Well fortunately, the 1999 JFK is history and a success.

It was with a lot of trepidation, apprehension, and concern that I approached the run and continued to feel during the run.  Twenty-four (24) Reston runners participated out of a starting field of over 1000 runners. We thought we had the largest club participation, thanks to Anna Bradford's leadership and motivation.  We also had a support crew of over 40 spouses, significant others, parents, children, friends, and Timber the Dog, which we had hiked the Appalachian Trail with the week earlier -- which really made all the difference in the world, to sustaining the effort and encouraging all of us to keep continuing and to finally finish. Gil was out video taping us as we ran and struggled throughout the course from the dawn's early start and on into the dark of night for those of us who were finishing towards the back of the pack.

We all have our individual stories to tell of the high points and low points of the run, and we all look forward to hearing about them.  So please add you comments and send them along to all of us, as you get a chance to recover and compose yourself and your words.

But, here are my thoughts, as a first time JFKer.

Completing the Appalachian Train, while running without falls and injuries, was a significant accomplishment.  So at the end of the first 15.7 miles of trail I had lots of adrenaline still pumping, especially since I ran it almost on my target time.  I had followed everyone's tactical advice and walked up most of the hills, I did run up the start of some of the hills that were not too steep, even passing some people now and then, and then I ran on the level parts and the down hill parts, including running slowly and carefully down the switchbacks of the cliff descent portion.  The AT was very rocky and mostly covered with leaves, so it required short, quick steps to keep running, with very an extremely limited reaction time, because the runners in front blocked the view of any more than 3-4 feet out in front of your viewing area.  Thus, this type of running required almost total concentration on each step during the entire 3 hours of this portion of the run.  Even a slight distraction or not lifting the feet completely off the ground could result in at least a trip, stumble, and/or a fall.

However, the euphoria of this first successful part, as much as I wanted to maintain it, quickly evaporated even as quickly as 7 miles into the 26.2 Marathon portion of the run, I started feeling tired and wondering what I had gotten myself into and how I could possible ever finish the distance. At this point I was running 10 minutes and walking 2 minutes, the recommended approach for those of us who are not supermen. At this point I had not even completed a full marathon distance yet or covered half of the course.  Fortunately, Hiroko was there at an aide station to run and walk with me a little bit, which took my mine off most of the negative thoughts. I did keep going, settled down a little, compromised with myself into a pace of running 3 minutes, walking 1 minute, running 4 minutes and walking 2 minutes, using my chronometer to count down each of these ten minute intervals.  I was able to tell myself that I had to maintain this discipline, if I was going to succeed.  Except for aide stations breaks and only once or twice, I kept this up for the next 4-5 hours, which as Al Rider said, as he passed me -- he essentially ran almost the whole course -- was getting more and more boring.  But, I certainly watched the clock wishing and waiting for the next walk.

While, the rain held off throughout much of the day, we did have light, intermittent drizzle during this portion of the course, which helped more to keep us cool, less than 60 F, more than it caused a problem with body temperature.  I could not believe the amount of water I drank, about 24 oz every 5-6 miles, I would guess.  We had plenty of orange slices, bananas, and an occasional cookie to eat at the aide stations, as well as boiled potatoes (Anna's very good suggestion) and hot potato soup (compliments of John Nuesbaum), plus a fig cookie or two, pretzels with salt were too dry for me to eat, and only a few Gu/Gel packages.  Thus, I personally tended to not want to experiment with too many items of food.  Although, chewing a Tums or two throughout the course, just to try and settle the stomach seemed to help and be a necessity.  I also took a few Tylenol as a precaution. The AT portion of the course, with all the rocks abused the feet, and the C&O portion, with its constant, unending repetition, abused the quads and calves; but the stomach was abused the whole day.

So psychologically, the thoughts that keep me going after getting over the first problems of endurance, was counting down the miles of the marathon portion of the race, forgetting about what I had done, and forgetting about the last 8 miles beyond the marathon that also had to be ran, i.e., breaking the race down into manageable portions and thinking about how these distances compared to training runs that we had done over the summer with the Reston Runners, i.e., 10 mile runs, 16 mile runs, the 22 mile run back from National Airport, as well as, how I had felt during other Marathon runs at different distances.  Likewise, the discipline of watching the clock, while not pleasant, became a routine that I focused on while waiting for the next aide station.  Eventually, the miles began to slip by and I passed the marathon distance, then had less and less miles to go, and finally I was able to mentally compute the remaining miles to ending the C&O portion.

