In awe

Author: Antin

  • Review 20.7.250* (Quarterly)

    Day 250 / Spring

    It is finally day 250. Thought it couldn’t come soon enough.

    I do a report or review for myself and those who only come read my stuff ever now and then. If you only want to catch up on what I have been doing in the last 3 or 4 months, this should be the entry to read. This page will be bookmarked on the bookmark page.

    If you want to see what going on 5-6 months ago, you can read my previous entry (19.6).

    I am debating between two different approaches, whether to do a strict review of what occurred between now day 200 and now, or do a snapshot of what life is currently like for me of this very moment. I am leaning toward the snapshot and like to digress into free-write. Here we go.

    The reason for doing any of this is to allow me to take a step back and see a bigger picture what my life is like. Sometimes we are focused on the much day to day, that we miss a bigger narative – or the interesting thing that is happening in our life. I hope and want my life to be meaningful. I hope by doing this I am a bit closer to reaching my ideal. I believe life has meaning and we are building on it day by day.

    As I was running tonight (last night now), the covid virus was heavily on my heart, since one of the pastors I know is infected (a good friend too). This stuff is serious. There is a chance the person might day. How that affect me? I might die from the pandemic too. We don’t want to think about that but it is a reality. Am I ready? Am I satisfied with the direction of my life?

    It is easy to say, I am not worry. I have been living out in full. But am I really?

    I can die happy because…of Chile.

    My high point this quarter was trip Chile with my best friend and did the things I only dreamed of twenty years ago (yes, that long). The trip though truly was horrible. I could have gone with a better companion, but it had to be her. She was mad at me the whole time – she had been mad at me for three months beforehand and it all culminated on this trip, where things boiled over – the tipping point as you would call it. Why couldn’t we resolve our differences? Life is strange. People are strange. That was the back current to what was the most unique experience I had. Do I know why she was mad? She told me much later after the trip but to this day, 6 months later, I still don’t get it. Some things are just too hard for me. Sometimes, there is just no solution.

    Yet the trip was also the highest point in my life for many reasons. It was such an unbelievable trip – it was like climbing Mt Everest for me. I didn’t write enough about it. (Patagonia). It is not so much what we did but what we experienced together. Traveling with friends indeed is so different from traveling alone. I am not exaggerating. I hope to do more of it and if the same person if fate allows. It is a hard call if I know what was going to happen beforehand, would I still go? I don’t know.

    Then there was one month (6 weeks) of no activities. I don’t think I wrote much about it. It was one of the worse depression in my life. I really did not train seriously until the end of January (week1). At the time too, my finance situation was near melt down. For the first time in my life, I was wondering if I have enough to pay my bill and where I can get food. I was worry that money wouldn’t come in for my rent and that the check would bounce! However, last three months I have been better at controling of my use of money and finally some breathing room before this coronavirus hit. There were several entries I wrote about no money to sign up for races! That’s big when I had to give up on running in a race.

    Luckily. I did run in one race in Carlsbad, California CarlsbadMarathon. It is a beautiful place. I went there for my cousin’s wedding and was able to do a race the next day. My outlook regarding life improved. During the trip, my friend who I went to Chile with, also called – we finally spoke to each other after 3 months (seriously I didn’t know).

    Most of the time after that was training and more training. I was supposedly to train for a series of ultras and marathons I would be doing starting next week to the beginning of summer (previous race plan). Many of these races won’t be happening any more. The DC Rock-n-Roll and the Blue Ridge Marathon are canceled. It was funny when I planned 5-6 months ou t, no one could imagine it would turn out like this. I did couple overnight training trips for the Laurel race (LH1, LH2, and LH3/4). Both times were in snow. Interesting learning experience.

    Ran my last utra before the corona COVID-19 thing got serious (SenecaCreek). I thought I wrote a report on the race, but didn’t. It was briefly referenced in my weekly run su mmary. I didn’t treat the ultra as a race but more like a weekend long run, hence no race report. Actually, the race was quite good. I should do a serious report on it.

    Finally, I did some planning here and there. Nothing too concrete. I did some ‘preaching’ to myself to motivate me. I think they are fun to read. I usually borrow my pastor’s material. I call them Faith-running, that is to turn my belief and apply them to running. (transformation, thoughts, vision/goals, and resolve )

    Am I on track with my goals? who knows. I wish I have a big master plan. I am more of living from day to day, month to month and year to year. Planning isn’t my strong suit.

