In awe

Category: life

  • Day405

    I’m still savoring the run at the Rocky Raccoon. I was disoriented during the race and immediately afterward of putting together much coherent thoughts. Time flies.

    My sleep pattern is out of wack too. I did not get much sleep beforehand. There was no sleep during the race. And I slept a lot afterward when I finished (in the afternoon time). So after I got back to the east coast, for the past few days, I have been going to bed around 8 ish, and woke up a little past midnight. Usually I only need 4-5 hours of sleep. Then stayed awake for the rest of the night. It is out of wack.

    How is my body recovering? It has been better than if from a marathon. I felt slight sore but nothing major. I haven’t run for the past few days not because I couldn’t but because just trying to catch back up with life.

    Also going to bed early was in conflict with my normal night time running.

    Healthwise, I have been taking it easy. I know my body immune system is weaken after a long run so I let it recover on its own. I did not feel in top shape. At night after dark for the past few days, I just couldn’t stand the cold. Going to bed early help.

    There is the concern of catching Covid. I plan to get tested either at the end of this week or early next week. When you are on higher alert every little thing changed to your body spooks you. I don’t feel strong. My muscle aches; I felt cold; my throat kind of hurt; I had slight dizziness. Did I imagine it? Were these the effects from the run or am I getting sick?

    I have been staying low. No running for three days. Trying to find the new normal.

    One thing I found very perculiar during the run is my back hurt. Duh. No I mean my upper back – more like the shoulderblade areas, especially my right side. At first I thought because I run with the pack. Then I don’t have the pack on. I think my muscle there is weak. You can see some runners with their backs hunch over. I felt like that. It takes a lot of strength to keep the body upright. I definitely have to do something about that before the next race.

    What after this? I have to start training for the Laurel Highlands. I think it is harder than Rocky Raccoon because of the elevation. Rocky Raccoon has only 1000-2000 ft gain. Laurel Highlands, I am guessing 10000-20000 ft. Also the trail is not as forgiving as the Rocky Raccoon. I hiked on there and I know.

    oh, counting battle scars, I think from Rocky Raccoon, I had couple minor blisters, not worth mentioning. The strategy of switching shoes every 20 miles worked. My biggest “battle scar” I think is I might lose a toe nail. I kicked a rock or branch early in the race because a pair of shoes has very thin layer up front for toe protection. I think it is a gym/walking shoes. See, I am happy after this long race, I am still relatively well all around. I am more than pleased.

  • Day403 update

    I’m still here. Just have been goofing off on twitch. I wish I can tell you all the weird stuffs I found there. I mostly watch music streams though, but a lot of IRL chats (in real life) are quite entertaining. I watched like 8 hours of a guy biking in Japan (Robcdee). If you want to waste time go on stream. It is not just for gamers. anyway…

    Just want to let my readers/followers (twitch uses followers) know that in about 30 hours I will be going to Texas. I am excited and pumped.

    Yes it is for a race/run. A 100 miler. The race will last around 30-32 hours. If I run it under 30 hours I can have my name entered in a drawing for the Western States, which is like the crown race for Ultras.

    I have semi packed my suitcase. It is a bummer because I hate packing. I want to bring everything and half of my stuffs do not fit. I will have to repack it tomorrow night. Now I just chill and go to bed.

    I booked my hotel and car rental today. Yes the trip is on unless for any last minute change, which I don’t expect any. I handed off the stuff needed to do at work. Anything should be taken care of. As I know this trip is a go.

    One last thing is food. I will figure that part out once I land. Orignally I wanted to shop here and bring what I need there so I don’t have to go to the supermarket to reduce the risk of exposure of the coronavirus. It cant’t be help.

    Also I will be staying Houston instead at the race location, figuring first it is cheaper and second, everything is more readily available in Houston. The airport is nearer and some good restaurants too.

    The race site though is an hour away, so I will probably get up at 3 in the morning. Race is at 7 but check in is at 5. Then it is 30 hours.

