I did my ninth JFK Saturday.

Rode up in the morning with long time club (RRers) members Jerry and Will, both of whom were crewing for another runner, Al. Everything went smoothly on the trip up there and we arrived in Boonsboro at about 10 to 6. I got my packet and started my preparations in the gym.

This is presumably an historic morning since it's the first time the race ever closed in fact closing about 2.5 months before race day.  The gym is packed with competitors and not a small number of bright yellow RRer team shirts.

With starting temps in the 30s I went with a long sleeve technical, short sleeve Yellow RRer technical, and the Annapolis striders vest from the 10 miler a couple year ago, shorts, light gloves and a light headband. The weather reports were favorable with some possibility of late showers which never materialized.

A trip to the port-a-potties outside (no line, the inside restrooms had lengthy lines) and I'm good to go.

Bang goes the starters pistol and off we go. About 3 miles of road (Alt 40) up South Mountain to the AT. There is the dilemma many of us face at this point. With 50 miles staring us in the face, how fast should we run up the "hill" in order to place ourselves where we want to be in the field? I personally do not like to be right behind other runners on the trail.  I want space to see where I'm going to run.  Weigh that against the need to preserve energy and strength for what is a long day. I ended up running aggressively reaching the AT at about 25 minutes after 7, this by limiting walk breaks running up the road to the ridge.

This year I made a strategic decision to be conservative on the AT having considered my previous history of being somewhat aggressive there and then paying a big price on the towpath. So I walked up anything that amounted to the slightest hill. I walked anything that involved rocks that were not conveniently flat. And so my usual JFK buddies Jim A and Jim B left me well
behind. I did get to share some trail with a number of other RRers including JFK vet Farouk and JFK virgin Tracey. Good times. I was very conservative on the last section before the switchbacks with all the rocks on edge. I also spent time with a 500 club member from Canada. Some people love JFK so much that they travel great distances at considerable expense to do this race!
Even my conscious decision to be conservative on the AT couldn't hold me back when I got to the switchbacks and the final downhill to Weverton.  Thankfully most all of the folks who had gone by me in the previous mile were willing to let me do my crazy runaway train imitation down the hill to the short section of road before the towpath.

Getting to this point is always an emotional lift as this is where RRers typically see the greatest number of the hordes of club support crews. I was a little surprised to see my good friend Russ serving soup. He was a late scratch from the race and I'm confident he will be back another year to be on the receiving end of the great support. I lingered long enough with my support guys to have Tracey catch me and her support crew had an extra potato that I was grateful to receive (Do you want a potato?, Do I? You bet!) Some banana and soup and I'm on my way to the real aid station where I grab potato chips, M&Ms, gatorade, whatever I can throw in my mouth quickly.  Or stuff in my vest pockets.

Onto the towpath. I really found that I did feel much better this year. In years past this is where I really began to drag and feel the toll of the previous miles. Not nearly so bad this year. Having run it 8 previous times, maybe I should have figured this out much sooner. Especially since the first year I went up and simply crewed, I observed the wisdom of this approach as executed by longtime RRer Steve F in his one and only JFK. Instead of being passed continuously by the field in general, I was stronger than most of the runners near me in the field. My preferred strategy on the towpath of running into aid stations and walking out of them was working well. My pace felt better and it was easier, both in terms of the actual running all the way to an aid station and perhaps even more noticeably, returning to running mode after walking.

