A collection of race reports and other writings of and about ultrarunning, trail running, and other running related topics with a strong focus on the East Coast. The "Beast Coast" has a strong trail running community and some amazing events; this blog aims to showcase some of that.
Shortly after finishing the Hyner View Trail Challenge 50k last year, I made the decision to change up my race selections for 2020. It wasn’t because of how Hyner went or because I don’t want to run Hyner again. I love the Hyner 50k and definitely want to run it again, but the catch for me is that once I’m registered for Hyner I end up following the inevitable path of running the entire PA Triple Crown Series. I figure if I’m doing Hyner, I might as well run Worlds End 100k and Eastern States 100 as well. I decided the best way to avoid getting caught in that trap and change up my race schedule was to not register for Hyner 50k. I have nothing against any of those three races. It’s just that after three consecutive years of my race schedule revolving around the three same “A” races, I felt it was time for a change.
For 2020 I want to make my “A” race a 24 hour timed event. A 24 hour event has been on my to do list for a few years now, but never a high priority, so it never happened (hence one of my favorite quotes below). I hope to change that this year and see what I’m capable of achieving in a 24 hour race. If things go well at whatever 24 hour event I decide to run, I should be able to finally achieve a second running goal that has eluded me for the last two years: to PR my longest distance in a single run. I’m hoping that if I choose a 24 hour event with an easy course I will be able to average at least 12 minute miles or 5 mph for a total of 120 miles at the end of 24 hours. This will easily be my longest distance run as my current longest distance is finishing the Tesla Hertz 100 miler which was actually about 104.8 miles.
An additional goal for this year is to run another “last person standing” event. After running my first two events (Run Ragged) of that type last year and for the most part enjoying them while doing pretty well, I want to run some more of these types of events. Ultimately, I hope to get a chance to run at the original last person standing race, Laz’s Big’s Backyard. I realize it may not happen at all considering the growing popularity of those types of races, but I figure if I run races that build my running resume geared towards last person races it will better my odds to hopefully run at Big’s some day. Running Big’s Backyard definitely isn’t strictly a 2020 goal, but more of a long term goal to work towards year after year until it happens. In my opinion, it’s good to have the late game goals working in the background while having the short term goals mixed in to keep things interesting.
A non race related goal for 2020 is to run all the streets of my hometown, Egg Harbor Township, NJ. This goal was directly inspired by Rickey Gates’ project to run every single street in San Francisco. I started on this goal at the end of October this year with the intention of making it a longer term goal and hopefully completing it before the end of 2020. I’ve posted a couple blog posts specifically about this goal and plan to update with posts throughout the year as I make progress. You can get more details and background about the project from those posts (here and here), but the overall concept is just as the project name suggests, to run every single street of the town.
Another somewhat running related goal I have for this year is one just for fun: to run a Twinkie Weiner Sandwich Mile to celebrate the movie UHF. My plan is to do this the same way as I do the Annual Hot Dog Run every year, just with Twinkie weiner sandwiches in place of the hot dogs. If you’re not familiar with the Annual Hot Dog Run, just think beer mile with beer replaced by hot dogs. If you’re not familiar with UHF, go watch it. I plan to do this run either July 21st to celebrate the UHF release date or June 2nd in honor of Channel 62 (6-2), the focal point of the plot of the movie. If you have an opinion on which date is more appropriate, please vote!
My final running related goal for the year isn’t about any race I want to run or hitting a new running time or distance PR. It is to volunteer at a local race with my son and any of the other members of his scout troop that want to come along to help out. This is an idea/project that I had a while back, but have never acted on. I put it off for some time because I thought that he was a little young and having him and a few of his scouting friends volunteering at an aid station would be more of a hindrance than a help to the runners and the other aid station volunteers. I feel like he’s matured enough in the past few years to be able to handle some of the aid station tasks and at least help out and encourage some runners for a portion of a race if I stay with him to provide some guidance. I hope it happens and goes well as I see this as being a great fit for service projects for scout troops. The scouts get to help others stay fit and enjoy the outdoors responsibly while also contributing to another community (trail runners) that values the outdoors and our shared public natural areas. If you’ve brought kids to volunteer at a race, I’d love to hear about how it went for you and would greatly appreciate any kind of tips and advice you can provide that would have improved the experience.
2020, sure to be another great year as a BibRave Pro!
