JFK 50 Race Recap

I really am having a hard time believing that it is over. I keep thinking I am going to wake up and have to run it again. What I have written below, in no way captures what this journey has meant and done for me. Four days after, I feel good. Physically, I am a little sore and stiff but that was taken care of after this afternoon with a massage. Ahh! Mentally, I have been all over the board. I will never be able to thank those people enough who have supported me through this - all of you out there in cyber world. Each Tweet, Facebook message, Blog message, text, email, etc., meant the world to me. It provided me with the encouragement I needed to keep going. My mom and Aunt Jane...I don't know what I have would have done without them there. These two women are the optimity of selflessness. They have been through so much in their lives and continue to sacrifice. I love them with all my heart. 

My journey really started on Friday. I decided to take the day off and sleep in as late as possible because I knew I was going to have a hard time sleeping the night before the race. I was awake by 7:30am, but felt refreshed and relaxed. I finished packing way too much and started on to Hagerstown.  Joette and Jim (parents) and my Aunt Jane were going to be my support crew, and had arrived in Hagerstown on Thursday night. I got to Hagerstown around 12:30pm. My mom met me in the parking lot with balloons and “Team Jessica” hats. It was so cute and thoughtful. My Aunt’s little dog Crystal even made the trip from Arizona sporting “Team Jessica” gear. 

Crystal's Team Jessica hat and hoodie.

We went to lunch and then decided to make the drive to the start to see how long it would take us from where we were staying in Hagerstown.  I wasn’t really nervous until we got to Boonsboro. Is this really happening? Then, we drove the first 3 miles. The elevation rises 1100 feet those first miles. Joette actually got a nose bleed when we reached the top. Who knows if it was from the elevation, but that was the first time I asked myself, “What the heck am I getting myself into?”  We went to pick up my bib number after the drive. It was a tiny expo with a few tables set up, mostly selling JFK 50 gear. Joette and Jane went crazy! I have a feeling lots of people will be getting JFK 50 gear in their stockings this year. I hope my sister in West Palm Beach likes mock turtlenecks. 

My Mom and Aunt Jane - AKA: Team Jessica

Unfortunately, if you know my family, you know that Jim has been battling Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia for about the past 9 years. He has been fighting it hard, but every couple months something pops up. We ended up going to an Emergency Room in Hagerstown because we thought Jim may have had a stroke. After about 7 hours in the hospital, it was determined that he did have a stroke. My mom stayed at the hospital most of the night, not sleeping a wink the night before the race. They were determined not to let this hiccup effect/ruin my race though. THAT brings me to tears. Luckily my Aunt Jane was there to keep me relaxed, help me put things in perspective, take me to dinner and make sure I got back to my room at a decent time. I RUN FOR THOSE WHO CAN NOT.

I got back to the room about 9:30pm and set out all of my gear. I have learned from experience that you don’t want to have to think on race day morning. It’s so much less stressful to have everything set out. I packed a bag that I wanted my Aunt and Mom to carry to each spectator station with Endurolytes, Balance Bars, Pretzels, GU Roctanes, Muscle Milk, Nuun, Advil, trail mix, extra socks, extra shoes, etc. I had no idea what I would need at various points. Around 10:30pm, I called for a 4:30am wakeup call and turned out the lights. I tossed and turned for a while, finally falling asleep around 11pm.

At 4:30am, I was ready. I couldn’t even think or fathom the distance I was about to run. I wasn’t nervous at that point. I jumped in the shower, got dressed in my CW-X capri tights and Saucony Vizipro drylet sports top, with a singlet underneath and Brooks Cascadias. It was below 30 degrees at the start.  I only had one scary moment. As I was getting dressed I couldn’t find my sports bra. I didn’t set it out last night?!?! I only brought one. Yes, I packed 2 pairs of tights, 3 pairs of shorts, 4 tanks, but only one bra. Oh boy. I frantically threw everything out of my bag and eventually found it. Ugh. That would not have been fun. 

I planned on meeting my Aunt Jane and Mom in the lobby at 5:15am. As I walked out of the elevator – there was Aunt Jane! Little things like that made my morning so less stressful. Mom already had the car running, with Crystal in the back seat. I started to get nervous when I got in the car. I force fed myself a Balance bar. Kara and her husband were already at the designated meeting spot in the Boonsboro High School and I found Christian shortly after. Once we made it into the gym, the nerves increased two-fold. I was trying to attach my timing chip to my shoe, but was shaking so bad; I had to sit down to do it.

