In awe

Category: running

  • News & Updates [Day549]

    I think I got a bit of clarity since last time regarding what races to run. Just a bit.

    After the last MMT training, I have been thinking a lot about Pihoti 100 in Alabama next year. Amanda was running with me and she attempted it in 2021. She said it is like Bull Run Run I did last weekend. I think it is a race I wanted to do next. I watched a few videos on youtube and got convinced. It gave that feeling of the right fit. I think this is their 10th year. If that is true, then it won’t be that hard.

    This fall I have Grindstone lined up. I am scared and excited about this one too. At the BRR 50 last week, while running along side of Jamie and her team and listened into their conversation. A few of them did it. They were talking about Grindstone. It gave me the confident I could do it well. They were comparing between MMT and Grindstone. If they are relatively the same, then it would not be a problem for me. They said the hardest part is the start time being at 6 pm and have to spend two nights out on the trail.

    Amanda’s husband also did Grindstone before. Hearing so many people have done it made me feel better. Amanda might crew me too. She said she would during our training run only if that weekend is free for her. I don’t count on it but that will be pretty cool if I have a crew. After I finish the MMT, you bet my attention will be on the Grindstone. Maybe this time I have a crew and pacers.

    Canada trip preparation. Feeling relieved that I got hotel and car rental settled last night. I have been delaying on this. It would be easier if I were traveling by myself, because I could sleep and stay anywhere. I could wing it and make my own decisions at the last moment. The price would not be an issue either for me. I would have stayed in downtown like minutes from the CN tower or somewhere along the race course.

    However, I will be traveling with my mom and two others, so there are other considerations and constraints. My mom wanted a specific date at a specific location (two nights at Niagara falls and two nights in Toronto, I would have preferred one night at the Falls and three nights in Toronto). Also pricing and room size etc. I can’t pick something like $300 a night or having two rooms. There were too many constraints.

    Luckily, hotels are pretty inexpensive at the falls at that time of year. In the end, I picked somewhere farther away from the race starting location. It is about 15 mins away. There is a problem of what to do with the car while I am racing. Exactly. They have trouble driving around in a strange city, plus there will be road closures. I hope they won’t try to get to Downtown on their own. But it will be their problem. I am thinking I will take an Uber to the start and Uber back when they are done. It will be a hassle for me, but it will reduce their complexity of navigating in a big city. I have to treat them like a 5 yr old.

    World’s End 100k in PA. I didn’t get in this year. I was going to volunteer again, but my cousin is getting marry that weekend, 6/6 from 3-6 pm. There was some snafus going on because they were not going to send out invitations. I felt impolite to ask if I was invited. So I made my own plan for that weekend. Actually I didn’t even know of the wedding date before this week. His mom called me maybe because someone (or my mom) told her they had left me out, and asked why I will not be going to her son’s wedding.

    It was awkward. She made her son to text me the invitation. So I guess I have to rsvp by messaging back. The situation is still volatile. I don’t like to be strong armed and I don’t want to force other people to do things because of me.

    I was thinking of how to deal with this. Does my cousin want me there? Or is this his mom’s idea? Likely it was his mom’s idea. In the past, I use first-come-first-serve policy. What ever plan is on my calendar, I do those first, others can wait. My own plan comes first. I already made plans for that weekend, and now 5-6 weeks out, this happens. I know 5-6 weeks is still flexible for me to change things around, but it is just frustrating when my plan is affected by other’s people. I guess this is what my sister means by being a grown up. She told me to grow up 🤫. I don’t always get what I wanted and just suck it.

    Otherwise, I would be creating a scene and have everybody hate me. It will go down in the family’s history, as the guy who skips out on his cousin’s wedding for a race, which he is not even running!

    A bit nearer. Tonight, in a few hours, at 1 am, I am doing the Roanoke, Blue Ridge Marathon Doubler. This race has several names. I don’t care what its official branding is. Maybe it is the Anthem Marathon again this year, who knows. I always refer it as the Roanoke Blue Ridge Marathon.

    I did this race in 2018 or 2019, just the marathon. I need to look up the race report for yoy guys. At the time, I found out they had the Doubler. It was a new concept to me that some people would go out and run the full marathon course at night and be back in time by 7:30 in the morning to run it again with the official start. This started as an informal event until recent years where the official race actually gives their blessing. Now, we have the proper signup and we pay the fee and receive some on course support and direction (water only, volunteers driving around, making sure runners are okay). So I signed up and will run two marathons starting later tonight.

    Finally, Congratulations to those who ran the Boston Marathon this year. A few people (friends) I recently met ran it this past Monday. I am so happy for them. I don’t know if I ever get to do that. One of my friends who is doing an 100 miler almost every weekend ran it. He finished Boston and he is doing the New Jersey Devil 100 this week without much of a break. Boy does he ever sleep? People in my social running club said the same of me when they heard me running a race every weekend, but I think this other guy is on another level. He is aiming 100×100 (one hundred of 100 mile races).

    There are a few more things but I couldn’t remember right now, so until next post.

  • Bull Run Run 50 [Day548]

    I wanted to run Bull Run Run 50 Miler for many years, possibly since 2018 and maybe as early as 2017 when I found out about the Virginia Trail Running Club, my local area running club.

    However, back then I did not know how hard trail running was or the distance and when I did, I backed out from signing up. It took all these years to get up the courage, to sign up. A few times I tried to sign up but the race was full or the registration had not yet opened.

    It was not until a friend encouraged me to run the MMT 100 about three years ago that I started to involve myself in the club. Covid also helped since less people sign up for group events and the lottery selection was not needed.

    If it was my first time running the MMT 100, I wouldn’t dare tackle the BRR 50. You know, one slight accident on the BRR course would derail the 100 miler that is a month out. Many who are doing the MMT signed up BRR, for the same reason as me.

    Long story short, this year I finally got a spot in the famous Bull Run Run 50 miler (BRR50). By now I am a much stronger runner. I can handle a 50 miler with confident.

    I still put in the work. I attended one of their training runs. They had three sessions this year but two of them I had scheduling conflict due to my racing or other training runs. I trained for it last year too even though I did not get in. I was sufficiently ready this time.

    We had a warm day. Hot in fact compared with 30 F we had recently. Thursday before we had 85 degrees (29-30C). I forced myself to go out and had a hot run for heat training and that was definitely very helpful in preparing for this.

    Note too just the previous weekend, I ran in near 30 F temperature. So the swing from near freezing to the extreme heat was difficult for a lot of people to adjust to. I almost thought I couldn’t handle it either. The heat in Virginia is not like the dry heat out west, here when it is hot it is also very humid. For runners, it means our bodies can’t be easily cool down.

    I ran for 7 miles Thursday. Friday I did not run. The temperature was a bit cooler around mid 70s. Saturday morning, I woke up around 4 AM, and it was already “hot” around 70s. I knew we were going have a hot day. The air was humid. Rain and thunderstorms were forecasted but did not come. So the humidity unofficially were near 100%. The air was thick.

    I arrived at the race site around 5:30 in the morning. Everyone were up and about. Some people camped there. Traditionally, you could stay in a cabin overnight. It is a lot of fun, like a runner camping trip.

    I was not early. Parking was an issue we were warned. They asked people to carpool if possible and the incentive was getting a closer parking spot. For the rest who didn’t carpool, we parked like half a mile away and walked to the start.

    The race started at 6:30. I met up with a few good friends. Charlie and Stuart and a few others. I had coffee from the dinning hall. That was cool they opened it and we could have a small breakfast and socialize with other runners.

    People saw how relaxed and confident I was thought I had run the race many times. They (the first time runners) were asking me various things because they thought I knew. I said I only ran a few training runs and am familiar with the trails. I love this race and the people. It is true VHTRC races have the best aid stations.

    The staging area was big and everything seemed well placed and well organized. I placed two drop bags, one to be taken to Foundtainhead (mile 30 and 37) and one to be remain at Hemlock (mile 17 and 50), which we’d pass by at mile 17. The course is a double out and back with the finish at Hemlock which is about “halfway” point from the north and south, in Clifton, near where I live. We were to run to Bull Run Park and back and then run to Fountainhead and back.

    I was sweating profusely immediately once we started running. I ran slowly and was not in an hurry. This helped with the breathing. I was not fighting for position with anyone. I learned from my experience during my few training runs there of not starting too fast.

    Slowly I reeled in people. I drank from time to time. My footing was good unlike during training in February when I rolled my ankle on this course. My feet just knew where to step without me being too focus on where to step. It was as if a second nature. I was happy and comfortable.

    During the training run, I was too focused on where to step. I had to pick each single step because a single misstep would mean tumbling or rolling my ankle. But today, I had the flow. I run in my natural gait and it didn’t matter where I landed as long as it is not loose underneath, I could find my balance. This was a big difference!

    In the past, I adjusted my steps and it messed up my gait but now I just learned to balance better no matter if I landed even on an uneven surface, I just have to balance on it. I found it was easy. Just run normally. During the training I got tired after half an hour on this trail but today I felt refreshed.

    The race was uneventful. The course was dry. Those who remember, a few times I did this trail, it was always muddy. I told myself, run a boring pace. No need to rush for anything. No surprises.

    I started in the back almost the last one out and so was not fighting for position on a single trail. Those I passed usually would be too weak to pass me back. Over time the separation of the fast and slow runners became bigger and it got easier for me to pass some of the “faster” people in the front because by the time I reached them, they were no longer fast and they were more willing to let me pass. I was not the only one using this strategy. There were a few others.

    I got to Bull Run Park and did the Blue Bell Loop. Amanda was there offering water. Amanda is my friend whom I ran with the previous week at the MMT night training. It was good seeing her again. I was a bit disappointed she did not sign up to run this one. I am sure it would have been a good training. But she might be struggling with the cutoffs and thus did not want to put her through the stress. Amanda will be doing the MMT.

    I was running with a group about my pace. Somehow after Bull Run, the pack spreaded out and I found the next pack. I was behind an older man, we were still in a pack when he tripped over a root and fell as I were thinking about to pass him. The pack ran on without pause but I stopped for him. So I walked with him for a bit to make sure he was alright. I got him to the Centreville Road Aid Station. Not sure if he later finished, his pace was slowing down after the fall. He seemed to be shaken up.

    There were a few people I saw with bloody elbows or shins who took a fall in the Centreville section. I actually don’t know why because this is the easier and flatter section compared to later sections of the race.

    The race slowed down a bit for me too because I was a bit bored and was by myself. There was a long stretch without seeing anyone since I walked earlier with the guy and my pace got behind a bit.

    The section going back to Hemlock was more hilly. I was familiar with this section because it is closer to where I live. I could run these hills since I was still pretty strong, however, I had to hold back on my pace. Two women (navy) were behind me and they were pushing the pace a bit earlier but somehow kept dropping back because they walked the hills. At times I let them passed me. One time during the passing, they almost collided with runners coming from the other direction. They were a bit of a rush and didn’t see. I didn’t like that. I don’t know if they finished either because I did not see them again. They also settled down in their pace after one of them tripped and fell. They stopped a few times for bathroom breaks. We were only 10 miles in.

    Next, we passed a team of three. They had an older man probably in his 60s of his first 50 miler part of their team. This race had a team competition. The younger people could probably run faster but they ran with the man. I think this team was one that passed us on the final 8 miles of the race. They were fast (after the older gentleman had dropped from the race I am guess). I knew they were fast. I stayed with them for a time and chatting with the guys. The lead of the pack almost fell too when he tripped over a root. We were all laughing at him since he seemed to be so good and shouldn’t be tripping.

    After passing them now, I encountered a few more guys. One seemed to be cramping up because he was kind of limping. We were closed to Hemlock. So I rushed on ahead. I was surprised people were struggling so earlier on and throughout the race, I saw a lot of the same, because fast people already ran on ahead and I did not get to see them. Those I came across were not doing well. I was not particularly fast but I was running and passing people. In my head I did the time and pace calculation, and I felt I was within an acceptable pace.

    As I rushed up to Hemlock I came across Alma (that wasn’t her name, but I assigned names to people) and I thought her name was Tracy during the whole race, because I ran with Tracy earlier but somehow I lost her and I thought I caught up to Tracy again. Later as I was writing this, I found out they were different people. I am one of those who think everyone’s faces look the same 🙈. Alma will be volunteering at the MMT.

    Anyway, Alma also took a fall earlier and bruished her shin. It was bleeding, swollen and looked bad. Later at the aid station a dear friend Charleen taped her up. She was moving but seemed to be struggling. She wanted to quit at mile 17 but Charleen got her back out.

