I pride myself with planning. I usually over plan things.
Things start with a desire or an idea and I would go from there. This could be a vision or mission statement. Then you look at what is feasible. You break the problem down into smaller pieces and go again. Things usually falls in to places.
After my MMT race of last year, I am kind of rudderless. Big races for this year already decided by then. I had lost faith in myself. Could I still run a 100 mile race?
I signed up for the Devil Dog facing a decision whether to do a shorter version of 62 miles (100K) since I haven’t had a successful 100k run yet, or go with the big daddy the 100 miler.
By now looking back, 100 miler was the way to go. I signed up. Many friends came out to support and actively crew me. I did get across the finishing like with time left on the clock.
Rolling with it, I ran the Blackbeard’s Revenge, not having put much practice into it. Four months is too brief a training cycle. I spent the first couple months just to recover from the Devil Dog, then few more weeks of doing fake running of going through the motion, but training grind wasn’t there.
I finished way stronger than coming in and that was a good thing. I can’t afford another two months of down time since MMT of 2023 is a month away, May 19-21. A little over a month. 6 weeks maybe. I have written so much about it.
I did three training runs. The fourth is about to start tonight (by the time this is posted, it might be a week ago when my readers read this). I feel confident I could tackle this race if it is held today.
So the past few days, I have been twirling my thumbs, what should I run next. I already feel MMT is in the bag. I know I should not get ahead of myself before I even set foot on the course. My interest starts to wane. This is one reason I try not to run a race a second time. I feel like I have seen that done that mentality.
Anyway, I admit recently I hate planning. Because it is messy. Over the last three or four blog posts, I am circling around this topic of what I should do next and I always tell myself if I sleep on it, it would become clearer. Nope. I become more forgetful. I don’t remember what decisions I were suppose to make in my sleep! What was I suppose to be sleeping on? Panic.
Anyway, I looked at a few 100 races. New ideas keep forming. This is the messy part of planning when nothing is certain and things keep moving in and out of focus. I hate this. I wish I can say, this is where we are headed and go for it. shoot an azimuth and go.
I looked at the Ohio Burning River 100 and then I came across the midwest grand slam of four other races I can do, and I said to myself can I do a grand slam!? Crazy right? I started googling the places they are held and the time of year they are taking place and also how hard to get in and the sign up procedures. I got to say, they don’t make it easy! Half of the time the webpage assume you are a local and doesn’t give you the 5w and 1h (who, what, when, where, why, and how). The most important question is where and which state is it in! I wish every race would list the state first, like “Virginia – Devil Dog”. (By the say, Devil Dog’s info is spot on, I am only using them as an example, because I don’t want to point a finger at the race I am about to run). Anyway, I am ranting. I did get all my info. I wish they just standardize the five races websites or just make it into one webpage etc.
What am I saying? I am looking for races to run and I keep finding more and more races. Starting with Burning River, I found out about the Indiana 100. Today, youtube recommended me of Georgia Cruel Jewel 100 (106 miles). I also considering C&O Canal 100, Tunnel Hill 100, Daytona 100, Keys 100, Alabama Pihoti 100, Lousiana Red Dirt 100, Virginia Cloud Spitter 100, and Kansas Heartland 125. I would like to do Lake Tahoe too but their pacing (18 hrs for 72 miles) is a bit rough for me. RD mentioned they are willing to work with runners who need an earlier start. I might need 19-20 hours for that race.
As you see, I love to look at things comprehensively and study it in every possible angles. I might end up just throwing a dart and go from there. Cruel Jewel race kind of speaking to me at the moment. I like a hard race but also doable with 48 hours given. Eastern States, I feel I am still out of that league, 36 hours should be able for me, but then I might need 38-40 hours.
This is where I stand at the moment juggling about 8-10 races in my head. I want to do them all but I know, I have to narrow it down to two or three and that is unfortunate. I found I am miserable at making decisions.
I know it is always back to the central question what do I want to get out of it. I have been struggling this one issue since beginning of this year. I read back my several post, yes, I am exploring. More to come in a few months. If readers are lost, so am I.
Indeed many things happened. I selectively chose what to write, with most of the time being race reports. There are a lot more going on than racing! Funny, the things I posted on Facebook that I thought no one would look at attracted a lot of attention this week! It was a picture from my first race this year (Holiday Lake). I only am posting on Facebook once a year. I sneaked in my finishline picture and for couple weeks the algorithm didn’t pick it up. Once it, there were an explosion of comments and likes. To my facebook audiene the event was fresh, but to me and what I wrote on here (WP), that was already old news. There were many things happened in the interim, like the OBX 100, that is many times more significant than the Holiday Lake race. However, that race does have good ‘optic’. It is like fake news, I choose what to spin.
Things also slow down with my life now after the 100 mile is done. I am in a recovery mode. My skins are peeling from the sunburn. They are ugly. I feel like a reptile. Not that they are bad, I just don’t want to look like one.
Blackbeard’s Revenge was an amazing race. I still from time to time think back on it. Like today while out running a severe storm blew in. I could have taken shelter, but as wind whipped up, it reminded me back at the race when we were crossing over the bridge that afternoon. It was exciting facing the headwinds and were only fifty mile in. I like the intensity of the storm. We told ourselves, we had to get the race done. I do miss the race. We did get it done.
It was a relief to get the race out of the way. I was not stressed about it but I am always a bit anxious when there’s a race. OBX was a pretty big race.
I don’t remember what I did the week afterward. It was just resting for the body to recover.
Last weekend, I went to South Mountain (SOBO) in New Jersey, originally to run a marathon. Originally I wanted to find out what SOBO stands for, if it is like FOMO, fear of missing out. It was just a boring accronym. It was a 6 hour timed event. I had an interesting trip. I woke up at 2 am in the middle of the night and drove 4 and half hour almost to New York City. Arrived on a rainy day. The trail was as muddy as it could be. I was slipping and sliding and fell down once. Yes fun. Then drove back while a storm was brewing on I-95. I made some pitstops though. Stops were more fun than the race itself, but that for another story. I packed enough to spend several nights on the mountain.
As for the run, We run on a 3k loop. After the first loop I knew getting the marathon distance would be tough. I would be lucky if I could get 12 loops (36k). A marathon is 42k. So I would need about 14 loops.
I kept at it until halfway having done 7 loops. My hope was to get 8 loops by 3 hour mark so that I have some buffer for the 2nd half since usually my pace would slow down. This would guarantee that I finish with a marathon distance.