    I do try to run a marathon in all fifty states (I have done 8 so far). I am only limited by time and money. I hope too in a few years to run across the US continent (I haven’t written about this). It is a bit ambitious and requires careful planning. I want to hike the whole Appalachian Trail too (thru-hike), and that will be in a few years. My progression into longer and longer races is going on well. I haven’t run a 100 miler yet, and looking to do one either at the end of this year or the next. I have a huge race calendar on a Google spreadsheet and have been ticking off a race here and there. My goal is to do what I can do when I still have strength. It is getting harder each year at my age (true!). Aging is a reality. So I hike, run, and push myself to the max, because someday, I won’t be able to do at the level I can do at the moment.

    What’s next? I hope the coronavirus won’t cause more cancelations of my races. Couple of my races in May an June are on the fence. Of course the Laurel race (70.5 mile race) in June will be my biggest race of the year. The next report will cover it if it ever take place plus some virtual runs I will be doing meanwhile.

    *meta: I changed my numbering system. 20.7.250 means 20 for 2020 the year, 7 is the 7th review since the beginning when I started writing a monthly/quarterly review, and 250 is my date numbering from day 1. It goes from the significant to less significant. The day numbering usually get lost because we are not that good at counting beyond 10. Soon too the number of reviews will get too big to be meaningful. But the year, that is something fun and our brain can zero in.

    Why adding in the date? It makes it looks mysterious. It is like a software version triplet.

  • no dramatic weekend plan

    Day 249

    With each day like the day before of sheltering in place, this would be the first weekend without real clear plan.

    With most races canceled, why bother to train?

    I guess I will still do some running, before that is prohibited. In France, people were not allowed to jog or bike. So, it probably will happen here also if things get worse. It probably will get worse.

    My local area (my county) has only 16 cases as of early morning. We have 5-6 counties in the Washington area (3 counties in VA). Probably adding all up is about 100 cases.

    Still, the rate for my state is increasing. So soon I expect my area to probably reach 1000.

    I got sidetracked. Yes, do what I have to do before we really have to be locked in. Yup there are still some people outside. Restaurants are not banned yet. There are restrictions in place but not banned.

    Traffic on the road is less but not zero.

    Yes, I still semi training to hoping to run some virtual races. The Marathon Maniac have some virtual events! Yes! I am excited. I also want to run the Ronoake race as a virtual race on April 18. It would be 52.4 mile long. More on that when the day get closer.

    That’s all. Sorry for the noise. I wanted to post something so I can get to my 250th post!

  • coronavirus is changing my life around

    Day 248

    I guess I am not the only one affected but many people around the world too.

    In this corner of the world since we had our first case on March 7, things are changing day by day. Our government at various level declared a state of emergency. They always added that not to panic, the declaration was done so they could access special funding from a higher level of government.

    There was a kind of disbelief at first that this is in our city. Then there was the panic. I believe on March 7, I still ran a marathon. I glad the race was held. I know it was a hard decision. If anyone got sick from the race, the media would have been all over it.

    As of last week (Wednesday), our workplace started allowing anyone who wanted to work from home can work remotely. I think 80% of the staff took the offer. I was one of the few who was still going into the officw until they banned the general public from using the subway.

    Then last Friday, the word got out, and there was a mad dash to the mall/grocery stores. By then almost there was no toilet paper available in the whole city. People were stockpiling weird stuffs. I was at Costco thinking to buy their inexpensive rotisserie chicken for lunch. We couldn’t get through the crowd. The check out line was all the way to the back of the store. I left empty ended. I had Costco pizza instead.

    I have been working from home the last two days. I tried to keep the same schedule as if I wad going into work. I got up, showered, dressed. Instead of commuting, I had time for breakfast, a real breakfast and not just a piece of bread I normally stuff in my month as I rush on the road, eating while driving. Nope, now I had a sit down breakfast.

    The day was pretty normal. I worked actually longer hours remotely than when I go in.

    I tried to go for a run after work. I worked until 6 each night. Tonight I had to work a little bit longer. Time seemed go by quicker. I missed the normal office interaction with my coworkers. Yes, it is a bit more quiet at home.

    I was not as tired now, saving time from not having to go in to work is a plus. I could run longer. I had more time! Yesterday I ran about 13 miles in 3 hours. Not a fast pace but it was very enjoyable. Today I did 12 miles in 2:22.

