Pineland Farm 50k Trail Run

[The Unstrung Harp]

I did my first 50k a few weeks ago. Didn't really plan on doing one until fall but it ended up being pretty cool. Here is an abbreviated version of a race report. Full version is here.

....And so it came to be that, at 7:57pm on the last night of online registration, whose name should end up at the very end of the registration list, but my own. As a race, I knew there would be nothing interesting for me to do here, but as training, doing an all-day 31 mile run was just as valid as the all-day 10-15 mile hike I'd have done otherwise. And this was a shorter drive. And finally, I was unbearably curious to see what would happen. I didn't think anything could be harder than Seven Sisters, even if it was 3x as long.

In order to meet my goal, all I had to do was show up and run some portion of this thing and not get injured. My secret non-real goal was to keep up with Luette, my training buddy since last August. I didn't put any thought into a time goal because I wasn't sure if I would complete the course. I had never run more than 20 miles.

Packing my drop bag was ridiculous. Due to the luxury of not having to actually carry it, I put everything I could possibly have any remote use for in there. Everything I could think of. The trouble was that this was simply a long run, so there wasn't really much stuff that I could imagine wanting. Not sure why or how it still ended up being like 20 pounds...

I asked anyone around for advice in the few days before the event. "It's never too early to walk the hills," was a common theme. Almost everyone agreed that even the slightest incline could be considered a hill and was thus walkable. Other advice ranged from eating/drinking early and often to "whatever you do, don't try anything new."

I took note of as much as I could but there ended up being a couple of new things I did try. I had never used Nuun before but Scout had the foresight to know that I'd need it. At our last IRS (Insomniac Running Society) night run, she hooked me up with some of the orange and some cola (the latter has caffeine). Within a few miles of the start, I'd put an orange one in the 'Pod.

The start was very relaxed and there was plenty of leapfrogging, chattering and some laughing with nearby runners. It was cool and inspiring to come upon the 50 milers who had already been out crushing it for several hours, and later on to see the 25k people blazing forward. We offered greetings to whoever we encountered, or who encountered us, and many seemed to be in good spirits but a few related a state of agony. We told them they looked strong because they truly did; even among the ones who claimed to not feel as such, we'd never have guessed it.

We stopped to get water and nibbles at most of the aid stations. It was cool to see David and Ian out there as well as many other really wonderful volunteers. "What can I get you? What do you need?" they asked. There was quite an array of noshes available at each station and the consistency was a boon. We were thoroughly intrigued by the pickles. Although I was feeling pretty hungry soon after the start, there was no way I was going to eat a pickle. I believe my brave companion did a few times for the sake of novelty. Pretzels, orange and banana pieces, or fig newtons were usually what I went for. Occasionally I tried some dried fruit. I don't normally eat stuff like Swedish Fish or oreos and wasn't interested in doing that here either.

I was so absorbed in talking with Luette that I didn't pay much attention to navigation, where the hills were, or any other otherwise consuming course details. I never seemed to figure out what direction we were in regards to the start/finish. It did not matter, but it was different than my usual wish to really know the course well beforehand. I did recall roughly where the more difficult sections would be, milewise, from looking at the elevation profile. Pinelands is certainly not at all flat, but it is so much flatter than everything I have been training on that I wasn't too worried about it. As I ran though one of the supposedly more difficult sections, I became pretty sure that this was not going to be remotely similar to Seven Sisters. Not even close.

We both peed around, I think, mile 6 or 7. Naturally we discussed it posthaste: In perfect unison, we said, "I peed a lot." After a high five in self-celebration of our own utter accidental-yet-totally-authentic goofiness, we then laughed about this for way longer than it was funny.

I'd felt like I was drinking a ton, and at about mile 10 I was pretty sure it was pee o'clock again. Well, no dice. Hmm, that's odd. Can there be any was I am not drinking enough? Are systems shutting down here? I was a little bit anxious now. I looked in the mirror (a porta-john with a mirror? Wow, Pineland...) and I was sweating like mad.

I went out and drank lots of water and lots of whatever that greenish-yellow stuff was. I ate more salty pretzels. I drank more again. Luette was like, are you okay? I told her I was but I was a little concerned and that I might have to be more conservative with the pace; I didn't want to stress out any systems which were already overly stressed out. We set off and I resolved to walk some of the uphills as Luette trucked up, running every single one. I kept catching back up with her but warned her that soon I might not be doing that. I made her promise to not wait for me under ANY circumstances. I was sure that even under ideal circumstances, that we'd be running separately by the halfway point. She is faster, I am sure of it.

