Stay the Course - Running the Vegan Power 50K
By Ben Sarsgard
"If you're really hating your life, you probably went too far," urged race coordinator Marie Gryszowka to a crowd of anxious and excited athletes.
We briefly broke from our pre-race rituals of leg stretches and watch-fiddling to chuckle and exchange knowing glances. The advice was meant as course directions, warning of the potential to miss a turn and end up climbing a mountain, but there was a clear double meaning. It was wisdom that all in the crowd ignored at some point, or we wouldn't be there.
It was a brisk June morning, 2019, in the Pittsfield State Forest of Western Massachusetts, and we were standing at the start line of the Vegan Power 50K ultra-marathon. Over the previous several months, we all spent hours of grueling training on roads and trails to prepare ourselves to go precisely too far.
I was there because one morning in April 2017, I met up with a group outside Red Emma's restaurant in Baltimore and went on a short run that changed my life. I had been on group runs before, but this was different. The group was No Meat Athlete, and the runners were all vegans. Running together, sharing the amazing honesty that pain and exhaustion bring out, I found my people. I had been vegan for 13 years and a runner for two, but that day I became a vegan runner.
A 50K is the shortest of the common distances referred to as ultra-marathons, which means anything farther than the marathon distance of 26.2 miles. They keep going from there: 50 milers, 100, 200, but 50 kilometers (31 miles) is more than enough for many. If you've run a 5K, imagine following it up with 9 more, carrying your own water, over mountains and hills. You leap roots and rocks every few inches, sometimes successfully, but usually eating dirt once or twice as your legs get heavy and your toes can't quite clear the hurdles. As a runner passes you with a splatter of mud up one side of their shirt, you know they wear it as a badge of pride.
This sounds like an unreasonable thing to do, but we all have our motivations. Some run to push themselves. A couch-to-5K that seemed impossible one day becomes mundane on the next, and the mileage gets increased farther and farther until only the unreasonable remains. Others like the solitude, leaving your bed behind just before dawn to hear the crunching leaves beneath your feet and the warbler's sweet morning song.
One of these unreasonable people is Alex Bancroft, who took over as race director for 2019's Vegan Power 50K. She co-directed the previous year with Ana Wolfe, who started it alongside Michael Menard, the founder of Berkshire Ultra Running Community for Service (BURCS) in 2013.
"I'm just carrying the torch. In the inaugural year, we only had the 50K distance and there were 49 50K finishers. This year (2019) we had our biggest yet with 73 50K finishers and 51 25K finishers," said Bancroft.
Veganism in the ultra community is common enough that I've always felt accommodated at races. With the success of vegan running superstars like Scott Jurek, and the anti-inflammatory benefits of the diet becoming widely respected, most of the food at aid stations and finish lines at any race is vegan. If you compare what's on the table to any other ultra, the offerings at the Vegan Power 50K weren't that different, but when you're exhausted, it's a relief to not have to waste precious time or brain power on begging the aid crew to read you back the ingredients for a PB&J.
Having such convenience at the aid stations gives you more time for the most rewarding moments of the race. Not the finish line — you'll be far too distracted by exhaustion and aching muscles to enjoy that any more than one enjoys leaving a dentist's office. The best moments are right around the halfway mark, when you've still got enough energy to be excited, but the pain is starting to creep in and you're doing your best to forget how far you have to go. In those miles, the two greatest things you'll experience are stretches of soft pine needle trails, and the perfect snack at an aid station.
Chips and pretzels are easy carbs and salt, and fall nicely into the "accidentally vegan" fare that you'll find at any race. What got me to the finish line at Vegan Power, however, was salted watermelon and pickle juice. The watermelon, along with a few generously provided ginger chews, gave me easy calories at the beginning of the race. The pickle juice, however, is my secret weapon against leg cramps. Loaded with salt and vinegar, it's one of the most potent electrolyte replenishers you can find — if you can handle the taste of pickles as you run.
Coming around the bend for the last lap, the best thing you can see is the smiling faces of your closest friends, and after seven grueling hours and 31 miles, I got that moment. Though we spent the race running different paces, I came with my awesome team of vegan trail runners, Mud Not Blood. As with all things in life, knowing there are cheers and love waiting for you at the end makes the difficult bearable and the impossible possible.
If you're hating your life, maybe you have gone too far, or maybe you just haven't found the right finish line, with the right people there with your name on their lips. In running and in veganism, it can be hard to make it on your own, but thankfully no one has to.
Ben Sarsgard lives in New York City. A vegan of 15 years, he shares a Manhattan apartment with two cats, drinks his coffee black, and runs daily in Central Park. The Vegan Power 50K was his fifth ultra-marathon.