However, even with 7 loops, if I kept my pace, 14 loops were possible. Then I saw my friend ahead, and decided to walk with her. It was mostly for her I came. She is an amazing runners. During her “youth” / younger days she broke some women records. The same friend who was suprised I took 12 hours on the Wild Oak Trail while she did it in 7.5 hours at my age. She would be running circles around me if we were the same age. Indeed that day, the lead runner (a female) was running circles around us.
It was my recovery run so there was no need to push for a marathon distance / or do it at a marathon pace. My friend finished the 12th loop by 5.5 hours. We still have 30 minutes left on the clock. I believed going for one more shouldn’t be hard. The RD kind of doubting I could make it back within the time cutoff. I know I could do a loop within 20 minutes. So I went for it and got my 13th loop in. It took me about 16 minutes but not enough time left for the 14th loop.
The race anyway would not have counted as one of the marathons for 50 states completion because there were less than 10 finishers. We only had 8 people started in our event. In order for a race to be counted, we need at least 10 finishers.
It was one of the reasons, I did not push as hard as I could knowing, it did not really count for the record.
I ran a marathon in New Jersey before so I did not need the run for my own 50 states. My friend though still needed New Jersey for hers. I felt bad we did not have enough runners. Originally there were 10 runners but two didn’t show up. I could have bring couple friends to make it a 10 person finishers. Anyway. It was a good run.
This kind of things I get excited. I like the challenges.
I like how things are working out. NJ Trails series, the organizer for the South Mountain Run has been on my watch list because I wanted to run their Watchung winter run. But the last two years, their races have been canceled for various reason.
The past weekend somehow led me to run with them. I found out they also host 6 days at the fair, which is an amazing race/event I want to do in the future. Yes as it sounds, it is a 6 day race! I want to test my mettle to see if I can run all six days (with/without) sleep. I met a guy who did it, and put in a total of 450 miles over 6 days.
Up next, I have a few races/events. This weekend is happy easter – I have a chocolate bunny night run. I will write about it later, if it is interesting. I hope to have some choco bunnies when I finish. I ran it last year. It is a MMT training run #4, The last training run for the MMT race, which I wrote a lot already.
Following week would be the BRR 50. Ya another big race. I did couple training run on this. I assume I will write a full race report on it because I love doing a indepth detailed report.
Then there will my international marathon debut! in Toronto Canada! I haven’t planned much on the race. Only thing is I know I will be driving there. I have not requested days off yet. Hopefully I get everything done. It is a point to point race, so gonna be fine.
I am still on the fence with some races this fall as well as races for next year. Slipping this in, a friend just finished the Georgia Death Race (74 miles), the race registration for next year race is open with 4 spots left. I want to run it, yet not sure if I have the ability. I am getting cold feet.
It is also a point to point course. I don’t want to sign up unless I am sure about it. It is so early to commit for next year! Grrr, I don’t know how many things I have been sleeping on it.
The problem is, too little time, too little money to do everything! Freedom! Having choices is my bane.
By the way, I did my first run in the heat today! Boy, I’m not used to running in the 85 F. It was so hot. However, MMT possibly will be hot during the day and cold during the night!
Got to go for now. I still have many things to say especially about what races to run for the next few years. Ohio Burning River is on my target and the midstate ultras grand slam. I woke up in the middle night thinking why do I have to wait till next year to do it, why can’t I do it this year? Indeed. A lot to think about, even in my sleep I am thinking about races!
Blackbeard’s Revenge already seemed so far away. Tonight RD had a virtual meeting with a few of us who were willing to give feedbacks.
RD was surprised by the amount of negative feedbacks he was getting from some comments runners were leaving on the interweb (though not by us). For a few of us, we could run this race uncrewed and with minimal supports from the aid stations, no improvement is needed. We think everything was perfect.
However, I think a lot of people dropped from the race due to lack of nutrition (food) being received or lack of drop bags locations. And that left a lot frustrated runners.
I think they went out too fast too soon. I walked with many between mile 30 to 40 where many were about to tab out.
A lot of the changes next year would be toward the aid stations, consolidating them and making them bigger with more food and more volunteers. Currently there were 17 aid stations and 4 drop bag locations. Some had only one volunteer. Funny, RD was saying a lot decided to sign up to volunteer for the graveyard shifts and they lack volunteers during the day time. RD was thinking of reducing to 10-12 manned stations and adding one more on course dropbag (making 5). Made some of them water only.
A good point brought up, and I resonate with this. Most of the food was “hidden” away due to sand and wind. I am a visual person. When I didn’t see stuff on the table, I thought the station had no more food left. I thought the 100k’ers came by and cleared everything. .
For next year, RD said they will provide poster/pictures/labels on the tables even thought food is packed away, so runners would know what is available at the particular station. Some said their sandwiches had sand in them 😄
Also the shuttling after the race was not ideal. I signed up but didn’t use it because my mom picked me up at the finish. They were thinking of shuttling runners to the start from the finish before the race, so they don’t have to run the shuttling every 4 hours during the race. Shuttling took volunteers away from the aid stations. RD said we signed up for a point-to-point course, so it was one of the challenges we should expect and overcome, true. I went into the race, the hardeat part was deciding where to stay so as to make going to from hotel to race and back to hotel easy. In the end I picked to stay closer to the start. I would do the same if I rerun this. I prefer to be closer to civilization 👍
Start time. They might tweak the start times. I like the 5 am start, though shifting it two hours later probably would not make much a difference for me.
It was a great race. I have no plan to run it again. I think it was an easy race and did not present me any new challenges. If I live nearby, I would not mind running it annually. But I feel there are too much hand-holding in this race, and I would be annoyed by it if I face the same again. However, I would be open to going back to volunteer.
Other comments were on the point too. Hot food being cold (it didn’t bother me), but true, I had expected hot meals coming into a station but instead got cold food. The volunteer said she would hit up the cup of noodle for me, I declined. I was ok with cold food. Time was at the essense.
Highbeam. Cars driving toward us in highbeam on was bothersome.
Also I felt course marshalls checking on us in middle of the night too was disruptive, but I appreciated the thoughts for our safety. I felt there were too much handholding from the RD for this 100 mile race. RD checking on us from time to time did bring me out of my running flow.
