In awe

Author: Antin

  • Day370

    I didn’t go camping. Instead I had a lazy saturday.

    I injured my foot last weekend while running. I didn’t notice anything wrong at the time, but it probably was from over straining my right foot. You know the whole body hurts after running the marathon and my right foot was hurting. I didn’t pay much attention to it but through out the week, the top of my right foot continued to hurt. I stopped running by Wednesday to let it recover. By today, it still hurts.

    I googled on foot pain. They had several reasons. I am scared of having foot fractured. They said it would take 4-6 weeks to recover. It means no running.

    I can’t be sure unless I go see a doctor. They said even with the x-ray it might not show up. Only advice is to rest and use ice/heating pad. I don’t know. I massaged it every day and night. I hope it will be better soon.

    So because my foot is bad, I was thinking to go camping to rest a bit from running. That though probably not a good idea either since I usually carry a heavy pack on me when I backpack.

    In the end I didn’t go. It was not for my foot but because I was too slow in getting my things together on Friday night.

    By noon on Saturday, I was still only partially packed, I decided to abandoned the trip but to go to a park to run instead. In a couple weeks I will be running a 50 mile race. I signed up on a spurt moment early October. There is finally a race being approved in my area. So I signed up. I have very little training for it. It finally sank in now I need to train.

    So I went to Seneca Park – well not exactly there but an area south of it. My race will be the whole thing at the park and the surrounding region. I did a race there this spring and already know part of the trail. So today I went to explore the part I have not been to. The trail is called Muddy Branch, but luckily our fall is quite dry and I did not get muddy.

    I did a six miles out and then back. Ended up with 13.1. I reached 13 miles when I got back to the car, but I wanted the extra .1 to say I did a half marathon today for a training run.

    That’s all. Originally, I wanted to do my birthday run too, which means a lot of miles because I am now into my 4th decade. I backed out of that. I would not want to be out running the whole day. A short few hours of running was enough.

  • Day369 Life

    I have been blogging on and off since 2018. I probably have been repeating myself about my running and stuffs.

    Not sure how many users/readers are out there reading my posts. I admit none of my writing are creative works unlike many other writters on here (wp).

    Existentialist question: what is the purpose of all this? I write because for myself because it feels good. If there is someone reading it, good. I am happy about that. If none, it does not bother me. They say, write for your readers. Nope. Not me.

    Over the summer, due to Covid-19, and I was mostly quarantining at home, and I watched a lot of Ytube videos. That is the new platform compare to blogging. People who want clout and monetize the media should go into video making. You get ton of fans. We are talking about audience in millions. vblog at one point was pretty popular. Now it is all about VOD – video on demand, something I just learned. People record livestream, and saved it to be “reboardcast” for the rest who want to watch it at a later time, but also want the livestream experience, you get VOD. You do it for the crowd.

    Back on topic, blogging, the way I do it…ya is for audience of one.

    Have I lost everyone now? Writing used to be expensive (time/printing/distribution), but with online platform, cost is low, very low. So I am basically writing everything and anything. The cost is usually now bear by the readers in term of time. Time is expensive. Videos I think is a better platform people can endlessly watch dozen of videos than to have the time to read a blog entry. I don’t mind the crowd moving to videos.

    So what’s up. I took my truck in for a maintenance today. Nothing is wrong just that it will reach 100000 miles soon maybe in a week or so. I wanted that peace of mind, to have the half-life maintenance done. Yup. My truck required the big job done like timing belt replacement (actually I just checked the maintenance schedule, TB is required at 105000, so I was a few months ahead of schedule). I know this. I got the parts and watched endless numbers of Ytube videos on how to replace the timing belt since March.

