In awe

Category: life

  • Day308 weekend

    Nothing in mind of what I will post. It is weekend. The race GVRAT is kind* of over. I didn’t run last night, but truly enjoying the night off.

    I did my shopping for food and restocked the fridge with some basic stuff. Really wished I would have brought a bottle of Coke :). No I just brought the boring stuff like bread and more cornbread. I don’t even like eating them. For some reason, there was a craving when I saw them. There was not much I want to get afterward. I checked the meat section, prices were normal, nothing were on sale, so I didn’t buy.

    After dinner I went to bed early…maybe around 9 pm. First time of having dinner at a normal time. I was too full to run afterward, but I was debating though. I slept like the next 10 hours, didn’t know when I felt asleep – I just did with all my clothes on. The body just crashed, I guess. I could have ran this morning when I woke up. The body is already feeling much better. I am ready for a good long run this weekend, though nothing is planned.

    I was thinking of heading to Blacksburg, which is like 5-6 hours away to do a memorial run. Last year, while running in the Eastern Divide Trail Run Race a runner died (I didn’t see it happened but I was the last guy who came to his body before the EMT hauled him away) and the race director had marked the course for anyone (for last weekend and this weekend) who wants to go out there to do a run in honor of the guy. There is a bit of memory I want leave for the guy/myself as a closure. However, it is a bit far…the course is only 8 miles. I was more looking into to run the full course 28-30 miles (50K) I did last year. So I am on the fence about this 8 mile thing.

    It will be just myself if I go. I still think it is a neat thing to do. It will take the whole day. 6 hours there, 2 hours for the running, and another 6 hours back. Technically, I can do it. My friend was thinking I might shelter / backpack on AT for the night – which is not a bad idea. However, that is just a lot of work. Do one thing and do it well…

    That is on the list. Weatherwise, looks like we will have rain the next 7 days.

    GVRAT* – I woke up this morning, and got the email link for signing up the next leg of the Tennessee Race. I knew it was coming. I duly signed up and paid the fee for another go. So I am heading back across Tennessee in the next two months (virtually). So, here we go again! This time my enthusiasm is much subdued.

    People were asking when will this race ever gonna end. The answer is never and whenever. Laz, the race director, is having the race across the US continent in the work. It might debut in January. He said 4 months thing with the Tennessee is kind of short. We should do it for a year. Not so sure about that.

    I’m going to sleep some more and then get up and put in the run. (grrr, do have to go to work before the run). Let’s go.

  • Day305 recharged

    I felt a bit better after a day of rest. I didn’t want to take a break but I couldn’t squeeze any more out of my body. It just stopped performing.

    Last weekend was the lowest miles I have done since April. Every weekend I want to go out to put up 50-60 miles. The past weekend I only had 14 miles.

    On Sunday I didn’t want to run at all. I did want to but my body was not moving. I tried and after a mile couldn’t pick up any pace I came back home.

    Last night, it felt great to be back out running. I was in my strides much of the run. I felt tired after 13 miles but still I could pull myself together for the last three miles and made it home, that when I know I still have it in me. 16 ish mile is kind of short for a test.

    I have been eating meat like a vampire sucking blood. I would like red meat. Not getting enough from food might be the cause of my low energy. I haven’t had much meat due to higher prices, but I brought a pound of ground pork after my trip and totally devoured it during lunch…yike it was supposed to last for a week! But my run was great last night, that made me feel less guilty.

    The trip to Atlanta is on. I committed. I know I committed after signing up the race, but I have been on the fence on choosing the date to go. Ideally I like to go toward the end of the summer, but I also don’t like the heat. Even now, it is crazy hot down there. I picked the July 4 weekend. The flight is booked and hotel too. My two weeks indecisiveness costed me two hundred dollars more for the trip, because my flight has become more expensive — no it is very expensive. I could fly across the nation at that price; hate it, but I don’t have much time to watch the price with only couple weeks left. It would be too risky. Also I looked at the stops of many cheaper fares requiring a stop to Fort Worth, TX before continue on to Atlanta – that’s crazy. I want to go to Atlanta directly. I guess we don’t have a lot of short hops low budget airlines in the US as in Chile. Enough ranting.

