By Brian Mayer
I would like to start of my race report
with the fact that running, AND completing the Holiday Lake 50k++ was one of the
most amazing experiences I have ever had. I
was a Boy Scout all my life and have always been involved with High Adventure
activities whether it be through scouting or with friends.
My 10-day backpacking trip on Philmont Scout Ranch may have been the only
thing that could compare.
As the story goes, I have this friend.
His name is Michael Stratton. And
I think he’s absolutely insane. That
maybe the beginning of the story for about 9 or so of my other friends who were
coaxed into this race by Michael but he got us all in different ways.
I was a high school runner. In
HS I ran the mile. That’s one
mile. Four times around a track in
under 5 minutes. No aid stations or
water breaks necessary.
When I came to Virginia Tech I knew I
would be able to enjoy the outdoors especially coming from a place like New
Jersey. Although I consider myself
to know the outdoors as well as anyone I don’t think any of my friends at Tech
could even imagine a kid from Jersey knows what a deer looks like.
Since I wasn’t able to join the track team in college I decided to try
something new. Triathlons sounded
like a good idea. I jumped into the
sport and am now very active in our Cycling team as well as do many Duathlons
and an occasional triathlon.
This was great for me because “I Love
to Run,” and I am sure many of you understand the fact that there are just
times when you feel stressed out and life is getting to you and you know it’s
because it’s been a couple weeks since you’ve ran.
So you lace up your running shoes, find a nice quiet trail, and just RUN.
Greatest feeling in the world. Don’t
know what I would do without it. That’s
the way I will always feel. When
you’re running through the woods breathing in that fresh of cool crisp air it
just soothes your mind and let’s you relax.
And after you’ve finished you have not only the sense of accomplishment
and fitness but an eased mind and body. You
can now stand going back to the hectic world we live in and maybe make it a few
more days until your next run.
Well now I’m at Tech still running and
racing and I hear about this kid (Michael Stratton) who does something called
Adventure Races. Me being the
outgoing and adventurous guy I am can’t wait to meet him.
So I end up talking to him online one night at about 2 am and he’s
telling me all about these races. Little
did I know they were so intense. Basically
24 hours of beating your body until it won’t move anymore.
He even begins to tell me about Ultra-runs and how they were great
training for adventure races. (This
is when I realized Michael was crazy. It
took me all of I’d say about 10 minutes.)
Well me being a middle distance runner don’t even want to hear about
anything called an Ultra-run. I had
NEVER done a race longer than 5 miles. I
believe my exact words were:
“I would never do something like that
in my lifetime. I don’t even
wanna do a marathon as a teenager.”
Well I should have been careful what I
said. To move the story along I not
only ended up doing a 12-Hour Adventure Race this past fall but I also became
good friends with this kid who was willing to put me through so much torture.
I guess I found something in common when he told me that he owes
everything to Virginia Tech Engineering. He
said the work he puts in through all hours of the night is the best training for
him. This was the same with me.
I don’t remember the last time I went to bed before 12 am especially on
a school night.
Days and months passed and about 1 month
ago after I returned from a winter break where I had just began to get back into
running and swimming I’m talking to Michael and he tells me:
“Hey, you’re gonna run a race
in February called the Holiday Lake 50k++ with a bunch of us.”
“Are you crazy I could never run
a race that long in my life, I just couldn’t, and plus I’m too young.”
I just laughed and figured he’d forget about it and didn’t really
expect me to do it. Later on I’m talking to him again and he asks me about the
race and if I’ve signed up. I say
no and figure I could appease him and at least ask the date. To which he replies February 12.
I laugh and say “Yeah, uhhh that’s my
20th birthday.” My
words are coming back to haunt me
Ok so now I’m turning 20 on race day and I no longer have my too young
excuse. I ask him some more about
the race and find out that the race is fairly flat and all on trails.
This is probably the most appealing thing I’ve heard about the race.
I hate roads and so do my legs. So
I start to think about it and figure since it is my birthday am I just gonna sit
around and let all of my friends do this or am I actually gonna do something.
Well I decide to be a man and sign up for the race.
This was it. I was signed up. No backing out.