    In the end, I decided to take it to the mechanics to have it done by them. It was probably a good decision because nothing I open up ever come back together in one piece. They did everything, hopefully well. This was a new mechanic. My normal guy went bankrupt during Covid, and don’t know where he went. So this was just a random guy I passed at a gas station. He look honest to me and the charge was around what I was willing to pay. I don’t know the market price (I know it takes about 6 hours). Any way the guy finished the job. There is no way I can inspect it if it done properly unless I was there watching him work or I take my car apart. It takes some trust that he did what I wanted him to do. I asked him to replace the spark plugs too though that wasn’t due till 120000. The car turned on and I drove it away. If the guy didn’t replace it, there was no way for me to know. I asked him to replace all other stuffs too, water pump, tensioner, pulley. I gave him a new serpentine belt too so he can cut the old one. But I didn’t know about the serpentine belt tensioner and related pulley, so those were not done. Some people say those should be replaced too, but they were not as hard as replacing the timing belt.

    The engine sounds the same to me after the work. Maybe a bit quieter but this might be just my feeling. It is one of those things it is impossible to tell if any work has been done. Unless the belt broke not long after. Oh I pray not.

    Out of curiousity I started googling known problems with my model. The bad news is I probably should replace the radiator soon because it tends to break down without warning and will mix the fluid with the transmission fluid and damage that, which will cause tons of money to replace. Online people were saying to spend 200 dollars now to avoid needing to spend 5000 or more later.

    I hope it will last me another 100000 miles. My previous truck was near 300000 miles before I let it go, so I have high expectation for this truck. I like a machine that just works.

    I have been following the maintenance schedule. So fingers crossed.

    I have no plan for this weekend. I am thinking of going to Cole/Cold Mountain. It will be a solo camping trip. I am a bit scared about solo camping. But then, if I have time, I should go because I don’t know when else I will have the chance to do it. My hiking buddy has been doing it with her friends or by herself…so not likely, I get to do it with her by year end. It is not fair right…she gets to lead one but I don’t get to have my trip. Any way, since Covid, I have not done any camping with her. That’s fine. Just an observation, not a complaint. I just feel so much safer when I did it with her. I think though she wants me to have my own experience…so I don’t have to rely on her.

  • Day368 commute

    Hope this will be a short post because I am kind of out of time. I’m on the metro after almost 6 months, where I normally do most of my writing. But today will only be one stop because my work has moved much closer to home.

    I still rant about the traffic. It took me 1 and half hour to get home last night with maybe half hour at my own local community.

    Oh I arrived.

  • Day367 Gettysburg Marathon

    What an exciting day. I drove up to Pennsylvania and ran the Gettysburg Marathon.

    I don’t like running in the cold but with a marathon, I toughed it out and ditched my sweater and pants and ran in short sleeves. We are talking about 35-40 F degree here.

    By 8 am the temperature warmed up a bit. After a mile I was sweating.

    I was kind of expecting a fast race. It was not my fastest time, but it was a time I haven’t had since spring 2019 (3 running seasons away), that is a long time ago. I take it and am very pleased. Note, I am 15 pounds heavier now, so it is a major accomplishment to lug this heavy body to run a time I did when I was 15 pounds lighter.

    With more experience now in race day management, I was able to track my time better during the race. The first half I finished in 2:01. I was pretty steady at finishing under 4 hrs even though I didn’t expect to finish under 4 though.

    The second half was much harder. My performance degraded drastically, and I couldn’t maintain the 9.5 min pace. However, I did better than many of the past races in holding off hitting the ‘wall’. Due to Covid countermeasure, I carried my own water and food. I didn’t realize at the time, but my wall came at mile 25. That was good because in the past, it usually came earlier around mile 18-20. This made the difference of finish under 4.5 hrs or at around 5 hrs. If I didn’t carry my own supplies, I might hold off the breaking down till even later.

    I pushed myself though. In many of my marathons I usually started slow and pushed hard in the second half. This time I started hard and tried strave-off the lost time/slow down in the second half.

    I reached mile 19 by 3 hours. My goal was to reach mile 20 by the 3rd hour. This seems like a disappointment but I am actually pleased. The mile 20 goal is so elusive and I don’t think I will ever reach it. I feel good to able to get nearer and nearer to this goal. I think in this race is the closest I’ve ever been.

    As about the race, Covid19 plan by race management was great! We had individual time start time. Everyone was 6 ft apart. Everyone had their mask on.

    There were plenty of aid stations. Volunteers were great. They discouraged (not allowed) spectators. There was no crowd support. That is fine with me any way.