    My map is on its way. I will soon study the turn by turn for the race. 34 hours of worth of turns is a lot to commit to memory. The next step after that is choosing the start time. I probably will choose the traditional 5 AM start. I have until 3 pm the next day to finish.

    Also I decided not to upgrade my watch. I would like a watch that can last more than 35 hours on normal gps, but there are not a lot of choices out there. The price tag is just heavy for me at this point. Watch, flight, hotel, my trip is over a grand. So I stick with my current garmin, which could last for around 12 hours with everything but gps turn off. I just have to bring a charger along and charge it midrun.

    Also I hope my body won’t fail on me like last weekend.

    Two more weeks to get my body together.

  • Day304 feeling defeated

    I am feeling a bit deflated. Maybe it is just a natural progression after a long weekend trip.

    I drove up to PA to meet with couple guys who were running a section of the Laurel Highlands Trail. None of the people in my group was running the whole thing that day but after I got home, I saw on Facebook some other people did do it, the whole 70.5 miles.

    The 8 mile section we did was tough. We only did it once when originally we (mostly me) wanted to do it twice and at night with very little of sleep (in a delirious state).

    The run was harder than I anticipated. I hiked the trail before and I thought I have improved a lot since then and I could take on running it. How hard can that be? It was hard.

    I ran with couple hard core ultra guys. Those guys didn’t even sweat and I was out of breath the first mile. Then came the climb. They could run uphill but I could only run downhill. I got a blister on one of my toes from it. Dang it. Later on at the last three miles I rolled my ankle. Did it twice. Run was over for me. What a disappointing end, as I hobbled back to the car.

    One of the guys, he was the fastest in our group, and the guy who invited me to run with him, shared about his DNF (Failed to finish) of his last race at the Black Forest Ultra. He said he tried his best and still could not make it to the last cut off time. He was over by a minute. He shared how he was in a funk since then.

    That kind of put things in perspective for me. I don’t want to fail in a race. This guy I thought he is my idol and fast and there is a race out there, and he couldn’t make it. The race he failed was also one I wanted to do.

    I am trying to find the motivation in me to run. My past weekend trip helped me to see how much more I must train to get ready for the real thing. The weekend was like a practice run and my wheel came off. The real race will be taken place sometimes in September – the race date hasn’t been set yet due to the coronavirus.

  • Day302 crawling

    The day is crawling by.

    I was caught in the rain last night. I got my move back and ran 10 miles. It started raining at mile 5 and I had to head back. I checked the forecast then and it was showing the heaven is going open up. So I took shelter in the bus station and double check how long it would last. It was showing going last until midnight. I told myself, I am not sleeping in a bus station, I am heading home.

    So dashed into the rain and ran as fast as I could. Luckily the rain was not as heavy as forecasted. After a mile or two the rain was gone and I arrived home. The heavy downpour didn’t start until midnight.

    Thursday and weekend starts tomorrow. My camping trip is canceled. I am itching now to go to PA to do the 70 mile run on Laurel Highlands Hiking Trail (LHHT). Couple runners might do it but no one has committed. I don’t have a crew and it will be tough to take on. 22 hours to get from one end to the next. For me the problem is what to do once I reach the end. There is no signal to hail an uber and I will be 70 miles from my car and no town nearby. Jonestown is a bit away, if I must, then got to hike to the nearest town in the middle of the night.

    I haven’t thought it through.

    Or I stay local and run my 70 miles here. Or drive down to Tennessee border and do my long run there.

    My GVRAT race has less than 90 miles to go. Then I would finish the 1000k challenge. Hoping for another 10 or 15 miles to knock off some of those miles.

  • Day300 review 20.8

    A last minute change of plan, I do have a post for today, which I have written back in March but decided to keep it a little longer until I reach Day 365, because it makes more sense that way, since it is a yearly summary. For this quarter though, it will just a normal summary.

