• Washington,
    District of Columbia,
    United States
  • April
  • 3 miles/5K, 6 miles/10K, 13.1 miles/Half Marathon, 26.2 miles/Marathon, 50K, 50 miles
  • Trail Race
  • Event Website

Logan

Washington, District of Columbia, United States
3 3
2013
"NFEC DC 50k - A Great First Ultra! "
Overall
T-Shirts/SWAG
Aid Stations
Course Scenery
Expo Quality
Elevation Difficulty
Parking/Access
Race Management
Logan 's thoughts:

Packet pickup was at the North Face store in Georgetown on Thursday and Friday. I went on Thursday right after work because I was just too anxious to wait any longer. I walked in and I was the only person in line. I picked up my bib and my free pair of SmartWool socks and was on my way. The way that the t-shirts work for North Face is a little different than most races. You can pick up a plain, unprinted t-shirt at packet pick-up, but they actually print the shirts at the race. You can pick up your t-shirt and bring it with you to have it printed, or you can just ask them to print it for you and you can pick it up after your race. I opted for the latter so I wouldn’t have to worry about remembering one more thing before the race.

The North Face Endurance Challenge Series spans over two days. The first day (Saturday) are the 50 miler, 50k, marathon and marathon relay races. The second day (Sunday) are the half marathon, 10k, 5k, and kids 1k fun run. Only the 50 mile runners are allowed to park at the start/finish line, so everyone else had to park at the Loudon Tech Center and we took shuttles to the start line. The races were staggered by two hours, with the 50 milers starting at 5am, 50k at 7am and marathon at 9am. Our shuttles started at 5:15 and ended at 6:15. The shuttle process way easy and the ride only took about 15 minutes. This meant that everyone on the shuttle and in the pre-race area were 50kers and their spectators.

I got to the race start much earlier than I had originally planned on, so I had about an hour to kill before the 7am start. I checked my bag, grabbed some water, then found a sunny grassy spot to stretch and warm up. I also hit up the porto potties…which there was absolutely no line for. There were only about 500 people registered for the 50k, so I think that helped keep lines short. Another awesome thing that they had for runners was a complimentary sunscreen and bug spray station. People were definitely taking advantage of that!

Before I knew it, it was time to go! They had us in three waves, starting just one minute after the other. This was to help with the bottle necking that happens on the course. The first mile or two are on a wider bike path and then a wider (bike path width) dirt trail, but after that it heads into single track, which can get really clogged if too many people are reaching it at once.

The first part of the course runs along the Potomac Heritage Trail along the river (and sometimes cutting uphill away from it) for about ~12.5 miles. There are aid stations every 3-6 miles and they were well stocked with water, ice (which became a life saver later in the day when the temperatures started to rise), and all kinds of snacks (chips, pretzels, candy, PB&J, potatoes, salt, GU/ShotBlocs).

After the first section, you pop out in Great Falls, where there is HUGE crowd support (because that's the only easily accessible location along the course). Once in Great Falls, you do a "loop" of the park for about 7 miles, passing another aid station, before returning to the main area at Great Falls where you can see your family/friends again.

After that, you retrace your steps back along the Potomac Heritage Trail back to Algonkian park where the start/finish is.

There was one complaint that I had, which was that the mile 26 aid station was actually at mile 27 and the actual race came up as over 32 miles on my watch, but it is an ultra trail race and measurements cannot always be exact (and GPS doesn't always track perfectly in trees), so it wasn't a deal-breaker for me.

The finish line is a giant blow-up arch that you get to run through and then you get handed a medal (which weren't race specific, which I thought was odd) and a water bottle filled with cold water! As part of your 50k, you also get a food waiver to get some BBQ after the race, but I wasn't hungry, so I didn't use mine. There are also a lot of other vendors and booths set up at the finish line festival, but I was ready to get home and take a nap, so I didn't check those out enough to talk about them. There were giant buckets and tubs filled with ice and water to soak your legs and I think there was also a masseuse doing post-race massages.

All in all, it was my first ultra distance race and I loved it! I had done the North Face Endurance Challenge Half Marathon the year before and had such a great time, that I knew I had to go back for my first ultra. I'm even heading back for my first 50 miler this year (2014)!

For more detailed information and photos, you can read my full recap here: http://www.mtnsandmiles.com/2013/06/north-face-endurance-challenge-50k-race-report/

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