In awe

Author: Antin

  • Day348 here I go

    This was written in mid August as I was trying to get my body back in shape. I had stopped running for the longest time, about 6 weeks. At first I thought only couple weeks off after running the 100 mile. Once you stopped, it was hard to get back on the habit of daily running.

    I had a lot to post then, this mini post didn’t make the cut. By the way, I finished the 1000 miles GVRAT. Enjoy.

    —-

    I did my ‘first’ half marathon after a long break. It was ugly. 3 hrs. I walked the last two miles. For perspective, I used to run it in 2 hours or less.

    Why the rush to rack up my mileage? I am still in the GVRAT race to run 1000 miles this summer. I am at 795 miles. So about 200 miles left in two weeks.

    Secretly I want to do 2000 km (that is for this race 1270 miles). Realistically that is kind of out of my range to run 500 miles in two weeks. It means about doing 35 miles a day. I am struggling at even running 10 miles a day. Originally, it was very doable, to run about 6 miles a day, but I goofed off for about two months. Here I am, being so behind on my miles.

    Today the first five miles was mostly running. I had it that I only walk only after every mile. I try to keep my walking short (30 sec to a min at most) then run another mile. This is almost an interval training. By mile three I was into it. I wish I could be back in shape and to able to run without stopping.

    By mile 6, I reached my high. I felt shiver running across my skin. Yike.

    By mile 10 I hit the wall. Normally this occurs at mile 18-22. All I could think of at the time was a nice can of soda. By mile 13, all hope is lost. I couldn’t breath. I was hyperventing. I walked all the way home.

    Now had a nice cold shower and my body is refreshed.

    Oh my body is aching all over. It is like back to what I used to be. My left ankle is also giving me trouble. I thought with two months of resting would get it to be as good as new, but there is something wrong. I rolled it back in June.

    Will I see a doctor? No… I’m stubborn. I will limp and run on a bad ankle.

  • Day347 Run review – full report (GSER 2)

    They say don’t try anything new on race day that you haven’t tested in the training. This is a lesson I learned. It is more than about the shoes.

    I have gotten cocky after so many runs and thought I got it. So after so many successful runs, I broke many of the runners’ ‘rules’. It was also the sense of trying to break as many rules as possible–as long as the body is ready, run however you like was my take.

    Careless thoughts like these led to not being able to finish the run in Atlanta this time. The main problem still was the shoes. If I had the right pair, all these issues didn’t matter much. However, I glad, the shoes problem helped me to examine a deeper issue of being a bit too casual attitude toward my runs.

    I went to Atlanta for my second attempt to run a 100 miles knowing I was not as well as prepared as I did compare to the first attempt. I actually expected to last maybe until 13 miles (that was my pre-run excessment and what I told a friend).

    This race report will be a long one to examine various points comparing this run to the last run I did back on July 2nd (Day316). Both were unsuccessful attempts at running my first 100 miler.

    The thought of doing a 100 miler again is just mind blowing. I was nervous. However, I signed up already and had been doing longer runs over the summer. 40-50 miles no longer seem as daunting to me. Also having attempted the same course two months ago gave a sense of confident that as long as I control the variables that caused me to fail the last time, I have a good chance of getting this one done.

    The run though was still daunting, however, it can be broken down to smaller pieces. I rationalized before doing it. It goes: The pace for finishing is very reasonable. As long as I maintaining a 3 mi per hour average (fast walk) I should be able to finish within 34 hours (note 33 x 3 is 99), and I have an hour to do the last mile, or still maintaining a 20 mins per mile pace, and have 40 mins to spare. To me this is doable, since, I normally run at 4-5 miles per hour. Even with my lower aerobic performance at the present, I was not too worry in hitting the required pace, and thus finishing.

    What also gave me the confident to try again was I knew what caused me to fail the first time. Armed with the information, I prepared for the second attempt.

    Preparation. The fault of last time was due to lack of preparation time the week before in getting a lot of race day essentials done and I wrote I should have the week before the race off. This time around, I had most of the week off leading to the run. It was a very low stress week – I went camping even at the start of the week and put in some extra training runs.

    Maps/turn sheets/pace sheet. I had those from the previous trip. I reviewed them a bit. Many concerns about break locations/food were moot. Most of the logistics that screwed me were fixed. My phone was working the whole time. I had batteries for the flashlight. I had plenty of ziplocks to waterproof the phone. Lotion/sunscreen, etc were adaquately prepared. Same with shirts. See further section on food.

    Start time. was as important this time around as the last time. Last time was a night start. It had its benefits being a cooler run at night, however, I had difficult time finding my way due to poor visibility. This time around, I chose a late morning start (9AM), and it was almost perfect. this was an almost, except being, I didn’t anticipate of arriving at Stone Mnt (mile 60) in the middle of the night for a night time ascend, if I had gotten there. However, no trouble in finding my way.

