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The title of this post is a little misleading. The title may say marathon, but the 1st annual Terrapin Mountain Marathon was more like a 27 mile adventure race with some running mixed in. In short, I knew that the elevation changes would be difficult for this Long Islander who has trouble simulating such drastic elevation changes while running around flat Long Island, but the race was highly rewarding and finishing my first true mountain race is a highlight in my early ultrarunning career.

Pre-Race
Yet again, for my second Horton run, transportation proved to be difficult. Having to work until 3:30pm on Friday afternoon, I headed immediately down to Big Island, Virginia and the drive was brutal. Nine hours later, I was pulling into the parking lot at the Sedalia Center at 12:30am only 6.5 hours until race start. I got out of the car and walked around some to familiarize myself with the Center's surroundings and to stretch my legs and then went to sleep in the reclined front seat of my tiny Corolla. No sooner did I close my eyes, I started to hear sounds of car doors being shut and checked my phone - 5:45am. I quickly got dressed, checked in and no sooner than I could wipe the crust out of my eyes, Race Director Clark Zealand was on his microphone giving us the pre-race speech. One tidbit during this meeting that I wasn't aware of (maybe I should have read more about the race before driving down) was that you would need to obtain a page from 2 separate books - the first one being at the "Summit" and another one later in the race. Silly New Yorker that I am, I assumed the Summit would be the top of the first large climb we finished (not the case). Before I came to the realization that I should get some more information on the course, 7am rolled around and we were off running. Notice, I haven't eaten breakfast - huge oversight and mistake.

First ~5 Miles
For this inexperienced mountain runner, this section of the race, especially right at the start, was brutal and demoralizing. My goal for this race was to power walk the inclines, run the downhills that were runnable as fast as I could and blast through any flat sections. However, it seemed as if I was the weakest hill climber in the entire group and almost immediately found myself at the very back of the pack. At one point, there was a runner without a race number behind me and I asked him if he was sweeping thinking I was dead last. He laughed and stated that there were "plenty of runners behind us" which was an outright lie. My Achilles heels were both burning whenever I tried to pick up the pace and ended up settling for just trying to power through this section knowing that the course gets a little easier later on. By the time I hit the 4.9 mile aid station, I had to have been near dead last - a position I had never been in before and was quite an issue to process in my head. I ate a little something still not remembering I forgot breakfast and continued out.

Miles ~5 - ~9
I get about 1000 yards and stop dead in my tracks. Was that the Summit? Did I need to get a page from a book? I let two runners catch up to me to ask them if I needed to get a book page there and they looked at me as if I was clueless (which I was) and said no. So, back to running. The course gets much easier during this section and I really used this section to mainly recover mentally and to try and readjust my entire outlook on this race. I went in wanting to run a 6 hour race and now I just wanted to finish as far away from the bottom as possible. This section of the course is very runnable although I was still recovering from the previous section. Nothing very notable in this section to be honest.

Miles ~9 - ~13 (The Turnaround)
This is where the race got very interesting for me. There were some good flats and some downhills and I was able to pass a few runners during this section. The first part of the section is a wonderful grass wide trail that felt so perfect to run on that I really enjoyed this section. However, right around the 11.5 mile mark, you enter a very narrow single track dirt trail with a very steep incline. Here, I lost all the ground I made on the back of the pack in about a mile and everything that could go wrong went very wrong. I suddenly started to get extremely hungry and realized I hadn't eaten anything. I then had to go to the bathroom - the complicated end. Then, I realized "where did the pink trail markings go?". All in all, I lost about 10-15 minutes in stops and turnarounds and finally made it into the last aid station where the volunteers there (who doubled as the sweeps) stated "these are the runners we'll be following".

That's right - they announced me dead last. (although I think I was actually third to last and the sweep was wrong).

Miles ~13 - ~17
Metaphorically, this was my "turnaround". I finally came to accept my dead last position and set my sights on catching as many people as possible. I started out the turnaround aid station trailing the runner in front of me by only a few steps. I kept pace with her until a slight water crossing where she stepped around and I plowed right through the water and mud - yet another metaphor which boosted my spirits. As quickly as I passed the last female, I took my first "ultra" fall tripping over a grass covered rock. Luckily, it wasn't too bad and no one was around to laugh (the only good thing about being almost last) and quickly set out to finish getting up the steep uphill single track and then hopefully to catch some runners on the flats and downhills. Once I got out to the wide grass covered trail, I was able to cruise the downhills and pass another 3 runners, but they were able to keep up pretty close through this entire section and up until the aid station. During the last part of this section, I started to cramp badly in my right leg when I tried to run the downhills hard so I knew I needed more salt which I got in the form of a salt covered potato. At the aid station they pointed up a huge hill we hadn't run before and let me know that up yonder was where I was headed.

Miles ~17 - ~21
I'm not even too sure about where in the course I was at this point mileage wise. Right out of the aid station, you run/walk up a very steep single track up to the "Summit". Here, I found myself completely alone and I basically would stay like this after I reached the Summit book location (where there were no more pages and I got a rip of the front cover) until the out and back to the last aid station 4 miles later. After the Summit, you arrive at "Fat Man's Misery" - a rock formation that requires you to carefully slide down about 6-8 feet through a narrow crevice and duck underneath a low hanging rock followed by climbing through another rock formation making this more of an adventure race than a "run". From here, the course becomes a downhill run with a nice gentle single track at first which is pretty runnable, but then turns into rock hell which was too technical for me to make any type of decent time down and I assume better trail runners would cruise through this section. Eventually, the single track opens up and you run your way down to the aid station which is a slight out and back where I finally saw a handful of runners walking up the trail after having just left the aid station. I figured I was a good 10-15 minutes behind them.