Food I really like, I think having the slice of American cheese at an aid station maybe at mile 40 really saved me. They asked if I wanted grilled cheese, but at the time my stomach was turning, so I think I only grabbed the cheese only to go. Later, when I could eat, I swallowed the whole cheese in one go. It is good to note toward my next hundred mile race to carry some cheese.
I think what saved me in this race was to bring my own food. Certainly I could have used the aid station food, but carrying my own was such a game changer. A runner, Lucas, did just that. He only used the food from the Aid Stations and he said it was enough. Many athletes did not get enough though, so I think, and ran into calorie deficiency during the race. There was only so much time you could eat at an aid station. The portion usually so tiny that it wouldn’t meet the needs. Carrying my own food and munching along the way helps.
That’s that. I probably mentioned all those in my race report, but here they are again. Maybe someone will find them useful.
What I have been doing this week? I have been looking what 100 mile races I should sign up for next year.
C&O 100 seems very tempting. I have been wanting to run that race since 2019/2020 when I was exploring for my first “ultra”. Things has not been working out. I have been too chicken to try. The last two years, my race schedule has not been letting me. I could technically do it this year. Sign up is still open. Next year though seems to be better. I was asking myself can I do three 100 races in one season? The answer is do I need to ask? I know I could do it, but let not push the envelop.
I finished filling out my 50 states for the 100 milers, of potential races to do. I have not made a plan yet. Umstead though, I might try that.
I might want to do T’rer (Lake Tahoe Rim Trail Endurance Race). It has been on my radar for couple years. Still chicken about it. I could do races here in the east coast, but west coast is like a tier higher.
Cloud Spitter tickling my fancy of it being hard.
Pinhoti too, but I think I am not ready to travel down to Alabama to try this. Sometimes I feel I am ready to tackle this, but also feeling cold feet.
Yeti on the Virginia Creeper has it charms.
Oil Creek is a possibility. It seems to have the right level of difficulty for me.
I looked at various other races but haven’t committed. This is one reason to sign up the next 100 race before doing the present one so I don’t have this reluctancy.
I am still reeling from all the things that happened after Blackbeard’s. I am also having post race blue, though I should be back running soon.
This was supposed to be posted for last week before the race and its race report, but things got busy with packing during writing of it and it never saw daylight. Actually, for once, I actually packed and got race stuff 3 days ahead of time.
I was going to procastinate by writing this blog, but during the middle of it, it got some sense in me to get ready for the race…so this entry did what it was suppose to do.
Final inspection of the dropbags and stuff for the trip before being loaded onto the car. 4 dropbags, plus one for the finish line. Funny thing was I had no clues where I put everything after I packed (and worried on the whole run, like do I have batteries, do I have spare light? where was my sun lotion?), but luckily they were there in the exact dropbags when I needed them
—-
As my first big race of the year is about to get underway (in maybe 48 hours), I have some time to reflect and write out this post.
This will hopefully be my fourth buckle (100 mile race). I have great expectation that I should finish.
It has gotten easier. I can’t boast much though. 100 mile race is still a beast and unpredictable. However, if the weather works out, it should be an easy race.
Currently the biggest foreseeable challenge would be the winds and possibly some rain on Saturday. About the wind, last week, I ran the Virginia Beach Marathon, I felt it. It was crazy to run with such strong winds. We are expecting between 25 -50 mph. However, now it seems to calm down a bit and maybe at most 25 mph.
I am prepared. I packed my drop bags already. There are a few items I might want to to get. Masking tape (optional), sunscreen lotion (maybe), lipbalm (maybe), vaseline (maybe), some AAA bateries (maybe). Futureself: I got everything but the spare batteries.
I haven’t planned for my nutrition. I reread my Devil Dog’s race report. And I glad I came across the tip I gave myself, of having your own food at the dropbag’s location. This totally escaped my mind when I was packing.
I reread some 2021 race reports of why I didn’t finish the Devil Dog and other races. That was helpful as well. Basically don’t push too hard in the beginning. Since this (Blackbeard’s Revenge) course is flat, it is easy to go too fast in the first half. In theory, I could aim for a sub-24 finishing.
I guess I am having some pre race jitter.
There is not much I can do. I was reviewing course materials. Some regrets I had was I didn’t book my hotel closer to the start or the finish. Anyway, nothing can be done by now. I could cancel my booking and rebook closer, but I don’t want to make changes this late. Anyway, my present location is not bad. It is about at 20 mile on the course, so I could stop by during the race.
—
In the last post I had so much I wanted to write but didn’t get to everything. It was about my MMT third training run but thr Shamrock Marathon overshadowed it.
I reviewed my first and second MMT training run. Time flew by so quickly. In the first training, we were running in the snow.
I was not ready for the run back then because my left ankle was still hurting. I got the run done.
On the second training run, I was in a much better shape. I felt fast. The hill climbs were not that hard. I ran with Tony, and a few others.
On third training run, I was the last four to finish. We started early, so we finished early. It took me 11 hours. 5 am to 4 pm. To me it was a fast time. My ankle was mostly healed. About that, usually the first step I took, it has some discomfort. By second and subsequent steps, I don’t feel it any more.
My ankle hinders me on the downhills. It was a reason why my TWOT time was so slow. It took me 12.5 hours to get around that course. I bet I could do it an hour or two faster with a fully healed ankle.
Funny thing is the last few weeks, even with an ankle that is not 100%, I ran two 50k and 1 marathon. I finished them.
I was hoping the ankle would be fully healed by the time I am running this 100 mile race. There isn’t any hill, so technically it should be fine. My ankle just doesn’t like uneven surfaces or downhills.
One last thing, those people I did not get along that well on the first training run, are now very cordial. I knew it. They ran at my pace and we see each other at every training runs and will be together during the race. It would be quite awkward if we didn’t get along.
The big picture. Finally what all these trainings and running in the Blackbeard’s Revenge have to do with anything? I have been training hard to do the MMT again and hopefully this time will be more successful.
I have not focused much on training for Blackbeard’s Revenge. Blackbeard’s would have been a challenge for me to run two years ago, but currently should not be. The current challenge is to do two one-hundred races in the same season, note, MMT is just a month or so away after Blackbeard’s. My concern was that this 100-race would derail my next one. Future self: I came out the race stronger.
—
Afterword, One reason this blog didn’t get posted was I got bored toward the end. I felt I needed something. As said, some I was too busy with the race. Now looking back, everything went well.