    I hope there will be phone signal so I can update the world my progress during the race. If it is not available, then people just have to wait until next week when I am back.

  • Day402 dream

    I dreamed last night with many loud noises. I was not in a thunderstorm but it sounded like I was. There were a lot of loud rumbling. Very loud sounds. I was on the verge of waking up but I was not yet there. I wanted to make sense of the sounds hoping to see some pattern in them and wanted to sleep more.

    I did see a lot of blinding flashes but they were not lightning. There were no shape or pattern, just white flashes filled my vision. It was not all dark, but I couldn’t see anything. After a while, everything was quiet and very dark and I woke up.

    Does it correlate to what I was doing during the day? I listened to a lot of music channels on twitch last couple weeks and it might have been sensory overloaded.

    Trip: Yup weird dream. Unrelated, but it affected me deeply that the trip to Texas might have be scraped and it might be what prompted the dream. I need a covid test within 3 days before boarding the plane. I would need another test before flying back. I will get tested, but it is another added uncertainty in my travel plan – like what if I got stuck in Texas for couple weeks? What would I do? I don’t mind not being able to fly out but not able to come back is another thing. Anyone in the Houston area able to take me in for couple weeks if I get stuck?

    Or plan B drive 22+ hours down there and back? Anyone up for a long drive? Plan C is don’t go.

    correction: testing is only required for international travelers, so I will be fine for going to Houston. It is still recommended to be tested before boarding the plane though for everyone safety

  • Day401 goofing off

    I found something that is better than yt. It’s tw!!

    why tw? Because you could instantly interact with the performers as they perform.

    Been spending 24 hr on it. Not sure why watching people singing and goofing off on camera for hours is so addicting.

    Some good ones though (those who called themselves professionally/classically trained) are not getting the view they should be getting but the goofey ones got tons of views

    I guess if people like good music they would go to a performance, but for some lightheart entertainment the web would do

    I found myself some streamers to follow. The coronavirus pandemic has pushed the gig economy to the web. Too bad there is no livestreaming runners on tw.

    Oh I did some running this week, so it was not all goofing off with watching vods.

    Why gamers change the term vid to vod? cooler I think. probably a vod means unedited. I know it stands for video on demand.

  • Day400 last review of 2020? (and into 21.1)

    I have been waiting for this day forever. Readers as you might notice the pattern that I have slow down my posting. It was a bit intentional on my part. I have been soft inting.

    I have mentioned many posts ago maybe around November that I was tilting… It became a hard tilt. I messed up big time. (gamer term). It might be even gg. (game over)

    I didn’t have much interest in running since. I usually only blog when I run — that just what I do. I find lot of energy and passion when I run, but when I don’t run my creativity is just not there. I stopped running that much for the last three or four weeks, so fewer blogs were posted. It was a hard tilt I am telling you. (gamer term)

    So here it is Day 400: A summary/highlight of the past 50+ days.

    You can check Day 350 for comparison. (love the search function and finally my day numbering is able to pull up the entry fast instead of scrolling to it).

    See my Day 396 for the review of the year. I will try to avoid doing the same thing. Same for the Top 10 pop-offs. If you have been following, there is not much new here.

    There were a lot going on as well as also not much going on. So ya hard to explain. I don’t write much about my down time. Winter is my down time because I am too lazy to run in the cold.

    Let focus on what I was hyped first. The biggest run I did was the Seneca/Stone Mill run. This has been mentioned in a few posts already. Looking back, it was not that scary at all. Fifty-miles is still a lot with Stone Mill being my second attempt at 50 but it came out to be a piece of cake. I was freaking out before the race, feeling I was under-prepared and was stressing about the hills and all. I only specifically trained for it the two/three weeks leading up. However, I ended the race feeling pretty strong. There were a bit of “weak” or low points during the event, but my strength came back every time. I saw people left and right were peeling away after the first 20 miler…but I kept getting a second wind and a third to out sustained them. The race was safely in the bag. Hey, I was not first or second or anywhere near the front pack, but I felt I won the race. It was just an awesome experience. Yo man, I wish I could run like that all the time.