Miles ~21 - The End
As I was leaving the aid station, I was surprised to see all the runners I thought I had distanced myself from right behind me coming into the aid station as I was just leaving. This was slightly disheartening as I knew there was at least one more big climb left and I assumed all of these runners would catch and pass me. I did my best to power walk the inclines and no sooner did I finish the climbs, I was presented with a lot of gentle zig-zagging downhills which I made sure to take advantage of and I ended up running this section, again, completely by myself never seeing another runner (so the last 9 miles I only saw other runners for a few brief moments). I wanted to make sure there was no way any of the runners behind me could pass me so I took advantage of the downhills. As I finally made my way out the seemingly endless wilderness onto the roads where we started the race, I cruised into the finish line running a very slow 7:34. My only solace was that after the last aid station I was able to put 11-15 minutes between myself and the runners that I saw at the last aid station and I was able to basically keep pace with the runners who finished ahead of me. All in all, a successful race as I'll take the humility the mountains gave me and the lessons of running near dead last with me to my training.

How to Prepare for this Race
I always want to give readers of my race reports the details on how to prepare for a race so here's some things to do to successfully run the Terrapin Mountain Marathon.

* You must carry water with you on this race. Some courses are forgiving enough that you can run naked and just use the aid stations, but this is not one of them. I carried one 12oz. water bottle and was very nearly near empty by the time I rolled into each aid station.
* Shoe Choice - I wore North Face Anuva 50s which I love because I have lace issues almost every race (my big feet like to step on my own laces constantly or my feet swell and the laces get too tight). These shoes faired well on this course; however, I would suggest making sure you wear a padded/thicker shoe for the jagged rocky sections of this race. While my feet don't hurt too badly now, I was definitely slowed down by the bruising on the bottoms of my feet.
* Make sure you bring your own breakfast - there may have been food there in the morning, but I didn't see any so make sure you bring your own breakfast.
* No headlamp needed - it's bright enough around the Center that you don't need any lighting really.
* Clark mentions that you need to wear a left handed glove for Fat Man's Misery. I say there's no chance for the Best Blood award if you do.

The Short Version
Great race, well organized, Dr. Horton is a very personable RD and I would definitely run the race again, but I had to DNF at the halfway point due to everything but the run and the trail. Entirely frustrating experience.

The Long Version
From the minute go, this trip was destined to fail. I decided to run Holiday Lake and the entire LUS Beast series and haven't been this excited about anything else running wise ... ever. My plan was to leave early Friday morning, make the ~7 hour drive from Long Island, go to the pre-race meeting and get a good night's rest at a nearby hotel.

Well, none of that happened and these factors (and not the trail's difficulty) was my ultimate demise in deciding to drop after ~17 miles. Work kept me in NY much longer than I expected and I didn't leave until early evening. The trip was going very well until I passed into Virginia and my GPS unit told me to get off near Culpepper, VA. I got off and started driving down the back roads of Virginia when I entered the town of Louisa. All of the sudden, over the sounds of my CDs and "Jill", the Garmin voice I have come to loathe, I hear the sickening sound of a flat tire rotating over and over. Great. It's about 12:30am and I have a flat where there are no lights on some back road and I haven't seen another car in about an hour. As I get out of the car, I notice that 1) my left rear tire is shot and 2) I can't see much else. Luckily, since the race starts under the cover of night, I strap on my headlamp and go and get the spare. Almost immediately, I am rushed at by a lone deer that obviously hasn't seen the movie Bambi. After hiding in my car (yeah, I hid, you would too), the deer became disinterested and wandered away. Thinking all was safe, I ventured back outside to start jacking up the car and entered my own version of Wrong Turn as a couple of cars slowly passed by, decided to stop and realized I had a car jack in my hand and decided I wouldn't be an easy target. Maybe it was the NY plates, who knows. Finally, a volunteer firefighter stops to assist me and gets me some directions, avoiding the highways, to the state park from state troopers. I finally get moving again ... at no more than 30 MPH and about 2.5 hours away still.

Needless to say, the state trooper's directions seemed wrong and didn't match the directions on the 4-H Holiday Lake website. I improvised and good thing I did since I made the right choice. It was now 4:15am as I entered the park and was able to park - 2 hours and 15 minutes until start time. I got dressed, organized my belongings, tried to get my bearings and before you knew it 5am approached. I walked over to the main house and waited outside for someone to show up. It wasn't long before Dr. Horton was the first face I would see and he let me in. I grabbed a bagel, sipped some Smart Water and tried to grab some sleep, but was unable to as other runners started coming through the door. So, 6:30am comes along and I have the following to deal with -

* I've been awake for 25.5 hours straight.
* I have a spare tire on my car and no idea where to get it fixed and need to be home by Saturday night
* I still have to run a 50K++ with some Horton miles

Pretty daunting task if you ask me. I was actually in good spirits as the race started since I saw a lot of people shivering near me and I was quite comfy in my shorts and Under Armor long sleeve shirt. The race starts and I had been warned about getting caught up behind the pack when everyone slows down on the single track trail. I was somewhere near the first 50 runners or so and was able to maneuver through the slow single track stuff very quickly. Normally, this would have been a perfect strategy for me, but by mile 1 I was already fighting sleepiness. By being in that lead group, the fear of slowing down the runners behind you makes you run as fast as the runner in front of you allows and this probably wasn't the smartest strategy after being awake for so long already. However, before the race even started, I was resigned to the fact that I had to run this race as fast as possible to give myself enough time to get out of the park and find a still open automotive store with a replacement tire (a task that didn't seem pretty easy due to where the race was located). By Mile 3 or so I knew I had no chance of doing anything useful. I wasn't going to be able to finish in my projected 5-6 hours and if I took any longer I would run out of time trying to find a new tire.

The trail is very soft in almost all areas (sans road section and a couple hundred feet of rocks) and you could probably wear road shoes for this race and be fine. You will need a light for the beginning of the race to navigate early, root filled sections (you should label your light with your name so you can drop it off at the first aid station which I didn't). The beginning of the race was soft with some roots with few leaves, nothing too awful. After the single track trail, it opens up into a vehicle trail I believe which was soft, but not too muddy. There is a short, short stretch of road which goes back to a trail that opens up into a large field. After that huge open field is your first water crossing which wasn't too cold, but was just cold enough to sap the last bit of energy I had. I think I was just too tired from not sleeping to have my body fight for warmth that I lost the desire to stay awake. I really don't remember anything outside of another, larger water crossing which I just plowed through even though there was probably a dry way around and a lot of single track back to the camp grounds. I would say 99% of the course is runnable with very few places where you have to slow down either due to single track congestion or "steep" elevation change.

