In awe

I am addicted with running, my friend commented.

My life consists of work work work and run run run.

When I was in school, we had the motto to work hard and to play hard. We often use a blowfish to represent us which can drink up 10x – 20x their body weight. Meaning, we take things to the excess. Not much is change now. I don’t drink or party in excess but I do love running.

For me nothing is more fulfilling than to be out on the trail and run.

This past weekend I was at the Naked Bavarian 40 miler.  Of course, it has been raining the whole week. Luckily the race was not canceled.  However, the Race Director had reduced the distance from 40 miles to 20 miles.

Many of us did not mind a bit because the trail condition was horrible.

It was a mud fest.  Every inch of the trail was in a foot deep of mud.  I might be exaggerated a bit but not by much.

It was slipping and sliding.  By the time we finished the first 20 miles no one wanted to go back out for another 20.

This was my first time at the Naked Bavarian but the race organization is known to me.  I ran their Naked Nick twice (the 50k in December).  I got to know them through the Philadelphia trail marathon, though the year I wanted to run it, it was canceled due to the pandemic and I still haven’t had the chance to return to do it. I almost did in 2021, but decided not to at the last moment, so 2022 and 2023, I ran their Naked Nick.

Naked Bavarian was at the same location as the Naked Nick at Blue Marsh, Leesport, in central Pennsylvania, near the town Reading. The course is run on the north part of the lake as oppose to the south side.

The trail is generally runable.  We had a bit of climbs about 2000 ft total.  There were about 200+ runners, which is really big for a trail race.

My friend Jana was there.  She was there during my last two Naked Nick run too. This time I did not see her at all during the race until later seeing her social media posting. I finished first, but I was away from the finish line (in my car changing).

I generally don’t like rain or mud but once I am on the trail I don’t mind it.  It was a hard run but fun. 

I came prepared.  I had on two raincoats (a jacket and poncho).  One is enough but two…I don’t know why, maybe I like my legs being covered too. I felt better with two on me.  The day was cold maybe around 40 F.  It was raining but not heavily.  The trail turned muddy once runners were on it.  It meant every step, we had to put more effort in picking up our feet and also watched where we were stepping.  In the end it did not matter, because everywhere was mud.  Mud acts like suction cups, so our feet were stuck with each step.  It was gross all over.

Aid stations were good.  We had good supports.  I stopped at every one. 

A runner, Paul, was with me for the entire race.  I have seen him at other races.  He has become quite a runner like me. 

We chatted and such.  I finished around 12:38 (about 4:38 hr for the 20 miler).  I stayed in my car the next hour or so to change and get warm before heading back out to watch the finish.

I then stayed till the last runner came in.  The race closed around 3 pm.  I had good soup from the station.  The rest of the day and weekend was uneventful.

Ah the next day I went out to the Roller Coaster of the AT had a day of hiking.  Nothing much to be said.  I put in probably another 20 miles. It was my cool down day and I felt so much better after an intense Saturday. I could say a lot more. I got my training in.

Time flew by. I could not remember much.