2020 Goals
Run at least one 24 hour event
PR longest distance in a single run (>104.8 miles)
Complete my "Run Every Street" of Egg Harbor Township project
As we enter the holiday season of 2019 it is prime time to take a look back and assess goals for the past year. After much thought and consideration, I had three running goals this year:
PR a marathon
PR my greatest distance run
Improve my cumulative time for the entire Pennsylvania Triple Crown Series
With time running out to complete any unfinished tasks on this list, it appears that I will have missed the mark on two of my three goals. Things looked great to start the year. At my first race of the year (Rat Race 50k) that I was mainly using to check my fitness level I hit a 50k PR. That wasn’t even one of my goals, but I’ll take it! I managed to smash my marathon PR by nearly 20 minutes at the NJ Marathon only one week after running the Hyner 50k checking box number 1 off my list of goals. Goal number 3 seemed to be just a matter of time as I improved my times at Hyner 50k and Worlds End 100k, but the ultimate goal of improving my cumulative time would fall out of reach at Eastern States 100. I still can’t fully explain it, but something was just off with me leading up to and during that run. That only leaves goal number 2 left, to PR my greatest distance run. Unfortunately, after Eastern States 100 I was just feeling a bit burnt out on running altogether. My original plan was to tackle a supported 200 mile trail run after recovering from Eastern States. I thought that my fitness would be there and this was a great plan, but I hadn’t accounted for the unexpected burn out (and possibly the disappointment that played a role) I would be facing at that point. So in the end, I scrapped the 200 mile attempt and accepted the one out of three goal completion rate.
Although that seems like a low completion rate which may upset some people, I am still pleased with how my 2019 running season played out. I may have not hit all of the targets I set for myself, but I had some pretty big, unexpected successes in other areas. The first being the aforementioned 50k PR and the amazing end to the race where I got smoked by Rich Riopel a quarter mile from the finish. The second major accomplishment for the past year that I am super proud of is the success I’ve found in ‘last individual standing” (LIS) races. I registered and ran my first LIS race (Run Ragged) in June just two weeks after Worlds End 100k hoping to do well, but feeling pretty uncertain about how well with the lack of recovery time between the two races. Surprisingly, I turned out to be the last one standing. I followed that race up with my second LIS race, a true backyard race organized by a running buddy of mine with the start and finish in his backyard. This was a smaller race with only around twenty some runners. I went into it intending to stop at the 50 mile mark because Eastern States 100 was just four weeks away, but by that time it was down to me and one other runner. I decided to stay in it a bit longer and the other runner ended up timing out after finishing only one more lap. Again, I was the last one standing. With those two results, I’m excited to test myself next year at a more competitive LIS race and see what I’m capable of there.
So that more or less wraps up my goals and their outcomes for 2019. Now it is time to look ahead to next year and decide which endeavors I intend to tackle. I still want to PR my greatest distance run and take a shot at a 24 hour race, so I’m thinking I should be able to hit both of those targets in a single event. As for what else is on my to do list next year, I’ll have to give it some thought.
After one week of a dedicated effort to begin to take on the “Every Single Street” challenge, I have managed to increase the percentage of streets of Egg Harbor Township, NJ I’ve run from 1.94% to 7.63%. While this seems like a pretty substantial increase for a single week towards a goal that I have said is a long term goal, it’s important for me to keep in mind that this was likely one of the greatest gains I’ll make in a single week’s time, at least in the near future. Mainly because of the location of the streets I ran this past week and the weather.
I’m the first to admit that I am not a cold weather runner. Once the air temperature drops my running discomfort seems to always increase. The change in weather seems to induce a bit of asthma for me making outdoor running far less enjoyable. Given that and the fact that I bought myself a gym membership at the end of last year, I’ll likely be running many more treadmill miles this winter than actual road miles.
The second reason I probably won’t see this kind of increase again until next spring is because I started this project by basically running mostly streets all close to home for me. Obviously, this means as I run to streets farther from home I’ll be repeating mileage on streets I’ve already completed. That is of course unless I drive to location further from home to complete more streets while running less miles. While I may do that to complete some areas/neighborhoods, I want to try to complete as much of this project without driving at all. I’m not making this a hard rule for my project, but just want to see how far I can take it without resorting to any traveling other than running.
Today I made the decision to embark on a new running goal: to #RunAllTheStreets of my hometown, Egg Harbor Township, NJ. I don't have a specific target completion date, but at the same time I don't want this to become a never ending project either. I hope to comfortably complete it before the end of 2020. I'll be using City Strides and Strava to track my progress and plan my routes. I’m currently at 1.94% complete, a small fraction, but it's a start! Now only a little over 98% to go!
I first joined City Strides a little over a month ago without any real intention of actually using it to complete the #EverySingleStreet challenge. After joining, it took a week or so for my City Strides account to sync with my Strava account. And once it did, none of my past Strava runs had synced over to my City Strides account. Only my new Strava activities were syncing over. The manager of City Strides was responsive and has assured me that my past activities would sync, but it would take some time. A month or so later without any of the past activities syncing, I decided why wait to get started on running every single street for my past runs to sync over. Why not just start at zero? So that’s what I did today.
