In awe

Category: running

  • [686] Grindstone 100 prerun

    I got a chance to go back to Grindstone 100 course for a preview run a week before my big race.  I am nervous about the race, but we won’t talk about it.  It is likely the race would already be done by the time this is posted.  The race report for that will be posted eventually.

      Last year I did not finish it.  I arrived to the last aid station with only 4-5 miles remaining when the game clocked expired, which left a sour taste in my mouth. Feeling very unsatisfied, I have to go back to do it again.  The What, How and Why of that race are found in my previous race report (2024RaceReport).  Yet, every time, the memory of the race comes up, I was still confused and wondered why I did not finish it.

    I wanted to go back on the course not for the bitter parts but to see it in a new light, literally.  Most of the race where I struggled was in night time, so to able to go over the same part in day time indeed gave a different perspective.

    I was able to go back to the course several times since last year race. 

    My first trip back was in the middle of winter (Nov2024) after Richmond marathon.  At that time, I hiked/ran up Lookout Mountain and ran all the way to Hankey.  The camping there too was a good experience that time.  It was my first camping trip in a long time.  I don’t remember if I blog about it.  I think a couple week after that, I went up a second time by myself in the middle of the night.  I might have blog about it (WinterTwotHike).

    Then the third time back was maybe a couple months ago, I think it was the July 4 weekend.  Three nights and 2 and half days, exploring the course, minus, Lick Run section and Mt Crawford section, doing just the twot loop (TwotJuly4Camping).

    I hiked the whole circuit around the TWOT (about 25 miles) visited some hard part, such as Lookout Mountain, and Hankey, Dowells Draft and Magic Moss Trail and climbed to Little Bald and descended to North River. My whole goal was to know the course.

    Last weekend, I wanted to experience what it was like to start from Natural Chimneys Campground, the official starting point and ran both the Grindstone 13 mile course and the 50k course.

    In all three trips, I covered 75% of the course. Only Crawford Mnt, Dry Branch, Cold Spring, and Elliot Knob we did not visit.

    Compared to last year preparation course prerun, I covered most of it. The part I did not get to last year, I went and did it this year.

    Last year, I kicked myself for not going over the part at the start and finish loop (Lick Run and Reddish Knob) in my preparation. My intention last year was to save some mysteries of the course for race day.  Looking back, that might was a bad idea.

    This time, when my friend suggested to climb Signal Knob to see the sunset, I was thinking let make that into a camping trip.  And then a better idea  came to me to why not go to Natural Chimneys to explore the campground and do a pre-race run.  I want to follow the exact course like on race day. Of course, I had to modify it a bit to make it fit the distance and turn part of it as  a loop instead of an out and back.  Any out and back course/run is boring in my opinion.

    So Friday after work, we packed our bags and drove to Mt Solon, Natural Chimneys Campground.  It was a relaxing trip.  We did not rush.  I wanted to arrive before 7 pm to get the camping pass but it was nearly impossible leaving from northern Virgnia on  Friday afternoon traffic and expect to get anywhere.

    We arrived by 8 pm.  Set the camp up and we were able to get to bed by 10 pm.  The next day feeling a little tired since the night was cold and I only slept maybe 2 hours, decided to sleep in till 8.  Then we packed up everything because I did not want my tent to blow away while on my run.  We decided to go to town (Bridgewater) first for a little breakfast and coffee before starting.  And we did not get back to the camp until 10:30 am for the start of the run.  I don’t remember if we started at 10:30 or 11 or 11:30, but it started to get hot.  The run would take 8-9 hours and so, it was likely we did not expect to get back until dark.

    We started out from our campsite, and  ran onto the road, Natural Chimney Ln.  From there, we turned left to North River, After one block we turned right onto Lick Run.  We passed the sign I AM (the way the truth and the life) sign on someone’s lawn.  I like looking at things that are out of the ordinary.  As we ran across the bridge, I saw the North River stream was dry.  The midday sun beat down on us. Lick Run is slightly uphill and curves left and right through various farmhouses.  It was about 3 miles and eventually we made a right turn onto a trail with a gate.  The trail probably has a name.

    It was a jeep trail. We entered and ran about a mile and found a single track trail on the left.  We were unsure if that was where the aid station for Lick Run on race day. Things look unfamiliar in the day time compared to our memory from last year race.  Indeed that was the location.  We actually gone passed it, then I checked my gps  and map and realized we missed the turn.  We doubled back and turned onto the trail.  Also I put a water jug for later on the return trip to pick up, when we would loop back to there.  Note, there were a lot of gnats hovering over us all the time on Lick Run and beyond.

    From Lick Run aid station, we would climb up to a Signal tower, not sure if it is for radio, TV or cellphone. I think the climb was maybe about a mile.  It was our biggest climb that day.  Once we reached the crest, we made a right turn on the trail there.  It was about maybe half mile we were out onto another jeep trail where we could see the radio (or TV) tower.  Once reached the Tower, there is the Tilman West Tr.  We went past it, noting that was where we would return from.  The rest of the run was mostly on the ridge.  We then descended or followed the Tower Tr. We got to a four way intersection and I was lost of which way to take.  Luckily there was three people on their bikes resting there.  We started up a conversation and asked for direction. They were 68 year old man and woman riding mountain bike.  We each exchanged our amazement.  They impressed we were running on the trail and we were impressed that they biking were biking on it. 

    I think we took the trail in the middle (kind of left and through the intersection).  It was maybe a mile or so before we reached trailhead.  We crossed a bridge and came to a road (Tilman Rd, FS101).  There the bike couple caught up to us and they gave us all their water since they finished their biking for the day.  We talked about life and everything before departing.  We were glad they gave us water because there were very little water in the creek for us to filter from. I had carried a filter on me, thinking to do filtering midrun.

    That day, we skipped climbing up to Reddish Knob and saved it for next day.  This was at the Wolf Ridge Parking Lot. We followed Tilman Road (turning left), heading toward Tilman West Tr to do our return loop back to our camp.  It was about 4 miles on the rough gravel road.  While talking, the time seemed to fly by quickly.

    Last year, my struggle during the race was climbing the Tilman Trail West back to the Signal Tower.  The ordeal seemed to take hours.  Today though, it took us about an hour to reached the Tower.  We could have done it faster, but I preferred to check the flowers and some birds (a dead bird) and dry river beds and such. We saw a lot.  Butterflies and such. and gnats too.

    Once reaching the Signal Tower, I thought it was just the Jeep Trail descending would take us back to Lick Run.  While it could, but that was not part of the race course.  We got off course for about half mile so, we had to turn around and found the proper trail to descend.  It was short but steep, maybe half a mile or so (15 mins.).  Once we reached the correct Jeep Trail, it was just a long walk back to Lick Run.  I think maybe 2 miles or so, It was not bad, there were like 4-5 hills to climb.  My memory of this section from the race last year was like 20-30 hills and it took hours to do, but with relatively fresh legs we had today, it did not take that long, maybe 30 mins.  Then and so we saw where I placed my water jug.  We refilled everything and finished the run on the road back to camp.

    Once we reached camp, I wanted to stay on a small trail that goes around the camp to run to the real finish line to get a sense how long it would take (10 mins) from outside the camp to the finish line. So in the actual race if we have to be back by 6 am, meaning I need to get to the outside of the camp by 5:45 to be safe.  Yes, every minute counts.

