In awe

Not much to report. I have been a zombie lately.

C&O 100, I didn’t pull to the trigger to run it. I was on the fence. It was risky to do 3x 100 and expect to do well in the MMT. I could but who knows. I know some did do the C&O and would run the MMT too. I just have to be more conservative.

I don’t regret of sitting out on it. I went instead to volunteer from 1 am to 1 pm on Sunday. It was a hard stretch but satisfying. I got to see the first place came in at 9 pm Saturday night as well as almost everyone finishing. I actually arrived early on Saturday at 6 pm. The kitchen/food crew cooked us dinners (I didn’t eat them since I was not voluntering at the time).

I was one who handed out most of the medals (buckles). There was no first/second place awards. Everyone got the same prize.

I helped bind up someone’s feet because of blisters. I guided the person in popping them and then wrapped them up with tapes. The person did finish the race. It was her first time doing a 100 miler. I couldn’t be more pleased. I remembered when I ran my first 100, no one taught me how to deal with blisters. I ended up quiting. I was happy I saved someone’s first 100 race.

There were couple runners with very ugly blisters. Fortunately, I did not have to deal with them. RD himself helped pop them and blind up the feet. As for another runner, the Aid Station Captain took care. There was a concern that it was poison ivy and not blisters from rubbing against the shoes. We didn’t pop them. Instead, the Aid Station captain sent the person to lie down. The dude finished under 24 hours, and we think it was his body reacting. I think it was his first 100. Not sure what happened to him. The next morning, his feet seemed to not swell any more and seemed to return to normal. Yes, it was very disgusting when they swoll up.

Another runner came in to the aid station in the middle of the night and her headlamp was out. She asked if anyone has a spare. I gave her mine. Unfortunately, she was not able to make the cutoff the next day and did not finish. She did return me my headlamp.

Also another runner came into the station very late. By rule, 3:45 am was our cut-off. The person came in at 4 am. Luckily the race director was there during the night shift. He told the guy if he could make it out in 5 mins, he could continue. He did make out within 5 mins. He picked up his pace and made the rest of the cutoffs. He finished. I avoided making the dreaded decision of pulling a guy from the course. In some races, rules are rules, missed the cut-off, means you are out. I missed a cut-off twice, one in MMT and the other at Iron Mountain. Each one was about 15 mins after the time limit. I am not jealous, but sometimes, I wish I could be able to continue on.

There were many first timers. This was the 10th year for this race. I handed out a 500 mile buckle for those who finished the race 5 times. There was a guy who ran and finished 7 times. I met one who did it 10 times. He was at every single race.

C&O would have been my first 100. C&O was canceled in 2020 and I feared it would be too for 2021. So I went for Umstead, but Umstead was full, and I signed up for the Rocky Raccoon. So Rocky Raccoon became my first 100. I haven’t had a chance to go back to C&O to run it, just for fun.

Other news, I signed up to run across Tennessee in a virtual race again. This time we started in New Orleans and we would run to Tennessee along the Trace. It is a well known historic trail. I think it is 444 miles long. I would love to run that some day.

There is a Trace Trail run (50 miler) in Tennessee. I can’t do it this year due to schedule conflict, but I will try it next year.

That’s all. Voluntering was a different perspective. I got to talk to many people. I was able to relax at the camp fire. We had bad weather, but as volunteers, we were sheltered under the tents. I was dry most of the time. Runners were not so lucky. I was glad I was not out there running. The race was much harder when it was cold and wet. Some runners though had a lot of fun in the rain it seemed.

Sleep deprivation didn’t hit me until I was driving home. It was scary. Let just leave it as that.