    We were only at mile 17, not yet halfway. I said I will pace her to the end if she wants to because I figured I need a slow pace like I will be doing for MMT in a month time. I want to practice the slow steady pace on the 50 miler, aiming to finish by 7-7:30. I was sure I could do this race under 12 hours, but I wanted to run and not exhaust myself. I spent a lot time walking and talking with people to hear their stories. Some of course, did not look like willing to talk and I left them alone.

    By the way I came across Jeff friend’s from Eddingburg, whom I wrote about in a previous MMT training. Dylan was running in this race and Jeff was supporting.

    Alma said you are going to pace me for the next 35 miles? I said yes.

    I went for my dropbag. The guy who was limping earlier came into the station vomiting. I think he had heat related issues or could be food poisoning. You know runners grabbing food at the food stations, or they didn’t wipe their hands after using the restroom. Any of those could get a runner sick during a race.

    His wife was trying to help him. They had salt tablets available at the aid station but his wife heard me said to give him salt, so she found the whole can of salt and brought that to him. I said no, get the salt tablets. It was a OMG that was too much salt, she was going to kill the guy by pouring that much into his small cup. This remind me to put a big-big cup in my drop bag iny next ultra event. Looking back it was kind of funny to see the inexperience crew and a runner struggling. This is why you want crews who also are runners.

    The guy was probably having brain fog. His wife was not helping. I suggested give the guys some ice to cool him off. But my time was up and I left the station. I wish I know what happened to them. Not sure if the guy went on out after me or stayed. I wish I could help him but at the same time I did not want to interfere. If he had gone on out, he might have fainted because the day was going to get hotter and the trail harder still. He looked pretty beat up at that point and this was only mile 17 about 9:30 or 10 in the morning. I didn’t want to encourage him, so I quickly left. I felt torn to tell the guy not to go back out.

    I forgot all about Alma too and left without her. I didn’t see her again until 12-13 miles later. I don’t remember much of my run out from Hemlock to the Bull Run Marina. I was able to adjusted to the heat by now. My sweat was evaporating. They had ice at all aid stations and that was a life-saver. I had ice poured into my hydration pak. It kept my back cool. The oppressive low pressure storm system seemed to be lifted. Humidity seemed to be better. I could feel the breezes. I caught up to the race pack, those that seemed to be able to finish the race at that point in time. I passed anyone who walked.

    From Bull Run Marina to Wolf Run Shoals and then Fountainhead was uneventful as well. There I caught up to Jamie. I ran with Jamie in the past. She is quite famous due to her cheery personality. Everyone knows Jamie. She is usually faster than me. Today she was with her team of four and one of the women was struggling probably due to the heat, so their pace had slowed a bit, doing run walk. The woman couldn’t eat. They were offering her various solution. I think ultimately she was dropped from the race maybe at the second Fountainhead. I was with them for a few miles. No harm in following Jamie. Seeing her was a relief because I know I could finish by 6 pm at her pace. Jamie finished around 12.5 hours.

    I was thinking, I had not done the next section the Do-Loop that was coming up. I heard a lot of people had gotten lost in there before and so I wanted to follow Jamie, thinking she might have done this section in the past and we would not get lost.

    Jamie and her team was moving too slow for me so I passed them. I got to Wolf Run Shoals before them and then pushed onto Fountainhead. On my way there, I passed several people. Most were walking by now since it was past noon and we passed the 25 mile point. People were spent. They had a grim look and I stayed away from them and only shouted “you are doing great” as I passed by.

    There was this Asian guy. I was a bit sympathetic because he looked like me. I walked with him maybe for a mile and started talking. He was receptive. He said he couldn’t do this any more. I said, we still have 6-7 hours how come it is not possible to finish. Surely even by walking we could put in 20 miles in 6 or 7 hours. Surely his pace would pick back up. We ran ultras and so we knew, you have cycles of highs and lows.

    He said he has done this race 9-10 times. He knows that at his pace he wouldn’t finish. He said to make it he would need to get to Fountainhead by 1:15. And we were still couple miles out. Likely he would be arriving at the station’s cut off. The guy’s past strategy was to run very fast to fountainhead at first half of the race and then walk the rest of the way and would still finish under 10 hours, which is quite a feat. I ran 50 milers never gotten under 10 hours. I didn’t see him again.

    His plan did not work today. I think it was because of the heat. I said goodbye to him and ran to Fountainhead and arrived by 1:15. The station cutoff was not until 1:45. We had to finish the Do Loop and arrived back at Fountainhead by 4:15. Two and half hours to do 9 miles. To me that was a lot of time because I could run 4-5 miles an hour.

    There were a lot of asians that day, because the MARRC (Montgomery Asian Road Runner Club) were represented there. They had their separate aid stations. They all wear their club shirt.

    As I was filling up my water, Jamie and her team arrived. Alma also arrived. I apologized to her for not waiting earlier. Apparently she was fast enough to catch up to me. She said she was concerning about cutoffs, but to me, it should not be an issue, we had at least 30 minutes to burn. If we keep our current pace, we wouldn’t have to dip into our buffer. I would pace her in earnest. If I get a DNF (did not finish) because of the slow pace, so be it. I at least had my training for the MMT done.

    Somehow around this time Alma lost her phone. She thinks it might have fallen off while she was bending over for her drop bag. She did not realize it until we left the station. It was too late to go back for it. It was either to give up the race to look for the phone or continue on. I offered to check for it on find-my-phone app/something. But we were a bit tight on time, so we hurried on.

    Compounding that once we left the station about quarter mile in, we got lost. Granted we were with Jamie and her team too plus 5-6 other people around us. Our whole group of 10+ people all got lost together because everyone was following the person in front of them and not doing their own homework.

    Some people cursed and became angry as if it was our fault since we were nearer to the front and because they were following us. We went down this steep hill and the lead person said they no longer see the course ribbons and thinks we are on the wrong trail. We could either go back or continue.

    I went back immediately while the group stayed around still debating if to go forward or backwark. We were at a three-way cross trail without ribbons guiding us which way to turn.

    My spider sense told me we were off and backtracking was the right thing to do. I ran back up the hill and came to the last guy who just was coming down and he said this was the right way. He seemed sure.

    However, I did not go a little further back to double check on his words and I trusted him completely. Of course he was wrong. I am mad at him just like other people was mad at me. I ran back down the hill with his false info saying we had confirmation from an runner that we are on the right trail.

    The group was still standing there debating. A few of us then ran on ahead to see if we could see any flagging. We saw some runners came down on a parallel trail and there were blue ribbons on that path but not ours, thus confirming we were indeed not where we were supposed to be but we were not too far off course either. We could take a short cut to get back on the right trail from there but that would be a violation of the race rules. We had to return to where we got off course. So I led the group backtracking up onto the hill where we came down of. Some people already left it us once they heard the word to go back.

    From the map, they could also cut the course short because the trail was curvy but that would be in violation too. Alma’s GPS watch was indicating we were backtracking on the present trail thus, going the wrong way, and luckily we ignored that. Her GPS was wrong at the time. She blamed herself of not downloading the GPX file onto her watch before the race. I didn’t blame her. No need to cry over spilled milk. I did the map study before the race. I like some adventures like this.

    Once we got back on where we got off course, there was another argument whether to go left or right. We got off course on curve section of the course. No one remember where we came off from. Some said we came from that way, but some said the other way. Both ways looked the same. The earlier group that got there first of the group chose one way. Their reasoning was we were walking straight at the time and didn’t make any turns and believed we came from the left because that seemed to match our memory of going straight. By the time Jamie group came up, a few of us caught a glimpse of some runners (those that did not get lost with us) in a distance in the forest, so turning left seemed to get us there, and we picked to go to the left and luckily that was the correct way. My gut feeling also said to go that way based on the terrain and the parallel trail I saw earlier. We had no idea what happened to the few that took the other way because we never saw them again. They would have arrived back at the aid station. They could cheat and said they did the loop or they could give up, or they could go back in and do the loop all over. We were pretty much at the last position from that point on till the end of the race. No other people passed us until way later.

    Our little side trip costed us maybe 15-20 minutes in total, but it could have been a race ending event, thus many who were with us cursed in anguish. I did not let that affect me. In my mind, we were still in the game. Alma didn’t say anything either. We had to keep our emotion in check.

    Jamie and her team said we now had to run and they ran and disappeared. They have been mostly walking earlier for the sake of their weakest runner. I was left with Alma and an older gentleman (I don’t remember if the same gentleman who gave me the wrong direction).

    We soon left the older guy behind too maybe after a mile or so since he couldn’t keep the pace. Alma and I ended up doing the Do-Loop by ourselves. Alma put in a good pace of not too fast nor too slow. We passed a few people we saw earlier of those who didn’t get lost and that gave us confident we were back on track or on the pace we were originally doing. We passed a Jamie’s teammate, one who was having stomach issue. She later did not make the time cut-off.

    This was my third time passing many of the same runners. I felt like covering the same ground and I hoped that it would be the last time. Everyone we passed, were pretty tired and their pace couldn’t be trusted either. We knew and we did the math. Indeed, later many of them didn’t make the cut.

    Also as we entered the Do Loop (blue horse trail) a lot of earlier runners were exiting it, meaning they had completed the loop already, and we had wasted too much time with getting lost. Those people were at where we should be at if we did not have a little detour. I think at the this point we came across the real Tracy, who is a friend to Alma.

    I did not let the feeling of self pity messed up our mentality. I know we were a bit behind on pace. We got to the actual Do-Loop entrance, which is just a 2 mile loop. The critical point is to enter and exit it correctly. There were runners in times past who did this loop more than once by accident and we would not want that today. It is sort of a running joke. I enjoyed the loop. It was hilly but not any more so than other hills we encountered earlier.

    Funny thing was when we left the Do Loop, there were runners still entering it. Alma asked me if I think those people could finish. I doubted they could but did not want to discourage those runners or ourselves. I said I believe they have a chance otherwise they would have been cut earlier. If they have a chance so would we. Always believe. Those runners too were cheerful, giving us encouragements.

    Alma told me a lot of things in the interval. Of her races. She had attempted Eastern States in 2017, maybe after two years of trail running. She is a brave person. I ran for 7 years and did not think I got what it takes to run the Eastern States. She did The Wild Oak Trail, the Cold Trot during Feb 2018, and got it done in 47 hours? The TROT race director encouraged me to sign up for next year. Doing that race is an impressive feat. I did one loop of TROT, 25 miles and it took me 12.5 hours. Indeed 48 hours was anything but torture for her. Since then she attempted Grayson Highlands. She ran Stonemill and JFK, races I also ran before.

    She was not flexing. She didn’t tell me her results but later when I looked them up, yes she had impressive finishes, way faster time than me. She told me the time she ran out of water and there was 8 miles to go to the next aid station and she had to drink out of a creek and that got her sick. She was vomiting blood. She got to mile 68-70 before tapping out that time. That was some runner experiences I did not have and hope never will. We were not yet at that stage of desperation. I asked if she wrote race reports. She did not. I agree with her that race reports on races one didn’t finish is more important than ones we did finish.

    I knew from her stories she has the persistency to finish the race today. Even before her stories I knew she was a mentally strong runner based on the way she ran. She was running all the uphills within reason, which was a good thing. In the racing world one of the mantras is to walk uphill and run down hill. However, this usually applies to marathons, once you have done a lot of ultras the reverse is usually true, you run up on hills you can run and walk on the downhill, of those you can’t. Doing this will save the legs (quads). I knew I was not dealing with a newbie runner.

    Alma’s pace decayed a little by little during the Do Loop, which was normal. I was pray it would not decay too quickly to a point where she was too slow to continue. I’ve been through that before. She had the relentless forward mentality. She was saying we were doing 17 min mile and we were moving 15 min mile before. I think the course pace was 16 min mile. She was still pretty much in control of her pace.

    At every subsequent aid station we were losing couple minutes here and there. Our initial 15 minutes buffer from the cut off was down to 10 minutes by the time we arrived at Fountainhead after the Do Loop. We left at 4:06 pm (cut off was at 4:15 pm). We lost a bit more time at Wolf Run Shoals. No cut off at here. The next one was 6:00 pm at the Bull Run Marina. We got to the Marina by 5:52 pm. They said we only have 8 minutes left. That was kind of scary really.

    As we were pressing toward the Marina and there were a bit too much hills. Alma was slowing down a lot at every hill at this point. I could walk up on hills normally but she couldn’t keep up with me. She was breathing intensely each time. From the back of my head I knew we would make it but I was still afraid we wouldn’t. I had to take a deep breath from time to time to remind myself it is okay. If we get cut, we get cut. I did not want to stress her or showed being frustrated. I had to imagine that I was not in a race and felt calm again. From the Marina we had 5.4 miles to the finish and we had until 7:30 to be within 13 hours of the race final cutoff. She urged me to go ahead of her to get to the finish.