     That night, the Augusta County hosted an outdoor movie night at the Natural Chimneys. They also had food trucks onsite.  So our dinner was taken care of.  We brought tacos and cheese cake from the trucks.

    Good thing of having a campsite is we could shower before going to bed.  I was exhausted and walked like I ran a 100 mile already.  The shower was good and I had a good night sleep from 10 pm to 8 am the next day. 

    On Sunday, we started earlier.  After breakfast and all, we stopped by a local gas station just outside the camp for water and ice. Today, we would ascend to Reddish Knob from Wolf Ridge Parking Lot. The drive to Wolf Ridge took about 45 minutes.  I wanted to drive slowly on the forest road.  I think we finally started our run at 10 am.

    This was just a 9 mile climb.  There were on occassion some flat runnable sections but mostly it was just up.  Before we got to the Knob, there was a rocky section my friend compared it to Bird Knob of the Massanutten Trail.  We reached Reddish Knob by 2 pm greeted with an expansive pararoma view. It was worth the hard effort.  We met a married couple on motorcycle at the top and had a good conversation about politics.  Eventually, we had to part way and we ran back down, except when we got to a turn at Sand Spring, we took trail to the Sand Spring Mountain down. It was also where we had our water drop. This was the 100k and 50k course but not the 100 miler.  I wanted to check out what the trail is like for the 100k people too.  It was just 4 miles of descent.  Once we reached the road, we had a mile of hike back to our car.  We got back by 6 pm, I think it was 8 hours total for the day.  We were smart enough to leave some water (1 L) at Sand Spring but I wish I had left more.

    I saw some bear bogs. Not so stinky.  I did not go near it to smell. The weather was nice.  It might be a bit hotter than the day before. I was happy for two days of long run.

    Little did we know, we were on the other end of Tilman Road and it was like a mile from Hone Quarry where we ran a 40 mile earlier in the year.  Seeing Hone Quarry and road to its finishing line brought back memories.  I saw the church with a big cross where the finish was for that race.  I remembered running in and urging a runner next to me to run his hardest, who then bested me to the finish line. It was also close to Dayton, where we previously stayed and to Harrisonburg, where we ate and stayed plenty of time. 

    Seeing familiar places brought back wonderful memories.  We decided to stop and have a good dinner at Quacker Barrel before driving back home.  Our runs are just that of one memory overlapping another, and I love the new memories we made and left behind at the place for next time.

  • [684] The Ring (70~ Fatass Run)

    Those who know, know, what the Ring is.  It is not a secretive run, but is a 70 mile *free* run and with the club, some call it a fatass.  It was started as a fatass of two runners who wanted to be the first to run on the newly built Massanutten trail.  Now, it it is more than a fatass because we have a race director and Virgnia Happy Trail’s signature aid stations and each one is captained by an experienced ultra runner. A free race that rival and surpass in quality of many paid races.

    However, the race is not widely known to people outside the Happy Trail club.  And there are some prerequisites for the registration that at least one to many are a bar to get over.  It was that runners must be familar with the course, since it is unmarked, this is usually meant having done one of the MMT 100 training runs or one of other runs there such as Boyers, Elizabeth, or Catherine Run.  This restriction excludes a lot people who are not from the area or part of the club.  RDs screen the signups and weed out those who are not qualified.

    I think the mystery of the race involves how hard it can be.  I have done the Massanutten Trail 100, which is known as a kicking rock good hard race.  The Ring is just like that, hard, and on the same Massanutten Trail, but without most of the road sections.  To many, including myself who have done the MMT100, we were surprised by how difficult the run is.  Might be because it was my lack of training for it since it is not a real race per se and because it was free.

    Also, another mystery is the signup is through the club’s own website, which is a bit hard to use and the registration opens almost unannounced.  Opening date for registration is posted in the club’s calendar, but I guess only the die-hard runners of the club monitor it.  I have in the past missed the signup (openning date) and by the time I realized it, the registration is closed or race is full.  You got to be on top of the signup game to run in this. The signup page is also a bit intimidating because it asks you for the day of the week and splits out some random number that in the past, related to the closing of the stock market to find your position on the waitlist.  It was a mouthful of what the heck lunatic is this website. In the past, I was confused by it and stayed away from the signup.  Today, it is only used to combat spam or robot (AI) signing up.

    Third mystery, maybe the name.  Obviously, it was vaguely refering to the movie of Lord of the Ring (The Fellowship of the Ring).  The run itself has nothing to do with Frodo or Bilbo. Well maybe it is a bit adventurous heading to Mt Doom. Or maybe to rid of the Ring of obsession.  I don’t really know.  We ultra runners are bit of obsessive cuckoo.  Probably the name came about because the first two runners who ran around the mountain loved the movie or maybe it was during the time the movie came out.  The name probably more has to do with going around the two mountain ridges in a circle around Fort Valley.  Maybe again it is about how hard it is, almost impossible but inevitable, we would get it done in some epic fashion.

    Forth mystery is the lingos, staying on Orange.  It was the mantra of not getting lost.  The course is not marked other than following the orange trail blazes (orane paint on tree trunks and rocks).  So for those who know, we would advise each other to stay on Orange to avoid getting lost.  The funny thing, though we all know this, yet we still get lost out there.  So it is like an inside joke of sort about being lost on the trail.  They also say don’t pee on the fence. I still don’t get that though.  You get the shock I know, but why?  Maybe of the rocks I think. The attempt running on the Massanutten is like peeing on the fence.  We knew not to do it, but still do.   Curiosity got the better of us.

    What makes me want to run it?  The run has been around a long time, since 2001 or 2002.  Runners in our club are proud of it.  It is like an initiation or a rite of passage thing and a badge of honor.  You have to have run the run to be a truly badass. So, now I finished it, I am a bona fide member of the club! 

    Many of our runs in our clubs involve some form of doing it on the Massanutten mountain, the Waterfall 50k (aka slang or abbreviate as WTF, yes really the expletive), Boyers, Catherine, or Elizabeth Furnace, MMT100 and its training runs, and the Chocolate Bunny. I have done many of those runs the last four or five years.  I fall in love with it.   So I was familiar with the mountain and trails and when people say it is a hard race, why not give it a try.  How hard can it be, right? Also, friends and others have return to running it again and again, so it got to be fun. To me it is more a FOMO, fear of missing out to be with them to make history.

    Why I didn’t do it sooner?  Because, yearly since I started trail running, I traditionally went down to Damascus (VA) on Labor Day weekend to run or help in a race called the Iron Mountain, another hard hard race.  That race conflicts with the Ring every year since both occur on Labor Day’s weekend.  This year, the other race was initially not going to take place because Hurricane Helene, which caused significant damges to the area and trails near Abingdon.  So I immediately decided to do the Ring.  I got in during the signup period.  It was a done deal even after I knew the Damascus race was happening.

    Another reason, maybe a more real reason for me is that I have been envious of people who were doing the Reverse Ring every winter while I voluntering at the event and I wanted to run in it too except of its requirement that runners must completed the Ring first.  Everyone knows I could do it without having to do the Ring first.  But rules are rules. One has to run the Ring first before doing the Reverse Ring.

    This year, A few of my friends who I ran the Massanutten 100 together two years ago, decided to take a crack at this.  To me it was like a reunion run with my pals on the infamously hard trail.  I got to suffer it with them once more time.  I guess it is a guy thing.

