Summer has gone by too fast for me. The last review was around April (Re 23:13). The goal back then was to train to run faster for the Iron Mountain 50, especially Grindstone 100.
Let just say, it has not been easy. I have gotten slower instead of faster. I blame my left foot, which still gives me problem. I DNF’d in couple races. And Grindstone is about two weeks away.
I started the summer full of confident from having conquered the MMT100 (finished under 35 hours), and I finished the Blackbeard 100 (OBX) last march in 28 hours. I felt I could now tackle any 100 miler. I felt I have matured in tge sport.
I went and signed up for Burning River 100 thinking it is comparable easy like Blackbeard and I should not have trouble of finish it.
As superstition has it, I took the finishing photo before runing the race, and I was thinking, it would be an embarassment if I don’t finish, and so it turned out to be a self-fulfilling prophesy. I stopped after 28-ish hours at mile 86-ish (I ran 89). It was a mess of a race. It rained heavily as the race got underway. I was soaked thrpugh and through. I was not prepared for the rain, and did not pack as many sets of dry clothes as I should. I had shirts but no extra shorts and underpants or socks. It was a struggle throughout the day. I was severely chafed by mile 26. I felt several times. The trail was muddy and slicked. I did not wear proper trail running shoes. It was like skiing downhill. During one fall, I might have rolled my ankle and it was swollen by midnight. And I could no longer run. It was as bad as could be.
One of the lessons learned was I “over”-trained before the race and did not taper and so during my big race, I was out of reserve. By midnight, I was pretty much done. There was no reaching deep in my heart to draw out that energy to push me through. I slogged through the night only moving another 20 miles. It was too little too late. I DNF (did not finish/cut) when I failed to reach the last few aid stations in time. My pacer was pleading, it is just half a marathon left, which on a typical day, would be a morning run. Shout out to an amazing pacer, Amanda.
Burning river 100 left a big impression in me (full report here). I will definitely will do it again. This was one example of how my whole summer was.
The other race I DNF’d was the Iron Mountain 50. (report can be found here). My summer was supposed to run faster so I could do this race. Somehow, maybe the time required to recover from the Burning River and also from an earlier 100 mile race (MMT), I was not able to train as much on speed as I should. Iron Mountain was a bloodshed. I was destroyed. I finished an hour later than my goal. Good thing was I was not injured from the race.
As for other races, I ran the Catherine’s Furnace 50K more as a training run. It took me 10 hours to do it. Normally, I should/could run it in 6-ish hours. I did not really write a report. This is as close as it get.
An highlight of my summer was I went to Toronto and ran the Toronto Marathon. It was not a fast time, but I was pleased. The report can be found here. Note, my report was mostly negative, but due to other reasons.
As for other races, MMT100, OSS/CIA50, Catoctin 50K, readers can read their reports. I am tired so not going to write much on those. They were all good race.
So what is ahead? Fall season is about to start. I have plenty of races, both big and small ones. Grindstone 100 is ahead. Devil Dog 100 is in December. I have been reluctant to commit to 2024 so I have not signed up too many races for next year especially the 100 mile races. I promised to help my friend at what to be her last 100 mile race, Cowboy 100 in Nebraska. More on this as the date approach.
Red Dirt 100 is in February. Burning River 100 is in July. I plan to run MMT 100 again in May. Iron Mountain 50 in September. Cowboy 100 is in September too, but I won’t be competing, so won’t be stressed out about it.
As for marathons, I will run a few of those. My goal is always the same – to run faster so that I could finish some harder races, and not be embarrassed. I don’t mind the DNF, but it is a like a mosquito bite of plain annoyance of not being able to finish when I feel I could do it.
I have an international trip planned. Likely will be a marathon in Taiwan.
Conclusion if any, I am a bit jaded after this summer. I kind of see it coming. I am still in love to run and run far, but I am a bit at lost of which race to run. I know which race I want to run, but I am not as aggressive as before. I don’t want to run because I have to; I want to run because I am passionate about doing it. My nightmare is might fall out of love with my running and next year might be my last year.
My next review will be 6 months from now (early January or February). I will likely do and end of the year thing, new year resolutions, and an anniversary post.
This might be a long addentum to my last post. A week before, I was thinking of skipping the Iron Mountain 50 mile race and instead to go on a backpacking trip.
In the end I chose the run because the other trip did not pan out. The friend who invited me never got back to me with the details (5w 1h).
I might have gotten cold feet about the run because I was not confident I could finish the 50 mile under 12 hours. In the end, I just had to show up and do my best.
If the title is any hint, I did not finish in time but I did finish. It was not close at all unlike last year. But it was so close that I could have made it. In the end It took me 13 hours. I was hoping originally to at least have a repeat of last year of 12:15.
I knew the race would be a nail-bittingly close for me to finish under 12 hours. I have done 50 mile under 12 (JFK), but this was on trail and significantly harder. Last year I came in 12:15, I knew I could cut down those 15 minutes over the course of the race. I was trying to run differently.
First off, last year I started the first 5 miles very slowly. I think I was the last guy. I learned in ultras you have to go slow. I was patient and mostly took my time the first 8-13 miles. Not this year. I started the road section with more of my 5K speed. I was determined to run fast but not out of breath fast on the road portion. I thought I did fairly well. I was mid pack in the 40-milers. As for the 50 milers, I was probably at the tail end. Both the 40 milers and 50 milers had 12 hours to finish. For the 40 milers, they could walk (fast) and finish.
Then there was a mile-ish climb. I was going up pretty well. I am usually a strong uphill hiker. No one passed me except a 40 miler, Andy from Durham. He was strong, and much stronger hiker than me (he finished the 40-mile in 10 hours). After the climb, we had maybe 4-5 miles of more gradual uphills. I wish I could have pushed on this section harder. I did chase some 40 milers. Passed one of them.
The 30 mile runners who started maybe half hour later caught up to me. I knew in the past, it normally took them more time to catch up to me (like 8 mile in). But today, they seemed to reach me a mile or two sooner than I was expected. Usually they did not show up until I get to the FS 90 aid station. It was this section to the second aid station, I was a bit slower.
I think I reached the FS90 aid station by 9 am. I was still in the game. It was two hours after the start. It was about the same time as last year. We were maybe 8 miles in. Averaging 15 mins a mile is not bad. I could go a bit faster. (We needed to maintain 14:24 min mile pace to finish under 12)
However, the next segment to Skulls Gap at mile 16-ish, I was a bit much slower (note they say it is 4 (correction: 6) miles, I think it should be 4, but it is the 30 mile turn around point, so could be 8 miles). It took me two hours. Same on the way back. I was not as aggresive as I used to in attacking the hills. This section has steeper rolling hills. I was slow on the uphills and just as slow too on the downhills. Still I think was maintaining a 15 mins mile pace but that was a bit too slow to make the 12 hours cutoff. I was hoping the 7-mile road section at later on (mile 20-27), I could make up the time.
I arrived at Skulls Gap at 11 am (right at the cut off). I think I was behind the soft cutoff of 10:50. My goal was to get there by 10:30. Last year I was there around 10:40-10:45. Last year, I spent more time at the aid station changing shoes and socks, so this year, I was hoping to cut down on my time at the aid stations to give me that 15 mins needed to finish on time. But this year, I was 15 mins slower, so I would have to make up that 30 mins. Hurricane Gap would have the hard cut off.
From Skulls Gap to Hurricane Gap was about 5 miles, with one steep climb and then mostly a downhill run. Again I was not as aggressive with my run. Last year, I went a bit faster and was able to catch up to several other runners, but not this year. I was the last runner. There was no one to catch, not even the 40 milers. Last year I caught a bunch of 40 milers. I expected to be cut when I arrived at Hurricane Gap, but I made it with 5 mins to spare at 12:15. So I decided to continue on. It was going to be tough to make the next cut.
The next section was also mostly downhill and on road – the infamous quad ripping 7 miles of downhill run and then a hard climb back. This is what makes Iron Mountain so hard. It requires fast running on the road as well as on the trail. The downhills just destroy the legs.
Barton Gap had about a mile of trail, maybe half mile of uphill and half mile of downhill, but it seemed like 2 miles to me. Unlike last year, I could not run at all going uphill. The road was fine, occasionally, I could break out into a fast jog/run. I tried to keep an even pace. I walked some. It was a mental game. I tried to count mile. I got to the Rowland Aid Station by 2 pm. Happy to get there. The aid station people treated me like king, because I was their last customer!
I then had a four mile climb to get back to Hurricane Gap by 3. (I did not know the cut off was 2:45, and the aid station workers did not pull me from the race). They said I could make it but I had to work on the flat sections before the 1000 ft climb. I did not think I could. This year though there were not much mud so this section was ok to run on. It was a bit rocky. The uphill was not as steep as I remembered it but still about a mile of decent grade climb. It was not long until I reached the top. I surprised I made the cut off by 10 mins. I did not think I was that fast, but I was faster than last year.
The next section would be to go back to Skulls Gap on the road with two miles of trail on the Iron Mountain. This is supposed to be an easy section. I know from last year this section was long. I have an hour to get to Skulls Gap by 4 pm, amd felt like a 5 mile long. I arrived at 4:03. (The actual hard cut off was at 3:45, and I was 20 mins late. I did not know at the time.) I had a sinking feeling it would be hard to make the cut. I know if only I could hustle a bit in that 4-5 ish miles, I would have made the cut. My race technically ended here.
I was now at mile 37. There were 13 miles left. I would try to get back to the finish by 7 pm. 3 hours for 13 miles is doable. I did not feel that tired.
The sweeper offered me her car to give back but I refused. Usually, it is somewhat a difficulty for runners to find a ride back to the start after having dropped from the race. Here she was so excited saying you got to drive my car back as if I won the lottery. It was good news but I had already decided to run back, like last year. I needed the long hard run.
One reason, was after 37 miles of running, I was not ready for a drive. It was kind of her, but no way I would be driving. I prefer to run back. She stayed for maybe a bit more to find another driver to take her car back to the start before begining her sweep. I was trying to get as fast away from her. It is never fun to be chased by a sweeper. (By the way, the sweeper duties were to make sure no other runners on the trail, and to take down the course markings).
It was supposed to be 4 miles (correction: 6 miles) to the next aid station at FS90. I know they would be closed at 5 and last year, I reached there by 5:15. The situation was about the same. Last year, I left the aid station at 3:50-3:55. This year I left at 4:08. Still I should not be too far off. If not by 5:15, then 5:30 would have been acceptable to me. I felt I was running better than last year, but because the pressure was off from having to make the cut off, I did not arrive at FS 90 until 6 pm. I guess I was walking more than I should. By then the sweeper had caught up to me. I also caught up to a 40-mile runner, Dave Lance (apparently that was a fake name) from central West Virginia. It was the first time I caught up with anybody this late in the race. He was timed out by now being close to 6 pm. Later I learned he refused to be pulled from the earlier aid stations after being cut and so was disqualified. He was not moving that fast. The sweeper was pulling the course markings. Unless he knew the way, he was not allowed to be on the trail. I just he was being stubborn. Night fall was in an hour ish and he did not have a headlamp. They tried to convince him to take a ride back to the start. Finally, he gave in. The sweeper was not having it and so did not wait on him.
I had 9 miles to go. Last year, it took me two hours to get off the mountain. Because the last section where there were supposed to be only 4 miles took me over 2 hours, it might take me 3-4 hours to do the final 9 miles.
Now the sweeper was chasing me again and she passed me like 10 mins later and it was me chasing her. It was impossible. She was fresh and super fast, looked to me running a 9 min pace or faster. Still I did not want to be on the mountain after dark. Apparently, now after 12 hours, I finally found my running strides. I made longer strides and lept over rocks and stuffs. I was amazing flying down the trail. I was not that fast per se like the sweeper but I was moving much faster than any other time in the whole race. If I had moved like that during earlier, the race would have been well within reach. I reached the finish before 8 pm. I was faster coming off the mountain this year than last year. One thing I noticed, the final rocky section was not as rocky as I remembered it to be. I was able to run on it.
How to do better next year: I really need to practice hill run both going up and coming down. This year unlike last year, I just didn’t have the energy to run until the final 12th hour. Not sure what is wrong. How did I hold up onto my reserve until the final hour does not make sense to me.
