In awe

Category: running

  • Day494 IMTR 50 Race (report)

    TLDR – I finished the IMTR 50 mile race in 12:23:00 unofficially. As to why or how read on. (or to read my last year race, IMTR (40) for comparison)

    Part I: why I did this race

    The exact finish time was not recorded because the race closed exactly at 12 hours. I came in 20 mins after. I had no regret that I did not reach my goal to finish it under the official closing time.

    I felt I used every tricks I had to get this “fast” time. I was happy that it was not too late in the day but was light enough for me to continue on all the way to the actual finish. They were going to pull me off the trail.

    My mom came along to accompany me on this trip. 12 hours was way too long for her to wait at the finish line, so she waited at the hotel for me.

    The next day, I took her up to see part of the trails I ran on and to see some of the views I saw. Unless one walks on it, it is hard to convey the joy in me. We hiked a baby section, maybe a quarter or even an eighth of a mile around Skull Gap, which was a significant point in the race.

    My point was not to impress her or anyone how difficult the trail was, but to show how much fun it was for me to it. At the end of the last blog, I mentioned about the sharing my glory. Walking on the trail I did, is like walking on a piece of history. Similarly, at the end of the race, I got to experience a friend’s making history (more on this below).

    I think readers have similar questions as to why I did it in the first place, especially knowing likely I wouldn’t finish it. It was for the fun. Running is fun.

    It is hard to justify my hobby as fun. To most people it seems like suffering.

    The question usually comes why waste the time, money, risking my health for this sport. My mom thinks each time I run, my knees get worse, and my health declines, as well as many other dangers and that I shorten my lifespan. She likes to ask: for what? There are definitely some dangers and risks and it is not an easy thing to do (say to run a 50 mile), but I believe the risks are low enough and rewards are worth it.

    Rewards for me are not a medal or even being counted as a finish. Those are good, but I prefer the friends I made, and the time I spent and experiences related to this trip. There might be one or two unexpected lessons along the way.

    Sorry, I am preachy. For this trip, I like the challenge of doing something impossible. I like the aspect of planning it and then executing it. I did not quite get what I wanted, but I am pleased with my performance overall. They were within my expectation. It was a nice try. This is the report of what happened.

    Timewise, for me, as I looked back at couple 50 mile races I did last year, my previous finishes were around this time of 12:20-ish, but they were either easier or shorter than this one (Grayson Highlands was I believe to be 5 miles short, and I think Stone Mill was much easier). So I felt I am quite good this time to run a full and hard 50 mile race, meaning I am either on par or better than before (by my own standard).

    A few posts back, I mentioned I only was able to run a 50 miler under 12 hours once and that was at the JFK in 2019, three years ago (ancient history now). I knew going in, it would be hard to achieve this feat again. Plus lately, I realized I am a much slower runner for reasons still unexplained maybe other than aging.

    I had to run it to know my true fitness level and as well how I am measuring up to my peers. Based on last year 40-mile pace, I should come in around 12:06, granted that I wouldn’t slow down the last 10 miles. Pace usually gets slower as the distance increases.

    All my training runs leading up to the race, gave an estimated finishing time of over 14 hours.

    My first and third training run on a 20 mile loop from Skull Gap out (don’t worry if the place doesn’t mean anything) took over 6 hours.

    My second training run on the 30 mile loop, from Damascus to Skull Gap and back, was 8 hours long. Combining both runs would give the entire race course.

    However, I hope usually on race day, I could find some super human effort or a miracle to push me to run faster, farther and help me to last longer. I usually do.

    I secretly was hoping to get near 12:15:00 finish time, with maybe even get it under 12 hours, but everything had to be more than perfect to reach it. It is the unknown that drove me to sign up. Likely, this will motivate me to run it again.

    Part II: The Race Plan

    For me, there were only about four cut offs I needed to care about, Skull Gap, Hurricane Gap (two here) and FS90.

    Skull Gap is geographically in the middle. Listing the cut offs/AS in order would be FS90, Skull Gap, and Huricane Gap, and for coming back I would encounter them in reverse.

    There is the start/finish and Rowland Creek Trail at either end, but we don’t have to worry about that since no one could drop at those places. They didn’t want anyone to drop at all, since most of the stations are remote. This race basically you decided how far you want to go before turning around and make it back to the start in a reasonable time. We can turn around at any of those stations. The lesson is go only as far as you are able to.

    My plan was to base my pace on the AS (Aid Station) cutoffs. This race was helpful by providing a very reasonable pace for each of the cut offs. The overall pace was 14:20 min per mile. I knew I needed to run faster in the beginning to bank on time at the end or else hold off the body from slowing down, by having plenty of calories. My strategy was built around keeping my body from slowing down by running an evenly pace.

    Part III: The Race execution

    I reached all those cut offs but the last one on the way back. However, I was able to continue running back to the finish even after missing the cut off.

    The first half of the out-and-back trail is longer, which is about 15-16 miles (one way) and thus requires about 7 hours for the round trip. The second half is a 20 mile loop, and is estimated to take about 5 hours. For me, I did the second loop in the 5:05:00, almost perfect (with only 5 min over). Also the first half of the first loop, I did well. It took me 3:35:00, also almost perfect as well (with 5 mins over). The only part I did not do so well was the way back on the last 15 miles. I did it in 3:40:00 (a 10 min slow down). I lost about 20 mins from running as far as know. There were a few remaining mins unaccounted for, and they were probably due to aid station transitioning, likely at the last aid station.

    In total, I was 22-23 minutes too slow. I need to improve my pace about 30 seconds faster per mile if I want to run it under the time next time (14:20 instead of 14:50).

    This might sound boring to some because of a lot of numbers being thrown about, however, it is necessary for me for a next year attempt. I consider them as a note to self.

    What the numbers tell me is I was probably very good at keeping a steady pace. What I need next time is to run a bit faster and work on better at running uphills (my report will show this).

    IV. The race

    Now onto the race, I felt great the morning of the race. Unlike on my training runs, I felt light on my feet. As the race started, I ran an easy pace on the Virginia Creeper Trail. It was a five mile stretch. This year unlike the previous year, I was not jostling for position with other runners. Maybe because there were less runners. We don’t really fight for position but you know, a lot of time I am competitive to keep pace with someone to the detriment of being out of breath and ruin my race.

    I was wiser this year to run at my own pace. Pretty soon, many people left me. There were maybe 20 of us in the tail end bunch. I was not worried. Everyone had to focus on their own race. I knew I got this. Win/lose does not determined by this early segment.

    We, the 50 mile runners started with the 40 mile runners. So it is not always obvious without checking the bib to know who is the 40 miler or 50 miler. I think there were 70-80 runners between the two groups.

    The 50 mile runners could drop down to a shorter distance during the race such as 40 mile, 30 mile or 16 mile event. My point is, unlike in other races, you couldn’t rely on the runners around to judge if you are going too fast (or too slow) or use them to get the psychological push to run faster. This could be a problem for me who like to stay with someone because I might follow the wrong crowd who might end up going for the shorter distance. I had to run by feel regardless if those around me were running fast or slow.

    Note I told myself to go light, by not carrying too much water. On training, I carried the full 2L and I drank it all within the first 9 miles. I only filled 1 L and I drank probably a quarter of that even before the start of the race. I wanted it to last me until FS90, 9 miles in. This strategy was working well to allow myself to run faster in the beginning. Note, I could have gone even lighter still. And note, I shouldn’t have refilled water at every single station.

    After the 5 miles, we reached first aid station before Straight Branch climb. I stopped at the Aid Station for some liquid (sodas) and I took a gel as well, and ate a candy bar. The strategy was to get calories in me for the long climb.

    This is a mile of serious climb of 1000+ ft. Last year, I did not feel good after the climb. This year, I made sure I had pretty of energy in me before the ascent and to go at a slower pace. The trail was clear before me, totally unlike last year, where runners were blocking my way and I was frustrated with the slower runners. I ate again (a candy bar).

    I believed I made it up the hill in a short time. We reached the Iron Mountain trail. I passed couple ladies in front of me. They were strong while climbing up but now exhausted. I previously resolved myself not to pass anyone until halfway (mile 22) or at least till FS 90 (mile 9). The two ladies (also doing the 50 miler) were walking and I had to pass them. A 40 miler (her bib was 4010, Rene), caught up to me. She was going at a good pace and I tried to keep up. We passed a guy together. I was betting she would finish under 10 hours and she did (later I checked). I wanted to kept at her pace to get to Hurricane Gap, knowing that would put me in a good chance to finish on time. I chased after her.

    She and I arrived at FS 90, I don’t remember my time but I felt great. This was the first full service aid station with food and all. I told myself I had no time to lose, meaning I had to priorize the tasks, water, snacks and things I needed under a short time. No waiting around doing nothing. I filled my water bag. Took a cup of Gatorade/soda and grabbed some fruits and sandwiches and headed back out. It had to be boom boom boom. Usually many runners waited around checking to see what food they like or not. I learn, if I don’t know what to get, grab something and go. Don’t stand and stare and be asked what do I need. As good as I was in going through the station this time, I know I still need to work on getting my time down to less than a minute.

    I had to keep moving. Rene was still pretty fast and I did not catch up to her again until Skull Gap.

    The next Aid Station, Skull Gap, was about 5 miles away. I had to get there by 10:30 AM (I told myself, and I think the soft cut off was also 10:30). I was a bit slower than my “plan” pace, but I reached it by 10:35. I told myself too I had to be quick. This aid station had our drop bags.

    My plan was to grab my drop bag and took my snacks prepared in advance in a ziplock (with a bottle of milk). It was supposed to be a grab and go. I then went to the food and drink table. I filled my water bag. I did the same like the last Aid Station, got some fruits, sandwiches, soda. All in all, this only took 2 minutes. I headed out at 10:37. In my mind it was already kind of late (7 mins late that I have to make up for). Note, I should have checked what I grabbed, and not go to the Aid table.

    I saw Rene in the distance up on a hill, and she was soon out of view.

    I tried to check on my snack bag I brought. Oh to my surprise, it was not food but an extra pair of socks I put in a ziplock. I cursed myself for not checking of what I grabbed out of bag at the Aid Station. A mistake is a mistake, I had to continue on without my snack bag. Later on, this pair of sock turned out to be a blessing in disguise. Lesson to-self also, Keep a pair of socks on you.

    In this race, every minute counts and I seemed to be losing them. I wanted to run back and swap out for the correct bag, but decided against it. I couldn’t lose more time.

    Up next, we had another mile of climb but this time on a service road. I knew I should eat something, but I could not find the appetite. I stuffed myself with couple sandwich “quads” I took earlier at the station. I pretty much had enough of it. My stomach was about to turn. I drank some gatorade to hold it down.

    Calorie-wise, I should be fine. as for my subway sandwich, I told myself, I had to get rid of it if I don’t eat it by the next station at Hurricane Gap. Looking back, I should have tossed my sandwich out earlier at Skull Gap. It was just an extra weight.

    So far, everything was still kind of on track as I planned. Plan: Eat and Drink before a big climb. Get the energy to do it quicky. I did just that. The plan though was also to finish a footlong Subway I had in my runner vest but I just couldn’t make myself eat it. Maybe it was a day old and/or it did not have veggies and dressings, so it was hard to me to swallow. It was also more salty than what I like. I managed only eat a small piece. Normally, I love having a hoggie on the trail, which had been my signature – the guy with the footlong. Not this time.

    After the mile service road climb, we got back onto the trail at the old 84. I was able to find energy to sprint down this trail (as planned). It was about 5 miles. I caught up to 4-5 40 milers, including Rene, and it was my last time seeing them. They all finished, later I checked the time sheet. They let me passed them. I caught up to a 50 miler, bib 521. He was the first 50 miler I caught up. However, he was walking. He seemed to be done. Indeed, later he dropped from the race, but I salute him for attempting. I am sure he has his story.