    I prepared as usual, meaning very little the weeks leading up.  Doing more mountain runs would have help!  The night before the race, I was scrambling at the last minute looking for headlamps, shoes, batteries, and other running stuff needed for the run.  As for food, I do

    ordered a chinese carry-out fried rics for breakfast.  We knew the first 25 miles won’t have any food and packing something to eat for the long run seems wise. However, I was too lazy to pack sandwiches or what not except a candy bar I had left over from a previous run. Ouch, ya. It almost derailed my race for lack of food in the early stage.

    Water was also important.  I was smart enough to pack some carbonated beverages in my drop bags, two cans of Red Bull for energy at night and that was pretty much it.  I trusted the aid stations would tilt me through. And they did.  John who ran with me asked me for one of the Red Bull, so I gave it to him.  I drank the other one and it helped both of us through the night.  John decided to nap, which we all kind of made of fun of him for being a softy.  It was his MO though to nap on the trail.  You can see where or who I learned it from to sleep while running in my 100 mile races. John.

    So, at the crack of dawn, we assembled at the Signal Knob parking lot, our base, start and finish line.  There were 54-55 of us.  It was more than the lot could accommodate.  At early pre dawn hours and the race or run, which does not start until 7 but by 6 am, already had a full lot.  Some had to do shuttling from a nearby sister lot at the Elizabeth Furnace Campground. I was lucky to get a parking spot. We should have carpooled.

    After gotten out of my car, I saw many friends and chatted and fooled around till the race start.  And thus, I forgot about carrying an extra bottle of water.  I had everything I needed so I believed, turn sheets, map, my pack and I turned in my drop bags.  We could have two bags this year, one for roving  that goes from station to station and one to be placed at Woodstock, the second to last aid station. I think the reason is there are not a lot of volunteers to take bags from Edinburg to Woodstock, which is like a 30-45 min drive and back. I think was a wise decision from the race management.

    We started out at one end of the parking lot, used a short back trail (Orange) to run back to the other end before crossing Fort Valley Road to head to Elizabeth Furnace side, then climb up to Shaw Gap. 

    I ran with two buddies, Charles and Costi.  We were mostly hiking it since Charles said he wasn’t trained for it and neither was I.  We were the last two runners.  Costi dropped back to talk to us.  Along the way we picked up Michelle of West Virginia who said she met me at C&O 100 last year at her first 100 and knew I would finish that race, which I did and she wanted to  stay with me to finish the Ring.  Not sure if that to stroke my ego, I do take pride in my pacing ability.   Though I know today is not to pace anyone since I am not sure if the pace we were doing would carry us through. 

    To pass the first cutoff, we would have to do a 21 min pace.  I hiked around that pace, so I knew I would need to run a little bit to not get behind on the pace.  Note, the first cutoff is at mile 40, at 9:30 pm, a long way to go (14:30 hours), so it would be hard to control the pace for that long.

    We hiked up Shaw, did make a slight booboo by following a white trail instead of Orange/Blue (the Tuscarora Tr.). We had to backtrack. Then we descended to West Veach and hiked up east side of Veach, from there it was a long hike to Milford Gap – 13 mile long. Volunteers (Amanda, Larry and Andy), all are my friends, were there to refill our water. So glad they were there.  I knew there wouldn’t be any food, so I joked about having miraculous pizza, which was a reference to the Reverse Ring because they managed to bake home made pizza on an improvised rock oven there.

    I felt I was on pace at Midford.  Maybe just a tad 10 mins ahead, which was really good for having done 13 miles in 4 hours and only off by 10 mins.  Leaving the aid station, Charles already gone on ahead since he had a faster pace, I joined up with Karen  from there to mile 35. She was a stronger hiker. By then both Costi and Michelle had dropped back due to my aggressive pace.  I held onto Karen’s pace.

    Along the way after Kennedy Peak, we ran into Dr. Cooper, who has gotten lost, and went off trail with Charles and they were coming back toward our way.  This saved us from going off course too.  I knew about that particular turn because, I got off trail there many times.  Together, we descended to Camp Roosevelt.  It was not Cooper’s day because he had to double over from time to time to calm the crambing.  I arrived at Camp Roo by 3:00 pm, which was 30 mins before the suggested cutoff. I knew I was on pace.

    Cooper and Charles stayed behind to rest a bit while Karen and I pressed on ahead to tackle Duncan Hollow, Big Run and the Waterfall climb.  Charles was dejected that his drop bag was already sent ahead to the next station by accident. Mistakes were made is all we say. Later, we found out he ended up dropping there. Poor Charles.

    The afternoon sun shined on us.  Soon after a few miles, my water was out.  I did not fill my own water earlier at the aid station but handed off the pack to a volunteer, so it was likely they only filled it half way and I did not recheck it or likely because it was hot, I drank a lot more and water was empty before I knew.  Oh well, it was what we could do.  I knew I would not die of thirst today, it only made the run a bit uncomfortable for couple hours.  It was kind of ironic, I would be suffered from thirst when Duncan Hollow and Waterfall are known for being wet and have a lot of water all around. I wish I had carried a water filter. Too late for that, as I was feeling sorry for myself.  Then all a sudden Karen fell down in front. 

    I ran up to her to see if she was alright.  She bruished her chin, elbows and knees.  Not sure what had happened, maybe kicked a rock or root something.  She seemed alright but the air was knocked out of her.  Her strong marching pace was gone.  I left Karen before we got to Peach Orchard, while she stopped to use the toilet or so I heard she said. I did not look back or offer to wait, knowing, it is anyone race.  If I stop, I would not finish. Later, I think she dropped at Crisman.

    Going down on the Big Run was not hard but time was flying away.  At the bottom of Big Run was the Waterfall Trail that many dreaded.  Interestingly, I didn’t see any waterfall. It is just the name of a very steep trail.  I called it  our first big climb of the day.  I knew we climbed Veach and Shaw, which both were quite big climbs, but they were nothing compared to this one because of the steepness.  I was stopped to mentally prepare myself and then hiked up in one breath (one take).  My friend Jeremy and I came out to hike the Waterfall two weeks before, and every 10 steps, I had to pause to breathe. So today, I thought I would be doing the same, and it surprised me I was doing much better.  I had wanted to reach the top by 6 pm but then settled with 6:30 as time slipped slowly by.  I made a second booboo when I reached the top by following a false trail into a thicket.  It was soon impassible and I turned around and found the correct trail to take.

    Reaching Crisman Hollow was a welcoming sight.  There was real food and really my first real meal.  A volunteer handed me a freshly grilled cheeseburger, with pickles, ketchup, mustard, and the whole deal. Mouth-watering good food. That is the signature service aid station of our club. There is joy and laughters. And I got all the water I needed.  Several other runners were around.  Really first time during the day to see any other runners beside those few I were with earlier.  Charlene was there and her companion John2, who was crewing her.   Cooper got lost and arrived there before me by taking the Chrisman Hollow road instead, so  ended his run there. He was retelling how he got off the wrong turn by following some streamers, I did too and almost got lost there where he took the wrong turn.  I had the map on my phone and was smart enough to double check so I found the right Orange to go (Orange there can be confused with Yellow).