    I have a roomate who works in the food industry. His life is definitely affect by this since no one goes to eatout any more.

    The coronavirus has caused all of us to stay put. In the coming days, it might get worse. I keep on imagining it would be like one of the scary movie like World War Z or Residence Evil. I don’t know. Or maybe I am Legend.

    The last two nights, as I ran around the neighborhood, it seemed like the city empties itself out. It was such an eerie feeling.

    I don’t know how to close this post. Let life goes on.

  • LH3 / LH4 plan

    Day 247

    mileage and campsites of Laurel highlands

    Not even sure if there will be a race but the Laurel #3 over night trip is definitely canceled. I got words that Pennsylvania state parks no longer allow camping for the duration.

    I might still go now my race schedule for April and May has pretty much free up. I might go as a day trip. Like last weekend, I arrived early Saturday morning (1AM) and left in the afternoon.

    LH#3: I have options. But simplest is to camp at RT30, and run from RT 30, covering 10 miles in each direction. Possible date would be April 4. It probably during the peak of the outbreak, so the trip will likely be canceled. I haven’t picked another date yet.

    LH#4: Night run of the last 10-15 miles to the finishing line. Possibly LH#5 if have the chance. Definitely needed. Last weekend, I found I did poorly in the dark. My night time vision is really bad, not sure if it was my head lamp battery was running low, but I couldn’t see the trail. When you can’t see, you can’t run.

    Just toss this out there. I will refine the plan when the day get near. Of course, now I don’t have to worry about camping and lugging that huge pack any more.

  • why I run

    Day 246:

    I need some motivation to get me through this hump.

    I have been floored by many cancelations of events due to the COVID-19. When it is about other people’s races, I didn’t really care but when it is about my race, it’s personal! Last few days one after another, my races are dropping like flies. I can expect not to run in an organized race until mid summer.

    I understand the rationale of the cancelation and if I am the RD I would make the same decision. Yet we are a little selfish. The emotion is still there. I can’t say how upset I am. Yes, I am a spoiled child and want to whine a bit.

    I am having a moment I know why I run and a moment why I don’t know why I am out there. I should run regardless how I feel.

    I started running a little over three years ago when I did the first 10K with my girlfriend. Later that year we signed up for a marathon. Since then I have been wanting to run faster and longer.

    I did not reach my objective to run fast but I have now run much longer than before. Marathons now seem to be easy. I could do a marathon any given weekend if I continue to maintain my fitness level.

    I started to go into the ultra world and in 2019 I did four 50K races. They were so good. I plan to do even longer distances. Now I am no longer worry when I sign up a 50K. I don’t know about 100 mile races yet if I can do them. I do want to try. I might do another 50 mile next year and I might attempt a 100 mile. Devil Dog is pretty attractive to me right now. Grindstone 100 also.

    I run not to race. But racing is the reason I am in training. I should try virtual races many marathons are now offering.

    I don’t know. I need to get my head out the fog and start hitting the pavement again soon.

  • Monday run summary

    day 245

    The week has been distracting to say the least with the coronavirus news. I only had one marathon canceled on me so far but it dealt me a major blow and I haven’t really run much. It shouldn’t affect me emotionally. I know I should run with or without the race, but it really took all the motivation out.

    Monday: rest

    Tuesday: 3.5

    Wednesday: don’t remember. 0 mile

    Thursday: 8. group run canceled

    Friday: 0 traveling

    Saturday: 20 walk/run in 6 hours. Rolled my ankle again and walked mostly the last two hours back to the car

    Sunday: 0. I was a bum, sleeping at home

    total: 31.

  • Laurel #2 review/lesson

    Day 244

    The trip was almost a mirror of the first trip but with better luck. I was able to leave from work on time and with lighter traffic than usual from the COVID-19, I was able to get home within an hour.

    The clock started ticking once I got home. I decided to cook my own food for this trip instead eating the dehydrated meals, because it was just too expensive to buy and with the CoVID scare, there were not any to buy. It was my first time cooking for a trip but nothing scare me. Just do what I got to do is my mentality. I didn’t have pasta so I went with my go to rice with hotdogs and eggs and honey. I brought some nuts too. I will leave the shopping part later – it was insane in our area. A little healthier than my nornmal hiking meal but not by much!

