How did this begin?  "It's easier than a marathon!"  "If you train for and run a fall marathon, your JFK50 preparation is complete."  "Everything you need to know is on the website."  These exclamations convinced me I was being targeted by the classic "bait-and-switch" sales pitch.  Nevertheless, they caught my attention.  Then there is my running buddy, Ellen Mannion, whom I owed a favor.  She agreed to be a teammate in this year's Hood To Coast Relay and help our Kickin' Asphalt team finish the 198 mile trek from Mt. Hood to Seaside, Oregon.  I think the exact quote was, "The least you can do for making me fly 3000 miles, get no sleep and abuse my body in that insane 2-day race is run this 50-miler with me!"  Well, OK...she had a point.  

Fast forward and there I was, listening to the veterans offer sage advice. I couldn't get over my good  fortune to be part of this well-rehearsed dance set in motion as soon as I said yes.  Anna Bradford and Jim Ashworth took care of everything, including mailing my application, placing me on a team, reserving a block of hotel rooms, assigning my crew, posting every imaginable detail on the website, and even arranging a massage team specifically for Reston Runners at the finish.  Their dedication ensured we were undoubtedly the best informed and prepared group in this event.  We were also the best fed; with several pot luck supper meetings, Donna Rostant's Italian meal at the Hagerstown Pizza Hut, and Bill Van Antwerp & crew's BARF (Breakfast After Running Far) on Sunday November 20th.  All I had to do was run my fall marathon and show up on time, uninjured.  Oh, and I couldn't forget to wear the prized and highly visible Reston Runners JFK50 yellow singlet.  

Ellen, Rory, an ultra and "hash" runner from New Jersey, and I had Marlyssa Karcz and Stuart Schept as our talented crew.  Marlyssa ran JFK last year and Stuart had crewed before, so their experience was invaluable.  We were humbled by their unwavering  good spirits as these two took time off work, drove through rotten traffic to Hagerstown, paid the expense to stay overnight, got up at 4am and carried our supplies around all day in the cold.  Crewing for the JFK puts new meaning into the word volunteer!  They showed up exactly where they said they would meet us;  helping us with our gear, food and offering  words of encouragement.  Marlyssa also ran a total of 16 miles with Ellen and me. She entertained us with childhood stories, newsbits about other runners, and jokes long after the two of us had lost our sense of humor.  A nice by-product of this experience is getting to know fellow Reston Runners a little better. Prior to this, Stuart, a front-of-the-pack runner, was only recognizable to me as a blur when he dashed by on the Sunday runs.  He became an integral part of our team and we really enjoyed sharing the weekend with him.   

Decidedly cold with temperatures in the low-mid 20s, we had several layers to peel off as the day warmed.  After greetings, pictures and a meeting in the gym, we strolled down to the start, laughing and joking  with other runners about being "comrades in pain".  We should have moved faster because we completely missed the gun start and it was 7:04am before crossing what we think was the start line.  Yikes!  Already 4 minutes in the hole!  

The Appalachian Trail was even more technical and treacherous than we had envisioned.  We felt like billy goats prancing and jumping along, often side to side, frustrated by the roots, rocks and leaves.  Just the mental focus required was exhausting.  I'm not yet convinced I'll ever become a trail-running aficionado.  The AT had a final laugh on me with a 1+ mile stretch of steep switchbacks before spitting  Ellen and me out onto Weverton Cliffs crew stop.  It took a whopping 3hrs 45min to navigate the minefields on the trail and ensure we didn't ruin it with a bad fall.

Al Rider, "Coach Al", pointed out we were far behind the group and would have a terrible time making anything close to our goal of 10 hours unless we picked up the pace.  He had our potential pegged and wanted us to fulfill it.  At every crew stop, Al took a minute to evaluate, having tracked many of the group with charts and timers.  It wasn't pretty.  We even caught him driving parallel to us as we were running toward a crew stop on the C&O Canal.  How did we notice he was there?  Well, he was honking his horn, flailing his arms out the window and shouting "HURRY UP!"  Walking at that point  wasn't an option.  With our pride exposed, we took the bait.

We were actually happy to finally be in control of our pace and relieved we hadn't expended too much energy fighting the trail.  Ellen and I were absolutely in-sync that day.  We had agreed to separate if one was feeling better than the other, but the issue never came up.  Big bonus!  The ubiquitous yellow singlets seen along the route, the familiar faces of various crew  members and John Nusbaum and John Koss on bikes to assist were welcome reminders that we were part of a huge group effort to reach that finish.

For fuel, we noshed along the way.  No time to eat more than a small handful of food at each stop.  I  most liked the pretzel nuggets, GU, Gatorade and occasional chunk of banana at the aid stations.  At crew stops, a bit of soup, a couple bites of salted potatoes, Cliff Shot Gel Blocks (we saw for the first time at the Marine Corps Marathon Expo), orange slices, Succeed capsules and ibuprofen tablets kept me upright and moving in a forward direction.  As with many 1st timers, neither Ellen nor I had ever run farther than 26.2 miles in one day.  We had to respect the distance and hope catastrophe didn't strike down the road.  Amazingly, aside from a couple runners who had bad falls on the trail, we didn't observe in others any sudden and severe distress like I'd seen before in marathons.  I just saw determination.   

Trail marker 84.  Time to confront the last section of the race.  I was thinking 8.4 miles of rolling asphalt hills would be low on my list of favorites.  I wouldn't use "rolling" to describe the first hill.  We strained our necks backward to view the top.  Whoa!  Once surmounted, we recognized the change in terrain was actually a good thing.  Al told us to run, not walk the hills in the last section and, save that first one, we did.  It felt like eons of time passed between each 1-mile marker, and there were not enough aid stations along this last stretch.  We didn't need food, we needed liquid.  Toward the end, Marlyssa, who was running the last few miles with us, saw our distress and ran up to a car and asked for water.  No luck.  Then she ran ahead and asked a runner to share his Gatorade, which he graciously offered.

By mile 43, Ellen and I recognized that "if the wheels didn't fall off the wagon," we would clench a sub-10hour finish.  That was unthinkable earlier in the race.  This motivated us to keep it steady, reciting the mantra  Relax...Power...Glide in our heads.  One last crew stop around mile 46 came with cheers and flashing cameras.  Hank Schonzeit took a  picture of us rounding the turn with Al Rider breaking out of the crowd to give us an extra cheer of congratulations.  The photo remarkably captures the moment.  I would venture to guess that not many other runners that day would count mile 46 as real highlight.  It was for us because Ellen and I knew we were home free.  The finish 4 miles later was exhilarating and emotional, and I'll never forget it.  

So...was the initial sales pitch correct"?  Definitely YES for 2 of the 3 statements.  I would, however, debate the statement about being easier than a marathon...