    As much as I wanted to stay for a bit, I had to cross Kerns before nightfall. It would be dark in two hours. Kerns is known for being hard, rocky, and slow to traverse.  I had less than two hours to do it.  If after dark it might take 3 or more hours and it would mean not making the first cutoff.  I got to say, it was easy doing it in the daylight. I reached Jawbone when I had to turn on my headlamp, maybe by 8:30 then.

    The descent to Moreland Gap was not easy.  I knew that, having done it two weeks prior.  So, I did not arrive at Moreland until 9 pm, 30 minutes left before the cutoff. It was what I hoped for.

    At Moreland Gap aid station, I caught up to John and possibly Lisa.  She dropped at Moreland while John and I were trying persuade her to join our misery in climbing Short Mountain at night.  We knew it would be a piece of work (hard) to tackle Short Mountain.  We resupplied at the wonderful aid station.  Tom S., a friend, got us everything we asked.  Temperature was already dropping.  John seriously said to me, while half jokingly, that we needed to pack winter gloves for this night hike.  My hands were cold and stuck them inside my shorts pockets.

    Nothing much could be said about our trek over Short Mountain.  We passed couple people. The name of the runner escaped me.  I think couple of them later dropped. Short Mountain seemed harder than Kerns and rocky. We were battling fatigue and sleepiness. When we arrived at Edinburg Gap, it was midnight.  There were maybe 7-8 other runners around, which made our arrival very festive.  First time to see so many people.  I met Demitre, Collen and others.  I finally caught up to Charlie too.  He was the person I have been chasing but everyone said he was swift.  He was with another friend (Caleb) as he was headed out while I just arrived. His wife was there crewing. It was the last time I saw Charlie since he is way faster and gone on ahead.

    I stayed at Edinburg for about half an hour to change socks and replenished everything.  I don’t remember what I had eaten, but probably something good and hearty for the next climb. The aid station was not bad.

    Indeed, on a normal day, the next section should not be too challenging.  It was about 7 miles and should take maybe a little over 2 hours.  It was longest section for me that night timewise, taking me 3.5 hours.  I arrived at Woodstock at 4 am.  I think mostly it was fatigue that slowed me down.  However, I was moving.  This section I was alone, by myself.  I saw a headlamp far ahead and followed it but did not really catch up to anyone. 

    At Woodstock, again it was a party.  There were many people there (runners).  Some were sleeping, others were on their way out.  I asked for wipes and cream for lubing up.  They had all kind of things but runner’s stuff.  I carried them in my pack but it wad too much work to dig them out of my bag. 

    As for food, I had a good ginger broth, then headed out.  There were others sitting around still, covered with blanket.  One might have been my friend Robert.  I was too rush to notice. We were two hours ahead of the cutoff, so in theory, a nap is quite appropriate.  While I was tired, I wanted to get the run done.  We only had less than 13 miles to go. I wanted to finish it before sunrise.

    From Woodstock, it was a gentle climb for like 4 miles before descending to Fort Powells.  It was uneventful.  One runner followed me out, hoping to keep up with me.  I did not wait but maintained my pace.  By morning, some time after 6 am, I arrived at Fort Powells.  There again, running friends Nick and Samantha, filled up my hydration pack and resupplied me for my next stretch. This was the coldest time of the night (or day now), temperature might be low 50s or high 40s.  I was covered in a blanket, sitting with Caleb to take a breather.  Michael, a runner from behind us, came in and then took off running.  I then set off chasing after him.

    We had just 8 miles left.  4 miles on road/ with a bit of trails, and always uphill climbing to Signal Knob.  It was a gradual uphill so I just had to be patient.  With going at 2 miles an hour pace, I knew my estimated arrival time was 10 am, so there was no need to rush rush. 

    At top of Signal Knob, I stopped to enjoy the morning sun.  The antenna tower was an amazing and  welcoming sight after the all night climbing. I said to myself, I climb 65 miles just to see this. Our wonder. Our Mount Doom.

    The descent from there was definitely the hardest of the whole course.  I had no idea even though I had hiked there a zillion times.  It caught me by surprise.  There were only four miles left, so had to suck it up and took it slowly.  The last mile was a joy.  I could almost run it.  People then were waiting for me at the finish. I could not wait to tell the whole world I did it.

    I stayed to cheer the several who were behind me, including Robert, Caleb, and John, who came in as this year DFL (dead last runner). He was awarded with slices of cheese. I’m sure he was proud of it.  I think that was so goofy. Charlie waited for all his friends to come in. We laughed and ate.  Tracy was serving.  Q was around cracking jokes, asking of we wanted to do it again.

    The run was amazing.  It was hard and well earned.  As much as I would like all those who started with me to finish with me, but like any races, some made it and some didn’t.  I was not fast and I was around many who did not finish.  Many (30-40 other runners) finished ahead of me and I never get to see them, like Siqi, who finished second and Dan came on first at 16 hours and something.  The run has a group component as well as individual.  It is meaningful only what I put into it.  While placement is important in a race (to some) but what more was having fun.  I think I had a nice day being out there.  It felt like an accomplishment to join the cohort of others who are part of the fellowship of the Ring.  I am so grateful for all the volunteers who made it all possible.

    Most welcoming sight. The end of the final climb before descending for four miles. Mt Doom of our quest.
    A runner asked if we get to see the overlook! You can see Shire (Front Royal) in the distance.  I didn’t know we do get to see it if we stayed on Orange. Some runners didn’t know Orange goes that way and missed by staying on the fireroad.
    Camera really makes the sun so beautiful. What a joy to see the sun to my sleep deprived eyes
    Another view from Signal Knob

    So, I have overcome the Ring.  That’s that.  Q, the former RD, sneakily asked if anyone of us would want to do the winter version, called the Reverse Ring, because you do it in the reverse direction.  I think all of us said no.  He slyly let us know that the registration is open already.  For Fear of Missing Out, I put my name in. I’m third.  John was first to register. Until then, I got to train.

  • [683] Eastern States 100, a trail running experience

    My motivation for running this was the name Eastern States.  As I have done Western States 100 last year, it seems fitting to try my hand on the east coast version (note, they are not related but the name). I met some runners at the bib pickup who tried to do both races in the same year. It is something I would go for too.

    Short version: I ran, It was hard, and I did not finish.  I learned from my experience to enjoy on the trail.

    I am familiar with the race organization and know they put up “fun” trail races.  Fun means hard.  I ran their Rock n the Knob marathon couple years ago, and it is considered the hardest marathon in the area.  One that took me 8-9 hours to finish and it ran like a 50k.  Note, in recent years the race has relabeled itself as a 50k. I have expected Eastern to be the same level of hard.

    It seems just a few weeks ago I finished Vermont 100.  The last couple weeks since have bern a blur.  I guess I mostly rested.  I did two weekends (8 hours total) of trail work to fulfill my volunteer hour requirements for another 100 mile race I will be doing soon in the fall. 

    Life has been busy and running was pretty much nonexistent since  Vermont 100.  In fact, I don’t think I have trained much except for couple weekend runs this whole year.  Going into Eastern States, I knew it would be a struggle.  I always thought I had time to train over the summer once Old Dominion was done.  But after three successive 100 mile races, Old Dominion, Vermont and Eastern States, I wondered where my time has gone. Advice to my future self: train for hills.

    The race has a 36 hour cutoff and thus requires about maintaining a minimal 20-21 min pace.  To me this doable. It’s a walkable pace.