The 4-mile section from Skulls Gap to FS90 really hampered me both on the outbound and inbounding. If not for that extra slowness on this stretch, the race would have been in the bag. Outbounding caused me being cut at Skulls Gap later on (3 mins over). Inbounding, I was 45 mins over my expected time.
I did well on the Rowland (mile 27-31). I did especially well on the final 9 mile descend (under 2 hours). This was on tired feet.
Thank you for all volunteers and aid stations. My friends waited for me at the end. Adrien, Scott, Eileen, and others. They gave me a lot of goodies, left over aid station food, sodas, pops. It was another unforgetable year. Adrien was the last to finish and how I wish I could have caught up to him.
Finally the week is here. Usually I don’t write anything before the race for fear of jinxing it.
Thinking back to the Burning River 100, I arrived on Friday afternoon. We saw the finish chute and arch. My mom suggested me to take some pictures there since it is not fenced off yet. I had a feeling it is bad luck to pretend crossing over the finisb line before the race. I did took pictures of myself before the finish line. Lo and behold, I jinxed it. I did not finish that race.
Since now I am again at the start line of the Iron Mountain 50 mile race, many effort was spent for this. Last few weekends I have been driving over 300 miles to train on the course.
In the last post, I mentioned the possibility of going backpacking. It turned out the plan fell through. I am at the race now.
It is an out and back race. My ankle has been much better, though not 100%. I don’t think it ever will get back to 100%. It is better than when I ran the Burning River last month.
Because the race is an out and back, I could turn around accordingly if my ankle could not handle the trail anymore.
That is all for now.
Last weekend was amazing. Though I am too tired to write about it now. I did the course marking for tomorrow race. Then I went to the Grindstone course in the Washington Forest. There I did a night run. It was once in a long while since I did a night run. It was worth it.
IMTR and Grindstone – These two races are finally on my radar.
IMTR is Iron Mountain 50 miler, which I ran last year and the year before. I did not finish it and was hoping this year would be the year I will finish under 12 hours.
Things seemed to be moving in the right direction with how seriously I trained for my early races such as the MMT 100, until the beginning of summer, when my plan was coming apart.
I have been slacking off after MMT. I failed to finish Catoctin 50k within the time limit in early July. Two weeks ago, I failed to finish the Burning River 100.
Each of those races were hard, and no doubt I knew that beforehand. They were somehow suppose to vault me into Iron Mountain and Grindstone. These two are much tougher.
I don’t want to doubt myself but I am now on shaky ground with the two earlier races gone bad. Anyway, the show must go on.
The past weekend, I had a chance to go down to Damascus (VA), to do a training run on the Iron Mountain course. I completed 23 miles. My time was not fast. The mileage was not great. I originally wanted to 28 ish and even 30. I was moving much slower than I wanted and so ran out of time. It was not yet able to reach race day pace. Everyone who showed up out ran me. It was fine, I know.
I enjoyed my run out there. My foot was feeling better. Pain finally is gone. I ran in my brand new trail shoes I brought at Burning River. It was not my first time wearing trail shoes but it has been a long time since. I finally appreciate what good trail shoes can do. I felt I could step on anything on the trail again without the fear of falling or twisting my ankles. It is a world apart to run with trail shoes than on road shoes I have been using.
The next day, I went to Solon, VA, to do the Grindstone training. It is on the Wild Old Trail, which I had run there plenty of times. I was again the last one in my group because there were many more powerful runners than I was on the trail.
The Grindstone run was easier than I had anticipated since most of the run was on a downhill and there was even a portion on the road. I ran 28 miles. It skipped two of the mountains I normally would go on, so we saved 4-6 hours from the run.
The hardest part of the run was to climb to Little Bald for 3 miles. There I was able to over take couple other runners. One runner went off course for 10 miles and did not return until later in the evening (3 hours later). I had no problem with directions since I know the course.
The good outcome of the both trainings was I got to meet up with an old friend and met couple new people. I met Scott, who led me to another friend Adrien, whom I met last year. It was a little reunion. Scott helped bail out Mel who was lost on the mountains for hours. He went out to find him and drove him back to camp.
It was some memorable experience. I don’t know whether I could finish either Iron Mountain or Grindstone this year, but I already had some good time while training for it.
This coming weekend, I plan to go to West Virginia for my service project, and as well some training run. I plan to use the Rim to River 100 course. I won’t be running in it this year, but the course is beautiful and I needed the service hours for Grindstone to meet one of the requirements.
On a personal level, my great uncle passed away couple days ago. I am sadden by the news. I have been thinking what it means. One reflection I got (same when my grandma passed away in 2020) is that there is an end. All races have an end. It made me think back the last couple races I did. Some had a happy ending. I guess there are always celebrations when one crosses the finish line. But as you know, at Burning River, I did not get to cross the finish line. I did finish (at mile 86). The experience was I poured all my energy into it. I was empty and I was done at that point. There was no more I could give. No way I could take another step.
I did not see my great uncle took his last breath, but we were there with him five hours before. His breathing was started becoming more laborous when we left. I did not expect him to depart from us that night though we knew it would be soon. And there he finished. We might have wished that he would live a few more years, a few more days, or even a few more hours. Yet it was expected as was unexpected that night as he slept, he left this world.
There is no why or how. It just is. Death is an end. The analogy of a race and death kind of break apart from here. I might be selfish to be all wrapped up about my not finishing the Burning River. Why did I not train harder or run a bit faster or being smarter in how I go through the aid stations. There is a lot of I could have and should have done this or that. In the end what does it even matter? It was a race and I ran it. I have fought the good fight (as Apostle Paul wrote about his life as he looked back on it). I hope I could one day say the same. I ran the race and fought the good fight.
I have many thoughts about this race. I DNF (did not finish). It is one of dreaded word in a race. Now I have collected a few DNFs, it was not as dreadful as when I first got it at the Devil Dog or at the Massanutten Race last year.
If I knew I was definitely going to DNF, I probably would not have run it. I felt I had a good chance of finishing before I started. I checked the course on paper and it did not seem too hard for me. The race was not hard, is what I still believe. It might be even easier than the Devil Dog. Most of the problems I found troubling, such as hills and rains happened early in the race. Technically, they could have overcome and I could have finished. … But that is a lot of what-ifs. I accept if I could not finish, I could not finish.
As I reflected on it, I did not finish mostly due to reduced training after finishing the Massanutten race in May. Then I had an injury (actually several injuries) during the Catoctin run (50k). I rollwd my ankle in that race on my left foot and I forced myself to finish it in 11 hours, when I should have stopped halfway, maybe at 5 hours in. Immediately after Catoctin, every movement of ankle hurt. However, it was recovered enough for me to run Catherine Furnace 50K two weeks ago. So I thought I should be okay for BR100 (Burning River).
The race started at 4 AM. This was like my 5th or 6th 100 mile race so I know the drill. I had my drop bags packed and ready. I arrived a day before. Sleep-wise, I felt I was ok. I was up before 3 AM. I had like 4 hours. I had been pulling usually 4 hours of sleep during the week. I was not sleep deprived, but I think a bit more sleep would have helped. During the race, that wee hours around 4 AM Sunday really hit hard and I wished I had more sleep the previous nights, so I was not too drained.
Also, I had couple big runs right before BR100. I wished I had tapered my mileage so as not to be so exhausted for the race. Pretty much, I drained my reserve before the race, so there was not much left for the late push.
I do not have hard feeling about the DNF. I felt it was just a matter of fact I came up short. I ran until I timed out, arriving at mile 86, Botzum aid station after they closed. I knew there was no way for me to continue. I did not fuss about it. I had whole night to think about it.
Weather might have played a part. Rain started early almost immediately as the race got underway. First it was a drizzle. By the first aid station (4 miles in), the heaven opened. We were receiving buckets of water pouring down on us. Many cheered. Not me. It meant we would have a cooler run. The temperature high was around 80. At the time it was around 70 F. Humidity was off the chart, I think around 80-90%. It did not bother me, but many runners mentioned it made them unbearable. Rain did not initially affected me other than reduced vision. I could see better not wearing my glasses than wearing them, since they fogged up and rain droplets made them virtually impossible to see through. At some point, I put away my glasses.
Occasionally there was dense fog. We had maybe 3-5 feet of vision. Since this happened early, and most people were walking up the trail anyway, it did not feel so bad.
About maybe 2 hours in, the trail started being saturated with water and soon became a muddy mess. The muddy course remained a feature through out the race. Mud was at first not too much an issue but on a slope, mud became extremely slipery. The first few hills I was fine. As I started getting tired though, I started falling all over the place due to slipery hills. In a couple of those falls, I ended up scraping my left elbow. I might have injured my left foot by then but did not realized. This was a new injury. My old injury was the outside ankle of my left foot, but this was the inner ankle on the left foot.
At the time, I did not feel any pain, but later in the race after 66 miles, somehow the pain became obvious. It was swelling.
The first 50 miles were boring. I was mostly on pace. I was doimg 7 hours every 25 miles. It was not fast but it was on pace for a 28 hour finish.
At mile 22, first dropbag was like a savior. It was 10 am. By then chafing was a big issue. I was cut by my shorts and underwear. My shoes were causing a lot of problem too. Feet being wet all the time was not good. I swapped shoes. I applied vaseline liberally. My private part and my thighs were cut from rub burn. So everything hurt when I moved.
Nothing much happened between mile 22 to 50. The second dropbag location was at mile 34, which I reached around 2 pm. At the time, I believed I could get to mile 50 by 5 pm.
My feet were in bad shape. I spent a lot of time to take care of them. I changed shoes and socks. I applied a lot of vaseline to places where I was burned. Luckily I had my sissors with me at that station, I cut the sides of my short to made them split-fly. This helped a lot, so that when I moved my legs the fabric did not tighten around my thighs and causing the rub burn. One thing I failed to do was cut my underwear to release some pressure at the time. I did not get back here until near midnight (8 hours later). I think my underwear had high percentage of cotton, so when wet, it was rubbing my private area and this race causing those areas to bleed. I regretted leaving the aid station without taking care of this stress point.
By mile 40, I was tired but was still able to run. I think I reached mile 50 around 5:40. Unfortunately, I again needed to take care of my feet and other hurt areas. I did not get out the station until 6:00 pm. It was way too much time spent. Now 14 hours into the race. At this time I was still on pace of 7 hours every 25 miles. I was regretting of so much time wasted during the morning hour at the aid stations. I could have saved an hour by now.
Mile 50 to mile 66 was hard. My running pace was just a slight faster than people’s walking pace. Many people passed me including some older people. I was not panicking yet. I reached Kendall Lake at 9:00 pm. The sun was setting. It was mile 62. 100K done. I knew I was a bit behind schedule. I wanted to get to mile 66 before midnight. It was only 4 miles away but it took me more than 2 hours to get there.
Mile 66 was our dropbag station. I arrived at 11 pm. My average pace was 2.2 mph. It was a struggle. Again feet were pretty raw. I changed shoes or socks I think. My memory was a bit vague. I had a new headlamp. Unfortunately it did not fit me. It was too loose. It was my first time trying it on. I might have spent 10 minutes adjusting the strap and I was furious at the time wasted. I knew now was not time to waste on it.
I then spent a lot time fixing my feet and applying vaseline. In my heart I knew, this was the turning point of the race. I wish I could have gotten in and out under 5 mins. I did not get out until 11:25. More importantly, I was behind on my nutrition, but I did not do enough to fix this deficit because I did not have the appetite to eat. If I could have done it again, eat up well at this station to get me through the night. Better yet, to eat up at mile 50.
By then my body and muscles had cool off too much and I no longer could run. I made it to next checkpoint at mile 70. It was just a bit past 1 am. That was my goal. I knew I was moving very slowly. There I picked up a random pacer.
I was calculating my pace in my head, from 6 pm to midnight, 6 hours, I only moved 17 miles. At most 18 miles. That was like 3 miles an hour or 20 mins per mile. We need to have a pace under 18 to be able to finish.