    We didn’t talk much after the Marina. I sat down at the aid station trying to clean my shoes because rocks were getting it and it creating a blister on the right foot’s heel, but then my quads started to cramp up. It was not good. I asked the volunteer for some banana pieces and drank some gatorade. It helped with the cramp. Alma said she would walk on ahead while I could catch up later. Smart of her. Yes, the ultra mantra is “avoid the chair!”

    The last section, people from the rear were passing us. Maybe 5-6 of them. They formed a train pack and ran on together. It was amazing I did not recognize these people before. Normally I’d recognize all the people I passed earlier. They looked tough and strong and absolutely fresh. What were they doing in the back I asked myself. They were booking it. I believe they might have been in a team and once their slowest team member dropped, they were free to run and they did. They were doing 9-10 min pace rushing to the finish. I wanted to join and run with them, yet I felt I should stay with Alma. I know we would able to finish but the cutoff was just tantalizing.

    6:45. We were nearer to the finish. I sense we were still two miles out and maybe three. We got to the rockiest section of the trail. I used to have trouble with this, but today it was easy. With a lot of practice at MMT, I could run on this section. It was fun for me. Compared to Kerns Mountain last weekend, this quarter mile or rocks was nothing. We caught up to a few people who were walking. Alma could still run on the flat section!

    7:15. We climbed the last hill. There was 15 minutes left on the clock. Unless the finish line were still a mile away there was no way we would not finish on time. Alma said lets run it in. Sure. I got in with 5-10 minutes to spare. We were the last six to finish the race. Actually there were a few who came in behind us, but I was probably looking away and was getting food. One guy who ran this 14 times from Alabama finished with 20 seconds to spare. We all cheered him and gave him a standing ovation. He sprinted in. It was heartfelt. We saw him earlier on the trail. When I first saw him, I told myself this guy will finish. He did. Somehow, we all liked the last guy finishing. I like how even we were the last to finish there were still a bunch of people there cheering us.

    One of the sweepers, Marty my friend, said I would finish when we were at the Marina. He said, don’t let him catch me. The race RD commented that this was the fastest sweep they had. The sweepers came in just under two minutes after the closing. We all cheered the sweepers too. We had stayed ahead of the sweeps. I told him I was running like he did at the Red Eye 50K at the beginning of the year (he and I ran together that time to make it under the cutoff). We did it. Marty is a fast runner (faster than me) and he is older. I joked with him that I ran like he did.

    Leasons: There were many. Aid stations saved the day, especially the ice and popsicles. I was quicked to make adjustments mid race. It saved my foot. I didn’t mention that I bandaged my foot at mile 17 when I started to feel hotspot on the back of my heel. The pace was right. Celebration good. I had fun.

    We stayed until 8:30 when it started to get dark. I wish I had finished earlier so to eat all they had to offer. Someone did metion they found a phone but they didn’t know what happened to it. I was not sure if that was Alma’s or if Alma was able to retrieve it at the end. I forgot to ask when we said our goodbyes and went our separate ways. I stayed to eat some more. My other friend finished but he could not walk to the food table. I was sitting on the bench watching other runners coming in. I shared my food with him. I kind of laugh that was how I used to be in other races, couldn’t move. Later I found him standing by the food tent eating. Avoid the chair! This time I finished and still was relatively fresh. The next day though was a different story (I stayed in bed the whole day).

    This was the end of my weekend adventure. If not for a race, I would not be able to will myself to run 50 miles on my own. I was happy with the new friends I made on the trail. Sometimes, running is not about time but the community.

    Up next, of course will be the MMT itself. I will have couple smaller events before it. I spoke with Larry, RD from MMT first training run, after the BRR (I think he ran the BRR that day, but he already looked clean and fresh), he said I should be careful of not overtrained for the MMT. Indeed. This is the same Larry that will be doing the Western States this summer. I felt honor he looked me up and talked to me. Everyone know that I am going back to the MMT and every race is a stepping stone including the BRR.

  • Last training for MMT [Day546]

    I posted on other social media about this last run. However, I did not go into too much details. It was quite a fun adventure, I lost a glove twice that night, same pair, and I got lost myself when I decided to back track to look for it the second time. Yes, how can you get lost by backtracking, but you can! All I am saying is it meant to be lost. The training run went well overall. I finished by 3 am. I stayed for the night and did an extra run the next day. Here is the full scope.

    Last year I was trying to run the MMT 100. Someone (Iris) suggested that I should do their training runs. I was nervous because they called their training runs the Massanutten Academy! You have to apply for it! Later I found out it was just a silly thing. The runs are free. Anyone can join. There were four training runs spanned over four months before the race. And you can sign up each one individually with no commitment to go to the next one or even have to be registered for the MMT race itself. The actual race is in May.

    This year I heard about it early and I signed up for all four runs. Tonight training was the last of the four.

    The training runs were to be on the actual course. Three of them would be enough to cover every mile of the course. The last one was a bonus night run on the hardest and final section of the MMT course.

    This was the section that derailed my race last year. It was also the night time. The training was very important in planning how to deal with it this year. The third training already covered the similar ground. Just having it at night gives the actual race day condition since most of us would arrive at this section some point when we were most tired and vulnerable and the hardest section. Most of us could do well during the day time, but night time when we are out of our comfort zone, that is where it gets hard.

    The MMT 4th training event started at 7 pm. I arrived before 4 pm, first to get a parking spot, and second to do some day time exploring. One other car also arrived before me. They were already out running by the time I pulled in. Though they and I would all be back at the parking lot to sign in at 7 to start with the rest. There were more than 50 of us running this.

    There was a mile stretch from the Picnic Area aid station to Rt 211 Parking Lot. Last year, this section took me an hour to cover (maybe around mile 87-88 in the real race). So I went out on it to figure out why and to get a better feel of the trail. Indeed, during day time and being full of energy, I had no problem with this section. I walked back and forth at least twice. I learned the trail cold. I was confident I could do this little section on race day. Funny how seemingly I made an ant hill into a mountain last year. There were a lot of this kind of aha moments during the training run.

    By 6 pm the rest of the runners showed up. We had a full house. Some people came from far away like Ohio and Pennsylvania to do this training run. The race director (the night event coordinator Larry) and a few also said this year had the most turnouts.

    By a little before 7 pm, we took a group picture and crossed over Rt 211 to begin the run. The traffic stopped for us. I met a lot of friends I made previously on other trainings, Amanda, Costi, Stuart, Carl, Jeff, Morty, and some I couldn’t remember the name, but seeing them again brought happiness. Many will be running in the real race in May.

    I started out slowly. Many and all passed me. Amanda and I were ones left behind, as usual, and I called myself an unofficial sweeper. Generally, in a race there is a person to pick up trashes and take care of people in the back and that is the sweeper. That was fine with me. Amanda set a good walking pace and I did not mind unlike last year where I tried to get ahead of slowpokes. I know this was a run, and last year I did run it. I knew I wanted the race day pace. No need to run faster than that. Amanda dialed it in perfectly. I knew I would make the midnight halfway point cut off at the Visitor Center.

    I knew Amanda from last year training runs. She was a friend of a friend. Her pacer Ram, was an amazing helper to me during my Devil Dog 100. I am forever grateful to him. Amanda has not done well in recent races. Tonight was the first time I saw her again. Well, I met her once at Stone Mill 50 last November but we did not get a chance to catch up in that race.

    There were a time we were alone. It was uphill. We got on the Orange trail after an hour in. Night was coming. We caught up to John. Amanda did not pass John. I was kind of impatient but I held my tongue. At the time, I did not know who John was.

    John started to talk about various things. He was not training for the MMT, his wife, I think is. He ran the MMT last year. This year he is training for the Eastern States 100. If you know Eastern States is a very hard race and I don’t think I can run it. He got my respect when he mentioned that. John has done the Barkley. I was not sure if that the fall classic or the real Barkley. Wow I was in the present of a superstar (I met a few that night). Indeed duing the uphill section, John was very strong. There was no way I would be able to pass him and I was glad I did not because I would have made an ass out of myself later.

    We reached the top when the last light was fading. It was around 8:45. We then was racing downhill. We caught with John’s wife Charleen. I then realized this couple were manning the aid station on the last MMT training. They know me but I didn’t know them by name until this run.

    sunset, as we were about to descend into Gap Creek II (Amanda was up ahead, right behind John. The bright light is from John. He was using a chest lamp as well as a head torch)

    This hill tonight seemed easy. It took us only couple hours to reach here. With maybe 3 hours left to get down onto Gap Creek II station, climb Jawbone, and traverse over Kerns, and run to Visitor Center. The cutoff is around midnight at the Visitor Center. I was confident we would make it even though there was a lot of miles to go.

    Getting over the first hill, here at Scothorn trail was what led me a DNF during last year MMT. It was incredible hard between mile 90-95. I just could not bring forth any energy at the time.

    It did not seem that hard tonight. Charleen set a good downhill speed. We reached the road pavement. John led us across the creek with our feet kept dry. Once on the road, Charleen, Amanda and I raced to the aid station about a mile to 2 miles away. It was a long run but we held a steady pace at least of 12 min mile or faster. Might even be at 10 mins but none of us were out of breath. John fell behind.

    At the aid station, we all did our various things. Some used the restroom behind some trees. Some readjusted their pack, or put on layers. Temperture was dropping. We started the run in upper 60s but very soon, we were feeling it was in the low 50s and we knew it would continue to fall to low 30s by midnight. I started to see my own breath. I refilled my water. Got some sodas, and cookie chips. This was the last stop before midnight. The time was around 9 pm. We had a long way to go.

    In the 100 mile race, after Creek Gap II, we would have 5 miles of road to the finish. However, tonight, we changed to Gap Creek I (mile 65-67 in the MMT course) by going to Kerns Mountain. Kerns Mountain is the roughest section in the whole race in my opinion. The first time I was on this, I had to used hands and knees, ya, crawling over rocks and boulders. It was slow going.

    But first we had to climb Jawbone. John and Charleen led the pack (John caught back up). I took the last position. Halfway up, Stuart and another guy went the wrong way and we found them while they were backtracking. So our group of 4 became a group of 6. It was a joy to have a bigger group. I met Stuart from previous runs.

    Amanda could not keep up with John’s pace and she stopped for a break. I stayed with her while the rest of the group continued on. Stuart and his friend passed us. Again I was in the last position.

    Tonight I was not in a rush. I wanted to simulate my race day pace. Precisely going up Jawbone was what messed me up last year. People were passing me on this section, and it was about 2 am at the time, and I became anxious during the race to push extra hard. I became even more out of breath, etc. It ended up costing me more time later on (of 6 hours to traverse Kerns instead of 2 hours).

    Tonight, when Amanda decided to stop for a breather, I stopped too. Amanda was much better this year compared to last year. She got sick last year. She only stopped once ascending Jawbone.

    When we got to Kerns, we caught back up with John and his group. Amanda kept a close pace behind them. I kept a looser pace. If it was an easier section I could hop over rocks and catch up easily. However, I took extra time in more difficult sections. Most of the time, we were 50-100 yards apart. Sometimes though I could get right behind them.

    What I learned tonight was my balance had improved since a month ago. I had trouble on this section previously and that was during day time. Now at night, even without shining light on the path, my feet found their footing. It was almost like I couldn’t fall. I hit all the right rocks. My ankles were strong. I was not tripping or rolling my ankles or slipping. Every step was sure and full of confident. I was moving at a good pace. I could run it if I wanted. I walked fast and at times I tried running. All system was good.

    Kerns was a long section. I was more mentally prepared. Soon though we reached Q’s view. We know we would be near to Crisman Road. Once on the road, we would run again. We were ahead of our pace. We had maybe two miles to reach the (Massanutten’s) Visitor Center. Amanda put on a steady pace. We left John and Charleen behind. Soon we caught up to Stuart and his companion. We went on to passed some other people.

    There was a white van near the end of this section. Some runners were concern about the van following them, especially female runners. The time was near midnight and we were on a remote trail. There shouldn’t be anyone driving around on this part of mountain. One runner was scared enough and waited for us to join up so we would pass the van together. The van seemed to be stalking us. Amanda mentioned she had similar experience last year and she had to hide in the woods until the van disappeared.

    We had no more scary incident afterward. We crossed over Rt 211 to the Visitor Center. There were a whole crew of people waiting for us.

    I flopped down to the nearest camp chair next to the firepit. We made the cut off. It was a little passed 11:30. I believed I stayed for nearly 20 minutes. Soon I remembered I needed to fill up my hydration pack. John and Charleen would not do the next half but instead going to hike two miles back to Rt 211 parking where our cars were parked.