I hit the turnaround in right around 3 hours and dropped. I think I muttered something about my knee hurting, but in all actuality I was worried about running out of time to get my tire fixed and get home that night. The timekeeper almost seemed shocked that I was dropping because I'm sure I looked strong enough to finish. In hindsight, I made the right choice as it took four hours to find a tire place with a tire close enough to get me home. If I had continued on and finished between 6.5 and 7 hours (disappointing, but respectable considering the conditions I was running in), I would gotten to the tire place I eventually bought the tire at after they closed and could have been stranded. I actually ran 10 miles today at 8 minute pace without any soreness so my muscles had plenty in the tank even if the rest of my body may have been tired from not sleeping.

Overall, it was an extremely frustrating experience although I found the running, while awake enough to take my surroundings in, very enjoyable and "easy". The course is excellent for a rookie ultrarunner with enough aid stations that you could almost run the course without carrying water, etc. The only negative I encountered with the race was the electrolyte drink they served (Clifshot?) which definitely made my stomach pretty angry with me and will know to avoid in future races. I'll be back next year to redeem myself, but I can't say I would change much other than having a full spare with me the next time I drive to an ultra. Congrats to all the finishers - most of whom were very encouraging as they passed and to all the volunteers (especially the one young lady who recognized I was so tired and disoriented that I couldn't even unscrew my water bottle).

Before the Pacing
With my Grindstone 100 service requirement looming over my head, I decided early on that I would volunteer at the Vermont 100 either as a volunteer and/or pacer. After emailing the pacing director, I was matched up with Andy N. from Massachusetts who was a two-time, ~20 hour finisher of this race. Initially, I was actually a little worried pacing someone of this caliber as I know I tend to be erratic with my mile times during longer races, but with a shortage of available pacers, I stayed with Andy. I arrived at the race site Friday afternoon just in time for the pre-race meeting which was highly informative. I’m not sure how I missed this fact over my last two years in the ultrarunning community, but the meeting director informed us that the Vermont 100 is the only race of its kind where humans race the same course as horses. Yes, I said horses.

The pre-race meeting ended and I went back to my car while the runners ate a wonderful pre-race feast (very worth the money if you’re wondering – pacers can get a meal ticket and eat free). I listened to the Yankees game on the radio (only station I could get) and fell asleep in my car (too lazy to break out the tent).

I was awoken by the sounds of heavy rain at 3:45am Saturday morning which was perfect timing because the race starts at 4am. Luckily, the rain did not last too long and the runners were off. I went back to bed so that I was rested for the 30 miles of running I would be doing later. I woke up at 10am and immediately I was bored and anxious. I started questioning “why didn’t I just sign up for this race?”, but tried to relax and slowly get ready. As I started walking around the camp, I could feel that the air wasn’t overly hot, but it was very thick and humid and wondered how many of the runners would hold up in the overbearing humidity. Eventually, I got dressed in my running gear, grabbed my water bottles and went to the main tents to wait for the shuttle to Camp 10 Bear. Camp 10 Bear does double aid station duty at the 47 and 70.1 mile marks. I got there around 2pm and decided to just hang around and take in the excitement of the runners coming in to 10 Bear.

Watching the runners come into 10 Bear was exciting and informative as well. Just by looking at the clothing of the runners, you could see a lot of runners were pummeled by the humidity and were moving slower than they had expected. Quite a few runners looked extremely dehydrated and I heard quite a few stomach related complaints. Seeing the conditions of the runners made me focus on hydrating while waiting even though I was in the Porta-Potty about 15 times. The heavens opened up and some gnarly lightning and thunder accompanied by rain drenched 10 Bear on and off for an hour or so.

The Pacing Begins - Mile 70.1 Camp 10 Bear Aid Station
An hour ahead of schedule, my runner came into 10 Bear at the 70.1 mile mark right at 5pm (13 hours in). He had obviously been running near the Top 20 runners, but as he shuffled into 10 Bear I could see that he was hurting, but definitely not near that red line … yet. However, he did mention in passing that he contemplated dropping thinking that he had gone out too fast, but I think I pressured him into going out. While he took care of his feet, I grabbed his drop bag and got him some M&Ms, cookies and HEED. We set out from 10 Bear at a decent walking pace in preparation of the trail uphill that was upcoming. We handled the trails at a slow, but easy pace and this pace was quick enough to have only 2 runners pass us while passing one ourselves. Andy and I strolled into Seabrook (74.7 miles) which is a small aid station along a gravel road and my runner was starting to get a little cranky; however, I still wasn’t concerned because we were moving at a decent enough pace and a 20 hour finish was still well within our grasp. However, once we left Seabrook, I realized my runner was in serious mental trouble.

When you’re pacing, I think you’re almost more conscious of the things you have learned from running and reading content from other ultrarunners than when you are actually running your own race. I could see that there was nothing medically wrong with my runner, but that he was hitting a major mental hurdle and it was only getting worse. Again, the talk of dropping at West Winds started especially as we encountered some steep, very muddy single track trail. As horse riders passed us saying how we looked good, his comments were all very negative and defeatist. For this section, my approach was to not be encouraging nor discouraging, but more mathematical and tell him that this is a common feeling and that once he was beyond West Winds he would leap the mental hurdle.

77 Miles Down - West Winds Aid Station
We arrived at West Winds and the situation didn’t improve as much as I thought it would. He was turning down water stating he couldn’t drink anymore water (not a good sign as this will lead to other medical problems later) although he was still eating. To his credit, he didn’t stay at West Winds for more than 5 minutes and was back out shuffling along. This ended up being the calm before the storm and we jogged a nice gravel road section passing a few 100K runners and we arrived at the unmanned Goodmans aid station. I was actually thinking we had a real chance of keeping a decent pace and still obtaining that 20 hour goal until we left Goodmans and night started to roll in.

