Well it’s been a few months in the making; but, I can
finally call myself an Ultra-trail runner! I just finished the Batona Trail 50K;
but, before I tell you about the race, here’s how I got to this point. I’ve
been interested in ultra-marathons for a few years; but, I really didn’t get
the urge to run one until my friend Jon asked me to pace him at the Burning
River 102 Miler this past July. I was surprised he asked me since other than
running in the mountains near Colorado Springs in February and the Santa Monica
Mountain Range in March my training, if you want to call it that, had consisted
mainly of 3-5 mile Hashruns (still does). I’m glad I was quick to say “Yes”
because if I had really thought it over I should’ve said no, I just wasn’t prepared.
Jon said he needed me to run through the night with him for the final 26 miles.
Now in my mind I remember thinking wholly crap I haven’t gone that far in
years; but, I shrugged off my doubts and agreed. I did warn him though that I
couldn’t promise anything other than I’d try. I’m so glad I did. It was a great
experience. I monitored his food and hydration intake as we went, made sure he
urinated regularly, and tried to keep his mind off the miles with stupid jokes
and stories. I’d refill his bottles at the aid stations and send him on his way
before filling mine and then sprinting to catch up. Mile after mile I observed
and learned from Jon and the others runners we came across. When we arrived at
the finish line I peeled off to the side so he could cross the line on his own.
Although other pacers went across with their runners, I didn’t feel right as I
had only ran the last 26 miles not the full 102. That finish line was his, not
mine. My finish line was yet to come.
(Leaving the last aid station at Burning River)
After that weekend, Jon and another friend, Dong, kept
encouraging me to sign up for an ultra, filling my mind with visions of my own
finish line experience. So, on a whim I signed up for the hilly Mountain
Madness 50K being held on September 23rd in Ringwood, NJ. It’s part
of the NJ Trail Series found on https://sites.google.com/site/njtrailseries/. I
set up a training plan to prepare for the race and everything. Then along came Hurricanes
Harvey and Irma that put an abrupt stop to that as I began pulling 12-16 hour
response shifts. I ran a grand total of 22 miles spread over three runs prior
to race day. Being the stubborn male that I am, I ran the race anyways. I
figured its only 50K, right? I felt great on race day as I toed the starting
line. The race director, Rick McNulty, briefed us on the race markings, said go
and off we went. The Mountain Madness 50k is a three loop course, with the
middle being the longest. I finished the first loop feeling great and running
strong. I grabbed some snacks and refilled my bottles quickly getting back on
course in just over a minute. Everything was going great until around mile 16
or 17 when I fell on a short but steep downhill and jammed my left Achilles. I
felt a pain I hadn’t felt since I tore the tendon a few years back so I made
the decision to walk the remaining few miles back to the start. I told myself
there would be plenty of other days to run. So I took my time limping back and
taking pictures of my beautiful surroundings. Even though I dropped at mile 24.7
I had a great time there, experienced some great trails, and gained some
humility along the way. In the past the idea of dropping from a race had never
crossed my mind but I knew that I had made the right decision. I’ll return to
Mountain Madness next year and I will have my redemption.
So this brings me to this past weekend’s Batona 50K/50M. The
Batona 50M is a point-to-point, mostly single-track trail that runs along the
entire 53.4 miles of the Batona Trail from its northern trailhead at Ong’s Hat
to its southern most terminus in Bass River throughout the New Jersey Pine
Barrens. I opted to run the 50k option that ends at historic Batsto Village. Due
to this being a point-to-point race the distances are slightly longer due to
available parking locations. The Batona 50K is actually 34 miles and the 50M is
actually 53 miles. It was a frigid 20 degrees as we gathered at Ong’s Hat for
our 6am start. With headlamps on we headed immediately into a thick
single-track windy section. I run and hike the Batona a lot so I was able to
warn the group I was with when a couple tricky turns were about to come. While
the Batona is very well marked with pink blazes the entire length, it’s very
easy to be memorized by the surrounding beauty and miss many of the turns. I
heard after the race that a bunch of runners had missed turns along the way and
had to back track. The group I was running with arrived at Pakim Pond (mile 8)
in 1:20:00. I knew that was too fast but it felt really good. Plus, if I
followed logic I wouldn’t had been there in the first place with such little
training (actually none). I reached the half-way point (17miles) in 3:03:07
still feeling really good. I remember thinking, “This 50K stuff is easy”. I
arrived at the Carranza aid station (21.5miles) in just over 4 hours still
feeling great. I stopped to refill my water bottles and have a couple cups of
warm chicken noodle soup. That’s when the lack of training hit me. Around mile
22 my right hamstring knotted up and from that point until Quakers Bridge area
around mile 28. Even though I walked nearly 6 miles my slowest mile was 18:10.
After replacing my front water bottle with the one in my pack and a quick snack
I was able to combine a slow run with the walking for the remaining 6 miles arriving
at the finish in 7:26:10 (13:14/mile pace). According to my Garmin my total
moving time was 7:13:36 (12:52/mile moving pace). I placed 6th out
of the 12 that completed the 50K. The funny thing is that neither the time nor
the place actual matter to me; I finished and that was my primary goal. I did
have a secondary goal of finishing under 8 hours so I actually achieved both
goals! So after 2 attempts I finally got my own finish line and like Jon at
Burning River a huge smile of achievement and relief came across my face. After
warming up in my car I drove over to the Evan’s Bridge aid station at mile 43.1
and then to the finish so I could cheer on my fellow Pineland Striders who were
running the full 53 miles. I like to thank all the wonderful volunteers that
came out to shuttle runners to the start so our cars would be waiting for us at
the finish as well as all their support at the aid stations! The biggest lesson
I learned that day was that although I can finish a 50K in a decent time without
training it would’ve been a hell of a lot easier if I had. Maybe I’ll train for
my next one…probably not. And for my hasher friends, this is FLaT On-out.
(8 miles down, feeling great!)
(34 miles down, happy it's done!)