    I grabbed some fries and peirogis from Dan (our MMT RD, overlord). Amanda was waiting for me. I thought her husband was coming to pace her and I didn’t know she was waiting for me otherwise I would have been quicker at the aid station.

    We set off for Bird Knob. Stuart and his friend just arrived and we couldn’t wait for them. In the 100 mile race, this was an even harder climb after Kerns Mountain. I blacked out on this section during last year race. Tonight though I was full of energy. I let Amanda lead. It was a hard climb up. The moon came out. I believe it was a full moon.

    Once on Bird Knob, it was not too bad. It was just long. We reached the purple trail. We almost missed it but Amanda had good sense once we passed it, she knew. We knew to back tracked. We found the purple trailhead. Someone had knocked down the post indicating the turn.

    Purple to pink trail was not hard to find. Indeed it was long section too, maybe 6-8 miles. It took us like three hours. We reached the picnic area and made the turn on the Orange trail. Lucky we did not miss the trail but we found two other people who missed it. A third person was hurt and stayed at the Picnic Area to be picked up. We did not know until we finished. We had a mile to go to get back to 211 parking. Amanda was very good here. We arrived at 3:20.

    Meaning the entire 25 miles took us 8 hours and 20 minutes. Meaning for the 100 mile, it would took us 33:20 hour:min. This is definitely an acceptable time. The race cutoff for this year is 36 hours. I felt I was only using 30 % of my effort. I was not rushing. I felt at this slow walking pace I definitely would make the final cutoff on race day.

    I told Amanda, she has to keep this pace to finish and keep the time at the aid stations short. Not like tonight because I spent ungodly amount of time at the Visitor Center. Got to keep it down to 5 mins or less. In the real race, we have a total of 2:30 hours for aid stations and pace slowdown due to being tired. If there will be 10 stations, then we could stay up to 15 minutes, but of there will be close to 20 stations, we can only stay at most 7 mins. So, plan the stops carefully.

    Conclusion: We were the last two out of 50 runners. By keeping a steady walking pace, we ended up passing about 6-7 people and we were no longer the DFL (dead fricking last). If we keep this same strategy of not rushing, we could do the same on race day. It does not matter which position we start in but which position we will finish. If we finish around 33 hours, we would be ahead of maybe 50 people!

    My personal plan is — likely on race day, I will be going at the same pace as Amanda, till mile 62-67. I will ram up the pace as we near the end. I know it is easier to say than done. If Amanda could keep up with me, we will finish together. By 50 miles, I know whether she will be able to keep up or not. She will have a team of pacers helping her after mile 50. I plan to do Kerns Mountain and the few sections after at a faster pace than last year. I think this time I will finish it. The web signup, puts me in the 32 hours finish time. Last year, I would not believe this, but this time after finishing Blackbeard’s Revenge in 26 hours, I believe I am capable of the MMT under 32 hours.

  • OBX pre-race and post race talk [day542]

    This was supposed to be posted for last week before the race and its race report, but things got busy with packing during writing of it and it never saw daylight. Actually, for once, I actually packed and got race stuff 3 days ahead of time.

    I was going to procastinate by writing this blog, but during the middle of it, it got some sense in me to get ready for the race…so this entry did what it was suppose to do.

    Final inspection of the dropbags and stuff for the trip before being loaded onto the car. 4 dropbags, plus one for the finish line. Funny thing was I had no clues where I put everything after I packed (and worried on the whole run, like do I have batteries, do I have spare light? where was my sun lotion?), but luckily they were there in the exact dropbags when I needed them

    —-

    As my first big race of the year is about to get underway (in maybe 48 hours), I have some time to reflect and write out this post.

    This will hopefully be my fourth buckle (100 mile race). I have great expectation that I should finish.

    It has gotten easier. I can’t boast much though. 100 mile race is still a beast and unpredictable. However, if the weather works out, it should be an easy race.

    Currently the biggest foreseeable challenge would be the winds and possibly some rain on Saturday. About the wind, last week, I ran the Virginia Beach Marathon, I felt it. It was crazy to run with such strong winds. We are expecting between 25 -50 mph. However, now it seems to calm down a bit and maybe at most 25 mph.

    I am prepared. I packed my drop bags already. There are a few items I might want to to get. Masking tape (optional), sunscreen lotion (maybe), lipbalm (maybe), vaseline (maybe), some AAA bateries (maybe). Futureself: I got everything but the spare batteries.

    I haven’t planned for my nutrition. I reread my Devil Dog’s race report. And I glad I came across the tip I gave myself, of having your own food at the dropbag’s location. This totally escaped my mind when I was packing.

    I reread some 2021 race reports of why I didn’t finish the Devil Dog and other races. That was helpful as well. Basically don’t push too hard in the beginning. Since this (Blackbeard’s Revenge) course is flat, it is easy to go too fast in the first half. In theory, I could aim for a sub-24 finishing.

    I guess I am having some pre race jitter.

    There is not much I can do. I was reviewing course materials. Some regrets I had was I didn’t book my hotel closer to the start or the finish. Anyway, nothing can be done by now. I could cancel my booking and rebook closer, but I don’t want to make changes this late. Anyway, my present location is not bad. It is about at 20 mile on the course, so I could stop by during the race.

    —

    In the last post I had so much I wanted to write but didn’t get to everything. It was about my MMT third training run but thr Shamrock Marathon overshadowed it.

    I reviewed my first and second MMT training run. Time flew by so quickly. In the first training, we were running in the snow.

    I was not ready for the run back then because my left ankle was still hurting. I got the run done.

    On the second training run, I was in a much better shape. I felt fast. The hill climbs were not that hard. I ran with Tony, and a few others.

    On third training run, I was the last four to finish. We started early, so we finished early. It took me 11 hours. 5 am to 4 pm. To me it was a fast time. My ankle was mostly healed. About that, usually the first step I took, it has some discomfort. By second and subsequent steps, I don’t feel it any more.

    My ankle hinders me on the downhills. It was a reason why my TWOT time was so slow. It took me 12.5 hours to get around that course. I bet I could do it an hour or two faster with a fully healed ankle.

    Funny thing is the last few weeks, even with an ankle that is not 100%, I ran two 50k and 1 marathon. I finished them.

    I was hoping the ankle would be fully healed by the time I am running this 100 mile race. There isn’t any hill, so technically it should be fine. My ankle just doesn’t like uneven surfaces or downhills.

    One last thing, those people I did not get along that well on the first training run, are now very cordial. I knew it. They ran at my pace and we see each other at every training runs and will be together during the race. It would be quite awkward if we didn’t get along.

    The big picture. Finally what all these trainings and running in the Blackbeard’s Revenge have to do with anything? I have been training hard to do the MMT again and hopefully this time will be more successful.

    I have not focused much on training for Blackbeard’s Revenge. Blackbeard’s would have been a challenge for me to run two years ago, but currently should not be. The current challenge is to do two one-hundred races in the same season, note, MMT is just a month or so away after Blackbeard’s. My concern was that this 100-race would derail my next one. Future self: I came out the race stronger.

    —

    Afterword, One reason this blog didn’t get posted was I got bored toward the end. I felt I needed something. As said, some I was too busy with the race. Now looking back, everything went well.

    I had some thoughts about the race. It was refreshing. It was short. And it was one of those things you do only once in your lifetime. I felt so blessed to have done it. One regret was I did not stay there longer. As with anything, I felt like I came in at night and leave during the day time. The enjoyment was too brief.

    This happened at many of my other races, where I had daja vu from previous experience while running. I think I did not mention this in the race report. I came away feeling lacking because I couldn’t exactly create the same happiness and feeling of the first time being at that place. It is not anything bad. It is just me feeling sentimental. Anyway, to finish on a brighter note, The race added newer experience to the old ones. All the preparation that went into it was worth it. Who knows when I can get to do it again!

  • Blackbeard’s Revenge 100, OBX [Day541]

    Just after the start of the 100 mile race

    While I had wanted Umstead 100 to be my first 100 mile race, Outer Banks’ Blackbeard’s Revenge was the runner up on my list. I ended up running the Rocky Raccoon instead in Huntsville, Texas as my first during 2021.

    Since then I ran other 100 mile races and finally circled back to this one.

    So I took Friday and Monday off to travel to North Carolina to line up at the start. It was necessary and worth the trip.

    Aside, we spent 10 hours in the car there and 10 hours back, the drive was almost as long as the run (gps calculated that the trip only would take 5 hours, but I had to make some detours to pick up my mom, etc).

    We had optimal weather window to run this. The rain did not come but only a little bit on Saturday afternoon. We did have some constant wind but it was calming down to about 15-20 mph. We couldn’t control the weather. Temperature wise was mild as well, ranching from low 50s to high 70s.

    I enjoyed my time there while met up with some recently made friends from other races. At the package pick up, I ran into Joe and Simon who were my pacers at the Fort Worth Marathon last month. During the race I happened to meet Fernando on the course whom I met at the Devil Dog 100. I was able to ran with Fernando a bit, maybe 10-15 minutes until we arrived at our second drop location around mile 41.

    sunrise of the first day

    The main thing was I got it done. It was on road surface instead of trail. This was my first road 100 mile race. It was a fast race because I PR’ed it, running my best time, of 26:17:00, cutting the time from Rocky Raccoon by almost 2 and half hours.

    The course was slight on an uphill at least that how I felt, but overall was flat as a pancake. It was also my first point to point 100 mile race. Logistics was about the same. I was worried about where to stay before the start. I chose Kitty Hawk to be closer to the start rather than near the finish. It was an option. One runner chose to leave their car at the finish and hitched a ride to the start, maybe about 3 hours drive. Another choice was to stay somewhere in the middle and I was kind of like that, about an hour from the start and 2 hours from the finish.

    The race also offered after race shuttle to take runners back. However, this was done at a 4 hr interval, so getting a ride back can be tough if you finish after one of the rides departed.

    I had no problem running this race. I was prepared by previous races. I did not specifically trained for this since I came off running the Devil Dog in December. I took couple months off to recover. After that I did couple training runs for BRR and MMT. I ran couple marathons (Ft Worth, Seneca Creek, and Virginia Beach).

    I packed a bit better. I had everything packed into four 1 gallon ziplock bags.

    I still over packed my things but I got the nutrition about just right and spaced them in the dropbags. My suggestions to myself from a previous race report about planning to bring my own food as the primary source instead of relying on the aid stations, helped me to throw in some cereals and candies into my dropbags. I glad I did. This is not saying it couldn’t be done by eating aid station stuff or that their stuff was bad, but it reduced a set of variables from the equation and give a better chance of finishing.

    I had a positive experience through out the race. The course was beautiful and we were blessed by good weather of neither too hot or too cold or other extremes (too windy). The beauty of the place was overwhelming. I have been to Outer Banks maybe 10 years ago and the memory of that trip left a deep impression of endless seasshore (and of course the lighthouses). I will try to share some pictures. It is subjective, but OBX is a place I love to vacation or retire to because it is just so beautiful. If one theme about this race is the peacefulness of everything.

    Another reason I like this race because it was a point to point course. It is hard to put up a point to point race both from the RD perspective and ours. It is a lot of work. The last three 100 mile races I did were all looped courses. Rocky Raccoon was like 5 loops, Rim to River was an out and back race, going out 50 miles and coming back with a bit of variation, and the Devil Dog was 4 loops in the Prince William Forest. Even Massanutten can be considered a single loop in a figure eight pattern. This race, Blackbeards starts at one end of NC-12 hwy to the other end, from paved road to end of paved road. The road continues on in either direction as an off-road path (and probably goes by a different name).

    For us runners, running 100 miles in a loop or point to point is the same. However, when the course is in a straight line instead of a circle, you get a sense of the large distance covered.

    Also everything is harder, so as arranging ride back or to the start. I like the extra challenge. Maybe more on this later. The race organization did an amazing job to lessen the burden of this. There are a lot of information given ahead of time in term of bag drops, aid stations, hotel, parking, shuttle rides, and dealing with planning for the unexpected such as weather, etc.

    Another reason, take this point as a grain of salt, I think it is an easy 100 for first time 100 attempts. I think the race organization babied us too much, but I understand it was for our safety. There were tons of information in the race handbook and the RD when over them multiple times. I did not mind being beat over of the head the same things.

    Now about the race and my experience, I think it was perfect. I am not sure how many people signed up. I wish there were more people running it. I felt we were very much under the capped. If this continues, the race might not be around in the future. Not sure why people are not running this, maybe too easy, too hard, not being on trails, the logistics factor, but anyway those can be overcomed.

