It has been just over a month since I started my longest race to date in New Jersey. I did not expect it to take me this long to take the time to compose my thoughts and share them with you. By far, this race was the most complicated and hardest thing I’ve ever done. I’m still drained by it in a way I can’t quite explain. The race itself was the culmination of over 15 months of preparation and countless hours of mind-numbing speculation. I am going to spare you the details of all that preparation and share my race experience in the way I experienced it.
Before I begin, I want to tip my hat and say thanks to Rick and Jen McNulty and their whole family for a wonderful event. Three Days at the Fair is a well-run event, and that starts with having great race directors/hosts. After experiencing the event I understand why folks have come back year after year to the fair. The atmosphere they help create is welcoming and encouraging. When you’re in over 96+ hours into an event, that can make the difference between finishing strong or convincing yourself to quit. I would like to give a special shout out to their son Randy who was there to greet me every lap during those cold, mind numbing nights. It was very much appreciated and helped me maintain just a touch of my sanity.
Setup
I arrived in New Jersey at the Sussex County Fairgrounds around lunch on Sunday, May 9th, just in front of a nice rainstorm. When I arrived, there were only a handful of folks milling around and picking out spots along the course to set up their tents/aid stations. The real fancy people had motor homes/trailers/popups already placed around the first 2/10ths of a mile of the 1-loop. During this time, I met Steve Smith from Kentucky. Steve is a seasoned endurance racer whose crazy race calendar makes me look a lot saner. I would not have survived the first 96 hours without Steve’s continuous encouragement and checking in.
Ultimately, I selected a place on the out and back straightaway next to Steve a little less than a 1/10th of a mile from the start/finish line. I set up my pop tent and placed my cot tent right behind it and conversed with my fellow racers before leaving to get last minute supplies. I opted to spend the night in a half a star Econolodge in town of Newton, New Jersey, instead of my tent. This would be the last time I would sleep more than 4 hours straight for the next 3 weeks.
The Fundraiser
On top of running a race, I was running a fundraiser for Shelby Emergency Assistance (SEA). My idea was why not kill two birds with one stone. 2020 kept SEA from conducting many of their usual fundraising events. I felt like the race would be a unique way to raise funds so the slogan was born, “Jeff will run so that you don’t have to.” Slick campaign flyers and photos were made up and we started the campaign roughly 10 days before the race with a fundraising goal of $5,000 for SEA or $10 for every kilometer I planned to cover.
My Goals
I had several different levels of goals for my 6 Days at the Fair. My first and minimal goal was to get 311 miles (500 kilometers) of movement in over the course of the event to support the fundraiser. That translates to just over 52 miles a day. My secondary goal and target goal was to get 372 miles (600 kilometers). My reach goal was 404 miles. My game plan was to knock out 75-80 miles in the first 24 hours with 1-2 hours of sleep during that time followed by 4 hours of sleep in every 24-hour period following that except for Day 6 where I would settle for only 2 hours of sleep. With my fuzzy math this came out to 120 hours of movement and 24 hours of sleep/rest. The thing about game plans and ultras and endurance races is that they are all good and fine until you encounter blisters.
Race Day
I arrived back at the fairgrounds about 2 hours before race time. Other folks had started to fill in the open spaces next to the out and back area around me. It seemed to be a popular spot. I slowly began to meet many of the other folks just as crazy as me. In all, 48 people signed up and started the 144-hour race. In addition to our race, there were folks running a variety of other races including 72-, 48-, 24-, 12-, and 6-hour races. Every morning at 9 a.m. folks would start their respective races. This made things a lot more interesting as we got closer to the weekend when folks running a 24- or 12-hour race with fresh legs.
The Loop
I made the conscious choice NOT to go around the loop prior to the race. I wanted to be surprised on Monday morning. The thing about 1-mile loops is that they are not created equally. Hour after hour and day after day they wear on you differently. From above, the course looked like a mushroom with a line coming out of the bottom of it (the out and back). The course began on a nice brick concourse that was a false flat with structures on either side and big hardwood trees providing cover. It was immediately followed by a concession stand area that served as the race aid station. A small 2-3 foot step up put the course’s restrooms right in front of you before a quick zig-zag that led to the out and back part of the course. This is where the bulk of people set up their aid stations/RVs/tents. The back part of the out and back slow slid down a small decline before it took a right with a slight incline to break back left on a long half mile bend that would make the top of the mushroom. At the end of the long bend there was another left on an unpaved gravel path for a short stint before making a right and then another left to carry you back to the start finish line. If you are wondering, I typed all this from memory as the course is permanently burned into my memory now.
The Race
Day 1 Monday Funday
My race began at 9 a.m. on Monday, May 10th. I started the race in true Alabama fashion with my Bubba Gump hat along with Run Forest Run shirt from the 717-mile virtual race infrom 2020. For good measure, I color coordinated with shirt my socks with my shirt. If you are going to look tacky, at least try and look good doing it.