Stretching/Talking out the nerves in the gym with Kara and Christian

Hair is up - that means business. So nervous at this point.

The pre-race brief started right at 6:20am. They went over the rules – no headphones, no pooping on the trail, stay to your right when being passed, etc…very different than a road race. At about 6:50am, we all filed out of the gym and headed to the starting line in downtown Boonsboro. I am used to standing around and waiting for the gun to go off. It feels like we stood there for about a minute and then the gun went off. I don’t even remember if they sang the National Anthem.

Filing out of the gym! Here we go! 1000 meters to the Start.

Starting line

Crystal & Aunt Jane at the Start

Miles 1 – 15.5

All I can say about this is WOW. Before the race I really regretted not coming up to this portion of the Appalachian Trail (AT) and running it before hand, but now I am glad I did not. It was the hardest course I have ever run. The first 3 miles, as I mentioned before, were straight up hill on a paved road, then we veered off onto a wooded, rocky trail which was a welcome change. We stayed on that for about a mile and then we got to another paved section. Ray Jackson, a runner who has done the JFK several times and offered a lot of advice along the way told me before the race that this paved portion is, “…sick steep. It slumps you over when you walk up it.” Yep. He was not lying. After that we were back on the rocky trail. The first aid station was at the 9.3 miles at Gathland Gap. I was still feeling pretty good. I took my first GU Roctane at this point. The next 6.2 miles were CRAZY. Kara and I just concentrated on taking it slow. We had people passing us, but so many people warned me about the terrain and taking it slow that I did not have a problem with being a little pokey. I focused on the ground in front of me, never looking up, “If you look up, you are going down.” I heard that more than once. I chatted with a guy behind me for about 3 miles and never once saw his face. He was trying to sell me on Newtons. Ha. With about 3 miles to go on the AT, I started to get tired and my ankles kept rolling. We passed a woman who had taken a nasty fall and was down for the count. I was getting so frustrated because my left ankle kept rolling no matter how slow I was going. I was on the verge of tears. It hurt a little more each time I rolled it. I was scared. Then, when the terrain got even tougher, I just started hysterically laughing. This was comical and crazy.

Trying not to cry and laughing at the same time.

The last mile on the AT drops 1000 feet, so we ran (or climbed) down a series of switchbacks. This is where we saw the first official race photographers. Kara asked them why they were at that certain point, and that she wanted to look like she was actually running fast in the race photos, so we posed. 

Excited to get off the AT!

Finally, I heard people cheering. I knew (or really really hoped) that I would see my Mom and Aunt at that point. I wanted to get out of my trail shoes and into my ASICS Cumulus. As we jumped off a small cliff in front of the spectators, there was “Team Jess”, yelling the loudest. The new shoes felt like heaven. I got lots of kisses and hugs, grabbed some Power Bar Gel Blasts and took off to run a marathon on the C&O towpath. I knew the next time I would see them was at Mile 27.

Miles 15.5 – 41.8
It felt so good to run on flat land and actually stretch out my legs taking long strides. People say this portion is boring, but I thought it was beautiful. Running along the river, under a canopy of trees was glorious. Most of the leaves were down, but it was awesome all the same. There were these huge cliffs that look like they were cut from glaciers and I kept annoying asking Kara about the history of the area. We should have studied beforehand. At Mile 19, I ate my Power Blasts and made sure I kept drinking water and Gatorade. I filled up my 10oz Amphipod at every aid station. We were averaging about a 9-9:15 pace. A little faster than I wanted, but I felt good. Kara and I stopped and walked a couple times starting at Mile 26. It was really hard for me to get started and feel good again though after walking. We got to the next Spectator area at Antietam Aqueduct, Mile 27.1. I grabbed more hugs, kisses and a Balance Bar from Aunt Jane, Joette, Jim and Crystal. I was feeling really good. Kara met her husband at that point and changed her shoes, and then we were off again! 

This must have been a god story at Mile 27. Ha!

Team Jessica!

We walked at one more point after Mile 27. It just made me feel sluggish and made my butt tighten up. I needed to keep the momentum going. At about Mile 28 or so, I asked Kara if she minded if I just pushed on. Of course she didn’t. I felt bad though. I wished her luck, gave her a hug and moved along. 