    The road was open to traffic. Occasionally, we had to move to the side or cars shifted to the opposite side etc. This might be dangerous to some. I felt safe though. I ran in country roads this summer so I was not too disturbed by it. Most cars went by slowly. There were one or two instances that they didn’t slow down and flew by between runners. Jerks. We’ve heard the story how some neighbors were mad about the race closing down the roads in a previous year, and they might still carry some grudges against us runners.

    Was the course hilly? I had 1000 ft gain. It was more hilly than other courses I have been on. It was not too bad.

    I think it was a beautiful course. Running in the countryside gives you that peace. You see endless farmlands, combining with nice fall weather, it was beautiful indeed.

    The course was a 6.6 mile out and back. We marathoners did the loop twice. So you see almost everyone twice or sometimes 4 times. There were two turn around points. One thing we missed was the half marathon people. Well not really miss them because usually they crowded up the roads, and finish earlier and eat all the food. This time they were not there and the race felt empty. Due to Covid19 measure, the Half Marathon would run the following day. So they didn’t run when we ran. Also in the afternoon, I think they had a 5K race on the same course.

    I wore my maniacs club shirt. So other maniacs recognized me and shouted out. The race was mostly quiet. Most runners wore headphones so it was a very quiet and very few interaction, even during post race. Due to Covid19 there were very little interaction even though it was an in-person race. I made friends with one or two people. #80 did a good job. He was with me around mile 6 before he sped up or I slowed down. I saw him again after finishing.

  • Day366 Wild Oak Car camping

    I ended up going to Wild Oak. This place has a lot of memories for me because it was there where I got my teeth cut for my first backpacking experience.

    My hiker friend back into 2017 planned the trip to go there for like over half a year. I didn’t know her then. However, every time she decided to go, something happened, she had to reschedule 7-8 times. From her write up of the trip, it was supposed to be a super hard trip and it was to be done in the winter with numerous water crossings (she mentioned like twelve). Unfortunately for her but fortunately for me, the trip was postponed till mid summer, when it was just me and her. Like most trips we did, instead of canceling again, she decided to move it forward.

    So I got to do the trip with her, and my first ‘real’ bp. There were only two river crossings. One of them has a bridge to walk across! We ended up didn’t backpack at all but hiked the whole thing in a day, partly my fault, since I was super excited about my physical endurance having just done my first marathon early that year. I was ready to show the world what it like to walk 26.2 miles. It was one of the toughest hikes I did, with a full pack. We were supposed to drop pack and camp midway but our hike was super fast and by evening time, we thought we had only couple miles left (it was like 10 instead because they remade and extended the trail and added like 4-5 miles, and we were using an old map). We laughed at it every time it is mentioned, because it was so stupid, to carry a heavy pack and did not use it and for 28+ miles no less.

    Since then I have gone back to this place year after year. Last year, we were there during the Columbus Weekend and we happened to encounter a race happening that weekend. If you know anything about me, a race is like the reason for my existent. I almost couldn’t control myself to run with runners instead of backpacking that weekend. So I said to myself, I got to come back this year to run with them.

    There is a tradition for this race, not sure since when, maybe for 10+ year, the Virginia Happy Trail people would come out here to fatass this trail – that is to unofficially race on the trail but without requiring signup or payment. If you remember I recently did the ‘VDM’ with them last weekend. All their races are kind of weird/informally done like that. They are really too old school for my taste, especially with the no-signup thing of a year in advance. I think because it is on government land, they are not supposed to have an organized race, but they got around this by having a group of informal private citizens that happened to gather during a particular weekend. Now the race is no longer tied to Virginia Happy Trail (I think to avoid being sued), but people still informally come on Columbus Day Weekend to run it.

    So this year, I decided to go there on Columbus Day weekend to run. I ran on the trail by myself last year when I had the Lyme disease. I think I did it in 8 hours, which was pretty good (I think is the par for the course). But this time I did it in two laps. The first was on Saturday at 3pm and I didn’t finish until midnight, which took about 9 hours. In the morning the next day, I ran another lap, started at 9 am but didn’t finish until 8:30 pm. It took 11:30 hours.