My first day on the course went well. I put down 73 miles, slept for about an hour and a half, with no blisters. I mixed running with mostly walking. I focused on only running the declines on Day 1 and walked the rest. Overall, I was happy with how things started off. I felt great and moved great. The first night was cooler than I expected, and that helped slow me down a little. Either way, all my goals were still in reach, and almost nothing was bothering me.
Day 2 Sleepless in Augusta: Part 1
Day 2 continued on from Day 1’s success. A handful of runners showed up at 9 a.m. to start their respective races as the fools in the 144-hour race kept moving on. At this point in the race, I had a pretty good idea on who everyone was and their ability level. It was fun to watch the front runners as they lapped me and watch their effort levels. There were some truly amazing athletes out on the course and watching their performances was inspiring and encouraging. During this time, I listened to primarily audiobooks during the day and my music playlist at night. I hit my first 100 miles before dark and got a couple of more laps in before trying to get my first real sleep. It did not work. I laid down around 8 p.m. and was back up at 9 p.m. without sleeping. 4 hours later I tried again. I managed to lay around for 2 more hours without being able to fall asleep. My pace slowed and my left knee started bothering me during an even colder night than the first. At the 48-hour mark, I was just 122 miles in. About 10-15 miles less than I had planned.
Day 3 Sleepless in Augusta: Part 2
On Day 3 the lack of sleep and bum knee started getting to me. I briefly left the racecourse around 11 a.m. to go get a knee brace at a local Walgreens. Ultimately, it was more of a nuisance than a help l, and I quickly abandoned it. I opted to slow down my pace and keep moving as I found myself unable to go to sleep. I began to feel the wear and tear on my body as it desperately wanted rest. My body was so amped up that it was unable to find rest. When it got dark around 9 p.m., I opted to go take a shower and try and sleep. The warm water helped my aching muscles, but once again I tossed and turned for an hour before I gave up on sleep and went back on the course. At this point I was unable to carry a conversation with anyone. I covered 46 miles on Day 3 to 168 miles, and I began to feel my race slip away.
Day 4 Sleepless in Augusta: Part 3
I hit my lowest point on Day 4. My body and mind were so exhausted that I could not rest. At this point, I was over 24 hours without caffeine as I was trying to help my body rest. I went out and would complete a lap , and come back and try toand sleep. I did this pattern for most of the daylight hours. My memories from days 3 and 4 are spotty at best as I really do not recall much except several conversations with Steve and my girlfriend, Lora. Steve had been fairly close on mileage with me up to this point and then he put 30 – 40 extra miles on me during the day as he got his second wind.
At this point I began reassessing my goals. I never thought my inability to sleep would do me in at an endurance race. But that is where I found myself. At around 5 p.m. that day, I left the fairgrounds again and drove into a local diner in Newton to eat a normal meal. I was looking for anything to help me sleep. I had been taking melatonin gummies and depriving myself of alcohol for well over 30 hours at this point. I came back to the fairgrounds and propped my feet up and tried to relax. Frustration does not adequately describe where my headspace was at during this time. I took another shower and finally, at 9 p.m. I fell asleepto sleep for 4 hours.
They say nothing good happens after midnight. I tend to agree, but not in this case. When I woke up, I was shaking from the cold. My body had been running hot the last couple of days and those early May New Jersey nights ain’t nothing to mess with. Those 4 hours of precious sleep changed the trajectory of my race. It would be all I needed to complete my race. I got back out on the track and began making laps again. I was not as fast as I once was, but much faster than I had been. I started running calculations in my head of what I needed to get back to my goal of 311 miles and I was doing well enough that is was still a possibility. At 9 a.m. Friday morning I had completed only 24 laps for a 24-hour period for a total of 192 miles, but I had a new lease on life. I also had much needed support coming. I began looking at this race like a 48-hour race. I only needed 119 miles to meet my goal.
Day 5 Eastbound and ‘Round
With semi-rested legs and a new lease on life I kept plugging away miles and the stupendous rate of 2.8 – 3.2 miles per hour from roughly 6 a.m. on Friday, all afternoon, and into the night. I had switched off audio books to the Ski playlist I had made for my time out on the slopes in Colorado. It kept me moving. Every lap I recalculated what I needed to make my goal. It only changed by seconds, but I kept banking time.
Roughly 105 hours into race, the main thing I had been missing showed up: my crew. By biggest mistake/regret during this whole race was not having a crew with me. It slowed me down considerably every time I took breaks or when I needed to find something. Activities I’m used to taking me 5 minutes took 10 -15. It is also hard to work on your feet or get good rest when you are doing everything yourself.
My girlfriend Lora arrived at roughly 6 p.m. and joined me for a couple of laps to see the course. She was the one behind the time lapse video made that WordPress won’t let me share without paying them lots of monies. Her first task was grabbing me a sandwich from Jimmy Johns from a place called Sparta a couple of miles away. I needed some different fuel than I had been getting. I never got to ask her when she walked into that Jimmy John’s if she said, “This is Sparta,” but I would like to believe she did. At least that is the way I’m going to remember it.
