Subject: JFK 2001 Race Report Part One-Long and Dim! From: "john remington" Date: Mon, 19 Nov 2001 02:50:49 +0000 Hi Guys, As some are aware the OUS decided (thanks Jim!) to put a big presence into "America's Ultramarathon" this year to support those southerns and get to see a race rumoured to be class A! Burlington group was Joe Hewitt and Les Michalak and they can send their own report in as the rivalry between our two groups was intense! Kidding! Our group had numerous mad adventures most of which I cannot report for fear of legal retribution as a waiver was signed at the outset of the trip! Jim Morrison planned, executed, and delivered the greatest trip I have been on (Running catagory only, but I digress, again!!) for a very small price! The 12 seat van held the nine runners happily. The exclusion of women on the grounds of sex (they wouldn't put out for us anyway!!!) worked well as soon we all regressed to the natural state of maleness ie that of 8 years olds! (i CAN IMPLICATE THE ENTIRE GROUP BUT NOT INDIVIDUALS!) I hate caplock being sooo close to keyboard. Only Scott Myers and Rine Mulcher had done JFK before and Scott couldn't remember much so we used Ryne for our info. Big mistake!!! Ryne has done it twice before in times that are amazing (6:18 and ?) and told us that: (1)The toll path section is flat. Well it goes gently uphill for it entire length as some of us found out to our cost! It just seemed flat to the fast Ryne Melcher. (2)The trail isn't too bad. Well I fell badly at mile 8; Jim Morrison fell but landed on his hands; and Ryne fell badly enough to exit the race at mile 27.1. Trails were enough "to make Remington cry!" to use a quote from our missing John Culhane who skipped the party due to injury. However Ryne saved me from his error on the trails the year he was 4th in 6:18. When I was alone and hurtling across the mountains I saw the exact spot he had describe where he got lost costing him a ton of time and I would have done the same except I had been clued in. Thanks dude. So the race.... 7am start went well but was cold. Also it starts with a 6 mile section that has an elevation gain of 1,600 feet. Yes 17%. SEVENTEEN! FOR SIX MILES. Ryne ran with me giving me last minute tips like "This road is going up! It was flatter last time!" He also carried a big US flag for the first 10 miles or so. At the first downhill I kicked away from him (not that I will be able to do that for much longer!) until the next small Everest like climb. Then there is Ryne next to me after pushing his early pace to reach me again for another great tip "Go hard on the tow path!". Then we are into this race. 2.7 miles after the start we turn into the trail and climb and climb and climb. Single track which is worse than any part of any Ontario ultra. My mantra is "Keep calm, Keep focused" which sounds fine but my glass keep fogging up. Now I hate racing on trails but I am finding myself getting excited and catching group after group. My starting mile was 7:05 on steep uphill but about 100 runners went faster than that! I am with the two lead women for a long time until I break them and zoom along. Later I decide I need to pooh due to the diet we had been enjoying on the route to Maryland (see later section "the Trip" I have done it that way so you who wish race info without the personal bs can cut the ct!). I dash along like a bloodhound on Guinness. Crash! Down goes Johnny but I roll onto my right side like the true ultradude I am. Well the rocks are vertical and I ain't rolling. Sometings gone real wrong with me. The blood pouring down my knee doesn't faze me. I push soil into the wound until it stops (I am an ICU trauma nurse so don't waste the effort!!) bleeding but my right thigh feels a bit tight. Like burning. "Sod it! I said I would race until I died and I am not dead yet!". Off I gimp into the awesome forest so well filmed in Blair Witch and soon see another runner ahead who it is my mission to pass and vanquish. Well I do and I hit the downhill before a "gap" (there's two). I think its Cumberland?! Now when healthy I like downhills and today I feel healthy so I fly down passing a few runners on the impassible single track. You go really, really fast and shout "On your left but don't move!" They flinch and you lift both legs off the ground and zoom past them using long jump and hurdling skills. This works but I do not recommend it for the sane. Into the Gap and a huge crowd roar for me as I shout "Good Morning America" in my best British accent. I am wearing New Balance Toronto gear with Canadian flags added. Most of the US runners are very heavily flagged. Out and up the hill and its 33 minutes elapsed time so I have a GU gel. Then I hear another roar and I know the women are in hot pursuit again! Whoever said women should be allowed to race more than 200 metres! JOKE. We trade places until I blow them off again and finally start the famed unrunnerable boulders section. I hop and skip and mostly run it thanking my stars it is dry and my NB904s are like gloves. Now I have heard tale of the switch back section before the tow path where you decend down a cliff face. Didn't give it much credence. There suddenly as a great small soil path ahead of me with no rocks. Zoom! Zoom! I hit the switch back and run right off the trail into a tree and so avoid death. Then I think "down" "DOWN" "DOWN!" and I fly again like the Peter Pan I am down the switch backs that the other two runners are stopped at stepping cautiously over the boulders as they try to get down safely. Onto the tow path and my legs feel really wobbly. I plan 7:30 mile pace which I hit briefly until I feel the incline up and up and up the gravel strewn tow path. Better relax as finishing is the thing. Then I am running strange splits. The Tow Path mile markers are inaccurate! You go from 60 to ?83 miles on the tow path. Its beautiful and the few cyclists are often seen gazing out at the majestic river. I am staring at the incline and feeling a bit tired. Actually I feel like death and its getting worse. Not very encouraging with 27 miles to go! Somehow I keep going and using other runners to pull me past them or try to hold with them for a bit. Running to each of the frequent aid stations becomes the goal. Then to each mile marker and then it DECIDE TIME!. I believe there is a point in all races where you decide to race or to fold. Mine came at about 30 miles. I decided to run and run I did. I took all who came to me and all who past me into my running support team. I talked