    So bear with me. A review is usually take me more time to write because I have to go back the last fifty posts and glean some insights or find something interesting to retell again. I am doing this for myself as well as for some people (my real life friends) who only stop by every so often and they want to know what the scope with my life. This will give them everything. I bookmark (under bookmarks) this page so they can easily find it as well as other monthly/quarterly summaries there. The last quarter summary is given here.

    This quarter was relatively quiet since we were all sheltered at home due to the coronavirus pandemic. All my races were canceled, including the one coming this Saturday, which I have been training crazy since returning from Chile in December. I didn’t take any trip since. I was working from home and each day was like the next, very alone, and always the same. There was no different between weekend and weekdays – except during the week I worked. We all put in long hours. In the beginning it was hard adjusting to working from home. The normal coworkers/manager interaction was gone. Now I have to manage my own projects and tasks and usually couldn’t finish them within the 8-5 time frame. Everyone hours were all over the place. The day starts at 7 for some and finishes around 8-9 at night, with meals in between. There were very little communication among us except for work. My assistant started out sending me daily hello and then she totally went silent after two weeks. I guess I am not very popular person. The truth comes out – or they too were experiencing the same, ready to kill their annoying family. I am not offended. So be it. We have Zoom, but everyone is exhausted from that. I do it for church and my running group, so it was really fatigue.

    My work manager called me from time to time though and usually it is not about my work — he treats me like his friend – we talked about investment and everything. Mostly he does the talking. I love phone calls. Millenials hate it, hence the ‘silent treatment’ from them. Those are who I work with. I got into investing because of him. We were playing the market like crazy during this pandemic – he said so himself, it was very risky and he admitted that it was no longer sound investing but gambling. We lost big time after the first week, he stayed out of it now but I gambled on the airlines, and burned by that. Not blaming him on that, he usually gives good tips, airline was totally on me. I did it after reading the millenials were betting on cruises to make a killing when they are bellying up, so I went for the airlines. anyway… my sadness 🙂

    One good thing / bad thing came out from this period, depending on the perspective, was I had to cook my own meals because all the restaurants were closed/ and I was too afraid to go get food from them when they reopened up. I ate healthier.

    As the result, I saved ton of money. There were no races to sign up, no eating out, and no trip to go. I didn’t order things online because there were no trips to go. I only buy stuff for my running or backpacking. No trip means no shopping. Money only comes in and no where to spend it on except the normal “fixed” expenses like housing and car payment. Oh, my transportation cost dropped to near zero. Is not life great!

    It was sucks though. I was going crazy really and experiencing depression, lack of motivation, and a bit maniac side too – can be seen in my running, since I live myself. It was like being in prison, yet knowing I have the key to the cell. There was nothing to do! I have two other roommates but they left the during this period. My running was not going anywhere. There was very little motivation to run since there was no race to train for — for me it is like why study if there won’t be a test?

    I did couple virtual races. The results were not good. The course around my neighborhood sucks – since it is not a real race – cars don’t stop for you. I just not running my heart out. There was no aid station, so I had to either bring my own snacks or buy them on the way, which eat (pun) into my time.

    Some people ask me what are virtual races. They are canceled races but like a consolation prize given. The race director usually do not give refund since most of the money from race registration are usually spent way ahead before the actual race (such as paying insurance, staff salary, shirts, medals, sometimes race food, site reservation, price money sometimes in term of gift certificates, and usually very little is left over by race day). So the reason they put up so call virtual races where you run on your own at a place you choose, and you report the time and they will record it and send you a shirt and a medal. There won’t be first/second/third place award for this kind of races since it is nearly impossible to certify the course/truthfullness of the timekeeper. Virtual race is just a fun event for us runners, yay.

    However, some people recognize the truth and think it is a scam and raise hell to the race director (my Shipyard Marathon was like that, 9/10 of people were unhappy about doing a virtual). They were such a whinner. True, with one complaint was that the RD was slow in communicate until very late whereas all other races were already canceling way ahead of time. The Roanoke RD were almost at tears explaining why the race had to be canceled. I got my shirts for these races, and I should take a picture of them! They were memorable moments of 2020.

