I’m supposed to run 50 miles?! For the first time?! With 3 days notice?! North Face Endurance 50 Miler Race Report

In order to get to why my most recent races matter, I need to fill you in on the races in the past. Some of the big ones are the ones that really laid the foundation for everything happening today.

In my introduceyourself post, I mentioned at the end my dream race: Lavaredo Ultra Trail. In order to run this type of race you have to have qualifying points earned in other races, essentially so they know you can finish without dying.

I had planned on running The North Face Endurance Challenge 50k (around 31 miles) in Washington DC in April 2016. This race would be significantly more difficult than my first 50k with many more hills. So I trained and trained. The week leading up to the race a friend had told me that this would give me the four points I needed in order to run Lavaredo. I even checked on one of the websites that listed point and it was there in black and white. If I didn’t get the points here, I’d have to find some other race in order to get them so I was pretty excited.

Three days to go, I decided I would email the officials of Lavaredo to confirm that the 50k would give me the points I needed. It just seemed off to me that a race that “short” would be an acceptable qualifier. My feeling was right. A representative from the race wrote me back and said the 50 mile race is the one I needed for the four points.

At this point in my running career, I have only run one marathon and one 50k and just a handful of smaller races in the years prior to that. I was then faced with a huge dilemma: run the 50k as planned, finish and know that I could have possibly done more. Or go all in and run the 50 mile race that I was definitely not prepared to run.

I decided to go for the 50 miles. I couldn’t live with the possible regret of not trying.

On the bus heading to the race

The alarm went off at 2:30am for the 5am start. I was pretty nervous and the time before the race flew by. It had been raining all night and it had started to snow. A good friend of mine had decided to pace me during the race and as we Stood at the starting line, he turns to me and says “I forgot my bib!” Naturally, I thought he was joking because who forgets their bib before a race? We decided to hope for the best and took off running. The trail was still pretty dark at this time and the snow/sleet was coming down. We were getting pretty cold and my jacket wasn’t as waterproof as I was expecting it to be but the only thing to do was to keep running. After a few hours and some very muddy down hills, we reach the first aid station where my friend was able to report his missing bib. Luckily they would be replacing it at the next aid station so everything was going to be fine.

Friends getting ready to run

Almost time!

The miles ticked by and the snow finally stopped. The trails, however, were an absolute disaster. There was mud everywhere. This made every downhill almost like a slip and slide. You can see where the runners shoes before me were sliding down the mud, so we made sure to take extra care going down these sections so we wouldn’t fall.

Scenes from the trail

We finally reached mile 32 and at that point I had run further than I ever have before. I was starting to feel it as well. My legs were screaming at this point and we were slipping in every direction from all of the mud. It was so bad that in certain sections it felt as though your upper body was going one way and your lower body would go the other. Now there was only 10 miles left to go. I couldn’t run anymore so everything from that point on became as fast of a hike as I could possibly do. Since we originally ran this portion of the race in the dark, all of this area seemed brand new as we got closer and closer to the finish line.

Me and my pacer friend, Wes

Pouring one out for all the miles I just killed

I tried to run and after a few steps had to start walking again. As my pacer encouraged me to keep running this process would just repeat itself. The finish line was getting closer and closer so he took off so that he would be able to record me coming in. Left right left right and then I eventually approached a little boy that was cheering on the race with his mom. He stuck out his hand and gave me a high-five and that’s exactly what I needed at that point to carry me into the finish line. I turned the corner and saw the big blowup arch that I had run under about 12 1/2 hours prior. I was finally about to finish my first 50 miler. The adrenaline kicked in and I ran as hard as I could until I cross that finish line. Without my friend and pacer I don’t know if this would’ve been possible. We did it and I got my four points to go to Lavaredo.

Crossing the finish line

Relief and joy

Walking back to the bus to get to our car was probably some of the most painful steps I’ve ever taken. I was absolutely freezing and couldn’t get warm. Later that night I would be lying on the floor wrapped in as many blankets as possible. Every inch of my body hurt but it couldn’t have felt better to achieve something so important. This was what I needed in order to get to my dream race.

Freezing ride home

Just some of the mud from the day

Human burrito

Celebrating my 50 miles and 4 points!