So last year I turned 60 and wanted to do a 60-mile Ultra-Marathon.  I had tried to do a 55 Mile Ultra when I turned 55 and had to stop at 52 miles due to cramps and a prior commitment (Jeff and Gina getting married).  I felt so good last year after finishing the 60 Mile Ghost Train I decided to go back this year and see if I could do more.  When I say “felt good,” I mean that I was tired and hungry, but in all honesty when someone cheered “One more lap!” – I seriously considered it (one “lap” is 15 miles).  I had stuck to my plan that I had developed, and up to that point, all had gone as planned and I did not want to mess it up.  So, I called it a winner at 60 miles.

I set my sights this year on doing more than last year but really wanted to do 90 miles in an eventual quest to someday maybe do the preverbal 100 (the big “Century”)!  While it was a difficult decision, stopping at 75 miles, as hard as it was with still over 5 hours before the course would close, was the right thing to do.  I know I had the time left to worse case walk the next 15 miles, but physically I had been beat up.  The kicking of the hidden roots had not sent me to the ground like last year but had done the damage on my toes and believe it or not my neck and hamstring.  You see each time you kick or trip over a root your body is hurled forward which causes a whiplash type effect on your neck and whips your leg backwards and causes your hamstring muscles to tear.  I don’t know how many roots I kicked in the 75 miles, but I do know that I was not doing to find out how many I would do in the ones from 75 to 90.  I stopped.

So, with all the time I had to reflect during my 75-mile trek that day. I had a number of things to reflect upon.

At about mile 15 I started to reminisce about how I started running and in my mind what I was capable of.  After running my first 5K in Newcastle, NH I remember looking at Art, a friend who convinced me to start running after quitting smoking and saying, “how the hell can anyone run 5 miles?”  This got me thinking of all the things I had done after that…all the marathons, the duathlons, the triathlons, and now the ultramarathons.  I came to the conclusion that the only thing that gets you through these things is your mind.  You can train all you want and be in the best shape ever but if your mind says you can’t do it…you won’t.  I could give you example after example of times that I was not ready physically (sickness, injury, or lack of time to train) but told myself, “what the hell you got nothing better to do today just go get it done” and then finished the event without incident.

When I am running a 5k I will see people struggle to finish just as hard as some people struggle to finish a marathon and bottom line is that they get to the finish line.  Not because they trained a little harder, or a little less, but because they set their mind on finishing that race or that goal in their life.

If you really want to see this in action go to witness and Ultra Marathon event somewhere.  Don’t show up at the beginning…show up towards the end.  When you see people who have not only been up for 24 hours, but have been moving for 24 hours, they are not running on just physical strength they have a strong mind that convinces them that 45,60, 75, 90 or 100 miles is possible.  Erika and her cousins Cari and Christien worked at one of the water-stops from 2am until 8am told me stories of some of the people coming into the stop.  Some so tired they could not talk but would grab food and keep on moving down the trail.  One person could not open the top to the ½ empty soda bottle.  Another one laid down next to the fire pit and asked to be woken up in a ½ hour or when the rain stopped, whichever came first.  She refused a blanket and a spot under the food tent because she wanted to get warm.  Oh yes, she got up and kept going.

So, to wrap this up…my highlights of the 2018 Ghost Train was that I went 15 more miles than last year in virtually the same time as the 60 miles and I PR’ed the 60 miles by over 8 hours (not too often you measure a PR by hours and not minutes or seconds).  I had to laugh because other people had commented days after that they just now were thinking about if they will do it again next year.  I was already planning and plotting my strategy for next year at around mile 55.  

I will look into better shoes to protect my toes while kicking roots and will work on a plan to finish more miles in the daylight so I can see those roots.

So, until next year…Chooo Chooo!!