    A better start time would probably have been 11AM-12 PM, so I would ascend Stone Mnt with some early morning light. Any way, with the morning start, all the way finding was super easy.

    One of my big concerns was entering the Snope National Park for the trail portion, but with day time, this section was easy. I almost stumbled on a root for going too fast, but that was better than stumbling in the dark when you didn’t see them like last time. I felt extremely please at my start time.

    Heat control. I was very careful this time watching myself for being too exhaustive. Heat was a big factor. I kept cool well and slow down when I had to. It was still a hot day, but was nowhere near a meltdown as the last time.

    The biggest thing that bothered me last time was heat exhaustion. I ran on a very hot day on my first attempt. I worn the wrong clothes for the weather. This time, I got it right. Splashed plenty water on me all the time, drank up and right kind of fluid (not sodas). Nutrition played a big role. Plus the weather was maybe 20 degree cooler due to an aftermath of a hurricane in the Gulf. I was lucky on both counts, that it missed Atlanta (no rain) but a very cool and cloudy on my starting day.

    Pace control. Unlike last time when I was in a constant panic, this time I was as cool as a cool cucumber – physically and mentally. Mostly I know how far and fast I need to go. Last time, I complained the turnsheet being inaccurate. This time I used the same turnsheet. I know some portions the distances were a little off.

    Last time this drove me nuts, e.g., if you expect the next turn to be 0.1 mile away (about a block) and it turned out say 1 mile away, you would start panicking when the turn didn’t show up. Also, you anticipate your running pace based on the distance done. And you ran say a mile (20 minutes, but the turnsheet said you only did 0.1, and you would panic because in your mind your have goofed at least 15 minutes to go a 0.1 mile. So last time I was constantly behind ‘pace’ through making the wrong turns, plus the turnsheet under-reporting the miles. The pyschological load was very heavy that time. Not this time around.

    My strategy was not to look at the turn sheet for pacing. I had my own spreadsheet. With the distance from my watch and the spreadsheet, I knew my pace. As I mentioned it needed only 3 mi per hour to be on pace. I was on pace (ahead actually) the whole time, so never really in a panic mode. Most of all I didn’t get lost. My ETA was 4-6 hours early.

    Wayfinding/Navigation. Last time I had a physical paper map, a google map on my phone, plus the strava map. None of them worked well. This was all very complicated to keep track (constantly searching where am I on the various tools) because electronic never works when you need them to. I had some signal problem that time, and the phone crapped out.

    This time, I kept everything simple. Not touching the phone, I had a map, but it was in my pack, didn’t need to use it, and only was using the turnsheet. The sheet was spot on. All the visual cue/clues mentioned in the turnsheet, which I missed the last time, I found them all this time. Again might be due to day time start.

    Night blindness. I had this problem last time, when my flashlight was either too dim or too bright and I was blinded by it. I said I should wear an eye patch on one eyes to keep my night vision. This time, I had on a sunshades, and they help! Yes at night, and I was not blinded. Though I had a hard time seeing my phone screen (too dark to see).

    TIME MANAGEMENT/MINIMIZED MISTAKES. Sum it all up, I was making much better time than the last time because I didn’t get lost even though I was running at a lower pace. The time was managed better and I was ahead all the time until toward the evening. Each stop were done efficiently. I skipped some stops I didn’t need. I knew exactly what I want at each stop. This minimized wasted time and gave more time for running.

    MILE Mental game. I had a better mind game this time. Things were snowballing in a good way. Last times everything went wrong, because one thing had gone wrong. This time, one right thing led to another and they snowballed positively!

    FOOD/DRINKS. This was supposed to be my key to finishing this race. It is all about the food. Last time, I didn’t had enough and it got me to hit the ‘wall’ after 45/50 mile mark. Though I went minimal that time on purpose! However, if you checked that race report, it was a disaster. This time I got this covered.

    As for food and drink: I started with six lunch bags in ziplocks. Each of them have 3 oreos, two tubes of SIS instance boost (much much less sugar than other brands), a tuna pack, two slices of bread with peanut butter, three poaches of Welch’s fruit gummies. The bag totaled to 850 calories. Multiply by six, I got the whole race covered. Plus I decided to go with protein shakes instead of sodas and they added 200-300 calories during breaks. (Race needs 10k-11kcal, food I got had 6-7kcal, but good enough)

    Some choices could be improved on, but lacking calories would not be the reason for not finishing. The result showed. Yes, I was super tired the next day, but after a night rest, I recovered from the run. I think the calories were enough that I was not as exhausted after the event as some other races.