Mile 70. Amanda was pacing her friend, but her friend decided to bail, so she ended up pacing me instead. She paced me all the way to the next dropbag station (Oak Hill), mile 78. We arrived at Oak Hill at 3:45 am. Unofficially, it was more than mile 78, because we were taken on an alternate trail due to flooding at the finish. I think it was at least 2-3 miles longer. However, station closing time was not changed. Oak Hill station still closed at 4 am. We had to get out before then. Normally it would not be a problem, but at this point, I knew I was chasing cutoffs.
Again unfortunately, I could not move any faster. My feet were raw. Luckily I now had on fresh socks. I emptied all the sands and grits from the shoes. Feet felt a lot better. I was freezing though. My pacer was wonderful in helping and feeding me. Unfortunately, I was unraveling. I did not have enough food but I also could not eat much.
Technically, we were still on pace to finish if we could keep a 18 min per mile pace. However, I was done. The next station was 11 miles long. Many parts of this stretch were runnable. Yet I could not run. My pacer had great patience. She got me to run every 25 feet and walk every 25/50 feet. Something like that, but to me my walking and running pace were basically the same. However, running was dreadful for me. Every time, Amanda asked me to run, boy, it was like the end of the world for me. She was a demon to me.
The next 4 and half hours were unrelenting walk. Sky brightened after 5 am maybe around 5:30. The morning did not bring much hope. Amanda was hoping my mood would improve and thus to run faster when light again. I told her, it is not my mood, it was just impossible for me to move any faster. Even my walking pace was decaying too. No longer could I take bigger steps.
Deep down I knew it was impossible to finish by now. I was thinking I needed couple extra hours to make it to the finish. I was not beating myself too much on wasting much time at the aid stations, though if only I had gotten out each one under 5 mins, I would have made it.
Also I really wanted to sleep. I told my pacer it would be so good she ahe would carry me. I knew that would be a DQ, and of course she refused. I could hardly kept my eyes open. We passed couple people who just gave up and sat on the side of the roads to be picked up. My pacer urged me onward and would not let me stop. I felt if I could just sleep for 5-10 mins, I might feel better.
The aid station seemed never arrived. 5 am. Then 6 am went by. Then 7 am. No aid station was in sight. 8 am. Still no station. By then we knew the station we were expecting had closed. The area was unfamiliar to neither nor to my pacer. We had no choice but kept on going. It was mostly downhill. We arrived then at Botzum, mile 87 officially, but probably mile 90 unofficially. It was 8:30. Botsum had closed since 7:30.
Both my pacer and I decided to stop here no matter what. Luckily a volunteer was still around and could drive us back to the start/finish. He saved us an uber ride. I did not mind taking an uber, but having an immediately ride back was the best. It was obvious the station had closed.
My legs were pretty dead afterward. Finally I could sleep.
The recovery was not bad. The same day after a few hours of sleep, I was pretty much back to my old self. I could move around without much pain. I had some blisters which I did not take care until the following day. My ankle was swollen. It took a week for it to go away. There was still some pain today. However, I think I could run again.
Summary: If I could do again:
-prepare for the rain, bring a lot of socks, bring extra shorts and underwears
-having a crew would have help, with a quicker turn over at the aid station. They could have dress the feet faster, apply lotion
–nutrition wise. I felt I was behind on my nutrition. This was on me. I brought a lot of sweets but they ruined my appetite. I wish I had more solid food
Shoes – grits got in. Having gaiters would have help. Mud was messy. I tossed away two of the three pairs used. I wish I had more shoes, like six pairs for this race. I wish I had shoe inserts. I could have swapped the inserts.
Carrying sissors might have help. Cutting my shorts on the side splits was creative. I wish I had started this early in the first few miles. It might have help with avoiding the chafe. Chafe took so much of my time to deal with. Also carry a lot of vaseline (lube up) all the time.
Sorry, there is no joy in describe much of my run. Most of my run was me just going through the motion. I started with high hope that I could overcome the weather and distance and hills. The race was wearing me down bit by bit until it was no longer possible to finish. Turning point was pretty much at midnight, but at the time, I did not know it. If I could quit, I should quit then instead of grinding it out the next 8 hours, for next 20 miles.
Deep down though, I enjoyed the race. The grinding is what running ultra is about. Joy came when there was a finish. It seems depressing when the finish was impossible to reach. However, I praise the race and grateful for the opportunity to run it. I think it was well managed and I appreciate all the volunteers for their long hours and being out there regardless the rain or the late shifts.
I am behind a post or two. Time does seem to go by fast.
Last week, I ran the Catherine’s Furnace Fatass 50K. I enjoyed it a lot. The trail course turn by turn directions were not as hard as I thought. There were only a few turns.
The trail itself was not as technical as I thought. It was nothing I could not handle. The 50K still took me 9 hours to finish. I was not in my best state. There were couple long climbs. The course was runnable, but I mostly walked it. The weather was not as hot.
We started at 7. I arrived a little before 6:30 and almost everyone did too. I almost could not find a place to park. There were about 75 of us trying to squeeze to a parking lot made for 35 spots.
I saw many familiar faces. Wayne and Costi, friends I made from MMT race were there. Both Larry were there. One of them ran in the Western States this year. The other was whom I met at Old Dominion 100. I met up with Elana, who was my hero from MMT. Her husband still talks of how they found me on the trail completely exhausted. I was glad to be able to run the first section with her and later finished the race together. Amy whom I ran with at the Bull Run Run 50 was there as well.
Physically, my ankle has improved. Now I have recovered enough like when I ran Blackbeard Revenge 100 in March. It still feels uncomfortable but it is no longer hurting. I think this is the best I could do. My ankle has regained the flexibility. I could handle the trail in an acceptable way. I was still wary of not to put too much strain on it.
The run was nothing much to say. We hard 4-5 aids stations. Larry (from Old Dominion) manned one of them. Tracy and several others volunteered at the Bird Knob station. Most of the run was uneventful.
I was able to help someone during the run. The course was like a lolipop. I was on my way back with maybe 6 miles left. I just passed the Bird Knob Aid Station, maybe a mile in. I climbed the road, passed the gate and was a bit on the Ant Hill. There I saw a guy laying across the trail on his side. He did not look okay. I called out to him. He gave some vague answer. I think he wanted me to go past him. I would have done so but I felt I need to check on him first. He said he has stommach pain. His eyes were closed. Most of the time he was not responding to my questions. I believed I was there for 10-15 minutes. People who were behind me started showing up. They seemed not stopping for him.
I know he has two choices and staying where he was was not one of them. The race is almost over, unless he moves or else he be stuck on the mountain. Based on my morning run of that section and my MMT experience, it would take 2 hours to reach the finish. We just passed the last aid station about a mile ago. So I asked him if he wanted to go back to the aid station or continue to the finish. He said he wanted to go back. Now, I know from experience the aid station should be closing soon. So he said, why don’t I run to the aid station to let them know to wait for him. I did. They sent people out to pick him up. By then he had recovered enough to walk and he was able to make it back to the aid station. They took him off the mountain.
As for me, I continue on with my race. I lost about 45 minutes. To me it was not a big deal. I had my training in. I know I would still finish. I ran hard to catch up to the last person who passed me (it was Elana). I still took me almost an hour to catch up to her. She was descending from Bird Knob by then. Together with her we chased down Stuart and his son. It was not long until we reached the finish.
Many of us stayed a long time after the race to chat. The food was good. We had burgers. I stayed till almost sunset.
This brings us up to the present. This weekend I will be running the Burning River 100. I signed up not long after finishing the MMT in May. Now it is the end of July. The last 2.5-3 months have gone by fast. I did not get as much training in as I had hoped. It is what it is. I am about to go to Ohio for the race.
I am excited. It is a big race. Surely, I am nervous. I have done enough 100 mile races🤗🍊 that I should not feel this way. Personally I think I will finish but who knows, 100 mile races are always hard.
Not related, I renumbered my last two posts because the “date” was off by one, in case anyone wonders why they are seeing post 568 twice.
I did not finish it in time. The race was 9 hours but it took me almost 11 hours. I am not too upset about compare to the devil dog or MMT. It is what it is. I have accepted DNF as the fact of life. Over all, I am quite pleased with the race. I like a hard race.
I ran the Catoctin 50K. It was my third time. First time was a 25K (by mistake), last year was the full 50K and this year was the full. It is a race I signed up on January 1st or a little after. I have been doing this the last few years. It is a race I look toward year after year.
50K doesn’t sound hard, but this one is. It is not tremendously hard like the MMT, but there were enough hills and technical sections to make running on it hard.
I think my failure to finish was a combination of things. I started way slower than I wanted. I thought I could catch up later on, but the surge never came.
One of the thing was I never knew I was way behind time during the first half. I was with a bunch of people who were hiking it. I guess I picked the wrong group. That was what I did last year too. But last year I was power hiking up hills. This year I kind of took my time. The flat section, I was not going very fast, since I did not want to pass anyone. I had problem with downhills, somehow I was afraid to run downhill. Last year I was flying downhill. I became tired even halfway in, so I couldn’t make the cutoff.
At the first Aid Station, Delauter Rd, (mile 7) I had on 15 mins until cut off. I arrived about 10 am. It had taken me 2 hours to get there. Yes, it was way too slow.
At Hamburg Road Aid Station, (mile 10) I was 5 mins from the cut off. I arrived just before 11 am. It has taken me an hour to do 3 miles. Though these three miles were rocky. I knew I wanted to get to High Knob by noon-ish. By then I knew it might be hard to reach, with 1 hour to cover 6 miles. I remembered last year, I took off here. I was hoping for the same. This year I couldn’t dial up my speed much. Some people caught up to me. I figured I could get there still by 12:30, and was hoping to make the cutoff there.
I did not arrived at High Knob (midway point in the race, mile 16) until 12:40. By then, I had missed the cut off.
I decided to hike back to the start to my car, 16 miles away. Actually I did not start off until closer to 1 pm since I was going to do it with Caroline, the sweeper (who is my friend). They were held up, so I started without them.
A fellow runner and friend also decided to run back, but he was going to use the road instead of the trail. That was probably a smart move. However, I wanted some hard training in.
Some incident: Another runner who misses the cut off also decided to hike back to the car. Carly started before me, and about two miles in, she tripped and fell and hit her head on a rock. I arrived about 40 minutes later. The outbound sweepers (Ram, also a friend and couple other people) were helping her. There were some bleeding. They tried to get her to the road so someone could pick her up. I was debating whether to give up on my hike and be with them.
I continued on to hike to Hamburg Aid Station, which was maybe 4 miles away. I caught up with a runner, bib 250, Fred. We were maybe couple miles from the station, I slow down to match his pace and hiked with him in. He had run out of water, so his pace was very slow. Unfortunately we arrived at the station an hour late, and the station had closed and left. The aid station captain was still there. He had half a pitcher of water, and I guess it was for himself or the sweepers that would be coming. I knew the sweepers were at least an hour behind me since they were held up. I had my pack filled up to 1 L mark. It was not much because we wanted to leave some water for the sweepers. Also Fred had a cup of water to relieve his thirst. He then waited for someone to pick him up. I would prefer to have a full pack of water but I know the sweepers need their water, so I headed out the final 10 miles with just 1L. I knew I would run dry soon, but I hope I could stretch it for at least 5 miles. We were at the hottest time of the day.
It was 3:30 by then. I hope to make it to Delauter. I hope its aid captain would still be there, even though by now it was very late. But I was hoping they would wait for the sweepers to come through. I might get some water or food from them. I know it was a fool’s hope, but this hope kept me on.
I arrived back at Delauter, with no one insight. I was a bit disappointed though I knew it. The sweepers might have left was what I was thinking. I know my water was running low, I hope I could stretch it for another hour until 5:30. It was about 4:30. The station might have closed since 3 pm. It was too much to hope that they would still be there. I set up a new goal to catch up to the last runner maybe by 5:30.
I still had 7 more miles to go. I remember passing a road post showing 8.5 miles earlier to Manor (the parking where we started). That was actually a motivation because nowhere on the trail has mile markers and this was the only place I knew how far I still had to go. Then I made couple wrong turns just after Delauter but I realized early enough to back track. I lost maybe 10-15 minutes and no more than 30 mins. It was the reason I felt the sweepers must have leapfrogged me. Time seemed to stand still. I was not rushing to finish and I knew I would get back eventually. I then reached another mile post, 4 miles to Manor. This was a surprise since I did not remember seeing this on the way out. This was a relieve because I knew I could do 4 miles even without water. By then I drank my last drop of water. My body temperature was getting hot and I could not run. I was thinking to drink out of a creek or pond if need be. The time was about 5 pm. I knew by then the race has ended. There was not or should not be anyone on the trail. I had kind of wish someone would come out to search for me. Maybe bringing me some water. Deep down though, I knew I brought myself into this situation and I had to perservere to get myself out.