    We had probably 100 runners in each event. There were four events (plus virtual events). We had the 100 mile, 100k (at 10 AM start and at different location than the 100 mile) and plus the relays for both distances. However, there were about only 50 finishers in 100 mile and 100k event. There were about maybe 5-6 relay teams. The exact numbers are on the race signup and results website. I think there were a lot of drops but I don’t know the drop rate. I felt there were close to 100 runners at the 100 mile start, but on about 50% finishes. This is typical I think.

    So what do I think is the challenges? Other than the distance, I think the main being weather. We were buffered by wind (strong headwind) through out the race. It could have been worse. The wind was ‘calmer’ on our race day. They were saying it was blowing hurricane strength the week before.

    We had only faced with 15-20 mph constant wind. Also the temperature. We had relatively warm weather to run in this time, however at early morning, I think it was in the low 50, and when I breathed, I could see my breath. My fingers were cold. Lucky I put in my dropbag a pair of gloves for the evening portion and buff/neck gaiters too. I wore sleeve inserts on either arm. It was my first time and they helped a lot.

    Then during the day the temperature rised to near 80. We were burning. I was sunburned on my face, neck, back, forarms, and back of my legs. I applied sunblock lotion but only did it once and in the early morning, but did not reapplied so, I was burned. Don’t misjudge the spring sun. It is still hot.

    The temperature, I felt could have been worse if it were to drop a bit lower or get higher. This depends if you like cold running, but for me, I prefer warmer weather. We also was rained on for a bit. maybe for 10-15 minutes. Thunderstorms were forecasted the day before and the day after, but we only had a brief rain session while out on the course, and I was actually grateful for the rain even though it made me wet and cold. The reason was, I was hit with ‘sandstorm’ during the afternoon. Not really a storm but the wind stirred up the sand and when it hit me, it was painful to have sand repeatedly blasted on your body. The rain actually prevented this, making the sand stick together. I appreciated that sand stopped blowing on me. We were so exposed out there. Wearing long sleeves helped. Facing the elements was probably the hardest challenges.

    Aid stations and drop bags. We had 17 aid stations. There was almost a station every 5 miles except for the first two. We had our drop bags at about every 20 miles. I think it was more than enough.

    My greatest advice to myself was to pack my own food as my primary source and rely less on the official aid stations. This is not a complaint. I reread my last 100 mile race report and that what stuck as being successful, and I said really? My MMT failed attempt was attributed to my lack of eating. So the trick was to bring my own food to eat at anytime and all the time.

    Because it was a road race, we shared the road with cars. We had to wear a safety vest/reflective gear throughout the race. There was a significant night portion. We had to have spare lamp and bateries. This was not an issue for me, for my light lasted through the evening. I wore one of those fancy lighted fiber optic tubes. They had their pluses and minuses. The plus is it meets all the required gear but having a spare. The disadvantages were the wiring get in the way of my running, and also harder to put clothes on and off or any other things that goes over the shoulders like a water pack. It was a tiny inconvenience. A lighted belt or a clip on blinker would have been better.

    And also, I should have gotten two sets, so that during the day, I could stove away once I reach my drop location and at night get it from a drop bag. Instead, I only had one set, so I wore mine the whole race.

    we ran on the left side of the roads. There were sidewalks but the course and directions were provided based on the lefthand side of the road. Road’s shoulder was wide enough. However, when cars drove by fast especially on the bridge, and at night, it was quite stressful to runners.

    As said, I had generally a positive experience. I had a fast race. It was peaceful. I was mostly by myself on the course. Because the field was small, I was not able to find someone matching my pace to tag along. There were maybe 10 people whom I was leading from the second half after 50 miles, but they were going a bit too slow for me. I gained about 30 minutes on my nearest competitor (Rich, a new friend I made while running) by the time I finished, not a huge gap, but far enough apart.

    A small critique was the aid stations were understaffed (they did call for volunteers) and I tried to ask my mom to help. I felt many families could have helped and I think many did, however, like my own, many spent much of their time wanting to crew their own runners. A few of the stations only had one or two people. They did their job well, but more volunteers would have been ideal. Also the food, I felt was quite limited.

    Not sure if it was because the 100k people (the horde) had just gone on ahead of us and ate everything. I had sufficient stuff from the aid stations, but I had done the three other 100 mile races where their aid stations were a buffet of hot food and an island of cheers. This race was more a solitude affair. Here we had mostly hummus and gels. I glad for having a sloppy joe and a cup of noodle that saved me at a portion of the course when I was most needed for real food. Also a slice of American cheese I picked up a long the way, helped so much later in the race when my stomach was turning from eating my own food too much. These were provided by the aid stations. However, bringing my own food was still the best advice to myself.

    sunset and beach time. This was the following day after the race when I recovered enough to walk around. I did cross the Jughandle Bridge during sunset.

    First Big Race of 2023 done. And PR’d it. The last 5-10 miles were very hard. I was exhausted. Singing got me through. I sang thanksful spiritual songs. That did it. It gave me tge energy to run to the finish. Finished in 26 hours. Originally I was targeting between 28-30 hours. But by the first 6 hours I was already knew I was 3 hours ahead of schedule and I could maintain the 3 hours lead through out. We were running at 12-14 minute pace, which meant a 20-25 hour finishing. This is fast in my book. The lead allowed me to stay in the rest stations longer. At couple of the drop bag locations, I stayed up to 30 minutes. In total, I probably rested over an hour to two hours. I could aim for a sub 24 hour finish, however, I love having my rest. There was no need to kill myself to get that sub 24 hour finish.

  • Shamrock Marathon [day540]

    Quite a lot happened this week. I might have been more quiet than usual because I am going through some existentialist crisis. I still love running a whole lot. If I am given a choice, I would choose running. I would love to demonstrate my running feats. One up of things I did so to speak. I like to do hard races.

    Lately though, I have been asking, is that all to it. And what is next for my next race. I have reached a plateau last May when I ran the MMT when I met my match. I could still improve certainly but they are no longer leaps and bounce like I used to do. I could still try for a 200 mile race but I see that as an evolution rather than a revolutionary change. I could also change my perspective, running for running’s sake. I do enjoy pure running, outside of racing. Anyway, I know whatever is bothering me will pass.

    This weekend I had a chance to do a hard training plus the next day showed up at a marathon a hundred of miles away and ran it. This is what I like to live for and what I consider a good weekend.

    I work during the week and during the weekend to run hard. It stretches me to the max, both physically and mentally.

    Just on performance, I have reached a level that was not possible a few years ago. Not sure I wrote about the time when I qualified for the Marathon Maniacs club, where they required to run 3 marathons within 60 days. I ran two marathons back to back that year (Saturday and Sunday), and I thought that was hardest thing I did. (if I have time, I will dig up that post, since it parallels to this weekend)

    I wondered while writing this, if I have a choice, would I rather have last year’s body or this year body? I think, it depends. Last year at this time, I was pretty beat up. I could hardly walk due to back pain. In the fall though, I was unstoppable. 2021 body is better than 2022 or 2023 in term of stat. I would like to have that body with my present experience. I would like that very much. It is kind of a mystery why my performance goes downhill. I guess it is hard to maintain that peak level.

    But over time, I do see changes. Like now every weekend can be like that, being capable of doing big runs and recovering quickly. For those who can run a hundred miles in one go, coming back to run a marathon no longer is that daunting. I think, it is almost a joke to us. It is like me running a 5k. Yet running a marathon is for many people their life time achievement. It was for me once.

    So this weekend, I went out and did a 35 mile training run on the Massanutten trail. This training run was considered the hardest of the three MMT 100 mile race trainings we did. First it was long, 35 miles, second it was hard, with a lot of climbing (6000 ft I think), and it was done in winter. Though spring is about around the corner, but we ran on a cold day. It was considered warm and nice, winter so to speak, but still it was a cold morning and the whole day was cold, with temperature around the 40s F (5-8 C?).

    Last year I could not finish the whole training run and cut it short by 8 miles. I was determined to finish it this year. I made it to the cut off with 30 minutes to spare. And I was not to the last to finish. Two 72/73 years old men did beat me, but they were incredibly strong. Jeff, the guy I wrote before also, finished before me. Those guys are monsters. I did not even have a chance to catch a glimpse of him.

    The first section on Kerns took me 4 hours. The second section over Bird Knob, took me also 4 hours. And the last 10 miles took me 3 hours. Total time spent was 11 hours for the day. So in thoery for the 100 mile race, if you multiply by 3, it would give me a 33 hours finishing and that is a good finishing time.

    Doing this run was a different perspective running with fresh legs. I remember that during the 100 mile race, I was half dead, at mile 65. This 35 mile section of the race caused me to miss the race cutoff last year. This time I would train harder, so I won’t miss it again at this year’s race coming up in May.

    —-

    After the training, with about four hours of sleep, I ran the Virginia Beach’s Shamrock Marathon. I tell you, this is hard. A normal me would not do something like this.

    Without much a break, I drove down to Virginia Beach after my training run, arrived there past midnight. I had to make several stops at the rest areas because I was falling asleep behind the wheel. I always get that low energy after a good training run. Having to drive myself was dangerous.

    There are a lot of things can be said about this marathon. I couldn’t do it full justice without writing a separate report.

    The weather was colder than Saturday. I think we were in the high 30s with blustery winds. I think because we ran near the ocean without much covering, we were exposed and the winds were stronger.

    That morning, I did not want to get up. If I could I would have slept in till 8 or 9. I snoozed my alarm a few times until 5 am and I knew I had to get up and get to the race otherwise there might not any parking spaces left. I wanted a free parking at Virginia Beach Middle School. The race did not start until 7:30 but they advised us to get there before 6:30. I arrived at about 6 am. I could sleep in a car for a bit before walking to the start. And we had about a mile or two of walking from our car to the start. Luckily the finish line was closer and so we did not have to walk that far back afterward. The start was at 45th street but the finish was near 25th street.

    My feet were tired. I knew it. It was always hard to do a back to back run. Lately, I have been slacking on my Sunday’s runs and skipping many back to back long runs.

    I signed up for this marathon exactly for that reason to put in a long run knowing I am a slacker. A race would force me to run even if I don’t feel like it.

    I was assigned corral 7, but after checking the crowd there, I didn’t feel I was fit in. I might have put 4:30 as my finishing time and they put me in with the faster people. Normally, I could run that but today, I was doubtful. I felt intimidated to run with them today. I know my place. I don’t feel I could run a 4:30 marathon today. I moved myself to the last corral and I felt much better there.

    The race started and I went out. A lot of people in my corral sprinted out. I could not kept up with them even though this was supposed to be a slower corral. Maybe many people had the same idea as me of moving back. I did catch sight of a few having corral 7 on their bibs but started in corral 10. But also there were a lot slower people. I felt right at home. I know it would take a few miles to get myself into pace.

    Because I am in the slower corral, there were no pacers. I think the last pacer was 2:45 for the half marathoners and they lined up in corral 9. 2:45 would probably translated to 5:30 marathon finishing time. I set my goal to follow them. However, because they started early, they were gone.

    In a race, I call this spagettifying. Fast people get faster and leave you behind. The slower people would drop back. In a perfectly sorted race, you see people’s pace stretches out, like spagetti.

    Today though, all different paces seem to be mixed together. There were certainly slower people up front. I remembered walking up to corral 4 and saw some people, I think shouldn’t be there. Maybe they did not know their pace and put a randomly finishing time so got assigned to an earlier corral. So in a race, I would catch up to the slower people that lined up in earlier corrals. Things did not get spagettified until much later.

    Miles flew by. I was not fast but I was moving. By halfway, I was in a pretty good shape. I passed people and people passed me. It was all jumbled. I liked how I can recognize many had gone out too fast and couple miles later I caught back up with them. Eventually though, I got into my right pace group of 12-13 min per mile pace.

    The course was a loop out and back. squished loop. We ran north then turned around and we ran south and then turned around. We finished in the middle of the boardwalk at the Poseidon’s statue.

    There were a lot of half marathoners. It was like a 100 to one in my corral. Everywhere I looked was a sea of green bibs (the half marathoners). It was hard to find someone around my pace and running the marathon. By the time I was halfway, the front runners already finished.

    The reason I mentioned this is in some races after the half marathoners finished, the race feels very lonely because you are by yourself alone on a long course. Shamrock Marathon did not feel like that. I felt constantly people all around me.

    By mile 19, we turned around one last time. People started to lose steam. People started walking and I started passing them in earnest. Funny I did not bonk or hit what they called the “wall”. I felt fresh by now and could really run. I had the energy to sustain my push all the way to the finish and finished at 5:09. I believe I ran a negative split or at least an even split. It was not a fast marathon for me when I normally ran below 4:30. However, I was happy. I thought the whole time I might finish over 6 hours. I was really aiming for 6 hours.

    I stayed around for two more hours until the 7 hour people came in. I recognized many of them because I was around them at the beginning in their corral.

