JTV Running Group

Read about Radu's journey at the New River Trail 50k!
A lot harder than any anticipation or what I've encountered in training, 18 miles of tough pain, right foot injury at mile 14 (where I had the stress fracture in summer, followed by quad cramps a few miles later, never had that before), stomach/hydration, lower back, everything seemed to fall apart. I bonked and I was done. Nevertheless, I finished my first 50k (+some) within the 7 hour limit, 6:47. Plenty of time to spare!! :-))

It's only you that can create such a special, extremely intense experience for yourself. I've never been so deep in my life. Highs and lows are very surprising, it's like a research project, studying your own self. Like Dean Karnazes says in his last book, it's not masochism, and I would add it's not narcissism either. I'll just say that I feel humble.

I just have a weak mind that I have to deal with. :-) I seem to perform better in training than in races. Too much training invested in one race, I would guess.

This time the mental crash came the night before the event. We were behind the schedule going to bed, as I've been all week, and I needed to prepare my fluids bottles that I would pick up from my wonderful wife (my best crew and supporter) along the way. I should say first that I was going into this convinced that I will religiously replicate what worked in training. Right! Like my hurried, stressed-out brain would allow that... So, there comes the "ultra-smart" idea of having a higher concentration of electrolytes / energy drink in my fluids. "My body will need that extra sugar since I'm going such a long way" came my senile thought. Usually in training I used 50% ice in my fluids. That night the water content went down to 25-35%, which was the first falling domino piece. Funny, my wife actually took pictures of me doing the deed.

The race started cool. I started slow and controlled, I was having a great time, chatting with Chris Redman that did a 50 miler (Iron Mountain) just a week before this 50k. I would periodically review my GPS and slow down our pace. Great time, happy to be there, enjoying nature, good company, and the nice running conditions. Chris went ahead as I was refilling my bottles at mile 7, but I kept seeing him, as we were going at more or less the same pace. I actually caught up with him a couple of times, at mile 10 and at the mile 12 aid station. Also, I even passed a couple of other runners during these miles.

For the first 12 miles, I was happy to keep pushing sugar and caffeine without any problem. The second "bright" idea of the day being that I should have my caffeine GUs early in the day, to "wake up", leaving the non-caffeine GUs for lunch time. Plus, I was getting more caffeine than usual from the higher concentration of my energy drink. Plus, in my morning ritual I had my coffee with Red Bull, as I didn't have orange juice available. I know, it sounds weird, I'm not going into the too much info zone of why I'm doing that. I'll just say it worked in training.

My body wasn't holding water very well, due to the extra caffeine as I later realized. I was thirsty and drinking, and also stopping too often.

Due to the extra sugar, I was beginning to feel nauseous soon after the mile 12 aid station. At mile 14, my right foot cracks, the same pain I've been fighting at the beginning of the summer (suspected stress fracture). As I'm modifying my stride, the plantar fascia tightens and starts cramping, followed by a new pain on the interior side (as I was pushing more on my big toe instead of the middle toes). A few miles later, my right quads start cramping bad towards the IT band, stopped, stretched, cramping ended, but the pain was still there.

All the slopes are so slow, that all the time I feel like I'm running on flat, but my GPS indicates 9500 feet elevation gain and 9500 feel elevation loss over the course of 31.7 miles covered (which is probably wrong). I would have preferred a more rolling terrain to get different muscles working, and get something out of my downhill effortless speed. Nevertheless, I believe this was the perfect setting for anybody doing his/her first 50k, and I'm very thankful to Annette (the race director) for creating such an awesome event.

Meanwhile, I told my wife to get my reserve pair of shoes ready, so at mile 20, I switched to my road shoes (that had a heel cup, and felt tighter, offering more support). I didn't really need the trail shoes for this terrain. My overall moving pace was around 12 min/mile, but I had stops of about 25 minutes for all these reasons. As I was leaving that aid station, it was the only moment where I thought about quitting. My wife was brief in her vision: So you've run 20 for nothing? Keep going, I don't care about your pace. And I did just that. I owe her finishing this race as well, I was getting happier every time, just by seeing her.

As I was now avoiding sugar and caffeine, drinking just water (I also had a soy sauce packet) for longer periods, eating from my sandwich (white bagel, soy sauce, peanut butter, ham, and baby swiss) I did get a second wind. Very weak though, compared with what I experienced in training, and it lasted for only 3 miles. And my pace was still being affected by the frequent stops (as the lack of electrolytes was now creeping on me). I kept promising myself not to run for a few months after the race, to lure myself closer to the finish. Doing another 50k, or even a marathon, was totally out of the question at that point.

Then, with 4-5 miles to go I stopped sweating. I kept drinking what I had with me, but not nearly enough to deal with my thirst. The fluids somehow refused to stay with me, I was really dehydrated. I was wondering, was the lack of sweating due to my slow pace, or due to dehydration? Temperature in the 70s, sunny all the time, normally I would sweat even without moving. I remembered then a survival TV show saying that lack of sweating means real trouble. Taking my info from survival shows didn't seem like a good sign. I was feeling the lowest of physical lows in my life.

Psychologically, I was still happy to be there and cruising. I was closing on another runner in trouble, trying to pull away from a few runners that entered the last aid station as I was leaving. Compared with all of them, I had a relatively strong finish. I did consider going slower to the finish, together with the guy I caught up with, but I decided to just keep doing my best given circumstances. What a message, as he finished after the 7 hour cut-off.

The last 2 miles were 100% without any shade, hot, sick, I couldn't drink anything anymore. I couldn't stop myself from feeling furious about all the unnecessary suffering due to such a rookie mistake. Also, I was worried about any training restrictions that my injuries will impose. At an improbable time, my passion for running was coming back! I was running/walking cold but my soul felt warm as I saw Chris 1 mile away from the finish line. He finished some 40 minutes before me and came back to reel me in. I was once again relieved to let go of some demons, he patiently explained what's coming up. As I saw the finish line, amazing, magical energy surged in me. I was ready to run at 6 min/mile for the rest of the way (closing on another participant). Nothing hurt anymore, nothing. Then I looked back and stopped, walking as I was waiting for Chris, I really wanted to have him in my finishing pictures.

That's it. I am thankful to many-many people for the supportive environment and inspiration leading my Clydesdale body to the end of a 50k (+ some, I think it was more like 32 miles). Since you're reading this, there is a fair chance you are one of these people!