It amazed me from the pacer’s perspective that you can actually watch a fellow runner deteriorate mentally right before your eyes. As dusk was setting in and it started to become darker, the incessant pleas to quit, DNF and just sleep started raining upon me. Again, I tried to be more analytical about the situation stating that “it’s a normal reaction to night rolling in and we’ve all been there”. Our conversation for the next 2.6 miles was straight out of a bad marriage with him saying what he wanted and not listening to a word I said and vice versa. It was an extremely long 2.6 miles for me because I continued to walk silently when all I wanted to do was squirt my water bottle at him. We finally arrived at Cow Shed and he immediately stated his intentions to lay down and he took two blankets and laid face down on the ground outside the tent. When he went down, I was starting to think that he wasn’t going to get over the mental hurdle. After staying down for 30 minutes, I caught a break when the Vermont bugs started biting his face causing him to be uncomfortable enough to want to keep going. I knew he was leaving not because he wanted to run, but because he wanted to leave so I was dreading the long 5 miles between Cow Shed and Bill’s, but slowly we left the great volunteers there.

It's important to note that it was so humid that the night time air was so foggy that our headlamps were rendered basically useless as you couldn't see more than a few feet in front of you. This fact added to Andy's demoralized state as progress was difficult to discern.

The 5 Mile Road to Bill's & 88.6 Miles
I did all that I could to keep him upright those next 5 miles. He was wobbly. He couldn’t walk in a straight line and the slightest elevation change brought him close to toppling over. In this section I was completely silent because there was no piece of encouragement that would drive him further so I instead opted for focusing on nothing but our forward progress. It took almost a full 2 hours to get to Bill’s and there were several times I actually caught him to prevent him from falling over. We crashed into Bill’s (88.6 miles) and he immediately headed to a medical cot and I thought for sure our race was over. At this point it’s about 11:30pm and I know that any significant amount of downtime, with our current pace, might mean missing out on a sub-24 hour buckle finish. As he laid down in the cot, the determining struggle began.

Disaster Strikes
Heading into Bill’s, my runner kept stating how Bill’s had medical personnel and that he should be checked out and maybe they would pull him. Translation – he didn’t want to quit, but he didn’t want to run anymore and he wanted someone else to make that decision for him. Knowing this I decided I wouldn’t make it easy on him or medical personnel. As they questioned him how he felt, I interjected stating that medically he was fine and had urinated 3 times in the last 3 hours, he was still eating, but that he was just tired, needed to drink more fluids and was more of a mental issue. I, of course, said this loud enough for my down runner to hear. They took his blood pressure and monitored his oxygen level and they were both in excellent condition. We wrapped him up in a foil wrap and a blanket and the waiting game began. I watched him try and rest as other runners were coming in and most in much worse physical/medical shape than my partner. The minutes tick by and it’s 12:30am and we’re still down and I’ve given up all hope and I’m starting to make plans to pace another runner, Jeff, the rest of the way. A medical volunteer comes over and gives my runner a yellow Vitamin Water which he sips slowly and then pours the rest in his water bottle. Miraculously, he decided to try and get up and says we’re going to give it a go. We tie the foil wrap around him like a cape and out of Bill’s we go just before 1am with 3 hours and 11.4 miles left for a sub-24 hour finish.

After being down a total of 90 minutes, his decision to get up at the minute he did was an amazing feat of mental strength on his part and saved his race.

Don't Call it a Comeback
Out of Bill’s we moved very gingerly at first and I told him that this was normal after an extended period of downtime because your leg muscles will stiffen. I tried to encourage him to try and run some and what do you know – he could walk quickly/jog again. He became alive with excitement screaming out all types of jibberish and I was now motivated to switch gears and become the “pushy pacer”. I knew that I would have to take advantage of the energy burst now, get him close to the finish and hope that he could stay motivated enough to fight through the inevitable pain. Luckily, not only did his energy level dramatically increase, but so did his belief in my abilities to get him in under the 24 hour mark. Our pace quickened to around 12-15 minute mile pace depending on the terrain’s slope which was going to make it a very close finish.

My goals for the next three add stations, Keating’s, Polly’s and Sargent’s, was to have Andy give me his water bottle, I would fill it up as he got food and for him to continue out of the aid station in under a minute. I would then fill up my water bottles, grab some food if needed and then sprint to catch Andy a few hundred yards beyond the aid station. When we hit Keating’s (92 miles) our pace was solid and I now had him believing in a sub-24 and I turned into the encouraging “Great work/Good job/Looking strong” pacer. Instead of running side-by-side, I decided to run in front of him to call out terrain issues as well as to set the pace to push him a little more to stay with me. To his credit, very few times did I have to turn around and slow up as he did a tremendous job of powering through those tough, last 11.4 miles. Polly’s is a great, late race aid station (95.5 miles) and we arrived at 2:40am with only an hour and 20 minutes to get in. As a comparison, Andy informed me that the year prior, when he was feeling good, Polly’s to the end took him 1 hour and 8 minutes so we were living dangerously close to not finishing in time.

4.5 Miles to Go - Can We Pull Victory from the Claws of Defeat
Then, a disaster strikes as we make it to the end of road out of Polly’s to find a T intersection and no trail markings (plates or glow sticks). I sprint back up the small hill to find that we missed a left turn off and shout back down that we had, in fact, missed a turn off. We lost about 2 minutes and now I was really starting to worry that we weren’t going to make it. To his credit again, Andy didn’t let his motivation level slide and we took advantage of the non-trail terrain. The terrain between Polly’s and Sargent’s is nothing but gravel roads and our plan was to keep as fast a pace as possible since Andy informed me that the rest of the race after Sargent’s is single track trail. Andy and I arrived at Sargent’s (97.7 miles) with ~45 minutes left until 4am.

By this time, we had built up a nice little convoy of 3 runners and 2 pacers and I really believe we all fed off each other’s energy. One runner, Christopher Martin (who we passed earlier and said he “didn’t have the heart to get sub-24), was now right on our heels looking extremely strong and motivated (in fact, he stated that the year previous he finished in 26+ hours so this was a great finishing time for him). I, again, led the way helping the runners navigate the trail and when we hit the .5 mile mark to go with 17 minutes left, we all started to celebrate while keeping our pace up. With about a quarter mile left, we could hear cheering in the distance and we all started shouting back. After emerging from the woods, I left Chris and Andy to cross the finish line, arms raised together, in 23:49 with less than 11 minutes until the 24 hour buckle cutoff.