    If I wanted, I could drop to the 40 mile distance, and be an official finisher. This would be my decision at the next aid station at Hurricane Gap. My hope was get to the station by 12:20 before the cut off.

    I reached Hurricane Gap at 11:57, with 20 mins to spare. It was close but I knew whole race would be like that. Last year, I believe I was here around this time.

    I told myself to be quick. Since I am ahead of the cut off, I decided to continue on and not drop down to the shorter distance.

    There were sand in my right shoe. Sand seemed to be inside the sock. I had another decision to make, to replace the sock or kept it as is in order to save time. I decided to replace the sock since the next section had a long 7 miles on mostly running on a service road and sand would would destroy the feet. Changing one sock (just one, right foot) to get the sand out of that foot was a smart move. I had saved the other dry sock for later (and guess what for the same foot). I was not even had this plan in mind, and it was just lucky I did what I did. *Note, for future reference, no need to change both socks or shoes at the same time to save time. Treat them independently.

    All in all, my time in the station even with a sock change was only 3 minutes. I was out by 12:00. I am proud of this – since being too long at the aid station was my downfall in a previous race (MMT). I learned to hustle.

    There at the station also I met Eileen, a runner who marked the course the week before, and in this race she was unofficially my pacer for the rest of the race from here on. She is fast, and has my respect. I did not expect to catch up to her at all. She is at least couple minutes faster per mile pace than me. I had expected her to finish this race in 10 hours or so, but here she was. She had some kind of hip and knee pain issue. I don’t think she would give up, she seemed to determine to go on. Out we went together. I said I would pace her for now.

    We caught up to a runner not long from the station. As usual, people we passed, were struggling. We left the person. I did not take time to note the bib, but I felt like we likely the last ones in this race (I called myself the unofficial sweeper position). We had to go fast to catch up with the bulk of runners, or else. I dare not think.

    The plan here was to run as fast as possible down the service road. It was about a mile when we reached Barton Gap Trail. We had a nice pace going. We took the turn and that followed by a mile long climb and maybe a mile descend. It was slow going. I don’t know if I were by myself would I be able to do it any faster. I eased my pace a bit for Eileen. She was not slow per se, but was going at a gentler pace. I let her lead for a time until I felt she was too slow for me.

    We had 5 more miles mile of downhill after Barton Gap. I know we had to run our heart out to Rowland Creek. I would not blame Eileen for holding me back here. As far as I know, I was moving faster with her than I did by myself during training. She also thanked me for helping her move at that pace. I know if she had been in 100% perfect condition, she would have left me in the dust. It was not a break neck pace this time, but was fast.

    We got to Rowland Creek by 1:30. Note, I need to run this section even faster next time. This was half hour faster than on my training run. I believed I moved through the station fast, maybe again 2 minutes off the clock, just enough time to refill water and grab some food and a sport drink. Eileen took a popsicle.

    I needed to reach back at Hurricane Gap by 2:45 pm. This 3 mile section was to me the hardest section in the entire race. If I am going pinpoint where my race plan fell apart, it was here. It is supposingly a 3 mile climb back up to the top at Hurricane Gap. A quick climb really. And this took me an hour when it should have been 40 mins or 45 mins, which though I think was faster than on my training, but still I used up too much time. To tell the truth I bonked badly here (being low in energy).

    Eileen was leading. I am sorry for Eileen, if I had slowed her down and costed her the race here as well, since I promised to get her through to the end within the 12 hour (I was too bold). I believe, it might have been not enough calories in me and also not adaquately prepared for the long hill climb.

    I had my subway footlong still in my pack but I was unable to bring myself to eat it like before. I don’t remember, but I might have eaten a snack bar here. I carried some from the start. I tried all ways to get calories in me to overcome my slowness.

    Eileen started recovering well and she was moving well up this trail with ease, unlike earlier in the day. I was happy to have her accompany me – but looking back, I should have told her to leave me.

    We reached Hurricane Gap by 2:30 PM, which is still a good news to me since we held off from losing more time, but it was less than ideal. I needed to bank on my time and I did not do so here. I knew the race would only get harder. I pushed the negative thoughts out my mind.

    I finally trashed my subway sandwich. It was no longer useful to me. I hate to waste food but it had become a deadweight. I changed sock again for the same right foot. I believed I went through the station fast, maybe using up only 3 minutes.

    The next part was to get back to Skull Gap by 3:45 PM. We had maybe 3 miles of service road. Eileen did better than me in the first couple miles. She decided not to hold herself back because of me. I don’t blame her. I told her, the goal is get to the station before the cut and I wanted her to succeed. I really didn’t know if I could make it.

    I think I had some kind of stomach bug. I couldn’t eat, and felt like wanted to poop. I was still bonking and couldn’t run. Eileen was doing small steps, she looked like she was bonking too but she could at least bring herself to “run” (fake running). I was just walking. Pretty soon, she was out of sight. She actually said good bye to me before going. I understood, not to delay her.

    I carried a Gatorade bottle on me that I refilled at the station, I drank the whole bottle. Maybe 15 minutes later, my strength returned. I sprinted downhill and caught up to Eileen. We made the turn together onto Iron Mountain Trail. It was two miles to Rt 600 Skull Gap. Eileen exploded away. Note, if I do this race again, I should run fast here like Eileen. It was exactly like on our training run. This trail was her stomping ground and she was in her element. We were so close now to it (“a pyschological finish” at Skull Gap). I did the best to keep her in sight but to no avail.

    I stopped to pee. Through out these two miles I was by myself. I arrived at Skull Gap at 3:40. Five minutes left before the cut off. I went to my drop bag again, this time, I reached for the correct snack bag I packed, because it was only thing that was left there. Since I don’t need anything except for water, I was able to be out of the station in two minutes. Still it was not enough. We were playing with fire with the next cut off, I just knew.

    The next cut off was 5:15 pm at FS90. We had 5 miles to go like in the last section except this time, we had two big hills to climb and all 5 miles were on trail and not like a nice downhill service road as our last segment, and we had to do this in the same amount of time as before. An hour and half to cover 5 miles, normally should be enough time, but I knew I was not able to do it. It was tough to ask my body to run.

    These five miles were hard fought. I went through repeated cramps, my quads were hurting, and I had a stomach upset, and I pooped in my pants a bit (diarrhea), just like in my training run. Yet the race was still on, we had to try to reach the Aid Station before the cutoff. No matter what mess I was in, I had to get there. I held myself together. There were times when I could run, and I ran, but most of the time, I was walking. My pace was slow.

    Eileen and I leap-frogged each other. I stopped talking to her and focused on my run. She was same. She was getting stronger by the minute. When 5:12 came around, she passed me one last time. I told her to hurrying up, even if I couldn’t make it to the station before the cut, but if she runs down the hill (I believed the station was just at the bottom of the hill) she might reach it within three minutes and not be cut. Ran indeed. She flew down to the Aid Station. Little did I know the Station was a mile away. I arrived at 5:33. I was cut.

    Eileen was still there. There were some misunderstandings between her and the station captain. We both knew the Station Captain (who is the RD wife), who were at the training runs also, so there shouldn’t come to a point where we would be “grounded” so to speak and be banned from the race. We were told to call for our rides back to town. Both Eileen and I wanted to continue on and refused. Ann, the Station Captain said something that regardless, we were both dropped from the race. I pulled my bib off and handed it to her to show I understood her (as required in most races to hand in the bib to the station’s captain to indicate dropping from the race), but we wanted to continue on the trail instead of getting a ride back. The aid station’s captain relented.

    There was another runner there, I think he was dropped as well. I did not interact with him, but busy myself prepping to go back out. He was handed a cell phone to make a phone call. Eileen and I left the station. I believed I might use up 3 mins at the station, I didn’t check or remember. They stocked me up with food and water (Eileen didn’t get anything, she was waiting for me). I took a bag of grapes since likely we were the last ones arriving there, and all the food would be tossed out. (I was surprised the sweepers had not caught up to us yet — later we learned the sweeper was carrying a cat found on the trail, and carried it for 10 miles, and she didn’t arrive to the finish until 8 PM).

    We had 8 miles to go and 1.5 hours to do it. I knew the race was over for me. I wanted my 50 miles in regardless it being considered as a finish. I went easier now. The pressure was off. Eileen after a quick goodbye was gone. She said her ride was waiting for her back in town and they didn’t know what was going on if she didn’t show up. She had a reason to get there fast. Her pace was too fast for me to keep up. She was running up the hill. This section though is mostly on downhills for rest of the way. I went with a walk run pace that I was comfortable in.

    By 6:15 PM I reached the split at Beech Grove Trail (or something), meaning it took me 45 mins to cover the last four miles, which was really good. There were only 4 miles remained. They (race org) left water and Gatorade at the intersection for us. I helped myself with some Gatorade. I probably lost couple minutes by drinking (not that I needed to drink). There was no doubt, I would be in town while it was still light. The setting sun ray shown through the trees. Beautiful. Cloud was gone. I no longer felt sorry for myself.

    I continued to go at a pace I could manage. I had some more cramps in different places. but I walked it off each time. I saw on my watch when 7 PM arrived, and I was still in the woods. But soon I reached town. There were passerby cheering me as I crossed the road into town. A hero welcome! Cars stopped for me to cross the road. I had a mile left. I never felt happier. I made the turn onto the Virginia Creeper Trail. I knew there was maybe half mile to the end now. There wouldn’t be any finish line, but I hoped to run up the lawn in the Damascus City Park as my finish where the actual finish line had been.

    Eileen’s two sons made a finish line for me by each standing on each side and with their hands out for me to run through. It was a thrilling finish. Note, I didn’t know Eileen or her family before this race, and hadn’t expect for her to wait for me. We ran together a week before but that was it. I collapsed (sat down) onto the steps of the town picnic area Gazebo. The race director called out my name and some of runners gathered in. I met them before in this race, they were cheering for me. Greg, my friend who ran this race 6 times, who probably finished at 4 pm was waiting for me to finish. He came up and as well as a few others to say some good words. Adrian too, a guy I met a month ago during training, he and I have similar running goals/projectory, he stayed with me for a long time and we talked, catching up on stuff.

    Eileen told me she made it back under 12 hours (unofficially).

    She just wanted to prove she could run 8 miles under 90 minutes, and finish it under 12 hours, when others said it was not possible. She did it, even after putting in a 42 miles earlier. She deserves all my praises, and it is the reason mentioning her in my blog. As for me, it was totally a “fun” run. I do not mind the “not finishing”. A run is a win in my book. I got my training time in. Note, I was sore for the whole next week.

    Some had said, why this race does not open longer than 12 hours like other 50 milers. This is one of their requirements/conditions, we had to finish under 12. Naturally, some (and many) wouldn’t make it. When we signed up to run, and we had to abide by its rules (and/or quirks). My only choice is train to run faster. Actually, 12 hours are not fast, 10 hours is. I knew people who could do it in 10. I had no regrets nor complaints for a race being the way it was.

    Timewise, my personal time was not bad when compares to previous 50 events. I made it in at 12:22, I rounded up to 12:23:00 and used that as my completion time for this race. I am happy. I might not be as fast as others in this IMTR, but when looking at my past races, it was not bad. To me, making it under 12 hours would be a dream comes true, but not doing it, was not a big lost. I felt lucky, and a miracle, to finish it way under 14 hours (a time my training runs seemed to indicate) and with that I felt very pleased.

    So in conclusion, I did it as a challenge to myself to run faster. I believe I reached my challenge (not exactly under 12 hours), but who’s counting? In a handwaving way, I did it. It was fun. I had expected to be alone on the trail, but having a companion with me for most of the course was rare. It was like having a pacer. I couldn’t ask for more. Finally, toward the end, it was like being with celebrities, to witness Eileen put on a show, by sprinting to the finish. I did not get to accompany her to the finish, but I was only 20 mins (maybe 2 mile away), which is close enough. I can say I was there and shared the joy of her fast run. Probably only I in the whole field knew/experienced how hard for Eileen to accomplish that. I think she recognized that and waited for me in return. (This was parallel to my last year, IMTR finish, when I waited for my runner).