    My plan was to run a 17 min pace first third, then a 19 min pace second third and slow to a 22-24 min pace the final third.  It should allow me to finish on time.  With the last two 100 mile races, I thought I have a good chance.

    I usually have a fast walking pace and I was hoping this might get me through the whole race.  It was a big bet I know.

    The first mile started on the road outside PA state park of Little Pine Creek.  We ran a few miles to spread the crowd and everyone had a quick 12 min or faster pace. I was at the very back but still did a fast pace.

    When we reached the MST trail, there were a crowd of runners at the bottom of the trailhead waiting to climb the stairs up.   We milled around a few minutes (10-15 mins) waiting. Some went for bathroom.  Families and friends were also around cheering us because it was inside a campground. I have expected this to be the first hard climb. I read in other reports that most people could summit it before the sunrise.

    The first stair climb was not the hard climb I had expected.  We had a mile of rocky and knarly trail (MST – Mid State Trail) but it was not too bad with fresh legs.  I took it slowly and I was the last few runners left. I was not worried and knew methodically I would catch up to people ahead over time. My goal that morning was not to fall too far behind from the bulk of runners.

    I knew I was in trouble when I got to the really first climb, I was out of breath after a few steps and it did not seem to be any steeper than trails I used to do.  Everyone around me seemed to be full of energy and tackling it with ease.  The trail was steep, but it was not straight up sttep.  My heart rate was through the roof though.  I chose to stop for a break. My glasses were fogging up. Then second and third break before making it all the way up.  It was still early in the race, so I could burn some time. The few slower runners behind me passed me by.  There might be only one or two runners farther back.  I did not want to be the last one. It was kind of embarrassing.

    It was two hours later since the start of the race by the time I was up on the ridge.  I felt better after the many breaks up on the first climb and I now could move a bit faster.  Luckily on subsequent climbs, I did not have the same trouble.  The trail gradually evened out and I caught back up to the five or six people who were ahead of me.  Some were people I know such as Samantha from our running club and Anuj (gentleman I met and finished together at VT100). They lifted my spirit as I aimed to get to the first aid station soon around mile 7. I had high hope to run with them for a long way throughout the day, but soon they were falling behind me after a brief conversation.

    The first AS was a water only station.  My pack was still good with water or so I thought but having heard the next one is a long way to go, I stopped to fill up.  They filled it to the top.  It was good because I found out I drank almost all with only tiny bit left on the way up.

    I hit the second AS on my expected pace mid morning, though not at 17 min pace but 19 and I could live with that.  I told myself this race is hard, but as long as I maintain a 19-20 min pace, I would finish. I was aiming to gain about a min or half a min per mile and I aimed to lower my stoppage time at the aid stations. By now, I fell into a group of people about my pace, one of them was a mother and her daughter.  We would be together until we dropped from the race the next morning.

    The trail was still knarly and to me it was not really runable yet.  People I talked to told me that the later sections would be easier on the footing.  Climbs will still be there but less technical.

    Indeed, the trail became less rocky and more runnable.  I picked back up the pace a bit and arrived to the first crewed station, pretty much on target of a 19-20 min pace but not the 17 min pace I had wanted. I knew to finish this race, I would have to be quick and efficient.  I went through the AS less than 3 mins and was out again.  I was happy to see me crew and friends. I entered the race in the Solo Division (meaning no crew or pacer, but won’t mind to switch to crew if needed as the race permitted us to switch midway). 

    Because I was quick at the AS, I caught up with a lot of other runners who had stayed 10 minutes or more longer.  One was Fredinald.  Fredinald had done the race 10 years ago and today was hoping only to reached 50 miles.  We hiked the next hill together and chatted. I knew a lot of people around me were struggling with the pace.  I felt I need to get ahead of them because people like Fredinald had no intention to finish, which did not bode well. 

    My goal was either to run past them or if they could stay my pace, and use them as a companion.  We were all in the same boat of being slow.  I put my faith in my hiking ability and hoped that I would not suffer the same fate to quit the race too early.  I hoped to go more than 50 miles.

    I gradually picked off others and passed runners including our local running friends, Daisy and Jeremy (who did finish).  I know I was not out of the woods yet with a 20 min pace, but at least I was gaining 1 min every mile.  But passing people let me know I was doing the right pace.  I hope by nightfall, I would gain an hour from the cutoff.

    By afternoon, on a long section to Hyner Runs we had several long runnable sections and people around were picking up the pace and passing me.  There were people by the look of it were trying too hard (hard breathing and out of shape) and I was wondering if they would finish.  I was still maintaining my walking pace because that was the best I could do but I was able to still pass people. I was surprised to reach Hyner well ahead of my plan 20 min pace.  Actually the original plan was to get there by 6:10 pm but with me just mostly walking, I set my goal of getting there by 7:30, and I got there at 6:50, 40 mins ahead.  That was still a huge win.  I took a few minutes at the AS and headed out before 7 pm, ahead of many runners who came in ahead of me.  My crew and friend said she would meet me at the next crew location at Tomb Flats. 

    It was reassuring to know she would be there in the middle of the night.  I figured, I am likely to get there between 1 am to 2 am.  I wouldn’t believe that I later arrived near 3 am (2:45-2:50), behind my intended pace.

    Usually I do better at night or so I believed.  I reached the halfway point, mile 51 at 10 pm.  I was still good on pace.  I could finish the race in 34 hours if I maintained it. I have been passing people just by walking and not rushing. 

    However, by midnight, things got hard.  I now couldn’t recall the specifics that slowed me down. The trail was harder to find. I was getting sleepy.  People whom I passed earlier throughout the day now passing me back.  I did not mind, but I knew I was not pulling it through. 

    In the middle of the night around 2 am, I met a friend we ran together before in another race (I think at  MMT), he also battling sleepiness from fatique. We both decided to take a 5 min nap on the side of the trail before continue on.

    I knew we did not have much time. It was more a gamble.  If I could freshen up, I might have a chance.  It was about two miles to the next aid station, so I urged my new friend if we could run for it because the cutoff was soon.  So we ran.  I think it was more than 2 miles, felt like 4 but eventually we reached the big river at Tomb Flats. (I called it the Rocky Chucky; it was probably the crossing of Pine Creek). My crew was there cheering me on as I crossed.  It was not an easy crossing because the stones underfoot were slick. There was a rope but it was not taunt and no other people were there to anchor it like in Western States. The rope was there as a guide but not so much as for weight bearing. The runner in front of me was falling and moving the rope around and it caused me to lose my footing too. Eventually, I got across.

    It was the station with my first drop bag.  I had my dry shirt and socks there, but I felt if I stop to change, I might not be able to start back up. Note, generally consensus was volunteers at earlier stations were snappier in offering runners their drop bags and more attentive.  Not putting any shade since now it is middle of the night and we were near closing time.  I didn’t want my crew to help yet since I was intended to run solo.

      I was 15 minutes from the cutoff.  So I went out after getting some water and food.  An aid station volunteer gave me a small can of coffee, a cold brew.  Looking back, it might have helped run better if I did change out the wet clothes and rest a bit like some of my friends in the race did.  But with only 10-15 minutes before the cutoff, it was just too scary to sleep with your crew looking on.