    PACK. My pack was a way too heavy for runners due to all the food I was lugging along, but that was okay. This was the only down side. If the run had continued, this might be the thing that breaks a camel’s back. We don’t know. My plan was the pack would get lighter as we go since I would be eating the food. This was untested. I really wish to be able to find out. What I do know, the next day, after the run, my whole upper body felt like I have gone through an intense work-out. The good sore. However, if I had pushed another 60 plus miles, I might be telling a different thing. A hint of what wad to come was, all my upper body muscles were sored and stiffed, I didn’t leave my bed until 3 pm the following day.

    It’s good to note: I never trained to run with such a heavy pack before. This could be a key reasons I failed. I have been thinking a lot on this point. More on it later. I hiked with a pack, but not run. The pack was great by the way! At the time I quit, I was still doing strong with the pack. However it can’t be overlooked, the pack was a liability.

    I could try better to lighten the load next time. Also train on running with a 10-15 lb pack would have helped.

    Note too: I was hungry most of the time (this is very different from the first attempt). Oreos were a bit too sweet and sugary. I didn’t enjoy the tuna much. I didn’t eat as much as I anticipated.

    Now we are ready to go into what derailed the race. So far, the pack, a goofed too earlier a start time, me being hungry, those were bad signs. This post has already been long enough so I will try to wrap it up.

    The Shoes. What happened? As I mentioned in previous blog entries, I stopped the run after I felt it was impossible to go on. I had blisters on both of my feet and they were not getting better but worse. It was caused by bad shoes.

    I am not blaming the shoes company. I wore this brand all these years. I had different models before, and love the company and shoes. I had no complaints.

    I mentioned being carefree on the shoes. In the past, what was limiting me is my body and not the shoes. I could wear any kind of shoes and still could run (except of being barefoot).

    For this race, I was not being cheap either. I used a new (newer) pairs. The previous run, I was using the oldest/most beat up pairs. That was frustrating. Now the lesson is: Wear what is tested. That was a big lesson.

    The new pairs were not comfortable. I had it for a time already but had not used them much. The reason, now looking back they don’t fit my style of running. A lesson here too, we all run very differently. A shoes might fit someone well, but not me. That was my biggest undeclared assumption. Shoes can change the way you run.

    You can’t force your feet to fit your shoes. It should have been the other way. Yes, I found out now, shoes need time to mold to your feet. No wonder old pairs did wonder on my first attempt, while this new pairs did not. This also goes into preparation, Wear your race pairs during training. It was obvious to me now.

    As I said, I ran with a ruck (backpack) on this second attempt. I didn’t wear one in the first or on any training run. This also is my hubris, thinking, hey, you could sling anything on the back, as long as you have the strength, it is no problem. I’m strong. This couldn’t be farther than the truth. The Ruck changed my running form (gait). The shoes didn’t compensate for this shift, because I was not trained with a ruck. My shoes were not designed for this half/runninghalf hiking form (a pair boots would have done better). Also my foot tissues/muscles did not get strengthened to carry on the extra weight. No wonder I got blisters. When the weight came down, it just torn the tissue between my layers of skin (not immediately but over 10,000 steps). Water/fluid would build up.

    Now you see, the shoes and lack of training with the added weight, as well as my attidude led to a disaster.

    What did I do? I realized things were not right even on the eve of the start. I brought two pairs. Pair A and Pair B. I already really wanted to use Pair A, but it was uncomfortable. Pair B, is also uncomfortable in a different way (a bit too tight). A thought was to bring both, however, due to weight, I left Pair B behind. It might have saved my race if I wore Pair B or brought that along to switch out!

    Funny story. I was at Buckhead, almost to the 50K mark and sitting on the side of the road to dress my feet because of the blisters. A ‘homeless’ guy came by and asked if I want to buy some performance shorts for a very cheap price. He knew I was excercising, and maybe my pairs were not ‘sports’. I really wanted to ask him if he has shoes for me to buy, or if he could trade his pairs for mine. (I think the guy was a drug dealer and shorts were a code word). Yet, the thought crossed my mind to ask him for his shoes.

    Another funny story, I almost thought of running barefoot because the shoes were so uncomfortable. If I had a knife or scissors, I would cut open my shoes to relieve the pressure.

    At first, I thought I could stand it. Then by mile 18 ish, after the Braves Stadium, my feet were getting hot. I stopped and changed socks. They were signs that blisters were forming. Mile 30 were when they got bad. They formed and I had to pop them. I was hopping, I only need to stop every 10-20 miles to adjust.

    Mile 40, It grew worse. My speed was hampered by this now. Unless I took care of it, my race was in trouble. No solution other than to pop them and changed socks. By 45, nothing helped. I couldn’t walk due to the pain. I already stopped tooany times. I could force it, but my speed dropped below 2 now. There are 60+ more miles. I need to keep my pace at 3 to finish. Blisters grew worse. I was walking on a layer of liquid under my feet and this was painful. I felt every step. I popped them as frequently as I could but they continued to pool water. I was out of ideas. I did applied all kind of first aid lotions I had. I know, unless the root cause is solved, the race couldn’t continue. I was out of ideas.

