In awe

Being a bit time crunch but I wish to get this out.

MMT 100 is this coming weekend. I should be ready. There are a lot I need to do. Get my pace chart ready, dropbags prepared, and make sure I get to start. This is the race I have been looking toward since last year.

Over last weekend, I drove down to Dublin, VA, to do the Lake Ridge Endurance run (at Lake Claytor State Park), – 12-hour category. This year I only ran 44 miles, 4 less than last year. I blame the weather being hotter. I also did not have a good night rest the night prior, my fault. I was very sleepy during the first 6 hours of the race.

It was my third year running it. I stayed over night after. I met Steven, who is this year winner. It is not a race per se but he has the most miles done for the 12 hour category. Fitz won the 24 hour. Fitz is Stuart’s son. Stuart will be at the MMT next weekend. We will see each other again since Fitz will pace his father at mile 62.

Chrissy paced me the last 10~ish miles. I was glad she did otherwise, I might only have done 36 or so miles instead of 44. As the night approached I was able to regain my strength and ran my “full” speed of 15 min mile pace. Chrissy recently moved to area. She ran the High Bridge 50K in 5.5 hrs, impressive to me. I recommended Eastern Divides ultra to her, which I signed up already. The race will be on the first week of November.

In the morning, I got one more lap in for my morning run. It doesn’t count toward my miles but I like to have my morning exercise. I went and did the lap with Katherine. She is a new friend I met. She did Vol State a few years back.

In closing, I was very tired. It took me more than 8 hours to drive back home, when it should be about 4-5 hours. I made many stops along the way. Slept a bit in a rest area to catch up on needed sleep.

I also started arranging my race schedule for next year. I signed up for Roanoke Doubler over the weekend (April 20, 2024). My cousin in Sydney sent me a save the date for her wedding. That is next year in March. I tried to look for a marathon there so I could hit two birds with one stone, but unfortunately, so far, no marathons found in Sydney in that time frame.

Other news, I am still streaking for the GVRAT. Day 14 so far. It has gotten easier after day 3 during my Canada trip. As for tapering for the MMT, I wish I don’t have GVRAT to do, because it gets my legs tired. But oh well. I chose this path. MMT will be interesting in that I am not entering it with a 100% fresh body. My next report will probably be the MMT race report or similar.