  • Day493 Pre Race Day (actually TR week 7 or 8)

    Bring all up to date, probably this is the conclusion of the IMTR training arc. We reached the race weekend. As normally, there is not much happening in the last week before the race.

    As some already know, I wrote ahead and not really much in real time. I wrote this at the end of training week 7 and before begining of week 8. I won’t report on week 8, because I don’t want to hold off the race report for 2 weeks after the race. So I am skipping a week to bring everyone to real time. Tomorrow will be race day! Hopefully race report will follow soon after.

    Supposingly, I should already reach my peak training a while back, maybe at week 5-6. However, I was not peaking then. Week 7 / 8 should have been the tampering period. But tapering doesn’t exist in my vocab. Which means, I am just a few weeks behind too. Ideally 10-12 weeks for training would have helped for this race. I have been pushing my training cycle shorter and shorter. This time I am in trouble for having an overly short training.

    Main question is what must I do to get ready for the race day with the little time left. I think I have to focus on food a bit more. The strategy is to eat (sugar (gel) pack or something like that) just before the couple big hills. I need to put those in a drop bag at Skull Gap (mile 15-16). I need to prep some sandwiches. I need maybe leave a couple Gatorades. Races usually provide sport drinks but they usually either overly diluted and lack enough punch for me.

    I probably need to eat something by the time I reach Hurricane Gap. When I come by Skull, pick up some food to carry along toward Hurricane Gap. Race day, pack light, maybe 1 L of water. Normally I carry 2 L. Don’t spend too much time at Aid Stations. Do Quick in-and-out.

    These 8 weeks, I did three (on site) training runs (two of them were reported), one of them was a secret run I did last weekend, not sure if I will report on that. The first two training runs were productive. Not any particular reason that the third should remain a secret, but I don’t feel like writing about it since there are so much other things on my mind. Also Because I should have been tapering, I don’t want tell the world I went and did a double 25 mile run. It is like a last minute rush to put in as much as miles as I can. You all know the body doesn’t work like this. It is what it is.

    Like what I wrote in the last post, I wish I started my training a bit earlier maybe in early June, I am a few weeks short for this race. In June, I was a little too discourage and tired after the MMT saga. I did a marathon but that was not much as a goal for the IMTR. The break before the marathon and after provided a nice change of pace in my 6 years of constant training.

    My summer training did not really kick off into a higher gear like last year. I could blame it on the summer heat. We had some serious heat this year. It was a combination of things. The after effect from MMT was still lingering on me into the summer. I know I should get over it. Plus, my body generally was not what it used to be. I got exhausted easily. I did an ultra in July, Catoctin (8 hr for a 50k run). It was a good run for me, but timewise was not impressive. It could be maybe a sickness like lyme or covid (a long term effect of covid-19, though I don’t believe, I ever gotten it). It is frustrating to be constantly out of breath. I could not really kick into a hard run.

    It made me wonder is it me? Is it of my lack of training? There is nothing to compare myself to. Do I compare to 6 years ago before I started running, or to last year? Or even 6 or 3 months ago? At the MMT I was considered stronger than now. I pulled a 50 mile then quite well whereas many around me were dropping off like flies. I don’t call myself to be strong now. Every season is new and this season hits me like a curve ball.

    What was the Goal again? Reminding myself, I signed up IMTR to challenge myself to run faster. The Distance itself is not a problem for me. I can do a 50 mile today and any given weekend. However, I don’t usually have the ability to run it under 12 hours. This whole training was to step it up.

    Evaluation. The true evaluation will be at the race itself. Honestly, my fitness level is pretty much at where I started 8 weeks ago. I might got a bit better. I talked of being easily exhausted, I think I improved a bit. It could have been worse. Honestly do I think I can run it under 12? I think I can do it in 12:15 as of today. Yes it is very close. 15 mins is all I need to make the cut. This is just a prediction.

    I looked up my last year time. My pace was 14:28. For this race I need to run at 14:20. So I finishing in 12:15 is about right. Last year, the last guy came in around 12:12. I hope I won’t be the last guy, but even if I am, I need to beat 12:12. I am glad, the person was not DNF/DQ for coming in after 12 hrs. Some race is strict (e.g. Devil Dog), one second late would mean a DNF. There is hope for me.

    A lot things will need to work right on race day. I do hope against hope, to get it down to 12 hours. Praying for a miracle. I felt I should be able to make all the cuts except the finish line.

    I was hoping the whole deal of training would give me the confident to say, I could run it. However, honestly I can’t say that. Readers will have to wait till my race report to find out.

    Looking ahead – IMTR isn’t the end all. I made a leap of faith to sign up for the Devil Dog 100, and it is hitting home. IMTR is kind of a prep for a later race. A small prep in getting me ready for DD100. A hundred mile is always a challenge especially the Devil Dog. I won’t go into much detail on it, except it requires the same type of speed I need for the IMTR. It is a nice lead into it.

    Plus I added a couple races to my fall schedule. I will write about those coming up. I am so excited about them. (meta: I know the current theme broke my site, and links to my race schedule and other pages are gone, sad!, I will fix it soon) My schedule is still there for those who know how to find it.

    I mentioned a secret training run. In my last post, I was on the fence of whether to go to West Virginia to run the Moonlight on the Fall Marathon or go for this secret run. In the end, I did not go to West Virginia, but instead went to Damascus (VA) to run once more on the IMTR trail. I know with so close to the race, no amount of training will help. I went because if I had stayed at home, I probably would skip out on any hard training, like I did the last couple weeks. Also, I miss seeing the mountains. So I went away quietly to do this run. Also I fear if I announced it, I would become stage fright and back out. It was a course preview. I did the same loop of the 1st training run on both days. I also helped mark part of the course. I felt good to contribute back to the race.

    Lastly, I combined week 7 into 8 because there were not a lot to say. My week (7) has been pretty bad, in term training. There was always something needed to do. Did I mention I needed to trim the brushes? And that took over my whole weekend and it was frustrating chores kept getting in the way of my training! I was angry about that of how much time it took me and it is still not done to my liking. If I have the money, I would hire a gardener/ landscaper. I know, I’m just venting here.

    I could write more about my secret training run, the good, the bad, and the ugly. There could be so much to say. I like the mountains, the alone time, the companion I had while marking the course. No bads…but this, I ate something bad the night before, and I had diarrhea in the middle of the run, and it was ugly. I didn’t have a stomach ache but fluid just decided to flow out where they not intended to flow and without warning. I literally pooped in my pants while running. No toilet paper was enough to contain the mess. I had to get off the mountain, and made a beeline to the hotel to clean up and then get back out on the trail. My car smelled like poop. Luckily I had a towel with me and that saved the seat. I almost thought my weekend training was toast!

    For future posts, a thought came while driving to Damascus. And a long drive it was, I started hallucinating from sleeplessness the last 5 miles, but we won’t talk about that. I like to share my running experience because to let others see my “glory”. Maybe that is running high. I had a lot of thinking over the weekend. I want so much for others share in my joy. My runs are the best about me. It mean so much to share them. I had a nice thought on a passage in John. Don’t mind me if this doesn’t make any sense. It is for maybe a future post.

  • Day492 Training Week #6

    Six weeks went by already and I felt I just started. Usually, I only need about 10-12 weeks to train, this time I am in trouble. I might need 16+ weeks to get ready.

    Like what I said in my last training, I slacked off too much this season. Not that I could not run a 50 mile distance but I am worried that I can’t do it in the time given. I am pretty sure I can do it in 13 hours. 12 hours is maybe out of reach for me, but let not jink it. I can’t run that fast any more on the trail.

    I don’t know what to do. I know I need some HIIT – High intensity interval training, both to lose some fat and also increase my fitness level.

    Last couple weeks, I have been stuck on some decisions. Yes they are about my races. I couldn’t make up my mind.

    1. West Virginia Moonlight on the Falls this weekend. I couldn’t bring myself to sign up. I guess I am not going.

    2. Ann Arbor Marathon. This one is on my calendar since last year. Again I couldn’t bring myself to sign up.

    3. Atlantic City Marathon. A couple bloggers wrote about this race. At first I was not interested in it, but now I see it as an easy way to knock out one of my 50 states.

    During middle of the week, I was looking for a sign, and guess what!? I think I received them. During my nightly run, one of the guys said he is moving back home, and his home is in Ann Arbor. Yup, one of the signs I should go there. Usually, I only do a race if I knew someone from the place. This meets that requirement!

    Couple hours later, after I finished the run, I opened a Twich channel as I was going home, they were playing the song, Country Road. I felt that is a call for me to go to Weat Virginia.

    Still I don’t feel comfortable (peaceful) to go the race in West Virginia this weekend. I struggled last year about runing that one (because the race is bpring to me, no offends to RD and others who are heading there now to run). It is a 6.5 mile looped course.

    I know it is silly to ask for signs and then ignore them.

    I guess my readers would want to know what I decided? I didn’t sign up for West Virginia race (I know it is still not too late) but I made up my mind. I’m not going. I am planning to go to Iron Mountain instead, for one more training run. My heart is actually torn between the two choices.

    As for Ann Arbor, I signed up last night. I brought my plane ticket. It is an expensive trip. I still need to fimd a hotel and car rental. A whole lot of money just left my bank account. The airfare is twice as much as what I was seeing before. I could do a quick in quick out, fly in on Sat, run, and then leave on Sunday, but I decided to stay an extra night. Suck it up and pay. This will be next month.

    As for the Atlantic City Marathon, I signed up too. This will the cheapest of the three races. I got a 15% from a fellow blogger (SheRunsBySeashore).

    Oh, I forgot to mention my training. It is bad. I did not run at much in Week 6. Maybe at most 6 miles. Nothing to brag about.

    meta – off topic, thank you for reading. Not sure why, but this week I got a higher amount of traffic to my blog. Not that I care if anyone looks at my stuff, but hey, not sure what people find anything interesting. It could be people want to know more about the IMTR… because the race date is approaching. 1 more week guys! Oh gosh, I would be embarrassed if they are using mine to plan their run. Please don’t base off your run strat on my last post. I’m nowhere near to be an expert.

  • Day491 IMTR run #2 (Training week 5)

    I went to Damascus (VA) and had my second and last on-site training run for the IMTR (Iron Mountain Trail Run), a race I will be doing in a couple week.

    This is similar to the trip I took about amont ago in July. Last time, we covered the second half of the course, from Skull Gap to Skull Gap (a loop, shaped like a p) which is from mile 15 to mile 35 on race day.

    This time we covered the first half (mile 1-15 and mile 35 to mile 50) from the town of Damacus out to Skull Gap. It is almost an out and back, with the first 5 mile being a loop, and follow by a 10 mile of out-and-back, think of it being a like a lowercase letter d. The full course is like a q and a d stack together, connected by the handle, or think of it as an elongated figure 8, where the middle is stretch out really long.

    My expectation was this first half (30 mile in total) is easier than the second half (which is on 20 miles). I don’t think I was wrong, but these 30 miles are just as hard too.

    The first half is not a walk in the park as I first thought it would be.

    A reason I might have the wrong impression was, we have 5 miles on the Virginia Creeper Trail and this is the easiest portion of the race, for being flat and on a bike trail. We ran this portion with fresh legs and so it felt fast. Then there is a mile of climb using Bleech Trail to get onto the Iron Mountain. This is hard stuff, probably the hardest part of the entire section, or the whole 50 mile course. After that, It is generally a roller coaster ride of ups and downs to Skull Gap, but I believe mostly up. Here my last year memory apparently blocked out all the ups. There were at least half of the 9 miles being climbing. And when it is not climbing, it is slightly on an upward incline. There are some descends too. The trail in this portion is not technical. However, I am probably out of shape as I couldn’t get into a good running stride for a long substainable time. I was exhausted at the turn around at Skull Gap. Of course, on race day, we would have to do the 20 mile loop out to Hurricane Gap (as we did on the first training run), plus a 13 mile back to the start.