I kept trudging away the miles and keeping my pace above where it needed to be to meet my goal. I made the decision that I would forgo sleep again as I was not tired anymore. Looking back, I do not think I would have been able to sleep if I had wanted to. The primary reason being that Lora had already occupied my one-person cot tent and was sound asleep. The secondary reason was that I was still carrying that second wind. My mood was great, my body was moving, and I was experiencing that runner’s high that I had not seen since my first day. At the 120 hours mark I found myself at 256 miles covering 64 miles in the previous 24 hours. A far cry from the pitiful 24 miles I had put up from the day before.
Day 6 – No Sleep Til’ Brooklyn
At 9 a.m. my goal became clear. I needed to cover 55 miles in the last 24 hours to reach 311 miles. The day got off to a great start and then it started getting hot. Nothing will zap you quicker at an endurance race than temperatures getting into the 70’s with humidity and sunshine. We also picked up a plethora of new people running a variety of shorter races. The track got fuller, and I felt my energy starting to zap away around noon, but I did not stop. I attempted to slow down my pace slightly to try and conserver energy and keep my heart rate down. Cloud cover moved in the early afternoon giving some respite from the sun, but it was still hot and humid, and I forged on. At this point I’d make 5 – 8 laps and stop to take a break and let Lora work on my feet. At this point, I had a lot of inflammation in the bottom of my feet. Herurt foot rubs were one of the reasons I was able to finish.
By 9 p.m. that night I had crossed the 286-mile mark. I started to feel the effects from lack of sleep and a bit too much sun, but I knew I did not have time to rest. There was no guarantee my body would start back up from a 2–3-hour nap, and I did not want to risk it at this point. I trudged on into the night and was kept conscious mainly by the 12 – 24-hour racers who were passing me really frequently. There is nothing like watching someone on 3 hours legs versus those on 135-hour legs.
Around 1:30 a.m. I passed the 300-mile mark and made my 303 miles (The Belt Buckle distance) at 2:53 a.m. to an almost empty concourse. I decided to have a little fun and use a prop that had showed up earlier on Saturday, a plastic leg. Here is that video in its fullness:
When I got back to my tent to have my feet worked on following that lap, I passed out within 15 seconds of Lora starting to work on my feet. She let me sleep for 45 minutes as I was beyond tired. I got up and struggled through the final 8 miles and completed lap 311 around 7 a.m. Lora was there with me for my final lap as she made the wise decision that I needed to stop. Lora began cleaning and packing up as I stretched my legs before going to shower.
The Aftermath
There were many great things about the race, but the award ceremony was special. The New Jersey Trail Series has been hosting this event for over a decade, and they give out awards for lifetime miles. I got to watch several people receive awards for lifetime miles in the thousands. It was obvious that they have a very tight knit trail running community in New Jersey and watching this ceremony just reinforced what I had been seeing all week. My biggest regret is I did not get to enjoy all the camaraderie as I spent too much time in my head fighting the inability to sleep.
After receiving two lifetime medal tokens for mileage (100, 250) and a brand new “303” belt buckle we started the drive south through the Delaware Gap and on down Interstate 81. Surprise, surprise, I was unable to sleep on the car ride south. We stopped in Virginia after driving for 7 hours and spent the night before coming the rest of the way home on Monday. Sitting in the car for a 15+ hour drive was probably not the best way to recover, but I needed to get home from my “vacation” to get back to work.
I was fortunate as I did not suffer many of the setbacks, I’ve faced in my previous endurance races. I had very few blisters and I was still able to walk well after stopping the race. My biggest problem was sleep. It took me over 3 weeks after the race to sleep more than 7 hours continuously. My Fitbit tracker told me that I got 14 hours of sleep during the 144-hour race. However, I know that many of those times it counted an hour of rest here and there I did not sleep. I realistically got around only 6 hours of actual sleep across a 144-hour period. As I write this now, I feel like I am still recovering from this aspect of the race. For now, I will continue to recover and likely wait until October to attempt my next multi-day race: The Endless Mile.
Thank You’s
I would like to start of by thanking the McNulty’s once again for hosting an amazing race. I would like to thank Steve Smith for helping me keep my sanity during the first four days of the race and beyond. I can’t believe you went and did another multi-day race 4 days later. You are a Wildman! I would Like to thank Dr. Amiee Mellon for putting together a wonderful fundraising campaign for SEA. I would also like to thank Lora Vaughn for coming to my rescue, getting me across the finish line and home. This would not have been possible without you. Finally, I would like to thank all of you who gave to the SEA campaign. That $7,500 will go a long way to helping families in Shelby County.
The Final Numbers from the Fair (May 10 – 16)
Steps Taken: 694,000+
Calories Burned: 84,806+
Funds raised for SEA: $7,500
Miles Covered: 311 Race Miles
Redbull’s consumed: 18
Measured Sleep: 14 hours (~6 actual)
Weight lost: 8 lbs. / 22% body fat
Cousin Eddie sightings: 3
Audiobooks completed: 2.5
Gritty sightings: 2
Bear sightings: 1
Belt buckles earned: 1
Final Thoughts on a First Impression 