Well, here are my final notes on my 60 Mile run this weekend.

First of all, I want to thank all the friends and family that watched and sent notes of confidence and insanity (they were both pretty even).

To the ones who asked, “why do we do this” my response is, “because we can”.  I had one person tell me they would have done it with me but climbed Mount Washington instead (they took the cog railroad to the top, climbed around on a few rocks, and took the cog railroad back down) .

All joking aside, I think the big take away from this weekend was that if you set your mind to doing something (within reason) that you can do it.  I was originally on the waitlist and did not find out until late that I had a number and would be allowed to run in the Ghost Train, so I did not get to train as I normally would have.  I put together a plan and then followed it to the tee.

The other thing that I learned is how important it is to let the human body recover.  I used a routine of running and walking and you could actually feel your body recover from the running while you were walking that allowed you to run the next section.  I did that by distance and not time.  In other words, I ran 0.75 miles and then walked 0.25 miles.  As long as I stuck to that schedule, I did not get overtired and was able to keep to the time goals I had set for myself, or just slightly faster.

Nutrition is also key.  When you run a marathon, you do not have the luxury of eating food that you prepared and have at the rest or turn-around areas.  In a marathon you are stuck with relying on Gu or some type of supplement and a Gatorade type drink.  My stomach after 26 miles is not happy with Gu or Gatorade and sometimes you do not eat or drink enough to fuel what the body needs.

For the Ghost Train I was able pack my own coolers filled with food and drinks.  This meant that I could eat my own PB&J sandwiches and potato chips (salt) and drink a ginger ale (sugar) at timing station.  I would also run with a bottle of diluted ginger ale and water.  I never felt dehydrated or hungry the whole time (the Italian sub at mile 45 may have helped too).

The last thing I want to say is – the group responsible for putting together this event which lasted 30 hours over trails and in pretty remote areas – did a great job with everything.  I told the race director that you felt welcome the minute you in pulled into the parking lot until when you drove away.  The course was beautiful with all the fall leaves, the ponds with the beaver dams, and marshes with the red oak leaves (and even a few jack-o-lanterns along the way).