    Though I have lived at my place (about 10 years) for a long time, this coronas virus, forced me for the first time to run around my neighborhood. Over the three months I got to know the area better. Not just my immediate neighborhood but the whole region as well. For the locals who know the geography, I went all the way north to Reston, and all the way south to Springfield, and all the way East…to Fairfax Circle (exaggerated, halfway only, but last night I ran all the way to Arlington, but the run report has not been written yet). I explored the nearby places, going into all the trails such as Cub Run, Chantilly along Walney Road, and to Fairfax County Government Center. Only direction I have not done is running to the west.

    I did couple marathons, a 50k, 50 miler, and a 100k. Here are reports: Maine Coast Marathon, Roanoke Marathon, DC Rock n Roll Marathon (I didn’t report it though, so no medal and shirt), 50k run, and a 100k run.

    Finally in May I was reenergized after invited to run the great virtual race across Tennessee (GVRAT). It is 1000k and we have until August 31 to finish. It seems to be a challenge because I don’t even know if I could do it. 1000k seems too big a number to comprehend. Yet I signed up and each morning or night I would be out on the road running. I never run this much even if I were training for a race. This Virtual Tennessee race brought me to a new level in my training and understanding (this will go into another post), “so this is what the big boys do”. I will write a race report once I am done.

    I had a lot of time on my hand during this period and wrote up this little bit of post, freshing out what I really want in life. It is not a resolution or a mission statement, or a vision, but it is a step closer, a dream. It is what is in my heart.

    That is it. No idea how to bring it to a close. Can you imagine, half a year is gone? I am still chasing my resolution. I know I have to do better the second half to bring this year to a good conclusion. So much have happened in our nation (protesting, and the virus), many want this year to be done already. I need to focus. What is my goal and how to achieve it.

  • Day298 The Peak

    I am so happy after what 3 months of staying at home, I am finally back on the trail. Indeed happy trail.

    I guess I could always go by myself. The park is always open. Some do if you know where to go. Shenandoah was going to stay open until too many people misused it and it was forced to be closed during the pandemic. It think there were also some politic strong arming against the park officials.

    But we are reopened now. Our state went into stage 2. I think there is a stage 3 too. Our local area is still in stage 1 since we just entered it last week, unlike the rest of the state. They have been in Stage 1 I think for almost a month.

    So we were back on the trail. The side trails,(trails at park boundary are still closed. So we had to drive on the skyline drive to get to our trail.

    I went to bed early after finishing my shopping. However I could not get up at 4am in the morning to do the run. I didn’t leave my place until 6. I still got to the trail couple hours before everyone. I ran about 6 miles on my own.

    I put in about 20 miles today mostly hiking, but we did get in 4-5 miles of running too. I am kind of tired now, Vegging on the lazy boy, writing this post. I could run long miles but hiking is something else. I feel so sleepy right now. I wish I can have a full body massage.

    I got a hug from my lady hike leader…what about coronavirus 😮? I was like hold on, I need to think about this. This is the second time she hugged me. Maybe for surviving the shelter in place this past three months. And it was the first time seeing each other since the Chile trip back in December. The first time I was hugged was like three years ago when we did our first backpacking trip. Not going to read too much into it. I was surprised that was all, since I am not a feely touchy person, but she is.

    My first real hike as in 2017 and also after the corona-covid19 here. Called The Peak and not the mall. Yes malls in our area reopened last weekend. Instead going to the mall we hike the Peak

    I love this loop hike since it was really the first hike that got me into the wilderness thing and loving outdoors. Old Rag hike doesn’t count. We did the Anything But Old Rag in 2017 before this one, that could count as my first hike. But the Peak not the Mall, was a hike I saw my first bear literally face to face with one and there was no where to turn and the hike also literally broke me, because it was so hard (now it is like what I do that each day before breakfast). Well it is still draining but not that I need to bed rest afterward for the next two months.