    The Virginia Happy Trail people didn’t show up in force though. They decided to have it the next weekend instead, which I think kind of nice to us the holiday visitors because the parking lot was kind a small (can only hold about 10 cars). There wouldn’t be enough space to park if everyone showed up.

    I ran into three other people, who were also running the whole loop. They were fast. I think it probably took them under 7 hours. They ran in clockwise direction while I did the loop counter-clockwise. We met up around 2 pm. I was at mile 11, about 1/3 of the way while they were probably at mile 17 or 18 (2/3 of the way). I told them I probably wouldn’t get back to the parking lot until 8 pm. I had 6 more hours to go, while maybe only 3 more hours for them. Lucky! Though secretly I was hoping to finish by 6 pm (at the 9 hour mark). I didn’t want to be caught on the mountain in the dark on a cold and rainy day.

    But as luck and my ability would have it, I ended up spending seven more hours out there. They told me hope I can descend before dark. It was good I tossed a small handheld flashlight in my hydration pack before setting out, thinking just in case but likely I wouldn’t need it. The last hour coming down the mountain in pitch dark was something I don’t want to do, but ended up doing. The light from my handheld was just barely enough to lit the few steps in front of me. It has barely enough light to see anything. I think it was the fog and my beam was not penetrating it. I think there was maybe just a candle worth of brightness. It flickered on and off and I was praying hard, please have enough battery to last the trip down.

    The trail was not easy. It was not the hardest trail there is but they have enough steep uphills and downhills and there are portions that are rocky and technical. The first climb was over 7 miles! The last descend was 5 miles long! Quad killer indeed. Ankle and knee killers too. It was not a hike for the average city folks.

    I rolled my ankle twice on the first lap around at mile 8/9. On my second lap in the same place I rolled my ankle twice again. I tried to stop to find the stone or root that tripped me. The sad thing was that part of the trail was gentle and smooth. There were many places that were rougher or tougher. I usually roll myself at the easiest places. The part that is hard to accept is on my second lap, I had my poles with me – this kind of rolling shouldn’t happen because my weight should have shifted to my arms. I had to pause to consider should I quit, since hiking 8 miles back is easier than doing 20 miles forward. I decided to risk it by moving forward (sunk cost fallacy). Luckily I didn’t roll again, but that was a pretty gusty decision.

    One thing I did that almost put my life at risk was the tropical storm Delta (down graded from Hurricane Delta) arrived at our area that morning. I knew about the rain and wind. I packed a rain jacket but at the start of the run, I felt I don’t need it and left it behind. It was not raining then. When I did the first lap (in the evening), I was not cold. I was hoping the temperature would remain constant. But on the second lap once the rain came, and temperature dropped, I was freezing. I was halfway through by then distance wise, with the time around 3-4 pm. I was thinking how I wish I have my rain jacket with me. I might go into hypothermia and it was late Sunday. If something bad happens, no one will be on the trail to rescue me until maybe next weekend. I got to get off of this mountain myself before my body freezed.

    Throughout the run, I dared not think of the time remained to the parking lot because even if it takes an hour, it was just too long to accept. I was focusing on the distance instead. I was at mile 15, and in my mind I told myself just need to get to the next peak which was like 3-6 miles away. I knew the trail is about 27-28 miles long. I kept thinking in that line to give myself hope.

    Maybe the cold and tireness affected my thinking. I got lost on the next peak, Hankey Mnt. When we went there as a group, we got lost there too. The night before though I didn’t get lost because – my hiking friend told me she fixed the sign and I found her small beaten fixed sign and followed it down. With full confident that I wouldn’t get lost again on Hankey in day time I ascended (I could bypass it that peak if needed). However, when I ascended I found the campsite my friend told me about (something I didn’t see the night before), but her sign I didn’t find. In place of her sign I found a new and official trail sign clearly marked ‘WILD OAK TRAIL’, so I took the left turn there. I thought it was a left. This is where the confusion came in. Apparently by taking the left I ended back up at where I was about a mile away. Exactly, how on earth did I hiking backward on the trail without realizing it! I think though the backtracking was on the *old* trail except it was newly blazed or earlier I was on the old trail while ascending! I blame the forest park people, why blazed an old trail. They got the sign confused there. I was at mile 18 earlier. However the extra backtracking added an extra 3 miles (an hour more).