    The next race after was the Devil Dog. I was hyped to be able to get an entry. It is one of highly sought after in our area. DC area does not have ultras. This one is it besides Seneca. This year they limited the number of participants. But I got myself an entry. It was just a 50k, but I might say, this was harder than Stone Mill. I enjoyed the challenge. There was grit and all the grind to get the race to the finish. I highly recommend this for those who love slugging it out. This was the race. Their real distance is a 100 miler, so some day I got to attempt the real thing, but the 50k gave me a feel for it the Devil Dog it was.

    Gettysburg was a fun one. A marathon. I think was the only fall marathon I did. It was short, fun, picturesque. I went up to Pennsylvania one early chilly morning to do it. Duh, the famous Gettysburg. I did not have much memory of the event. It was small, peaceful, and a successful run. I love running marathons. This was one of them. I have done so many, so this one was one of the low-keys (not that it was not good, but I had so many super good ones, and a normal marathon seems to be normal-boring and does not stand out). It might be the last ever because the race organizer told us they won’t be able to get the permit for us to run in the national park any more (I think also neighbors didn’t like us running on their roads too). That is the rule for most/all national parks, i.e, no organized sport event. So I kind of feel fortunate to be able to have done it. Last time of running through the hallow ground. They said they will try to still have the race next year but without going through the park. I still would recommend people to do it.

    I also had many spectacular personal runs besides races. Signal Knob was one. I ran on Bull Run Trail. And Waterfall Mountain. Spent many weekends on the Senecca Trail. You guys just have to go back to read them. I am kind of lazy in linking them or to tell you why they were great. I think they were memorable because they had to do with slugging it out. A run might seem super hard at first, but in the end, I did it. Overcame!

    I did some group runs with the Virginia Happy Trail people (VDM1/VDM2). Rock N the Knob was good too. Well that was a race. It had the social vibe. As well as hard. I love hard runs.

    All these might not make any sense now to me since there was a big gap in time. I tried to think of I had learned, maybe something profound in this period, such as did I grow in my running?

    Runners struggle too. I try to think what motivate us to get out on a cold and nasty day to run? And usually by ourselves for a long extended time. Sometimes when everything click it does not need that much motivation at all. But there were times even when the weather is pleasant, I can’t seem to push myself out of the door.

    I call that the big tilt of 2020. I seem to gloss over what went wrong. One was after getting a speeding ticket, I didn’t want to drive out to the country side any more. I felt I was being (unfairly) picked on and there was just a fear it would happen again. This fall I had switched from running on the road to running on trails, and when the trail was not available, there was very little incentive for me to run. I have been staying in the last 3-4 weeks.

    A Second problem I had was with time management. If you want to do something you had to do it quick and early or else other things would be unendingly get in the way.

    And if you want to do something, you have to do one thing a day and only one thing. This should be my philosophy.

    However, I started sliding when I tell myself there is still much time left in the day. Yet time flies! I felt cheated each time I look at the watch and it shows like 5 minutes to the hour. Reason is my mind divides the hour into 100 units instead of 60. However, 50 minutes is not halfway, however, my brain thinks 50 is halfway. Before I knew it, hours go by and daylight becomes night and when it is dark outside I don’t feel like running. We only have about 8 hours of daylight. My mind always think we have 24 hours or at least 12. Noo, only usually got 8. And useable hours is usually only 2 or 3 hours “personal time”. So unless I run, those hours can easily disappear, Even on weekends! No especially on the weekend. Don’t you feel weekends are always so packed?