    I still hadn’t pack because I was lazy. really lazy and busy the past several nights. Work situation didn’t help when I had to stay late to make sure everyone could work from home. Couple people less tech inclined people needed more help. Also we had to make sure our company technology infrastructure could handle. Friday was off without a problem. We sent everyone home accept me, my manager and couple of colleagues who wanted to go in.

    All in all, I finally got going around 9:00 pm and I had to fill up my car with petrol. It would be a 3 and half hour driving if I I drive fast, but I was sticking to the speed limit. I ate while on the way. After the meal, around 10-10:30 pm I really needed a nap. I had to stop at a McDonalds to get a coffee. Luckily, they still had some. It didn’t taste too fresh but it got me staying awake. I got to camp around 1 am. Set up and closed my eyes by 1:30. I needed a good rest for the next day.

    The air was cooler than expected. I did not bring my 10deg (F) bag this time but opted for a 32 (F). I had a long sleeves on but was in shorts. 32F didn’t do justice. I had no cap on. I was bordering uncomfortable cold. I woke up couple times trying to shift my postition. It got warmer when the sun came out and I sleep in till 8. It was nice for a change. Normally with camping, you get up when the sun rises. My friend, the drill master was not with me and I could be a bit lazy.

    I woke up and quickly packed and headed out to my car with was about half a mile away. I left my food in the car the night before. It was still cold out and I didn’t warm up my food. Honey over rice and and broiled eggs would be my breakfast and lunch. I wish I brought some avocados but ran out of time.

    Any way, I dropped my hiking pack in the car and swapped for my running sling. I didn’t have my hydration pack but opted for 3 8oz bottles. They were enough. I didn’t pack lunch but carried some candy bars. Off I went and the time was around 9-9:30. I hoped to get back around 3.

    The trail was nice and dry this time. There were some muddy sections but was not as bad as the first time. It was very runable. This time without a 35-40 lb weight on my back, I indeed was running. I was not really flying down the trail but was cautious and also conserving energy for the next day.

    Half way through though, I rolled my ankle – my left again, unlucky I was. So I walked for a few mile. I was thinking now what? I am like 6 miles from the car. Should I head back or press on? I was here to run. What with this limping?

    I pressed on and see how my foot would take it. I got to mile marker 9 before heading back. My orginal goal was to try to get to marker 4-5, but having calculated the time it would take, I wouldn’t be back to my car until 5 or later and I might be caught in the evening rain when I headed for the second camp.

    So I turned around. I got back to the car by 3:30. The temperature had dropped. The moment I entered my car, it started snowing. I didn’t anticpated that. Car was like 10-15 degrees warmer. Still I felt cold. It was too cold to go back out to hike to the second camp. I took out my lunch and ate hoping the snow would lighten up. I was still cold, actually very cold. I decided, I didn’t want a second night out and I rather wished to be back home. It was an easy decision, and to home I went!

    Lessons: gas was cheap in west virginia while pa and md were not. no, lesson #1, was night running was hard. While hiking in I could barely find or see the trail, if not for me having been there before, I would have a hard time. It could be my eye sight was failing. So Laurel #3 and #4 has to be a night run. But day time running was so much better.

    On my way home, I was using the scenic route and I could see every turn perfectly. I drove the same route there on the way in (rt 29 and MD51), and several times I thought I was going over the edge. It was quite scary experience. I did not want a dent in my truck. How different it was. My night time eye vision maybe failing me.

    Top concern for the race is my ankle might not recover in time if I keep on rolling on it. Also I might roll it during the race. The chance is high.

    Have a food bag for the race. When I come into the aid station, I could horde (with moderation) the food into the bag and eat them while on my way.

    It is probably ok to be last on the first 20 miles. Real race start after the 20 mile. Just make sure I don’t get DQ.

    Hopefully coronavirus would not ground my travel in two weeks for Laurel#3. I might defer Raurel#3 until May.

  • Friday almost random thoughts

    Day 243

    I learned a bit more about the coronavirus , COVID-19, yesterday as the situation changed in our community. Last weekend was the first known case in our area. As expected, with each day, more and more cases are being identified.

    My response has been like the rest both with fear and also blowing it off. First I saw lack of response and planning on the official part. They gave news conference and asked people to wash their hands.

    I checked on the statistics myself since I think I am confidence in my math ability though I am not an expert. I saw the curve and all. I saw we are not as bad yet. We (people around me) are lucky compare to some other country.