I had some thoughts about the race. It was refreshing. It was short. And it was one of those things you do only once in your lifetime. I felt so blessed to have done it. One regret was I did not stay there longer. As with anything, I felt like I came in at night and leave during the day time. The enjoyment was too brief.
This happened at many of my other races, where I had daja vu from previous experience while running. I think I did not mention this in the race report. I came away feeling lacking because I couldn’t exactly create the same happiness and feeling of the first time being at that place. It is not anything bad. It is just me feeling sentimental. Anyway, to finish on a brighter note, The race added newer experience to the old ones. All the preparation that went into it was worth it. Who knows when I can get to do it again!
While I had wanted Umstead 100 to be my first 100 mile race, Outer Banks’ Blackbeard’s Revenge was the runner up on my list. I ended up running the Rocky Raccoon instead in Huntsville, Texas as my first during 2021.
Since then I ran other 100 mile races and finally circled back to this one.
So I took Friday and Monday off to travel to North Carolina to line up at the start. It was necessary and worth the trip.
Aside, we spent 10 hours in the car there and 10 hours back, the drive was almost as long as the run (gps calculated that the trip only would take 5 hours, but I had to make some detours to pick up my mom, etc).
We had optimal weather window to run this. The rain did not come but only a little bit on Saturday afternoon. We did have some constant wind but it was calming down to about 15-20 mph. We couldn’t control the weather. Temperature wise was mild as well, ranching from low 50s to high 70s.
I enjoyed my time there while met up with some recently made friends from other races. At the package pick up, I ran into Joe and Simon who were my pacers at the Fort Worth Marathon last month. During the race I happened to meet Fernando on the course whom I met at the Devil Dog 100. I was able to ran with Fernando a bit, maybe 10-15 minutes until we arrived at our second drop location around mile 41.
sunrise of the first day
The main thing was I got it done. It was on road surface instead of trail. This was my first road 100 mile race. It was a fast race because I PR’ed it, running my best time, of 26:17:00, cutting the time from Rocky Raccoon by almost 2 and half hours.
The course was slight on an uphill at least that how I felt, but overall was flat as a pancake. It was also my first point to point 100 mile race. Logistics was about the same. I was worried about where to stay before the start. I chose Kitty Hawk to be closer to the start rather than near the finish. It was an option. One runner chose to leave their car at the finish and hitched a ride to the start, maybe about 3 hours drive. Another choice was to stay somewhere in the middle and I was kind of like that, about an hour from the start and 2 hours from the finish.
The race also offered after race shuttle to take runners back. However, this was done at a 4 hr interval, so getting a ride back can be tough if you finish after one of the rides departed.
I had no problem running this race. I was prepared by previous races. I did not specifically trained for this since I came off running the Devil Dog in December. I took couple months off to recover. After that I did couple training runs for BRR and MMT. I ran couple marathons (Ft Worth, Seneca Creek, and Virginia Beach).
I packed a bit better. I had everything packed into four 1 gallon ziplock bags.
I still over packed my things but I got the nutrition about just right and spaced them in the dropbags. My suggestions to myself from a previous race report about planning to bring my own food as the primary source instead of relying on the aid stations, helped me to throw in some cereals and candies into my dropbags. I glad I did. This is not saying it couldn’t be done by eating aid station stuff or that their stuff was bad, but it reduced a set of variables from the equation and give a better chance of finishing.
I had a positive experience through out the race. The course was beautiful and we were blessed by good weather of neither too hot or too cold or other extremes (too windy). The beauty of the place was overwhelming. I have been to Outer Banks maybe 10 years ago and the memory of that trip left a deep impression of endless seasshore (and of course the lighthouses). I will try to share some pictures. It is subjective, but OBX is a place I love to vacation or retire to because it is just so beautiful. If one theme about this race is the peacefulness of everything.
Another reason I like this race because it was a point to point course. It is hard to put up a point to point race both from the RD perspective and ours. It is a lot of work. The last three 100 mile races I did were all looped courses. Rocky Raccoon was like 5 loops, Rim to River was an out and back race, going out 50 miles and coming back with a bit of variation, and the Devil Dog was 4 loops in the Prince William Forest. Even Massanutten can be considered a single loop in a figure eight pattern. This race, Blackbeards starts at one end of NC-12 hwy to the other end, from paved road to end of paved road. The road continues on in either direction as an off-road path (and probably goes by a different name).
For us runners, running 100 miles in a loop or point to point is the same. However, when the course is in a straight line instead of a circle, you get a sense of the large distance covered.
Also everything is harder, so as arranging ride back or to the start. I like the extra challenge. Maybe more on this later. The race organization did an amazing job to lessen the burden of this. There are a lot of information given ahead of time in term of bag drops, aid stations, hotel, parking, shuttle rides, and dealing with planning for the unexpected such as weather, etc.
Another reason, take this point as a grain of salt, I think it is an easy 100 for first time 100 attempts. I think the race organization babied us too much, but I understand it was for our safety. There were tons of information in the race handbook and the RD when over them multiple times. I did not mind being beat over of the head the same things.
Now about the race and my experience, I think it was perfect. I am not sure how many people signed up. I wish there were more people running it. I felt we were very much under the capped. If this continues, the race might not be around in the future. Not sure why people are not running this, maybe too easy, too hard, not being on trails, the logistics factor, but anyway those can be overcomed.
We had probably 100 runners in each event. There were four events (plus virtual events). We had the 100 mile, 100k (at 10 AM start and at different location than the 100 mile) and plus the relays for both distances. However, there were about only 50 finishers in 100 mile and 100k event. There were about maybe 5-6 relay teams. The exact numbers are on the race signup and results website. I think there were a lot of drops but I don’t know the drop rate. I felt there were close to 100 runners at the 100 mile start, but on about 50% finishes. This is typical I think.
So what do I think is the challenges? Other than the distance, I think the main being weather. We were buffered by wind (strong headwind) through out the race. It could have been worse. The wind was ‘calmer’ on our race day. They were saying it was blowing hurricane strength the week before.
We had only faced with 15-20 mph constant wind. Also the temperature. We had relatively warm weather to run in this time, however at early morning, I think it was in the low 50, and when I breathed, I could see my breath. My fingers were cold. Lucky I put in my dropbag a pair of gloves for the evening portion and buff/neck gaiters too. I wore sleeve inserts on either arm. It was my first time and they helped a lot.