    If I thought, the time on the trail between 2-3 am was bad, wait till it was 3-5 am.  Now I was actually sleep walking.  I had no idea how I got through this.  The race seemed slipping by me.  My former friend who ran with me down to Tomb Flats was no longer with me.  I took another 5 min sleep break on the side of the trail and then forced myself up again.  It was a long way up and mostly just climbing.  The sleep did me good for maybe an hour before I was sleepy again.  Amazingly, I caught up to the earlier sleepy friend I met on the trail, and he was just as sleepy as I was, so we both stopped one more to sleep.  He slept on a rock to the left and I slept on the rock to the right.  And now a lot of runners were passing us by.  Some exclaimed, some just silently avoided us.  I knew too much sleep, we wouldn’t make the next cutoff.  Once again, after 5 mins, I got up.  This time I abandoned my new friend and ran like if the devil was after me.  As I have done a lot of races, you kind of knew when you are in trouble with pacing and being the last one back. My spider sense was hurrying me to run for it.

    God was with me and I sang as I ran through the woods.  By now whether I could make the next cuttoff or not, it does not matter.  I just want to have a good morning run.  The trail was empty of runners by now.   I knew soon it we would have daylight. I was pretty sure I was the last runner.  The rest wouldn’t make it.

    5 am came, I have survived the race for 24 hours.  6 am was sunrise.  I passed two gentlemen stumbling slowly forward.  I knew they likely wouldn’t make the cutoff.  They cheered me when they saw my pace.  I was a bit glad, I finally was making progress.  The next cutoff was at 6:30. Somehow by God’s grace I made it through at 6:27.  I had no time to fill up water (well I could have but chose not to).  I had some water left in my pack and the volunteer filled my handheld bottle and off I went.  I knew I would be out of water in the next stretch. 

    With the morning sunrise, I had new energy.  There were now a lot of people I was passing, dozen or so runner in a group usually 2-3.  I passed one after another as I made my way up.  People who recognized me cheered me on and exclaimed I made it through the last cutoff.  I was definitely proud of that.  They had assumed I would not make it through the night because they were ones who found me sleeping on the trail.

    From Tomb Flats to Cedar Runs was 10 long miles.  And Cedar Runs to Blackwell was 8 miles.  This was another long stretch! There’s nothing else but to hang onto my pace.  Like it has been the last 24 hours, as long as I could maintain a 20 mins pace, I could finish. Note, of all the people I passed, only myself and another lady would make it to the next cutoff.

    My feet started to have blisters since I did not change shoes or socks Tomb Flats (mile 62). I had my second drop bag at Blackwells, mile 80, with dry socks and shoes and was hoping I could change them out.  Somewhere a mile out from Blackwells, my GPS goofed up.  There were some weird flagging seemed to indicate a turn but I found no where for turning so I lost some 5-10 minutes going back and forth in determining the right way to go.  My frustration level was high and there were some runners about to caught up from behind.  I knew, I needed to get to the AS by 9:15 and I was seeing my clock winding down.  My best guess was it might be still two miles away. 

    Two female runners passed me, so I asked them for the distance, they said they were expecting 4.5 miles left.  Uff-dah and they were booking it.  I knew I would have to run hard to make it to the station.  So after them I chased.  I caught up to them on a downhill and I could hear the people cheering from the aid station we had maybe 10-15 mins left on the clock.  This was a huge gain from 3 mins at a prior station.  I encouraged the two runners saying it only takes 5 minutes to get to the AS.  So I ran again and arrived at the station with 8 minutes to spare. 

    My pacer was ready to pace me out.  I competed as a Solo runner (no pacer) but here, I knew I needed all the helps I could get. It was time to be crewed and paced and gave up on my solo status. It would have been good if I asked for my drop bag. My mind at the time was to get out quickly.

    My water has been out for a long time.  So, I had my pack filled.  Not sure if I ate something.  I must have. As for changing shoes or socks, it was too late.  No one was asking if I wanted to change, I would have said no either way.  I reached mile 80, and there would be 24 miles left and have until 5 pm to reach it. 

    Here at Blackwells AS going out seemed like a giant maze.  As usual, I asked which way is out.  Volunteers pointed in a general direction and I was sure they gave verbal directions too.  I had my pacer so I was not worry about finding the trail. 

    This is on me.  I should have slow down or stop to fix my gps but I was pumping with adrenaline of having made the cutoff again.  So I was rushing out. 

    Other runners later too attested that volunteers at the particular station said to go up the road, and some of us really went up the road instead of turning onto the trail on the left.

    So up the road we went.  I started mumbling that I hadn’t seen any flagging at all.  My companion/safety runner said she saw them just ahead.   

    All the warning bells were going off by now, because I haven’t seen any flags but was assured by my friend that she had.  I decided to turn around disregarding the two other runners who were running with us.

    Going back downhill was easier than going up hill.  But the time lost was pretty much not recoverable.  I checked the watch and it was 9:40, we were way off course, for me, that is too late.  We did find the trail at the bottom of the hill.

    The sweepers caught up to us.  The only way was to go forward (I was considering turning around back to the aid station at the time, so that I could sleep).  The next aid station was 4.5 miles away.  It was an awesome climb.  I finally get to slow down and enjoyed the view.  From 10 to 1 pm.  We trekked on.  At time, I felt sorry that I was the last runner.  But God was humorous and merciful.  Right before we reached the aid station Sky Rock, not so much rocks but it was up up and up in the sky, we stumbled on a runner laying on the trail.  The sweepers went and worked on the troubled runner who said he has not eaten for the last 7 hours.  The sweepers told us to continue heading to the aid station.  People at the aid station sent a medic team down.  Everything ended well.  The poor runner was rescued. I was relieved that I was not the one laying on the trail.

    My 100 mile (103 actually) ended at mile 85.  There would be 17-18 miles left.  The volunteers were kind enough to feed us with mellons and fruits and we eventually had our ride back to the finish. 

    The rest of the day was spent  sleeping, eating, and cheering as runners came in at the finish including a few of my friends, Ike, Scott, and Jeremy. Scott ran it 10 times or something. I also made a new friend at the finish with another runner who also ran it 10 times.

    Is there a lesson learned? Probably.  I could have trained better of not getting behind on the pacing early on.  My friend teased me of trying to wing a 100 miler without much training especially a hard one.

    It is always hard to catch back into the game once falling behind.

    As for staying strong or up during the night, that is always hard. I could have carried some caffeine pills.  That was on me of not having a counter measure for sleep deprivation ahead of time.

    Third, probably most important, is stay alert and be reactive to turn around quickly the moment the path was doubtful. I did talk too much and thus missed the turn.

    Fourth related to it, fix the gps immediately, that was one reliable tool to stay on course.

    Fifth, course study!  I studied the course turn by turn the first 50 miles and but not for the second half. So it was on me.  I should have familiar at least of all the aid station’s entrants and exits.

    Bless the Lord, there were many instances where I could have tripped over and got hurt badly but always at the last minute, I regained my footing and did some acrobatic stunts. I finished relatively healthy, minus some blisters and sunburn. I had a great time both hiking and then the early Sunday hour run, with renewed strength. That was my best moment of the race to catch up from behind. 

    I was thankful to have a friend and pacer ready to jump in at any moment when I was in distress.  As to whether I could finish in my condition, it was hard to say.  I was barely hanging on. Time was slipping.  There were 8 hours left and two more aid stations to go. Even couple of friends who were stronger runners than me finished with only 10-15 minutes to spare. It would have been a very hard push to the finish.