    Hence, only should try to do one thing and one thing only. And Start early! TL;TR

    Also, usually by the time it gets dark, I also get hungry. By the time I cook, and eat and clean up, it would be time for bed. Every day I went through that same cycle and was unable to get myself out the door for a run. A big tilt! Yes, if I have a schedule,…, and follow…, then I wouldn’t waste time. Still I think motivation has something to do with it. A bog word but very hard to pin down. Where is my motivation?

    I have been seeking that passion to re-ignite the flame in me. So that once I run, I don’t ever want to stop. I know I have it, but hard to bring it to the table sometimes.

    Outake? My Raccoon 100 is coming up in a few weeks. Yes I need to get hype up and so do my prep.

    Hope this post isn’t too long. Next post (Day 450) will be about the raccoon race and where I’ll go from there. Maybe more on motivation stuff. Until then PIZZAA (peace-z-out)

    p.s. see, it is Saturday here my time, but instead of writing what I’ll be doing today as I usually would, I was reflecting…see more tilting on the way

  • Day399 Flex

    those who served, vienna Fairfax

    Not trying to make any statement…just something I saw on my run

    Why is the flag flown at half staff? anyone? Is it because of last week? “insurrection?”

    Short blog today… my sister said my blog is always too long.

    Learned a new web thing today. TL;DR

    I thought it was a typo people put on their blog. I used to code in html right, and I thought sometimes the code accidentally got leak to the page.

    Oh, it means don’t read any further (Too long don’t/didn’t read)

    Got a new pair of shoes…hope to try them this weekend. to break them in

    Brooks…Cascadia – Black with orange strips

    Meta: yes another filler post

  • Day398

    This won’t be a full blog, just some thoughts.

    I was looking into microblogging but not the popular ones.

    I joined discord last year, when I wanted to listen a live stream of a translator of a web novel I was following. It is a cool piece of software.

    I thought it was an open souce. I am a big friend of linux and stuff where anybody can come and code. Sadly it is not. It is the next big thing though. If the company goes public, I might invest in it. Keep an eye on this.

    Anyway, discord is an amazing concept. It is a bridge between a traditional social media and the “new” easier, voice chat.

    I was looking something like that but is open source. I didn’t find anything close.

    I used to use identica before it changed to pump. It is still available but that seems to be dying.

    I was not a big friend of diaspora. I installed that before but couldn’t keep that running. Also that project seems to be at a deadend.

    Friendica looks ugly and I never really fall in love with it.

    I just found mastodon. This seems to be viable.

    I am not too into irc, so discord is not my thing. Microblogging, I am warming up to the idea. Mastodon seems to be my thing… I just need a server to run it.

    Somewhat relating. I used to use ikiwiki to blog. Oh how time has changed.

    why this post? A filler 🙂 I need to get to Day400

    update: I gave into the big corps. I started twitter at the end of year

  • Day396 looking back

    It is a new year and some years I really looked forward to doing New Year Resolutions but the last couple years I have been lazy/avoiding them.

    Maybe because it is facing the reality that they are so hard to do! There are easy stuffs but then there are impossible dreams I want and well they end up being impossible.

    2019 was the year I acually sat down and wrote out a bit of resolutions and I have on and off referred back to them last year. I might have grown out of them this year.

    Not in any particular order. About eating well…I finally stopped eating out much. I used to ate out 2/3 times of all my meal (yes even breakfast sometimes). Now it is usually only once meal a week. I could do better. Not about eating out, but about my choices. I am still eating a lot of processed food. I need to get on fresh fruits/vegetable diet. 2019 was the year I had high cholesterol count in my body. It is probably still high. (I avoided having a physical last year, but can I deny the reality this year?) This is proven to lead to an early death from cardio-pulmonary disease unless I do something about it. I am considered the high risk population with family history of this disease. I refused to go on medication at the time. I said I had to look into it, such as rhe risk of medication side effects (liver damage) versus risk of the disease. The brief medical survey I did, then to favor medication path. Well two years now, I think I need to make a decision soon.