    The Peak is the name of a nearby mountain called the Peak. I actually have not climbed up there. They don’t recommend people doing it because of the erosion / to prevent further erosion of the trail. Also the trail up on the Peak is no longer maintained and people will need to have serious bushwacking skill to do it otherwise you can get very lost out there.

    My friend also mentioned about next weekend backpacking…I haven’t decided on that trip yet. I do miss backpacking but kind of want to go to Pennsylvania to do that 70 mile run. Will saved it for another post.

    I was going to do a random Friday post or Friday fav post… but a hiking post is fine. Also I need to post something to get to Day 300. Just one more filler post I’ll be there. Hope you enjoy! 🙂

  • Day296 holding pattern

    I’m still in a holding pattern, being lazy to do anything on everything.

    Next Next Friday is supposed to be my June race in Pennsylvania, which was already canceled, but I plan to go and run the trail any way. It is supposed to be very hard.

    Yet, I have done zero planning. Where will I sleep and when will I sleep. How long will I run. Where will I get food. The whole 70.5 miles trail is in the woods far from any stores, so only way is to stash supplies along the route. Water and food. More importantly water. I have done absolutely zero on thinking it through.

    I signed up also for the Atlanta race. I know, I need to buy a map and sit down and draw out turn by turn and have it memorized. Yet , I am sitting on my butt. If I am driving down to Atlanta, I should think about the scheduling. 10 hours going down and 34 hours running. I need 2-5 hours resting. Then 10 hours back. 60 total hours of required operation time over a four days weekend. Plus have to build in 8-10 hours of sleep. Not sure if I can pull it off. Yes, need to think things through. 60 hours is 2 and half day. Technically it is doable. Ya you don’t want me to be on the road driving a 10 hour trip back after 3 days with very little sleep. A recipe for disaster. I was thinking about flying … but possibly corona infection is a concern.

    I like doing things and thinking of the big picture, but when planning for the operational stuff, I get paralyzed and indecisive. Simple decision like plane or drive…is taking me two days thinking about it and still no solution. Ya, I know, best if not go at all.

    Third trip. I wanted to head down to Tennessee to finish my GVRAT race. I have 200 more miles to go. I think I can run the final 100 miles over a weekend. Yet I am paralyzed with when to do it. The thing stopping me is I don’t want to do it myself. The drive would be long 6-7 hours, one way. Run a 100 mile and drive back 6-7 hours. 50 hours operation. Not including sleep. Need minimum three days to do it. Technically, could leave work a little early on Friday, and do a long drive. Start the run at very early on Saturday, Will finish by noon on Sunday and make the long drive back before midnight. Very tight schedule and also very little sleep. 2-3 hours on Friday. And lucky if 2-3 hours before the drive back on Sunday if I finish the run early. Wish I can get a friend to do the driving for me.

    Prepping for a self support run is a lot of work. You have to think way ahead of where you will be at any given moment, to plan for contingency – bail out points, support points. Emergency and stuffs, but I’m so lazy of doing the homework.

    Tennesee trip would be a go if I have it on the 3rd weekend of June. This is planning. I need to set a go-no go poll.

    Anyway. My hiking buddy is asking if I am free the second weekend of June for some backpacking. I miss backpacking. Yet I want to do the running too. She found another guy to do the hike with, so my interest in it wane a bit. I know the guy. Not jealous or anything, but it was more like ‘a polite or formality’ in asking me, and like I was expected to decline the invitation. I am in a holding pattern. I wanted to go, but didn’t give my yes. Any way, I should do the PA trip myself since it was ‘planned’ since who knows when.

    I wish I am more decisive. If it were not for the pandemic, I would have all my weekends planned out…with this race and that race and I hardly have to decide on anything. They all fall into place.

  • Day295 fillers

    There will be probably a bunch of fillers from here on out to Day 300 because I just need to fill up the gap and there is not much going on.

    I guess those in the US all focusing on the civil unrest taking place. I have not much to comment on it other than I need to watch out for my own safety. I have been feeling safe in my neighborhood, as you readers know, I take long runs that sometimes last whole day 8-12 hours or longer. My usual daily run now typically last 3 hours, doing somewhere between 12-20 miles. I run from both sunrise to sunset and to late hours into the night.