    About halfway to Skull Gap is FS 90, where on our race day will be one of our aid stations. During training run, this was a life-saver, because we had our water there. On race day, that will determine if I will get cut or not.

    I was fortunate to be able to run with Greg (someone I met) on the return portion (about last 13 miles). Greg generally is a much faster runner than I. He was a mile ahead of me by the time I was near halfway. Because it was an out and back, I turned around and ran back to the start when I saw him. He has done the race 5 times and this year would be his 6th. He is well familiar with the trail and the race. He shared some of his race strategies. He said he normally allots 7 hours for the first half and 5 hours for the second half of the course (first half meaning from Damascus to Skull Gap and back to Damascus). Coming back is supposed to be easier than going out.

    On our training, it took us 7:18 minutes to do the out and back. Greg considered that was decent for a training run. It might have taken me a bit longer because I skipped a mile. I imagine it should have taken me 7.5 hours, if I had run the full length as Greg.

    The second portion took me about 6 hours during the last training run. The combined gives me an expected time finish time on race day of 13.5 hours. Note, the race only allows for 12 hours. I have to run faster meet the cutoff on race day.

    I am in a serious trouble of not being able to finish on time on race day. If I must, I can drop down to a 40 mile option. However, I really want to flex that I can run a 50 mile in 12 hours.

    I went back out on Sunday, doing the same loop, hoping I could shorten the time. On Sunday, I was actually slower. It took me 4 hours to descend from Skull Gap to Damascus and it took equally as long from Damascus back to Skull Gap, where I parked. It ended up 8 hours.

    The time is not indicative of what it will be like on race day. I hope I will get faster. I know I run faster when it is an actual race than on a training run.

    Even though I did not reach my target time, I enjoyed my training runs. The weather was generally much cooler. I haven’t been able to have a 70-75F day since the Catoctin Run. It has been 90+ everyday the last few weekends. So this weekend, we were lucky. Sunday, I ran in the rain during the afternoon. The rain felt refreshing. Not just the rain, but the sound of raindrops on leaves and the mist that came as the result was amazing. It was foggy. I like fog.

    Originally, I thought I would have trouble with the logistics being that it was an out-and-back run. On the first day, we had a water drop at FS 90 (halfway point) and I ran out of water exactly by halfway (maybe 8 miles in). However, on Sunday, there was no water drop because I was by myself and I did not know the way to FS 90 where the trail crosses to leave myself water ahead of time. I was concern about where to get water for my run. Then the idea came to me to park my car at Skull Gap and run down into town. I could then go to a gas station to get water and then run back up to Skull Gap. I did just that. While I was in Damascus, I got myself lunch at a Subway. It also was a good practice to ser how fast I could get down from the mountain (no fast as I original had expected).

    No big conclusion. I am fatter and heavier. I regained much of the weight I lost before the MMT event in May. I have been slacking in my training. It shows. I do want to be better. I have three weeks to get myself in shape. I was out of breath.

  • Day489 Training week 3

    I am procastinating, if anything involving effort.

    I know in the last blog post, I want to do a review of how I am doing in reaching this year resolutions. What I made resolutions? Ya, something at the beginning of the year but now I don’t remember what they were.

    Yet, that can wait till the next post or some time in the near future.

    I had another night run. It felt so good. After four days without running, and I felt I absolutely have to get out there.

    It was hot even though it was 9 pm. I was swimming in my own sweat. It got better later. The rest of the night, while I was still sweating, I was able to feel the cool breeze. Three hours did not feel long. Miles seemed to fly by. This is kind of runs I love a lot.

    There are many reasons why I love running but one of them is just able to park my mind, not think of anything, well I am always thinking in deep thoughts or daydreaming, but running is something that interrupt my thoughts and I am in a dreamy state for 2 to 3 hours with nothing coherent, and it is therapeutic. I was in a meditative state during my run. I love it.

    The houses and my surounding just melted away. It was just me and the pavement. I was not in pain. I just kept pounding on the pavement and it seemed too soon I reached home again. I asked, that’s it?

    My biggest dream, romanticing, is to run and not stop, forever going on and on, till I go around the world. I know actually doing it probably not that fun, but it is something I wish I can do.

    In my last blog, I wrote how our team is 80% at circumpolar-running around the world, virtually of course, meaning our miles added up will equal to the circumference of the earth or more. It’s a 50000 km race.

    Not sure if I ever will pull it off but that is my dream, a small version of my ideal dream of running forever and not stop.

    What am I trying to get at? Not sure. I have been feeling low in motivation to run. I used to be able to run everyday but now I am like running only one or two days after I feel “guilty” or dread that I am failing at my training.

    One way to feel better is searching deep within why I am doing what I am doing. Where is my love and passion?

    I was able to meet up with a running friend one night. Her passion is photography. And when she talks about them, her eyes lit up. She asked about my running and my eyes lit up and I could talk breathlessly on all the things. She was also into running. She was one of first few running friends that got me started on the road of marathons. A friend sharing the same passion really give that push I needed to get back into running. It was not forced, but the passion was enough.

    A reason I like racing is to get to meet other like minded people.

    She asked me if I have run a 24 hour race? I told her my Devil Dog race (an upcoming event) and a 24 hour race in September that I have waited for at least 3 years to have a chance to run in (Pemberton 24). We will be running a 5K every hour for 24 hours. You ask me, why is that fun? For me it just is.

    For a run addict, any form of running is fun, especially in a format I have not done before.

    What does this all mean? I really don’t know. I think I might have signed up too many races and am a bit burn out too. I just want to stop for a season or so and take a deep breath. I don’t know. At the moment, that is what I feel.

    To my readers, it seems to be an inconsistency, that I want to run forever and I don’t feel enough to go out to do my weekly trainimg and need to stop for a time. Ya. I haven’t able to solve this problem of how to get plenty of rest and at the same time to put out high level of performance.

    I’m not getting anywhere with my questions. Until next time, happy running.

    TLDR – just some ruminating to get my passion back

  • Day488 Training week 2

    The next four weeks between now and until IMTR (my race), there is going to be very little activity except for training.

    This year, I have hard time with finding motivation to train. I know training is necessary. I’m not a prodigy with natural running talent. Some people, if they are young can just go out and run a 100 miles because their body has a limitless supply of energy and they are like Wolverine that can self regenerate after an injury. I am not one of those monsters.

    My hardest problem with training is geting out there. Once I am out, I have no problem in running for a long period.

    I have not run much lately. What is shocking is how hot summer is getting. It shouldn’t be a suprise since it is not my first summer running. I found it is hard to adjust to running in the hot sun. Even night time is hot.

    I had couple nights of running at very late hours. It brought back the old feeling of me being out there alone. I love it. At first, it was like poor me, sun was setting and I still had miles to go before I sleep, but then it brought back memories of several races, especially the first time doing a night run, when a runner came by and pointed me to the sky. We stopped and I looked up and blessed the unforgetable view. It was so beautiful that I got goosebumps.

    I think I am back at ground zero with my training like six months ago. I can’t run for long. People said I do walk and run strategy. True, that was how I trained for the last 100 mile race. However, now I want to be able to run say 30+ minutes without having to stop. I have being doing stop and go not because I want it but because my body couldn’t take it to sustain the run for more than 5 minutes and I’d have to walk. I remember maby beginner runners are frustrated that the can’t run. I wish to rebuild my cardio that would allow me to run far in one breath. I struggled with this at the start of MMT training back in winter.

    I have been at lost. I know where I am headed, like I have all the races for this year and next year mapped out. There was a blog post I held back from publishing, that goes into details of why I am struggling. The tone of it does not sound right. General rule is readers want a happy tone. Even if it is not, there should be some kind of hope or redemption. I haven’t find my magic to solve whatever I am going through. The gist is I am living between a fantasy and the real world. I need money to live the lifestyle I want to live, yet at the same time, I want to leave everything to pursuit the dream of exploring around the world. I guess we all are, its called life.

    I know what I want five years from now. There are some really big bucket list items to do (like once in a life time thing). What I am kind of in the fog is what am I doing right now. Half of the year passed. I know in the past, I have quarterly update to keep me moving in the right direction according to my mid term and long term goals. I was not planning to do a refocus session for another 12 weeks, till near the end of the year, but that might be too long to wait for. I was thinking of doing some kind of review in the interim, sort of like half year realignment.

    Don’t mind me, I am kind of at lost this week.

    What update I can give: CRAW – our virtual race around the world with nine other people, we finally reached Alaska. I’m lucky to have other 9 people to share the mileage, but there are crazy teams out there that have only one or 2 people doing this, and it is taking forever for them to finish.

    For us, we only have 4500 miles left. We will run down from Alaska, cross over into Canada, and then run down the plain of the US and to the Mexico border, where we all started about two years ago. 100 running teams have already finished. The race for a prize ended last year. For our team, we are happy if we even reach the finish this year. We are likely will be the 117th team or team 118 to complete this. Probably will take five months. We aim to finish before December 31. There are about 20 teams in front of us and 20 teams behind us. I was told this race will continue on until next year, so we are not in any risk of being dropped (DNF). As long as we continue to make progress the next five months, it should be an easy finish. Our team is a bit beat up though. Even myself, I’m kind of worn out. Several of our star runners have injuries (as expected) from over doing it.

    After we finish, there is an extended CRAW (for another 10 or so regions) that starts in Africa and cross middle east and then into Asia to the Pacific. We likely will not do it since mentally I am beat.

    My display board of the map showing the regions we passed have arrived last night. I haven’t opened it yet. It will be a good motivation to keep on.

    We have done this race virtually (like a mental excercise), though that does not mean it is easy. I wish one day I can do it in person. Of course, I probably will skip couple regions like the south pole or the north pole. It is pretty cool there are people who actually do walk/run around the world. It won’t take just a year to complete in real life, it probably takes 4-5 years runing 40-50 miles a day. For me, it might take 10 years. The reality is, I am running out of time, unless I start this journey right now. Still, I keep my hope up that one day I get to walk around the world.

    Why I share this? It is kind of esoteric. No one knows or cares that we ran virtually around the world. I think the cool thing as the race director mentioned it, is training in itself is boring, but if we imagine we are running in actual places, training can become another level of fun. Are we actually running around the world the last 2 years, no, but do we feel like we ran around the world, absolutely!

  • Day487 Imtr run#1

    Iron Mountain Trail Run (IMTR) is a 50 mile race in Damascus, Virginia. This year I put on my big pants and said why not, lets run this 50 mile. There are other options like 40 mile, 30 mile and 16 mile event.

    The 40-mile was too easy for me last year, but 50-mile might be a bit too challenging. We don’t know. Some of us were whining why not give us 13 hours or 12.5 hours. Nope, 12 it is. Note, originally I thought it was 10 hours, and was freaking out.

    I have my doubt running this race because I only finished a 50 mile under 12 hours once (long time ago) and that was done on roads (flat land). update: I must have gotten the wrong impression or info that the race requiring finishing under 10 hours, I double checked after written up the post, and found the cutoff is 12 hours, so my chance of finishing this has now improved significantly. I went back over and corrected all places where I was calibrating / planning for a 10 hour run. However, I will still train and aim for a 10 hour finish (5 pm finish, instead of 7), only that I have a lot of breathing room. 12 hours is still hard for me but not as impossible as a 10 hour run.

    The race is on the trail but nothing too crazy like the MMT. The trail is mostly smooth and there is a significant portion of the race being on the road. During the training, I was chatting with the race director of how my perspective has changed from last year and this year. Previously IMTR was the hardest thing I did. Now, coming back the second year, it does not seem that scary, especially after running the MMT..