Then during the day the temperature rised to near 80. We were burning. I was sunburned on my face, neck, back, forarms, and back of my legs. I applied sunblock lotion but only did it once and in the early morning, but did not reapplied so, I was burned. Don’t misjudge the spring sun. It is still hot.
The temperature, I felt could have been worse if it were to drop a bit lower or get higher. This depends if you like cold running, but for me, I prefer warmer weather. We also was rained on for a bit. maybe for 10-15 minutes. Thunderstorms were forecasted the day before and the day after, but we only had a brief rain session while out on the course, and I was actually grateful for the rain even though it made me wet and cold. The reason was, I was hit with ‘sandstorm’ during the afternoon. Not really a storm but the wind stirred up the sand and when it hit me, it was painful to have sand repeatedly blasted on your body. The rain actually prevented this, making the sand stick together. I appreciated that sand stopped blowing on me. We were so exposed out there. Wearing long sleeves helped. Facing the elements was probably the hardest challenges.
Aid stations and drop bags. We had 17 aid stations. There was almost a station every 5 miles except for the first two. We had our drop bags at about every 20 miles. I think it was more than enough.
My greatest advice to myself was to pack my own food as my primary source and rely less on the official aid stations. This is not a complaint. I reread my last 100 mile race report and that what stuck as being successful, and I said really? My MMT failed attempt was attributed to my lack of eating. So the trick was to bring my own food to eat at anytime and all the time.
Because it was a road race, we shared the road with cars. We had to wear a safety vest/reflective gear throughout the race. There was a significant night portion. We had to have spare lamp and bateries. This was not an issue for me, for my light lasted through the evening. I wore one of those fancy lighted fiber optic tubes. They had their pluses and minuses. The plus is it meets all the required gear but having a spare. The disadvantages were the wiring get in the way of my running, and also harder to put clothes on and off or any other things that goes over the shoulders like a water pack. It was a tiny inconvenience. A lighted belt or a clip on blinker would have been better.
And also, I should have gotten two sets, so that during the day, I could stove away once I reach my drop location and at night get it from a drop bag. Instead, I only had one set, so I wore mine the whole race.
we ran on the left side of the roads. There were sidewalks but the course and directions were provided based on the lefthand side of the road. Road’s shoulder was wide enough. However, when cars drove by fast especially on the bridge, and at night, it was quite stressful to runners.
As said, I had generally a positive experience. I had a fast race. It was peaceful. I was mostly by myself on the course. Because the field was small, I was not able to find someone matching my pace to tag along. There were maybe 10 people whom I was leading from the second half after 50 miles, but they were going a bit too slow for me. I gained about 30 minutes on my nearest competitor (Rich, a new friend I made while running) by the time I finished, not a huge gap, but far enough apart.
A small critique was the aid stations were understaffed (they did call for volunteers) and I tried to ask my mom to help. I felt many families could have helped and I think many did, however, like my own, many spent much of their time wanting to crew their own runners. A few of the stations only had one or two people. They did their job well, but more volunteers would have been ideal. Also the food, I felt was quite limited.
Not sure if it was because the 100k people (the horde) had just gone on ahead of us and ate everything. I had sufficient stuff from the aid stations, but I had done the three other 100 mile races where their aid stations were a buffet of hot food and an island of cheers. This race was more a solitude affair. Here we had mostly hummus and gels. I glad for having a sloppy joe and a cup of noodle that saved me at a portion of the course when I was most needed for real food. Also a slice of American cheese I picked up a long the way, helped so much later in the race when my stomach was turning from eating my own food too much. These were provided by the aid stations. However, bringing my own food was still the best advice to myself.
sunset and beach time. This was the following day after the race when I recovered enough to walk around. I did cross the Jughandle Bridge during sunset.
First Big Race of 2023 done. And PR’d it. The last 5-10 miles were very hard. I was exhausted. Singing got me through. I sang thanksful spiritual songs. That did it. It gave me tge energy to run to the finish. Finished in 26 hours. Originally I was targeting between 28-30 hours. But by the first 6 hours I was already knew I was 3 hours ahead of schedule and I could maintain the 3 hours lead through out. We were running at 12-14 minute pace, which meant a 20-25 hour finishing. This is fast in my book. The lead allowed me to stay in the rest stations longer. At couple of the drop bag locations, I stayed up to 30 minutes. In total, I probably rested over an hour to two hours. I could aim for a sub 24 hour finish, however, I love having my rest. There was no need to kill myself to get that sub 24 hour finish.
How many times have I done this one, I have no idea. At least twice.
Back in 2017 and 2018, I ran every race that is available held by the local running store (Potomac Running).
As I took on bigger races, I mean longer distances, like 50 mile and 100 mile races, I don’t have time for the local ones. I still run them whenever I can. I sign them up on the spur moment.
Reston 10 Miler is a familiar course to me. I ran many 5Ks and 10Ks there year after years. The 10 mile course mostly was stitched together from 5K and a 10K. I recognize every turns and every hills.
Timewise, I was not impressive with my finishing time. It was not any record shattering. I was not slow. I haven’t had the heart to dig up past races to compare. I finished at 1:40. It is a 10 min pace so I should be glad, especially after running a 50K last weekend.
Yet I remember my fastest 10 miler was under 1:20. I used to be able to run at a 8 min pace. That was impressive.
Everything’s relative. I have to live with the body I have today, not the one I had a year ago or 10 years ago.
Sometimes I feel like I am in an arm race with myself. I improve my time, yet I get heavier. So I trained harder to be stronger. I do improve. Then I get a faster time again and then I get heavier. The cycle starts again. The last two years, I know I improved. Yet this time, my body has overtaken me. I gained too much weight over the pandemic. Not sure if it is something related to that or just I am just getting older.
A 60 year old man beat me innlbthis race. I recognized him from prior races. Note, because I live in Northern Virginia, people don’t make casual comments, unlike when I do races farther way. People avoid eye contact here in the big city. I have seen this guy many times in other races, but he acted he doesn’t know me and I same. Not complaining, just saying. I have been in the area for at least 20 years and that how we work. (Remember both Jeffs I met at the other races, how nice people are in the country side).
True everyone is racing against their own. But if a 60 year old man could out run a 40 year old, it means something.
On one hand, it is not hopeless for me. I could work harder to be able to run like that when I am 60.
The flip side is the dude is impressive.