    I have been feeling pretty safe. But now I have to watchout for myself. People don’t care if I am a runner. I might get caught in bad situation. Also law enforcement might not care if I am just a passerby, I might get identify as one of the rioters. I have seen even a CNN reporter was arrested on TV for doing nothing, but reporting the situation.

    I haven’t been out to DC at all. I have heard protest been going on for 5 days and police trying to clear the people out.

    Our president was trying to gather the troop as a show of force, but seems to fail spectacularly. Virginia has refused to send their national guards for the task. This is unheard of. I have never seen chain-of-command being failed to honor. The commander is chief is calling his troop and his soldiers refuse to obey. This is unheard of. I see a lot of politic going on. Virginia governor doesn’t see the protest in the capital a threat to the nation survival.

    But any way, I said my piece. I think we as a nation is comical to the world.

    Tonight run was one of my best run. I put in 18 miles. I was light. The first mile/first step always was hard for me. Before I went out I felt very sleepy and I laid on the sofa and slept until past 7 pm. Normally I go at 6. Maybe the nap help. I was an energizer bunny and was out on the road until 11 something. That is 4 hours!

    I feel very awake now. I could probably run another 3-4 more hours out there.

    During the run, my mind was mostly on the protest. I read many different things. Racial tension is not something new in this country. It relatively new for me. I remember growing up hearing about the Rodney King’s incident. Subsequently other similar stuff took place, and many more occurents in recent times. Charlottesville incident was something closer to home for me. All this was crazy to process.

    I thought back to my trip in Chile. There the protests were much more frequent (daily) and much worse. They had the popular support. Everyone would bring out their pot and pan and started banging.

    I don’t see we here will get to that level soon. This time there are a lot of popular support but it is not at anarchy state like Chile.

    I see America is changing. The constant theme of the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. This is so much more true today than when I grew up. I have seen reports supporting this. Real wages stagnant while expenses and cost of living go up. We have people now working two jobs and still could barely make end meet. At one point it reach a breaking point and society will unravel like in Chile.

    Today, I was talking with my manager at work. He was telling me how in China they don’t have credit card. People can only spend what they have. They now switch to digital currency similar to bitcoin. He said we can’t have something like that here because it would kill all credit cards. Our economy would collapse without credit in the system. But then it is matter of time – like inevitably we would switch to a digital currency. He said that is a scary thought.

    I don’t know what to think about that but he is right on one thing that we as a society rely heavily on the availability of credit.

    That’s it for now. I will think of something to write tomorrow.

  • Day293 Checking in

    I joked with a coworker sometimes saying I woke up on the wrong side of the bed. A joke because I am an early riser and I do well early in the morning than late at night. More importantly I don’t always sleep on a bed. Sofa or floor would do for me. I love hearing her retorts to me, saying I don’t sleep on a bed.

    My body usually automatically bounces up the next morning. Do I ever get tired the first thing in the morning?

    For me, I need coffee at night and not in the morning.

    Today though, I feel like I woke up on the wrong side of the bed. Just feel tired and groggy, but I can’t sleep any more. I slept in a bed last night though.

    I am out of food too. Need to go to the store later. What I really want is a big steak dinner, but meat rarely goes on sale now. There are rumors of meat and fresh fruits shortage possible because the workers are infected with the coronavirus and cannot work. I need something deep fried. mmh.

    I went for my first Chinese takeout on Thursday, for General Tso Chicken, deep fried. Yummy. I had a craving of it for almost three months since the coronavirus started.