    I had a few conversations during the race. I had a good day. Some memorable moments were at halfway we saw the faster people finishing. I believe I saw the first female coming in as I was still going out. There were tons of people who could run sub 3 hours or around there. It was just incredible.

    I did have my doubts in the first few miles about if I could even finish because my legs felt like lead at the time. I thought it would be a struggle.

    Also the last mile seemed incredibly long. Everyone picked up their pace. I felt my own pace was slowing down.

    The winds were constantly blowing. Sometimes we had tail winds and it felt so good to be pushed. But head winds were bad. On finishing stretch, we faced head winds and many chose to walk. I don’t blame them.

    Finishing swag was great. We had many things. Snacks, drinks, wafers, cookies and a nice premium blankie. No wonder we paid so much for this race, however, with the high inflation going on, it didn’t seem too bad.

    There was a finisher tent where they served beer and real food (I think) but I did not enter because I did not like to walk on sand and did not want sand to be in my car. I think they gave us 4 glasses of beer, which is a lot. Normally, we usually get one free beer only. In some races, two (Cowtown). I missed out on the beer. Many half marathoners stayed behind for the food and beer and live music, which is good. I have been to many races where by the 7th hour, the race finishing line felt like a ghost town. Not here. Many people stayed around even on a cold and windy day like today.

    We also ran through two military bases and I felt that was interesting. Normally, I haven’t been in a military base. They had their guards carrying rifles. Their police officers were everywhere. They didn’t want us to sneaking around on the base. We stayed on the main roads.

    How do I close? I wish I sort out my heart issue. It is a funny feeling I can’t explain. I love running and I wish I have a reason to run and be happy. I know eventually, things will work out. Feeling like this comes and goes. I call them post marathon blue. They usually happen after I ran a big race.

    Also this run was like a dress rehersal for next week run at Outer Banks, a hundred mile run. I hope next week would be warmer. But the wind, now I know I need to dress for the constant blowing. Cap, neck gaiter, lip balm, gloves, etc. I need to plan for my drop bags. At least three, mile 25, 50 and 75. Next week will be a real challenge for me.

    Oldest standing lighthouse in the nation. We were probably at around mile 5 or 6. I did not keep track of my miles very well

  • snow! [Day539]

    Maybe it was the last snow this winter. Nothing sticked but was still exciting. It snowed in the middle of the night.

    Some snow dusting at Sky Meadow where I hiked the following day / it really has nothing to do with the race, just a pic for the blog. Cold day

    I was afraid the next day our 50K run would be canceled. Last year, in similar condition, the race was canceled for fear our runners would ruin the trail.

    Every year since the pandemic I have been running this 50k trail race, the Seneca Creek Greenway. I probably could find old reports and maybe I should. I love to reread the old race write-ups and see how they differed from this year.

    It was an ‘easy’ 50k, similar to Holiday Lake I ran couple weeks ago. We have some hills maybe like couple hundred feet ups and downs. Most of them are small hills. It was fun to run on them.

    Yet it is quite tiring too. This year I started slow. I took my time through the Seneca State Park, to Riffleford, for about first couple miles. I remembered the first time I ran this, I went out full blast and gave everything before even getting to the Riffleford road crossing.

    Once we were on the Greenway Tr, I stayed with my pack of about 4-5. After couple miles, the pack kind of disolved. The fast people ran ahead and the slower people dropped back one by one, I was left with with just a runner in front and he was walking.

    Interesting, this runner was not slow. He walked from time to time but just by the look, I knew he was a fast runner. He was just humoring us by walking. Actually I have no idea why he even walked. For the next hour, I was following sometimes far back, other times within arm length.

    We passed a mill. And finally the guy took off. I had a hard time trailing him. The trail by now cleared up. I still trailed him all the way to mile 7 or 8 at Rt 28 aid station. We crossed over to the otherside of the road to enter onto Seneca Bluff trail.

    It was uneventful all the way to mile 15 ish where we headed back north using the Greenway trail again. We crossed a creek about halfway. I remembered in former races, this was a choke point where everyone would stop and we would cross it one by one. This year, there was no one around. The creek was kind of flooded. I couldn’t hop across rocks there but waded through the stream.

    By mile 15, I came across Sergio, whom I stayed with him maybe for a mile or so. Sergio said he has a bad knee. He ran this race before but today he was not feeling well. He hadn’t been eating or drinking much. Not long after he was saying that, his hamstring cramped up and he felt over on the trail.

    I helped him up and hoped that by walking it off he would be fine. A runner came by and offered him salt tablets. Together, we walked to the aid station. Once there, I knew he should be fine. We separated. I knew if Sergio chooses to continue, it would be a long day for him.

    We were about 3 hours in. I expected the second half would be a bit longer. I was hoping I could finish earlier than former races. Though I felt like more a straggler this year. Former years, I usually see a lot of people walking in the second half. This year, I rarely saw anyone.

    I caught up a few people who had gone out a bit too fast. The second half, my pace degraded a bit and several runners passed me. That is the natural of racing. Even at the last mile, I thought I was in a comfortable position, then someone passed me running quite strong and it was impossible for me to keep up.

    Anyway, I finished at 7:39:00. It was much longer than I thought. Sergio said he recorded 33 miles on his watch. The trail is maybe a bit long but it is the same distance every year. We know it is trail racing neither our watch is accurate nor the ‘official distance’ is accurate. Trail racing always is measured with an estimated-ish distance.

    • comparisons:
    • 2020: 6:30:36 (report)
    • 2021: 7:14:17 (report)
    • last week, Cowtown 50k, road, 6:03.
    • two weeks ago, Holiday Lake 50K, 7:07

    I was much slower this year. time of 7h and 40 mins, so it seems about 30 mins to an hour slower than former years, depending which year or race to compare to. And wow I ran 6:30 the first year. Not sure why I am so much slower. I think probably doing three 50K back to back, kind of took away time for me to recover.

    Anyway, time was not too important to me. I want to run faster of course, but not meeting a prior year’s time was fine to me. My goal this year was to have some the time on the trail. Because it would build me up for a bigger race that will take place in May (the MMT 100).

    Weather-wise, the day was cold around 40F but with strong winds making the wind chill at time feels like 30F. I wore double layer and a windbreaker over. Gloves and cap were a must to keep fingers and ears from freezing. The race opened for 9:30 hours. I stayed there pretty much until closing.

    Food was adaquate. They had warm food for us. I drank a cup of warm coffee and that was the best thing that warmed me up. There were plenty of volunteers. I think the race was well supported, which is a reason for me to go back year after year.

    My memorable moment after getting all the food I needed, was when I went back to my car to put on warmer clothes so I could stay out to watch runners finishing. A family there was waiting for Sergio. I did not know Sergio’s name at the time. I started talking to the family and they said, that is probably Sergio. I was curious to see if indeed they were waiting for the runner I met on the trail. Sergio came in a bit after 9 hours. He did the full 50K. After having the cramp in his leg, he had to walk. I knew it would be a slow race for him. He said it was very tempting to quit halfway but he found a fellow companion and they walked all the way and did the full 50k.

    The heroic thing for Sergio about this race is near the finish at mile 27.5, you could make a decision to cut ‘short’ the race by finish as a marathon or you could add 5 more miles to get the 50K finish. Sergio could have finished a bit earlier (maybe couple hours earlier) as a marathon (and many people did). We were tracking Sergio on the phone and saw he took the other path and we knew he was aiming for 50K. So we waited. It was worth it to get 50K distance.

    As for me, it was a decent race. I havr another race next week (and I will report on that when I did it). The week after will be my 100 miler (OBX, or Blackbeard’s Revenge). And so forth. This week, I did some planning for my Toronto trip (and I am excited). I will write more when the time comes. There are races stacked up until end of May.

    Seneca Park’s Clopper Lake maybe only two miles from the finish. We had to run around this lake. It is bigger than what is shown.

  • Day538 10-Mile Race

    I love racing.

    How many times have I done this one, I have no idea. At least twice.

    Back in 2017 and 2018, I ran every race that is available held by the local running store (Potomac Running).

    As I took on bigger races, I mean longer distances, like 50 mile and 100 mile races, I don’t have time for the local ones. I still run them whenever I can. I sign them up on the spur moment.

    Reston 10 Miler is a familiar course to me. I ran many 5Ks and 10Ks there year after years. The 10 mile course mostly was stitched together from 5K and a 10K. I recognize every turns and every hills.

    Timewise, I was not impressive with my finishing time. It was not any record shattering. I was not slow. I haven’t had the heart to dig up past races to compare. I finished at 1:40. It is a 10 min pace so I should be glad, especially after running a 50K last weekend.

    Yet I remember my fastest 10 miler was under 1:20. I used to be able to run at a 8 min pace. That was impressive.

    Everything’s relative. I have to live with the body I have today, not the one I had a year ago or 10 years ago.

    Sometimes I feel like I am in an arm race with myself. I improve my time, yet I get heavier. So I trained harder to be stronger. I do improve. Then I get a faster time again and then I get heavier. The cycle starts again. The last two years, I know I improved. Yet this time, my body has overtaken me. I gained too much weight over the pandemic. Not sure if it is something related to that or just I am just getting older.

    A 60 year old man beat me innlbthis race. I recognized him from prior races. Note, because I live in Northern Virginia, people don’t make casual comments, unlike when I do races farther way. People avoid eye contact here in the big city. I have seen this guy many times in other races, but he acted he doesn’t know me and I same. Not complaining, just saying. I have been in the area for at least 20 years and that how we work. (Remember both Jeffs I met at the other races, how nice people are in the country side).

    True everyone is racing against their own. But if a 60 year old man could out run a 40 year old, it means something.

    On one hand, it is not hopeless for me. I could work harder to be able to run like that when I am 60.

    The flip side is the dude is impressive.

    As I stepped on to the course today, I was thinking what was I trying to get out of this. It is cool to set records and such. It is cool to run fast. I ran pretty fast, faster than any of my usual training runs. I usually go 15 mins or slower per mile and today I pulled a 10 min mile for whole 10 mile. I enjoyed the weather. I enjoyed the morning run. Only a race could get me up at 6 am in the morning. Normally, if left to my own device, I do not get out the house until like 3 or 4 pm in the afternoon. I am a lazy runner.

    One thought I reminded myself was yes running a 50K last weekend was impressive. Today running a 10 miler was no less an accomplishment. I told myself many times, if I could run just one more race, I would be in heaven.

    In this view, I should only run 5Ks or 10Ks, to save money and time because it gives the same utility, from an economic standpoint. Nah, I believe, if I have the ability to run longer distances, I should do it. This is the reason I am grateful and happy that I do have the means and the ability to do something extraordinary.

    If I close out the blog here, it would be good. I have just a bit more to say. Things or an idea seems to be at the tip of my tongue but I just couldn’t bring forth. I have been searching something all weekend. It has been a recurring theme since I finished the last big race (MMT) of last year. It is related to motivation and of why I do things. I wrote a post on new year’s day about my resolutions and all.

    I think, things have gotten a bit easier lately, after I ran the 100 mile. I still have tons of goals to do and some are out of this world hard, but overall, a lot of my goals, I thought was impossible are a bit easier. I mentioned about the 50 states marathon goal. If I really want to, I think I could do it in a year. Many of my goals are like that. If I really want to do it, I have now the means to do them. So they seem a bit boring. And I keep asking myself, what’s next. What is the next badass thing to do? The answer is not that I don’t know, but I am afraid to look.

    This blog post like any others will be closed with a hanging. To be continue. I wish life would be simplier. I could wake up and say I would do this and that and do them. That is it for now.

  • Day536 Cowtown Marathon / 50K

    I flew into Dallas/Fort Worth last week. I was primarily there to run the Cowtown Marathon. This trip was in planning over a year. I had my eyes to cross out Texas as one of the 50 states marathon. I have been to Texas in 2021, doing the Rocky Raccoon 100. I do not believe it would replace a marathon, so I decided to go back to run a proper marathon.

    Texas is one of the states (like California or Florida) where you have many choices to choose. I considered Austin Marathon, San Antonio, Dallas, and Houston Marathon. Cowtown won out for me. I wanted to go to an interesting place, and Fort Worth was pretty cool.

    I arrived late Friday night. Did not do much but checked in at the hotel and had a good night rest. Fort Worth was as cold as Virginia when I landed. All I wanted was to snuggle under a blanket.

    On Saturday, I attended the convention. They had two 5k events and a 10k event that morning. Traffic was bad. Google Map kept directing me to turn into closed streets. I think I circled the area for an hour before finding a place to park. There were no signage that the university parking lots were available for convention goers. In the end, I parked on one of the side streets. Not complaining. The race was staged at an university, where parking was plenty but all were restricted. Better signage might help.