I figure if anything goes wrong at least I’ve got a bunch of friends to
run with. I had now had a 10 mile
race under my belt and completed an Olympic distance triathlon which consist of
a 10k run. I figured the 10 miler
was at least something. I was going
into this with about 5 other people that had probably never raced more than a 5k
so I knew I would at least have them.
So training for this race was not going to be too hard considering it was
only 2 weeks away. I figure I get
in a few long runs in a couple days in a row to kind of beat my legs up and then
take about a week off to have them rested for the race.
No reason to run the week before the race since you’re just tiring your
legs out. I wanted to get the most
out of my legs. I was going to
finish, not for time. I ended up
getting in 3 long runs, one of which was cut short because I had a drink or two
or more the night before and decided not to eat anything for 20 hours but still
figured I could go out and run 15 miles. Well
that ended up being a 7 mile run and 7 mile walk.
The worst run I had ever had in my entire life.
I learned my lesson. Food
and energy is SOOO important to your performance.
This ended up being a very important run even though I barely ran.
As I was walking I decided that I would take advantage of every aid
station on the course. I was not
going to get dehydrated or experience what I had just experienced all too well.
The next week was a complete rest week.
One run on Wednesday for 40 minutes was all I needed.
The race was quickly approaching and my group of friends were anxiously
and nervously awaiting the race. I
do remember one of my conversations that week with Michael and another friend
who ran the race.
“Hey, Michael, so what’s the ++ for”
“Oh, that just means there are an extra few miles.”
I don’t think we said anything. By
now we had come to expect it and figured we’re already running 31 miles, why
not run a few more. Michael was
beginning to rub off on us.
So Friday night came and our group of 11 (2 of which had run ultra-runs,
2 others had run a marathon) left for Holiday Lake.
The fact that we had a whole group made the trip exciting and we were all
anxious to see everyone else race so we weren’t worried about ourselves as
much. That unity was very important.
People were drinking gallons of water on the way up, which made for
plenty of pit stops, as well as fueling up on things like energy bars and peanut
butter. When we got to the race
site it was dark. I remember
thinking to myself and then letting others know that we would be racing before
we saw the sun again. I don’t
think they all appreciated that as much as I had hoped.
Now all the anxiety and nervousness was building into excitement.
I was about to run a 34 mile race on my birthday.
What could be better? We
were all greeted happily by a smiling face at the Registration desk.
That smiling face would be something I would get very used to.
David Horton has that same way of making things sound better than they
are that Michael did. I now realize that it is contagious and I have become one of
them.
Well we stocked up on food and water and got our pre-race pep talk from
Dave who put our minds at ease about some things.
He was so glad to see us all down there from Tech.
I think Michael made his year by getting us all to run this race.
David definitely has a love for the sport and I think he loves it most
when he sees others with this common fondness.
This continued to boost our spirits.
Well the rest of the night went as planned except when I made one
mistake. After hearing about the
Fat-boy race I figured I’d step on the scale just to see what I was at.
I figured I wouldn’t be anywhere near 200 but still see.
Boy was I shocked when I saw 198 pounds.
Granted I wasn’t wearing the lightest clothes (jeans and a jacket) but
that still was a lot. When I told
my friends they got all excited and said I had to “do it.” And when they
said “do it” they meant drink 2 more pounds of water after stuffing myself
full of pasta, salad, and brownies. This
was not an easy task but they were not about to let me leave that room weighing
less than 200 pounds. Well after
reweighing at 199.9 I came in last at 200.8.
Wow, I was a fat boy. Not
something I’d ever thought I’d be proud of but who knows.
I figured this is my first ultra run maybe I could win something or at
least be one of the first fatboys to come across.
Well after eating all that it was time to
turn in. We all got a cabin and set
our alarm clocks for 2am. Yes 2am.
We just happened to read in a magazine at dinner that the best time to
eat before a long run is 4 hours prior. We
did the math so figured we’d try it. After
a few hours of sleep we all woke up had some bagels, bread, energy bars,
bananas, and anything we could get our hands on, went to the bathroom and then
back to sleep. Resetting my alarm
clock I asked Michael if 5 oclock was a good time.
“5 oclock?????