I believe I put in a cola Nuun somewhere around mile 10 or so. It was around when I was wondering if my body was going to start going downhill, and I was thinking I was about to lose Luette. (Not that I am co-dependent, or anything....) Scout had said caffeine was "awesome during a race," and I was totally at peace with ingesting some, especially if it would mean I could hang on. Also maybe it would mean there would be peeing again soon. Just a thought. Another thought: Scout also had pointed out that the Nuun logo totally looks like buttocks, which is one of those thoughts you wish you could just unthink but you can't.

Shortly thereafter, we were on a long, gentle uphill in a gorgeous field, and the most refreshing breeze sailed along through the tall grass. I was forcing myself to walk, though I still didn't really feel the need, and Luette was running easily just ahead. I took a moment to thoroughly check in with myself. I'd become anxious because I wasn't sure what my body was doing. What is going on with you? I asked myself. What sensations do you have? And I realized that, at that moment, as well as at other subsequent moments, I actually felt really good. I wasn't the least bit tired, bored or uncomfortable. I did not feel truly stressed; I only felt imaginary fake stressed. I decided to ditch that useless bullshit and to go catch the fuck up with my friend. If I stopped feeling really good, I'd worry about it when it happened. But this moment, right now, was all good, and why would I bother to do anything else but to experience it fully?

I kept thinking, "okay this is it, she's going to be gone after this hill." But my walk simply hadn't been much slower that her run, and so I would catch up repeatedly. Finally I was like, screw this shit, and just decided to run slowly up the hills with her. Wonder of wonders, it worked. After all, I was drinking a ton, sweating plenty, and feeling fine. Yes, everyone I'd asked for advice had said to walk the hills, and I do believe it was good advice -- but when your pace is as slow as ours, I think it simply doesn't make a big difference.

As we headed to the Final Mile Aid Station for the first time, I began to prepare myself. This time through would probably be fine. At this point on the second loop, I might be experiencing something I was ill-equipped and unprepared to handle. I slurped down some chia seed gel from my drop bag. This station was being run by a local Youth Orchestra and had a small league of bewildered adolescents milling about, not playing music. Even though the words "youth orchestra" generally cause me to shudder, it still would have been cool if they'd been playing.

After the final field loop, we passed through the Grove. I'd wondered what it was going to feel like passing through the start/finish area, knowing there was still a lap left to go. I'd theorized that it may be a bit overwhelming, but I was quite wrong. Monsters were there, cheering and shouting support in that badass way that they do. I felt like I had a whole team of supporters there who wanted me to succeed, in whatever definition I chose for the word. Being affiliated with a team of this caliber is a totally new experience and more of an honor than I'd ever be brave enough to ask for. Dangling preposition be damned.

Mile 15 was behind us, we were halfway done, I still felt strong, and the support of the team would have carried me along if I hadn't. To quote Luette: "Boom. Roasted." I stored some of the buoyancy for later, just in case. ((((((to be continued)))))

 

[The Unstrung Harp]

Surely we were going to start feeling tired, and that our conversation would dwindle soon. I'd done up to 20 miles but not for months, and she'd done up to 13-15ish. There were a few quiet spells but none were too long. The speaking kept up much more than I'd have guessed. It did however become weirder especially in the second Oak Hill section near the end.

We each used a gel at some point; I wish I could remember when exactly. She'd never actually used one before, and I had never gulped down the whole thing at once. Life on the edge. I am pretty sure I used one before the halfway when I was fearful that I wouldn't be able to keep up with my cohort. I do recall that I was saving the final one for sometime in the mile 24-25 ish range. I was actually finding myself wishing around mile 20-21 that I'd brought a third. I am glad I didn't though; one of the things we talked about was whether or not bodies like it when you stuff gooey gels into them and then deplete yourself and then repeat that a bunch of times.

I kept waiting for the suffering that was supposed to happen. Surely soon we would descent into the endless suffering that defines ultrarunning. Surely. But as the miles ticked by and the hours passed, I began to realize that we simply wouldn't have much time left for endless suffering. Mystified, intrigued, tentatively excited though very careful not to feel too over-confident, we simply kept running.

The temperature had dropped a few degrees and the sky was now overcast. Every time I thought, "wouldn't it be nice if there was a bit of a breeze?", it seemed a rustle among the leaves would form, and fresh relief would ensue. We were seriously, massively lucky with the weather. I am sure my experience wouldn't have been half as comfortable if it'd been hot, as it was on Saturday.

After grabbing more chia seeds and the second gel from the drop bag, we headed into the Oak Hill section for the last time. I looked at my GPS more frequently now. This was now our longest run to date. We were getting very close to a marathon. I kept waiting for something to change, something to feel impossible. Suffering. Anything. Shortly after 26 miles, we exchanged another high five to commemorate this moment of bizarreness in which we were both fully invested. Ultrarunning is sort of nuts, after all, and we were now official components of that particular bag of nuts. I think we'd been on the course for somewhere around 6:30. I didn't make a point to remember exactly since we were not here to run a marathon!