I hope to get to White Rock because I knew I would be safe. It is about a mile or so from White Rock to the Manor’s Parking. I could literally hear the highway. I hope to get reach White Rock by 6 and aim to finish by 7 pm.
As I entered the Road that separate White Rock, Caroline texted me asking if I was still on the trail. I said yes. I was relieved that she got back, since the trail was too hard for her in my opinion. Later, I learned that she had bailed out and had someone to pick her up. I told her I was descending from White Rock. I was guessing I had 2-3 miles to go. Maybe 1 to 2.5. I was probably hiking around 2.5 miles per hour so I told her I will be down by 7. I tried to run. She had got my hope up again.
Not long later, I reached another road crossing. I saw a house and knew I was back. After the road crossing was a creek. Someone was bathing/swimming in it. And after the creek was the visitor center and parking lot. I arrived around 6:40. I was completely exhausted. The race already closed since 5 and most people left. A few friends and volunteers stayed to wait for me and the other sweeper. They asked me if I have seen anyone out on the course. I said no.
Fred was the last guy I saw and they drove him back already. Apparently they missed a runner and not sure where he went. I stayed until 7:30. The runner came in a little after 7. I celebrated his finish. We took some pictures and I shared with him some of the food I had. They were nothing much, just some fruit cups.
The sweeper was still out on the course. I assume the sweeper would not make it back until 8 pm. Caroline who was one of the sweepers bailed early because she was cramping up. I glad she did not do the whole 16 miles. I was worried about her since she did not carry much water and aid stations had closed. She had enough sense to call it quit early. During the whole run I was worried about her, knowing she was behind me. I was quite capable runner and was suffering, she would be much so.
Again, I have been a sweeper myself before, I felt how the race was doing sweeping is a bit unconventional. The race should not leave the sweeper unsupported for a 16 mile stetch when it takes 6-7 hours to do on a hot day with no water. Most sweeping duty should usually be 8 miles. Aid station should not close before the sweeper comes through. Sweeper should have followed the last runner, meaning once the last runner left the aid station, they should be able to set out. There was no point in sweeping when they were starting two to three hours behind the last official runner. Anyway, I felt the race left the sweepers high and dry.
It took me 6 hours to get back to the finish/starting area. Outbound took 5 hours. In bound took 6.
The run was harder than I had expected. It might have to due to the heat. Also on the way back, the aid stations were closed already, so I ran without the course support. I had to conserve my 2 L of water for 16 miles back (and I finished half of that by first 4 miles), by taking small sips I had to stretch it out for the final 10 miles with less than 1L. My water ran out at the last four miles. Note, I am not criticising the race, I knew after being cut, I was on the trail at my risk without supports. There were multiple locations I could have stopped and could have asked for a ride back. However, I knew I could finish the run. I anticipated running out of water.
I had trouble breathing during most of the race. The air was heavy. I felt my chest was heavy. I could not get into a good running pace, so I ended up walking most of the race.
If any fault to blame, it was my slacking off with my training after the MMT. So for two months, I was floundering. Also, I was not used to the heat. The temperature was 89F and humidity was around 60%. Note, I like running in hot weather because I like being down and dirty. I felt it really bringing the best out of me, except this time I was not ready.
My ankle also was not happy with me. It was hurting most of the way. I did not have a strong ankle support. It has been an ongoing issue since the Devil Dog. It was ok during the MMT, but since couple months that I had not run much, the ankle issue returned. It is not in great pain, but minor pain like the funny bone being hit. Also there were a lot of popping noices coming from it during the run. Something definitely was not right. So I hike most of the way than running.
It was just a 50K, but it was a hard 50K. I am a bit disappointed. Yet it was a good training. It reminded me how high the bar is. Last few months having completed some very hard races I have been complacent. This reminds me that I have to continue to train for hard races. I got to be able to run these kinds of trails.
I got back on a normal training schedule, Tuesday/Thursday and Saturday run. Plus I had a race this week.
A race is always good for me to catch up with my running friends once again.
I did not expect to see the people I ran with at the MMT to show up, since this was kind of a small local race.
A bit of background, OSS/CIA 50, takes place in Prince William Forest, Triangle Virginia, just maybe 14 miles outside of DC (oh and it took me 90 minutes to get there on a Saturday afternoon, due to traffic, my goodness).
It is a night race, starting at 6:00 evening and ending the next morning 8:30. We have 14 and half hours to run this.
Why it is called OSS/CIA because Prince William Forest was a place used as training camp for OSS officers/agents back in the early days (post WW2). OSS was the former name for the CIA. Barracks/cabins used are still around
I ran in the park a few times, three times for the Devil Dog, and once for the Redeye 50K, and once with the same organization for an 8 hour night run. I am familiar with the course, though I still get lost in this park because there are just a lot of trails.
I have heard of OSS/CIA 50 a few years back and did not run it back then because I saw the cutoffs and many people who could not finish (usually around 50% would DNF). Plus it is a night run, which is tougher in many ways. I was not ready for it back then.
However, having done a few 100 milers, the race does not put much a fear in me any more.
I signed up this year after I could not get into the Highland Sky 40, which is a much preferred run for its scenic route and many of my local friends run in it. Truth to be told, I did get off the waitlist for Highland Sky a week ago, but I already signed up for the OSS/CIA. I was on the 40-50th place and thought my chance was not that great to get in for the Highland Sky when I signed up.
I think I tried OSS/CIA last year too but it was full. My friend said, I could have emailed Alex the race director and he would have let me in. Well I did not know Alex well back then.
I only started to know various people in “high positions” recently after having done some of our local hard races such as the MMT and Devil Dog.
Note, I am not a fast runner, but I guess I am making splashes with people because of my DNFs in both races and that I went back to redeem them. I guess that is one way to make aquantance with the local race officials and get my name out there.
As mentioned some of the MMT runners were there. Many went to Highland Sky either to run or volunteers. Those that did not, showed up at this race. Jana was there helping out as well as running in it (she took first place in the marathon distance). She is in many running podcasts. She is our local heroes. We trained and ran in the MMT. Everyone knows Jana.
My friends Wayne and Charlie from the MMT also showed up. I told Wayne about my Grindstone race in September, and he promises to pace me. He will have the UTMB (100) in September too, but he said he could pace me for 50 miles!
No doubt Wayne is an impressive runner and having him pacing me at the Grindstone would be an honor. I asked if Charlie would crew me, but he has his kid’s event (soccer I think) to go to. Anyway, having someone to promise to pace already is very good. Crew could be found later.
My other friends John H and Charleen were there. John is planning to run the Shenandoah 100 (a self fatass event). I volunteer to crew John. So more to come about this event in a couple weeks.
Plus I made a new friend Lynn. I met Lynn at the MMT too, and she recognized me at the OSS/CIA and said she will be doing Grindstone too. I took down her contact in case we might go to course to train together. I did not know at the time that she is from upstate NY. It seems though she comes to the DC area a lot. The more people I have for Grindstone the better. It will be a hard race, but do-able. I have heard it is comparable to the MMT. I plan to meet up Lyyn.
There are people once you meet, you know they will be a good friend. All these people, I met at OSS are amazing. I think Lynn is one of them.
I am on a quest to do 50 states and 100 of 100 mile races. So knowing people like Lynn from out of my state is helpful to me! I don’t go out of my way to make friends or with an agenda in mind. It is just their interest matches mine.
I already looked up races Lynn has done and will be going, and I want to pick her brain about the 100 miles she has done.
Lynn has done the Burning River 100 last year. She told me to get the Fairfield Hotel for the cheap price and close to the race. Sharaton already sold out and costing $500 a night is just too much for my budget. I will have to get back with Lynn about the run though. She finished it in 29 hours, so that is some confident builder for me since I am about her pace.
I met Orico too. I met Orico on the second loop just before halfway maybe around mile 32-33. She seemed to running fine according me when I was chasing her from behind. I had run with Wayne most of the night but at that point in time Wayne took off from me and disappeared. I came across Orico thinking it was Wayne. By the time I caught up, it was definite not Wayne because Orico is much smaller (and female).
Orico was breathing heavily. I could heard her from behind. In my mind, this is an ultra and not a 5K run. We were little over halfway and still many miles (hours) left. Runners should not run like they are out of breath.
True, we have high level of pollens in our area and the Canadian smoke from their fires is back in the area. So people who have asthma were having tougher time breathing.
I called out to her, that it is OK to walk in an ultra. However, she did not respond back to me. In ultras, we love talking since there are not many of us out on the course and we would be spending a significant of time running together (sometimes hours and days).
It was strange yet not so strange she did not answer back. As I mentioned in previous posts, DC area has a lot of runners who come off as unfriendly and this is due to the culture here where no one says hello or look at people in the eyes in public.
I was afraid I might be scaring her and as well as pushing her to run faster. In a race, if somone is following me, it tends to push me on running faster. As a young runner, I fell for that a lot. As I now become more experienced, I know to run my own race.
I told her that, she was not in my way. If I wanted to pass, I would announce it. This is the trail ettique. Since we are a single trail, it is hard to pass. Usually we wait for a place where the trail widens, unless the runner in front would stop to step to the side, to let the runner from behind to pass.
She also did not say anything back. In my mind, I was in no rush. She was running a decent pace though I was catching up to her. Then she took a wrong turn and I used that time to pass her, since I took the correct turn. Taking a wrong turn usually means she was panicking or distracted. After I passed her, I did not see her catching back up. I think she started walking from then on. Her pace/groove was broken.
Later at the finish I found out this was her first 50 mile race. It explained a lot. In our race there were 10-12 first time ultra runners. It is good to have new people joining. It makes the race so much more special. It is like initiation. I always remember my first 50. In my opinion OSS/CIA is a hard first time 50 miler, due to night run and trail condition.
About the course, we had a dry course, even though it rained the nighr before, but still it was technical course for first time runners. For me, now, the trail is smooth and buttery and very runnable. I remember my first DNF there and every rock was hard. Every stone and every hills I struggled in my first DNF I could still recall as reran on the same course that evening.
In fact, my first 5-10 miles that night was hard. My feet forgot how to run on the trail and I had to stare intensely at where my feet were stepping to avoid tripping. Later though, they gained back the natural ability to run without looking. Having a brighter flashlight on the second loop helped too.
My run was pretty uneventful. When I first arrived and saw Wayne and Charlie. I pulled up in my car right behind Wayne. We were both “late” 15 mins before the registration was to be closed. There were no more parking spots left. A volunteer (Jana) told us to pull to side to go for the check-in first before looking for parking. I think we were the last few to arrived. Then we drove to the back lot (ball park), where luckily there were enough spaces for us. It was not too far a walk to get back to the starting line.
I started out running with Wayne and Charlie since they are both good friends of mine and our paces are pretty much the same.
Not having run seriously for over a month since the MMT, I was a bit rusty. Soon Wayne and Charlie pulled away. Everyone was running a fast click, I think it got to be around 10 min pace (fast for ultras). My goal was to do about 15 mins, though at the time I was probably running about 12 mins.
Lynn passed me and gave me encouraging words. We passed each other a few times through out the first loop. There were several out and back sections, so we got to see those who were a bit ahead and those who were behind.
I then slowed down to the pace of that of John Hord was running. I met John from MMT training since John and Charleen were doing aid stations. I remember seeing John at the second and third training run. John was great at giving me encouraging words at the Chocolate Bunny and at MMT since he was crewing for Charleen that night.
Tracy C was about our pace too. We were running together. I got to kept pace with Tracy until near first half on the first loop (13 ish mile). Tracy has her own story.
