I’m done with ultramarathons. And, just like last year, within a day of
saying that, I was already thinking about what I could do differently to be
stronger, to finish faster, and to have a more enjoyable experience. I have other running goals that I am going to
turn my attention to—sub-20 minute 5K, sub-40 minute 10K, sub-1.5 hour half
marathon—but I won’t rule out more attempts at marathons or ultras.
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| Ladies and gentlemen, I am done. I really mean it. For now. |
