To commemorate the running of this weekend’s first attempt of the TARC 50 Miler, member Don Allison offered his reflection on the first running of a 50 miler in the Blue Hills, years before the TARC 50 Miler was conceived.  Don is the author of A Step Beyond: A Definitive Guide To Ultrarunning and past publisher of Ultrarunning Magazine.

Solo Skyline 50 Mile, Circa 2002

By Don Allison

Every Boston area trail ultrarunner knows about the Blue Hills trail reservation, where seemingly endless trails crisscross the 7,000-acre park. Howie Brienan’s Don’t Run Boston 50 Km is an annual rite for ultrarunners in training for the upcoming season of races.

Having begun to train in earnest at the Blue Hills in the late 1990s, I took to occasionally completing a full out-and-back on the blue-blazed Skyline Trail, which cuts nine miles across the spine of the Blue Hills reservation, from abutting Route 93 at the southern end in Canton all the way to the northern end at the skating rink parking lot off Willard Street in Quincy.

I’ve had some epic runs on the Skyline Trail, including actually staging a one-time race, the “BUST” 50 Kilometer (Boston Urban Streets and Trails) in 2002 that ran on roads from downtown Boston to the Quincy Rink, followed by a full out and back on the Skyline Trail. Another time I was caught out on the trail in December, miles from my car, when a fast-moving, raging snowstorm hit, obliterating the trail and reducing visibility to a couple of feet. The wind was measured at more than 60 miles per hour at the weather station that day. On another occasion, I fractured my thumb after a fall on a slippery downhill, losing my eyeglasses in the process. I was for forced to slog back on the trail holding my thumb to stop the bleeding, and then drove to the emergency room, hardly able to see a thing without my eyeglasses!

So in 2002, training for the Angeles Crest 100 Mile (which never happened because of forest fires), I set out at 7:00 a.m. from the Quincy rink parking lot, attempting my longest-ever Blue Hills run. Taking a “vacation” day, I planned the run for a weekday, when the trails would be far less crowded than on a weekend day in the summer.

I completed a full out and back on the Skyline Trail (across 138 and all the way to the end), with a side trip to the auto road (then up and down the road to the top) added in, approximately 21 miles. I felt great, as the air was cool and I was handling the steep climbs easily. I had a radio/MP3 player to keep me company, and was back at my car well before noon, where I took a 10-minute “lunch” break.

By then it had warmed up to typical summer-time conditions, as I set out to repeat what I had just accomplished, an effort that on almost any other day would have been more than enough for a long training effort. With 21 trail miles on my legs, this time the going was a lot tougher, as the climbs that felt easy the first time around were much tougher, especially the long uphill after crossing Route 28, heading north .

I remember stopping at the Mobil service station on route 128 to buy a sports drink; after nearly eight hours on the trail, I was really feeling it. Sitting on the curb, I wondered if I would even be able to make it eight more miles back to my car in Quincy.

However, as I continued I started to revive and was actually feeling good as I neared the car. Calculating that I would need another eight miles to make it an even 50 for the day, I asked myself if I could actually add the four miles out to Route 28 and then back again. Heck, I was going to have to be doing 100 the next month, so I should be able to complete 50 in training, right?

Before I gave myself too much time to think about it, I headed back out on the trail. Funnily, I did not feel all that bad, perhaps because it had cooled down, and because I knew I did not have to go all the way back out to Canton again! At about 7:15, 12 hours and 15 minutes after I started, I emerged at the trailhead, my Skyline Trail 50 Mile completed.

I beat the rush hour traffic on Route 3 in the morning and missed it on the way home too, the commuters having already come and gone. That run turned out to be my peak effort, since the Angeles Crest 100 was cancelled shortly thereafter. I did end up going out to the Olander Park 24 Hour in Ohio, but since that race was run on roads, my extensive trail training was of little use, and I had a poor race. However, I will always have the Skyline 50 Mile to remember.