A Little About Me After 30 Miles
Interestingly enough, I was so worried about Andy finishing and keeping a good pace for the 3 runners to follow that I didn’t notice my own deterioration in the last 2.3 miles until after we finished. I wouldn’t dare stop and re-tie my shoe, which had become undone, so I developed 2 gnarly blisters on my right foot. While I wasn’t anywhere near tired, being in a rush and completely consumed with Andy’s condition would have put me in jeopardy if my pacing duties were extended as I would have had downtime to deal with the blisters and other irritations. My body responded extremely well and I had tons in the tank and still had the ability to change speeds when needed, but I learned that even at a short and slow 30 miles that a pacer needs to make sure to account for his needs as well so that he is still helpful to his runner. Pacing was an extremely rewarding experience and an adventure where I gained a lot of valuable insight into common runner problems and how to combat them. Hopefully, next year, I’ll be receiving my silver buckle with Andy who I am sure plans on running the Vermont 100 again.

Here's my humble recap of my first attempt at 100 miles.

Pre-Race
I drove solo from Long Island, NY for 8 hours on early Friday morning to head towards Raleigh, North Carolina for my first attempt at a 100 miler. However, I had injured my ankle about a month ago which really limited my running to about 20 miles a week, but I continued to do 2-4 hours of elliptical work so I was in good cardio shape, just not good runner's shape. Needless to say, I was a little worried about how my ankle would hold up especially when dealing with the downhills which seemed to hurt the most during my training sessions. I didn't stay at the park (although I paid for a cabin) and decided to make the Comfort Suite on US-1 my home for the night (great hotel btw). When I come back next year, I plan on flying into the Raleigh Airport instead of driving to make things a little easier.

Actual Race
Loop #1
I met up with Jesse Leitner (who finished 11th in the 100 and PRd a 50 time too - congrats!) at the Comfort Suite and we headed over to the race site together. While it was cold the previous night and we were expecting temps in the 30s-40s when the race started, I was surprised to find myself perspiring while warming up in just a tee shirt and shorts (i.e. not a good sign - I'm 5'11", 185 - not exactly the prototypical long-distance runners body). We had heard in the pre-race meeting that most runners go without a flashlight at the beginning, but I decided I definitely needed one after trying to navigate back towards my car before the race (I highly recommend a light if you plan on running alone in that first hour). The race started and I went out at a very comfortable sub-10 minute pace and found myself in the top 25 or 30 I think. At around mile 3, I found myself running with one other runner - Jesse! (odd how I had never met him before and now I was running with him). We kept a very comfortable pace even talking a bit while running as we cruised into the first manned aid-station (right before the 7 mile marker). This was easily my favorite aid station in any race with all the volunteers being extremely helpful (more on that later), but it also signified the hardest part of the course was upcoming. For anyone running this race, miles 7-10 are the hardest in the loop with the steepest, longest hills on the course. Even though I felt good, I started to walk these uphills as everyone cautioned me to make sure to take the uphills easy so I was able to walk easily up the hills and most of the runners behind me followed suit. By mile 10, I started to purposefully slow myself down some as I was on sub 2 hour pace for the loop so a few runners including Jesse passed me. I entered the Start/Finish at around 2 hours exactly and felt great - no perspiring, no heavy breathing, heart rate low, no cramps, no blisters and my ankle feeling great (in fact, I hadn't thought about it once until Jesse actually asked how my ankle was doing).

Loop #2
This loop was pretty uneventful, but again I decided that since my goal was to just finish the 100 in any time (dream goal was sub 22 hours, realistic goal was 24 hours), I decided to slow myself down again and run an even slower pace - especially with how the heat was starting to turn itself up. I ran pretty much by myself the entire time, took my time at all the aid stations to drink plenty (I didn't carry water since this course has water every 2.5 miles and it seemed pointless to me, who didn't really care about my finishing time, to carry water unnecessarily). I ended up finishing this loop in about 2.5 hours - still really good pace, no complaints, no blisters, no cramps, ankle holding up well.

Loop #3
Here comes the heat. By this time, it's about 10:30 and I won't finish this loop until 13:40 or so and while the time is extremely unimpressive, it was more a personal decision to slow down as much as possible while not getting demoralized that runners were passing me (it's hard to go in with a goal of racing against the course and then not being affected by your competitiveness when runners pass you). Everything was working well for me, but by the time I got to the manned aid station at mile 32, a few volunteers noted to me that there were dried white sweat streaks down my face and my hat had a white ring around the top of it. I spent 5 minutes eating pretzels and one of the volunteers gave me a paper towel ice bag to put under my hat and on the back of my neck to cool off some. As I left this aid station, I decided to walk as much as possible because I sweat a lot and it would be smarter to save myself for the cooler hours and not fight a losing battle keeping myself hydrated and fueled properly. I finished this loop without incident, albeit very slowly and headed out for the 4th loop after calling home to let them know I was feeling great. In fact, I think I even said "I call you in about 7.5-8 hours after I finish another 3 loops". Yeah, oops.

Loop #4
Now, I believe the temps are up to 80 degrees and this is easily 30 degrees warmer than any temp I have run in for 7 months. Even still, I was feeling great - no cramps, no blisters and the heat was bad, but not to the point where I was sweating badly so I decided that when permitted I would continue to run to make sure I didn't get tight and to find shade as much as possible. In my effort to find shade, I would run on the edges of the trail where the trail is a little softer. At around mile 41, I stepped in a soft spot, twisted my ankle and it was all downhill from there. I came into the manned aid station slightly lipping and I took my time, ibuprofen and debated what I should do. I figured I would continue to move forward, hope that the aspirin would kick in and try and run the flats and slight upgrades (oddly, the downhills hurt my ankle a lot more so walking the downhills was my only option). The last 5.5 miles of this loop were sheer torture. I didn't see any runners during this time except who I assume was the female leader Jamie and when I saw her coming up from behind, I decided to try and run some which was a huge error on my part. I started to overcompensate for my ankle and the rest of my body didn't like that much at all. I ended up limping the last 2.5 miles into the Start/Finish and was faced with the following decision -

50 miles completed in 10:30ish.
Could I walk 50 miles in 19:30 hours?