As I stepped on to the course today, I was thinking what was I trying to get out of this. It is cool to set records and such. It is cool to run fast. I ran pretty fast, faster than any of my usual training runs. I usually go 15 mins or slower per mile and today I pulled a 10 min mile for whole 10 mile. I enjoyed the weather. I enjoyed the morning run. Only a race could get me up at 6 am in the morning. Normally, if left to my own device, I do not get out the house until like 3 or 4 pm in the afternoon. I am a lazy runner.
One thought I reminded myself was yes running a 50K last weekend was impressive. Today running a 10 miler was no less an accomplishment. I told myself many times, if I could run just one more race, I would be in heaven.
In this view, I should only run 5Ks or 10Ks, to save money and time because it gives the same utility, from an economic standpoint. Nah, I believe, if I have the ability to run longer distances, I should do it. This is the reason I am grateful and happy that I do have the means and the ability to do something extraordinary.
If I close out the blog here, it would be good. I have just a bit more to say. Things or an idea seems to be at the tip of my tongue but I just couldn’t bring forth. I have been searching something all weekend. It has been a recurring theme since I finished the last big race (MMT) of last year. It is related to motivation and of why I do things. I wrote a post on new year’s day about my resolutions and all.
I think, things have gotten a bit easier lately, after I ran the 100 mile. I still have tons of goals to do and some are out of this world hard, but overall, a lot of my goals, I thought was impossible are a bit easier. I mentioned about the 50 states marathon goal. If I really want to, I think I could do it in a year. Many of my goals are like that. If I really want to do it, I have now the means to do them. So they seem a bit boring. And I keep asking myself, what’s next. What is the next badass thing to do? The answer is not that I don’t know, but I am afraid to look.
This blog post like any others will be closed with a hanging. To be continue. I wish life would be simplier. I could wake up and say I would do this and that and do them. That is it for now.
Nothing big happened this week following the Cowtown Marathon.
I am a bit bored as usual and feeling a bit unproductive and negative.
My legs are still sore even a week after. I have not run much to save them. I did try running 7 miles on Thursday. It got the blood flowing. Theorectically, I should be good to run again.
I spent some time to update my race schedule. Everything seems pretty good. Most decisions and races are set and good to go. There were no major changes to them. It was more like me polishing them.
I did sign up a couple “small” races. This Sunday, I will run the Reston 10 miler. It is a local race. I did this one once or twice before. I couldn’t remember when was the last time I ran it. It might have been 2018. Ancient history.
Second race I signed up was Lake Ridge (Lake Claytor) 12-hr run. I ran this the last two years and enjoyed the low – layback vibe of the race. Usually it is about dozen or so runners, and we meet at the lake and run until we drop dead and then run some more. This year will be in May, the week before my MMT – run of doom 100. heehee. Good day to chill before doing a 100 mile.
The third race is Eastern Divide 50k. This was pretty much the ultra that got me into trail running in 2019. I have meant to go back to run it again. It was an ultra that beat my butt, finished in 7 hours and I thought that was hard. Now a day a 7 hour run is pretty tame. This race is beautiful point to point run. You climbed up the side of the waterfall ran through some country roads, and then through a field with an overlook. Boy, I ran this in the summer and it was hot. I remembered eating watermellon with salt at an aid station. I would love to relive that again. This year, the race will be in the fall, in November. It will be a bit different. I look forward to it nonetheless.
I reviewed some of the conflicts in the schedule. Nothing much can be done. I can’t be in two places at once unless I have a clone or two. Some races would have to be deferred to next year.
Now I want to run Stone Mill again. The race registration will not be open until May 15. Stone Mill though is in conflict with the Richmond Marathon. Also there is a race in Georgia also on that weekend. I am also eyeing Philadelphia Marathon, and it conflicts with Route 66 Marathon. All these would have to be sorted out later. So I would have pick one or the other. I also received an email informing me the race for the ALQ 50k registration will be open on April 22. The RD wrote that last year, it sold out after 45 minutes.
*Sigh*
I am happy even getting one race done this year. Here I am juggling with a dozen of races.
There are two decisions I am afraid to face. One is April 29. It’s the GSER 100k. I know I can do it. I know my mission/vision is to be bold and not turn down a race. Yet I feel I have turn this race down this year. Because the following week, I will be running the Toronto Marathon, and I want to do well in that because it will be my international debut. My family is accompanied me on that trip. I don’t want to disappoint them with an average finishing time.
The second decision is Lake Tahoe Marathon series. To run three marathons and a 70 mile race around Lake Tahoe. I want to do it. Yet this one actually puts some fear in me. Can I do it? I will have Grindstone 100 in Sept. Lake Tahoe is in October. I think I should be recovered by then. Yet, there is the sense of fear in me. If Lake Tahoe is the only race I will be doing, I would do it. I have other races lined up already. I felt I won’t be able to give it the due respect. According to my mission statement, I should do it. Fear is good.
Coming back from Fort Worth Marathon, you know I met some people who share my passion. One of the pacers I was with, discovered marathons couple years ago. While running with him, he was so full of energy and that child like eagerness. You know what make a runner happy is asking the person what one race you like the most. I could go on and on. We went on for too long even other runners around us got annoyed. Yes, please don’t ask me about my races.
Anyway, I am thankful I got to run some really cool race. Not sure what I will do this weekend. I will write more when I am ready.
Day500 happened during the end of last summer. I have been putting off a midterm (day 525) review for a bit because it happened close to the end of the year and I already had done various reviews for the end of the year. At the time, I’ve also done a bit and was still pretty much know what I was doing.
New year came. Since then I am kind of lost as to my purpose.
I had a great season in the fall. I reached the end of the year finished many big races: Stone Mill, JFK, Devil Dog. I made a couple end of the year reports (EOY, and here) which reflected on those races. I won’t recount them here.
Last eight weeks, I have been on and off doing some soul searching. My race schedule for 2023 has crystalized. I kind of know what races to run. They are filled in by now. I know I was struggling back in December about what to do (here about ABC). I came up with the new year resolutions for 2023.
I still am missing something. I woke up everyday asking myself what am I trying to do. January went by before I knew it. We are in February. I always tell myself we die without vision. A reason we want to live is aim for the next thing.
I still feel kind of lost. It was kind of expected after Devil Dog early in December, because I had no planned races. I ran some local stuff like Red Eye on January 1, but for last 8-10 weeks, things have been quite calm.
