JFK 50 Week 18 of 18

DINNER

The dinner was wonderful. I made it all the way to the hotel (490 miles) only to get turned around and semi lost the last 2 miles. On the way I drove through a horrible snowstorm, slippery, wet snow and I started to do some mental meteorology scenarios and figured the worse case scenario was snow on the AT, and as slow as I am it would translate to slippery and muddy. It turned out not to be the case as I drove the rest of the way in some sunshine and a few clouds. But it was a lot colder than I have been used to. I got to packet pick up, went back to the hotel to change, and I saw Mike and his family on the way to a store and then to dinner. I knocked on Chris' door- but no answer. While I was down in the lobby getting ready to leave him a note he came in and we ended up going to the dinner together. It was the best ever to meet everyone! It's hard to put it all in words, but there really can be so much caring and joy about people you have a connection with but haven't ever met in person. It just proves our physical beings don't define who we are but our spirits and personalities will and that's how we have built on these friendships to create a family, a caring community that extends across state lines and time zones. It was more like a reunion than a first meeting. Food was good. Rick gave me a beautiful picture frame which I will use to put out picture in. For most of us it was our first 50-miler so we asked Dave and Brian a lot of questions. I was back at the hotel before 9 and puttered around and slept not-so-great.

RACE MORNING: My start and DNF : (

I know Rick loves to eat big before an ultra so he had already scoped out a breakfast place, a 24-hour Denny's where we were to meet at 5 am. I had my coffee and some pancakes and bacon with Mike, Rick, Chris, Jerry and Wanda. I might add at this point that Jerry looked dressed to run. In a way I was soooooo hoping he was going to try, and in another way not. Rick left to go back and change and we went on to the start. It was a 15 minute drive and pretty neat to see the line of cars in front of us and back of us. We got to the school and had to park waaaay out in a playground area. In the gym I found Angus just as he was taking down his Traildawgs flag. He's just as upbeat and enthusiastic as I expected him to be. He introduced me to several people whose names I will never remember. I hope they all had good days. Angus had a stellar race. Dave, too. We all walked to the start, a reported 900 yards, but I'll bet the farm it was significantly longer. I started out very slow as I only wanted to get onto the trail portion without my calf hurting too badly. Tom caught up with me and told me he saw Lynda and Dave. I had seen Dave and he took my picture.

I felt certain that once I was on a softer surface I had a shot at a finish. My nerves really messed with my breathing and heart rate, so I slowed a bit more and Tom took off on his own. Soon I was at the big hill onto the trail and my calf started to bother me. Ugh. I could hear the sweep vehicle behind me. But I got on the trail, and immediately felt better. It was more of a dirt utility road, easy to run. It wasn't long before I was at the first aid station, but I was 10 minutes slower than I wanted to be. Here we start on what I referred to an an asphalt mountain. It was a long long hill and before long every step hurt. It was so discouraging, only me and some guy in front who kept doubling back to shout out stupid questions. I kid you not. He finally turned around and went back to the aid station. I later learned that they pulled him out there. Apparently he was convinced he went the wrong way. Not soon enough I was back on the trail which at this point is rockier with some runnable areas. I did the best I could, but ran out of time and got pulled from the race by the official at the 9.3 aid station/checkpoint. They were so nice, told me to be sure to come back next year and made sure I had a ride to the next checkpoint to meet up with Jerry and Wanda and Dave and Lynda. I made the 'walk of shame' to the sag wagon with my head up high. I tried. The ends of my hair had ice on them. Frost on my fleece collar. Fleece is awesome, wet and frozen, I was still warm. So one good thing was that I had dressed correctly. Too bad it didn't matter for more than a few hours. I still have time to work on my hardcore-in-pink persona.

CREW REPORT:

I got to the Weverton area, which ends the AT portion. It was an electric and exciting atmosphere. I saw Jerry and Wanda and hated to tell them I was out, and they offered to bring me anywhere I wanted to go. I had an old (thin) pair of workout pants and a hoodie at the start in my car, so after we saw everyone go by we made a quick detour to my car. At Weverton we saw Mike, who told me how hard the second section of the AT was. We saw Chris and then Rick and Tom. Then off to my car and onto mile 27.

At the next point we were on the Towpath. We missed Mike but saw Chris, Tom and Rick. Again the atmosphere was so exciting, so many out there supporting their families and running clubs helping their members. Each time we would see Dave and Lynda, too. We also saw the same runners over and over. It was really heartwarming and helped take the sting out of my day. Jerry and Wanda are a true match made in Heaven. She was the navigator and got us to where we needed to be. At each checkpoint we waited and saw that Tom, Chris and Rick were okay and had what they needed. Chris looked good every time we saw him. As it got later and longer Rick looked like he was in pain from a recent hip injury. That was at the Aqueduct I think, but the next time we saw him he looked better and stronger. Tom was the epitome of steady pacing. Seeing him and Jerry at each checkpoint made me teary eyed. They are true brothers in spirit. Dave took good care of Lynda and went on to the finish while we went to the last checkpoint at mile 46. It was dark- cold- and we were so happy to see Rick and then Tom knowing the next time would be at the finish line. The drive to the finish with the line of reflective vests on the side of the road was humbling. I will never forget what that looked like.

The finish line was our last stop. I saw the guy from Frankfort, KY finish. He spotted me on the Towpath, so I was delighted that he finished.
We saw Rick first, and then Tom. When Tom pulled out the letter from Scott I almost cried. He took Scott with him...a symbolic act that no matter what we never leave our children.

I had dinner with Jerry and Wanda and slept okay.

The crewing experience was awesome. I got to take part in something much bigger than my DNF. Although now I'm left with the memory of the poor performance, having had a part in everyone else's race day was worth it.

I love you guys, too.