    I was led to thinking about this after coming across statistics on mortality. Life expectancy is 78 for people in the US. Men are a few years lower and women are a few years higher.

    Retirement age is between 65-67. Some are retiring a few years earlier. I am still have quite to go before retirement. However, time flows fast. I was just thinking a few years ago I started running. How many more years can I do it. I have been filling up my schedule for next couple years with races. Of course I hope to run all fifty states in the US. I have done 7 so far.

    I am rushing to reach my life goal before I am weaken. Sure there are people who are still physically strong into their 50s and 60s. I hope I will still be strong but I am a person who don’t count my chickens before they hatch. I am trying to do as much as I can while I still have the strength.

    One of my resolutions in 2019 was to buy a bike. At this moment in life, I can finally could afford one. Money has been tight for the last two years. Spending money on a “good” bike was out of the question. I was at the lowest fund at beginning of 2020 and now I have more than I ever had. Sure I could afford a bike or two. Getting a new bike is no longer the priority. With more money saved, means more new goals.

    I wanted to go on a trip this year, like some where far, like Sydney. This is not new per se but now it it moved from impossible to possible. I was there in Sydney maybe 10 years ago. Amazing how time has flied. I wanted to go back this time to run a marathon. Sydney is not the only place. I wrote about Ireland/Vietnam/Hong Kong too are my list of choices. Doing all is impossible but to do one is very likely. Not this year though (my race schedule is nearly full). Winter Olympic in China is not too far away on the horizon (not to run but to see). I might go there. I haven’t finalized the plan yet. These are just ideas.

    On my bucket list is to do the Rim-to-rim-to-rim (R2R2R) of the Grand Canyon. I visited this place back in 2018 and 2019. This morning I looked at it again and finally it is feasible. In 2019 it was a dream at the time. The trail across and back is only 50 miles. I can do it in a day, not a problem after I ran multiple 50 milers. I plan to see if I can get two or three other people in doing this with me either next year or the year after. Yes, I am no longer fearful of running a 50 miler.

    Friends. I made couple friends along the way in 2019 and 2020. I am not a popular person. I mostly kept to myself. But 2020 has been great. Friendship happened in accident. In school and work too right, you do social mixers and all, but mostly friendship or people met are usually on a superficial level. It is quite hard to met good friends. I don’t even know how to think about this…people without other agendas. I love my running friends. Given I am a runner, hence running friends, but that is not always true. Runners too have their own what-evers. I mentioned a few races I did – how in our areas people are usually quiet, possibly from their position in the government, that they are not too forthcoming in mixing with people or as friendly. I considered blessed to have couple of good friends made in 2020.

    Lastly, camping/outdoor trips. I didn’t fare much. I did in 2019 and 2020 went to camping at least once by myself. 2020 was not a legit camping trip because I slept inside my truck (Wild Oak trip) – was too tired to hike to site to camp after a 50+ miles run. I consider this goal unmet. I did planned couple trips by myself – the WTF trip and the Bull Run Occoquan trip. I enjoyed it. They were challenging. I wrote about it in couple entries back.

    For 2021 I haven’t set any resolution yet. It is likely a redo of 2020. Most of my runs are redos, that is, instead of virtual runs I hope to run in-person races. But if I think of any resolution, I will write them down, so 2021 won’t be a lost year. Boys we are going to run it back! Yes one resolution is definitely camping – say go to West Virginia and camp. Worlds End trip is a high possibility too.

    There will be another looking back entry once I reach Day 400, whether it will be in a few days or in a week, we will see.

  • Day393 Waterfall mountain

    I finally made it to the Waterfall mountain, a place I mentioned a few weeks back (WTF). It was really a WTF WTH kind of trip.

    Actually this Christmas break, I got to do two of trails I wanted to do after what seemed to be a long break. One was the Waterfall mountain (WTF) and the other was the Bull Run Occoquan trail.