    Another coworker said I am being unreasonable (racist) of avoiding Asian stores all this time. I said you can never be too careful, indicating without proof that the virus is more prevalent in the Asian community. I wish I can reason with her that it is not that the virus is discriminating, but that social factors are creating that the poorer and the ethnic minorities are ones bearing the blunt of this pandemic (including those who work in a chinese take-out). Always it is difficult to talk to this lady. She always thinks I just argumentive. I only do it with her, because she is my match. She is Chinese Asian and she can’t stand me and she felt very offended by my statement. She countered that Asian community are the first ones to have their masks on in public. I don’t talk about this though with others. Just trying to act according to what I think is safe. So now I think the virus is spreading more widely…there is no point in avoiding take-outs any more. Just be safe and well mask.

    Related to food, I learned something new with food and running. I have done couple of long races and each time I tried to eat my own body weight of food during the race. That is a reason I still have my love handles in spite of all the running I have been doing. But I read a comment from a race director saying too much food would hamper a runner’s performance.

    The lightbulb lit up for me. I have been eating too much on my run. They say, the pro eat just a tiny bit only enough to sustain for the moment. This way you could still run at your maximum speed without fatigue setting in.

    This is so true. I need to readjust my fueling strategy. I need to carry just enough fuel to get me through to the end. Ultra people is pushing their body to the limit by how little they carry on their runs. I am not at that level yet and there is so much to learn.

    I don’t feel like writing today, but I did it, here for just checking in.

  • Day288 weekend joy

    [old post] originally written on 2019 Veteran’s weekend

    It was a wild weekend and I was still running high on adrenaline just thinking about it. I spent 12 hours in the car to do an eight hour marathon. I spent eight hours running before, and even 10. What tired me was not the race, but everything surround it, either before or immediately after. I overpacked my weekend, as always.

    If it was the usual running, I wouldn’t have been so exhausted. It was too three other camping trips or outdoors events in one weekend, plus the cold weather, that really got to me.

    Thursday, I came home past midnight and was franctically packing for the trip. Why I always leave things to the last minute? I don’t know. I had many things to pack.

    I intended to do a bike ride on the race course on Friday, which mean I had to hit the road at dawn to get myself down to the course around noon. Fortunately, I didn’t wake uo in time on Friday and didn’t leave my house until 11. I brought my bike any way. It took up all the backseat section of my truck. Luckily, I did not try biking because it was way too dangerous. I am not a pro to do downhill biking with such steepness they have there at Kairos resort.

    Then I had to pack for Friday night cold camping. I brought the usual stuffs, tents, sleeping bags (two of them), fleece blanket, pillow, toiletry kit, food, cooking kit, fire kit, safety/med/first aid/injury kit, water and filter, flashlight and batteries, camp shoes, and hiking boots, and lot of thick hiking socks. Cold weather gear – wind breaker, wool layer, a base layer, long johns, spandex underwears, head cover, gloves (two kinds, inserts), and more socks (for sleeping). Then duffle bags. You got to waterproof them even if no rain was forecasted. I got together four or five bags. Yes it was overkilled. Oh, let not forget my stuff animal. I love my cat! It served as a good pillow.

    Then of course the big event, the race itself. You got of think of clothing for pre-race, race, and post race. Pre-race was a fleece jacket over a long sleaves and a short sleeves. I had tights on. I ran with my camp boots with two layers socks. I had two buffs on, one over my head and one around my neck. I had my racing glasses and a heavy trucker cap. For hydration pack, instead of being minimalist, I had a 20L hiking daypack. It held my phone (which I forgot in the tent), my thick wallet, my Sawyer water filter but forgot the sawyer water bag. My set of keys. I carried a wool long sleeves, and a clean shirt to wear at the end of the race. Two bottles one with half filled with Gatorade, the other empty to be filled at water station because this race was cupless. I also carried an empty hydration pack (2L). Keeping all the things needed for the race was not fun.

    During the race I stripped down to only one layer and the rest of stuffs went into my day pack. After the race, I pulled out a clean set from my pack and bundled up. I know I could have left everything at the starting line (because starting and finish line was at the same place) or use the dropbag and left them at an aid station. Silly me to carry everything on me. I don’t think though that was a reason it took me an hour longer to run the 50k.

    Ah, I placed in my truck also four pairs of running shoes. In the end I did not wear any of them. The hiking boots did it all. They are now very muddy. Surprised to me some finished with very clean shoes. I am just sloppy I guess.