    Future solution would be: Have medical tapes to tape blister. Have a pair of scissors. Tape the feet. I had tape with me, but they wouldn’t do, because they were too short. I need long strips of medical tape.

    I might also misused my shoes. I think mine was for trail running. The run I did in Atlanta was on road/concrete sidewalk. Boots and trail shoes have a stiffer bottom and usually known to cause blisters when running on road-like surfaces. I know hubris, I have been running with trail shoes on road all the time. However, what worked in the past might not work for ‘all’ trail shoes! This again is back to training. If I have done a shake down run with the shoes on training, the problem would have been caught.

    Finally back to the shoes, I am not saying anything bad about this brand or this model. It could be I got the wrong size. I felt now my feet has grown half a size larger. Also this is true, long runs make the feet swell due to liquid pooling.

    I hope this report provided a good post-mortem. With failure, there are a lot of second guesses and what-ifs. I should take the main points, and learn from them.

    What so heart breaking for me is of all the reasons I anticipated for not finishing, it didn’t occur to me shoes would be the main culprit. Looking back, hindsight is always 20-20, with the fog of war lifted. Running besides the body’s ability is the shoes. Yet shoes were never a big concern to me. It was the body that always my limiting factor. This attempt was an eye-openner.

    I have seen people running with blisters worse than I had. It is basically turning your mind off the pain…and be numbed by it. But it was very hard thing to do, when you still feel the pain at every step.

    What caught me off guard was I never dealt with blisters like this before. I ran 50 miler before and even last time, I put in 70 miles, no blister. There were small ones, but not one that covered half of my foot and both feet. This experience I could use. I read about it and now finally experienced it and should be better prepared against it.

    CONCLUSION. I really enjoyed the second run this time around. Mentally, I didn’t have the pressure of last time. That is the good thing about running. It supposes to take your mind off things. I was out there for 15 hours and the time went by fast. I didn’t feel tired or exhaused, but energetic. For a run, usually I settle into a groove and my mind would wander and I would be in the most wonderful place. Yet 15 hours felt so short and I was still expecting to settle in and enjoy. My mind did not wander away at all. I was on task the entire time, yet was not stressed out. This was totally different from the first attempt where I was not able to focus, and was stressed out. I felt I had not even shown my stuff – truly running!

    I wish I could have gone a bit farther like 20/25 or even 40 more miles more if not for the feet. At least that what I expected that I would die out from being physical worned rather than something lame (pun).

  • Day346 back to normal

    It felt weird, now things are back to normal. Couple days ago, I was in Atlanta doing this run. It was not really my life goal. Yet I poured in energy and time for whole summer. It could have been the capstone for this summer.

    I don’t know what to think of it but to move on. It was a nice experience. I learned more about ultra running when I thought I knew already so much.

    It is different from doing ultra training runs in my own neighborhood than going to a place like an actual race and do it. The stake is higher. Everything before was a test run and this time is for real.

    They say to train your run like if it is a real event. Mental barrier is real. It is hard to fool the mind.

    What all the rambling is about? I don’t know, they are a bit of reflection on the Alanta run. I have a race report 99% done. While I ran last night, I discovered a few more things that I want to incorporate into the report.

    A preview of it, is the previous blog entry I wrote immediately afterward. It is the shoes, but I found deeper things/insight than that. It has to do with training and preparation.

    A thought too, there always plenty of reasons for why something didn’t happen. I could write a book on it – like the Fall of Rome. Eventually, I got to move on.

  • Day345 The run

    Just in case some of you wonder if I finish the 100 mile run, no, I stopped after 15 hours into it. I was stuck at mile 45 for an hour and the prospect to go any further was impossible.

    The blisters on my feet were getting worse. This was not from the poison ivy. Those blisters were pretty much healed. They were the new blisters formed from wearing a bad pair of shoes that I couldn’t break in.

    Shoes I realized need a break in period…This pair were not that comfortable… I ran maybe 50 miles on them last week, and I thought that would do.

    Why do I wear them? Inexperience. In all my 4 years of running, I never had a bad pair. I became so good with just wearing any pair that I started to buy them online. This is the first pair that I didn’t really like and racing in them were that. Every mile was uncomfortable.

    I might have gotten the sizing wrong. Or it was just the wrong kind of shoes. It says neutral support for running. Normally, I need bit of arch support. These shoes are almost completely flat and hard. It was like running on a pair of wooden sandals. The shoes wouldn’t bend with me. It was driving me nut.

    10:30 pm – Where I stopped to dress my feet for the hundred times (maybe the 3rd time). This is on Piedmont, couple blocks from Georgia’s Parlement house/State house whatever they call it. I was able to run a few more miles before ultimately decided to give up by midnight (I wasn’t moving fast, basically limping). The city was very quiet.