What are you gonna do for 90 minutes.”
“Warm-up”
Still have a milers mind set
“You’ll have 33 miles to warm
up tomorrow, you’re not gonna warm up before the race.”
So I took his word and went back to
sleep. At 530 we all woke up to our
friend David’s wake up call. The
time had come. The time we all had
been thinking about for the last few months or weeks.
Almost all of us were about to run the longest we had ever ran and we
were barely awake. After getting
dressed and warm we all grabbed something to eat and stretched out. As the time approached we stripped down to as little clothes
as we could stand and got ready to go. The
race began and it was now the beginning of a VERY long run.
After we got moving it was actually quite relaxing.
Running around that lake reminded me of why I ran.
It relieved my stress. I was
no longer worried about the race.
My goal was to go out at a good pace and
at least get through the first 17 miles in a good time and I’ll be able to
manage the last 17 somehow. I
started out running with the two ultra runners and 2 marathoners and I then I
took off. I later found out that
after I left they said to themselves that they figured they’d see me in about
3 miles after I had begun to die. What
little faith they had. Luckily that
wasn’t the case. After bidding
them a good race I left them behind. I
told them I’d see them at the turnaround.
I figured if I could make it to the turnaround in a decent time I could
take a nice 10-15 minute break stretch and find someone to run with.
Well the first half of the race was amazing. I was flying. I
remember going by each aid station and seeing David and hearing him tell me I
was going too fast and I better slow down.
I just looked at him, smiled and told him, I would be fine. Each time I saw him I had added confidence that I was going
to make it to the turnaround in great time.
I actually came to the point where I felt so great and was having such a
great time that I right then and there decided I was going to do this some race
in a year. I hadn’t even finished
this one and was already planning out the next one.
Well the miles were going by and I ended
up running and talking with a guy who found out was a professor at Towson
University. Hearing this I gave him
some names of kids I knew from there and who would have guessed that he had one
of my good friends from high school in one of his classes.
This was absolutely amazing. This
sealed the deal. Ultra-runs are
awesome. The first lap was coming
to a close and I was feeling great. As
I got closer and closer I would each time realize that I was going to have more
and more time to complete the second lap. I
figured hey if I get there in 2.5 hours that leaves 5 hours to do the other one.
My mind was still worried about finishing.
When I came to the lake in under 2 hours I realized what was happening.
I was actually doing really well. I
think someone had even told me that I was in 7th place.
This was a shock to me. I
was starting to think about not if I could finish but how fast I could finish.
Anyway I came into the turnaround just
over 2 hours and was ready for my break. I
got there grabbed a banana and started stretching.
Figured 15 minutes should be plenty.
Well about 3 minutes later David begins to tell me that I’ve been there
for two long and I needed to get going. I
was thinking to myself I still got 10 minutes left.
But he kept pushing and I guess the adrenaline from doing so well on the
first lap pushed me out of the turnaround.
It ended up being perfect timing because as I left another Hokie runner
was just coming in. I didn’t
really know Adam that well but he was doing great.
We ran together for a little bit and I began to realize I wasn’t going
to keep up that pace for much longer. Adam
slowly pulled away and I slowly fell back.
All while I was passing all my friends who all had smiling faces just as
I did when I was heading towards the turnaround.
I tried my best to look strong and not show the pain and tiredness I was
beginning to feel as they passed by. This
section of the trail was most definitely the hardest for me. The short steep hills were too much for my legs to handle.
I was beginning to be passed by others and couldn’t wait for the next
aid station and was taking short breaks to stretch and walk a few feet.
I had been making full use of all the aid stations as I had promised,
grabbing some conquest and water at each one, as well as eating my own Gu and
storing up on endurolytes. When I
got to the next aid station I was greeted by a bunch of college age girls.
Probably the worst idea considering I didn’t want to leave in the first
place. They along with everyone
along the way were so uplifting and had every nice thing to say to help you move
along.
“You’re great number 88, doin
fine 79”
Those girls kept me going and I
thank everyone out there that helped. Without
them I would have not even made it past the first 17 miles.
I no longer had any energy left in my body or legs so it was all will
power and desire to finish. After
loading up on Ibuprofen and candy I left the girls and felt much better.