My first MMT’s racing strategy kind of build around her. She is known in our club for DNF-ing too. You know you can be famous either you are the first place runner or the last place. Tracy is not slow! She is faster than me on many of the runs but she is still chasing for her buckle for the MMT. She is a bit sensitive about it, and I would too. She was saying people should tone it down. I apologized for using her as the person to beat at the MMT. She is commended of being brave to still sign up for races. I have been there after running my first MMT and didn’t finish, and I was thinking to myself if I still get what it takes to finish a 100 mile. It takes courage to show up and run. I felt I know Tracy a bit better that evening when she shared how she felt about the MMT race.
At the first Aid Station, I caught back with Wayne and Charlie. Wayne loves to take his time at the station, I think 10-15 minutes each time. It allowed me to catch up. We basically ran together for the rest of the night. Wayne did not wait for me, but I would catch up from time to time. I ran my own race. I did not wait for Wayne either, at the aid station, if I finish first, I took off, knowing both Wayne and Charlie could catch up to me.
We finished the first loop after midnight. 25/26 miles in the book. It is 25 miles but some people’s gps watch was reporting a mile more. It didn’t matter to me. I was treating it as 26 miles because it felt like a marathon length.
At midnight the marathon (25 mile) event took off. We saw many runners coming out.
I saw Tracy and John coming in from their first loop. Also Lynn came in. The cut off was at 1 am. I saw Lynn around 12:30 which was not too bad. We had until 8:30 (I didn’t know at the time) but that was plenty of time for a second loop.
Lynn said the course has way more double track trails (gravel roads) than she expected and was tired of running on them. I think about 5-6 miles of them. It was demotivating to run on gravel roads. One loop was enough for Lynn. As for me, I love roads and gravel because I could run faster on them than on trails.
Also Charlie did not go back out for his second loop. Wayne believed he might have some stomach issue like at the MMT. I had a 10 minute head start over Wayne on the second loop but he was quick to catch back to me and by mile 10 and passed me to get to aid station first. He took off when I arrived at Oak Ridge.
However, the next three miles, and it was 4 am by then, Wayne was exhausted. His running was the pace of my walking. I caught up to him just by walking/hiking.
We arrived back at Oak Ridge aid station the second time on our second loop. I told him to eat and he did. However, I could not wait for him to finish eating because I was getting cold. When a runner headed out, I followed. The runner in front of me was fast and disappeared. I must have sometimes passed Travis, another friend. Travis is fast. But as the night grinded on, I was passing people. Travis was the aid station captain at the Old Dominion Race (couple weeks ago), and I got to know him there.
The time was 4:30 ish then. Morning should arrived soon. The RD told us, tonight is the shortest night (summer soltice is couple days away). Initially I wanted to finish under 12 hours if possible. Meaning less than 2 hours left. At this time, I was willing to compromise for 8 am (14 hours). Still I felt I was behind schedule to finish by 8 am. We had 13 miles left to do.
I got to the next water point (Burma Road), around 6 am. Morning has dawned. From then I caught up maybe 10 runners. On the out and back I saw Wayne was only two places behind me maybe about 5 minutes behind. It is not bad and I thought he would surely catch up.
I had about 2 hours to do remaining 8 miles. Normally it should be fine, 15 mins a mile. 4 miles an hour. I felt though my pace was slipping. I thought 8 am was the final cut off since 8 am is the marathon cut off time. It was natural to assume the ultra would have the same cut off too.
In my mind, I believed I had only 6 miles left since the first time arriving at the Burma aid station is 4 miles. The out and back on Burma road was at least two miles, which gave 6 miles remaining. I asked the radio guy at the Burma station how many miles are left, and his reply was 8. So eight it is for me even though I was sure there should be 6 miles left.
My goal was to get to swinging bridge by 7 am. This would give me three miles (2.5 miles) for the final section. The laurel trail is about a mile long. The start/finish trail is less than a mile. It was about half mile to get to the Laurel Trail from the swinging bridge. So about 2-ish total.
I finished at 7:28. I had many people cheering me as I came in. Total 13:28 h.
We had breakfast and then the award ceremony. It was good to catch up with everyone. Marty (another friend) who always give me words of encouragement out on the trail, was there. He was pacing Adeline, who was only 10 minutes ahead of me. I was chasing her all night. I knew she had maybe a mile ahead. I see her in many of my races too.
Wayne came in 15 minutes after me. He made it before 8. We talked on many things. He will be running the Eastern States and Iron Stone 100K. I unfortunately already signed up for the Catoctin. I might go to see him after Catoctin since Iron Stone starts at 2 pm. I believe, I might get there by evening and then hang out with the Pennsylvania runners. This will be in couple weeks. I am excited for that.
Conclusion: I like running, because it gets me to run some more. This race is kind of help me get my act together for my summer races. Also many plans were made.
By the way, my Saturday was jammed packed. I had Catoctin training that morning with Billy C. I had a tea time with my other running group (Siri) in DC at 2 pm. Then the race was at 6. It took me almost two hours to get into DC and almost 2 hours to come back out. The traffic almost killed me that afternoon. Luckily I got all my fun in. I was with three different running groups that day. Yep. I was so tired the next day and Monday. Luckily, Monday was a holiday and I could recover. It was exactly how I like it.
My weekend has been Hustling and Bustling. First week of June usually is my volunteering weekend at the World End’s Ultra. I love the race and the people behind it. I met some cool running friends, one of my first few running friends who share the same passion of ultra trail running like I do. I’m sure everyone who runs ultra because they love it. These people really hit it off with me. Not sure if because the races there were harder or something, but we developed a bond. I don’t run hard races! To others the races I ran seem hard, but there is another level of difficulty out there. My first truly hard race I did there was the Laurel Highlands and since then I don’t dare to run it any more, but from that race I met really good friends, who introduced me to volunteering at the World End. Every year since, I try to give back to the community by volunteering there.
This year, the World End’s race was in conflict with my cousin’s wedding. So there was no way for me to drive 5 hours to Pennsylvania, literally to the End of the World to me (in the middle of nowhere), and then another 5 hours back. It did cross my mind though to try. Volunteering for the event started Friday night, with registration, or course proofing, or even sweeping the early sections or I could come back for the course clean up on Sunday.
I was thinking to get there in the middle of night and start proofing the first section, maybe.
Then I thought it is just crazy. I spend most of the time in the car. I might be late for the wedding. I know I don’t do well without sleep.
So that plan did not work. Then someone posted on the Facebook in my running club about needing a last minute crewing for Old Dominion 100. I said sweet, I could not be there for the whole time but I could do it until noon or early afternoon. The Old Dominion race is just an hour away and not 5 hours like World’s End. It was doable and the runner was fine with my half day’s help.
Friday after work, I drove to Woodstock, Va, to the fairgrounds, where the race would start and end. It was my first time there, but the trail and race is not new to me. Everyone have heard of Old Dominion (at least for trail/ultra ulrunners). Friday night was the race’s mandatory check-in day.
OD is 2nd oldest 100 mile race in America second only to the Western States 100 (in California). It also started as a horse race but in around 1979, a runner decided to enter and run with the horses. It led to the start of the running event. Back then no one thought it was possible to run a 100 miles or compete in a race for that distance. It is still a horse race today at Old Dominion, but the horse racing event would take place on a separate weekend and is run by a different organization. OD has similar background as Western States, which is the ultimate race for ultra distance runners, just like Boston Marathon for marathoners.
OD is part of the Grand Slam Series of 5 races, (Old Dominion, Western States 100, Vermont 100, Leadville Trail 100, and Wasatch Front 100). Old Dominion is the first race of the series and in the past, it was either Old Dominion or Vermont to make the grand slam (runners choose either one to run and run all other three races). I can’t say whether these two races are easier than the other Grand Slam races, but since it is the first, many people who are chasing the Grand Slam title would run this. Indeed, this weekend a dozen of so showed up for the grand slam title.
I was curious about the race and crewing would allow me to be up close to see the “elite” runners. I don’t ever consider myself to be competing in these races because the requirements to finish are so high. For me, I am just a baby in the 100 mile race.
Plus it is nearly impossible to get into one, I think. Most are managed by a lottery system. My chances of getting in are slim.
But anyway, crewing allows me to get close to such highly known race first hand.
There was a lot I did not know. And I glad I went. One thing was I thought all five races of the Grand Slam have a similar culture. I thought I would know everything about the Old Dominion from what I know about the Western States’s race, such as the competitiveness and how glamorous the race is. I thought OD is like that, of having camera crew following everyone around etc.
It was not like that. OD is a world apart. OD is typically a Virginia, back country lay back race. They used to not even have a website or something that was dated and it would not be updated with the current information. For many years, they would not even publish a list of runners. Friends would be guessing who would be running in it. But everything a runner needs to know is written in a small red booklet. Only a registered runner would be handed one at the race bib pickup.
It is family-run, home grown race. There was devoid of sponsorship or commercial often tied to many other bigger races. In a sense it is good. There is a lack of money and it brings out the authenticity. A race for runners by runners.
I felt I was stepping back in time, since I came from the big city marathon culture like the Rock-n-Roll Marathon. Everything was done and tracked with pen and paper. There isn’t any high tech gitzmo. At the race briefing, someone asked wheather there would be live tracking so that friends and family members could know where the runners are at, and it came across almost like a joke except no one was laughing. Tge race director was like, what do you expect. Nope there wouldn’t be one. The timer person is the same person who has been doing timing since the beginning. Though the race has improved a lot but don’t expect much is the take away. It was a low frill race on a hot day.
It is also an old tradition to run a 100 mile race under 24 hours. Many other races had made theirs easier by loosening the finishing time to draw more average runners to sign up, with say a 30 hour cut off or even 48 hour cut off. OD had relented a bit by adding 4 extra hours, but runners only received a buckle (sterling silver) if they come in under 24 hours. I think there is only a few races that still adhere to the 24 hour time.
Another thing I noticed, we do have turn by turn directions, but to me the course seemed confusing since it crosses on itself at several places (and at one places 3-4 times). Unless you are a local runner, those turn-by-turns make no sense. They were using state road numbering system, and to me turning right on 770 or left on 758 is quite gibblish (my brain just couldn’t memorize a bunch of numbers. The funny thing is I found, not all the turns have street numbers, and some don’t even have a sign. You kinda need to know where to turn. Race director explained that back then all the country roads are numbered as such and only until recently the county started naming streets like Mill Rd and so forth, so that the emergency service crew could find places. It explains why though turn-by-turn instructions are given in road numbers but the actual roads might have a road name. I had a hard time matching the road number to road name in google map and in-person! My advise is go to the mandatory race briefing (the confusing turns became clearer to me).
Fortunately for runners, at least the course was marked! But every year people do get lost and sometimes many miles. I have seen the course first hand this year and it is not too bad, besides I ran the MMT which is in the same vicinity, so I am kind of familar with the area. Runners getting lost seemed to a badge of honor for the race. One year, a runner ran an extra 19 miles and finished. It made quite a story. This year, I met the guy who ran an extra two miles. Wayne (one of my friends and runners whom I was crewing) too got lost early on. I also met a guy who got lost last year by making the wrong turn at four-point and could not finish, he redeemed himself this year. Most runners kind of accept it as a matter of fact. I got lost in my other races so I know how that feel. So did Tek (also a friend and runner, and I will write more below), who was not able to finish last year because she couldn’t her way. My conclusion is A pre-race course study is not impossible, but it is a bit tougher than any other races I ran. It just take a bit of resource to find a local map, plus a trail map, and then trace the course. Or ask a former runner while their memory os still fresh.
Second thing I was surprised was the race is 80% on country roads, mostly paved or horse trails. It should not surprise me because it used to be a horse race. Horse could not go up too steep a climb on the mountain. So the course while do have some serious elevation gain/lost, but it is doable (14000 feet). MMT, a race I recently ran has close to 18000 feet gain/lost. They said the state or county started to pave many of the roads. I think it makes the race a bit easier (or tougher, depends on the perspective). Easier, meaning faster time, but tougher because harder road surfaces hurt the knees and legs. It is a blister making place.
The time requirement was not a surprise to me. I knew it is a 24 hour race. They do have a 4 hours grace period (28 hour) but no buckle for those who came in after 24 hours. One year, they had it as 30 hour, but reverted back to 28 now.
With the 28 hour time, I might have a chance at this. I finished the Blackbeard a little over 26 hours, but that was with zero elevation. Two of my other friends ran this and they finished. I believe my face is compatible to theirs. I was also crewing them at couple stations. This makes me want to sign up in the future. I was glad I came to crew them because it inspired me to try.
