I heard JFK50 was a great first-timer's race, and it didn't disappoint. From central Virginia, it was a fairly easy three hour drive up to Hagerstown, MD the day before the race. Packet pickup was at a Homewood Suites across from where my husband I stayed. It's about a 1200 person race I believe, so it was a little crowded but fast. There was some gear for sale and a few vendors. The vibe was pretty exuberant, like a family reunion since many runners seem to do this event year after year. The shirt, in my opinion, is pretty cool. The women's are a v-neck navy blue and I'll be proud to sport it!

I got a lot of advice about this particular course from friends who had completed it multiple times, and I studied all the info on the website beforehand, so I felt fairly prepared, up until a couple of days before the race when western Maryland got 8 inches of snow, on top of all of the rain they received the previous weeks. That threw a small wrench into the works but some things are just out of your control. Other than the trail conditions promising to be bad, the weather itself was perfect, mid 30s to low 40s, no rain.

On race morning you start in a high school gym which is very pleasant since there are indoor bathrooms and it's a warm building! The RD spoke to all the runners in the gym around 5:50am and gave us some great information about the trails, answered questions, and had multi-year finishers stand up in case anyone wanted to tag along with them based on their anticipated finish time. After that we all filed out of the gym and walked the 8-10 minutes or so to the start line in Boonsboro. It was timed perfectly - we stood for about 1 minute before the gun went off right at 6:30am.

The first two or three miles or so are on paved roads and have some serious hills. After that you get on the Appalachian Trail for the next 13 or so miles. There are parts of the AT that are steep up or down, some flat, all rocky, and with the snow and ridiculous amount of mud, all tricky! It was tough going for me, a road-marathoner, and hard to pass people as you end up in single file for a lot of it. Passing means risking your ankles to go through the snow and the unknown rocks dwelling underneath. I decided to listen to my friends' advice and take it very easy on the trail. End goal: get off the trial in one piece so I can run the rest of the race. Mission accomplished - I made it down the final trail switchbacks without one fall but my time reflected my cautious strategy.

The first crew spot is at Weverton Cliffs right after the AT portion ends and my husband met me there so I could change my wet socks and muddy trail shoes for dry socks and road shoes. They felt divine for about five minutes and then I found the mud on the towpath. I had heard from many JFK runners that they all hated the C&O towpath but at the time it sounded liked it would be a nice change from the trail: flat, good surface, no single track trails. It was nice for a few minutes, then I found the mud. It was all mud. So much mud. By that point it wasn't me caring about my feet that slowed me down, it was me trying not to fall in the slick slop that made up much of the path. But I put on a good amount of speed to make up for the slow AT portion.

There are cutoffs to be aware of along the way and I was well ahead of those, though take care to make sure your GPS is able to handle a long event. I had to go strictly by my timer and the aid station mile markers, as there are no other mile markers until the last 8 miles, and my watch mileage was messed up and useless.

Speaking of aid stations, the locations varied but roughly they were every 4 or so miles. There were lots of goodies: gatorade, water, bottle/backpack refills, cookies, cake at one aid station, pretzels, candy, PB&J sandwiches, Coke, broth...the best part of ultras is the food! Volunteers were fantastic the entire way.

At long last I left the towpath and made it to the paved road. These 8 miles are rolling hills through farm country but it was my fastest speed of the day even at the end. Here there are mile markers counting down from 8 - invigorating!

The finish line is at another school and was the happiest finish line of my 62 races. I got the coveted JFK medal around my neck and then retreated into the warm school cafeteria with my husband to relish my finish and have a hot cup of coffee before getting back to my hotel to warm up and wash the extensive amount of mud off of my feet, shins, and calves. There were several food and drink options in the cafeteria but I didn't partake except for the hot coffee.

Overall, it was a great event. A note to potential runners that you cannot use personal listening devices so it's a lot of time in your head out there on the trail and path. I talked to several people throughout the day which was a lot of fun, but also spent a lot of time by myself. I carried a lightweight hydration pack with my electrolytes and a little bit of nutrition and s!caps, since aid stations were a little far (compared to a marathon) but had no problem with that aspect at all. The weather was great as I said before. The toughest part this year was simply the trail and towpath condition, but I'd take the mud and snow over actively falling rain or abnormally high temperatures! I'd definitely recommend the race for its history, its fantastic RD and organization, support and volunteers, and camaraderie. I have nothing but fond memories of my first 50 miler..mud and all!