    Yet I felt we have not done enough. Also I felt it almost as inevitable it going to come and spread here as well. It was only a matter of time. The question on my mind was how dangerous is it and what drastic actions are we taking.

    I saw people started ‘raiding’ their stores and emptying shelves of some day to day items. Toilet paper buying is just hilarious.

    People behavior are funny. Then it hits me. My race at the end of the month is canceled/postponed. Many other races are canceling as well. My workplace sent their employees home. My running group is no longer meeting. Same for church fellowships. Rush hour trains are half-empty. I have a seat to myself and last night I have a whole train car to myself.

    I learned as young healthy man the risk of me dying if contracted with the virus is low. The risk of me contracting os probably moderate since I ride the mass transit and it is hard avoiding crowd.

    But that is not why I shouldn’t take precaution. I can be a germ carrier. I have to wash my hands and practice social distancing. Because this desease is serious for people whose immune system are weaker, such as the older population. It can be devastating.

    gotta go. I didn’t get to my other thoughts.

  • Laurel #2 – planning

    day 242 Weekend plan

    With last week reports out of the way, I am ready for tomorrow. Again apologize for bombarding so many long posts. I am training for the Laurel Highlands Ultra in PA taking place in June. My training plan has been weekend runs locally and test/training runs on location. This coming weekend will be my second attempt going out there. (I blogged about my first training run a month ago, link will be provided if I get to it).

    After the first weekend out on the Laurel Highlands Trail, I have greater confidence that I could run the 70 mile race in June. It won’t be easy but the trail is almost like running on the road in most places (or like the C&O Canal). The hardest part would be the beginning 6-8 miles climb, I think. I already have a general plan how to tackle the race, even without a need of going back out to the trail for more training. I will discuss my strategy after my final trip there in May if chance allowed. COVID-19 might make a mess of thing for my April trip or even my May trip.

    I do plan to keep mostly with my original plan, that is, to go out with three more times. Each time tackling about a 20-mile segment. It would allow me cover most of the trail. The dates for the next several outings are:

    • 3/14/2020 – Laurel #2 – early segment run
    • 4/4/2020 – Laurel #3 – daytime tail end section of the run?
    • 5/16/2020 – Laurel #4 – night time tail end run?

    The second trip, Laurel #2 will be a modified of Laurel #1, since I hardly run on my first trip due to the slippery trail condition and the heavy pack I was carrying. This time, I am dropping my bag at camp#1 and run first then pick up on my way back.

    Friday night: camp at Mile 18 (RT653). hope to arrive before midnight this time.

    Saturday AM: run south out-n-back to Mile 11 (or 7) (total 14-22 miles) (3.5-4 hrs) (8.0a-12p) (or 3pm)

    Saturday PM/Sunday AM: run north out-n-back to Mile 23-ish (8-10 miles)(to Camp Grindle Ridge) (2.5 hrs) (1-3.5 pm)

    Saturday night: camp the 2nd night at Grindle Ridge (mile 23). Ya, I have to figure out how and when to get my pack out to mile 23. Do I do the run first and come back to my car to lug the heavy pack to camp? It is at least 5 miles away from my car. Also , Sunday, how will I get my pack back to my car? Logistic is a bear. I know I wish I have a human mule to carry my things. It would have made the run easier.

    Sunday AM: run Mile -0.5 to mile 7 and back (14-15 miles) (4:20) (8:-12:20) if have time. This is a hard run though. I might swap Saturday with the Sunday run.

    Sunday AM (option #2) run north from Brindle Ridge for about 7 miles out then run back to the car. Again, what do I do with my pack? Do I carry two packs – one for running and one for camping? Do I bring my full camping gear or swap for a UL (extremely light and basically carrying nothing)?

    We will just have to wait and see. Last trip, I basically gave up the run on Sunday because it was so hard lugging the pack.

  • sometimes things just happen

    Day 241 / Seneca Creek 50K report

    Another long post, but I had to get it out. I know, readers can get blog-fatigue. I do. Some readers only read once a month, some once a week. I try to blog when I can. Yes, mostly for myself as a run journal. So here is another run report.

    At church, we have been learning about the providence of God in our study of the book of Esther – how the God of the universe is orchestrating all things to happen the way he wants it to happen to show his care and protection of his chosen people. It takes a leap a faith to believe this because we can’t come to reconcile how each of us can act the way we want to act and still in the end fall into place according to God’s plan. Enough said. For those who believe in the complete sovereignty of God, it is a delight and comfort when we see how things work out seemingly toward a goal.