Now about crewing, my guy, Greg, gave a good set of instructions before the race and basically, get the water, make sure he has his nutritions, and no blisters or sunburn. It was typical stuff. He gave me his pace chart. He was aiming for a sub 24 hour goal but doesn’t mind if he missed it and he would go for the 28 hour (just to finish).
Long story short all my three runners finished.
I was to meet Greg at the first dropbag/crew location around 8:42 and the second crew location at 11:52 (toward noon). From what he was saying, he might be later than his predicted pace. I did not check his pace chart but assumed it was set at even pacing.
Lucky though and I think he would have caught it too that the race has only one timed (well two technically if we count the finish time) cut-off that is at midnight runner must leave the mile 75 aid station. It means runners have to be going faster than their average race pace to reach there. I think we calculated around 16 min mile. He was basing a 17 min pacing for the 28 hour finish and it originally had 1 am as the time to arrive at mile 75. It was good we caught it early. It meant he would have to hustle a bit in the early miles. There is no starting slow strategy. The elites are a diffent breed of runners.
I watched the start at 4 am. Actually it was hard for me to fall asleep. I had couple hours of sleep in the back of the truck. It was fine. I was awake and saw the race off then I slept for couple hours till sunrise.
It dawned on me Greg might get their earlier than planned! Because I came across an aid station planning chart indicating that the first crew station was estimated to close by 8 am (my guy had it down that he would be there by 8:42). If the race officials think all the runners would gone by the station by 8 AM, then, my guy probably would be an hour faster too, say 7:42. So by 7:00, I was off to the first crew station. I knew I was in trouble, and might be behind schedule. They expected everyone to go out fast! Four hours to do 20 miles, technically wasn’t too fast, but that is my marathon pace! I brought some snacks before I went since I don’t know when I would be back to the city.
I think I arrived around 7:00-7:30 ish. Time is a bit hazy for me now. A few runners already came in and I could see they were elites because a few chose not to stop! In my mind that is crazy! This is the first crew area and they ran straight through! What is wrong with these people. They are too good. 20 miles and not need a break.
It was not long before my guy showed up. I helped him with his electrolytes. It seems that was the most important thing. It was my first time using a funnel and trying to get the tailwind powder into his flasks. I filled up the water first so the funnel got wet and power just would not go down through it. We wasted some minutes there. I was embarrassed as a crew, we have to snappy and here I was wasting all my time with a funnel. Finally, it seemed faster to use the zip bag which has a V-shape opening at either end and poured the powder from the V-shape end of the bag into the flask. It worked well!
My guy only relied on the tailwind powder and not the aid station food. However, I was concerned about his nutrition plan. From my own experience, you need real food to sustain a long race. However, that was his plan and we stuck with it. He did finish, so it worked for him. I was not sure if he changed his strategy mid race or not. It did make things simple for us. So mostly take care of his water and his powder and everything was smooth.
He was on pace. He was half hour ahead of his calculated pace. About midpack runner in this race. Not bad. From his history, he just ran his first 50 miler to qualify for this race and now it is his first 100. Later, I learned too there were couple others who ran this race as their first 100. I wouldn’t have done so, but again everyone who run this are on a different level.
I stayed a bit to wait until the station closed since I did not have to be at the next crew station until 11 ish, even if my guy is fast, he was not at the front of the pack, so I was not worried of him reaching the second crew station before 10:00 am. He had about 13 miles to cover. I kind of knew he would not run a sub-2-hour half marathon. I was giving him at least two hours to cover that distance.
My friend Tek came in. I did not recognize her and was not sure if she would recognize me. I knew she was in the race. We met last year at C&O when I was volunteering there. I wrote about her back then. Thinking back I did saw her at the race expo. I was not sure if it was her. She was the first person to inspire me that there is someone out there who can run a 100 mile every week. Since then I met a could more of these crazies (my friend Franando, and Wayne, and Wayne was running in the Old Dominion too). They helped me to see that I could do it too.
She did recognize me at the aid station. So I crewed her. She was not that far behind. Her strategy with her dropbags was similar to mine. I don’t remember what I did for her. She didn’t need sunblock or ice(?). I don’t remember, but everything was real simple. She was not rushing through the station. Her calmness made me slow down too. I think she spent time eating and sitting on the ground, and that what I would have done too. I sat with her on the ground. I think one of runners big no-no was to sit and my first guy refused to sit. Now thinking back, I learned for 100 mile races, sitting is ok, just don’t sit for too long. I did manage to get Tek out. She was not stressed about time. She could run fast to make it up for it (and she did).
Then I waited for the third guy. Wayne. Wayne was taking his time. I knew, since I ran with him two weeks ago at the MMT, and he almost gave me a heart attack at one of the final aid stations where we stayed over 20 minutes waiting for him to finish eating. I at the time, did not plan to spend much time since we were so close to the finish and I wanted to just get over it. We did get out the station and we finished the race. Wayne amazed me to recover enough from that race to do another 100 with only two weeks apart. Anyway, he is like Tek, running 100 miles like I would run a marathon every weekend. I was rooting for him because a 28 hour finish is tough. His last race took him 35 hours.
Neither Tek nor Wayne was aiming for sub 24. I know Tek had a better chance. I know Tek could be fast. Tek ran the race before. Wayne is fast too but Wayne has a higher risk of not finishing due to lack of rest between the two races and also I knew Wayne more, since having run with him prior.
Wayne came in near the tail end. I think after 9:00. Again, my time now recalling back the event is hazy. He was not the last guy but was like the last 10 guys. At first he felt it was not right for me to crew him because I did not check with my other runners. People can get jealous. I told him my runner(s) already passed, and I have time to crew him before getting to next station. I don’t mind helping him.
Wayne was easy to crew. I knew he wanted to stay forever at the station. My job is to hustle him out. We did fill him up with water, he ate the stuff at the station. We got him ice for him to fill up his pockets.
I also said I have to leave in the middle of the day, and won’t be back until midnight.
We got Wayne out. A few other runners came in. A race official drove by and updated the station captain who would be the last runner because I think some already were dropping out. By the way, I also know the aid station captain. I think he was one of our running club people. This year our club managed 4 aid stations. The last guy came through. I then went to my next crew area.
It was still early. I think I arrived around 10 AM, maybe even 9:30. Maybe about 10 runners had gone by. I don’t remember much. But I had to park all the way back because all other crew people already took up their spots. There was a long line of cars, we had to park as close to the edge as possible, because the road is a one way/one lane road. It was a two way road but seems can only fit one car width at that location. Thinking back, I wish I parked on Moreland Gap Road, so as to be easier to get out, but I was afraid I might get my runner disqualified to park in a place outside of what the race designated for us to park.
It did not matter to me. A little walking does not hurt me. I got to make friends with other people around. It was a waiting game.
Crewing could be so stressful. I knew when my guy would show up because I had his pace chart, but the wait was just killing me. My heart was beating fast like what if I had missed. I knew I would not have missed him. No way would I have missed him. I did not have calmness.
He arrived an hour plus ahead of schedule. He said he felt good and found some company to run along with. He arrived like at 10:45 and I got him out before 11. Roughly that time. I don’t think we took 15 mins at the station. This second time went more smoothly with the funnel and tailwind powder. He took care of all other stuff. He was good in that he worked along side me. I ran down a mental checklist of things he needed.
I warned him he might be going too fast. Here at 4-point station, runners would come through twice. I knew I wouldn’t be there the second time he comes through. He knew too. I had a wedding to attend in the afternoon so had to leave early to prepare for that. I told him he would be uncrewed next time he came through.
I remembered seeing him filled up water from the water jug I brought him, but I forgot to check with him or his pack before he left if he had enough. He later commented that the next 10 miles, mile 30-40 was his hardest miles because he ran out of water. I felt bad anyway, However, this was noon time and the first time in a race where the next aid station was 6 miles apart rather than 3 or 4 miles. Plus the next station had limited aid available, since it was in remote location on a trail, they had to use mules to haul in supplies. I think they might have ran out of water at the water station. My runner did not give the reason why he was out water. I think he might have forgotten to refill. It is on me as crew though for him to be out of water. In my own races, first thing I would do when I come in would get my bladder filled up, then I would drink my fill to quench any thirst. I think I forgot to remind him to drink up! Anyway, out he went.
I waited for Tek. The lead pack of runners came through the second time. In my mind, I could leave for the wedding, because after the lead pack came through, their crew started leaving and I could follow. I wanted to leave too (to get to the wedding) and it would not be a taboo to leave the station before everyone. I was afraid earlier if I was the first one to leave because by an implicit rule, I was to stay there for 4 hours till my runner comes through the second time and I did not want my runner(s) getting disqualified on my account. In truth, I was tempted to stay. I wanted to crew Tek and Wayne and others. I was also volunteering, helping as many other runners as I could (I noted many other crew did not help other runners). There was only a few volunteers (3 usually) at the station. Most runners help themselves.
Tek came through (her first time in). Tek was lowkey. She only needed food. I helped her changed shoes (into trail shoes) since the next section would be on trails. She was eating from a can of spagetti-O. It was like something I would do. Junk/processed food but they do give good calories. I, in fact, thought about eating that in one of my ultras. She did not bring a spoon, but luckily the station had one. I thought it was just funny choice of food. I got her out the station once she was done eating. She might have stayed in the station for 15 or more minutes. It was way too long in my opinion (as you know, I learned to carry food on the go and eat them outside the station). She was fine becasue she was still ahead of the 24 hour pace. She could run fast.
I waited for Wayne. Wayne took forever to arrive. In hindsight, I should not have waited for him, because on his account I was late for the wedding. They said there were only 3 runners left, who did not come through yet. A female and two guys. I knew one of the guys is Wayne. I felt bad of leaving without seeing Wayne. The female came in — she was also a friend of a friend because she was part of the Virginia Happy Trail Runners. I have seen her somewhere but didn’t know her name. I think it could be Amy. Many of my running friends were supporting her and other people of our club. I saw John and Charleen there. There was also Jamie. I knew Larry, who was running in the race. Larry spoke to me many times like a friend, but I kept not remembering his name, though in this race, I truly got to know him and his wife Kathy. Jamie was crewing for Larry and Larry was running with other members of our club (Scott and Sean). I saw many of my Virginia Happy Trail friends, such as Denise, Mordy and Janna. Mordy was one who recommended me my next 100 mile race — Burning River in Ohio. He might be able to find me a pacer. We reconnected because of Old Dominion.
Then after a long wait, Wayne came. I learned he was part of the Asian Montgomery Running Club and they were out there crewing for their members so they took over crewing for Wayne. I knew Wayne was in good hands and I said goodbye. I was happy Wayne came by around noon and it was not too bad timewise.
So I left the course to attend the wedding back home. You know Google said it only took 28 minutes to get to the venue. I had three hours. There should not be a chance I would be late. I ended up being late anyway due to traffic and couple stops I made (I needed to shower/and change/and buy a card). I did not waste my 3 hours but it was very stressful. Traffic was horrible in Northern Virginia and I should have known. The venue was near my former college and I knew I used to drive there every day and it took me an hour and half or something back in those days, but that was like 15-18 years ago. I was expecting weekend might be better and also we made many road improvements since. I learned traffic is still so bad even a saturday, like any major city. I pulled out all my tricks like taking the express lanes (and paying tolls). It was stressful and embarassing being late to a wedding. I did make it to the wedding. Actually at one point I was considering turning around and going back home (to catch some sleep).
At my cousin’s Wedding. It’s a beautiful setting. My stress from crewing (and sleepyness) was temporary suspended
People were asking me where was my mom. I shamefully said I forgot to pick her up. My mom texted me at the last minute saying I promised to drive her. It was completely out of my mind. My mom was mad at me! I wrote back, I could adjust my plan, but she said she found someone’s else. In fact though, there was no time left for me to pick her up.
Anyway, it was stressful to have two concurrent events. I could only be at one place at a time. There was no way for me to make it to the wedding and pick up my mom, while I was coming from the race, unless of course she waited at my house, but then I was not planning to stop by my house or buying a wedding card, or taking a shower or dressing up. It was formal event though. Out of respect, I had to be at least presentable.