    Not sure I am ready for a proper review on the run. I am a bit overwhelmed at the moment. I felt I got things right this time except for the shoes…I didn’t mind them, till they gave me blisters…I ran with blisters before…Any way, I will save it (like what did to fix the issue) for a full report.

  • Day344 A second attempt – about to start

    I am a few hours away from starting the run. As of right now I just woke up and still am very comfortable on my bed in the hotel near the airport. By the way, after having been of other city airport hotels, this is one of the best! It is comfortable and inexpensive and you don’t hear the take offs and landing or airplane flying over. How do they do it? I found out they originally were a Motel 6, but they renovated it and upgraded all around. It is on the level of Comfort Suites. It is part of the Quality Inn chain, but the quality I am getting is way higher than all the Quality Inns I stayed at. I just love the hotel and want to sleep in. I paid for four nights, but tonight I won’t be there!

    Ideally I should have started the run yesterday because it was cooler and the chance of encountering rain storms during the run was lower (30% chance only), but today and tomorrow, my chance of running into a storm is around 50%. They are leftovers from Cat 4 Laura that made landfall in the Texas/Lousiana region couple nights ago.

    However, I was not ready yesterday. I had not reviewed the map then and had not decided on the starting time. Since the starting time would determine the ending time, it needed to be chosen carefully.

    Last time, I started in the evening at 6 pm and was aiming to finish at 4 am two days later. I thought of doing so again and maybe moving up the starting time by a few hours.

    I woke up late and had company’s work to do. It was my day off but I didn’t finish those stuff on the day before my trip (computer issue kept me from doing them – it decided to run an update when I tried to do my work before my flight! My frustration level was through the roof). So I spent the morning doing my work. I was not done until 2 pm. I then went for lunch. I knew the run was not happening because I had not packed yet! I got everything laid out, but still did not have my runner pack in a final ready to go condition. 100 mile requires careful consideration of what to take a long.

    Then I decided to go to Walmart to get a watch (you know the cheap one that have a stop watch feature?) but as I got there, I forgot all about getting a watch but instead got a lot of stuff for dinner and food for the run and food to eat after the run! I brought $30 worth of junk food. I probably wouldn’t finish them all – 7 cans of spagetti, lot of fruit cups, oreo cookies, packs of juicy fruit candies, instant cup noodles, package tunas and more. The watch would let me calculate the interval (time of a shorter distance, say 10 or 20 miles) during the run because I don’t want to mess with my main watch since that will track the overall 100 mile distance. Not having a spare watch is not a problem. I could still do it in my head and with paper and pen, it just a lot burdensome.

    When I got back to the hotel, I separated the food that I will take along into 6 ziplock bags. The goal is to eat a bag for every 6 hours (6 bags for 36 hours). I counted up each bag to have around 850 calories. I have six of these. This is much better than my last attempt. Last time, the whole run I only carried about one bag calories of food and ended up only eating about 10% and the rest of my calories came from sugarly drinks and I felt it affected my performance. First not enough, so I was dying halfway. I remembered my heart was racing crazy from the energy drink yet I didn’t have the power to run, and I was drained. I was so scared that I didn’t want another Powerade. It was not fun when your heart was about to explode and the lung was collapsing. Breathing hurt that time. I hope to avoid that mistake.

    Because I will be carrying so much food (6 meals), I am bringing my big bookbag. They won’t all fit in the smaller pack. It is a daypack from my hiking trip. It is heavy. Very heavy. I don’t like running with such a heavy pack! But I need the food, unless I have someone to carry them for me. This is why I wish I have local support crew (aid stations). Otherwise, I could leave all the food/drinks with my crew and they just have to show up at a given interval and give me the food. Last time I was hoping the stores along the way would be my aid station. However, drinks were easy to come by but not food! They had candies but no real food. Real food were out of the way and I didn’t want to take a detour.

    I think the food I am bringing along will be enough. It still is less than what my body will consume though. Every 6 hours my body will be burning 2000 calories and I am giving back only at most 1000. I plan to buy muscle milk and yogurt along the way, they will add couple hundred of calories. No more sodas this time around. They have to be high caloric drinks. I know I will still shutdown after halfway, but at least I hope it will give me enough to press on.

    I checked the map afterward packing. I am not too worry. I wish still I had memorized the turns. We do what we have to do.

    As for start time. I’m moving it up real early to 9/9:30 AM with the aim of finishing at 7:30 pm on Sat night.

    That was the main reason I couldn’t set off yesterday. I was already behind the start time once I figured I wanted a morning start instead of an afternoon/evening start.