When I first heard about Rickey Gates’ project to run every single street in San Francisco, I thought it sounded kinda cool and kinda quirky, but I didn’t really have any desire to make an attempt at doing it myself in my hometown. I prefer running trails over roads to begin with and some roads are just crap roads to run due to a total lack of shoulders and high speed traffic. So why would I even want to run every single street? That’s what I thought until I joined City Strides just on a whim to see what percentage of my hometown’s streets I had already run. When it began to seem like my past activities wouldn’t sync over any time soon, I for the most part moved on and didn’t give it much further thought. I would occasionally check to see if my past activities had synced, but it still just showed newly recorded runs. Eventually I decided to be proactive about it and just start anew, running a few new streets I knew I had never run before.
It wasn’t until today while running a host of new streets to up that percentage that I decided I would commit to running every single street. I was running and thinking (my favorite past time) about how I have been lacking motivation to run lately. The reasons for the lack of motivation are mostly due to the changing weather, shorter daylight hours, and the fact that I’m not currently registered for any races. I thought that maybe starting in on this new running goal/project would spark a bit of a fire to get me excited about going out for runs again when I’m not specifically training for anything. And for today, it did! Hopefully I can stay excited and engaged about this project throughout the winter when I tend to cut back pretty heavily on my running mileage. And if all goes as planned, I’ll be able to say I’ve run 100% (or nearly) of the streets of Egg Harbor Township, NJ by the end of 2020!
If you’d like to follow along on my journey, follow the links below to my social media accounts and sign up for email notifications for this blog as I will be updating the status of this project across multiple platforms. Also, if you are embarking on your own #EverySingleStreet challenge I’d love to hear about it and feature you on my social media!
"Disclaimer: I received free entry to GAP Relay as part of being a BibRave Pro. Learn more about becoming a BibRave Pro (ambassador), and check out BibRave.com to review find and write race reviews!"
With my first ever relay formatted race behind me after the completion of the Great Allegheny Passage (GAP) Trail Relay this past weekend, my overall impression of the event and format is that it was much tougher than I anticipated. With our Bibrave team of six runners, we each ran four legs of the 24 total legs that make up the 150 mile course. Each of us ran somewhere between 20ish to 30ish miles. When looking at this plan on paper, I may have been a bit overconfident or bordering on arrogant when I thought to myself that it didn’t sound challenging at all. “Run a 50k on a rail trail in four segments with few hours rest between each segment? I could practically do that in my sleep” I thought. Later, while I was actually experiencing the event, I would learn that it wasn’t as simple or straightforward as I originally thought and a few unforeseen challenges would emerge. I would also learn just how close I could be to sleeping while running during that final leg. Race management also went all out with the swag. Our swag bags at the start were packed with lots of great running gear and other useful items. We all got a long sleeve shirt, a Nathan flashing wearable safety light for night running, a $10 Sheetz gift card, Honey Stinger waffles, Honey Stinger gels, GU Hoppy Trails gel, body glide, Balega socks, and Nuun tabs. It was quite a haul!
At the start!
The first of several speed bumps our team hit along the way was a few unexpected roster changes. From the time of our team forming until arriving at the starting line, our team lost a few members and gained a few members. At the start of the event, two of our team of six had been original members. I get it. Life happens and this whole running thing is just for fun and entertainment. But this is an aspect of race preparation I had never had to deal with before. Up to this point, it was only me I had ever had to worry about getting to the starting line. Counting on nothing interfering in six people’s lives is a bit of a bigger ask. This is definitely a point to consider if you have never done a relay race format before and are looking to form or join a team. I wasn’t super stressed or worried at any point, but as a bit of a planner not knowing how many team members we may have at the start did bother me a bit. Although, through it all, I never had a doubt that the team we showed up with wouldn’t be able to make it to the finish.
First bridge crossing of the course!
What surprised me most about the race format and brought the majority of the challenges was the non running aspects of it. Navigating and traveling between exchange points to pick up and drop off runners was a challenge in itself. Probably more so than the running in my opinion. With a team of six runners and two vehicles we had the option to leapfrog longer stretches of the course rather than have both vehicles stop at every exchange point. But while the race was young and we were all still fresh and feeling energetic we wanted to cheer on our runners at every exchange point. If achieving our fastest time possible was our main goal, this probably was a terrible strategy. However, none of us were looking at this as a competitive event. We were all there to support one another and enjoy the experience. The extra stops and support of our teammates, although not the most efficient strategy, made the overall event more enjoyable.
Frostburg, exchange point #3.