    Don’t forget the food. I brought lot of them, both for pre-race dinner and breakfast. I did my shopping on the way. Unfortunately, I did not pack the food to eat during the race. I brought a lot of food too for after the race meal. You have to eat a lot to add back the calories lost during the race. I did not eat that much though and brought all the food back home. I did not have an appetite after the race!

    Saturday night camping was an optional challenge. I could have driven six hours home that night. I would have arrived around midnight or a little after. However, I had a habit of sleeping immediately after a long workout, so driving the long distance home would have been a very bad idea. Or I could have stayed at a motel/hotel along the way. Spending money for such luxury and I did not want to when there was the ‘free’ /low cost camping available. My campsite was only $15 with race discount (about a price for my meal).

    The other option was to go camping at a place nearby. Jefferson Forest is just down the street (still about 30-45 mins away) and Salem, which is where I wanted to do my hiking (the Triple Crown). I thought about going there and hiking about 10 miles into camp. So, I packed a separate bag for all the light weight gear for this second trip. Fortunately, the plan didn’t pan out. I stayed the second night at the race course venue. It was all by myself then since everyone else had left and I got to unwind on a dark and cold night (moon was up). Still being by myself, the night felt darker.

    I had the Saturday night camping as an option was because my friend and I were supposed to go to do the Triple Crown, which is really close to where I was racing. I would have gone there if I knew for certain that my friend was going to be there and that she would be happy to see me.

    However, she said her plan has changed since I was going to do the race and she did not feel like driving six hours to hike by herself. For me too doing it by myself was no fun, knowing she probably was not there. Also even if she were there, we kind of still left on a sour note the Friday morning, so I did not want to run into her not knowing how she would reacted if she saw me. It was a no-no to be out in the middle of no where with someone who doesn’t want to be with you. However, I had all the gear with me and was ready for that trip after my race. I just was not able to will myself to do it. Physically, I know I can do it, but mentally, I was not.

    I had no regret because there was nothing better than to be able to unwind after the long race. I did. I built a fire, both for cooking as well as I had nothing better to do and there were a lot of fallen branches. I sat all night by the fire by myself tending it. This was a big thing, because I was not good at making a fire.

    Then on Sunday morning, I had to leave at the crack of dawn to drive back and to have everything pack up ready to roll out. However, I overslept again! I would have a long drive of about 5-6 hours back home, except I was not going home. So it was not a leisure packing up, but a rushed packing. Just I threw everything into the back of the truck and drove. The morning was beautiful!

    One of my friends wanted to do a day hike in West Virginia at Harper Ferry. It was his birthday and it has been a tradition we started last year to get together. So, I was beating the traffic to get back by 11ish to meet up with him and his other friend.

    I packed a separate bag for this day hike too. I would be simple since at most we would be doing only 5-6 miles. It is a cake walk for me. However, a hike is a hike. I carried the daypack that I ran with on Saturday. The day was warmer, but I had my fleece jacket on. I had hiking pants and boots. My pack was light. I had a fresh shirts and pair of socks.

    The birthday event took whole day, but there was still one more event left — church. I didn’t mind the slow pace stroll. We had a lot of fun catching up. It though caused me to be late for evening church. However, I ended up of not going. I had packed a fresh set of clothes for that event. I had also intended to shower first before going to church. I did not want to smell like I had ran an ultra and spent two days camping and a day hike before arriving at church. In the end I missed the evening church.

    I closed my day with stopping by my mom’s place. This was not planned. However, they don’t care how bad I smell. I found out then everyone there was sick, from the oldest to the youngest. Even the family dog was sick. I stayed a long time, talking and listening to my mom talked.

    This post ended up longer than I wanted to. It was because, man I had an awesome weekend both with the race and time by myself, and with friends and family. I did not end up being with the one I wanted to be with, but it was definitely a worthy trade-off. Sometimes, you can’t have everything.

    [race] https://antin.blog/2019/11/11/epilogue/