I thought of that moment a month or two ago when I tried to join Scout and Squirrel for the last 10miles of their 50k training run at Bradbury. I was struggling to keep up on a very low-energy day, the conversation had died several miles ago, and we were running in silence. Suddenly Scout turned to Squirrel and said:
"we're in ultra territory now." I was a spectator to the awesome. Me, I was merely on mile 7 and could barely put one foot in front of the other. I hadn't the slightest thought at the time that I would, myself, be in this mysterious ultra territory so soon.

"Oh man, my smiling muscles hurt," I said to Luette.
We were somewhere around mile 29, and this was my only complaint so far. More of an observation, really. My knees/hips/feet were not significantly tired, they just had the slightest feeling of use that happens in any long run. I had a couple of blisters forming but they were also feeling quite minimal. We shared a brief lament over the day's worth of growth of our leg hair. Yes, it's a rough life out here.

The talking and laughing had continued; and I was feeling ever more energetic. L was a tiny bit quieter but showed not a single sign of ever walking, not for a second. Me, I was becoming hyper. Was it the caffeine in the Nuun? I'd used another half of the second Cola tablet. I later checked; there really wasn't that much caffeine in there. I guess I was just feeling invigorated by all the energy from being able to keep up with Luette. I didn't know why or how, but I wasn't complaining. I was having a total blast. We recited the Jabberwocky. We recycled the ultra horrendous Jewish mother characters we'd played on the earlier Oak Hill. I was trying to remember the pleasant pheasant plucker tongue twister but fortunately got distracted. Pretty sure I'd scared Luette plenty for one day.

We could hear the live music all the way in the Grove even before we passed by the Final Mile Aid Station for the final time. I could not believe that a) we were still together and b) that no suffering or significant discomfort had yet happened. And now, said suffering, for which I'd been planning and bracing myself all day, was not going to happen. We'd be done in a few minutes.

We talked about what the finish line might be like and wondered if it would be intense and overpopulated. There was yet more Trail Monstery goodness as we came close. How they had voices left after cheering all day, I don't know.

After something like 7 hours and 42 minutes of running and pretzel pausing, we were finished. I felt like we should have kept going; like I could have, like I wanted to -- just to see. The curiosity scurried about through my faded brain. I set it free. Without suffering to prove it, was it still real? Had I cheated somehow? I checked the GPS; it said that its wearer had run over 31 miles. Weird.

A kind volunteer handed me the official Cowbell of Achievement and a water bottle, the latter of which I declined, since I knew it'd never be used. Not that I have a use for the cowbell, either. Regardless, I am thankful to have this amusing little reminder of a truly, incredibly, positive day. I'll send out another round of congratulations to all of the finishers right now -- you are each an inspiration. There were lots of other first time ultrarunner Trail Monsters too. How good it is to be among friends.

During our last IRS night run before Pineland, when I'd asked Scout for advice, she said something like, "I'm going to be Jeremy's Alison, and I'll say what she said to Jeremy, which is to 'run with gratitude.'" She was of course referring to Jeremy Bonnett who ran the Peaks 100 mile race a few weeks ago, persevering through extreme challenge to score a second place finish, and Alison, his partner/crew. Scout (and Mindy) got 3rd in the 50 mile, oh by the way.

Run with gratitude. Indeed, I felt tremendous gratitude to Luette and to all my wonderful friends, training buddies, and like-minds, the Trail Monsters. To my body, for holding up just fine. To the weather, for being kind. To the great team that orchestrates all the elements of the Pineland Trail Running Festival. This event was the question, and running with gratitude was the answer.

 

[dr_wu002]

Pretty cool! I must've seen you there at some point -- I ran the 50 miler. It was a great day for running and a really nice course! The aid stations were epic! There were a bunch of VFTT'ers there! Too bad I had no idea that you were running. Also, you were at Seven Sisters? The same dude (Ross Krause) who won Seven Sisters also won the Pineland 50k... it was his first 50k ever and he smoked it!

The same people that put on Pinelands also are hosting the Big Brad Ultra in October -- that looks like it'll be fun and I'm running that. There are a ton of races in New England these days! Welcome to ultrarunning!

-Dr. Wu

 

[The Unstrung Harp]

Dangit Wu!! I wish I'd known you'd be there. We probably sweated within mere inches of each other but I was so busy being a self-absorbed ultradork with my buddy that I probably missed hellos with a bunch of people.

Major congrats on the 50 miler. Did you do a report or anything? Would love to read it. It was such a well organized event. I agree, the aid stations were totally epic. It almost felt like the aid stations were the point and oh by the way, you can run a little bit between them if you get bored of standing around eating swedish fish. Insane.