Stopping at every exchange point made for many short chunks of recovery time outside of a vehicle. Arrive at exchange point, wait for runner, exchange runners, get to next exchange point, and repeat was our method of operation. It made for a fun day, but I found it particularly challenging to figure out how to fuel. At every stop I thought I should eat, but how much and what were tough questions to answer. I feel like I’ve honed in my nutrition for ultras for the most part, but this was a different situation. Usually for a 50k distance I’ll get by just on gels, but for a 50k spread out over about 24 hours I would need something more substantial than that. I more or less snacked on trail mix, chips, and some fruit most of the day then threw in a few peanut butter sandwiches when I felt like I had more of an appetite. The point that I felt the most hungry was when I finished my third and longest leg (an 11.5 mile stretch). Thankfully, the race organizers had hot Dominoes Pizza available at that exchange point. Seeing one of my teammates holding that pizza box after that exchange was one of the highlights of the event for me.
Only 134 miles to go to Pittsburgh!
As the day and exchanges of the race passed by, the sun began setting on what was a perfect weather day for an all day run. I finished my second leg just as the sun was starting to set. With the sun set imminent, I both looked forward to running my final two legs of the race in the dark while at the same time wishing we could do more daylight miles. I enjoy night running with only a headlamp for light, but in early October daylight becomes more and more fleeting as the temperatures begin to drop. It’s hard to say goodbye to those last nearly perfect running weather days of the fall season offers.
We followed these train tracks for the majority of the entire course!
I first began to feel just a few pangs of weariness at dusk. It was getting to be around the normal time for me to get the kids ready for bed and my bedtime is usually shortly after. My body began reminding me of this. It didn’t get bad before or during my third leg of the race. In fact, after that third leg I was feeling pretty hyped up, only one leg left to run! But during the break between my third and fourth legs our team decided to leapfrog exchange points so we could all have more time to rest before running our final legs. Once we got to the next exchange point we had about two hours before we were expecting our runner to come in. I tried and managed to sleep for a little bit, maybe an hour but it didn’t feel like I got a good rest or was refreshed when it was time to get ready to run again. Having never slept mid race before, this was all a learning experience for me. I’ve read and heard about people running 200’s that claim they slept for 5-15 minutes and were completely refreshed. Apparently this is something I’m going to have to work on if I want to run longer races where sleep deprivation becomes an unavoidable issue because when I got up from my nap I still felt as dead tired as I did before dozing off.
After my final leg I got cleaned up a bit and got changed into some clean, dry, and comfortable clothes before making the drive to the next exchange station. I also got ahold of a cup of coffee that was offered at the exchange station I finished at. At some point during that rather short drive, unexpectedly and seemingly almost magically the sun rose and it was daylight when I arrived at the next exchange station. In my sleep deprived, fog filled brain I had lost total track of what time it was. The fact that it was light out when I arrived honestly surprised me.
Photo booth photos.
The sunrise (in addition to the Panera coffee and bagels) at this stop helped drive some of the sleepiness out of my head. The organizers of the event must have expected this exchange point (Boston, #20) to be the final leg for a good deal of runners given the facilities there. In addition to the refreshments, there was also a photo booth so runners could record how great they look after tackling roughly 127 miles of the course. Although I wasn’t aware of it until a few exchange stops later, it turned out there were even showers there. If only I had known, I may have looked a bit more fresh in my photo booth shoot with my hot dog hat!
One of the signs near the end of my second leg of the course.
As all of our team members wrapped up their final legs of the race, we finally found ourselves awaiting our final runner just a couple hundred feet from the finish line. With the finish line celebratory music well within earshot, our final runner came into view. When she reached us we all got our legs to move again and ran across the finish line as a team. The announcer was quite a hype man and got every team pumped as they crossed the finish line. After receiving our finisher medals and getting some finish line photos, we made our way over to the conveniently located after party at the Hofbrauhaus. With the beautiful South Shore Riverfront Park in view from our seating area, we were served large soft dough pretzels with cheese dipping sauce and our choice of biers: lager, hefe weizen, or dunkel. On top of it all, there was a bottomless pierogi buffet that our table ate our share of.
Finish line photo!
So, did I get what I expected from the GAP Trail Relay? I met some fellow BibRave Pros and got to run some miles with them through some beautiful areas of Pennsylvania in near perfect weather. I explored a good portion of a rail trail I had never set foot on previously. So yes, I did get everything I expected and even more: a greater challenge than I had thought I would face.
Disclaimer: I received Aftershokz Xtrainerz to review as part of being a BibRave Pro. Learn more about becoming a BibRave Pro (ambassador), and check out BibRave.com to review, find, and write race reviews!