I definitely could if I wasn't injured - heck, I could probably walk it in a lot less than 19 hours. However, faced with the tasks of having to drive home alone 8 hours and then recovering from an additional 50 hours on a bum ankle, I decided to drop at 50. Although I was so pissed I couldn't go on that I skipped the aid station and a volunteer actually chased me into the cabin to ask if I wanted anything (the volunteers were so amazing, I didn't know people that nice actually existed), in retrospect it was the right decision as 2 days later my right ankle is so tender I can barely touch it no less walk around.

I ended up finishing 33rd of 107 50 mile finishers in a time around 10:25ish - slower than I would have liked, but I was happy considering what I went through for the last 8 miles.

What I would do Differently?
Next year, when I come back I plan on -
1) Flying down to the Raleigh Airport - the driving was way too much to do solo.
2) Bring thicker shoes - I ran with North Face Arnuva 50s which kept my feet in great condition, but the miles directly in and out of the Start/Finish are ripe with rocks that bruised my feet through the thinner bottoms. I almost switched to my XCRs, but decided that they weren't broken in enough and that the risk of blisters was too great.
3) Basketball Taping the ankle - I play a lot of basketball and I should have taped the ankle in much the same way I do for basketball to prevent rolling it. I was worried that running 100 miles with it taped would be a bad idea, but maybe it would have slowed me down even more while offering me protection.

Thanks goes out to everyone involved in pulling off this race - it's highly organized, the trail is amazingly easy to follow (only in one spot did I see runners stop and get confused which was right by mile 4 or 5 where you could either correctly go left uphill or right downhill and there were pink signs down both directions), the aid stations were incredible and everyone was super friendly. I'll be back next year without a doubt.

A while back, I wrote a review on the Nike+ iPod system and identified a lot of pros and cons. One of the cons that I had mentioned was that Nike was trying to force the owner to constantly buy Nike branded running shoes based on the unique design needed to slip the transmitter into the sole of your shoe. However, it seems a lot of people were put off by this idea and hacks/adapters and DIY kits have sprung up to help Nike+ owners use their system with non-Nike shoes.

Instead of endorsing one particular product (because I actually do use Nike running shoes for the road running I do here in New York), I figured I would present you with a list of user contributed options from Digg (definitely read through the comments for more options than just the first link). Hope this info helps people looking to use the Nike+ system with their favorite non-Nike sneaker.

Over the last year or so, I have managed to lose 50 pounds and become one of the more active people I know. When people who see me now, who haven't seen me in a long time, they always ask "How did you do it?". Books, professions, websites and diets have all tried to answer this question in hopes that they would be able to solve one of life's great social problems. My solution, however, didn't come from any book or training manual, but from a lifestyle change. What was that lifestyle change?

I lived "poorly".

The above declaration is intentionally misleading (in a lame attempt to capture my audience's attention). However, the statement does hold some truth when put in the context of my spending habits and my ability to "rough it". First, let's flashback to October 2005. I had just come off my second broken foot in less than a year and had not been able to do much physical activity. My weight at that time was 235 (although many say I never looked that heavy) and I had taken a "I don't care" approach to my body thinking I still looked OK. However, inadvertently, I heard someone close to me discuss my appearance with their boss and found out that they found me "unattractive and fat". Yikes, the F word - a word that still stings even to this day. After hearing the assessment on my body, I looked in my full-length mirror and didn't like what I saw.

That night, I ran 8 miles at the gym.

I couldn't walk up or down stairs for the next couple of days, but continued to crank out about 30 minutes of running a night at the gym. The pain persisted, but the pain drove me to continue my running quest and I started lifting light weights at high repititions. These were humble beginnings, but they were the foundation of who I am today.

The problem with this recollection as an advice story for others is that the anger of being called fat only lasts for so long and doesn't produce the lifestyle change that is needed to break bad habits and institute newer, better routines. So exactly what clicked inside of me that made this change a permanent one that still drives me over a year later?

Live like you're poor.

So, how does living poor exactly translate to losing weight? Here's a few tips I used -

1. Leave your wallet at home when you go to the gym. You may leave the gym starving, but if you bring your wallet with you, you will be more apt to make poor impulse food buying decisions. Plus, you'll save money by not being able to spend any.
2. Bring your lunch to work. Eating out (umm ...) is expensive so bringing your lunch will help you save. In addition, if you constantly eat out, you will be presented with more unhealthy food options than you would if you brought a planned lunch.
3. Walk or ride everywhere. When I decided to ride my bike and take the train to work instead of driving, I was able to lose weight while saving money on gas and car maintenance (my commute is 50+ miles each way). Cars are very expensive to maintain no less purchase or lease.
4. Forget the "not-so" convienant stores. Convienant stores are typically more expensive than supermarkets and definitely stock more unhealthy food than a supermarket would. Limit your shopping to supermarkets - try going before work when there aren't that many other customers.
5. Plan cheap dates. Yikes, well maybe you shouldn't take dating advice from a single 28 year old. However, instead of going out to each rich foods for a dinner date, take that romantic walk in the park, walk the boardwalk at the beach and stay active. Trust me, you'll want to be with someone who likes being active.

Good luck with your weight loss activities! I'd love to hear some more tips or words of advice.

Panic set in pretty quickly. My 60GB Video iPod was no longer charging. With fear of long work commutes and long runs without music looming, I decided to hop on the Trek 7200 and make my way to the Apple Store located at Roosevelt Field. The "Genius" Bar was crowded with 4 other iPod users - all with "my iPod won't charge" problems. After I explained the troubleshooting steps I had already completed, they told me they needed to keep my iPod for an overnight battery test (translation - "We at Apple think you're an idiot and think our power outlet has a mysterious electric current that works better than the power at your house").