    I got to say, I have done some big marathons, like Duluth and Marine Corps. The organization for this one was amazing. We had corrals and each one was fenced off. I think there were 20,000 people. The race kicked off at 7:00 am Sunday.

    I was there like at 4:30 am, to take a free parking spot. I don’t know how the rest of the people get parking. There were paid parking decks. I didn’t want to pay for parking. By 6:00, our lot was full. I slept in the car until it was near start time. I followed the people out to the main plaza.

    Most people went toward the covention hall. It is a big place. They had a morning worship. This was the first marathon I attended where a worship service was held. Texans love their Faith.

    Temperature for the morning was fine around 50 F (maybe like 10-12C). It was a perfect temperature for running. I would like to have a light jacket on, but I went with a t-shirt and shorts. I was a bit cold though I could stand it. Huddling in the convention hall was good, till they told us to get to our corrals.

    I was assigned to Corral 6 but after getting there and checking around, I felt I should be in one higher (Corral 7), for the slower people. My pacers were in Corral 7 too.

    We joked around saying we are like cows being herd together. Indeed, this was Cowtown and they do herd livestocks through their city.

    The race got underway. We were mixed in with the half marathoners and the full marathoners. There were only about 200 runners running the ultra (50k). I originally wanted to sign up for the full marathon, but finding out they offered an ultra, I couldn’t resist of not running it as an ultra runner.

    The half marathoners were a pretty slow crowd in our corral, running at 2:40 finishing time or slower. The marathon pace was about average at 5:05 finishing, and we, doing the ultra, were aiming for a 6 hour finishing, which was a little bit under 12 min pace. It was well done, at least at my pace, we were not too packed together, unlike at the Marine Corps Marathon. The pace was just right. I did not pass too many people and not too many passed me. Of course, we doing the ultra had to run a bit faster because we had more distance to cover.

    The first 5k was uneventful. I felt fresh and it was easy. It was on a downhill. We would be coming back on this. What I feared at the time was mile 9 because from previous day, I met a runner who warned me of the steep climb at mile 9.

    Soon we arrived at mile 9, where we entered into downtown. The climb was on an overpass/bridge. To me and our ultra group, it was nothing. I chewed it. There were my many other people walking up. I think we offended some people for being maybe a bit too loud. A lady gave me a disgusted look and said, not everyone can run at your pace.

    OK. We upset some people. But pretty soon, I think at mile 11 the half marathoners went off toward their finishing stretch. We, with the marathoners continued on. We quickly noticed we no longer had the whole road to run on. Aid stations, while still plentiful became farther apart. And there are less crowd cheering. This was where the real running began.

    A fellow runner started peeling off. I slowed down and ran with him for a bit. It was his first time doing a 50K. His goal was to just finish. He asked if it was my first time. I told him it was probably my 4th or 5th at a 50k. My longest training run was last weekend when I ran 32 miles. I ran even longer distances and told him my 100 miles. But I said, this is different, being a road race is many times faster and so, it is harder. When my friend began to go slower still, I left him, and told him I will see him at the finish.

    Many were running a 50k the first time. And our pace was unsustainable to them. After each aid station, there were fewer of us and fewer runners left that were able to keep pace with the pacers. Even I eventually couldn’t keep up by around mile 20.

    I got to say, near mile twenty, a private home offered a good aid stop, with fruits, chips, candies, and everything you might find in an ultra. Our official ultra aid station where they offered real food besides water and gels, was not available until at mile 27 (serving freshly grilled burgers), of course by then, we were half dead.

    The Marathoners separated from us after mile 24. We had an out-and-back section before joining back in at the same location.

    I have done a 50K with the Marine Corps Marathon. I believe Fort Worth did it better by putting the 50K split near the end of the marathon course instead of the beginning. This way, when the 50K runners merge back onto the course, we do not feel overwhelmed or crowded by the marathoners. When I ran the Marine Corps 50K, the split and merge back was at the beginning of the marathon course, and by the time we merged back, we were put in the rear (1 hour behind) the general marathon crowds it felt like running into a wall against the slower crowd. And we had to fight our way up front. It was very hectic to squeeze through the crowd because the average pace for 50K runers was generally faster than the marathoners at the merge point (it was very tricky for the race organization to plan the pace of two groups of runners merging in). Fort Worth did it better. While, we were faster, but there was only a mile to run before the finish, and most marathoners already done, so there were not many runners we encountered after the merge in.

    I reached mile 26 in 5 hours (we were with the 5:05 marathon pacer throughout the run.) We had about a 2 mile of out and back, turning around at mile 27. I stopped for a cheeseburger. The service was excellent, except as mentioned I was bonking hard by then. I could only take a bite or so before continueing on my run. If I did not care about time, I would have stopped to eat my fill. We had four miles left. I love the intention of giving us good food, however, being a race, we couldn’t stay for long to enjoy.

    Mile 29 was the hardest for me. I was glad to join back with the marathoners after the out and back section. These now were the 6 hour marathoners. They went at a much slower pace, which was perfect for me. I needed their encouragement to get the moving again. There were a group of 4-5 older runners. They were doing run-walk as I joined back into the course. Their first run-walk got me to mile 30.

    By then I got my groove back and I was able to run away from them. This was an unhill portion. I was not sure if the course is long, in my mind I planned for running a 32 mile 50k (expecting a longer course). I kept on hammering at my pace and caught up to a fellow ultra runner. We pushed each other onward, not letting either of us to slow to a walk. I told him the finish line is just up ahead. He asked where. I kind of lied to him, and said see, we reached the spectators section. They had lined the street with metal fences, so that the crowd would not interfere with runners. But now the spectators were gone, there were a few people left, but it was no longer a crowd. I think the crowd had cleared out couple hours ago, probwbly at the 4 hour finishes. The runner next to me surged on ahead. He had the kick. We still had quarter mile to go. I reminded him, quarter mile is still a long way off. But we were close.

    We made a turn and now truly the finishing arch was in sight. We ran. I had no strength left to sprint it in as I usually do. I kept my steady pace and was able to cross the finishing line with a time of 6:03:36.

    A fellow runner, whom I met around mile 10 said he would utilized the full course time available of 7:29:59. He came in at 7:28 (race clock, technically he still had 30-ish minutes more with bib time, since our group started 30 mins after gun time). Good for him. I waited until he crossed the finish line before heading home.

    Race overall was great. I had a good pace group. The two pacers at first were a bit annoying, but they became extremely helpful to me. They were incredible, having run the Austin Marathon a week before and will run the San Antonio Marathon the following weekend. They are doing 3 marathons back to back.

    The woman who paced 5:05 group, she fell 3-4 times, face first on the concrete, but she got back up each time and continued on. There was a loud sound of her smacking on the pavement. She scraped her knees pretty bad. She gave us quite a scare. Our group went and helped her. Some ran on ahead to get first aid. Some medical teams were running on the course as well, so aid were never too far away. I believe she did finish her race.

    I did not fall during the race. I did trip over a curb after finishing. It was embarrasing. I with my ultra trail running skill was able to keep my balance, but both of my calf musles freezed up and started cramping due to the sudden movement. Also various muscles too started contracting, going haywired. The only safe position was to drop to the ground.

    Three guys ran toward me to help. One was a random stranger, he started helping me do calf stretch while I was still on the ground and it helped tremendously. He pushed my foot in and that stretched the calf while I was on my back. The two others who came to my aid were my pacers. They used their cold drinks to cool the muscles. One then got out his Bio Freeze gel and rub it on the back of my legs. First time I have bio freeze in real life. I read about them before and saw them used in sports, like soccer or football. Another offered me couple of salt tablets. That helped. I needed some salt to reduce the cramping. This reminded me to buy some and keep them for my next long races.

    I would say, by now marathons have gotten easier. I enjoy the traveling. Unfortunately while in Fort Worth, I didn’t try their angus steaks. I sought out my soul food, pho. I ate plenty there. There were so many Vietnamese restaurants.

    Did I do anything else? I was feeling lazy on Saturday, so after the convention, I went back to my hotel. I slept early around 8 ish, which was pretty early. Sunday was the race. There were very little time to sight-see. The race kind of took us to all the important places. Unlike previous trips, I did not try to run on my own while I was there to explore some of local trails.

    starting corrals before they were filled with runners. Most people were still in the convention hall
    The course map. I did not do much map study before the race. A runner got lost (ended in the spectator section) and blamed the race of not having enough signs. I did not have that problem
    The Stock Exchange – I finally made the connection why there’s a bull statue outside the stock exchange. This was probably the only city in the US still have live animals. Must be a sight to see when cows are auctioned off.

    Oh finally stuff about the race, these are not what I seek in a good marathon race, but some people value these a lot. Swag: There were plenty. You could buy all kinds of merchandise at the convention. We received a race t-shirt, plus a finisher shirt. The medal was ok. Aid stations were plentiful, at about one per mile. Finishing food was ok (biscuits, fruit cups, ice cream, and two pints of beer). I like the beer and ice cream. The acid from the preservatives in the fruit cups kind of hurt my tongue so I couldn’t eat them.

    The rest of the day was spent getting to the airport. My flight was in the evening. I was pleased with the race. There were a lot of friendly people. Even at the parking lot, people was asking how my race went, etc. People were more chill and friendly in Texas. If I count this 50k as a marathon, it would be my 12th state of 50 states marathon quest.

  • Day535 TWOT run (full report)

    I happened to check last year, Day463. This time it is almost the same. I had my training etc, but it was so satisfied. I wrote a short version hopefully captured what I wanted to say. Here is a much longer version of what I mean having a good life, that is, to be out on the trail and run.

    Happiness is brief and hard to grasp. Often time, stuff at work and life drove me to insanity. Respite comes when I am out at the trail all by myself. Sometimes, I don’t even know why I am out there. But being out there seems to calm me and solves all my present problems. True, it is an avoidance mechanism, but one that works.

    Last week, I was at the Wild Oak Trail. I mentioned it a few times before and wrote about it maybe couple posts back when I went out to the trail few weekends ago, but in the end called it quit after going 7 miles in.

    This week, I went back out. It was the TWOT official race day. The 200 mile race started on Wednesday. The 100 mile started on Friday and the 25 mile version took place on Saturday. As mentioned before, I got to know both the RD (Race Director) and a 200 mile runner. It was like meeting my idol or a heavenly being. Never in my life, I thought I would meet someone like that. Not only do I get to know them, but the exciting part is they know me now. I was wondering, oh, is that how they said we should make connections back when I was in college.

    Anyway, I like this race for a weird reason when I had my first backpacking trip back in 2017. That time, we encountered runners running loops around us. I believe they were practicing for the Grindstone. Yours truly will also be running the Grindstone this year, and hence the reason why I was at the Wild Oak this weekend.

    My friend and I finished the loop too in a single day with a 40-lb bag on back the whole way, because we made a dumb decision of not stopping before nightfall. We ended up doing the whole thing without camping at all. However, we met a runner who looped us couple times that day.

    On surface this seemed like easy because we were able to do it in a day. However, it was not so. This was the hardest hike I did in 2017 and even subsequent years, the loop has not gotten any easier. Sure, they flattened and straightened the trail at a few places, but over all, it is still 8000 ft of climbing in 26-ish miles in one loop. Runners do multiple loops to have their fill.

    At the time I was not a trail runner. I didn’t start running seriously on trails until 2019, when I did the JFK 50, and that was not even a true trail run. It was not until 2021, when I did Laurel Highlands, I could say I dabbled into trail running. 2022 was the year of MMT, and that I have fallen completely into this mountain running thing. You can say, I went hardcore.

    When I learned people actually race on this trail, I wanted to do it too. Full disclosure, I haven’t able to truly run on it yet (actually it’s ability-challenged, not an opportunity problem). I applied last year to run in it, but I did not get in. I did not mind, because I did not get into many other races too. It was no big deal.

    Couple weeks ago during a MMT Training run, I met the TWOT race director and also one of the guys (Tony) who was running in the 200 mile race of this year. It hyped up my interest once again.

    This weekend, I went out. I did not want to interfere with the actual race, so I only planned to show up afterward, thinking they already should be over.

    I messed up with my math and arriving at 7:30 pm, which was only 35 hours into the 100 race. Their last person finisher did not arrive until past midnight (40-ish hours) and that is a very good time. It might have taken me more than 48 hours to do them if that even possible.

    I saw a blazing camp fire. I walked to it, but for some unexplained reason, I did not recognize the RD, and was thinking he was Tony, and was there just relaxing after the run.

    It was then two runners came in finishing their 100 mile run. RD told me two more runners were still out on the course, plus another one doing a fun run. It was then I realized I goofed up. RD handed out awards. I said my goodbye.

