Cloudsplitter 100…
The majority of the success I’ve had in life could be attributed misfortunes that I had to overcome. You know the ole Rock Quote “It's not about how hard you hit, it's about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward.” All my biggest successes in running have come from my biggest failures and going back to the drawing board with a chip on my shoulder. In early 2018 I was diagnosed with Ankylosing Spondylitis and the first sentence mumbled from the doctor’s mouth was your probably not going to be able to run anymore. I drove home silently in disbelief. A doctor who I had just met with for the first time for five minutes gave me one option, become lazy and take pain meds.
For about a week I refused to even acknowledge the situation until I received a phone call from my brother in Nashville, TN. It was around 6pm in New York where I was living at the time and there was a snow storm ripping through. My brother was born with misfortunes of his own. He doesn’t drive because his vision is so bad and he has had open heart surgery more times than I feel like counting. At the age of 32 his heart doctor had finally given him permission to exercise. You see, the disease he was born with was so new in the medical world when he was born, he is one of the oldest people in the world with the diagnosis that has survived. His life expectancy has already been outlived. My brother had called me to tell me that he had signed up for his first 5k.
That same evening as I sat on the couch, I began researching the disease I was diagnosed with and one thing stuck out most to me. Movement was the best remedy for reliving pain. So, I bundled up, laced up, and headed out the door. My first “run’ back in over a year was a two mile walk in 15 degrees and about 2 feet of snow. It sucked. As I made my way back to my apartment, I tossed on the tv and for some reason pulled up YouTube. I had recently been watching some hiking videos and YouTube generated the video “A Decade On” about Brian Morreson’s Return to Western States. Sitting in pain from my two mile walk I knew at that point I was going to run that 5k with my brother and I was going to run 100 miles.
It took me about six months to build up to a half marathon and then I ran my first ultra, Terrapin Mountain, in March of 2019. I was on fire running marathons every weekend in the woods and right on track to do either a 100k or 100 milers late 2019. In 2019 I experienced my first flair up with my condition and was off my feet for about 12 weeks in pain. At that point in my life my mental fortitude was rather immature and I did not handle it well, but as I progressed through moments like that, those misfortunes only made me stronger.
In 2020 as I toed the line for Cloudsplitter 100 with the mere goal of just finish this thing… I was also thinking the entire time I gotta win this thing. Around 5 miles into the race I veered off on a bike path and got lost. Around 6 miles in I fell and smashed the hand bottle I was carrying. At that point I sat down for five minutes and thought about the situation. It had reminded me of the falls and setbacks I’ve had over the last few years. With that thought in mind I slowed myself down, took a few breaths, and embraced the moment. I began enjoying where I was and did not worrying about anything else.
Around 26 miles I caught Chris. Chris is who I thought would win the race by hours based on his past race experience. I did not bring a crew with me and Chris did. Chris’s friends and family became my aid as I came into stations. One of my favorite things to do is crew at 100-mile races. The moments and energy you feel are unmatchable. I often think about Chris and his family at races because I hope I could repay through my own action the support they gave me during my first 100.
For 70 miles Chris and I yo-yoed back and forth in one of my favorite race battles I ever had. As I crossed the finish line into the rec center in Norton Virginia, I had won the race. It was early in the morning, still dark, and no one had actually realized I was the winner. I sat in silence once again looking back at that time I sat in silence in my car after being diagnosed with AS. The win in the race did not matter to me as much as the journey and friendships I gained along the way. I still have a page ripped out of me 2018 running log for my first week of running back. It consisted of three painful 2 mile walks in the snow. It reminds me that when I’m least motivated I need to find a way to do my best work.
- Joe Jude