    The two female runners, who got lost along with me, they finished.  I salute them for having the true courage and strength of not giving up and overcame a big setback.  I do wonder…what needed to push that hard.  I knew I did not have it in me that day to do the heroic thing.  It was my weakness for possibly giving up too soon. My pacer did tell me to run like them.

    Yes, DNF hurts, then again we have to be thankful of what we already achieved. We all entered a race always hoping we would finish.  There were a lot I can take away.  I had a nice day on the trail and I had good trip going there and coming back. I run to meet people and I did.  I run for the experience.  It was a good experience. Thankful I got a chance to do it and ran with some very good friends. 

  • [682] Vermont 100, 2nd time

    I am happy that I finished this race the Vermont 100 a second time.  A few of my friends have done it multiple times.  This was my 2nd 100 this year, first finish of the year. It was not any harder than other 100s, but difficult enough.  I had expected a faster finish, but had to struggle to almost to the final hour. 

    It was not easy.  15,000-17,000 ft of climbing is a lot.  Imagine like running a marathon with 4000+ ft of elevation.  Marine Corps Marathon has 699 ft gain, and people said that is a hard and hilly marathon.  Richmond Marathon has 683 ft is a a hilly course.  I was so happy when one volunteer told me she did that marathon last year when she recognize the shirt I was wearing.  America toughest marathon, the Roanoke Blue Ridge Footleveler Marathon has 3564 ft of gain.

    Those who run 100s don’t usually choose a flat course.  I think 17,000 ft is a typical elevation gain.  There are some 100s with more extreme climbing.  And some with a flatter course.  Grinstone 100, the one I will be doing in September has 21,000 ft of gain.

    Vermont is a good beginner 100.  It is challenging but doable for many first time attempt.  During the prerace meeting, there were about 50% from a show of hands that this was their first 100 mile/100k run.  100k too is a good stepping stone before trying the 100 miler.  100k is 62 miles, just a bit over 50 mile.  50 milers are what people (or least I used) before attempting a 100 mile run.

    A few friends from my area also were in the race and at time they were good motivators.  We all started together.  I was the second slowest in the group. I had a goal to catch up to them.  I guess it was a friendly competition.  

    I knew I had to run my own race.  As this was my second time doing it, I had last year result to aim for.  This year body was different from last year.  I felt being less trained.  Result showed I was slower.  I finished about 2 and half hour slower at 28:56.  And very early on, I had to give up at running the last year’s pace.

    Since I started from the back of the pack, I ran with people around me. There were at various time, I was joined by Tek, Roy, Dave to about Stage Road (mile 31).  Later I passed them and was joined by Anuj and Carita to mile 62, they kept me going at time I was about to flame out.  Later still Brian and Pete.  Brian was pretty much kept with me to mile 90 before taking off.  Roy passed me at Cowshed and at the time I was doubting if I could finish even though I was an hour ahead of the cutoff.  Roy thought my math was way off. 

    I finished the race with Carita, Justin and Charlie.  I met Carita earlier on in the race but forgot who she was after she ran off.  She later told me she went the wrong way and was 3 miles off course.  Similarily, Justin has gone off course for maybe a mile and caught back up to me around 3-4 am.  We pretty much then powerhiked together the rest of the way.  I was glad to finish together with them.  I too gone off course, maybe a quarter mile.  It was not due to markings though, I somehow assumed the turn was to the left when it was to the right because I saw people’s headlamps going left.  It could all have been my imagination at the time.

    I did not have a crew or pacer, but people around were like pacers to me. The best was Anuj, he and I chattered for a long time on the course, maybe 8 hours or more.  I amost thought he could not make it but he did finish, just 10 minutes behind me.  And he took a 45 minutes break at a aid station (Camp Ten Bear before midnight), meaning, he must have run to catch up in the morning. I said he passed a lot of people.

    My report is pretty much echoing a fellow runner Eric’s report.  It was a redemption run.  I did not finish an earlier race this year, this race I did almost everything needed to get it done. 

    Nutrition, I watched my calorie intake, that is to Eat early and often.  By afternoon, I did not want to eat.  I switched to fluid, mixing Skratch with my water.  A side effect was it made me super thirsty for 8 plus hours.  There was nothing to cure the thirst, drinking water didn’t help, nor sodas nor more Skratch.  So I stopped drinking Skratch and switched back to water and sodas.  By 1-2 AM, Spirit 76 (mile 76), I was extremely hungry, the people at the aid station fed me and I was well.

    Shoes:  They say the course can be done with road shoes.  I ran with my trusted trail Altra Lone Peak.  I don’t know which series, probably 9.  I did not have switched them out.  I ran with just one pair all the way through.  I did have a backup pair at Spirit 76 (mile 76), but I did not have to switch.  The road was sandy and dusty, so from time to time, I did have to empty out the grits.  Feet were healthy, no hot spots or blisters.

    Simplified.  So many races I worried about various things, like dropbags and equipment.  I went light this time.  I prepared two drop bags.  Brought no extra food.  First drop bag had my balms and lotions and sprays for curing various ailments. I placed that at mile 62.  My second drop bag was my extra pair of shoes, I left it mile 76.  I did not need to use either of them.  It was good to know I would have them if needed.

    I wore a hydration vest with a 1.5 L bladder.  I carried a 20 oz bottle for filling with soda drink along the way (I like Ice, the sparking soda). I carried a zip lock bag to take extra food out the station.

    I knew Aid stations are time killer if not careful.  I wanted to minimize time needed to stop.  There were 25 aid stations.  Each of them, I stopped for about 5 minutes.  People might think that is too long.  Yes, indeed, but by the time of grabbing something to eat, filling up water, fixing shoes or what not, thanking volunteers, that 5 minutes were up.  I did a race before (Old Dominion) where we only stopped only for 10 seconds at each station, because that time, I was running with pros good at time keeping (one was a former NFL level coach) who know every second count.  Not stopping for too long at an aid station contributed toward a successful run. 

    The rest was just being “Chill.” My understanding was to enjoy the race and sight.  Indeed, I had a peaceful run. 

    My personal entertainment during the race was trying to figure out the minimum pace I needed to maintain and still finish it.  It is a harder problem than it seems especially in a race when your brain refuses to work.  I had a spreadsheet setup on my phone, so at various point of the race, I could update it and it spits out my target time for the next aid station and so forth.  I knew I was ahead of race pace for finishing under 30 hours at least by an hour. 

    It was an interesting “math” problem I did not solve it until the next evening after driving home.  The problem goes like this.  Like any runner, typically, our pace would start slowing down.  At what point would our pace be too slow to finish?  For Vermont 100, I knew I need to maintain above 17:50 pace (overall average pace, 18 min is needed for a 30 hour finish, but the last runner came in with 17:50 pace, so to be safe,we  target 17:50 pace).

    For example, if I arrive at mile 50 an hour ahead of the cutoff (and say the cutoff is set at 18:00 min pace, meaning closing at 15th hour).  I arrive in 14 hours.  What the slowest pace I could maintain if I am slowly slowing down.  I’m an hour ahead.  Solution, If I am halfway and I am an hour ahead, I only have 30 minutes leadway not an hour is the answer.  If used up more than, 30 minutes, I would have to run at a faster pace to catch back up for remaining half. How I came up with 30 minutes?  It is the ratio of mile already ran (50 miles) over total miles multiply by the total time I am ahead of the cutoff (60 minites).  I was proud of myself to figure out using ratio instead of a traditional way.