    RD was seriously thought I was going to run that night, because why not, everyone who showed up there is capable of doing it. I had no intention though to run it even as a “fun” run that night. Since, I think it is rude to bandit his race. The race was supposed to have no aids, no crew, no spectator, no pacer, no bailing, no rescue, etc. It was a hardcore, you by yourself and the trail. I did not want to spoil the atmosphere by running and meeting other runners. They deserve their bragging rights of being along in the dead of night while everyone is sleeping.

    So I hiked up the opposite direction to the first peak on Grindstone Mountain, orginally I was aiming for Little Bald, 7 miles away, since there is a nice open place to camp. After a mile hike, I came across a camp site on Grindstone. I totally forgot this spot. It was perfect. By then it was around 9 pm. If I had continued on, I would not have reached Little Bald after midnight and by the time I could sleep, it might be 1 AM or later. And planning-wise would have ruin my next day event, had I continue to Little Bald..

    It was a good choice to stop early because temperature was dropping. The night was beautiful. The stars were bright. I set up my tent. It took me a few tries because it had been a while since I went camping. I already ate, so I did not need to cook. I hung up the bear bag, not that I needed to, but rules are rules (not like bears would be arpund in the winter). By the time I finished everything, it was past 10 pm. I crawled into my sleeping bag. Then I remembered I had to use the restroom. I didn’t want to get back up. I cursed at myself of not doing it earlier before getting into the tent. I tried to sleep. I know I have good bladder control and in the past I had slept through the night without needing to go.

    After couple hours, it became worse, like I was about to explode. I had to get up even though it was freezing. It was not any colder, but still getting up was not fun. I put on my clothes, layered up, added a jacket, gloves, wooly hat, socks and shoes. Actually, I couldn’t make it to the socks and shoes. l had to rush out the tent barefoot and tried to find the nearest tree and almost didn’t make it because I felt it was leaking out while I was still in the tent. Cursed at myself. Hobbled to the nearest tree but couldn’t reach it and quickly pulled down my pants, doing it off the cliff, finished my business and crawled back in for a good night sleep. Again normally, I could hold till morning, just not this time.

    Next day, was pretty much a normal day. It was a beautiful day. It dawned early. I woke up around 7 am at first light. I actully slept in a bit, but knew I had a long day, I got up. Cooked breakfast. Packed the tent. Ate. Ate while packing up. Here I am mad at myself for forgetting my spoon here and did not packed it out. I knew when I left I should do a person-equipment check and police the place, but I did not.

    I had an excuse because during packing, I had a strong need to use the bathroom, and this time, it was number 2. I quickly got out my cleaning kit (toilet paper and stuff), digging tool, and rushed off to the side of the mountain. Luckily the ground was easy to dig. But I couldn’t get it deep enough. I think 4-5 inches is the requirement, a cathole. After like two inches, I hit rock. It just had to do, I was about to burst again and there was no time to find a new spot with deeper soil. Pulled my pants down and did what I had to do. I was alone on the mountain with a good view of the valley below. After I done, I covered it with dirt and put a rock on top. The rock was probably over doing it, to prevent people or animal of stepping on it. Of course, I still packed out my used toilet paper.

    I am proud of myself. This is the second trip that I actually digged a hole. Note, I thought I was so smart to stop at a rest area before arriving at TWOT and used the facility first. Little did I know, that I needed to go again so soon. When you need to go, you need to go.

    By the time I got down from the moutain, everyone (runners from the previous night) had gone home. I saw they cleaned up well. The fire ring was gone. They took care of the ashes. They poured a bucket of ice over where the fire ring used to be. The ice were still there when I arrived. RD said he left at first light, so I think maybe 7 or 8 o’clock. It was now 9 AM. I put away my camping things. I put on my running hydration pack. I still planned to run on the trail, since that was the whole purpose of me being there. Camping was just incidental. I had drank all the water while on the mountain that night so I needed to refill my hydration bag with water I had in the car.

    I wanted to run on the mountain, to do a loop of the Wild Oak Trail. I wanted get some early training for the Grindstone 100. This time, I was three hours ahead than I was there two weeks ago. I was hoping I could do the loop in 10 hours and finish it by 7 pm that night. In hindsight, I was mad at myself that I didn’t start the run even earlier like at 7 am instead of 9 am.

    I started climbing up on Grindstone again, this time without the 30 lb pack. For some reason, I like doing this trail in counterclockwise direction. It was so easy now in the morning. At night, I stepped on every puddle there because I couldn’t avoid them, but in the daylight I could see them clearly and it was easy to step on the rocks.

    It took me almost the same as last time to reach Little Bald. It was noon by then. I was 7 miles in and already used 3 hours. I hoped to reach Camp Todd by 1 pm. Note there were a lot of blow downs. It took a bit time to navigate past them.

    When I got to Camp Todd, the River was too wild to cross. I could cross it, but it would be hell. And why risk being swept by it? I wanted to keep my feet dry too. RD said if I go to the right I don’t have to wade across the river. So I went back up on the trail and saw where the trail the split and followed that for about half a mile and indeed, I avoided the river crossing, except I was now half a mile out. It put me on the road. I ran down the road was not too bad. By the way, I met a cyclist and a runner on this section. Later, I met two more hikers. These were all the people I met that day.

    From Camp Todd, I hiked up to Big Bald continue on a counterclockwise direction. It was not the hardest climb but it took a lot effort. One of the thing I regretted was I did not fill up my water at the river crossing. Now couple miles in I felt I wouldn’t have enough water to finish the loop and I was not even halfway in. Meaning later on, like the last four hours, I would be very thirsty. From memory, there wouldn’t be any water until the very end.

    Luckily after I got passed Hiner’s Spring, there was a trickling of water flowing on the trail. I squatted down, literally crawling on the ground to filter water. It was slow going but I made sure I had a full bag before setting off, plus I filled up my tiny 8 oz gatorade bottle I had. This was a miracle of water flowing from a rock.

    I think I got to Big Bald by 3 ish. It was a bit late. Big Bald is like the halfway point. I would have liked to get here by 1-ish. However, I felt the trail should get easier on the second half. I remembered from memory there should be some flat sections soon where running is possible. I believed I could still finish by 6 pm that night with only 13 miles left. I, in the past, was a strong runner on flat easy section. Today though, I was still nursing an injured foot — it’s gotten a lot better, but on occasion, it still hurts, so I couldn’t go at my usual speed.

    Running down from Big Bald was fun. It was where the shin scrapper section is. It was steep. I loved it. Of course going up on this was not fun. The guys cleaned the area well before the race. I think I was on the Dividing Ridge. This part was known to be wild and had thick overgrowth filled with torns. Yet, I did not get tangled up with bushes. It was mostly downhill. I got to the second road crossing. To me, it was kind of boring.

    After crossing the road, the climb was not tough initially because they put in a lot of “dumb” switchbacks. It used to be straight up. Now it was gentle up hills for hours. I think it was around 6 pm I got to the top of Hankey Mountain. To my surprise, the last quarter mile up before the Doswell Trail was the hardest. The view was incredible.

    I knew I was behind schedule. There I started downhill but there was still a bit of climbing left though not hard. The sun was setting. I was wishing that I could get to the fire road before nightfall.

    The trail on the this section was runnable. I think we had 4-5 miles. It took me forever, but I knew I was on the Lookout Mountain at the time. The sun was already set but I still could see without having my head lamp turned on. It got cold. I put on my jacket and gloves.

    Silly me at this stage, I was hoping to get off by 8 pm. In my rush, I got “lost”. In my mind, I believe the next turn should be on the left. I was running down the fire road and it had been a while but still no turn in sight. The road splits, one goes up and one goes down. In my mind, I knew the turn was on the left after a short climb. And at the time I saw the blaze to the right but it looked purple of my light. I immeditately discounted it, thinking it couldn’t be right. For some reason, I refused to stop to checking the map, because I was so certain the next turn is on my left.

    I went down to the left. Sun had set by now and complete darkness had set in. I turned on my headlamp. My spider sense started taking over, saying this road doesn’t look right. It is too wide and I started hearing rushing water, meaning I was near the base. At that time, I came to my sense to pull out the map. I know in the wild, you have to humble to trust your 9th or whatever sense you got. Sh*t, I was no longer on the road where I thought I was on. I figured where I made the wrong turn and how far down I went, maybe half a mile or so.

    At the time I had a choice. I could continue down on the road. I saw it would reach a camp at North River. From there I could use the roads and get back to my car. Or I could backtrack, climb back on the mountain, make the correct turn, and continue on the Wild Oak Trail.

    I weighed the pros and cons. Down on the road was new to me. I could get run over by cars, since people drive fast here and likely they wouldn’t see. Plus I could get lost again on the road. The distance between taking the road and trail is about the same. Road might seem a bit longer. I estimate might be 9 miles on the road, but with trail, I probably only have less than 5 miles left. I felt I would be safer taking the trail. Also the whole purpose coming out was to run on the mountain and not walk on the road. So I turned around and started back up the mountain. I had decided to keep to the trails. No matter how long it would take, I would go back up on the mountain. Besides, that is the runner motto, if you get of trail, you have to return back to where you got off without getting a ride on a bear or a yetti, or having a spaceship teleporting you back.

    I was actually happy when I got back to the top of the ridge. Stars came out the second night. I heard wild animal calls, not sure if those were cats or dogs, or raccoons, but it got me moving fast and at the same time excited.

    I saw the town below lit up. This always give me encouragement, knowing I will be down there soon. It was just five miles away. It might be Harrisonburg. At the time I thought was Harrisonburg but now it couldn’t be.

    Night from Lookout Mountain

    A runner called this section the Rock Garden, an apt name. We kick rocks because it was the most rocky part. It was mostly downhill. I hopped around. A few times I almost slipped but I recovered. I was proud of my balance. Yes, the whole purpose out here is for my feet to know how to do it even without light. My lamp was dimly lit. I couldn’t see much.

    Eight o’clock passed. Definitely, I should be down by 9 pm, I encouraged myself. The trail went on unendingly. My water and snacks were out by now. Eventually, I got to a bunch of switch backs. I knew by now, I was definitely descending. I messaged my mom and friends, letting them know I would be fine and would be off the mountain soon.

    The descent probably took me another hour. I had to step on a few puddles near the end. I cursed myself for not seeing the water before feeling it. Oh well, I was so close to the finish, a little wet feet wouldn’t matter. My throat was dried and hoarse since I hadn’t spoken the whole day. I had some blisters at least on my left foot. I almost tripped several times. Yet I was so close. I heard the river once more and came to suspension bridge. Basically at most quarter mile left. No way it would be a mile to my car.

    I reached my car around 9:30. The first order of business was to change my shoes and put on dry socks and put on some clothes and a jacket I had in the car. By the time, I left the lot was closer to 10 pm. I was trying to get to the nearest McDonalds, however, they closed at 10 pm (though google was saying closing time was 11 pm). Anyway, it was a long way home. I did find a McDonalds at the next town over, and wolfed down a double quarter pounder in like two bites and was still hungry. Anyway, I was happy. McDonalds was my happy meal to celebrate a successful trip. Next order of business was to get back home.

    What I accomplish on this whole trip: I camped out. I lost my long handle titanium spork on the mountain, the one I had for over last 5 years. It was specifically designed for reaching into Mountain House deydrated food packages. Oh well.

    I had my run done. It was the hardest “25” miles run I ever did, ended like 27-28 miles from the extra milrs I put in. Rock-n-the-Knob and Catoctin 50k were not as hard compare to this one. This was more like a 32 miles or more. And it took me over 12 hours. This was a run and not a hike. My exact time was unknown. My friend Caroline told me later that she did this loop in 8 hours in her younger days (of her fastest loop) and she even did two loops once. I couldn’t imagine anyone doing more than one loop, much less 8 loops for a 200 mile run on this trail. It was hard even for a single loop.

    Of course because my friend said she did it in 8 hours, I have to get my time down to 8 hours, to be badass.

    That’s Little Bald. Kind of showing my appreciation of climbing 7 miles to get up there. Now I got down and was able to look back across to the ridge
    No clue where this is. I think about halfway up Chestnut Ridge. It could be Lookout Mountain on the other side (middle ridge), where I would be coming back on

    As for other events, I ran the Holiday Lake 50k. A lot can be said about that race. And before that I ran a 5K last weekend, “for the love of it.” I could write about that too. Out of the three events, I enjoyed my time at the Wild Oak Trail the most. Also, I like the driving.

    What it means to be alone. What it means to be great. I don’t think I am that high up there. I met people who exceed me by heads and shoulders. There was a lot of thinking. In the end it was jist pure joy doing what I like to do.