    I ran the Bull Run Occoquan last weekend. It took me longer to do it than I thought. I intended to run 31-ish mile (50k) on it, but in the end, I didn’t make it to even halfway, Maybe like 7 miles before turning around. The trail was mostly flat and muddy with only redeeming feature was some hills near Hemlock Overlook. Going to Hemlock Overlook brought back childhood memory. It was a special fieldtrip where you can do some rope work (tree climbing/zip line etc) and team building challenges. I enjoyed to have a “real” trail so close to home. I should have or I might have written about my adventure. Anyway, I don’t remember.

    Waterfall Mountain was my this week adventure. I might have been there before for a camping trip. It is in or part of the Massanutten Mountain. Massanutten is always muddy and wet. But the cold weather made the trail slick. Waterfall Mountain was dry though. I didn’t see any waterfall. It could be that the trail went around the mountain rather than climbing it.

    It is also a 50K course, but I only did half of it due to a later start and also the weather being below freezing, and also my physical fitness seemed to be lacking, and plus my thought was in another place.

    I had a bad day that day. As I was heading to the trail I was pulled over by the police for speeding of 17 miles over the limit. I was angry about it because I pretty sure I didn’t speed (I kept within 5 miles over is the most I ever do). I had my eyes on the spedometer the whole time. Also I saw the police tailing me for about two miles before I was being pulled over. Then I was pulled over and the officer told me he did it because I was speeding. No I did not argue with him. He seemed to be angry at me, at least that was my impression. Anyway, that made my day. He asked why I was going so fast and where I was heading and if the car belong to me. I think he got the wrong person. Anyway, I got a speeding ticket.

    I got to the trailhead. It was a big lot but only two cars were there because it was a very cold day to be out hiking. The temperature was 24F. It stayed pretty much there and might have gotten up to 30 by late afternoon. I was freezing most of the time (I took off one of my shirt – when running it would be just right, but while walking, I would be freezing, and I did not want to put on and put off my shirt all the time, so I preferred being cold).

    But I had to do it. It has been a while since I was on a real trail. I love trails. This year, we did not go camping, at least I did not. I have meant to go by myself a few times but have not worked up the courage yet. So going to the Waterfall Mountain was like my first baby step. I had to read and study the trail notes and looked at the map ahead of time. I considered that part successful.

    Now it was a blur but if anyone wants the trailnotes they are available on Virginia Happy Trail Running club site (under WTF). The notes were quite good and I relied on it.

    I only did the first half (15 miles) plus 4 miles of getting lost.

    I hiked most of it and ran a portion on some easier parts. Because it was so cold, most of the trail was iced over. It was slick. My own water tube was frozen (yes I forgot to push the water down the tube after drinking and it was frozen solid). Luckily, I had a handheld bottle and that was not frozen. Then I put the tube inside my shirt next to my body and the ice melted. It was one of the things that went wrong.

    Most of the day I was “tilted” in that I could not get my head off of being pulled over by the police. So I was not paying a close attention to the trails and a few times I went off trail or missed a turn. The worse error was one when I missed the turn and had to backtrack and I became disoriented and did not recognize the trail I was backtracking on. So I had to run back and forth about three/four times over the same stretch and finally was able to convince myself which direction was the correct way. I was within three miles from my car too then and I could actually heard cars going by but I was so confused as which way was the right way to go in order to get out.

    I was not scared of being in the woods. The worse case was staying over night there. I did not have my tent on me but it would not have been a life threatening situation. I had enough clothes on me, as well as water and food. I knew eventually I would be able to get out. The question was more like when. I prefer to be out by sunset rather than after dark. First of all, it is easier to find way in the day time than at night. I did make it out a little after sunset while there was just enough light left.