    I think about 15-20 miles are on the road. And another 20-ish miles are on decent / runnable trails, I call them buttery smooth trails. There might be a few miles (5-6 miles) that are too hard for me to run like either too rocky or too steep to climb/descend while running. Sure, fast runners would destroy the hills like breakfast.

    The harder part for me is the climbs. I have different numbers regarding the elevation somewhere between 8000 and 13000 ft. I think the 2000 ft climbs are at the beginning and at after hafway point. Most of run are gladual changes because we are on the ridges but they suck up lot of energy too. It is not remotely as bad as the MMT, but enough to make it won’t be a walk in the park.

    I went out the past weekend to do the first training.

    If preceeding weekend of the Catoctin run was epic, this Iron Mountain Run is nothing less. I am anticipating the race day would be many times so.

    It was only a training run, the first of two weekends. Damascus is a 6 hour (sometimes 7 ish) drive for me, so I can only afford to go there a couple times and not every weekend. I’m lazy too. I went to all the training runs last year and I wanted to redo again this year, just like for the Catoctin.

    I am slow or fast depending on who or what I am being compared to. I felt fast in the Duluth Marathon. I finished it hours ahead of people. I wrote like I ran fast at the Catoctin 50k, also, but I am actually quite slow in that race, barely avoided the cut by 5 minutes. Too close. The point was I finished under the generous time given.

    This race (IMTR) has a tighter cut off. I fear this race more than I fear the Catoctin. Cutoff is a big reason I want to run this race. Catoctin was not hard, just a lot of climbs.

    My training run kind of proved the point. It took me 6 hours to do a 24 mile run. Note, if it were a road marathon I probably get it done around 4 hours ish (4:30). I believe then my predicted finishing time will be 13 hour, which is an hour over the final cutoff.

    So why did I sign up if I don’t think I could do it under the cutoff? I think sometimes you just have to try to know. I want to try. I believe it will improve me as a runner. My goal for this season is “speedwork”, in quote because I’m not sure how fast I will get, but speed it will be. I have a BMI of 26, considered overweight, but there is a chance that I can pull it off. I don’t know how good a chance (I estimate 65%), but a chance nonetheless. I want to see growth and changes from my training and I bet my readers too like to see that I strive for tougher goals and reach them.

    I hope readers would enjoy reading on my planning phase. Many times I blog only on races I already did. They seem easy (and hopefully motivating). Recently, I been hitting my limit and it was not so fun aby more (Devil Dog and MMT come to mind). Fun and game until someone took away the punch bowl.

    This is one of a few where I write on a race I haven’t done yet. This might also be a race I will get a DNF (fail to finish), but we don’t think about that now. The race won’t be until Labor Day Weekend (first week in September, in case my readers are from oversea). I have about 6 weeks to train and get myself up to shape.

    My strategy on running this race is to keep an even pace when going out for the first 15 miles. Many people go out too fast. I did too last year. The Virginia Creeper Trail, being flat and easy can deceptively tired runners before the first major climb. It is actually a gradual climb, hence deceptive. Once I reach the climbing section, literally at the foot of the mountain, I should take it easy to get onto the ridge. Last year, this almost had me throwing up. I was jostling for an early position (you could read last year report, if I not too lazy I will add the link eventually, here). I ran too fast and then faced with a 2000 ft climb. I pressed on the climb and next thing I knew I was dizzy. Once up, there are probably remain a lot of people in front, I should not rush to pass anyone until after mile 15 (Skull Gap / the 2nd AS), by then half of the people probably would be slowing down or turning back (which is the turn around point for the 30 mile distance) and the trail then would be open up to me. I have last year experience of not making the same mistake.

    From Skulls Gap out is a gradual climb and descent to Hurricane Gap in 7 miles, short for ultra distance but might take 2 hours. Here I probably could run faster. After Hurricane Gap, AS3, is a 10 mile loop circling back to Hurricane (where AS 5 is, probably there is one aid station at Rowland, AS4), mostly decending on the roads. This is probably the easiest and hardest part of the race. If I want, here is actually I could run very fast, and key to “win” the race (I don’t mean first place, but reaching my goal for this race, i.e., to finish under 12 hours). It is a 5-6 miles sweet descent to Rowland Creek and a very hard 4 mile climb back up from Rowland to Hurricane. From Hurricane Gap, it is a gentle climb back to Skull Gap (AS6) on the FS 84, on the road this time, also 7 miles. There is a branch off onto Iron Mountain TR, watch for it, look for going SR600. Most people will walk, I probably will walk, since I will be out of energy. However, if I could survive till Skulls Gap #2, then I likely will finish within the time limit. It is 13 miles from Skulls Gap to the finish back using the same trail (Iron Mountain).

    Note to self. Rowland to Hurricane is probably the deal breaker for this race. I must do it fast but not overly exhausting myself here. Fast because of the downhill. Everyone runs on downhill. But it also the hardest and longest climb back. We run down on the road but climb back up using trail. Yep, it will be frustrating hard, especially the fast run down destroy your body. It is a balancing act. Fast, because of the cutoff at Hurricane #2. (by 2:40 pm, 7:40 elapsed, 4:30 remaining). There is still 20 miles left in the race, a long way, and I might need 5 hours for this 20 miles. So 2 pm back at Hurricane is the goal for me.

    The Saturday Training Run (only 24 miles) was on an out and back from Skulls Gap, took me shy of 6 hours. The goal was to finish under 6 hours (5:45). On Sunday I went out again. Ran the same course. It took me 6:30. Granted, I made a long stop and talked to two local elderly couple, and they were a friend with a Latin/Greek teacher at my high school and asked if I knew him. I did not. I think, I had a different Latin teacher, or I look younger than what they think my age was. I don’t think my high school offered Latin after I graduated. They then showed me the most poisonous mushrooms in the region, called north american eastern death angel or killer angel. I don’t remember the exact name. It looked like a normal mushroom to me, snow white beautiful, but of course, I was not going to touch or try its potency, killing myself in the process. We are talking about real plants here and not drug.

    Anyway, my second run through took longer, but was somehow my better run. I stopped often to take pictures of mushrooms. I felt I was not as tired and I did not cramp up like on Saturday. The first day after I finished, I could hardly keep my eyes open (I was sleepy). I went to bed early. On second day, I was stronger. I think I acclimated back to ultra distance running after being couple months off. The body remembers.

    Still taking 6 hours to do 24 miles was not good enough. I need to bring the time below six hours.

    I am hyped for this race. It will be a long and hard training under the hot summer sun. I don’t have any other races at the moment. I am looking forward to a successful outcome at the end of summer.

    Not related, but more like note to self, during the run, I met a guy from the Rim to River 100 race, Jonathan, I vaguely remember him, note, my glasses broke during Rim-to-River, so I couldn’t see him well, but he said he recognize me and I kind of recognize him by his built. I met up with Greg and Lorraine, sweet people who have done the race last year, and I vaguely remember them. Lorraine is from a far away place, might have drove up during the same morning and immediately drove back. I drove up night before and stayed an extra night. Lorraine and Greg dropped down to the 40 mile distance this year because running for the cutoff is too stressful. I looked up their last year time. Indeed. Note, these people were so much faster than me and they are in their 60s. It was kind of a surprise they dropped down while I went for the longer distance.

    There was Tim and Carrie, they will run this race first time. Tim will be doing the 50-mile and Carrie will be running the 40-mile. I will be keeping an eye on Tim since he is likely will be around my pace. He seems like a guy who won’t go out too fast. Tim will be doing the Cloud Splitter 100 in October. I am itching to do that one too, but not this year. I think it is cool to share, because I have one more race to look foward to. Also couple people were talking about the Devil Bathtub, a race somewhere in Harrisonburg, around Grindstone course. Grindstone too is one of my races to do. And another was talking about Deet (a race, not the bug killer chemical). They say I should try. Of course, Chaz, probably was not his real name (couldn’t find him on the entrant list) from Ohio was talking about Burning River. These people are fast. When runners get together, they talk about races and shoes. Yes, we did talk about shoes. I was wearing Brooks Cascadia (not sure what version, shoes have numbers). I like my shoes because of the color, orange edge on dark gray, just beautiful. My favorite pair so far, but they are quite bad on rocks and when wet. Some can vouch running in Hoka Speed Goat 7 as being the best shoes in the universe (note, there is no Speed Goat 7 Hoka, well maybe there will be). I would like to be a speedy goat. These were the conversation around me during my long run. Well most of the time I was alone by myself.

    TLDR – nothing particular, I’m training to run the IMTR 50 mile, and to be sucessful I have run fast in the middle section, I think

  • Day486 Catoctin 50K

    Races are like a feast to me. What do I mean? While driving down on an Interstate on my way to my next running event for this weekend, there is a bubling joy inside me. An excitement.

    I thought back to last year when I made a similar trip, and many previous trips too, they all overlapped. Driving on a dark night, late hours, kind of rushing to get to the place I would stay for the night, and this had me think back in biblical time, when the people of God would go to Jerusalem for their yearly feast, and they would sing or recite the songs of ascend. It must be how they were like, I am full of anticipation of what the day will bring.

    Feast! My mind wandered. Yes we are on feast. I haven’t been to a banquet lately nor do I want to because they are expensive. Only kind of banquets I experienced was wedding. A few of my friends and cousins got married. You know it takes the bride and groom months to plan their wedding feast. But for us showing up as guests, usually it does not take me that much of preparation. Of course the RSVP is sent in a few months ahead.

    I think what so special about such big events is that I will remember it for a long time (if not for a life time). I felt indeed some of my bigger races, I probably will never forget.

    These might be just mumble jumble to my readers, but to me races such as the Rocky Raccoon, Great Southern Endurance Run, Rim to River, Devil Dog, and Massanutten, were a time that means so much to me. I can even remember the smell or the trees and the sound, the food at the aid stations, and every single thing. It is like the time slow down for me and I can see and relive the moment in slow motion.

    I race for the experience. At least that what I realized recently. I had a couple bad races and a couple good races and they made me to ask why and what was I seeking. And why is a race so good and some others are so bad, I think is all in the mind of how we receive it.

    I’ve done the Grandmas Marathon. I’ve done MMT. I didn’t run Worlds End but I was there. And the Devil Dog. I wrote up on them. (I know I should put links here so readers could easily jump to the reports). Each of those was an unique experience.

    I realized recently, especially for races I already done, that I expect a certain experience on a second go-around to recreate what and how I felt the first time I did it. Of course, it is not always possible and sometimes (as at Worlds End) ended up disappointing.

    On the flip side, you could take a (supposingly) bad race and turn it to good.

    Summary, I ran the Catoctin 50k and had a good time if not one of the best races in my recent racing history. It is actually a redo from a goofed up of last year.

    I signed up to run the Catoctin 50k last year (if I am not too lazy, I will link my last year report here, Day428). And it ended up to be a kind of bad day (last year) for me because I over worked myself by trying to do two ultra races in two places (in two different states separated by few hundred of miles) taken place on the same day at the same time, and I really thought and hoped I could successfully do both. It became downhill early on when I realized a mixed up and I only ended up only doing half the distance of the Catoctin 50k. And by the time I rushed to and arrived at the second race, everyone had already left and had gone home. I ended up doing neither of them in a way that I like. Note that all were last year. I think the reason I did not enjoy it as I should was because I put much energy into it and received only a little result.

    I signed up to run the Catoctin again early this year, hoping to actually be able to do the whole distance (50K) this time. This race was hard, or supposedly hard. I trained for a full month last year, going out every weekend for a training run. This was before I ran MMT. Somehow I had conjured up Catoctin 50k as something on a level as strenuous as a 50 mile race or a 100 mile race. Indeed, if it were my first 50k, Catoctin would have been hard. The signup page warns don’t do it as their first 50k. It should not be a training run for another race, or they will come away hating ultras.

    For me, I love the race, every moment of it.

    My shirt from the race has a slogan on the back compares the race being a “love/hate thing.” To me, it was all love.