Likewise, the support of our own Reston Runners crews at every aide station was essential.  Having someone to talk to that was concerned for our welfare and motivational, keep me going.  Johnny and Susan would come out about a quarter of a mile in advance of the aide station and run in with me and then Hiroko and Susan would walk/run out of the aide station with me.  Likewise, I and the other runners, did not want to disappoint everyone or be the first Reston Runner to quit without a serious injury or having just done an iron man race, a few weeks in advance of the JFK. Injuries did not really get to count as an excuse.  One guy last year completed with a dislocated shoulder and one guy this year completed with a broken arm.  Our own Tony, who many of you know and who is several years older than me,  fell down twice -- getting a black eye, bruised hips, and swollen ankles -- and he still finished far in advance of me.

The concern and support from everyone also reinforced the routine to just keep going, somewhere along the line, I forgot about not finishing and concentrated on beginning to believe that it was possible to finish, that it was just a matter of enduring, and that if nothing went wrong physically I would finish -- after Chicago I did not want to completely run out of energy again.

Anyway, at the end of the C&O canal, marathon, phase of the run, we were confronted with a long steep hill that climbed away from the Potomac River up to the Maryland countryside, and I mean countryside.  This rolling terrain, was a paved country road through farm land, cattle barns, and a small town for the last 8 miles to the finish.  The last 8 miles were marked with mile markers counting down the remaining miles, so it was almost pleasant to knock them off -- one by one.  I did have to walk up the hills and I only run the flats and downhill's.  With about 5 miles to go for me it became dark, but the ambient light and the light of oncoming cars helped light the way.

Note of caution for future JFK runners, there was a lot more traffic on the road that I every expected, especially during the last 4 miles and the lanes were not blocked off, so you have to run in a 1-2 foot wide space on the left side of the road, facing on-going traffic.  So do not wander out into oncoming traffic if you are too tired or not concentrating.  Likewise, be sure to wear a hat, getting it from your crew at the last aide station that they can meet you at, because by pulling down the bill of the hat you can shade out the headlights of oncoming cars and not totally loose your night vision.

Fortunately, Hiroko, was able to come out and meet me about a mile from the end of the race, she waited over an hour in the dark by her self for me to finally arrive.  She led me the last mile, running with me and yelling at me to hurry up and keep running, because we were almost finished.  With this motivation, I was able to run up the last hill to the finish line and the photographer took a picture of both of us, as we neared the finish line.  I hope it turns out well, because this would be a good memento of the teamwork and spirit that it takes from everyone for any of us to complete an event such as this.  Gil was there video taping us as we came across the finish line, to the very end, getting all of us and Mike, the last Reston Runner on film for posterity.

We had a pleasant surprise waiting for us as we staggered into the high school to begin recovery.  Katherine and Cliff were there to give massages to all Reston Runners in addition to the well wishes from everyone of the team and crew.  For those of us who finished at the end of the pack, the showers were as predicted -- ice cold.  Such is the life of a slow runner in the country-side of Maryland on a beautiful fall day at the end of the Second Millennium, A.D.

Thanks again to everyone who motivated, inspired, encouraged, helped, crewed, and ran in the race and with me throughout the last year.  I think the most appropriate motto of the day was what one Viet Nam veteran had on the back of his running shirt, "Pain is Temporary , but Pride is Forever."  It does feel good to be proud once and a while.

Norm

PS:

I am sure Anna will publish everyone statistics for the run soon, but my own, as an also ran first-timer, were as follows:

Time:  11 hours, 4 minutes, and 15 seconds; Pace: 13:17 minutes/mile; Placement: 572 out of 856 Finishers (67%). Appalachian Trail: 15.7 Miles - 3:20 Hours C&O Canal Tow Path: 26.2 Miles - 5:51 Hours Hilly Road: 8.1 Miles - 1:53 Hours

I believe there were 1040 Starters or Registered Runners.  The first place runner finished in - 6:05 Hours. The last place finisher completed the course in - 13:59 Hours; they closed the course at 14 hours.

One of our Reston Runner teammates, Suzanne Scoggin, 36, came in 4th as the overall best woman with a time of 8:05:34, Way to go Suzanne!