    Having an extra day, physically was a good thing. My poison ivy infection is getting better. My left leg is almost completely healed of the ivy reaction. My right leg started to get worse on my flight to Atlanta and yesterday the bumps (30+) started weeping/oozing, that is good, it means they will be healing soon. It was what I was concerned about that the blisters from the ivy will break during my run and the friction from repetitive foot moment will agitate the wounds and they would get infected. Now they broke while I am still at the hotel. I washed and cleaned them with the poison ivy specialty soap. I should be ready for the run. I believe they will dry out during the run.

    Only last concern is my cardio aerobic performance. It degraded a lot compare to last time. Those who have been following my blog know I was struggling with my runs. My feeling is I can only do 13 miles at most and probably drag it out to 26. I don’t know if I will even reach 50, much less get to 100. That is a realistic assessment. I know it is bad luck to envision failure even before starting.

    I do want to get to the 100. It is a long shot. Even when I was in my peak, that was very hard (in the realm of impossible) thing. Now I am four times worse. Only way to find out is go out and try. I am very nervous.

    food: My main secret to get through the run

  • Day343 Atlanta here I come

    Ready or not here I come!

    I am not ready, but I am going. About 7 weeks ago (July 1/2), I was in Atlanta to run the Great Southern Endurance Run (GSER). I was only able to do it halfway and vowed I will be back to finish it.

    Here goes, this weekend I will be there to redo the run. However, I feel totally under-prepared.

    I am not as frantic as the last trip there. I don’t know why. I am even less prepared than the last time. I reread my blog of my trip last time…and I said I will do better in term of preparation, like taking the week off before the trip…change my sleep time to adjust for overnight running, pack the stuff I need for the runs (last time was last minute packing and I forgot certain things like lipbalm, sunblock lotion), get a better map and turnsheet, laminate the turnsheet, and many other things.

    I have done none of that. I am just showing up to wing it! I told my friend I probably give up at the 13th mile this time around.

    Any way, I will be flying out soon in couple hours. My run will probably be tomorrow. I could start at any time (it is a virtual race), but once it is started, I have to stay to finish. I am picking for the best day to start…Thursday or Friday? I am also thinking for a day time start instead of a night time.

    I want to lean toward a Friday start. I will check the weather tomorrow and then decide.

    It is sad to see an empty airport here at Dulles International! Just like last time. I bet though Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International will be crowded.

    Worries? I have a lot. Mainly it is the D*** poison ivy. I am much better. The blisters have stopped oozing. I am using a type of soap that basically said take 2 days to heal. I am on the 2nd day. They still itch but much less (90% less). The itch drove me crazy before the medication. But still, yesterday, a whole bunch of blisters/boils popped up on my other foot. I applied the medication. They have not started oozing yet. It might take two more days for this foot to heal. However, I will be in the middle of the run by then…so the blisters might get infected during the run. Right now they are about to pop, so I am very nervous to run with a bunch of those. It is very uncomfortable. I would take a picture, but it will gross you out! That is my worry.

    I had a history of bad allergic reaction to poison ivy. This time the overcounter medication seems to be able to suppress it. However, I hope it won’t break out while I am in Atlanta…ya, the last couple times I had poison ivy, I had to go see my family doctor for antibiotic to stop it. I won’t able to do that while in Atlanta.

    Coronavirus: Virginia number is half of that of Atlanta (Georgia). It has come down a bit but the number is like last time when I went to Atlanta (on July 1). Riskwise should be the same as last time.

    How do I feel? Not stressed. I felt I have to do it, like an obligation. So I will face all kind of ‘adversities’ and get worked up, and interfere with many other people (coworkers) to have this trip done. The truth is its not. This is a pleasure trip.

    On a happy note…for me at least, is when I get back I will start the next wild thing. We will run across the world! (virtually). I am really looking forward to that. For a week (3 weeks actually) I thought no one would want to run with me, but I found 9 random people yesterday (well not me, they found me) and we are doing it! We are running as a team, and we need 10 people because that was a requirement. They are from all over the places, some from Texas, Florida, England, etc. I couldn’t keep track of all their names.

  • Day342 wait for no one

    Time waits for no one. The weekend came and gone. I’m glad for it to have happened even though it was not something I planned and in fact I view most of family time as time away from training and that to me is bad! I was almost not there most of the time and that was kind of sad.

    I’m seemed as an ungrateful brat. It has been years since I took a trip with my family that of which is not running related.

    A lesson to be learned is to be still and enjoy the time to be with one’s own family!

    The time with your love ones are definitely precious and would not come again a second time.

    The trip was as perfect as it can get in term of time and location. I was just winding down a long series of training (GVRAT and GSER). As far as not being in convenience this is it. Location was not too far and not too near either.

    It was not the most beautiful place to go to but I would give 7/10 in term of pretty. All natural places are wonderful. I love having the campsite right by the lake and we could swim at any time. The water was warm and the lake is fresh (not swampy nor filled with mosquitoes). The sunset was nice. I caught the golden hour…one night and trees became golden, and the lake reflected the trees. Boom, we were immediately transposed to paradise.