    I came off after doing the MMT being beat up by it two months ago. I went to Duluth to do the Grandmas for a bit of R&R. Don’t get me wrong, I had a good time at Duluth. It was quite fun and indeed it was a rest I needed. Since then, I was still in a funky mood having this drag of not being motivated enough to run. I haven’t run much. I missed all the training runs for the Catoctin even though I had intended to go to do them. Before I knew it the race weekend arrived. I wanted it to be my pick-me-upper.

    The forecast was not good for the race day. We also had rain the night before and we would have rain during the race. It is not just a little rain but a lot (2.4 inches at times). There were warnings of flooding in many areas. It was going to be a wet one. Indeed, it was. As long as there is no lightning the race would go on.

    I woke up early like for any other races. I had very little sleep the night prior, maybe 2 or 3 hours. I was late in doing my laundry and packing. The drive to the race was not far but I planned for it to be a 2 hour trip. The park where the race was held opened at 6 am, and so I planned to leave my house by 4 at the latest, meaning a 3 AM early rise. I arrived as expected early around 5:30. I decided to wait at a nearby McDonalds since I did not want to be a “bad” guest by showing up too early. Still exactly 6, I went back to the race course. I apologize that I did not know the bib pickup table was not open until 6:30 (I didn’t read), the volunteer jokingly told me to come back in 15 minutes. I was really early. I got my bib and went back to my car to sleep since the race was not going to start until closer to 8 o clock. There were 2 hours of precious time to catch up on my sleep. The reason I wanted to arrived early so that I could get a parking spot, since they say they don’t have enough spot for everyone. Last year I had to park in a farther lot. This year, I was the second car arriving there and I chose just some feet away from the start line.

    There were a lot of runners. Many had done this race before, and some many times. It is a local favorite. I saw the friends I made from MMT were also there. I met up with Ram and Iris and Gretchen (whom I mistakenly remembered as Geselle). It was Ram first time doing the Catoctin. Ram said he will stick with me and I replied he is going to get a DNF if he does since I am slow, but nothing makes me happier than to run with friends. Gretchen was also there. She is one of the oldest runners I met, around 80 years old. I met her last year during one of the training runs. Ever since, she was a cheerful support to me at many of my races. There are not many elderly trail runners out there.

    We started off slow at an easy pace. I knew I won’t be that fast because I had not trained much for the last two months. I naturally stayed toward the back. I was like the last 20 people or so out of 200, no I think I was the final two people to leave the start. Ram was joking around with other people, so it ended up that we were the last few to cross the starting line. The 25k people were cheering us as we cross the start. Their race won’t start for another hour. I knew the trail is narrow and we did not have much room to spread out beforehand. We were piling up once we turned onto the trail. I know I should not rush otherwise, it was just ruin my day to be sitting/standing in traffic in the woods.

    Ram already disappeared once we entered the trail though I was able to catch up to him later before the turn around point, that was a few hours later. I was deprieved of a good companion. I was going very easy, at a walking pace. The first couple miles are hills. I walked like many did. In fact, I felt there was nothing I could do but to walk because we had so many people and I was at the very back. I did not like hustling people and I know it would not have helped.

    Rather, if I could I prefer having some conversation with my fellow runners. I met Dwight on the way up a hill. He and his partner has done this race 5 times. The best part is if we finish it within 9 hours (5 pm), we would receive the Catoctin Card for our wallet, which we could flex (show off) to other runners. It is kind of a joke (white elephant prize). By the way, I lost mine already. He told me, it usually takes about 4 hours going out and 5 hours coming back (for him). He said that is because it is easier one direction than the other. I listened and putting it in my head. To me since the course is out and back, the time should be about the same either direction. I sure wanted to beat the time he mentioned. Note that I didn’t have time to study the race course beforehand. Any info would be helpful at this point. We have a total of 9 hours to finish. I had to be back be 5 pm. It was an out-and-back course. I was sure I could be back around 3-4 pm since usually I could run a 50k under 7 hours.

    Dwight is fast, at least faster than me. He seems to be in his 60s. He told me of his experience of his last race there when he made the cutoff by 3 minutes and (because) he was pacing his wife, he slows down his pace for her sake. I ran with him for maybe quarter mile or half a mile and we were catching up to other people before he stopped. He said he is going wait for his partner to catch up.

    It was uneventful for the rest of the race. I got back to Delauter aid station. There were very little I could remember. The trail was flooded. I was by myself. I had a big cramp in my left leg. I shoke it off. At the aid station, I took a Gatorade protein bar with me. A few were struggling at the aid station. I ignored them. I did not stop for long. My spirit was lifted as I set out because I knew there were only 6 miles left.

    I kept running until I met “Alex”, who later told me his name is Aref. Aref did not talk much but he is a big guy. He ran on all the flat portions and walked all the hills. I did not mind. I was sure I can climb hills better than Aref, but I did not mind to stay behind. I was so out of shape myself, a little of walking did not bother me. Aref slowly picking up the pace more and more as time went by. Soon he was passing people and was out of sight.

    I did not mind and did not chase. Usually I like chasing people.

    Next person was a lady in front, unfortunately, we did not talk and I did not get her name. She did laugh at my one of my jokes later on. I followed behind her for a few miles because she had a steady pace. She was the longest time I stayed with, all the way to the first aid station (6 miles out). We caught up to a group of four or five infront of us. Then the lady took off. I was stuck behind another guy for a long while. He didn’t let me pass (and I didn’t specially ask him to let me). His pacing was annoying to me but I felt I didn’t had it in me to pass him. For me, if I pass someone, I would try to make sure to be able to stay ahead for a while, like at least a mile or longer. I don’t like leapfrogging one another every few hundred feet because that is exhausting way to run (and dangerous) in a trail race. However, some people are just annoying or did not know the trail etiquette. And usually when you are about to pass someone, I felt like you naturally lead someone to run faster, causing a chase. So for me, if I pass someone, I got to make sure, I can really run and withstand the resulting chase. From experience, some people are willingly slow down and some don’t. As I could tell, this guy in front wouldn’t slow down for me. It would be a pyrrhic effort to pass him and it was just too early in the race to do this kind of friendly battle. Only option was to hang back until an opportunity to pass. Later, I was able to find an opportunity when the guy was struggling on some technical section and I passed and I caught up to Aref and together we caught up to the lady I was following earlier just before we arrived at the first aid station (Delauter).

    For me, I carried a full pack of 2L of water so I did not need to stop for too long. I picked a few pieces of fruits from the table and went out. Aref and the lady stayed behind at the station. They seemed to be done (exhausted). I could tell because they lit up during like mile 3 or 4 but as we near the station, their speed crashed. This is the reason, I rather hold back myself, no need to battle out for position so early on. I did not see them again for the remainder of the race (even after at the turn-around).

    I then found someone going about my pace. The dude was from New Zealand. He commented how it was like back home with all the ferns. Indeed, he opened my eyes of how magical and beautiful this trail is. I ran it last year and all the training runs but I did not appreciate it back then because I was too focused on the run back then to see. Today, we had heavy downpour around this time and it was so pretty. I was soaked to the bone but was happy, so were everyone around me. We were children again playing in the rain. We rather run in the rain than in 100 degrees heat. The temperature that day was 72F, maybe 20 degrees cooler than normal. I don’t remember much but I probably arrived at the 2nd aid station, Hamburg, feeling a bit tired but well. The New Zealand guy pulled me at a much faster pace than I planned to run.

    At the aid station, the aid staff said they have salt for me. Good, thinking to myself. I replied hold that off, I might need them on the way back. We had maybe another 6 miles to go before the turn around and another 6 to be back at this aid station. I still had plenty of water in my pack. I left the station just as quickly as before. No need to stay there forever. I believe I took a cookie or something on the way out.

    Pretty soon I caught up to Ram, a friend I met at the MMT. Ram is in his 50s but he runs quite well, better than me at least. He was trying to run with sandals that day. I think he is crazy but he does his. I think the trail is too rocky for that. And at one point, he almost tripped on a rock or root, but nicely recovered. We stopped so he could adjust the laces or straps. I was glad that I finally have someone to talk to. Ram was witty and poked jokes at me. We both did Devil Dog (and DNFed) and we plan to redo it this year. I tried to get him to pace for me in future races. He is set with his because he had several people pacing him on his last 100 mile attempt. The talk helped passing time on the trail. We then passed Iris. Iris and her husband were doing the 25k so they started an hour later from the other direction. Gretchen was them. It was uplifting to see them. I didn’t tell them, but I was secretly hoping to make the turn around quickly and catch up to Iris since I know Iris is slow. This is like lapping a runner.

    Ram and I headed together to the turn around point. The last couple miles before the turn around, I lost Ram. I was much better at uphill and so I left Ram. Maybe it was the residual from MMT. I could run up a hill. He was not too far behind me, for he finished 5 minutes after me, but I did not see him again till at the very end after I came in.

    As the turn-around (High Knob), a few people dropped out. I was surprised by that. To me it was unbelievable. This was only halfway. 13-15 miles. There were a few runners I passed, and when I looked closely at them, they were as if they already ran a marathon. They were struggling. The couple guys that called quit were much younger than me, maybe college age. They were all so fit. I arrived there around 12:15, so it was taking me 4.5 hours on the outbound. I was hoping to do the same if not faster on the return portion of the race, since I still set my mind to finish before 4 pm. Dwight had tipped me that the return wouldn’t be easy, but I didn’t believe him.

    The return portion was rather lonely. Some runners already dropped. There were only 10 or so runners behind. Those who were ahead, will continue to get farther away. We had a steep descend from High Knob and then a long hard climb. This knocked out a lot of people. I followed a guy and I knew I don’t have what it takes to pass him. I am stronger on uphills but the guy has a better burst on the flat. I think he could handle 9 min pace easily. Fatigue was getting to me. By now I had used most of my gels and might be only one or two gels package left. Out of courtesy, he later stopped for me and stepped aside to let me pass, but we were together for a couple miles or more.

    For the first time, I felt the trail finally opened up for me. There was no one blocking me in front. All I know was there were runners behind. It was mostly like this until the finish.

    The challenge of running alone is having to make sure I was on the right trail and two, run fast enough to stay ahead. The race was not marked (or flagged with the usual race ribbons). This whole race is on the Catoctin Trail and it was up to runners to look for the blue trail blazes to stay on the right trail. The thing is there were a few places that were iffy because the trail light blue color blaze looks at times white. This drove me nut because I started questioning am I on the right trail. There are trails blaze with white in the area too. I think they also have done trail rerouting this year (several other people gps trackers showed the trail is 2-5 miles longer) and some they might have repainted with either black, gray or white blazes over them. It could be confusing. I was wondering am I following on the old trail or the new trail? At a few turns, I was not sure if I had it correct. Luckily I did not get lost, but I felt I ran a total of 36 miles instead of 31 miles and a few people confirmed this.

    I got back to Hamburg aid station. Was I glad! They refilled my pack with full water and I took the salt tabletes. I was revitalized. This is smart running. I learned to use salt from MMT. Not just salty chips but real salt helps. I saw a couple people were cramping there. I had a bit of a cramp myself, but I hoped the salt will get me through. We had about 9 miles left in the race.

    My goal was first to get to White Rock. I imagined it was going to be a long rough climb up. However, in fact, it was mostly downhills. At times I thought someone was on my heels. I chose not to look back. At one of the switch backs, I was able to catch sight of the person behind, maybe about 25 feet away. I kind of said hi, the other did not respond back.

    I concentrated on staying on my pace. Actually, now I felt it is a race. I divided my protein bar into third and told myself to eat a third every 15-20 minutes. My goal was to get back to the finish by 4 pm but I saw the time been slipping by 2 pm, then 3 pm, and then 4 pm. We passed a sign that says 4 miles to Manor. By now, I just wanted to finish. I don’t fear DNF and I was confident I could get in before 5 pm. I knew we were close. Based on my long distance pace this means an hour more to go. Then I saw White Rock. The rest of the race if I recalled correctly was downhill (in a good way). I have been running the whole time, but now I tried running my fastest (MMT came to mind).