    If anyone is reading this and planning to hike The Wild Oak Trail, don’t ascend the Hankey Mountain, leave the Wild Oak trail take the Betsy trail instead to go around it instead because there are some confusing signs up on the top that would loop you back around. The funny thing is they don’t blaze the other side of Hankey Mountain where Wild Oak merged into Betsy (or Betsy into Wild Oak Tr), so even if you are on right trail you won’t know it until five miles later. So just avoid ascending Hankey altogether.

    I kept telling myself only one more peak to go (Lookout mountain at mile 22). It took maybe 7 more miles before I got there (and that was about 3 hours later). The time then was 6:30 pm, that was original my goal to finish by. However, I was not upset. We get there when we get there.

    I was pressing for time. I didn’t know how long it would take to descend Lookout mountain. My guess was 4 miles. I know it would get dark by 7 pm. The mud was slick and I was not wearing my trail shoes but the normal road running shoes. So basically I was skiing, sliding, and slipping all over the places. Based on the previous day, it took me an hour and half to descend. So I tried to do it again this time as fast as I could. But I didn’t have a bright flashlight on me this time. The one I had I could hardly use to see. I kind of make out a shadowy path in front of me.

    At one point I almost went over a cliff. Thank God, I stopped in time. That was mostly my fault too. The previous day, the city light below the Lookout Mountain was beautiful, and I tried to see if there were any light (It was foggy). While trying to look, I walked straight out into the edge because the path has curved at that point.

    Over all it was a good experience. I had 27 miles the first day and 30 miles the second.

    I brought my tent but too lazy to use it. I slept in the car both nights, a real definition of car camping. The first night, I sleep in the flat bed of my truck. I was not afraid of bugs. The second night was rainy and I slept inside. The backseat only fits half of me. I slept in like hammock position, V-shape. My head was up and my legs were up. I didn’t get much sleep. I left the rear window opened for air.

    I think I was not supposed to sleep/camp at the trailhead, but there is no one around to enforce it. This was kind of reminescene of the first trip where we had a tent but ended up didn’t use it.

  • Day365

    Happy Friday!

    Been tired lately and last night I felt asleep by 9pm. I came home had dinner. The day seems to go by faster now with going into work. All the driving.

    I started driving to work. Normally it is ok. It is not as bad as driving into DC. My workplace is just outside the city somewhere between the suburb and really suburb where I live. Still it takes about half an hour.

    This week though I had such bad lucks. Couple times I got stuck in traffic. I know, I live in the city and traffic is normal. I got use to it these many years of driving in the areas. We have one of worse traffic in the nation behind New York and Los Angeles (I think rank 3rd or something). The point is we are not a big city like those! 1 mil in pop vs 19 mil. There is no comparison. I think it is just poor planning. We spent a lot money on transportation too, probably more than any cities of our size in the nation.

    But with the pandemic, traffic virtually has disappeared here. Now I am back at work and the unbelievable traffic has returned too. I think everyone has the same idea as me.

    There were many road works since people were not on the roads. But now people like me are back at work. At the same time they start making weird road closures and lanes changes that are like a five year old drawing on the sidewalk. Maybe a five year old can do a better job. When combine them together you get huge accidents every day. You think they learned. I wonder why no one sue them! Or maybe department of transportation (VDOT) can’t be sued. They always go after the poor soul who couldn’t react quick enough.

    There were a few times during the summer I drove into work and each time I almost got into an accident. None of it was my fault. They closed a lane abruptly with little to no warning and imagine you were driving near 65 ish (speeding I know during morning rush) on the interstate and a car on the lane that was suddenly closed either had to make a sudden stop or quicky shift out to your lane or crash into the concrete barrier. Most stupid drivers would shift into your lane hoping you would stop in them for them. And I have seen all scenarios. My heart stopped a few times driving on that highway. I tried all the lanes too and encountered being both the victim whose lane was suddenly closed or the poor soul on the lane with suddenly a car popped onto your lane with no warning and they then making a hard brake on you! It is insane!

