Any ultramarathoners out there?

[Ronin8002]

Looking to venture beyond the 26.2 after this year and wondered if anyone here has done longer races in the VA/DC/MD region and what your experiences were.

My ultimate goal is qualify for and run the JFK 50 miler at some point, but was considering doing some intermediate distance (50k?) before setting my sights on that one.

[frmrcatamount]

Looking to venture beyond the 26.2 after this year and wondered if anyone here has done longer races in the VA/DC/MD region and what your experiences were.

My ultimate goal is qualify for and run the JFK 50 miler at some point, but was considering doing some intermediate distance (50k?) before setting my sights on that one.

I am not that kind of runner, but there are several guys in my unit who are. I know that they participate in quite a few events in the VA/DC/MD area. If you have trouble finding anything, PM me and I can probably put you in contact with them.

[Patrick7]

I just signed up for the North Face 50 miler in Atlanta this coming October. They have a 50k distance all the way down to 5k that weekend. It is my first shot at the distance and I am doing my training on the flats of NW Florida but I have heard it is a good run from lots of folks down here. I have found a lot of info online, consensus seems to be marathon type training with a few longer back to back days to get the feet ready.

[Gryfen-FL]

For those who may not know:

Active dot com is a website that lists sporting events around the country and is an absolute gold mine if you want to find a race in your area. Can be searched by distances, locations and types of runs.

[Ronin8002]

Thanks all for the links/information!

[dagger0824]

Looking to venture beyond the 26.2 after this year and wondered if anyone here has done longer races in the VA/DC/MD region and what your experiences were.

My ultimate goal is qualify for and run the JFK 50 miler at some point, but was considering doing some intermediate distance (50k?) before setting my sights on that one.

A long time ago when I was a dumb and ignorant 19 year old, a Navy friend of mine was running a 50k and invited me along because there was also a 12k,15k, and a 25k besides the 50k. Well being invincible at the time and not having any running training for the particular event, I signed up for the 50k.

Well I'll say I made it 26.5 miles before I was waayy out of time to finish. 50k is equivalent to 31 miles...

It was up and down mountains. Some parts were so steep that if you tried walking down you'd trip and fall so you always had to be jogging at a minimum. Uphill was painful too.

Looking back, I have no idea how I even managed to get to 26.5 miles. It was the first time I had ever run mountains at that too....

I'd like to say my levels of naiveness were pretty high.

My Navy buddy finished it though.

This was before I was Active Duty.

Would I do it again? Yeah. My memories of the pain I had afterwards are just about long gone. I'd definitely try training for hills though... If that's where your course happens to be.

This all took place in Southern California...

[sarc88]

I highly recommend the Holiday Lake 50Km. I've finished it, and the course is great - all woods/fields, couple stream crossings, and it can be COLD that time of year.