So, what does any good geek do when he's addicted to his iPod for the 2 hours every day on the train, the hour of biking and the hour of running he does every day? He buys another iPod.

I purchased the 4GB Nano (black) because I figured with my new found running prowess, I would want a lighter iPod and I would try out the Nike+ system as an extra motivator for completing the necessary mileage every week to be competitive in Ultramarathons. With the Nano and Nike+ system (and armband) purchased, I walked downstairs to the nearest Finish Line and picked up a pair of Nike+ ready running shoes (pictured below).

Installation was smooth and easy. All you need to do to get your shoes "hooked up" is to lift up the left shoe's sole insert and remove the cushion placeholder. For the iPod Nano, all I had to do was just insert the receiver into the bottom and the Nano added the additional Nike+ menu option. As for the software side, I did exactly nothing. I already had the most recent iTunes software installed on my PC and I was good to go.

The recorded results of my first run left a lot to be desired. I hadn't calibrated my Nike+ system and it showed. My first run was over half a mile off (a 7 mile run) - definitely not the result I wanted. Therefore, I mapped a route out using Google Earth to get the exact mileage and calibrated my Nano for the first time. I ran the .85 miles, ended the calibration and went out and ran again. My second run yielded closer results, but was still .3 miles off on a 6.5 mile run - possibly due to elevation changes (slight elevation changes at that). As a last resort, I "guesstimated" a second calibration and ended the calibration a hundredth of a mile sooner than I should have. Since then my mileage calculation have been nearly 100% accurate with no more than a .15 mile difference on runs over 10 miles. Overall, I would have to say that the Nike+ system, once tweaked, does work pretty well; however, I still question its accurateness if I were to take it on hilly terrain or technical trail running.

The NikePlus.com website offers a very easy to use interface with a pleasing visual, graphic display. However, after developing some of my own web tracking applications, the NikePlus system has a long way to go. First, the "My Records" section seems highly inaccurate. Take a look at the image below (click on the image to open the image full-size).

As you can see, this registered my first and only run at the time. I ran over 6 miles at 7:46 pace. However, the Nike+ system recorded my fastest 1 mile time as over 8 minutes - something that is obviously impossible and incorrect. My fastest 5K and 10K times were also incorrect and remain incorrect even after having logged ~10 runs. In addition, you cannot really get to granular with the statistics provided back to the system. You cannot get elevation readings and there are no heart rate measurements - readings that you can obtain on slightly more expensive GPS enabled running trackers (ex. ForeRunner 301).

Overall, the NikePlus system does work for what it is intended to do - track an individual's runs and performance while providing a large community to push yourself against and for those reasons alone, I would recommend the Nike+ system to others. I know that there have been times where I have gone to the gym just so my public statistics don't fall behind that of other runners. However, while it does do the basics pretty well, the NikePlus system has a long way to go. Nike should provide a data API for us geeks that would like to publically display their data to the world on their running blogs. Future revisions of the iPod Nano, the transistor or the receiver should come equipped with GPS so that elevation readings can be derived and tracked. Additional statistics should be provided on the NikePlus site as well as a community forums so that you can really build a tight runner's message board. Finally, and most obvious of them all, I would hope to see more accurate readings while running and displayed on the NikePlus.com website.

While their might be better alternatives, the Nike+ system does provide runners a benefit that could help push runners to new levels while the cost is minimal (assuming you already have an iPod Nano).

On Sunday, I finished the first ever NYC Half Marathon (sponsored by Nike) in what I would describe as the Tale of Two Races. As if waking up at 3:30am on a Sunday wasn't enough to make me question my sanity, I walked through the pouring rain to the 4:19am train and arrived in the City at around 5 so I could participate in the first ever NYC Half Marathon event.

After grabbing some fruit, I took a cab up to East 86th and Central Park where the race start line was located. I was one of the first 500 people there or so and now had to waste 2 hours before the start of the race. Lots of stretching, people watching and bathroom going filled the first hour before the timed pace corrals starting filling up. To make sure I didn't have to fight my way through 10,000 people, I got as close to the front of the "open" section. And then the waiting began ...

Highlights of this waiting period was watching the Central Park Conservatory workers using digital cameras to take pictures of people going to the bathroom in the woods by the starting line ... which included women just dropping down and not even looking for real cover (which reminds me of the whole Seinfeld "good naked" vs. "bad naked" debate - this was bad naked).

The race began and as expected I had to fight through a lot of slow runners (which was weird because I started right behind the "preferred" starting groups). Immediately, I was introduced to the rolling hills of Central Park which I definitely should have altered my training to accomodate. Even with the hills, I was able to pace my way at a decent clip finishing the first 5K and 10K at better than expected times. At around the 7.5 mile mark, we left the hilly park for a flat run through the City. I was still ok till about Mile 9 when during the middle of 42nd Street the heavens opened up and race #2 started. What was a hard, but still fast and fun run turned into a sloppy, slightly annoying race. My shoes were soaked, my laces come untied a few times and my pace slowed. The run down the West Side was gorgeous though, but the rain put a slight damper on the view.

I finished 1,214 out of 10,241 runners which is respectable considering this was my first timed run at this distance and I didn't train for any of the hills. You can see my full race results here -

My Race Results
Overall NYC Half Marathon Race Statistics

Many thanks goes out to my brother Chris and my cousin John who both made the long trek into the City to watch me run and then meet up with me afterwards.

Next up - the Knickerbocker 60K (37+ miles), November 25th.

With only a week until the first ever New York City Half Marathon (in which I will be competing), I have been rapidly getting more and more obsessed with running competitively these days. In fact, I even bought a non-computer book today called Ultramarathon Man: Confessions of an All-Night Runner to psych myself up that the human body really can endure more than pain that our brain initially thinks. As I was shopping for this book, I was reminded (by an advertisement) of the partnership created by Apple and Nike to create a tracker that inserts into a runner's shoe and information is transmitted real-time back to your iPod Nano. For those not familiar with the concept, a person would purchase Nike+ shoes specifically designed with a small compartment under the sole to insert a small transmitter. Next, you would attach a receiver to your iPod Nano which will capture the results to your iPod. Finally, when you get back to your computer after your run, you could upload your running results to www.nikeplus.com and track your running and compare to the rest of the Nike+ community. Although I'm a willing adopter of this technology, this solution suffers from many drawbacks and those drawbacks may ultimately prevent me from using the Nike+ system.