    I think with any place, as long as the heart is at rest, you can see some amazing things. Sorry I didn’t take any photos.

    One night I watched the stars. It is beyond what words can describe of the stars out in the country side. We saw Jupiter. It was a good day to wind down.

    I have been running as much as I can during the day time (trying to still reach for GVRAT 1270 miles finish, so over the weekend I had to do 100 miles to reach thay goal. So all my waking hours was set for running.

    I ran a lot during the trip but nowhere near 100 miles, Total was around 50 miles. Also Friday and today I did not run much. More on that later. Basically I was only around during Breakfasts, Lunch, and Dinner. After the first day of putting in 33 miles I had blisters on my toes. One of them became infected. I am still limping from it. My mileage on subsequent days felt dramatically.

    The place was not the runner friendly place because the camp was tiny. All the roads in the camp only added up 0.4 miles. There were no trails.

    I ran out from the camp to civilization (Hwy 58) on the first day. That was about 3.5 miles. I spent the afternoon exploring all the parks and roads in area and that came up to about 30 miles. All roads are like single lane in the city undivided (meaning with no median or line) and also no pull off shoulder. If I run, I have to be on road. Yes it was very dangerous with cars flying by at 45 or more and it is about a foot from you! First day I was not scared but subsequent days it got to me.

    The second day was Sunday. We had a virtual Sunday Church worship (watched a video online). Then I spent the rest of the morning with the kids and to swim. After lunch I explored the forest there.

    This was an Corps of Enginneers Wildlife Management Area. I can see no one really go in there.

    The afternoon was hot and humid. I walked the first six miles, unable to get myself to run. My foot was hurting from pounding the pavement, and a bad blister festering on a toe (I didn’t know at the time). The body refused to move… Only after six miles it was able to run. Once it started moving, I enjoyed that tremendously. It was cooler by then. Evening was setting and I was rushing to get back for dinner. I did only 13 miles on the second day.

    The third day. I woke up with itchy feet. I actually couldn’t sleep much the night of. We had better weather too. The first night was stormy and water leaked into the tent (my fault of not setting it up properly).

    The second night I slept like a baby. The third night was hot and humid. I had my tent cover off, but still too hot to sleep. It was the itchiness that kept me awake.

    In the morning I checked my foot. Yup I got poison ivy somewhere during the weekend, probably in the Wildlife Management Area. I did crawl into some dense bushes and I saw some three-leave plants. Or there were times I stepped off the road into the shoulder and might have stepped into some poison ivy plants. Any way, the rest of the trip was very uncomfortable.

    The sun, humidity, itchiness, some mosquito bites, bad blisters, and poison ivy made my day.

    The whole trip was kind of weird in a way. There is definitely a lesson to be learned, like what if I didn’t run but have stayed in the camp and enjoyed like the rest? Then there would be no poison ivy?

    My mom said what if I just stayed at home wouldn’t I have my 100 miles then? Who know, it could have been worse.

    Time (or opportunity) comes and will be gone forever. While I went to the camp half-heartedly, there were some bright moments during the trip. My brother-in-law mentioned the trip to his team at work while on the way to camp but his whole team from work showed up too (uninvited) but it was quite fun. They liked him a lot (I guessed being almost six months only meeting online) and finally able to get together in person. Yes the 6-feet social distance is out the window. Spontanousness is what make a moment memorable. We made a lot of memories (we/they made a faux-pas, because they ‘partied’ allnight way after the 10 pm curfew hour, to the whole camp annoyance). There were no loud music though, just a guy refused to sleep due to the storm and just talking throughout the night. He set off his car alarm by accident too in the middle of the night. I had some good beer and food from them. The camp was supposed to be family friendly (meaning no alcohols)! It was a trip I won’t forget. The park probably won’t let us back though.

  • Day341 reality

    I have to accept the reality that to run back across Tennessee (virtually) within two weeks is out of reach for me in my condition.

    I had the ambitious goal of doing 250 miles this week and another 250 miles the next. I have ‘slowly’ trying to bring my miles up from 5 miles to 30 miles. My body still prefers running 5 miles. Beyond the 5 miles it bonkers. So I splitted my run into two. 5 miles during lunch and 15 miles in the evening. Doing 5 miles are great. 15 miles not so great.

    After 4 nights of running 15 miles, yesterday, the body relented. I walked most of the 15 miles.

    It reminded me back at the time I was in Atlanta when I was trying to run a hundred miles. It came to a point where the body can’t run any more and running is no longer fun. I felt I was 10 miles away from my home and couldn’t get back.

    I had blisters on my feet. I don’t mind the pain or the discomfort. It is just all my muscles are so tight. I don’t think I could squeeze any more out of it.