I ate my Balance bar at Mile 30. This is where things got tough. Miles 30 to 41.8 were the toughest mentally. The miles went on forever. Maybe it was because I was now running alone or maybe because I had run 30 miles. They were hard all the same. I still felt strong though and kept passing people. From Mile 15.5 to 41.8, I was probably passed by 3 people. I passed dozens though. Most everyone I passed told me “great job” and then commented on my bright neon pink drylet. I wanted to wear something bright so that my family could see me coming through the woods and it worked. I swear I got more compliments on my top than anything else. There was one gentleman who I kept leapfrogging with and every time either I passed him, or he passed me, he said, “Hi, PSL” I had no idea what he was talking about and didn’t really feel like asking for an explanation, but when I saw him after the finish (I beat him by about 5 minutes btw) he explained it stood for “Pink Shirt Lady.” I saw my family at again at Mile 38.4. I took two Advil, and some Endurolytes at that point. My piriformis was really starting to ache. They asked me how I felt and I said, “Good. I don’t really have any other choice, do I? I have 12 more miles to run.” I wasn’t particularly cranky, but they had been warned that I wouldn’t be a happy camper at that point in the race by other spectators. 

Running into Mile 38

At Mile 40, I took another GU Roctane and that really gave me the boost I needed to get off the trail. I ran that portion of the race faster than I thought I would. I exited the towpath at 2:54pm. I now knew that I had about 1 hour 36 minutes to reach my goal of 9:30 or over 2 hours to reach 10 hours.

Miles 41.8-50.2
This portion of the race was on a paved country road, with rolling hills. The paved road felt so nice and smooth. I decided at that point to power walk up the hills and run fast down the back sides. This worked and made the miles really fly by. Obviously, I felt my quads tightening up a little but I wasn’t in any pain. The Advil really helped calm my piriformis. I hardly ever take pain medication, so when I take it – it works. I also concentrated on my form by running tall. When I started to slump, and relax my core, I started to hurt. Mile 46 is the last time I saw my cheerleaders. I started to get emotional. This was the first time the thought of finishing became a reality. I was going to do this! Not only finish, but beat my goal! Four miles is nothing! Mom and Aunt Jane were jumping up and down, telling me how strong I looked, how many people I have passed, telling me how proud they were of me, giving me more hugs and kisses. I felt the tears well up in my eyes and had a frog in my throat. My breathing was erratic. I took a deep breath, pulled it together and pressed on.  No tears until the finish! Remember my rule? 

This is when 50 miles became a reality

As I was climbing a hill a little after Mile 48 (there were no mile markers on the course besides the last 8 miles – thank goodness!) I saw a familiar silhouette in the distance. It was Coach George! He mentioned earlier in the week he was going to try and make it up to the later points in the race, but when I didn’t see him at Mile 38 or 46, I figured he headed up to Philly because he had a bunch of runners competing in the Philadelphia Marathon and Half Marathon on Sunday which is completely understandable. He ran with me for about 100 meters and that was really the boost I needed to finish strong. It really meant so much to me. The next mile was downhill, we made a turn towards the Williamsport High School and I could finally see and hear the finish line. I had to climb yet another hill though. With about 50 meters to go, I could hear my mom and Aunt Jane.  I crossed the mat in 9 hours 12 minutes and 7 seconds! They ran up to me soon after and that my friends, is when I allowed myself to lose it. Tears of joy. I did it.

Running to the Finish

Time caught on camera

I proudly proclaimed to Coach George that now I was going to take 2 weeks off! I have never taken that much time off running. He shook his head and held up three fingers. Rats! I trust him and he wants me to be a faster marathoner so I will take his advice. I am taking a full week off any activity besides stretching, then next week I will start with a yoga and swimming regimen.

Jim made it to see me Finish

I learned so much about myself during this journey, which I will cover in a future post but most importantly I met a Jessica that I didn’t know existed. As I mentioned in a previous post, I RUN to prove to myself that I am strong - both physically and mentally. I have always viewed myself as a weakling. I beat myself up for everything that I am not. I hope to discover through this journey that I am a much stronger person than I think I am. Every run I complete, every race I compete in - I become a little tougher and more resilient, learning about myself and feeling more confident in my abilities. 

I did just THAT.

The Bling