    You would think yes, next day, you remember that section of the road and be better at it except they changed to something different the next day!

    And so this week, a few time I got stuck on the highway for hours. A normal commute even during a rush hour should only taken about 35 minutes (hey sometimes only taken me 15-20 mins, ah those early pandemic days), but this week, it took me one and half hours to get into work or coming back home! Why don’t I just stay at home right? Exactly, why am I venting? I have a choice to just work from home.

    They did try to redo the lane to make it safer, but they shift it every day and it like try and miss to see which day they would screw up badly and cause a huge accident.

    Another thing I have been thinking while being stuck on the highway is couldn’t they have a special road crew whose job is to clear accident? We have an accident almost every day on the highway. However, if you have seen an accident or a breaking down car on the highway, it likely will block the roads for hours. It is like the first time anyone has seen an accident and no one know what to do. I am not just talking about us the rubberneckers, but the emergency crew too.

    Indeed, the emergency crew has a different priority. Their job is public safety and to hell with the people stuck in traffic. They take the whole day if they want and they block an extra lane or all lanes if they have to.

    They would bring the fire trucks and if an ambulance is needed, they you wait for it too, and of course the police would show up and then two or three other cruisers too. They would call a tow truck or two. This would take a whole day before they move the cars to the side. They bring out everything.

    By then the road would be blocked for hours! Even when the accident is cleared, the road would be continued to be congested. I am sitting there thinking, can they make the whole proccess go faster? Like five minutes and move everyone to the side? Or for example, stop sending cars onto the highway until the blockage is resolved! And direct cars off the highway – like reroute them. I passed like three or four exits (with no one exiting, and everyone stuck to their lane) bumber to bumber and we were crawling at 1 mi an hour. Our local roads run parallel to the highway and why no one is using them? They could redirect all those cars like me off the highway onto local roads. Just a bit of coordination, it would have been so much better.

    I have heard in Korea they have a rapid team that clears the accidents. Why can we have something like this here.

    Enough ranting… I have no plan for this weekend. I know I should be running but I don’t know where or when.

    A few choices I have is either to do the VDM I did last weekend again or doing something new.

    My second choice is to go to The Wild Oak Trail. This 28 mile trail gave me a beating last year. I really want to do it again.

    Third choice is to go and do the Priest. I have heard it is pretty challenging. I have not done it before. Last year I was very sick and had to go home during that camping trip to the Priest. The Priest is the farest of three from home. I think about 4 hour drive.

    I likely will pick the second choice…but it is a lot of work to prepare for and I am still not packed yet. I would have to wake up like 3 AM for the long drive, which is not very attractive to me. Plus I have get food tonight – food to eat after the run. I have food I already cooked but those can’t last in the car. I need camping food that won’t spoil.

    update: 10:30 AM – I am still in my bed. Option #2 is still good. I got food and everything packed now

  • Day364 normal

    The day has been normal. Couple things: The guy who needed pacing for the Shenandoah run declined my help.

    I was excited for a night run and it will be challenging as I have checked the weather and nigh time temperature…It is not something I would do for ‘fun’. The night can drop to near freezing 35 F and day time can rise to 70 F (sweating temp for running). I did a test run last weekend and I know. Plus there will be some rain at night. Not good.

    Distance wise too, I was kind of stuck with all my friends being away for the long holiday, so if I do it, there is no one to pick me up after the run and I have to run back to the car. I am looking at 50-60 miles run in less than ideal situation.

    It would be on the mountain, which mean I get less support in term of food and water etc. There are creeks and couple way sides (places to buy food), however, most of the route is remote! It is a stress on the logistics if without a friend to refuel you at key places. I was not worry on the way out, since the dude has his support team and I could ‘borrow’ them, but on the return trip, I would be by myself and I would be screwed if I messed up (like out of food/water/twisted my ankle etc).