them to death and I got myself back in to the race. My mile split went from 11:15 to 7:45. I held this for the next ten miles and kept focused. People came past me and I past people but my whole "self" was engaged in moving ahead as fast as I could. Then I see Mike Samarelli again. Mike drove the whole day and supported us all as we covered the 50.2 miles and was a totally awesome supporter. The dedication he showed for helping our group of crazies will give him much personal success in next year's OUS! Again he takes a picture of me using Gord England's camera. Hope I look better than I feel! Mike says "you are moving great!" and I reply "I feel like Shit!" and he says "you look great and are killing this course!". Cool support and it helps a ton. He has no doubts and I can borrow his conviction as I sorely need help right now! Next aid station and there's Mike (of course) and Ryne (Oh shit!). I stop running. I am really starting to like these aid stations! I say "what happened?". Ryne points to his legs and says he fell and had to drop. I say "Look at my leg. Its worse and I am still running!" I then sweep off up the tow path. Of course I immediately realise what I horrible thing I have said. During these events our words often are without any caring as our total ego is bent to our task to achieve our goal. Ryne's JFK career is one of my motivators and his dropping (sensibly) challenged my decision to keep running (stupid!). He's a great JFKer and I have just insulted him and in a mean way. I get it out of my mind and focus on the painful forcing up the towpath. (EGO!). Next aid station there's the two guys offering me no sign of my offense and giving me total attention. Its too late to really say sorry but I mumble something and ask for a beer at the next aid station as I am getting desparate and the is TWELVE MILES TO GO!. Onward I go and then Laura Nelson is again at my side. "Strong run" I say. Like Duh! She says nothing but moves around me. Duh! I should have moved! The effort she is expending is total. She is a mask of effort and pain. She is also kicking my butt! 7:12 Laura finishes and gets her fourth crown at JFK. Stunning! Well that is about it with this long tale. I get off the Tow Path and dring a beer at 42 miles. I run 9 minute mile pace for the next 8 miles which takes more effort than I wish to remember. I pass and I am passed but we all talk and share this moment. We are making JFK history as we are in the top 25!!! 44 mile aid station and I want another beer. Time to front load! They radio ahead to the 46 mile station to have beer for runner 273. 18 minutes later I enter the aid station and no beer. "Wait until the end!" I am told. Dear God have these Americans never heard of pity?! And then the golden boy of Canadian ultrarunning says "Remington here is your Bud!". The adonis is wearing orange and holding out an opened can of Bud next to the local Sherrif. I cry "Havoc" and grab the can and start drinking as I race away from the Sherriff at my 9 minute mile speed. I don't hear the bullet but then everything goes black! TO BE CONTINUED NEXT WEEK....... Just kidding for those who are still there. Hey! You are ultrarunners, right? I quaff my beer and the amazed Yanks (oops! South of Mason Dickson line!) ... the amazed Southerns shout "He's drinking beer and running!" Trust me gentle folks I need much more practise before I perfect that skill. On I run and soon I am finished in a 62 minute pb at 50 mile. However JFK is 50.2 miles so does it count as a real 50 miler? Just kidding! I cross the line to the announcement that I am from Quebec. Must have been the smell of the Bud! Or do they really think we are all from the country of Quebec? I look for Ryne and Mike and they are not there to capture my moment. I lie on the ground in my singlet feeling like death and the RD ambles over to tell me my countryman Clark Zealand was htird. I say "never heard of him. Where's he from?" Off goes the RD without a reply. Answers on the back of a $50 note to the new ACU President!(American money only please!). 50 minutes go by. I enter the desolate gym so crowded that morning and eat Twinkies as the chicken seems to be made of meat. Out I go again and lie prostrate in the sun praying that the boys hurry up so my warm clothes come to the finish line before I die. Then there's Mike and Ryne who again minister to my every need and run around helping me. I then get to see the finish of them all and even run down the chute to let many of the lads finish JFK carrying US flags and Bud. Funny how they all took the Bud can first! So the unofficial was : Michael Samerelli Key to our team! John Remington finished happy and look it up if you care. It drops next year. (EGO!). Joe Hewitt 7:55 Les Mickalak 8:10 Jim Morrison & Scott Myers tie at 8:49. Who carried who? Howie Parker finishes just behind them in 8:49. He would have finished faster except that he had his "mule" undertrained! Gord England 9:08:28 (the only one who knew the seconds!) Gord was annouced as the "All American Boy" as he finished taking a long drink of Bud and waving his American flag! He had Howie's supplies! John Turner 9:55 He won the Nike watch for the most accurate prediction of his finish time. He was ten minutes off. I was 24 minutes off and in second place. No watches for second! John Radcliffe 10:47 He didn't know the rest of us and now really, really does! He said he'd take 12 hours so was the most away from winning the watch! Ryne Melcher DNF 27.1 milesRyne supplied the Nike goodies for us all and the watch. Still does not excuse the sheep! John Culhane DNS Injured. Fancy betting me a 2-4 on the 2002 race? So The Verdict: Some races have big reputations but don't deserve them. Such is JFK. It has a legendary reputation but its reality is so much greater than it's reputation. Do it. It is awesome. We all think its harder than the Haliburton Forest 50 Miler except for Joe and Les. So do both of them! (see http://ous.kw.net) Stay with the program and you'll get results. Never, ever run so hard you can hear your breathing in the first 50% of any ultra and listen for your breathing! I kept it calm and I kept the pace down when I dearly wanted to crank it out. Paid me a 62 minute PB! If you walk in the first 5 miles of an ultra because it hurts too much to run then you are on a really steep hill so don't get uptight about it. Sometimes we all walk. Its natural! Laura did and the other woman who was just ahead did not! Good night and I am now heading for the tub! Cheers, John