Midterm review / Summer-Fall 2023
Summer has gone by too fast for me. The last review was around April (Re 23:13). The goal back then was to train to run faster for the Iron Mountain 50, especially Grindstone 100.
Let just say, it has not been easy. I have gotten slower instead of faster. I blame my left foot, which still gives me problem. I DNF’d in couple races. And Grindstone is about two weeks away.
I started the summer full of confident from having conquered the MMT100 (finished under 35 hours), and I finished the Blackbeard 100 (OBX) last march in 28 hours. I felt I could now tackle any 100 miler. I felt I have matured in tge sport.
I went and signed up for Burning River 100 thinking it is comparable easy like Blackbeard and I should not have trouble of finish it.
As superstition has it, I took the finishing photo before runing the race, and I was thinking, it would be an embarassment if I don’t finish, and so it turned out to be a self-fulfilling prophesy. I stopped after 28-ish hours at mile 86-ish (I ran 89). It was a mess of a race. It rained heavily as the race got underway. I was soaked thrpugh and through. I was not prepared for the rain, and did not pack as many sets of dry clothes as I should. I had shirts but no extra shorts and underpants or socks. It was a struggle throughout the day. I was severely chafed by mile 26. I felt several times. The trail was muddy and slicked. I did not wear proper trail running shoes. It was like skiing downhill. During one fall, I might have rolled my ankle and it was swollen by midnight. And I could no longer run. It was as bad as could be.
One of the lessons learned was I “over”-trained before the race and did not taper and so during my big race, I was out of reserve. By midnight, I was pretty much done. There was no reaching deep in my heart to draw out that energy to push me through. I slogged through the night only moving another 20 miles. It was too little too late. I DNF (did not finish/cut) when I failed to reach the last few aid stations in time. My pacer was pleading, it is just half a marathon left, which on a typical day, would be a morning run. Shout out to an amazing pacer, Amanda.
Burning river 100 left a big impression in me (full report here). I will definitely will do it again. This was one example of how my whole summer was.
The other race I DNF’d was the Iron Mountain 50. (report can be found here). My summer was supposed to run faster so I could do this race. Somehow, maybe the time required to recover from the Burning River and also from an earlier 100 mile race (MMT), I was not able to train as much on speed as I should. Iron Mountain was a bloodshed. I was destroyed. I finished an hour later than my goal. Good thing was I was not injured from the race.
As for other races, I ran the Catherine’s Furnace 50K more as a training run. It took me 10 hours to do it. Normally, I should/could run it in 6-ish hours. I did not really write a report. This is as close as it get.
An highlight of my summer was I went to Toronto and ran the Toronto Marathon. It was not a fast time, but I was pleased. The report can be found here. Note, my report was mostly negative, but due to other reasons.
As for other races, MMT100, OSS/CIA50, Catoctin 50K, readers can read their reports. I am tired so not going to write much on those. They were all good race.
So what is ahead? Fall season is about to start. I have plenty of races, both big and small ones. Grindstone 100 is ahead. Devil Dog 100 is in December. I have been reluctant to commit to 2024 so I have not signed up too many races for next year especially the 100 mile races. I promised to help my friend at what to be her last 100 mile race, Cowboy 100 in Nebraska. More on this as the date approach.
Red Dirt 100 is in February. Burning River 100 is in July. I plan to run MMT 100 again in May. Iron Mountain 50 in September. Cowboy 100 is in September too, but I won’t be competing, so won’t be stressed out about it.
As for marathons, I will run a few of those. My goal is always the same – to run faster so that I could finish some harder races, and not be embarrassed. I don’t mind the DNF, but it is a like a mosquito bite of plain annoyance of not being able to finish when I feel I could do it.
I have an international trip planned. Likely will be a marathon in Taiwan.
Conclusion if any, I am a bit jaded after this summer. I kind of see it coming. I am still in love to run and run far, but I am a bit at lost of which race to run. I know which race I want to run, but I am not as aggressive as before. I don’t want to run because I have to; I want to run because I am passionate about doing it. My nightmare is might fall out of love with my running and next year might be my last year.
My next review will be 6 months from now (early January or February). I will likely do and end of the year thing, new year resolutions, and an anniversary post.
In awe 