How Ultramarathons are Like Thru Hikes

On December 31st, 2016 I toed the starting line of my first ever ultramarathon.  While competing in (and later finishing) this event I noticed a ton of similarities that running an ultra and completing a thru hike have in common.  

Aid Stations Are Basically Trail Magic on Steroids

The ultra I ran was the Pistol Ultra in Alcoa, TN.  They have a famous aid station, Woody's, that provides everything a runner needs to get through the race.  From homemade trail mix bars and banana bread to salt and vinegar chips and even candy this little slice of heaven on earth will get you refueled and back to the task at hand.  Much like trail magic, seeing this pop-up tent brought forth a flood of emotions and got me energized to continue onward.  Seriously, when someone fills your water bottles for you so you can stuff your face and keep moving... that person is an angel. 

(Photos of Woody's courtesy of the Pistol Ultra Facebook group)

Hike Your Own Hike Applies Here Too

So when I tell people I've completed an ultra they say "wow I can't believe you ran that far!"  Honestly I did run a lot, but I also walked a lot too.  I stopped and stretched a lot.  In fact, according to my Garmin, I probably stopped for stretches, food, and sock changes more than 15 minutes during the duration of the time I was on the course.  When you're hiking a distance trail you might take 1 zero day or 50 zero days (like I did on the AT) and you're still going to finish.  When you're stopping to walk in an ultra no one is judging you, just like when you take that extra zero day in town.  In fact, towards the end of the ultra if you can manage to run up a hill, no  matter how small, someone who sees you doing it starts cheering you on.  That's support!

Your Fellow Runners Have Your Back

On my final lap on the way back to the finish I saw some ladies headed towards me - meaning they had about 9 miles to go.  One of the women stopped and burst into tears.  Immediately other runners stopped to see what she needed and how they could help her.  Spectators cheered you by name and asked if you needed anything.  Aid station workers, due to the cold weather, asked every person if they needed a hot drink.  We offered up our foam rollers and muscle sticks to those who were in pain.  Just like when you're out on trail and something throws a wrench into your day, others who know what you're going through offer to help you out.  

The Hunger is REAL

About 15 miles into my race my stomach was ANGRY.  I was so hungry all of a sudden I almost couldn't move.  Much like when you're on a thru hike, when your stomach tells you to eat it is time to eat!  I discovered for myself that much like a distance hike, my body responded extremely well to "real" foods versus snack bars, gels, and chews.  When I finished the race we went out for an enormous pasta dinner and I polished off a gargantuan piece of cheesecake.  I regret nothing!

Your Journey is The Destination

When I finished the AT my thru hike I was just in awe that I had finished.  From that moment on in my life I realized I can actually do difficult things.  I can COMPLETE difficult things.  Until that point in my life I often quit when things got hard and uncomfortable.  Since then, I've challenged myself outside of my comfort zone so many times.  This ultra race, for me, was proving to myself that something I once thought impossible truly wasn't.  I no longer find myself second-guessing my abilities once I'm in the middle of something.  It turns out that my first attempt at an ultra wasn't as scary or unmanageable as I feared it would be.  Much like every thru hike I complete, I come out on the other side realizing that I am capable of finishing something daunting.  

The smile you get after eating a ton of food and being stretched out by a physical therapist after running 50 Kilometers!

While there are plenty of other ways running an ultramarathon reminds me of thru hiking, these are the ones that stood out to me.  Have you ever run an ultra?  Do you want to push the envelope and challenge yourself to a difficult or "impossible" feat in the coming year? 

Day 9 - Finger Lakes Trail

We got up really early to have breakfast with Steve and Deb, coffee with home fries and fresh cheese. We sat with Steve until around 8, when the post office opened, grabbed our resupply and headed out of town.  Some people driving by stopped us to talk as they were from the Yellow Deli - a hostel system with two AT hostels.  We headed down the trail from here, road walking out of town.  We had a lot of road walking to do today and we got rained on pretty much every time we stepped onto the road this morning. We also missed where the trail went back through a field and ended up doing  much longer road walk than anticipated!  It was still very pretty as we were walking uphill through a rural neighborhood with lots of field.

A misty day in the fields  

We alternated woods and road walking several times and took a high water bypass in the early afternoon.  As soon as we were walking on the road I saw a bear go darting across the street.  We saw a bag of garbage on the other side of the road and guessed we interrupted his meal. We did a whole lot of road walking from this point before heading back into a sopping wet field and a nasty wet and flooded trail.  It was supposed to be scenic waterfalls but it was honestly just a mess.  We did some more road walking and decided to check cell phone coverage before heading on.

We rang it... And it was LOUD! 

I had a message from a blog follower saying she could help us out if we were having a tough time finding a place to camp. Since we were on mostly private land and had already done 17.5 miles (2:30 pm), we decided to shoot her a message.  She offered to let us stay at her house in their camper and we agreed to meet her at 6 pm at a road crossing.  This gave us the energy we needed to do some more uphill pasture walking before coming to a microwave tower (seriously, what are these things?!) and then doing yet another long road walk in the afternoon sun.