    On a smaller scale, there are times when I don’t plan things out but what you really wanted would happen and you saw it and said that’s really what I want all along, as if it has been planned.

    And sometimes, no matter how much you plan murphy’s law always ruin the day.

    Last weekend was one like it (the good kind and not the murphy’s law kind). I didn’t really plan for this race. It has been a series of events and making the right decision at the right time and finally it brought to pass and now I looked back and say it was perfectly planned and executed. I couldn’t have done it any better. I was like I woke up in the morning, saw a race on my calendar, ran it, and pleased.

    I was lined up for two races for the weekend. Seneca Creek on Saturday was signed up a bit while ago, maybe after I got accepted to the Laurel Highland race or sometimes in Janurary. The second race was the Reston 10 Miler, which I signed up just couple weeks ago (blogged about it).

    I have forgotten (willfully put out of my mind) the race date until middle of the week of. I knew the weekend is going to be tough one. I have a 31 mile run on Saturday, then a 10 miles run on Sunday, and my own long run training (16 miles) for the weekend.

    Seneca Creek Greenway 50K, is a low frill, low cost, local marathon. It was one of the best races I have done. I just love the local flavor. Everyone, mostly everyone are from the surounding areas. I don’t know anyone really, but I felt we were one big family. I was giddy excited to run with them. I don’t usual get this kind of feeling except for my weekly group run. I met couple people and we talked and laughed, which is why I love it so much.

    There was no corporate branding. It was not like DC Rock n Roll. The course can be challenging. If I haven’t done other ultras in the mountains like in West Virginia or in Roanoke, this race would be considered one of the hardest. The reason being is a lot of local people are ‘road’ marathon runners, it is not easy for them. We living in the city (flat city) don’t get that kind of hills. Seneca Creek though has a fair bit of hills relatively speaking.

    How can I tell of they are road runners? By the things they wear and the way they run. Sometimes it is just ridiculous. Not complaining. An example, the direction clearly said no earphone, yet there were people still listening to whatever they were listening. You only mostly see this behavior with road runners (city people). They must have their music to pump them up. I know don’t judge, because they might have their volume down really low, and they might say they can hear runners coming up behind them. Again I know some trail runners too listen to stuff (but we were taught to only listen with one ear, and leave the other ear free). Any way, I am not complaining…since I can run faster than them and stay far far away. When you throw in hills, I beat the h#* out of them. I am one of the mountain boys. Indeed, too many of them were walking up small hills as if it was a street marathon!

    The course m has about 1,000 ft of total gain. Not a whole lot but enough. Of course now I am a master of hills, having done as much as 7,000 ft on some weekends. 1,000 was just the right amount for me to be able to run at a decent pace. It enjoyed the challenge.

    The course is a bit longer than 50k. My watch recorded 32 miles. Knowing GPS is not that accurate any way, so 1 mile over 31, is about 3%, I would say the watch is within the expected value.

    Here you can also tell who were new to trail marathon. Road runners care a lot of distance and time but trail runners know, in trail race, you never able to get the race to measure to the exact distance. I had race directors calling a 28 miles a 50K. And in Seneca Creek 28 miles is their marathon distance. So for runners coming from road running community, they were shell-shocked.

    About those GPS watches, we think they are highly accurate but they are not. The accuracy is depended how many satellites it can acquire at a given moment and how frequently it is polling. The watch usually extrapolate the distance traveled from two points to give the measurement in between, giving the impression the tracking is live. It is not live, silly. The points in between the polling were estimates and on trail marathon, those hills and switch backs will throw the estimations completely off. Also for GPS to work it needs clearing of space, not under trees or rocks. Best to be on top of a hill. Trees and mountains block and interfere with the GPS signal, and most people didn’t know about this. I came across this problem while trying to aquire GPS indoor (also later outdoor). Also, we think GPS can aquire signal being on the move. The best result is when you are standing still and let it finishes it calculation, which can take a while! Surprise, surprise. I know because I have one of those backpacker handheld GPS unit and it was frustrating to use (because I didn’t understand GPS limitations at the time). Yes, finally, it takes a ‘long’ time to get a GPS reading. Most phones cheated here, they use various other means to get your position (like cell tower signal) so it is not solely GPS but our watches often do not get that fancy phone signal. I said too much. I felt superior to other runners when they said their GPS watch gave this and that mileage as if their watch is the authorative source of information. The best way to measure distance is take a measuring wheel and measure the course (which they do for road marathon, to have the course certified).