This past month or so I had the opportunity to test out a pair of AftershokzXtrainerz wireless bone conduction headphones. What the heck is bone conduction you may ask? I wondered the same thing when I first heard of them. The Aftershokz development team has created what is in my opinion an entirely new category of sound delivery by sending mini vibrations via the cheekbones to the inner ears. By doing so, the patented design of Aftershokz bone conduction headphones are able to deliver high quality sound without covering or blocking the ears. What does this mean? Greater comfort and situational awareness! If you’ve worn earbuds for a long period of time you’re familiar with how uncomfortable they can become. Aftershokz solves this issue by not requiring anything to be inserted into the ear; the headphones rest comfortably over the ear and on the cheekbone. This also allows the user to still hear what’s going on around them increasing their awareness of their surroundings and quite possibly their safety. These are two huge benefits of the Aftershokz bone conduction sound delivery system.
If you’re already an Aftershokz believer, you may be asking what the Xtrainerz offer that I’m not already getting with my older model of Aftershokz headphones? The Xtrainerz offer two major differences:
1: They are waterproof!
Xtrainerz are IP68 rated. IP68 is a rating assigned to products after laboratory testing to measure ingress protection (IP). The two numerals are ratings for IP from solids (dust) and liquids (water). The 6 indicates a rating of “dust tight; complete protection against contact.” The 8 indicates liquid protection against “continuous immersion in water”. A full explanation of the ratings can be found on the DSM&T site.
What does Xtrainerz being waterproof do for you? How about music for cross training activities in the pool? Or getting caught in the rain in the middle of a run and not having to worry about getting your headphones into a waterproof bag? Both huge bonuses in my book.
2: They offer 4 GB of internal storage, but lack bluetooth connectivity
This change is a trade off so some may see it as an upgrade while others see it as less desirable. I can see both sides of the argument. I can’t say anything negative about the conveniences of bluetooth connectivity. However, I can see some benefits of opting for internal storage. The main benefit of internal storage for me is the fact that I don’t have to carry any other device if I want to listen to music while running, biking, or swimming. All I need is my Xtrainerz and I’m ready to go. This simplifies planning for having music during long trail ultras. I don’t have to worry about having my phone or its battery level to have music readily available when I feel the need for some extra motivation from it.
This leads to the second benefit I found of internal storage; it’s one less battery to worry about. If you carry your phone during runs to use for calls in case of emergency, as a GPS device or to check stored maps, or just to take pictures of cool stuff while out exploring new trails, battery life is always a concern. If you’re draining your phone battery because your streaming to your bluetooth headphones, you may not have any juice left for those other uses when you need it. With winter and colder temperatures just a season away, battery life becomes even more of a precious commodity.
Xtrainerz in the shower! Why not!
In my opinion, the Xtrainerz are another great product from Aftershokz. Comfortable headphones that stay in place and allow you to stay aware of your surroundings, what more could you ask for? Long battery life? Xtrainerz have that too as they’ll last for 8 hours without a charge and then fully recharge in just 2 hours. If you’re in the market for a new pair of headphones, consider a pair of Xtrainerz and use code “ BRBUNDLE” for $50 off the endurance bundle.
"Disclaimer: I received free entry to GAP Relay as part of being a BibRave Pro. Learn more about becoming a BibRave Pro (ambassador), and check out BibRave.com to review find and write race reviews!"
How does one prepare for a type of race they’ve never run before? I find myself asking this as I prepare for the GAP Trail Relay having never run a relay format race before. I feel physically prepared to handle the distance without any issues, but what it will be like running that distance as a part of a team with breaks between the legs is what I’m unsure of. Will cramping be an issue during the car rides between legs? Will the overnight sleepiness affect me more taking breaks between legs than when I simply run through the night at other ultramarathons? How do I fuel for a 30ish mile run that is broken into four legs over an unknown amount of time? Having all of these unanswered questions makes preparing nearly impossible. My overall plan is to go into this completely open minded and willing to adjust to changes on the fly. I have read up reports from others on how to run relays. I learned what worked for some teams and what caused problems for other teams. As far as I can tell, that is the best preparation I can do without having any first hand experience. The best case scenario is that things go well and our team has a great time. The worst case scenario I’m envisioning is that we have some problems and I learn something from the experience for the next relay. I’m looking forward to the challenge regardless of the outcome.
"Disclaimer: I received an FBOMB Nut Butter Variety Pack (16-count) to review as part of being a BibRave Pro. Learn more about becoming a BibRave Pro (ambassador), and check out BibRave.com to review, find, and write race reviews!"
I make no claims of being any type of foodie or a true connoisseur of fine foods at all. With that being said, like most people I enjoy eating and when I find a food that I particularly enjoy I like to let people know about it. And that is exactly what I have found in FBOMB’s Nut Butters. With the FBOMB Nut Butter Variety Pack (16-count) I received four 1 oz packages each of four flavors: Salted Chocolate Macadamia Nut Butter, Macadamia Pecan, Macadamia and Sea Salt, and Macadamia with Coconut. Every flavor is unique and enjoyable on its own, not just the same taste rehashed four times over with a slight twist making the variety pack the ideal choice for a want to be connoisseur of nut butters.