I was able to run with little discomfort and had my eyes set on the next
aid station. I was now done with
the toughest part of the race and just needed to keep moving.
I got to the next aid station just before one of my roommates who was
trying to catch up to me. He did
and I was able to go through the marathon mark with him which was quite exciting
for me. I had never run more than a
10 miler and I had completed my first marathon and did it with my friend.
Well the next aid station provided more Ibuprofen, candy and my new love
ICY HOT. This worked wonders.
After I left the station my legs felt like I hadn’t run at all and was
just warming up. What a great
feeling. Unfortunately it didn’t
last for long. After about two
miles I found myself again stretching and walking every 10 minutes.
I was still moving fairly fast but couldn’t stand to slow down.
I’ve never been a distance runner and just can’t handle going slow
sometimes. So I would run for a
while until my legs had enough, stretch walk for a minute and then keep going.
This would be my routine throughout the rest of the race.
I don’t know how ultra runners do it but I just couldn’t keep running
for that long. My body was in dire
need for something and I had to give it that little break every once in a while.
I knew I was slowing down and my breaks were getting closer and closer.
As I went through the last two stations I fueled up and got my icy hot
and moved along my way. The
volunteers continued to be great. There
were plenty of words of encouragement and all the faith in us and our ability to
finish in addition to any help we needed. Again
I say the volunteers are the most important part of us runners finishing that
race. I couldn’t have done it
without them. Well after being told
I was in 10th place I had no idea what to think.
I was just overjoyed that I was still running and occasionally felt good
enough to do so. I ended up picking
up the pace a little downhill to the lake but knew what was awaiting me when I
got there. All those short hills
that felt so good in the beginning of the race would feel much different this
time around. I had no strength to
make it up the inclines anymore and walked each of them.
I figured if I could keep up the pace when I was running I wouldn’t
slow down too much. So this is what
I did and I think those last two miles around the like were the longest two
miles I have ever ran. I knew I was
near the finish line but I wasn’t quite there.
Once I got to the pavement I knew I was home free.
As I stepped onto the pavement I opened my stride and again felt like the
sprinter I once was. This was the GREATEST and BEST 200 yards I have ever run.
I saw the finish line and as I passed through David not only
congratulated me on finishing but was astonished about how well I had done.
I was the kid who went out fast and was gonna die.
The kid who wanted to spend another 10 min at the turnaround when I was
already doin 7 minute miles. I saw
a complete change over the course. I
went from a kid who had no idea what he was doing, to a finisher of a 50k, to a
top ten finisher.
I thank everyone along that course,
the volunteers, the runners, the college girls at station 4, the guys playing
music in their car, the guy who massaged my leg with Icy Hot (whom I promised I
would not release his name), to my friends that cheered me on, and to that crazy
kid that made me run this race. I
went from someone who was just hoping to finish to someone who was going to
finish, to finishing in under 5 hours. I
ran my first 17 miles in under 7 minute pace, something I would have been happy
to do for 10 miles and then be done. And
as I sat on the other side of that finish line I saw the same person cross that
finish line every time. No matter
who you are, we all share the fact that we were finishers of that race.
Sure plenty of people train and work hard to run and finish a marathon,
but we were are an even smaller group. We
had just run over 34 miles, and we had done it together.
Every one out there made a difference.
We all endured that pain of heading out around the lake again and then 15
miles later seeing the finish line but having another 5-10 minutes left to go.
This certainly was a test of will and desire.
People don’t just go out and run 34 miles.
I don’t care if you’ve trained for months doing 20 mile runs on the
weekends. If you don’t have that
desire to run those last 2 miles you’re not gonna do it.
On of my own quotes is, “Motivation is all you need, the rest is
heart.” And everyone at Holiday Lake on February 12th was
my motivation and for that I am forever thankful.
As for what I did after the race, I was extremely happy to let everyone
know what I was so proud to accomplish, from fellow runners, to high school
coaches and teammates, to friends and family.
I will now always remember my 20th birthday as the day I
completed my first of MANY ultra-runs to come.
I hope to see you all next year. Let
the countdown begin.