Did my last run, a short six miler at lunchtime, before Friday’s Reach the Beach relay race. Now, with the kids in bed, I’m printing out course maps, laying out gear – five pairs shorts, running shirts, two pairs sneakers, headlamp, reflective vest, six pairs socks, Garmin 205, blanket, towel, etc., etc. It’s a long list of stuff. Tomorrow night I’ll make enough food to get me through 30 hours. Friday morning I’ll meet my team at 6:30 a.m. in Merrimack and we’ll head north. At 10:40, in Franconia Notch, our race, my first Reach the Beach, will begin.
There are six runners on our team, (this is considered an “ultra” team – standard teams have 12 runners). The team name is “The Fly Boys” and I’ll have to remember to ask someone what the significance of this is. Many pilots? I only know one of the team members – my good friend and training partner Curt, an air traffic controller and pilot – but I have a feeling I’ll know the rest pretty well by the time we hit Hampton Beach sometime around 2:54 p.m. on Saturday.
The run is divided into 36 legs that range from 3 to 9 miles. The team sees the first runner off at the start, then drives ahead to meet him at the checkpoint, where the next runner will warm up and get ready for the handoff. This goes on non-stop all day, all night and half the next day. For our team it will end up being about 29 hours. Each runner on our team will have run between 30 and 40 miles.
My own legs in the race add up to 34 miles. I’m hoping to run them at about the same pace, or maybe 5 or 10 seconds per mile slower, than my goal marathon pace (7:20 minute miles) for the Baystate Marathon, a month from RTB, on Oct. 18. This seems like a reasonable goal, but honestly, I have no idea how my body’s going to react to this event. Each individual leg seems like a short distance, especially after a summer of marathon training long runs. Some weeks, I had a couple of nights with fast 10 mile tempo runs, 14 mile medium long runs, and a 20 mile long run on the weekend, with a few 6 mile recovery runs in between to rest. So the individual legs aren’t daunting. But on the other hand, what’s it like to run one, drive, eat, navigate, catnap, and five hours later, do it again, and then again, and again, all night long and into a new day? Is running 34 miles in about 24 hours (I’m runner number six, so my first leg is at about 2:40 p.m. Friday and my last one is the last leg, going into Hampton Beach at 2:23 p.m. Saturday) easier than running 34 miles all at once? I assume it is, but there’s got to be some toll from stiffness, lack of sleep, etc. Will I wish I’d put down 9 minute miles instead of 7:30s as my estimated pace by the end?
Anyhow, despite the unknowns, I’m tremendously excited for this. I feel fairly fit, like I’ve trained hard this summer but not so hard I’m coming into this exhausted or with a bunch of tweaks or injuries. I’m running faster and farther than I was this time last summer when I was getting ready for Portland (3:19:25) and I’m 10 pounds lighter than I was then. But despite all that, who knows? My hope, though, is that this will be a great pre-marathon-taper test, a great adventure, a weird and moving experience psychologically, an opportunity to dig the fall foliage and roam the beautiful New Hampshire roadways the best way there is, on foot, and a chance to get to know some folks really well. I’ll try and post updates to Twitter and Facebook from my phone, with a few pictures, as the event proceeds, so you can check the Twitter feed here on the blog if you’re curious.
Tags: extreme, marathon, reach the beach, Running, ultra
You’re gonna kick asphalt, man!! ;>