FBOMB sandwiches!
The convenience of the FBOMB packaging is one feature that I really loved. The single serving packages made them perfect for folks on the go whether you’re heading out to go camping, taking a trip to the park with the kids, putting in extra hours at work, or avoiding extra stops for crappy fast food on long road trips. While testing out the variety pack, I ate at least one FBOMB package in every one of those scenarios.
FBOMBs while camping!
Don’t judge these FBOMBs by their size. Even though they’re packaged in convenient single serving pouches, they are truly filling and provide long lasting appetite satisfaction. I like to keep a supply of the single serving macadamia pecan with sea salt at my desk at work. If I’m struggling with a mid morning or late afternoon hunger craving and feel the need for a healthy snack, I’ll down one and it will carry me through until lunch or until I’m home for dinner.
FBOMBs at the park!
So the whole convenience and appetite satisfaction factors really don’t hold that much value if you’re not a fan of the taste of said food. Thankfully, I turned out to be a big fan of the taste of all of the flavors of FBOMB nut butters I tried. So much so, I really can’t pick a favorite. My top two picks were Macadamia Pecan and Macadamia with Coconut. I love pecans and had never heard of pecan butter before. After the first package of Macadamia Pecan, I realized the glory of pecan butter. As for the Macadamia with Coconut, well, I’m kind of a sucker for coconut foods as long they are done well and not overly sweet. FBOMB did a great job of that by adding only three simple ingredients: dry roasted macadamia nuts, raw organic coconut, and sea salt. Bravo on both of those! I’m not trying to undermine the two remaining flavors, Salted Chocolate Macadamia Nut Butter and Macadamia and Sea Salt, as they were both delicious. It’s just that if given a choice of the four, my personal preference would be to go for either Macadamia Pecan or Macadamia with Coconut.
FBOMBs at the pool!
Now I personally don't follow any specific diet of any kind; I like to think I eat a decent variety of foods that at the end of the day turns out to be at least an average overall diet. While FBOMBs weren’t created for any specific diet, they are great for and can meet the requirements of many diets: low-carb/high-fat, keto, paleo, vegan, non-GMO, gluten free, dairy free, and peanut free.
Get 10% off your purchase of the FBOMB Nut Butter Variety Pack (16-count) with code “BRP10”
It’s been a little over a week since Eastern States (ES) 100 as I begin to write this and now that my sodden, pungent clothing and gear has been cleaned and the wounds are for the most part healed I am beginning to have a greater appreciation for how my day there played out. I went in with a single goal that I thought was well within reach given the year I had thus far. The goal was simple, finish in less time than it took me in 2017 (27:17:24). This would also ensure a faster cumulative time for the 2019 Pennsylvania Triple Crown Series over my 2017 time for the series (47:47:36). Since I had finished both Worlds End 100k and Hyner 50k faster in 2019 than 2017, this goal seemed well within reach. However, the uncertainty of the 100 mile distance and how things can go south at any point was a constant concern for me. Excessive worrying about the potential for things to fall apart may be what ultimately led to me failing to reach my goal.
Pretty early in the race. Photo credit: Joseph Hess
For about two weeks leading up to the race I was feeling extremely anxious, more so and for a longer period before the race than I have ever experienced in any other lead up to a race. Adding to my trepidation was a work trip that I had scheduled for the week just before race weekend. I would be flying back to Philadelphia Friday around noon, then getting picked up by my wife to make the remainder of the drive to Little Pine State Park. I packed my two drop bags and everything I would need at the start the weekend before the race then worried all week hoping I hadn’t forgotten anything. By the time the work week was over and I was picking up my bib at registration the relief I was expecting didn’t wash over me. I had my stuff ready a week prior, managed to get there without any flight delays interfering with my travel plans, and now all I had to do was run 103 miles on the rugged trails of the PA Wilds. I guess there was still good reason to have a fair amount of nervous excitement.
Lower Pine Bottom AS, Mile 17.8
Thankfully, I managed to get a pretty solid night’s sleep before the 5am start, but at the starting line the jitters were still present. I did my best to deal with them in hopes that they would subside once I got on the trail and put a few miles behind me. Everything went well for the first 50k or so. I knew what pace I had to keep to meet my goal and I was staying ahead of that pace and feeling comfortable doing it. The climbs didn’t seem as bad as I had remembered and my quads were handling them well. It almost seemed like it was too easy this trip around Pine Creek. It was shortly after AS5 (Happy Dutchman) that I got hit with my first blow when I realized my watch had led me astray. The actual mileage at AS5 is 31.6. My watch, which has otherwise always been reliable and pretty accurate, was reporting that I had covered a little over 36 miles. I was focusing on only getting aid station to aid station so I was mostly just using my total mileage to see how much farther to the next aid station. When the signage at AS5 showed the mileage to the next AS as 6.9 and I used the inaccurate information on my watch that would put me at about 43 miles total. That was a significant mile marker as it is the second crewed AS, Hyner Run. I got excited that I would get to see my wife and boys again and it felt so soon since I had just seen them at the first crewed aid station. Mileage and the next aid station came up in conversation with a couple other runners and when their watches synced I realized mine was off and there was one more AS between us and the next crewed AS. It was a bit shocking at the time, but I tried to comfort myself by saying I was happy to find out early how far my watch was off rather than later. However, later in the race while talking to one of the other runners that helped me realize my error, he would tell me that my face showed a bit of a soul crushed reaction when I realized it was my watch that was off.
