It’s hard to believe that it’s been four weeks since my 100 Miler and even harder to believe that
it’s been one full year since I decided to make it my Goal Race for 2014.
Looking back, it’s been a truly incredible year! And, I can’t
really think of anything that I would have changed. My first attempt at a 100 mile training plan exceeded even my
wildest expectations. I went the whole year without losing any time to injury.
My races, turned out great - with only a couple minor exceptions! I spent a bunch of time having fun in the mountains. And, I was able to add
meaning to my miles by helping raise money for a very worthy cause! In fact, the season went so well, I very much doubt that
I could ever replicate it. So, I’m not going to.
Instead, for 2015, I’m going to do things just a little bit
differently.
The incredible journey that I was fortunate enough to take, in both training for and running a 100 mile race, taught me many valuable lessons.
Here are 20 of them, in no particular order:
Shit! ….this
can’t be happening!
…I said while rolling down the windows of my car, desperately hoping the fresh
air would keep me from falling asleep at the wheel while driving to my first
100 mile race. I took another swig of Pepsi while wiping back the tears that
had already started to come. All that hard work wasted because of my stupid
pre-race anxiety. Anxiety that saw fit to keep me tossing and turning for three
straight nights before my 24 hour adventure in the New Hampshire woods. Damn. This is not going
to end well.
A mile, and a few more swigs, later. I began to formulate a plan, because
that’s what I do! I would start the race, as scheduled. Then, when I got too
tired to run any further, I would just nap in the car for a little while before
finishing up. I had expected to finish in around 22 hours, and the race had a
30 hour cut-off, so I could literally take a 6 hour nap right in the middle of
it and still finish this thing with time to spare! And now, with my new plan in
place, I resumed feeling good about my chances at the Ghost Train 100 Miler.
Turns out, this “plan” was just the first of many tricks I’d have to play on
myself that day (and night) to keep moving forward.
Last week, I wrote in this space that I thought there were three things required to finish a 100 Mile Race. "Hard work, patience, and faith".
This week, I'm here to tell you that I was wrong. Very, very wrong. Please don't misunderstand. Those three things ARE all very important, and I wouldn't want to toe the line of any ultra (let alone my first 100 miler) without them. But, if another critical item is not there with you as well, then those first three things are far less meaningful.
...and, that magical fourth ingredient is "support".
Hard work, patience, and faith.
That’s what it takes to finish a 100 Mile Race. Or, at least
that’s what I THINK it takes to finish a 100 mile race. Since I’ve never
actually run one. Oh, I’ve done the training. And read the best books on the
subject. And spoken to plenty of people who have gone the distance. But, the furthest
I’ve ever run at one time is 50 miles - which barely gets me half way!
So, what makes me think I can do it?
Hard work, patience, and faith.
So far, 2014 has been a very busy year…
I’ve logged 2829 miles through 41 weeks - for an average of 69 miles per week. Or, about 10 miles a day! My weekly average is 9 miles per week more than my biggest year. And, 17 miles per week more than
I’ve averaged over the last 5 years. Which works out to one extra long run,
every week! Speaking of long runs, my AVERAGE long run this year has been 24
miles.
That’s like running a near-marathon every week, all year long!
A few weeks ago I put out the call for Help, and that call was answered…
On Saturday October 25th, I will be running my first 100 mile race. And I’ll be doing so
with the help of 7 wonderful people who will be pacing me (in shifts) for the last 70 miles of the race. So basically, from early Saturday afternoon until early Sunday
morning, I will have a team of runners whose sole purpose is to make sure I get
to that finish line. I feel so very fortunate to have so many great friends who
have absolutely nothing better to do than run back and forth with me through the woods.
So, without further ado, I’d like to introduce my “Dream Team” of pacers for
the Ghost Trail 100m and a little info about what makes each
of them so special...
"October. And the trees are stripped
bare, of all they wear. What do I care?”
Autumn is a season
of decay. The grass turns brown, the flowers wither, and the leaves fall off the
trees. The bright warm days of summer are long gone. There is a chill in the
air, a frost on the ground, and a foreboding sense that winter is right around
the corner. Traditionally, this time of year is a melancholy one for me. As the
weather gets colder, and the days get shorter, my thoughts turn darker – like
the days ahead.
This year feels different, though. This year I feel hopeful. And, I’m not sure why.
When I mapped
out my 2014 Race Schedule back in
November of last year, I had originally planned to run the Pisgah 50k as my final tune-up race before Ghost Train. However, those plans changed when I became aware of a
low-key, 50 mile run taking place on the same day in my “home woods” of Mine
Falls Park. 50 miles in Mines?! I gotta be a part of that, right?
Of course, there
were other reasons (besides proximity) which ultimately lead me to choose the Mine Falls 50 over Pisgah. And they
mostly revolved around a single question: “Which race will better prepare me
for Ghost Train?”
Those of you who know me, know that I am not a patient man. Particularly when it comes to running. I
started running in 1998 and my first road race was the following spring when I
bandited (sorry, not sorry) the Boston Marathon! So, yup. Zero to 26.2 in less
than a year! If that’s not an impatient (stupid?) runner, then I’ve never met
one!
For a while, my impatience served me well. Pushing me every
day. Trying to finish my next training run faster than my previous one - every
single time out. It worked well and I got quick, quick. But, after a while it
began to wear me down and burn me out. So, I soon realized that if I wanted to
keep doing this “running thing” long term, I’d need to add easy days to my hard
days. This has worked for me with varying degrees of success.
I’ve been told by people wiser than me (which is just about
everyone) that, with the Ghost Train 100 Miler less than 8 weeks away, it’s time for me to start focusing on “race
specific” training. Meaning, I need to try and emulate the conditions I can expect
to see on race day in my everyday training so that I can become comfortable with
them prior to toeing the line.
So, what does that mean exactly for a race like Ghost Train? To
figure that out, let’s take a deeper look at the aspects that make the GT 100 the
race that it is...
Exactly two months from today, I will be running the Ghost Train 100 Mile Trail Race in
memory of Sam Berns. Sam was a
wonderful young man from Foxboro Massachusetts who passed away on January 10th.
Sam suffered from a rare disease called Progeria
– which is a fatal genetic condition characterized by an appearance of
accelerated aging. Sam lived ‘til the ripe old age (at least where Progeria is
concerned) of 17.
Sam’s parents, Leslie Gordon and Scott Berns, founded
the Progeria Research Foundation in
1999 and since that time, PRF has been the driving force behind the Progeria
gene discovery and the first-ever Progeria drug treatment. They have taken what was an
obscure, ignored disease and have developed a globally recognized treatment in
just 13 years – an unheard of timeline in the world of medical research!
I will be raising money for PRF and hopefully awareness
about Progeria with every mile I run at Ghost Train. But, I need your
help! No, I don’t need you to
contribute to 100 Miles For Sam (although
I wouldn’t be disappointed if you did), what I need instead is your time.