The first time we have seen these green signs on our trip! 

Amy, along with her kids, picked us up with cold Gatorade and water waiting.  She drove us back to her place and introduced us to her husband who welcomed us with open arms.  They fed us dinner, let us shower, did our laundry, and even gave us beer and ice cream until we thought we would explode.  We talked about some of our past adventures and showed Amy our gear to help her prep for some upcoming hikes.  It was an amazing end to a 22-mile day.

Day8 - Finger Lakes Trail

We hit our 100 mile mark sometime this morning!  We woke up early, but we wanted ice cream so we couldn't leave until 9 am. We left the shelter and headed uphill through a beautiful spruce forest, weaving in and out of hardwoods and spruce for most of the morning.  We walked down into the small and pretty China Gorge, only to climb back out and down to Schear Road to our first stop of the day.  Our map said County Cream (aka The Penguin) was a must stop, so we added nearly a mile to our hike to walk down to it. We filled up on chicken tenders, onion rings, French fries, and ice cream.  They have the coolest machine that makes nearly 151,000 combinations of ice cream!

I love spruce forest! 

After this, we had a full and pretty uneventful walk into Masonville, where two very hot and dehydrated hikers stopped at the General Store for cold drinks.  Inside we found more of a food co-op than average general store!  It was amazingly refreshing to get natural drinks and sit out of the heat for a few minutes before heading down the long road walk to Bainbridge.  Thank you to Kendal, the owner, for letting us sit and talk for a few minutes before heading down the road!

When you see this giant ice cream beacon, you run - don't walk! 

We met a nice couple, Steve and Deb, who said we could stay with them in an extra apartment they owned in Bainbridge while we were there.  We started the hot road walk and got picked up quickly by a guy named Nate who asked us if we wanted a ride. Since we were already sunburned and dehydrated we accepted, and he dropped us at the Bainbridge Laundromat.  We did laundry and grabbed a bite to eat at Jerry's Inn across the street before setting up for the night with Steve and Deb.  We are so thankful to be inside as the recent stomfront moving across the country is pouring rain down on NY yet again.  They are calling for rain all night and most of the week.  Tomorrow we head west yet again!

Day 6 - Finger Lakes Trail

Super adventure day!  So today was the big day- we had a huge mileage day to make it out of Downsville and off DEP land. We didn't have a set plan, but we had a few idea as to what we could do to get off the NYC owned land.

 

We began with a road walk out of Downsville before turning up an old logging road and beginning walking uphill.  The road got rough and muddy, but since it was an active logging site the road was walkable.  After a few miles the trail turned to go downhill and became a DEC horse trail.  Unfortunately it doesn't seem to get much use and had become quite overgrown with a few very large blowdowns.  We reached the bottom and walked through a big field to a snowmobile trail bridge and a small waterfall on East Trout Brook.  We now had another big climb along snowmobile trails before coming to another road before lunch.

Going over a blowdown so big I had hang off the one side by my arms! 

The waterfall on the snowmobile trail. 

We were making fast and easy miles and had already done 12 miles before noon.  From here it was easy walking to a cell phone tower before a steep downhill section and a long road walk.  The bad thing about the road walking?  It was midday by this point, so the midday sun was blazing and we were very hot. By the time we got down Houck Mountain Road to Beers Brook it was about 2:30 and we both had minor sunburns.  The road was scenic though and we got a few breezes.

Since we could hear gunshots in the distance, we were supposed to walk the road instead of the trail - the DEP trains on this part of the trail.  We road walked on Route 10 and turned up Rainbow Lodge Rd to go the 1.1 miles to Rainbow Lodge.  Ellen, a waitress, stopped and asked if we wanted a ride up the road.  She was going to the same place so we hopped in and arrived at Rainbow Lodge around 4 pm to delicious food and VERY cold beers.  We met the staff and some friendly locals and talked trails with them.  We tried to figure out our next move and NoKey was showing someone at the bar on our map where we were trying to go. It turns out the couple sitting next to that person owned the land we were aiming for and offered to let us camp at their property!  

We left with them and went with them to their property, which was adjacent to the DEP land where camping is illegal.  Severe thunderstorms were forecasted and the couple who owned the land offered to let us stay inside one of their houses instead.  This was an incredibly generous offer and we were just floored at how our luck had changed.  We walked nearly 21 miles before 4 pm today and were so tired.  We had planned on stealthing and setting up after dark.  All we wanted was to take off our shoes and instead we got hot showers and a roof over our heads. Thank you so much to the Tarantino's for letting us stay on their property.  This incredibly generous act changed our night for the better and we really appreciated it! 

We hiked so fast and hard NoKey burned holes in his socks today! 

Eating in the "Real World" Versus Trail Eating - Appalachian Trials

Eating on trail and eating off trail are often two vasty different things. Here are a few examples of how different the diet rules can be!

My latest blog post is live over on Appalachian Trials right now!

A pretty gift from a woman who will be hiking SoBo this year. She followed my blog and made this for me after I completed the trail. Ive been told it has glow-in-the dark components, but I think it needs some sunlight first :)