The Problems:
1) The iPod Nano Limitation - Although the iPod Nano makes the most sense to design this system for due to its size and weight, many people who workout at my gym own iPods ... but not Nanos (I personally own a 5th generation 60GB Video iPod). Therefore, for me to adopt this system, I would need to purchase another iPod which really doesn't make any sense and is probably the ultimate reason why I won't buy the Nike+ system. If they provided alternative options for other iPod types, I would have bought the Nike+ equipment today in time for the marathon.

2) Does the Cost Justify the Benefits? - When you really think about it, this system doesn't really offer much more than the functionality you would get from a stopwatch, some simple math and a spreadsheet. Now, if you already have an iPod Nano and you were going to buy new running shoes anyway (principle of sunk cost), then the $30 price tag for the "Sport Kit" could be easily justified. However, if you need to buy the shoes, the iPod and the Sport Kit, you're looking at a minimum of a $250 investment (add another $100 if you get the larger capacity iPod Nano). Can you really justify the expense when you can easily track the same information in less expensive manners and you have to wear shoes you many not normally use when running? Is the "e-peen" factor enough to justify the expense as well?

3) Does Nike "Just Do It" for You? - Personally, I wear Asics as my primary running shoe so the "forced" switch to the Nike brand may not be welcomed for a lot of runners including myself. Without partnerships with other running shoe producers, many runners may shy away from this product because they will have to wear shoes they are not comfortable with wearing.

So now that we have pointed out the problems with the Nike+ system, what can Apple and Nike do to resolve these problems and hope for a more widespread adoption?

The Solutions:
1) Don't Discriminate - Apple should provide adapters to their full line of iPods and I can't really see the huge hurdle that they face being able to do this. The iPod software cannot differ too greatly across the different versions and the input interface located at the bottom of the iPod is pretty standard across all the iPod versions. If they add support for the rest of their iPod line, I would think they would see more adopters of this product.

2) More Friends, More Allies - Although I do see a very serious (and probably impossible) hurdle here, if Apple could partner up with other running shoe companies, the greater shoe options to runners would also allow for more runners to seriously consider purchasing this product. However, with the whole product being called "Nike+", I'm not sure if there is an exclusivity deal in place.

Unfortunately, even though I would love to purchase something like this, I just can't justify the cost considering I would have to pick up a second iPod to utilize the Nike+ product. Hopefully, Apple will come up with a receiver that will work on their other iPod models in the near future.

Between work, being a little under the weather and having a swollen, black and blue left ankle (due to basketball the week before), I haven't been able to update my site much recently with tech news, no less personal news. However, on May 7th, 2006, I competed in the 2006 Reckson Long Island Marathon. I chose to enter the full 26.2 mile race a few months back and even with my injury, I decided to at least give the race a shot.

I ran with my younger cousin John who entered the 13.1 mile Half Marathon. His training regiment was much better than mine with eating extremely healthy, running consistently and having run track previously at a very high competitive level. Therefore, my game plan was to run with him for the first few miles (or as long as he kept a quick, yet not blistering pace) and then hopefully settle into a groove where the miles would just mesh together into one mindless, blank blink of an eye. Well, this strategy worked for the first 17 miles - too bad 9.2 miles still remained.

The race started promptly at 8am and John and I ran shoulder to shoulder to start out. We hit the first mile marker in 8:24 which was really a sub 8 minute mile because it took us over 30 seconds to reach the starting line. After passing the 3 mile marker at 23:35, we passed family members who were cheering us on to give us yet another boost. Right at the 4 mile marker, which we hit at 31 minutes (our pace had quickened to about 7:30 miles), John increased his pace even more after the water station and I decided that this would be the point where I fell into a slightly slower, yet more comfortable pace.

From miles 4-8 I really don't remember much outside of running past some familiar streets in Westbury. Then, runners made a sharp left up the entrance ramp for the Wantagh Parkway. The parkway didn't hold many spectators so this was the first stretch of running where spectators did not line the course. At the 10 mile mark, half marathoners divert to the right off the highway while full marathoners continued left down the parkway. The number of runners going to the left were outnumbered by those going right by about 9 or 10 to 1. I remember thinking "Wow, am I making a mistake going left?", but decided I wasn't and continued forward. I hit the 13.1 mile halfway mark at 1 hour 45 minutes and was cruising on to a good time. At around mile 14 I felt the first pains in my left foot, but was able to continue without much distraction. Easy running ended around mile 17 where I was still moving at a pretty good pace having completed the 17 miles in 2 hours and 21 minutes. However, after the Wantagh Parkway turnaround, the left foot pain really started to kick in and I was slowed to a fats walk/slow jog for quite a few miles killing my pace and split times. At around mile 24, I decided that I had enough of the pain and decided to crank up the music on my new 60GB iPod and started running at a sub 8 minute mile pace. During this time, I must have passed about 30-50 runners with many of those being in the last half mile (about 20 runners had bunched together).

As I rounded the last parts of the course in Eisenhower Park, spectators started forming really picking up my spirits and allowing me to push the pace even more. Right before the finish line, I raised my arms and immediately started cramping (haha, bad idea) and slowed down as I crossed the finish line after 4 hours 9 minutes 16 seconds (9:31 mile pace) in 252nd place (see full race results here. All in all, I was partly satisfied I had completed the race in decent time, but considering my time after 17 miles, I was a little disappointed. After finishing my family stated I didn't even look tired and I really wasn't so hopefully before my next marathon I won't injure myself and I'll be able to hydrate better so I don't cramp at all. Hopefully, in mid-June, I will be selected to run in the IMG NYC Marathon, but I have to wait until the lottery has been completed. Definitely a lifetime achievement I can say I alwasy did, but now I'm hungry for more.

Finally, I want to thank all those who volunteered and the sponsors who made the race possible. Oh, and for all of you who doubted me, I told you so.