With that minor mishap out of the way early, the rest of the daylight hours of the race rolled by pretty pleasantly for the most part. I don’t know if it was due to the low temperatures we had on race day or just my misconstrued recollection of the course, but my second time running ES I was shocked by how much of the course felt runnable. The majority of my memories of the ES course was super technical descents intermixed with steep, rocky climbs. This time though,outside of two big early climbs (just before AS1, Ramsey Rd. and just after AS3, Lower Pine Bottom) the bulk of the first half of the course was feeling runnable. And I was running the bulk of it and staying on my target pace even after I adjusted for my watch’s misinformation without feeling like I was pushing myself even near the point where I thought a blow up was a possibility.
Another AS stop.
A second mishap started emerging or at least giving indications of larger problems about the same time as when my watch mishap was discovered. This mishap began with some slight discomfort around the bottom elastic of my hydration vest. I was wearing the same vest and same shirt that I have worn for 100ks and 100 milers in the past with only minor chafing issues, but this time around those minor chafing issues became exasperated and caused major chafing that was never resolved no matter how much or what kind of lube I threw at it. Since the equipment and clothing was the same, the only explanation I can come up with is that I was carrying more weight in the vest than I had ever packed before. I had trained with Science in Sport (SIS) gels all season and wanted to use them for the race so I packed 10 in my vest at the start and had 10 replacements in each of my drop bags. Also, I wasn’t positive gels would be available at every AS. Ten gels may not sound like much additional weight, but SIS gels are roughly about twice the volume of standard energy gels making a bit bulkier to carry and nearly doubling the weight. The best guess I have at this point is that the extra weight/volume in the vest made it fit and move differently than any time I’ve worn it in the past. Ultimately leading to some terribly painful chafing. I like to think I’m not one to complain about the little stuff, but this turned into a steady distracting pain from about the halfway point to the finish. I also like to think I’m not one to blame equipment for my failures, but in this situation the equipment had a major impact on my focus and overall mindset. I never thought about quitting because my sides had been rubbed raw by my pack, but the pain constantly pulled my focus off of running and moving efficiently to just thinking about taking this pack off as soon as possible.
The worst of my chafing.
The watch incident and the chafing issue are the only two concrete items I can point to that led to me falling off of my target pace, neither of which I truly deem responsible. I was ahead of my intended pace for a 27 hour finish at AS9, Halfway House (54.7 miles), but somewhere between there and AS14, Blackwell (80.3 miles) where I was picking up a pacer and had my next time goal calculated I was well over an hour behind where I wanted to be. It was strange because I never felt completely exhausted, but had this strange feeling of never feeling like I was pushing myself to the limit and always running overly safe without getting out of my comfort zone. In retrospect, it seems like I was so concerned about blowing up that I never pushed to my full potential for the day. Usually with hundred milers I feel like I get into some kind of singular focus and survival mentality, only concentrating on getting to the finish as quickly as possible. For whatever reason, that switch never got flipped this time.
A power hug from my youngest!
Even with my time goal out of reach and twenty some miles to go, I was excited to pick up a pacer at Blackwell. It was my first time using a pacer. It wasn’t the situation I had envisioned of being on pace and having my pacer push me to the finish ahead of pace, but he was able to up my morale and that of the couple other runners I had spent the majority of the night with. I will admit, we had a bit of a pity party on the trail overnight and it likely would have continued the rest of dark early morning hours if we were not joined by a pacer. With a bit of fresh energy provided by our pacer, Kurt Foster, we picked our pace up for the respectable climb out of Blackwell. Kurt continued to push our pace for the remainder of the race, reminding us every time the trail was runnable. With my time goal a lost cause, he kept me from basically giving up and walking it in, pushing me to earn a finish time that I could be proud of.
At AS11, Slate Run, 63.8 miles.
