Searching for the gilded lining
The trajectory for running ultras seems to follow two different paths, the fork in the road seems to come after the first real ultra running season. After putting 2016 in the books at JFK, I took some serious time off, slept in, got sick, and now with some time(and pounds) under my belt I'm ready to commit for '17.
Just a quick recap...
Franklin Mountain... dude, these Texas mountains are not a joke, no games here, this is the territory that went unsettled for a reason. Jeremiah Johnson is spending no time in the Franklin Mountains!! Race day was cold and windy, when I say windy I don't mean a slight breeze out of the west I mean sustained with some serious gusts, enough to blow people off the side of the mountain and do some serious aid station removal. After surviving, a key word here, the first two or three miles we finally got some reprieve from the wind thanks to mother mountain, of course it would rear its ugly head again once we began the climb up to the peak again. As Maggatron and Arnolfo Quimare bounded down from the summit, the rest of us mere mortals death marched the summit only to embraced by the cold breath of fall greeting us at mach 10! Allegedly Jim Walsmley was there.... I wouldn't know, I never saw him again after the first 280'.
This race was tough as nails, I'm glad I finished, luckily I ran into Dennis about 6 miles out and we were able to pair up and feed off each other to the finish. Each of us envisioning how we would physically punish the RD when we arrived at the finish, just to personally reach out and thank him for a race well done!
Thank you to TROT, this was a top notch event in really critical conditions, hell it was even a little fun, Rob Goyen at TROT knows what he's doing and he delivers, I really excited the state of Texas has him and his company out here innovating and keeping things fresh for the trail running community.
JFK, the oldest ultramarathon in the United States, this is event unlike any other in scope and also in make up. Nice day and travels to Maryland and the day was overcast and nice for the majority of the day. The course climbs up a blacktop out of Boonsboro and eventually dumps on to the Appalachian trail, which is beautiful this time of year, not too many chances to pass and there is some buildup if you are trying to get out fast(not that I was or should have been). The trail is covered in leaves and makes some steps difficult, but nothing too difficult to overcome. The descent out onto the C and L canal has some cutbacks and large rocks that jut out of the ground and would not make for a very soft landing. Once on the canal I tried to hit cruise control, everything seemed to be going well until leaving one of the aid stations I decided to gaze upon the wonder of the canal, caught my foot, and ate it!! After getting up, I didn't slip back into the groove at all, I got tired, bonky, and wonky, at one point I really thought about pulling into the next aid station and turning it in, 7:30 was not going to happen today, and I would be lucky to crack 9 hours at this pace. I could still make it before 9:40, my current PR and first 50 mile ever(Big Bend 50). After suffering along the canal we finally made it to black top again and the rolling hills that would deliver us back to the finish. After sucking down coke and trying to keep up with Tailwind and Vfuel, something was beginning to happen...
We passed a man sitting in a chair with a USMC flag he offered up soup and support, we rallied back with an ooorahh and opened up the pace, we were running uphill!!! Slowly but surely we started to pick up the pace....9:00.......8:35.......8:00.......and we kept going, there was aid every 2 miles but we stopped every other...finally rounding the last corner and heading under the bridge tears began to fill my eyes as we surged onward...ONWARD!!!!! 7:30!! Whoa nellie... One more person to pass... he holds us off for as long as he can then we see the moment he decides no more. We pass him, and yell awesome race!!! keep it up!! I see the finish line, 8:14 on the clock, WE WILL SPRINT THIS OUT!!! We do, crossing the line somewhere near 8:15.. Redemption.... we were lost, and crushed in defeat, only to fight and battle again to climb out of the cellar and make up some serious time.
Shivering and walking to the car(1 mile cooling way down) as we limped and crossed the school grounds to get to the car, the warm car with seats and shelter from the cold and the drizzle that was whipping across the grounds with the bone chilling relentlessness. I was satisfied, I was disappointed that we didn't cross at 7:30 or even 7:45, but I knew that in the last 8 miles we erased some of the weakness that overtook us on the C and L canal.
Bottom line is I had to temper my expectations, it was a long season with some tough races and you can't win em' all. Bandera was tough and taught me a lesson about holding back, The Canyons let me experience what coming from the flatland really means, Tahoe... well Tahoe opened the door to the 100 world(I love this world), then I capped the year chasing Ultrarunning standings. Franklin was too soon, I was still pooped out from Tahoe, it was difficult and exposed the wear and tear from the season. JFK was redemptive, even though I went in heavy I was able to use the experience from all the other races to to string together some guts and reserve to finish out strong. I'm not sure I could have wished for a better season. This was just that seasoning, like a good cast iron preparing myself for what's to come, now in '17 we focus we knuckle up and we try to meet the mountain and give it our best shot. The Bear is daunting, a race with horrible weather this year, completely out of my wheel house but how will I know if I don't face it full forward. Cheers to '17 let's do it.
Ultrarunning is a microcosm of life, life in the day, why does the sport continue to grow? Because in life as in ultra, to peel back the layers and find out what's underneath you have to burn away the first few layers. But what no one else tells you is that you'll have to temper your expectation, because you might not always like what's underneath. To test and expose the fragility of the human condition, to gnaw on its bones and spit out the gristle, this is our journey, our life in a day.
"I understand that centuries of chains and lashes will not kill the spirit of man nor the sense of truth within them." -Ayn Rand
Next up: Revel Mt. Charleston 4/29/2017
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