    My strategy then was to at least catch up the guy in front. At the time I had no clue who was ahead because for the past couple hours I had not seen anyone. I was alone. Only occasionally I heard footsteps from behind to confirm I was on the right trail. So the chase began.

    I caught the first guy. He would not let me pass, but eventually, there came a wider path, and I easily passed him. You know instinctively if somone would let up and let you or if someone would gun it. He was gunning it, but I saw he was in pain too. He was in no shape to race me. Now was the time to battle for position and duke it out. Not long I was out of his range. I restarted the game to catch the next guy. Not long another runner came into view. I repeated this game all the way to the end. Though the last guy was pretty fast and he scurried up the last hill to avoid me catching him (normally most (slow) people don’t run up a hill in ultras, especially at the very end). He was one that got away.

    I finished at just before the 9th hour (probably around 4:45 pm). My race time was 8:54 (eight hours and 54 minutes). Ram came in a little bit after me at 9:05, he said. We had good bbq food. I stayed for an hour or so chatting with Ram and then helped with the cleanup. It was a good race. I got a shirt and a magnet.

    In a race for me, either I finish or I don’t. Having a finishing time is good only for comparison from year to year. This is my first time running the full 50k cat. (the race short form, people call it a cat). Out of 200 people, I was like the final 10 to come in. There were also about 30 did not finish. Many did not start.

    I enjoyed the run. It took a lot out of me. Still it was a short run not like a 100 mile. I would give anything to have this kind of runs every weekend.

    Aftermath, I was sore. I had rub burn on my thighs. It was painful taking shower. I had blisters on my feet. I was cold and miserable. I could not walk for a couple days. It was because I am in a poor shape. What I enjoy out of it the most was I laughed all the way back. Normally I don’t have the strength in the end, but in this race I was chasing down people. It does not mean much, but it was fun chasing people.

    Lesson/recap. Running I think is a mental thing. Sometimes I am miserable even doing a mile. This race, even though the extetnal elements were bad, but my mind turned it into a fun experience. A bit of note to self, I was singing Rebecca Black Friday song over and over again during the run because it made me so happy. I was also wanted to get back by around 3 pm so I could catch a streamer stream (Wakalaka4eva on Twitch) but I wasn’t able to make it. It helped me run fast nonetheless. Otherwise, it might have been a different blog post (a L instead of a W).

  • Day483 Grandmas Marathon

    TL;DR a long post of I had a good race but I can’t say exactly why it was so good after I finished. I finally put together various tips and my thoughts for this race. Enjoy!

    What makes a race great? I guess everything just clicks in a good race. Many reasons have to do with the host organization but also on a personal level how I receive it (I could list out many external and the internal factors).

    I think it is really about controlling one’s expectation. I just love running and so I see everything through that len. I could run a race without supports after doing ultras. We learn to do with very little (even with no bathrooms, food or sleep). I mean having good supports and cheers from family and friends is good and they motivate/enable me to run faster but they are not essential for me to enjoy a race. Even if it is one or two people, I think I can enjoy a race. I think what I like is the unique experience and the challenge of the course itself. For marathons, it is no longer an impossiblilty and there is never a risk (yet) of me not finishing a marathon as long as I am healthy.

    That’s a long opening for what make Grandmas Marathon a good race. I could list many things how this race did it better than other races. Logistically it was a phenomenon. They were able to host 20,000+ athletes in the three events combined. It went smoothly. They are proud of their small town is able to deliver a top city size marathon. Personally, I think it is compatible or even better than the Marine Corps Marathon (one which I had a strong impression). They made my weekend so much more enjoyable.

    Why I like it is not so much the mega marathon hype. In fact, because I live in a moderately big city, I try to avoid crowds. Usually crowds mean delay and scracity of stuff and restrictions (from crowd control measures). Sometimes you could lost yourselves in the sea of crowd and feel less validated (or fulfilled). I experienced some of those at Grandmas. However, they were not the race’s fault.

    Grandmas Marathon held in Duluth, Minnesota, was my 9th state in my 50 states marathon quest. It was one of the reasons I went there. I could have chosen some other races in the state, but Grandmas attracted me because of the town Duluth. I first heard of it last year while going to the Eau Claire Marathon. Mostly why I run a race is to see new places and have new experiences, and plus I had not seen Lake Superior.

    I did it as a runcation (vacation as an excuse to run). It is more expensive compares to doing a local marathon and to spend that much money for just a 2-3 day trip does not make sense to most people. I know I should and could have stayed a bit longer but I am one of those who is mission focused, fly in, run, get out.

    It was not tough like the other races I recently did (ahem MMT 100, in which I failed to finish). In fact, it was comparable to the last two states I did, Carlsbad Marathon in California, in 2020 and Eau Claire Marathon, Wiscousin, in 2021. Each of those races is held in an awesome and beautiful town.

    Training for marathons now requires very little effort, maybe a week of fear/anxiety prior to the event, but once I get going usually it becomes as easy as walking – I’d compare it as water flowing down the stream. Still of course, I wanted to do well.

    I did two local marathons this year for comparison: Newport News Marathon and Salisbury. I use the word local loosely. They were great too but nothing compares to when you get to travel on an airplane. It makes the trip so much more memorable.

    Leaving from the airport (MSP)

    Performance wise, Newport News I finished a little beyond the 5 hour. Salisbury, I had an amazing time to run with a guy and (and other friends) I finished it around 4:52, an improvement. This race, I was not aiming for a particular finishing time, but I picked up a 4:35 pace band and I was kind of dreaming would it be nice to reach it, since ultra training makes me a very slow runner. I wrote how I became fat and unmotivated during my training. I finished (*spoiler alert*) around 4:20. It is not my fastest time, but it is the fastest in the recent years. It is just thrilling to finish fast. They say it is a fast course and indeed I felt happy to be able to reach that expectation.

    With a big race like this, logistics is a bit of a challenge, especially with accomodations. I did not book my accommodation early so I did not have a room in Duluth. I stayed in Minneapolis which is two+ hours away. I thought making two and half hour drive to the race course is not too bad even if I have to drive it back and forth twice (first pick up the bib and second for the race itself).

    Another slight hiccup was they overbooked my rental car. Though I got my car early after landing in Minneapolis, but my car was also claimed by another driver (he was going to Duluth to run in the marathon — we finished together). Instead of getting into an argument with the person, I yielded the car to him because it was totally the rental company’s fault that created this conflict. This costed me an extra 4 hr delay until they found another car for me.

    Overall, I like their highways. While driving out to Duluth, there were not much to see. The land is flat. We have young pine trees on both sides and occasionally we have big fields. It is a boring drive if not for public reststops along the way. A few times, I needed to stop to refresh myself or take a nap. It was very boring and I was falling asleep. One of the trips was during the wee hours.

    On my first trip out, I was stuck in traffic with all other runners. It was trafficky when 20,000 athletes not including their friends and families and volunteers driving to Duluth using the same two lane road and going into the same parking lot at the same time! There were bounded some contruction delays added in couple of accidents that made the road impassible for the afternoon, plus it was a Friday weekend, and first weekend after the school is out for a lot of families, and we were stuck in the middle of nowhere. I arrived at Duluth when the 5K was about to start. Road closures were already happening around the event area. One can imagine the traffic. The nightmare. Bad things kept compounding and spiraling out of control. All this could have been prevented if I had planned better or had better luck.

    So I said now what? Knowing I would face the same traffic the next day for the marathon do I drive back to Minneapolis or do I stay in Duluth for the evening? I felt I had no choice but to take on this ordeal one more.

    I was hungry and I was late getting back to my hotel, which was still 2-3 hours away. I had been out all day in the car. I landed 8 am in the morning and was up since 4 am (3 am local time), the convention hall was packed, they had all you can eat spagetti dinner hapenning. Gosh, if I had planned it better, it would have been a blast. There I was tired and exhausted, knowing I had a marathon still to run the next morning.

    The place I stayed in Minneapolis was not in a “nice” neighborhood, though it might have been nice by their standard. I did not do sufficient research before booking. It might have looked good from thousand feet above but once on the street level, it was not that great. I didn’t spend too much time there to make a generalization but from the feeling of it, I wish I stayed in a better neighborhood, maybe by paying a bit more. Maybe I am just naive that any places where the hotel had to lock their front door as an indicator that it was not a good place. Our hotels back home do not need to lock their front entrances. However, they might have lock the door maybe to prevent beggars other desireable guests from coming it. The two nights I stayed there, some kind of loud arguments were happening outside the hotel’s parking lot. I was like what!? Why are people shouting. It makes me wonder why the city is so bad. A few times I had to stop in the city to buy gas for my car, my experience was the same, to quickly fill it up and get me out of there. Unlike in DC, there is no revitalization or gentrification I can see. Maybe there is, but their city is just huge! I can’t see an obvious break from the city proper and the surounding suburbs. I lived like on the 97th st or something and still felt I was in the city and that is like 5 miles from the city center. But I think it is better than Baltimore or Richmond, at least some other bad places I stayed at.

    Remember how handling the logistics ruined my experience at the Worlds End event a couple weeks back (one of my favorite races to go to and aspiring to run it), I wanted to focus on just the positive. I needed a good sleep. Luckily I did, though maybe for about 3 hours before leaving for the race.

    Was the race good? It was out of this world. How can I say? I ran almost 40 “big” races so far in my last six years. I can say I’ve seen it all, the good, bad, and ugly. Most if not all of my races were A+ good. Actually any organization that is able to hold a big race year after year usually puts up a good race. I avoid those that can’t seem to able to measure the course correctly but wanted to make money off you (names unsaid) and I am not talking about trail races. I do my research.

    If I compare this race to my other 40 races, I got to say this one is maybe at the top 3 or higher. Not that other races are bad, they are sometimes different. The pampering of a 100 mile race is different from the pampering from a marathon. But if I want to compare apple to apple, this was a very good race.

    What went well? A lot! We had a perfect racing weather. It was cold around 50F (45 F at night), but sunny. The temperature went up a bit during the race, I think might have gotten to near 60F or higher. They were offering ice to cool is off. Heck, in 60 degree temp! They said we have tail winds coming in from the Lake of North-North-East, and it helped a lot whatever that means. By late afternoon the temperature dropped to 45 F, and that is winter temperature where I live. I was already in my car on my way back to Minneapolis where it was a balmy 80 F.

    The race was well organized. We had water stations at every two miles ish and well managed. It was more than enough. I was in the end of the pack after 15000 runners had gone through them and the volunteers were just as enthusiastic and crowds were just as excited to see us. I saw how quickly they cleaned up the cups dropped. 15,000+ cups tossed at each station and they still managed to keep the road / running lane clear of them. This is one of my irritations after doing trail racing of why people need to toss their cups on the ground after drinking! Not cool. Throw them in the bins and save the volunteers the trouble! And it is why I found running in mega merathons undesireable.

    It was well stock with water and gatorade, plus sponges and ice. The course was well marked and roads were blocked off completely for us. There was a high security presence. The course was flat but some would disagree with me and call it rolling hills. For me, the couple of inclines we had were nothing at all to be considered as hills.

