In awe

I wrote up a list of all my races this year after running Naked Nick 50K, though I felt that entry did not do the justice. Here goes a 2nd round.

100 mile:

Massanutten 100 – May 14. Reached mile 95 but couldn’t finish it, mainly due to time management issue in the mid/late stage for aid station stops. Also I pressed too hard between mile 50-60 and bonked the rest of the way.

Devil Dog 100 – December 3-4. Redeemption arc. I finished it this time. It was a huge relief. A bunch of new friends I met this year came and supported me including Iris and David.

50 mile:

Iron Mountain 50 – Sep 3. DNF. finished over 12 hours. It was a goal race and it hurt when I did not reach my goal. My fitness level was not where I wanted. I glad I ran and finished it with a friend, Eileen, who was more fit than me (we both DNF’d together). Also, got to meet Caroline.

Stone Mill 50 – Nov 12. Finished it under 12 hours. Ran with two good friends, David and Alex.

JFK 50 – Nov 19. Also ran with two friends, (another) David and Robert. Improved my 50 mile time by running under 11 though that was not my goal. Truly believe it set me for Devil Dog.

50K:

Catoctin 50k – July 9. One of hardest 50K I did. Almost took me 9 hours.

Naked Nick 50k. Dec 18. Ran with Coraline as a recovery run. It was one of most calm races I did.

Other weird distances trail races:

Pemberton 24. Ran a 5k every hour for 24 hours I did 20 5k’s. Was an odd race but it was kind of fun.

Lake Ridge 12h. Sep 10-11. Run for 12 hours. 2pm to 2am. My second time doing it but was a relaxing weekend with a small group of runners.

Adventure Trail – I ran 8 hours or something. Also fun to run through the night. Didn’t know I was pacing a top female runner (who were at the end of her 24 hour run).

Rock -n- the Knob – Sep 17. Hardest trail marathon. Took me about 7 hours. This is one of my favorites.

River Rock – trail festival in Richmond. Kind of relaxing. 13 mile. Fun. My third or 4th time there.

Marathons:

1. Newport News – first marathon of the year and finally was able to run this one
2. Salisbury Marathon – Ran with David and his friends. The best was having brunch after
3. Grandma’s Marathon – out of state. stressful experience in getting pre race stuff working out, but was a memorable race. Adventurous with only couple hours of sleep
4. Probility Ann Arbor Marathon – a surprise (unplanned) marathon to see a friend and also cross off one of the states.
5. Atlantic City Marathon – Unplanned, but got it done because I was itching for a run and got a discount. Met a new friend (Sanjay)
6. NCR Marathon – also unplanned because I was itching for a run. Had a good time to rerun this
7. Rock -n- Knob – technically a marathon, but it felt more like a 50k.
8. Richmond Marathon. Virtually done. It stressed me out for the whole month of November of how to get it done, and I finally ran it during the JFK 50. Only listed it here for completeness.

Half marathon distances or less

Bishop Half – June 12. It is a race I ran it once before and I relived the experience of last time when I ran it with Brian and the other David

Richmond’s Bust the Banks Half. May 21. Same race as the river rock. River Rock was the name for the whole weekend. Bust the Banks was the name for the half marathon. Of course, I was there for the whole festival.

Army 10 – Oct 9. Redoing this race after 20 years passed. Interesting feeling now I am a runner to look back when I first did it as a nobody

Bobcats Trail 11. Nov 5. A hard short race

Got Your Back 5k – I did a 5K. Probably only 5k I ran this year

I feel better now that this list is more organized. My main races were MMT, Iron Mountain, and the Devil Dog. I put considerable time training for them.

Other races kind of appeared and I ran them. Some I got to run with friends, which was pretty cool. Some I did to remember what they were like when I did them years ago and that was interesting to relive the experiences. A few were out of states where I get to cross them off my to-do list. They were also interesting in that I got to travel and experience running in new places. This sums up my 2022.

Conclusion, (2022 original plan) How do I feel? I am proud my races. Originally my scope was much smaller and mostly for first half of the year. After MMT in May, I tried to change it, yes redeem it or redo however you call it. My second half of 2022 blossomed and was many times more exciting than my first half, and of course all thank to being able to finishing the Devil Dog 100. Looking back, it seemed easy and was a sure thing, but at the time nothing was set in stone. It could have turned out ugly. I felt lucky.

What does it mean for next year? I don’t know yet. I had some races planned. At this point I don’t feel I have any sharp focus of what I want 2023 to be. I wrote about this a couple posts back, I am still seeking how I want to define 2023 to be. I have plans but they are just not that exciting. They feel more like chores to be done. We’ll see.