    Also I am suspecting my cardio has taken a hit. Last year I had Lyme disease and I know how that feel. I felt something similar. My performance is really poor. At least I am not yet fainting. Last year when I overexerted I fainted. I am also questioning whether I might contracted the corona virus. It is a respitory disease. My breathing is fine, just couldn’t run. Maybe it is really over exertion.

    Anyway for the GRVAT. I am at mile 901 and I need to get to mile 1270 to be considered ‘finished’. I have about 10 days left to do it. I could try to get mile 1000, there is an award for that. 10 miles each day is doable. 370 miles is too much to ask of.

    Weekend is here. Originally, I planned to put in 100 miles, 50 on Saturday and 50 on Sunday. Now scratch that plan. The body just couldn’t handle it.

    This weekend I will go down to Virginia Border to Buffalo State Park for a family camping trip. I don’t have children of my own, but I will join my brother-in-law and he will bring his wife and kids. My mom will be there too.

    Personally this kind of camping is not my kind of thing. I don’t like sitting around at a camp with nothing to do. There are the kids. I rather be hiking all day (or run) and only get to camp when we can’t go on further. Survival kind of camping is what I like.

    My mom will like it. It is her kind of camping. We don’t do it often enough. As I was growing up, money was tight and going camping was not our family thing. I really didn’t get on the camping stuff until a few years ago when I started running and discovered this whole world.

    My mom and brother-in-law though took the kids out for camping a few times every years. As for me, I think this is the first time joining them.

    Any way, it will be like a party. Indeed, my niece I think is turning 5 today, so we will celebrate her birthday at the camp. My mom’s birthday too is over this weekend. Obligatory I have to show up 🙂

    I know the kids will enjoy the trip. They are leaving for the camp today. I have work and so will join them tomorrow. Still debating if I should drive down after work…I’m afraid I might fall asleep behind the wheel.

  • Day340 desires

    Sometimes I don’t know what to write because after 339 entries, what I want to say might likely have been said before. It seems I am repeating the same thing.

    I had an amazing run. I never ever had a bad run. It is so much cooler now. I started to split my run because trying to do 20 miles in one short is still too much for me to handle. Splitting it into a 5 mile run at lunch plus a longer run at night was not too bad.

    Yes, I have to give up my lunch hour for the run. My schedule got rearranged a bit. Then though I have twice the joy.

    Noon run was a bit hotter at around 86 degree. But the time was short. One hour and I am done. Originally I wanted only to go for 3 miles so I would have a bit time left for lunch, but I got into the rhythm, and ran more than I should.

    Night run was much cooler. The temperature was around 70 degree. It was peaceful. I enjoyed being out in the neighborhood. I so love fall running.

    An interesting observation is if running is so good, why I don’t do it more enough. I wish I could run 24/7. But realize that running was not my full time. I was thinking what drive me out to run three to four hours each day.

    My answer is I get to think on spirituality. Usually one or two verses from the bible came to mind. I like to think on messages my pastor shared at the last meeting.

    Last night was on desire.

    You, God, are my God, earnestly I seek you; I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you, in a dry and parched land where there is no water.
    Psalms 63:1 NIV

    I won’t call my running my god/idol. There is though a deep longing. Because of the longing I go for a run. After the run, I seem to be satisfied.

    Physiologically, it is endorphine and other chemicals mixing in my brain. However, I like to believe there is a deeper connection to nature and even something deeper, i.e., supernatural.

    This is kind of run I like. Yes, I like doing the mindless training too and running just so I can run faster. Last night I was able to cut my half marathon time by 10 minutes (2:40), that was cool. However, I like that quiet time, my mind could flow to and “meditate” on the metaphysical and deeper things.

  • Day339 fifth day

    I think I am getting a hang of it now after five days of running. Might be sixth? Who is counting? I started some time last week. I know I want that finish of 500 miles by end of August. I know how many miles to run each day and I am very much behind. So I started running.

    In the beginning, I was only able to put out about 5 miles and then upped a bit to 8 and then 11. Friday I didn’t run. Saturday and Sunday I added a bit more 13, then 14 and today 15.

    I do wish to push out 20-30 miles a day in order to reach that 500 miles. Right now I have 450 miles left. Which mean 250 miles this week and 250 next week.

    Today while running, I had a plan. Run 150 miles during week and 100 miles during the weekend. Each day I try to do 15 miles during the evening run. 5 miles during the morning run. See I can do it. 20×5 = 100.

    I’m still short 75 miles. I will see how I fit that in. I might have to take Monday, August 31 off to fit that in. It will be very hard.

    My body has hurt less than before. I run a bit better now. I could do 6 miles without stopping and I got my half marathon time (13.1 miles) down from 3 hours to 2:50. There is still much to go. Hopefully I can get back to running 13 or even 20 miles without stopping.