    Lastly and most important is I am the pacer, which mean I manage the clock. As I know when I am racing, clock management is a lot of work. I would have to know precisely where I am at and fast and far to go. It is like solving dozen equations in your head all the time. That the reason people have pacer toward the end of the race when fatigue sets in. I think I am up to the task, but that is a heavy of responsibility! It means I need to totally familiar with the trail (a lot of map studying). I actually started doing it yesterday and already was solving equations ahead, even while sleeping. I could write more about this…It is because our time system of using base 60 is a pain in the butt. You constantly have to convert the time between hour to minute to do the calculation!

    I was both disappointed in being declined for the help but at the same time relieved.

    Good luck to the man and his team.

    He did get me started to plan for my own one day running through the entire Shenandoah on the Applachian Trail. It is 107-110 miles. So I already have a bit of work done.

    I forgot what is the second thing I want to write about…probably not as important. I will leave that to another post.

    Basically my weekend is free. When is our long weekend? Is it next week?

  • Day363 poles etc

    There were a few things I wanted to write for a long time but usually some other things got the spot.

    I met couple ultra guys in Pa during the summer and one of them uses poles on his runs. I have been thinking of doing the same.

    I follow a Youtuber, he said he started using poles when he realized all the top finishers of ultra races use them.

    So yesterday I packed a pair of trekking poles. They were ultra light weight that I happened to found being left on the trail on a trip I did couple years back. I was pretty sure someone forgotten them…and not just leave them to be picked up at a later time, you know runners often do if they do loops on a trail. The poles were left at least more than one day, and might have been a week or more. This was before Covid, nowaday, I don’t touch other people’s stuffs with all the germs.

    My Pa friend said I have to practice with the poles because they get heavy during the run. Yesterday I did 22 miles and by halfway I had to put them away. Today, I woke up, my upper arms and shoulders were slightly sore. My goodness. These things do affect your body.

    I have been thinking if I will use them in my 100 mile race. The course is not technical. There are some hills but nothing of a 1000 ft climb. I think poles are not needed. But if I decide to use them, I need to start training with them to build those muscles.

    Relating to poles, I also wanted to write about socks and underwear. I wear whatever I can find in my drawers and have been making noobie mistakes. The biggest one was during my summer 100 miles attempt. I got pretty bad blisters on both feet. It was the shoes too but socks were part to blame. I have not done an indeep research on what kind of socks I should be wearing.

    I like the thick wooly kind. Walmart socks were really bad. I brought some that said to have thick cushion, for all day factory workers, EMT and such. They were junk. After several washes they were no longer thick and cushy.

    Similarly I got bad chaefing from bad underwear. It is better not to wear any. Usually first 10-ish mile it does not matter. Longer distances, I start to feel the cut and burn for the repetitive rubbing. I have to look into having the right clothing. I use to put lube and stuff the first year before my runs, but now I am a bit lazy. I only put balm on afterward to soothe the burn.

  • Day361 busy

    As you might have guessed, I have been busy the last few days with the boring stuff of life called work.

    Now things are picking up, I better write before being steam-rolled by all other things.

    First, I am debating whether to run the JFK50 this year. I did it last year and at the time it was the hardest race I did. I trained a year for it. Now looking back, ehh, it was not that hard. The race was mostly flat! and boring miles after miles on the C&O Towpath.

    What make me want to do it? It is a race with tons of miles. I think I like that a lot.

    While thinking about it, a local race organizer posted that they were approved for the Stone Mill 50 miler. This actually have been a race I wanted to do a long time before I even heard of the JFK… well I kind of lie there. But I know both JFK and Stone mill at about the same time.

    JFK and Stone Mill is not even in the same category. They are both 50 miler but JFK is like 10 to 100 times more famous, but the Stone Mill is much smaller scale, which means less expensive. JFK current price is 300 squids. Stone Mill I am hoping for a third of that.

    Where I got off? Ya, so I would like to do the Stone Mill Race.

    I haven’t signed up either of them. Still waiting.

    Now, weekend! I plan to do some trail run this weeking. I have a big plan.

    I am getting in touch with another runner who is planning to run through Shenandoah. I volunteed to be his pacer. I hope to catch him around 50-60 miles, and we will do the rest together. It is still a planning stage, but I am so excited about it.

    I still have a few things to say, but I am getting sleepy. They will be left for future posts.