Yep, I got owned by Seven Sisters, it was pretty dope! I was kind of unprepared but it was fine, and it was excellent training to boot. It made Pineland seem pretty tame. Were you at Seven Sisters too? Didn't realize Ross Krause won both. Impressive.

The Big Brad Ultras are going to be super challenging. Way crazier than Pineland with more singletrack goodness. Can't wait. Some of the Trail Monsters I mentioned, Ian, Val/Scout, and Mindy/Squirrel, have done an awesome job so far putting it together and it is sure to be a world class event. Not sure which one I'll do but I definitely wouldn't miss it, even if I was injured I'd still go & volunteer because it's going to be an amazing day. See you there!

 

[dr_wu002]

I didn't do a write up, really. It was my second 50 miler and I took it pretty conservative ... the aid stations were quite epic, I could hear the noise and music and cheering from the one with all the cowgirls for miles before I arrived and it was quite awesome going through that one as well as the main area. The course was lot prettier than I thought it was going to be and nice with all the rolling hills and easy terrain. I'm sure that we passed one another at some point.

Seven Sisters is in my neck of the woods so I did that again... it's a bear of a workout! Basically no flat areas at all, just up-down-up-down and constantly on loose rock. It's fun but it's also kind of crowded and annoying at the same time as well as the totally f'd up course. Hard to believe the winner was running ~ 9 minute miles on messed up terrain like that.

-Dr. Wu

 

[buckyball1]

UH -many thanks for sharing the 50k with us-really like your willingness to put it all out there, what you're feeling/thinking all day long w/o concern about being too cool or opening up too much

-maybe very different from what i do/enjoy, but then perhaps not so much..

Thanks
jim

 

[The Unstrung Harp]

Sure thing Buckyball, thanks for reading. I've no secrets, I am a total greenhorn. I regularly finish way at the back of the pack in all sorts of stuff, but it's still made me a much stronger, healthier hiker, and that's really the point of all this.

I am without a doubt about the least "cool" person ever and totally at peace with it, so that helps. Fortunately they don't judge you on your coolness!

In regards to it being very different than what you do/enjoy....well, there are views of the Whites from the race course at Pineland, if that helps at all.

-Unstrung

 

[halfmoon]

Nicely done Harp! That is awesome. I ran my first ultra this year also, the Bear Mountain 50 miler. My previous longest distance running was the 100 yard dash in kindergarten. I figured if I can hike anything at 3 MPH, how hard could it be to run 4 MPH. As I know now, pretty dang hard! I could not walk (literally) the day after the race. It was an awesome kind of pain though. I am stoked to do another run, I signed for for the Vermont 50 race, and hopefully I will come into it a little sharper than my first. Congratulations, sounds like an awesome experience for you!

 

[The Unstrung Harp]

Awesome Halfmoon!! That was wicked ballsy to signup for Bear Mountain in that mindframe!! VT is going to be sweet, have a fab run.

 

[dr_wu002]

Nicely done Harp! That is awesome. I ran my first ultra this year also, the Bear Mountain 50 miler. My previous longest distance running was the 100 yard dash in kindergarten. I figured if I can hike anything at 3 MPH, how hard could it be to run 4 MPH. As I know now, pretty dang hard! I could not walk (literally) the day after the race. It was an awesome kind of pain though. I am stoked to do another run, I signed for for the Vermont 50 race, and hopefully I will come into it a little sharper than my first. Congratulations, sounds like an awesome experience for you!

Your first 50 miler was Bear Mountain. Pretty ballsy.

It's a lot of fun and after a while your body adjusts. I feel like a trail 50 k is a lot less punishing on my body than even a road half marathon. Even some hikes are rougher... I did a Pemi Loop the week before Pinelands. I felt kinda trashed after the Pemi Loop but after the Pineland 50 I felt like I hadn't even run a race.

I think a lot of people worry about running ultras because they think well, a road marathon is hard (and it is -- wicked tough on the body) so running 2x the distance plus all the elevation must be murder. But it's not. A lot of the trail ultras are much easier courses than your even some easy hikes in the mountains (although, many are not -- choose wisely) and the atmosphere is mellow. The frontrunners are running an extreme pace but after that people are running at all different levels and there's a lot of talking and camaraderie going on as well. You walk when you have to, run as much as you can, and it's a pretty enjoyable and exhilarating experience all around.

-Dr. Wu

 

[PamW]

Wow, what a great report. I really appreciate your candor and self-observation. Run with gratitude indeed. What great advice for running and for everything else too. Thanks for posting.

 

[The Unstrung Harp]

Wu, I completely agree with everything in your last post. I am sure I'd be pretty trashed from a Pemi Loop (looking forward to finding out soon) but Pineland was really pretty (...ok, fine, I'll say it...) easy. Especially with a friend. The hours fly by.

Pam, thanks for reading, glad you dig.