I’ll be there. I know its early (12 weeks), but it will be my first trail race and first ultra.
Three questions (for now):
trail shoes or training shoes? I know only miles 3-16 miles of the course are really trails. I’ve never worn trail shoes, but am intrigued by getting yet another piece of gear (like all good triathletes!). I figured if I’m going to go with trail shoes, I’ve should start training in them soon.
aid stations - how are the aid stations? The website says “fully stocked” and lists all kinds of food.
carryingnutrition - Do you run with a fuel belt or some other type of fluid carrier? I’ve never run with that stuff and need to get used to whatever I’m going to do. In some places the aid stations are 4-6 miles apart, which strikes me as too far to not be carrying my own.
I ran it a few years ago and loved loved loved it! Looking forward to doing it again someday. It’s an awesome experience, one of my favorite races ever.
Trail shoes–I didn’t bother and didn’t have any problems. Unless someone can meet you at the end of the initial trail portion with a pair of regular running shoes, you’ll be clomping along in those trail shoes on a paved path for the next 35 miles. Ugh.
Aid station offerings–best spread I’ve ever seen. If you could imagine eating it on a run, it was there. I got through the day on handfulls of gummi bears, pretzels, and M&Ms, because that’s what looked good at the time. They had hot chicken broth and hot cocoa too.
Carrying nutrition–I had some calories on me in case of emergency, but I don’t remember the aid stations being unpleasantly far apart. It was far from hot, and the aid stations didn’t seem too far apart to me. It’s never a bad idea to carry fluid, but if you’re going to, make sure you find something you can tolerate having strapped to your body for up to 10 hours or more. I couldn’t, so I did without.
I found the run remarkably well supported. I didn’t expect much going into it, because of the sheer distance of the course, but I never felt alone out there and the aid stations and volunteers were fantastic.
Now that’s the type of response I wanted to see! I am so fired up for this race now, thanks! That all sounds like great advice and the answers I was really hoping for.
Thanks!
My first 50- 2 years ago. Definitely road shoes. First 15 are rocky and not completely runnable anyway. Rest of the course you will want the lighter road shoes. Completely and well supported but I did carry botlle carrier with one bottle. Can be cold at the start so wear stuff you can carry for 50 or trash along the way. Good time!
JFK is really an awesome event. It was my 1st ultra as well in '05 and turned out to be a good experience finishing in 7:06 - my long-winded race report is posted here if you’re curious:
As the others have mentioned, I think a good pair of trainers would be fine vs trail shoes unless the weather doesn’t cooperate and it’s either snow-covered or wet. In that case it may make sense to get a hand-off once you’re off the trail and onto the foot path which is a great surface before the final few miles on the road.
With regards to your nutritional plan, I may be a little more anal than the others, but myself and team-mates relied heavily on our crew for support and I also carried a FuelBelt (I believe they may have carried belts or bottles as well). I know for me personally, my nutritional strategy is critical for a 50 miler and I didn’t want to rely on what may or may not be there - again, just my $.02.
Best of luck - drop another post of shoot me an e-mail if you have any more specific ?'s.