    Super friendly aid station volunteers (I just noticed the stroller/walker). I saw a lot of elderly volunteers speak to passiom of the residents

    The half marathon started an hour before us, unlike some of marathons I did, where they started the Half either concurrently or an hour or two later (e.g. Baltimore or Morgantown). They were finished by the time we went out the starting line. The race organization did well to transport all the runners to their respective start locations and it was a challenge because this was a point to point course (ending is different from the start). 9000+ runners for marathons and another 9000 for the Half marathoners. There are 6000 marathon finishers and 7000 half marathon finishers. I have been in marathons where the runners from the Half just cleaned out the table and nothing (water) was left for us who were running the Full (e.g., The Moonlight Marathon, given that was their inaugural year)

    To get to the start, I took the train rather than the bus for the experience. The train ride took longer to get to the start, but to me it was the calm before the storm and worth the ride. It is like playing the violin on the sinking Titanic. Weird metaphor but I like the relaxation as well as the nervousness. To the people who were sitting with me, on the train, I enjoyed your company even though I forgot your names by now! Maybe some did not like the restlessness and chose the bus instead. I recommend the train and feel it is an integral experience of this race. This was free. If I had to pay for the train ride, maybe I would have taken the bus instead.

    We had a lot of bathrooms at the start. Note, I ran the Marine Corps marathon before, which had maybe twice as many runners but I felt Grandmas Marathon had more bathrooms than the Marine Corps Marathon.

    Massive crowd waiting for restrooms. This is only a portion

    I started about 7-8 minutes after the official gun time because I had to use the bathroom at the last minute. It was bib timed so, it was not a big deal not to start exactly at the gun time. It was actually better to let the crowd go first and let them spread out before I give chase. Some may want to follow me with this strategy of delaying the start so as to be able to run faster after the crowd disperses (because as usual a lot of slower people put themselves further up at the line up, and I don’t blame them, I did that too when I was young/imexperienced).

    About to cross the starting line. Crowd already thinned a bit but it was still a lot of runners

    Another strategy which might be obvious to many seasoned runners, but I did not see many people do in this marathon (maybe because I was in the tail end of the pack, and many might be their first marathon), is running the tangent, which is to run the shortest distance possible around a curve, so it requires looking up and get yourself into position. In many smaller marathons, the race path is narrow (like two person wide) and roads are straight, running the tangent doesn’t matter much, but for this race, we had both sides of a wide road (like a four lane wide), plus wide shoulders, and it is winding left and right for most of the race course along the Lake, heck, run the tangent! However, most people (including the front runners, I rewatched the race on youtube, the commentators were commenting on this) stuck to one side or the other the whole time. Well maybe they thought it was too curvy to do a tangent. I don’t know. I felt it saved me some extra miles. Don’t do it early on, I understand that, when the crowd is on the left, right, front and back, all around because you could trip someone when weaving in and out, but take advantage of the tangent whenever you can. It might save half a mile to a mile on this course and this could mean saving 20-30 minutes or more for the walkers! Imagine if I had to walk the last mile, the saving from running the tangent would have made a big difference!

    I used the same strategy as in my last half marathon race a week before, that is, to imagine myself in a desperate situation. I told myself I was back at the MMT 100 race, the morning had dawned, I just descended from Kern Mountain, and now this would be the last stretch and some serious running required to seal the race as long as I could run a marathon by 1 pm (of course, I couldn’t do it during the MMT and so I DNF). Since MMT was fresh on my mind, all the desperation to do one more marathon after just running 70 miles unleashed, when everything is on the line, the world on your shoulders, the raw emotions of being defeated by the course, the feeling of impossibility of the task but I still needed to try. It was a weird mixed of emotions of exactly how I felt at a point in time with the emotion afterward overlapped and layered on top because now I have a perspective of the past as well as the future of running the MMT. It may be why I love running, is for the insanity. I felt like I was a time traveller. I think this is what is like standing between the living and the dead (I like to be dramatic). I wanted that win/finish of the MMT so bad, if only I can redo it. At least treated it as a training run so I can do it in the actual MMT. I told myself I can redo it at this race. All I had to do was to run it again and let my feet fall where they needed to fall. Of course I could do it, but I imagined I can’t and needed to struggle for it. It was a controlled panic.

    Going back a bit, the first several miles were crowded. I learned not to be frustrated by that from the Rock n Roll Marathon and the Marine Corps Marathon, but just be patience. I took my time to take some pictures, and enjoyed the race. I found someone who did the 50 states thing like me (he was in his 70) and also someone came from near my state (MD). We were happy to see each other. I chatted with a lady in a raccoon/fox outfit. They posed for me to take their pictures.

    At Mile 4 marker, course is still crowded but runnable now. Note, every mile is marked with a balloon (yellow for marathon and blue for the half)

    By mile 4, it was still crowded but I could run now and I could weave in and out the crowd. Everyone was now a few strides apart. I told myself to get serious and put away my phone.

    Also by now I felt a bit exhausted, maybe from the lack of sleep, I felt a bit out of breath because I pushed a bit too early to escape from the crowd and my legs were dragging, so I decided to take my first gel early. I only had three packages on me. Note, I did not see aid stations offering gels. Gels are expensive. Eating them so early might get me into trouble later when I definitely needed them. From experience, I usually need all the gels I can get my hand on around mile 20 and onward. Normally, I save them till that point. I chose to risk it this time by taking it early so to get myself into a good early pace. I didn’t have time for breakfast earlier as I was driving and no shops were in sight and so I was a little hungry now. I had been up since 2 am. Also no restaurants open at that time unlike back home. Now as the race was underway, my body started reminding me various things, such as I was actually hungry. Note, some experienced runners packed sandwiches for the morning and ate them before the start.

    I reached halfway, mile 13, without further trouble. The gel carried me. If I remember correctly, I ingested my second gel of sugar here at this point. My pace did hamper a bit even after having the gel, but I believe I passed the 4:35 pace group and the 4:20 pace group. It was hard keeping up with the 4:20 group because they kept escaping from me. I followed them for a few miles. I remember the pace leader shouted out we are in “single digit” – meaning we have less than 9 miles to go (at mile 17 marker). We are in the single digit territory! Woohoo! I think that gave me a boost to pass the pace group. Here my memory is a bit cloudy. I’m not sure if the group passed me back or I kept in front of them. They probably passed me back at some point. I was at a breaking point.

    We ran along Lake Superior. At halfway we had a wide open view. The Lake is breathtaking. Some whitcaps can be seen, indicating breezes from the lake.

    A little afterward, I struggled with a big bonk maybe around mile 18 ish or even be at mile 19. They say the worse is to come at mile 20 because of the “hill”. They called this the lemon drop.

    I ingested my last gel package, trying to keep my legs in motion. Still I knew the gels I had were not enough for me and I was sputtering. There was nothing I could do. I ate all my gels. Apparently I put a big package of gummy bears in my pack the night before but I have forgotten about them — I was angry at myself hours later when I open the pack and saw them and found out why my pack was heavier than normal during the race. Stupid gummies. It was my first time carrying them in a race. I was a noob.

    Preparation of the night before the race. I carried a lot of things on me. I ate the Kind bar while on the train as breakfast but totally forgotten about the big pack of gummy bears until well after the race

    I knew I needed supports from the crowd. As we got near the city more and more people cheered us on. Not only cheers, but also the citizens set up their own “fun” aid stations. The official stations were plenty and enough but there were special menu items you only could get at a private support station. I appreciated the grapes and strawberries and oranges offered me at several of the private stations. These are items ultra runners need and familiar with. I was given pancakes too. Jolly ranchers and lollypops were a big help to me in this race because they were long lasting, slowly releasing the sugar. What got me going again was at one of the private stops, someone offered me a jello shot and a beer! Usually and maybe never do I drink and run but this shot of jello, whatever in it (tongue in cheek), made all my pain go away and I was reborn as new, so it was time for me chase the 4:20 pace group again!

    I pressed the Lemon Drop. It is not the last hill but it is the most famous one with 4.1 mile from the finish. Most people walked this hill but no way would I be walking this. Full speed ahead! I told myself I ran a 18,000 ft race (elevation) not long ago, this tiny 50 ft (guessing here) was nothing to me.

    Three miles later, we were in the city. I was sputtering again. Now I was out of gel and had no more jello shots, only way to get to the finish was to endure.

    I tucked my chin in (they say don’t do that), put my chin down and digged deep. I stopped counting the miles. Many people passed me but I also passed all the walkers. I told myself I can’t let the 4:35 pace group pass me. Not sure if I ever caught back up with the 4:20 pace team, but I felt the devil was on my back. At the last mile, I could hear the finish line music. Unlike at a lot of races, this one set up loud speakers miles out. So we could kind of know what was going on at the finish of who is coming in as well as having rave music beats going. It gave me a bit more motivation to stay on pace.

    Many people walked in the last couple miles and many surged on ahead. About 65 runners (a lot) passed me on this stretch (and think the most during the whole race). My pace was somewhat in between. I was not strong enough to surge but I held onto my pace. I don’t know how I did it looking back, yet I crossed the finish line. I had my tempo back at the final hundred of feet and kind of coasted in nicely. I did not need to be fast, I just needed not to stop or slow down. You know many times I had the kick, a final burst of energy that allows me to run fast at the end. This time I just coasted in. They say near the city, the run is tricky because you know the finish is near but you can’t see it. Having done Newport News where you could see the last two miles ahead compares to this one, where the finish is unknown, I think I prefer this.

    Finish chute of the last few runners

    One thing I like about this race was they gave us wet sponges and ice at many of the aid stations. Having learned from MMT 100, I put ice inside my hat and put it over my head and let the slowly melt over me. I probably one of the few who used ice this way. I think many put them in their mouth. In ultras, I would pour ice in my hydration pack too, but I felt this was not needed. I used the sponges to clean my face, neck and arms (I hate having salt on my face and body during running, but in many races, I just have to ignore the salt on me). The sponges were a godsent. I like my skin being smooth. Sponges were nice. The temperature was 50 F and I was sweating a lot! The ice was also so good.

    Finish line food. I did not feel hungry after finishing. They offered us bagels and granola bars. I took a chocolate milk. I understand feeding 20000 runners is a hard task and I appreciate any food for us. There was no free food at the Baltimore Marathon if I remembered right. This race was above and beyond my expectation. For comparison, Newport News Marathon had the best finishing food (I wrote about that)! Bagels and bananas are nice too, can’t complain.

    Then it got very cold in the afternoon. Luckily I had a jacket and a long sleeve. Yes, put a jacket in your drop bag! Though the parking lot is not too far away. Prepare for the stair climb though! I put on my shirts and I stayed at the race to cheer other runners until near closing time. I stayed till 7.5 hour mark. I think the race closed at either 7.75 or by 8 hour. A couple of us tried to stir up the runners who were near finishing to encourage them to surge. It was fun to see runners actually responded to our cheers. During that three hours, a lot of runners came through. If readers recalled I did the same at the Newport News Marathon. This was way better, because the crowd stayed.

    I was really strong in this race and ran beyond my own expectation. Of the three marathons I did this year, this was the fastest. I beat last year time (Eau Claire Marathon) too by a hair. Not bad after doing the MMT. I guess the strategy worked. Also I think my spring training got me to a peak condition.

    How do I close this? After running so many races, do I get tired of doing the same thing? To me sometimes yes. I can see how similar it is to my previous races, and yes I do get tired of doing the same thing. I have been asking myself why I do it again and again. But as to why I like it, is I sometimes learn new things unexpectedly. Who would have thought jello shots helped? Also each time, my feeling while running is different. This time, it was so good, I was completely speechless after the race. I don’t remember if any races where I was speechless like this time. My mind was silence for a few days. Completely quiet! It was so good to have nothing to say. And so much so I could not find the ability to write this report. I got back to Minneapolis in the evening. At first I wanted to go to the pool at my hotel. It seemed to be a decent pool, but I was too tired. I slept not long after. The next morning I had an early flight back, so I woke up at around 5:30. I slept some more once I landed. Monday, I was still very much tired. This race, unlike previous races, I couldn’t bounce back after a nice sleep. The race sapped everything from me in a good way. I also mentally spent, also in a good way, not like when I ran a 100 miler, and I couldn’t find words to say why this race was so good. I only know I was satisfied with it. It was my A-goal race and I was able to run it as I envisioned and in the end, I surprised myself of having done it. It is the feeling after each marathon, you did it.