    Another memorable moment was on certain part of the trail, I had to go into the stream (well the trail became a stream). I don’t exactly know why since normally people who make the trail normally would diverge water away from the trail. But I had this trail that the water was running down on it – yes trail errosion. I had to step into the water. On a warmer day, I wouldn’t mind. After that section, my pant legs were frozen from the water and the cold. I did not realize this until I got back to the car when I took off my shoes. I had two ring shackles around my ankles.

    I then hightailed out of there because I have been wanting to be back at my house since the morning. If not for the pullover I would have enjoyed the trip much more. Yet it was a lesson learnt.

  • Day392 slow news cycle cont.

    There is just not a lot is going on with me as twenty-twenty comes to a close.

    We had our first snow this winter. Last week was warm with the temperature up around 60s and this week was freezing cold in the 30s. The snow came but did not stay the next day. I am so jealous as my friend in West Virginia posted nice snowy scenery of their trails. I wish I have snowshoes and join them.

    I hate myself for not running when the weather is nice and only run when it is unbearable outside.

    I have not done a lot of running the last two weeks. I ran maybe only two days. Last weekend I didn’t run … after written up such a nice plan (day391) but in the end, I did not execute it. Often times I don’t like planning ahead like that because once it didn’t happen it is a big let down. I knew it too at the time of writing it up. What happened? I think I was paralyzed with too many choices.

    In gaming term – I am tilting toward losing the game. I did FF (forfeit) the game last week. I need to get back into my running.

    What I have been doing instead of running was watching youtube. Dang it is so addicting.

    Definitely tilting/inting. I am part of a team running event (running around the world). We are closed to finishing Region 2. Yet I can’t able to bring myself to run these days to finish up the region. We are about 400 miles away. I could have chopped that to 300 or even 200 if I have not been tilting.

    I read somewhere that people have a tendency to self-sabotage when they are about to succeed. I think I have that problem (they call it inting in gaming, that is, intentionally losing the game because they are tilting so badly).

    As you can tell I have been watching a lot of videos of people playing video games on youtube. Somehow I found that entertaining. I myself don’t play (no computer).

    I was also hoping to finish the journal for this year, that is reaching day 400 entry, and close it with a summary. Yet it might not happen. I don’t want to write every day just for the sake of ending the year.

    For me 2020 has not even started…I felt still so much left to do. There is something to look forward to for 2021. It will mostly a repeat of 2020. My runs will be the same. I am still training and executing the same plan (for the Laurel Highlands race and Graysons Highland too). One thing different is I have the Rocky Raccoon race in February. My first 100 days will be a bit different because of that. I will start off with a much stronger season than in 2020.

    I am happy 2020 turned out the way it did. There was no way I was ready for those big races I planned for 2020 and the pandemic gave me an extra year to prepare for them.

    10 more days left for 2020…hmm what should I do? That is what I have been up to. Oh my Garmin watch said I ran 2090 miles this year. I reached and passed my goal of running 2020 miles. This I think is more than my last three years combined, and I think in part thank to the pandemic. I am trying to run a few miles more. I might double this number next year…(not a promise), but might able to.

    oh on other news, I am so much better this year than last year, in term of money. Last year I was on the brink of bankruptcy and it was like for two weeks I couldn’t buy food. My boss didn’t fund the 401k (retirement plan) this year … but it didn’t affect me because I increased my own contribution. Cashflow-wise, I probably never been richer in my entire life. I think again thank to the pandemic, my expenses were cut (no more metro rides, and no more eating out, and no more races and traveling, and no more going out). I also didn’t have to buy any new running shoes (no races). I didn’t cut my second phone or gym membership even though I no longer use either of them, this could have save me another thousand of dollars. What am I going do with the money? I can buy my air ticket to Houston for the Rocky Raccoon (and pay for a Covid test if the race requires one). Sorry, first world problem.

    If I don’t get to write another entry before the new year – I wish ya a merry Xmas and happy new year.

    P.S. Amnesia. I thought I wrote about the Occoquan adventure, but somehow did not. See Post 393 on Occoquan and the Waterfall Run.