I need stress and excitement to get me going. I need big races to stress me. The good stress that shakes up my system. Now everything is kind of fine and boring. So I had been doing some soul searching over the past week. I did not come away with much.
This year my schedule is stacked like last year. When people asked me what race am I running. I have no quick answer. I said it is on the web somewhere. I had a collection of races. They seem to be not laser focus as before. It is bad when I could not recall what races I am about to do.
My races, Here they are: I have MMT coming up in May. I have OBX Blackbear Revenge in March (next month) and then in September I have Grindstone.
All three races are pretty big deal to me, They were not on the schedule last fall. I was at the time searching for what to do. Now they are. OBX was going to be a signature race for 2023, because I was going to spend some time there for vacationing, but now it is scraped (instead the focus is moved to Toronto).
Harder Challenges. I want something harder or weirder. This week I looked into if I should run GSER (april 29) a week before my Toronto Marathon. I pick GSER because back in 2020, it was my first and second failed attempt at running a 100 miles. I really wanted to go back to prove myself. This time around though GSER will be a 100K (62 miles). Still I want to redo it. The 2020 race was a special race and an exception. (still considering).
Another possibility is the Lake Tahoe Marathon. I have been reading up on this. It can be done as a normal marathon, 26.2 miles with hundred others on a Sunday in the fall. But what interesting is it offers three marathons on three days, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, and by running all three you would circle around Lake Tahoe. I was at Lake Tahoe maybe 20 years ago and the size of this lake always attracts me. This is not all, one can also run two normal marathons, Friday and Saturday, and then on Saturday night, do a loop around the lake and catch up to those who run the Sunday marathon. This is what I want to do. The total distance is like 125 miles. I consider it is a good challenge for me to do two back to marathon and then with out much rest do a 72 miles under 18 hours. Not likely will do it this year, but it is underconsideration.
50 states. I was asking myself what am I doing. If I want to test myself, go do it. What was I trying to do? I want to get 50 states. This year though, I am not getting that many states. I may only get one or two. Texas is in play. Maine maybe. New York maybe. Oklahoma also maybe. Or Space Coast for Florida.
One question I asked myself how on earth do I get all 50 states. At first, I did this without much planning. Doing one or two marathons a year, and hopefully when I reach 70 ish I will get all 50 states. Last couple months, I really wanted to sit down and come up with a plan. I did not get anywhere. Luckily, one of my friends is doing the 50 states too and she is on her 31 states. So all I had to do is copy her. I am taking note. This year’s schedule though is full. Yes, that is one of my problem of feature creep of trying to do too much.
This week, I had time to catch up — like a mental health day. It helped. It allowed me to catch up on some of the things. I updated my race schedule a bit. It was mostly fine but I have been jotting down race dates and such in various places (calendar, my race spreadsheet, and here on WP) and they were not in sync. Usually they should be in sync. Yet the few months I was kind of lazy and they got out of sync. So during the week, I did some house keeping and updated all the pages/places to the same calendar. So now, here on WP, my race schedule is finally accurate again.
My life is made up of the things I do for fun. Yes there should be other domains like home, friendship, church, and civic/religion. But for me, mostly I have been focusing only sport (running) and traveling.
I try to run in all 50 states. I try to do a 200 mile marathon. I try to do an even longer trek across the US on foot.
So I have been thinking a lot — when I had so much free time this weekend. I kept asking myself what am I doing? I can’t no longer keep all the races in my mind. I am slipping on race dates and all.
There are some countries I want to visit. One of them was to go to Nepal. Some recent development is I might have to defer the trip for a few more years, instead I am likely will be traveling to Australia soon, which is also one of my goals.
2023 seems so scratter brain with my so call “planning”. I want to do so much, but it might be I do everything that comes across my desk. I am kicking this till the next report/focus session.
I did not resolve my anxiety or my frustration. However, when I was out on the trail, I forget them for a bit. In the end, I asked, does it matter if I don’t finish all 50 states or if I don’t reach any of my goals? I think the main thing is I try. We live to struggle for another day! This parallels with races I no longer enjoy when there are no challenges left.
I know I have been wandering around the topics. Conclusion is to do something fun in your life. Do something meaningful. I validate myself by writing them down afterward.
New Year is already here! I am behind on making my resolutions. I am not a big fan of making resolutions because I usually fail after a few days. I also the type of person who needs to have them because I love structure.
I did not start the year with a bang, but I did start it off running. Seriously, I ran a 50K on January 1st. I still need to write a report on that.
In other areas besides running though, I have some “debts” to repay. I felt behind on a bunch of things. There are two race reports to write! I need to prepare for several trips this spring (Texas, Canada, Outer Banks, Roanoke, and Massanutten). One is next month and I haven’t reserved my flight. And most importantly, I need to refocus myself for this new year.
Originally, I was going let it slides, like I have been for the last few years. This year was going to be like the year before. It is not far from the truth. Same old same old. I figured the previous year resolutions should do for this year.
However, after reading some other people posts, I want to give this year a serious thought. I lile from RunningOnFumes of choosing a word or phrase for the year. For me, I would like 2023 to be *resolved*. Hopefully, I’ll reach some goals.
SeizeLife at LiveTheMoment/EatTheMoment mentioned about 168 plan. We have 168 hours total in a week. How do we use it? I Googled and downloaded the spreadsheet. Basically, it helps listing out what things are important and ideally helps you to focus your time to have a fulfilling week. I will look into it and hopefully will use it.
Resolve 2023.1 – practice and use the 168 plan
I know People/cities die for lack of vision. I live by purpose. I want it to be meaningful.
The last few years I have been quite unfocused. I tried aiming toward a target to transition from road running to trail running, and it took over three whole years to do it. Looking back, it wasn’t bad, just me stumbling through life.
What does this mean? Running 100 mile races helped me understand pace degradation. You know I could run a marathon between 4-5 hours, 26 miles. In my head, I know the pace. Miles just fly by. Every couple hours, you get 12 miles.
But in a hundred mile, you experience the pace slowing down. In your mind you still want and hope to run a 12-13 min mile pace. Reality is your body is moving much slower.
When I run, I set goals, like by what time, I should be at a certain place. Pace elongation stretches out the time. a five minute wait becomes 10, and 10 mins becomes 20 and so on. It seems a step taken should be closer in distance to the finish yet would take much longer time to get there. The famous Zeno’s Paradox! Every step only brings me half the distance closer but never reach it.