I was able to keep mentally strong and positive in part by the presence of the great number of official race volunteers. Every time I got to an aid station, I made sure to express my appreciation for their efforts. The comments I received in reply became a well of strength to draw from. Tracy had passed me when I lingered at the 2 closely spaced stops before the towpath but I
now caught her and we shared a couple miles perhaps. Somewhere between miles 20 and 25 I remembered another well of strength to draw upon. I was carrying ibuprofen! Better running through chemistry :) I took my first 600 mgs along with perhaps my third Succeed cap (salt). We had also spent a little time walking with Alexis who was suffering with a bad knee which was what had reminded me about the NSAIDs I had. I could only talk him into  200 mgs and Tracey took a couple as well.  I had also read in Noke's  Lore of Running of the benefits of caffeine which I normally stay away from. Not this year, every aid station I took Coke as well as Gatorade. Once I had taken some ibuprofen, the effect perhaps more mental than real, I started  to run faster. Bye Tracey.  The distance between aid stations seem less than in years passed. I got to 27 and my crew, Bruce and Peter were all ready for me but I really didn't need much. I gave big hellos to all the various RR crews I saw. Peter inquired about running with me for a while. I had never run with him before but here he was, crewing for me, what could I say but "sure if you want to". The catch was he wasn't in his running clothes so as I left he took off for the car to change. I was re-energized and moving well. He finally caught me somewhere after the next aid station, ran with me for a while, then dropped off as I ran on towards the 38 special. I think I remember taking more ibuprofren there along with salt. I dumped my running belt and water bottle. It was time to get down to the business of finishing. But I still lingered perhaps longest there and walked the longest coming out of there spending some walk time with Ed's much better half Helen who generously agreed to try to call my own
much better half to warn her of my possibly earlier than expected finish.  Seems like by this time the field has thinned out considerably but I found myself running with a young lady who turned out as we talked and ran to be from NC and running her first JFK. I assured her that an under 10 (hour) finish was in the bag now it only being about 2:35 pm or so. My strategy at that
time was to go hard to the end of the towpath knowing that an extended walk up the hill out of the river valley was an excellent opportunity to recover. I didn't mention  this above but I had never run the "towpath marathon within the JFK" in under  5 hours and was determined to make this happen this time. In spite of the longer walk leaving 38, I began to build speed toward the end of the towpath and finished the towpath marathon in (rough guess) about 4:45-4:50. My walk breaks were more for social reasons than physical ones. Oh, I forget to include that I spent a little walking time with RunWash lister and JFK vet Toks at one point.

One big hill, 8 miles of road and this one is history. I kept thinking of a couple of our (RR) talented women who I still believed were behind me and told myself they were going to have to run really strong to beat me this year (like they had in 2006).
And I was really beginning to wonder and worry about Katherine who had started at 5. I caught her last year somewhere around 35. Did she drop? She was concerned about her training going into the race. I was running faster than last year. Hmm. Nothing to do but keep running and find out later. There was some brief ugliness on the roads and 1 or 2 cars indicated their personal displeasure at our being there by passing un-necessarily close. Then another time as I waved to express appreciation for a group of cars that was giving us plenty of room and going slow, the reply came as an angry yell and sarcastic suggestion that we should run on the freeway. Oh well. I'm sorry they don't have a little more tolerance for this thing that is happening in their midst.  It's not everyday you see nearly a thousand people out all trying to do something this hard or perhaps stupid in their view.

7, 6, 5, 4 miles to go. This is a great time in the race even though you're thoroughly exhausted. I managed to run what seemed to be pretty well only taking brief walk breaks and keeping my eyes forward for other bright yellow RR shirts that I might be able to catch. On my goodness. There's Katherine. 3 miles to go. She's had a really great day. We walk and chat briefly. She's not sure who those yellow shirts are in front of us, so I take off to try to find out. I catch them but they're not regular club folks who I know well. I had been keeping my eye on my watch when I got to the last 8 wondering if I could beat 9.5 hours but after walking some with Katherine, any chance had passed by me. Still I went feeling strong to the finish coming in at 9:33. Not a PR for me but a very satisfying day nonetheless. As I am greeted by some of my fellow  RRers like El Presidente Jim A, I see Lynn (my better half) and daughter, 10 year old Jacqui walking up. They missed seeing me finish by probably 2 minutes. Shoot. Oh well, It was still a great day. Doing the JFK50 ALWAYS makes for one of the best days of the year.

Big thanks to Bruce and Peter, my crew. Congrats to all who finished. It's really an amazing community of people who run, compete, and volunteer for the JFK50. Some Mont Co Running club folks had a shirt that said something about logic and common sense on it. Another shirt had the JFK quote about doing things because they are hard. Truth in all that.

Oh and I'm not sure if they delayed the awards ceremony since I was able to catch part of it including the award to Michael Wardian who ran an amazing 5:50, 4 minutes off the course record just 6 days after winning a marathon on the outer banks and 2 weeks after competing in the Olympic qualifier in NY where he led the field in the early stages. Favorable weather
contributed to a number of outstanding times at the front of the field.

Now if I could only find my race shirt. Not sure what happened to it.

One more year and I'm in the 500 club.