This race is the single biggest fundraiser for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, and it's truly a magical event!

No matter why you start this race, you're running for the children by the finish. Early on, the course goes through the Hospital campus. Any patients, their families, and the hospital staff are out there cheering you on. Very few runners aren't crying looking at these little angels cheering you along!

2014 marks the 52nd running of the JFK 50 miler, the oldest ultra marathon in the country.

This race has almost every type of terrain. The first couple miles are on roads, straight up hill! About 1/2 the field will just walk the this section, not wishing to get too tired out for the rest of the race. In fact, the course goes up almost 1200 feet in the first 5.5 miles!

After this section, the race goes on to the Appalachian Trail for some VERY technical trail running, until 15.5 miles. Then comes the canal path! The next 27 miles are perfectly flat, on crushed stone, along the C/O Canal. Many people hate this section, but I personally love it.

You leave the Canal at mile 42 and hit the roads. The last 8 miles are on paved country roads, with lots of rolling hills. It's amazing, but you will actually like running up hills at this point. Just because your legs are so tired of running perfectly flat for so long!

The aid stations are amazing. Everybody working at them are incredible, and they always let you know exactly how far until the next aid station. In fact, there are stops every mile for the last few miles. Which is great -- you just run from aid station to aid station.

One of the most interesting races I've ever done. This race starts in Rachael, NV, near Area 51. Thus the Alien theme. In fact, runners are encouraged to run dressed as aliens. I didn't do that, I dressed as a character from Men in Black instead. :)

The logistics of this race are interesting. At 8PM you board buses at the Hard Rock Casino in Las Vegas and they drive you to the middle of nowhere! I really mean it. There's nothing out there! I think I passed 3 structures during the entire 32 miles of the race. And scenery... There is none! The race starts at midnight, so you're in the dark the whole way. This kind of freaked some people out, but I loved it.

Breakfast was provided after finishing, and we enjoyed watching the sunrise waiting for our friends to get done. Then it was back on the buses for the ride back to Vegas.

Think you're crazy and adventurous? Prove it and run this race!