This is how I feel with planning the last three years. Originally, things I wanted to do in 2018/2019, finally only got them done last year. Yes, what or why did it take me so long!
I still love setting resolutions! Eventually, I will get there right? I recheck my to-do bucket list and glad some of them are finally coming off it. Yet there are still so much more to do.
This morning I was exploring from 100 mile races in the Philippines! They have The Hard 100 – they give 40 hours to do. So it got to be hard. I want to do it! Now I am aware of it, it probably will take couple years for me to get there.
Three years ago, I would not dare to dream about running this 100 mile race, but now, ya, it is more about when I can go and how it will fit into my schedule.
Last night, I met up with David, my running friend who has been doing runs and races together this past year, and we were talking about tons of races through out the night. One of our mutual friend wanted to her first (half/full) marathon. We were excited of sharing our knowledge. At the same time, I was checking my schedule to see how they would fit in, because I want to run races with them. Our friend Siri has interesting idea of going to the spa and hot pot after “our” race — DC rock n Roll, which I haven’t signed up yet.
Marathons on my new lists to check out is Las Cruces in NM, Burlington in VT, Space Coast Coco Beach in FL. I can’t do the first two yet because of scheduling conflict this year, but Space Coast is a possibility!
Oh yeah what about my resolutions?
I resolve – 2023.2 – to not be lazy with my training, specifically waking up in the morning to train
2023.3. plan better
2023.4. sit down and get my Annapurna trip together. It is supposed to be this year but I am so scared with the planning
2023.5. put sydney marathon on my planner. I could definitely go this year, because my schedule is open, but need to take that step to make it happen. Also so scared about travelingbout the country. Going oversea isn’t scary but how to meet up with my cousins and auntie there, is. idk, it should be excited, but i’m shy.
2023.6. mexico trip: likely won’t happen this year, but good to dream to run with Ramamuri (Tarahumara). Caballo Blanco Ultra 50 mile in March. From The book Born to Run. One of my favorite ultra running books to read.
2023.7. walk the talk (resolve to get things done). Pretty much this year theme. Resolve to resolve.
conclusion: the whole post is about to get myself to make some goals and they don’t usually get done on my time table. This leads me to not make more goals. However, I should look hard and get my things done. So I made some new year resolutions. Let’s be bold!
Last couple weeks, a recurrently theme and more like a question to myself, was what am I going to do next.
I do know and at the same time not know. I could fake an answer, but I cannot to lie to myself.
For running, I have a long to-do list. I always wish I could share it all. I call it my rainbow table because it is in multicolor of order of importance of which race I want to do. I do keep a year or two of races on here, though the list is not as pretty.
While the list is like the most practical things of when the rubber meets the road, it sometimes does not immediately tell the bigger picture.
That is – when I look at my list, instead of it giving me excitement, it sends me a feeling of dread and being overwhelmed. Maybe I am doing too much.
I got to remind myself — The reason why we all do something is because we love it and passionate about something. At 50000 ft, I do love running. Even down to the street level, I do love it – like if there is a weekend 5k or 50k I do it.
As a matter of fact, this coming weekend, there is a 50k, called Redeye, and I signed up. It is called Redeye because it will take place on New Year day, after a whole night of celebration, and the race assumes no one has time to sleep. I am running it like it is a local 5k. It is local to me. It will be on the same course as one I did my Devil Dog 100. I told my friend Caroline, I had that course memorized. My feet would know where to go. She was wondering if I am ready for it.
The last few days, the top things on my mind is not so much if my body is ready for a race, which normally is, but much more what I am doing with myself on a more fundamental level.
This kind of questions pops up to me from time to time, especially right after a big race. Just like last time back in May when I had soul searching questions, I’d reread my older blog posts. They helped. I reread last year vision statements (or new year resolutions – the ABC. They helped.
What is ABC? it is not an accronym. It is just the name I gave to a series of blog posts at the beginning of 2022. The first one started with A, then B, so forth. I found time and again rereading them, reset me. They made me feel better. The gist of it is as follow.
I realize something of what kept me going this year and the last few years is hope. My hope rests on that I will improve and I will get to do greater things even though I am not there yet.
The fact is 2022 was not that great when I planned it. Nor has it been since the start of the pandemic. It is like I could not do anything. Now the pandemic is kind of over, I am asking what 2023 will be like. Could I plan to do something awesome? That I am kind of don’t know any more. Maybe I lost the meaning of what awesome is. Maybe that what 2023 is for me to find that out.
This is what I thought awesome used to be.
I mentioned some bigger things I wanted to do — some of them are near impossible, but some are definitely doable. I wanted to run across America, to run across Tennessee, to hike the Appalachian Mountain, to travel to Napal and do the trek there, to visit Alaska and paddleboat there, to run a marathon in Sydney, and maybe some day run around the world.
Granted I am doing none of these next year or even the next few years. I haven’t done any of them this year or last year. The easiest on the list is probably going to Alaska or Sydney. I haven’t done them because of the cost.
But I settled something closer to home. I am planning to do a marathon in Toronto. I signed up already. It is set in May. I got one of my friends, well Craw team member, (who lives near there) to join me. Caroline, also excited when I told this to her. Not sure if she is serious about following me to Toronto. I plan to mention the trip to the rest of my Craw team maybe, maybe, they would too, join me in Toronto.
What is Craw? Craw is (or was) a virtual race in which we run around the world from the comfort of our home. We are about two weeks away from finishing. Since the theme is running around the world, we should at least do some traveling. I set Toronto my destination.
Back to the bigger picture. When I wrote up my race recap (twice), I came to the question, what will I do next. My answer and I did not want to say at the time, was same old same old. Basically same as we always done. This year was like last year. Next year will be like this year. We race.
I was asking myself where is my excitement now. Unlike 5 years ago, I was brimming with joy then. It was until I reread my vision statement. Yes, there are bigger goals out there. And doing these tiny goals maybe in some ways gets me to the bigger ones or at least kind of replace them. It is just like doing the Craw — none of us will ever get a chance to actually literally run around the world, but if we imagine it, we do and could run around the world even from our own home. Yes it is not the same, but the illusion could get you pretty close. Doing the small goals, we could imagine ourselves doing the bigger ones.
I will leave it as that for now. I don’t have the answer. We try our best to find our next step.
All said and done, I hope this helps me and others to come up with their new year resolutions. By the way, I need to think up some. Happy new year!
In awe 