After the wedding was the reception. It was just as stressful getting to the reception venue due to traffic. I think it took me another hour/hour and half. My runner was keeping me up to date of his progress. He was not doing so well. I only hoped for the best that he could finish.
After the wedding reception (around 10 pm), I made a drive back to the race course. I could have gotten back earlier but I promised to give a ride to a family member. I learned my lesson of having priority. Since my duty at the race was done, it did not matter if I got back to the race an hour earlier or an hour later. I knew I would still want to go back at least to see the finish. The finish would be at 4 am. Later the person said they found a ride from someone’s else, so I was relieved. If I did not have to give the ride, I could have left once the dancing started. I stayed until 9:30 pm, originally I planned to leave around 8 ish. Even then, things did work out for me.
At first, I was tempted to be a safety runner (pacer) for miles 75 to 87, hence the rush back to the race. However, as I was driving back to the race, with the whole day being out in the sun, and also the lack of sleep from previous night, fatigue finally set in. My friend Caroline called me to report about her race from Iowa and it helped kept me awake for my drive back to the course. I knew there was no way I could run that night. I would end up being more a liability to my runner than helping them.
I got back to the race around 11-ish at mile 75. Many runners were coming through the aid station at Elizabeth Furnace. It was the “golden hour” because the cut off was at midnight. They had to leave the station before then.
Tek already gone through, I believed. I did not see her. I was pretty confident Greg too had gone through. I was waiting for no one really. Amanda (my friend and runner at the MMT) was there. We waited together. I was not sure who she was crewing. I did not ask. The woman who crew Wayne showed up and I was relieved in a sense knowing he was still to come. We waited and waited. Many dropped from the race at this point as it was getting late.
Time was creeping toward midnight. I walked down the field and waited for Wayne at the gate. I saw in the distance I saw a flashlight, and Wayne was rushing up the road. I could recognize his form from a distance. I said Wayne, you have five minutes but I knew he could make it to the station in time.
He did. It was a station where they have to do a medical check. They weighed him. He was alert. The crew at the aid station just poured stuff into his two hands and sent him him back out. There was no time to stay. I felt sorry for him. He made it out with three minutes to spare. That was a close!
There were three or four more runners out still. We waited for another 15 to 30 minutes or so. They all came in. A female came in (she might be one of our club members). She seemed familiar to me. We delivered the bad news that she could not go on. I saw the courage of taking the bad news. The female had a crew, so the crew drove her and couple other runners who dropped too.
Then two other guys came. I helped Tracy (male), earlier at noon when he had bad blisters on one of his toes. He wrapped them up, but I guessed it was causing too much pain, so he paced slowed down much. My car could only take one runner, so I chose the guy who came in before Tracy (out of fairness). The race organizers had to give Tracy a ride. I felt bad leaving Tracy behind, but I could only do so much.
It was sad someone got cut. They seemed to me still pretty strong. Much stronger than me if I were to run it at mile 75. However, the rule was they must make mile 75 in 20 hours or less to go on.
The ride back to the fairground was about 45 minutes. I had some coffee at the aid station and it helped. I was alert enough for the drive. The runner I drove was very kind and polite. We did not talk much. I knew the feeling of being DNF’d. I had two myself. The running did question why but didn’t elaborate. I did not ask. I overheard at the station that he couldn’t keep his food down. I was afraid he might throw up in my car. The trip back was without incident. In fact, he helped with the navigation since I was not familiar with the area at night (I am a visual person). We had to go through Strasburg, which I had not been to previously.
Once I reached the fairgrounds, I knew I had no more energy to go back out to the other stations to see my other runners because I was spent. Greg’s wife would take up the night shift for Greg, so I didn’t have to. Wayne had his crew. Only Tek was left for me. There were at least three stations I could have gone to. I decided to sleep instead.
I managed some close eyes until maybe 5:00. Then I got up and went to the track where they finished. I was there earlier around 1 AM, and saw someone came finished. I think it was the tenth finisher or something. It was the dead of night. There was no water given out, no medals or celebration at the finish. I felt bad there was not many people cheering except for a family member or their crew. Some runners did not have a crew so the finish would be in dead silence without cheering or clapping. It was kind of surreal.
By 6 o’clock more and more people came. I was with a group of friends, same people who have been crewing the Virginia Happy Trail people. Unbeknown to me, Greg came in. We saw a fast runner in the distance. None of us know who he was, but he was hammering it. So we cheered loudly! We were outside horse track at the time, since my friends like to hang out close to their cars. I had my folding chair there, sitting and chatting.
The runner came by. I then recognized the bib number! Wait that is my guy I have been crewing earlier! He zoomed by. So I rushed onto the track chasing him. He still had to run half a mile on this big horse track. It would take some time to go around the track. He later said he was running a 10 min pace (fast for a 100 miler), so it took about 5 minutes to do a loop around. His wife later showed up. It was my first time meeting her. At first, I thought Greg was going to finish alone. I said, now his wife could take pictures for him.
My friends came along to cheer. It became a bigger group instead of me and Greg’s wife. We all got onto the track and cheered him.
I was so happy. I know he wanted a sub 24. However, I did not track him during the night. There were no live-update unless you know one of the officials. They were using pen and paper to track runners, so you would have to be physically present at an aid station to know if a runnet had come through. I thought I wouldn’t able to see Greg’s finishing.
It was satifying to see someone you helped, though I only played a small part, finished a race. I did not expect to see him for I thought he must have finished while I was sleeping!
Other runners came it. 27th hour went by. It was the golden hour now, the last hour is at hand. Many runners came it, like 5 minutes 10 minutes apart. Family came and went.
Then Tek came. I knew Tek was still out there from word of mouth from other runners who finished. The said she was sleeping/napping at one of the aid stations. I was excited that she was on her way finishing. So I waited and waited. I think Tek came in around 27:30, she was the last four or five runners. She came in front of my VHTR friends who were running in it. Tek seemed alright and made good strides. Then of course she went to change and stuff, I did not see her again. I thought she went to bed. She said she wanted to shower. I was so happy for her, yet had to hold in my excitement too.
After Tek left, I went back to the track to wait for Wayne. We knew he was on his way but was not sure if he could make it under 28 hours. We waited some more. The final minutes before 28th hour was creeping closer. Then we saw a guy in red shirt from the distance. I knew it was Wayne. He was running. Maybe just as fast as some runners I saw earlier. He was the last guy. We knew he was the last guy, because words had been passing along. He got on the track. We knew it would take sone time to go around. His crew person was so anxious for him, she ran around the track with him. I afraid he might get DQ for having a pacer! Runners were not suppose to have a pacer after mile 87. The race official was understanding and did not nitpick on the no pacer rule. Wayne had 10 minutes to spare but it was indeed very close! For ultra that is like a just a hair width.
Wayne in the distance and his crew person there trying to get him in time before the cutoff (I do have closer shots). The horse track is huge! It is a half mile track instead the usual 400 meters.
Third thing I learned about this race was the finish ceremony. All sub 24 hour runners would stay behind for breakfast and the award ceremony. Many of the 24 to 28-hour finishers stayed as well. I sat with Larry and his friends. We had a long two hour breakfast because the timer had to finalize the finisher list. They announced each runner name and their finishing time and they went up to receive their awards. It was a torture, because I could see many crew members and their runners were about to fall asleep with the long wait, but we had to wait for the awards.
All finishers received a finisher swag (a bag and hat). They were also required to give a speech. It was interesting to hear everyone’s stories (just short 1 min speech). Sometimes, the race official would add to it with comments. The RD knows everyone, having been observing them over 24 hours. We witness a 10th year award. One runner ran it 10 times! It was the 7th time in the race history they gave out this award. The person giving out, Kimberly, and I knew her as an RD from another race (Lake Claytor/Lake Ridge Endurance run), was the daughter fo the first winner of the award, so it was very special. I did not know that bit of history before this race.
I think some runners were too tired and did not come. There were maybe 5 – 6 who did not showed up. All but 1 sub 24 hour showed up. Their crew accepted the awards on their behalf. I did not do it for mine, first because I fear public speaking, also second, I did not have the contact info (now thinking back, I did have my runner’s AirBnB address), third, my runners did not ask me. Tek later did show up to pick up her drop bags but I did not let her know she missed the finisher award! Shh. We kept that as a secret.
My ride back home was a torture! The lack of sleep really hit me hard. I slept at night too, but I guess I did not get to the REM sleep stage. I made frequent stops to catch some rest/closed eyes. Then started driving again. I slept at a walmart for couple hours around noon. Somehow even though I did not run a 100 mile over the weekend, my body was as tired as if I had run it. It was unbelievable. I got home eventually. A one hour driven became like a 4-5 hour drive. I got good some food after arriving then went straight to bed. I slept for the next 12 hours! Woke up and then slept some more until it was time to get up for work. I think 15-16 hours total. I was drop dead tired. Monday was fun. I woke up like where have my weekend gone, remembering very little of it.
Aside, Tek told me about her race in Georgia, of last year I think, or earlier this year, where she dropped out at mile 95 after spending 40 hours on the trail because she had to drive 20 hours home to make it to work on time. That was one scary woman. I don’t think I have that kind of endurance, running 40 hours and then making a 20 hour drive and then working a full day. It is insane (72 hours, at least, of being awake!) By the way, she did drive down for this race. I did not dare ask if she was planning to drive back home immediately after the race. She lives way farther than me, like 8 hours away. My one hour trip became like half day on the road, hers, I don’t know. She said Vermont is her local race! A long drive for her to get down to Virginia indeed.
Exhaustion as well as satisfaction at the end of the race pretty much summed up my weekend too
It helped me see, often time my mom came with me to races, and I thought spectating should be easy, but it is not. The anxiety and responsibilities took a toll. My mom had not crew me for my longer distances, but sometimes, I kind of relied on her of offering me snacks and drinks at shorter ones (marathons), the pre-race/post race stuff. The stress does get to her. Most of the time was trying to get me to the race on time! Other time was to meet up with me again at the end of the race. I could think back how stressful it was when I did the Toronto Marathon! That trip I was stressed as well. Crewing helps me to aprreciate the other side of racing.
conclusion: I learned some new stuff with crewing. One runner has several water packs (camelbak) and the family just prefilled them with water, and the runner would come in and switch the pack. I think that is a pretty neat trick of efficiency. It might save a minute or so. Crewing is about being efficient!
I love my weekend. It was a bit jam-packed, but we had good memories that will be remembered for a long time.
Saying I am lost for words to describe seems like a lazy way to put it. This is not a race report. It is too raw and there are too many thoughts to condense it to something as a report.
I just posted the pre-race feeling. There were a lot of anticipations. There had been a lot of training runs and a lot work putting into it. Preparation. Thoughts. I looked at the last year race, especially why I could not finish and why this year would be different. The run was pretty much in line with my expectation at every phase.
100 mile races are tough. Unlike with marathons, I go in not knowing if I would finish. In fact the drop rate for any ultras are usually high, like 30-40% and sometimes even 50%. This year is no different. No one goes into a race and think they wouldn’t finish. We all go in thinking we have a fighting chance. For me, not having finished last year, put a lot pressure on me, because it is more likely I would not finish again. What happen once can happen again! I know couple runners who did not finish last year and I asked them what were their expectation. They didn’t tell me. Statistically, they did not finish. I was afraid myself.
With the dismal stuff out of the way, yes I was excited and I was confident. It was not a blind confidence like last year. I knew where I will be struggling and I knew almost every inch of the course. Some parts, I have been through multiple times training on it.
I entered the race probably was not in my optimal condition. Left foot was still bothering me since December. I was hoping it would be healed by now. I had a sprain (twice) during Naked Nick 50k. Ever since, It has been hurting. I haven’t reinjured it since but it hasn’t either completely healed either, maybe because I haven’t ever truly taken a break from running.
Also, nights leading up to the race, I haven’t been sleeping well. I stayed up late for way too many nights. Thursday night I stayed up till 3 packing (packing was done by 1 ish, but I was no longer sleepy afterward). Friday night was the pre-race camping out, bugs and cold temperature, and maybe anxiety had kept me up.
Lastly, I didn’t taper! I ran a 44 mile the week right before the race. Many of my running friends were suprised to see me still running. To say I was a bit tired is an understatement. Plus I was trying the Streak thing with Great Virtual Race Across Tennessee (GVRAT – Rat race). I ended the streak after day 14 though (not by choice), which was probably a good thing looking back to give my body a week of rest from running before the race.