We grinded our way in the dark to the next AS, Skytop. It was a little tough mentally to leave this one because the crew there was so accommodating and we knew the stretch to the next AS was one of the longer ones of the race. Without getting too comfortable, we ushered ourselves out and pushed on. Thanks to Kurt, our pass through the second to last AS, Barrens, was one of our fastest. We refilled bottles, grabbed food, and were out in probably 1-2 minutes. We were as fast if not fastest passing through Hacketts, the final AS. With only about four miles left, not much was needed and the excitement to finish was peaking, at least I thought.
At packet pick up.
Shortly after leaving Hacketts near the top of the final climb of the course we heard a runner coming up behind us quick. Kurt turned to me and said something along the lines of “you don’t wanna get passed just a couple miles from the finish.” I replied by saying that I wasn’t sure if I have anything left. Then Kurt said something that finally lit a spark at the time. He basically said even if I attempted to outrun him for the last two miles and still got passed, then I could just walk it in and still get the same result even if I hadn’t made the effort. For whatever reason, at the time that got me to dig and give it my best effort to stay in front of this other runner. That’s when things finally started to become fun again. I was moving and feeling good. Before I knew it, I caught sight of a runner ahead of me. We passed him. Now things were getting really exciting for the finish and the final gnarly descent of the course. In the last two miles or so, we passed four runners. It amazed me that we were so close to these other runners and without that little spark provided by Kurt, I would have contentedly shuffled in to the finish after them.
My 2019 finish!
I crossed the finish line at 28:46:52, a full hour and almost 47 minutes after when I had intended to finish. At the beginning of this report I wrote that I failed. I may come off sounding like a bit of a jerk or a real pessimist by saying that I wasn’t entirely pleased with this finish. It’s easy to say that any 100 miler finish, especially a tough 100 mile course like ES, is something you should be proud of. However, after assessing how my legs felt during that last steep downhill this year compared to two years ago, I knew I had more left in me at the finish this year. In 2017 I was desperately bouncing from tree to tree to keep from going into an out of control tumble down the incline. This time, although my quads were screaming, I was bombing the downhill mostly in control. The fact that the spark to push harder earlier never happened is what I was really disappointed about. The “what if”s were what bothered me. After a few weeks to digest it all, I still can’t say that I’m not a bit disappointed that this final piece of my PA Triple Crown Series goal didn’t fall into place like I had hoped, but I can say that I am proud of the finish and to have completed the full series for a second time.
"Disclaimer: I received free entry to GAP Relay as part of being a BibRave Pro. Learn more about becoming a BibRave Pro (ambassador), and check out BibRave.com to review find and write race reviews!"
With my summer racing season coming to a close after Eastern States 100 and the end of the PA Triple Crown series this past weekend, it’s time to start thinking and solidifying plans for fall races. So far, I haven’t given it a great deal of thought because I’ve been so focused on spring and summer running goals. I’ve got some ideas and there are plenty of options, but so far the only definite I have on my schedule is the Great Allegheny Passage (GAP) Trail Relay. The GAP relay race challenges teams of 8, 6, or 4 runners to complete the 150 mile GAP trail starting in Cumberland, MD then traversing through the Allegheny Mountains and finishing in Pittsburgh, PA.
When offered the opportunity to run the GAP I was excited for a number of reasons. The first being that I’ve never seen or traveled any of the Great Allegheny Passage Trail and I’m pretty much always a fan of exploring new trails. With a chance dropped in my lap to cover a large section of completely new to me trail on foot and other portions in a pacer vehicle, there was no way I wasn’t going to do my best to partake. After learning a little history about the trail and how it is basically a conglomeration of rail/trail conversions, I am even more pumped to explore it with the potential to see some of the surviving historical railroad artifacts (old railroad stations, telegraph poles, mileposts, and foundations for signals). Also, since the trail is built along former railroads, all of the grades are gentle never exceeding a 1.5% grade. Although I love the challenging and rugged trails PA offers, I would be lying if I did not admit that I’m looking forward to a less strenuous (and likely faster) trail run through PA that still includes the beautiful scenery of the Pennsylvania landscape. Tunnels and bridges will take me through the mountains and over the water crossings that at other trail races I would have to climb over and wade through.
A second reason that I am getting more pumped as the start of the GAP Relay nears is that this will be the first ever team relay race I have run. I like trying new race formats to keep running fun, interesting, and challenging. Working as a team of runners is something I have not experienced at a race yet, and I look forward to how the team dynamic will add an entirely new element to the journey. Additionally, the relay team I am running with is a group of other BibRave Pros, none of whom I have ever actually met before. Getting to know and run with a group of runners that I have only interacted with via Twitter and Instagram adds to the sense of adventure in this undertaking. Thus far, all the BibRave Pros I’ve met are passionate about running and having fun while doing it, so I envision this jaunt along the GAP Trail to basically be 150 miles of an ultrarunning trail party!
If you get a crew together to take on the GAP Relay, be sure to use code “BIBRAVE100” for $100 off the registration fee!