    I set my goal to finish between 3:00 – 3:30 pm (race started at 8). So I gave myself 7 – 7.5 hrs. Reason being is I didn’t want to wear out myself since it was supposed to be a long run to get me ready for the race in June. But I actually pushed myself a bit too hard and was worn out around miles 24. I finished in 6.5 hrs (2:30 pm).

    I don’t mind finishing eatlier than expected but in pushing myself, I made a tactical error. Actually was unavoidable. I rolled my left ankle around mile 23/24. I limped a bit then the pain went away and I went back to running. The event might have caused me to sit out for a long while and would have missed other races. So it was very risky. I knew this in the back of my mind. Just don’t get injured, I told myself.

    I thought rolling my left foot was serious but after the race, my right foot hurted more than my left. I must have injured it somewhere during the race. It was unexplainable. I must have been so pumped with adrenaline that I was not aware of the injury until couple hours after the race. Somehow the back of my right heel was hurting, and still hurts even today.

    Oh, on the trail, there is no mileage sign, all mileage is approximate. So at around 26 mile, I got anxious. I know last couple miles from mile 26 to the finish since I was helping out the race last year and scoped the trail. So as I was running, I said, I should be coming up to an area I recognize. It took a while, finally I started recognizing my surrounding.

    The last part of the race was the decision point. This race had a feature that allowed all runners to switch to run a marathon or a 50k at the decision point at mile 27. Those who want to change their mind to do the marathon would take a left and get to the finish area. Those who want to continue doing the 50K would take a right at the decision point and they would run around the lake to get 31 mile.

    I took the trail to the right. The path was familiar to me since I walked on the trail last year, scoping out the place. I never thought about running it then. Funny how things worked out. The lake was beautiful. The weather was perfect. I did not take any photo but the sunshine and the lighting made the lake sparkled in a way as if I was in an enchanted place.

    No time for that. I got to finish the race. I knew I only had a few miles left. I had various expectations as I ran. I said I must cross a bridge here and there. There were three bridges and the last was unexpected. There was a parking area that I must come across. I must cross a road. Then it would be near the finish area. I came across all those places. The last section felt long after crossing the road. A runner told me, I only have a third of a mile left, and that seemed forever. I was glad to know the distance. Then we came to the last hill. I recognized it. Now I don’t remember if I ran up or walked up, but the finish line was just beyond the hill (hidden from view). Once I climbed the hill, I saw the finish line to my left. I splinted to it. The clock showed 6:30. I was thrilled. I did it under 7 hours with lot of time to spare.

    I am a pro at this now. The volunteer recorded my time and took my timing chip. It was one of those you put on your shoes. I spent the race thinking what would be the best way to remove the chip. (cut it). My car was nearby, I went and changed clothes. I could hardly walk at that point. Yup, it seemed only few minutes but time flew. I then went to the bathroom. I have been holding in for the whole race. At mile 26 I was going to use the potty, but someone was in it, so I skipped it. I could also have gone behind a tree, but somehow I did not want to break the momentum of my run, so I held it till crossing the finish. That was a first. 6 1/2 hours of holding it in! Yike!

    I went to the finisher area. We have unlimited food and drinks. I limited myself to one drink, since I still had to drive home. I had a good time. I met couple new people. We talked and hang out for couple hours and it was the best race experience ever.

    Later, once my body (tempersture) recovered, I went back out to cheer until the last runner crossed the finish line.

    For me, this race was not that stressful. I took it as a training run to get me prepare for the one in June. It was trail and I love it. It was not too technical but it had enough hills and distance to make it an ideal training run for the weekend. I did push myself a bit too hard and got injured as the result. Hopefully, I will recover soon from that.

    It is interesting thinking how I got into the race. I think the race wouldn’t have been there if not for some random events. I don’t even recall when I signed up for the race. The several people I met, we were like buddies. I truly enjoyed it. The race was low cost, which was the best reason to run it for me. Less than $40 and it was an ultra, where else can you find such races? Of course there are those fat-ass races, but I have not ran those yet. It was a very good experience for me.

    Sometimes things just happened to give you the best weekend you would remember for a long time!