There are just so much to say! The race is big. It has a lot of history. It is well known for friendly people. Everyone knows everyone! Last year I didn’t know anybody but this year coming in to the race, I almost know everyone (well maybe about 25% of the people there) and if I didn’t know them, I would be by the end of the day. It has many great aid stations, probably the best in all the races I have been to. It was super fun and well organized. The race is epic. I can just heap on superlatives. Unlike many popular 100 mile races, this one is one giant hoop in a relatively remote area and is a mountain race, so in theory, it is a bit hard to support, but the race did above and beyond to get the race done year after year.
There were those who ran it twenty years ago and came back for a second time! MMT branded itself as multi-generational race. I bet for every runner, they must have known someone from somewhere who had run the MMT before. There were very few fresh first timers (Costi & Charlie, Stuart and Wayne too, but it wasn’t their first rodeo), but who just happened to sign up for the race.
It is my second time running it, so a lot of the mysteries are no longer a surprise (my last year MMT’s report). The race being hard, and that was handled in training runs. The race being long (36 hours, new this year). I did a few 12-hr runs. I still struggled with sleep deprivation but it is no longer strange to me. A few times in the final miles I saw trees turning into people taking pictures of me and then turning back to trees! — or maybe they might have been actual people being camouflaged well, who knows.
The main things entering this race were to correct my last year’s mistakes. I wanted this race to be a redemption. It did. The joy of succeeding in doing something when the first time failed is so much enriching. Because last year there were a series of races that I DNF’d (didn’t finish) — Devil Dog 100k, MMT, and Iron Mountain. MMT was the most important to me. I was able to redo the Devil last December and redeemed it. I ran Blackbeard 100 successfully to show myself I can still do a 100 mile race. MMT was like the final exam. Can I put everything I have learned so far into the real deal?
My flaws of last year race was mainly not having sufficient energy for the final push up the last mountain (mile 88-mile 96), Scothorn. Also I was wasting too much time at many of the aid stations leaving not enough time for the run itself. Third flaw was physical condition, the long format race wears the body out, especially the feet. I was not taking care of my body enough.
So this time around, I prioritized more time on the course and less time at the aid stations. It mean being smart and planning ahead. It takes care of all my three major flaws.
Packing food and leaving them in drop bags, is one solution. My last year solution was to carry two foot long hogies and that did not work well once I finished eating them early in the race. My thinking back then was I wouldn’t have the appetite to eat on the second half anyway, so I pigged out at the beginning. It doesn’t work like that for ultras unfortunately. The key is to eat little by little!
They gave us 9 drop bag locations (actually 10, because we came through one twice, Gap Creek 1 and Gap Creek 2) and I packed 10 doggie bags of snacks (good snacks like granola and raisins as well as junk food like gummies — you need both because your appetite changes very quicky and you need to keep eating regardless, junk food makes good food goes in easier). I packed milk (muscle mik that doesn’t require refrigeration). I had sport drinks (Costco brand which has higher sugar and salt contents).
You can’t count on aid stations, some did have gatorade/Tailwind, but they do run out or being too diluted and they did run out. Always pack your own necessities. I don’t count calories and electrolyte intakes as some athletes do, but I monitor my overall feel. I had also a can of coconut juice for that extra refreshment. I ended up didn’t need it during the race, but at post race it was a wisdom from above and kept me awake for my drive home. As much as one been drinking, I was dehydrated, and that can of coconut juice was amazing.
I still ate at aid stations but my drop bags had my main meals. This allowed me carry food on the go, including the food provided by the aid stations. When I arrived at a station, first thing was to grab water, making sure I drink, then filled up all my water bottles (usually a voluntert would help you with that). Then I ate from the table or if something was too big (heavy) that needed more than a couple bites to chew, I’d toss them into my food bag.
Next is to go for my drop bag that is stored at the station. It either is to clean myself (like changing shoes, shirts, socks, etc) or get more food. Some drops I have baby wipes. But the most important thing is to exchange my food bags. My food bag does not always have the same food (a lesson learned from Blackbeard’s Revenge 100, where I got tired of my own food). The early stations I only leave a candy bar or so. But later stations have weightier meals. I don’t necessary finish eating everything, but I could make a decision whether to take a new bag or continue the current one, or mix-and-match food items that I like. The point is to keep eating. Note, I don’t eat much while I’m at the aid station, all those food items are meant to be taken on the go. I only eat while out on the trail to save time and to force myself to constantly feeding. Usually, time spent at a station is less than 5 minutes, but time on the trail between the stations is couple hours long. Hence, the reason to prioritize getting/packing things on the go instead of eating at the aid station (a big lesson I learned from last year MMT).
Nutrition is a big part in finishing an ultra. It is much more important than in a marathon run. In marathons, bonking usually results in a slowet finish, but with ultras, bonking usually leads to-flunking-out, because the body shuts down. I had that happened to me last year at MMT. I literally so tired that I could not even lift my foot for another step. I had seen ultra runners fainting (at the Devil Dog) and I had near fainting experiences. We were trained to push our bodies to the point of exhaustion, with very little left in the tank and if race conditions change for the worse, like temperature drops or the sun suddenly hotter than expected, or sudden climb in elevation, would lead to the body shutting down. It is a fine line we walk. The body is tough but also very fragile. You do see that in marathons too but it is so much more common in ultras. So watch the body, don’t push it till it can’t go any more.
Being smart about planning what I need and when reduced the time I need to spend an aid station leads to more time on the course. This was the key to success this year.
I might have gone out too fast last year. This year, I was willing to ‘wait’. My motto is slow is speed. By moving slower, I was actually making up more time at the end. Moving slowly actually saved me more time this year. Here is how: There were no conga lines on the way up the early mountain sections. That was always frustrating, when you felt you can run faster than the person ahead but they are blocking your way and it takes hours to clear up. Not just one person but whole line of them for the next few miles. Last year, I did not escape from the crowd until 33 miles later. I avoided all that this year. There were no frustrations and no trying pass one another. No conga line. None. Because I was willing to let all the hotshots go first.
There probably were traffic but I seemed to miss them. The first four miles seemed to separate the different pace groups well. Last year, I was passing people one after another for the whole first 33 miles. This time, I somehow hit the right pace very early on. There I stayed. No one passed me much and I didn’t pass others much either. Passing people takes a lot of energy. Not having to do it save those efforts for later push. It was amazing. If you do it right, this is how it should be. It was as if the whole field has disappeared and I was the only one running. I was very surprised myself.
One very important thing I learned this time is I could have anything solved while on the trail instead of waiting until I get to an aid station. Most of the time was being proactive at problem solving. I kept asking myself what is likely the biggest problem I am having right now or soon will have and how do I go about solving them and what is the optimal solution. I would rank them in my head and go about them in a round-robin way. I would repeat again and again. Always checking for any possibly issue. I kept asking myself “What can I do at the present.” This is the new insight I learned from this race! You have to proactively seek out problems (warning signs) — otherwise, the brain would hide them from you and you will forget them at the aid stations. This was the solution to my mistakes I made last year, when I repeatedly forget to eat, because I was so scattered brain at the aid stations. Runner’s foggy brain is real.
I surprised myself – for instance, I was finding I started to get some rashes from the rub burn. At first, I thought, hey it’s just a little discomfort, I could wait till I get to the station for some clean shirt. Then an idea came. I carried body lotion on me (sometimes sunblock lotion, body lotion, vaseline, or even lip balm, etc). I have heard stories someone used lipbalm for underwear rashes! You got to use whatever you have on hand!
So I asked myself: Why not stop and apply them. I did, it cooled the irritable area and the problem was dealt with. There were so many similar things. Stop rashes from starting. Stop blisters from happening. That quick one or two minutes on the trail fixes saved time when arriving at an aid station. Sometimes, it is unavoidable, but we deal with as much possible while during the run rather than wait till we get to the aid station. I also stopped whenever I felt grits had gotten into my shoes and I would stop and empty them.
When things done right, the race was pretty boring and uneventful. Unlike last year or previous races, I did not let things get too far out of hand. This race I think was very boring in term of my execution! Everything was done by the book. I was bored.
My biggest problem was and it was a rookie mistake. It was my hubris. I wore the wrong type of shoes for the race. I prepared four pairs of shoes. Two pairs are old shoes, and two are completely new (same two pairs I acquired at the Roanoke Marathon).
You probably know where I am going with this. I have been running for 7 years and I pride myself of being able to run in any kinds of shoes as long as they are not sandals. I probably would, but I stubbed my toes doing that before and stopped doing it. I typically do not wear trail shoes for trail running. However, I do most of the time break in my shoes long before an important race. This time I did not do so and I suffered for it.
It was not the shoes to be blamed. I wore two new pairs on my daily usuage and even light running and they seemed fine. I had them for maybe couple weeks. I had not used them for harder stuff.
As for the race, the shoe plan was to start with my trusted old pair first, and if I like it I will continue to wear it. I stove the first new pair at mile 33/35 at Elizabeth Furnace. The next pair was at Camp Roosevelt (mile 63-65-ish), it would be an extremely old pair because it would go through mud before getting to Gap Creek. From Gap Creek I (mile 70) to the finish would be my last new pair. The plan seemed well thought out to alternate between the old and new pairs.
It is the last pair that gave me the most trouble. Well the first new pair after putting it on, I know immediately I didn’t like it. Not because it was uncomfortable, it is very comfortable but the issue was I couldn’t “dance” on the trail. Shoes required trust. I was not trusting them.
I found out the reason why! I have been lucky in all my 7 years of having road shoes that are made of harder leathery materials that protect my toes and my side and the back of my heels.
These two newer pairs were made of the lightest fabric in the universe and they offer very little protections on rocks or what not. The shoes were like having a brain of their own. I went left they went to the right. When I hope on rocks, it slides under me – very dangerous. The inside of the shoes does not stick to my feet. The shoes were too soft, and plyable. I cannot land tip toe. Many times with trail running, you got all different kind of angles you will be landing on, and I need a shoes that does not bend or move away on their own. I need them to be able to balance from any spot/point under my feet. These two new pairs failed miserably. Note, I got them half a size larger anticipating my feet to swell, my feet did not, and so, it was too roomy! It was one of the reasons, the shoes were uncontrollable.
It is not the shoes fault but the user. I chose the shoes and I had to live with the consequences. The shoes were clearly not designed for trail running.
The first new pair from mile 33-62, I beared it grudgingly. But at Gap Creek I had the important decision to make to run with a wet and muddy pair or to which to the new pair. After weighting the pros and cons I chose the newer pair.
That might have been a bad decision because I would be going through one of the most technical sections on the course. The new shoes were not helping. Because of all the slipping and sliding around, my feet were messed up. I hated my shoes every moment of it for the next 12 hours (from 3:30 AM to 3:40 pm until I finished). It was basically no more running. Even walking on the trail was difficult with the new pair. I was lucky that I did not roll or sprain my ankles out there with new but useless shoes.
Conclusion: I learned a bit about shoes especially road shoes. Need to buy shoes that you cannot fold them in your hand or roll them into a ball.
I did not want this to be my race report. There were so many other dimensions about the race. Shoes and drop bags were just a small but important aspect.
I started this post before I wrote the race report. I did not expect to get the race report finished but I did. So what to do about this post?
The night before the race near Kennedy Peak trail (maybe 2 mile away from the peak). I drove up.our camp headquarter, not the barn. Some stayed in lodges, I camped in my car. Staff parking in the rear. We could set camp anywhere except like 200 yards from the start line.
I tend to overthink on things like with the aid stations and drop bags. It does get tedious and boring. They worked as intented during the race. I did better this year in packing not too much and not too little. Almost just right. Actually, I could maybe reduce them a bit. It was an improvement from the Devil Dog. It was my fourth 100, so yes, I learned and improved from all the previous tries.
Anyway, I had trouble of closing this post and I lost the energy to continue. I was glad I got the race report out. This post became secondary and even unneccessary. It is a mini report. It was originally to serve something in the interim before the final report is out. However, I hope this can be interesting to some of my readers. (I found it interesting myself).
In awe 