    Another way to solve it is more straight forward, You take the total amount time left divided by the total distance left to get the minimum pace to run.   To find what time you need to be at the next aid station, you multiple the pace with the distance to the next aid station.  To see how much lead time, You do the same with the current pace and multiple by the mileage to the next aid station.  Then subtract both times.  Sorry it is a lot of math and I lost all my readers.  Anyway, those were the math I did repeatedly during my run.  In the end it was just garble garble in the middle of the night.  I relied heavily on my spreadsheet and a lot precaculated figures. 

    Running 100s is hard, especially with the math.  I appreciated friends who came out and supported me.  I am thankful for all the volunteers and neighbors.  Other than the race, I had memorable experiences on the way up, the food I ate and the conversations I had. 

    Some notable places: Molly’s at Hanover – I had tacos. The Cappadocia Cafe in White River Junction – I had Pogaca.  The Vermont Welcome Center in Guilford.  Lombardi Rest Area on the Jersey Turnpike.  Biden Rest Area in Delaware.  Labanese food stop in Danbury.  Korean BBQ afterward.

    I wish I had taken more pictures but I got tired after 20 miles and so no more photos after that.

  • [680] Cacapon 12-Hour

    I woke up on Monday and wondered why was I so sore, then I remembered I ran a 12 hour race (11:15) on Saturday at Cacapon State Park in Berkeley Springs, WV. 

    I think it is funny I don’t remember what I did over the weekend.  Like why I felt being beaten up. 

    I was just being out of shape after three weeks with little to no running, nursing an injured leg.  But it was good to be back.  Now I could run and jump again.  My cardio has taken a nose dive.  While Cacapon was a good work out session, I could not really fly on the trail.  My average pace was over 20 min per mile so I will have to go back there to do better, maybe next year.

    Timed event is a little different than other races.  Everyone had the same amount of time and the goal was to run as much distance as we could.  So faster runner likely finish with longer distance than slower runner.  It is a good way to train for endurance.

      The concept is same as any other races, but the execution is different.   There’s no DNF.  It was individual strategy of when to give up.  Most set a distance-like goal, for example to reach 26.2 miles or a 50k, then stop. 

    For those who want to use all 12 hours, it requires that mental toughness of hanging on and pacing at the beginning of not going out too fast.  I set a distance goal for myself but also wanted to stay on the course as long as I could.

    A friend and I drove up in the morning.  We arrived close to the start time, so almost all the parking spots were taken.  The RD said this was the first time where the lot is full.  We had about 50 runners.  I knew some of them.  We got our bibs and proceeded in setting up our own aid station.  The race had one aid station but we could set up our tents and chairs near there.  I did not need much so I did not set out anything but my water bottle.

    The course is a 5 mile loop and has decent elevation climb, 750 ft of change.  It is runnable but also rocky, muddy, and enough hills to make it a challenging run.  I think most people could do 1-2 loops before tiring out.  I walked all my loops. 

    My first loop, I was kind of slowing down to learn the course.  It was marked but some intersections seemed doubtful to me.  I just followed along the runners in front of me.

    By second loop, I felt a bit of leg cramp, maybe due to the humidity, and 90+ degrees heat, I needed to slow down.  By third loop, the sun was fully out and I stopped for a half hour lunch and chat with friends.  On a normal race, a half hour lunch is too long, but on a timed race, I realized I have to maintain under 90 minutes per loop to finish with 8 loops in 12 hours.  So by the third loop, I realized the most I could do is 7 loops with a lot of time left over.  So, half hour lunch was perfect to squeeze in.

    After lunch, I continue on for 4 more loops.  It was actually getting harder.  In my mind, I can go for 6 loops for a 50k without much struggle.  But whether I could motivate myself to do the last and final loop was another thing. 

    By 4:30 PM, I finished 6 loops.  I had over 2 hours left, so, I tried for the final loop.   By now everything was familar to me.  I know the trail and all the ups and downs.  I just went with the float.  Halfway through the course, a storm seemed to about to start.  There were some rumbling of thunders. I told myself to pick up the pace or else I would be drenched in the rain when it arrives. So I tried move a bit faster.  My legs were heavy.  There was another runner near me too.  Together we raced back to the start/finish area.  We made it in the nick of time before the sky opened and poured down buckets of water.

    I love being lucky. We had a good dinner  afterward and then a good rest.  The weekend was nicely tucked away.

    Other thing that happened was Western States 100 took place over the same weekend.  I was glued to Youtube and twitter updates, keeping tap on friends who were running it and other runners in general.  I took part in the a small fantasy (betting) game, so have a personal stake on some of the runners.  It made it more fun to watch.  I had fond memories of being there last year, running in the race.  I felt blessed to finish and also fortunate at the same time.  I were not running in it this year, which I was glad because I knew I probably could not do it again of giving everything on the course and get a finishing time. 

    The idea it was alright to take a DNF but at the same time it stinks to do so.  It hits close to home where I had to take some repeated DNFs.

    It was incredible hard seeing and experiencing myself of runners struggle through their 100 miles.  Who knows if I could still manage to do what I did last year.  My next race is coming up soon.

  • [678] OSS/CIA 50 mile (DNF)

    Two years ago I did this race (report) and I liked it a lot.  Have I ever not liked a race? Last year I volunteered. This year, even with an overloaded schedule I wanted to runnit again. Maybe a bit of hubris on my part that I could finish it even right after a 100 mile race. It is a local race in my area on a trail now I have known like the back of my hands, having done couple hundred mile races there, i.e., the Devil Dog 100. 

    OSS/CIA is a kind of celebrity race in that I could brag about the OSS officers (precursor of the CIA) used to train there.  There’s another place near our area that has a celebrity status, and that is Camp David, where there are trails nearby and which we will be doing a 50k the following weekend. 

    Don’t take my words, I don’t know where Camp David is before writing this (a quick Google search did show where), but some say it is somewhere near there and I did see security presence when we passed by the camp entrance as we drove from Owens Creek to Gambrill Park. 

    In this report, we will focus on the OSS/CIA 50.  For me it was pretty cool to say I run in the Prince William Forest for the OSS/CIA 50.

    This year like any other years, I did not get into Highland Sky, where many people I know went to, including my good friend David. I am happy for him to finish it.  I was not sad to miss out on that race though and was glad to take this other race instead.  Sometimes it does feel like this was the second best option.  Some of my running friends including Charlie, Randy, Brian, Eric and many others were running in this one too. 

    I was nervous on days leading up to the race whether I would be ready in time.  As some knew, I just finished a 100 mile (well nearly finished) and I was still recovering from it.  From the 100 miler I injured my right foot, maybe pulled a muscle, or some kind of inflamation going on or shin splint. My take was I kicked a rock too hard and pulled something. My foot was swelling and it hurt even when while walking.  I was hoping for a miraculous healing by race day so I could run it.  By Wednesday, I felt it was like 50% better.  Thursday, the pain went away but still felt a bit sore. And by Friday, I could feel I could have a bit mobility.  I was hoping by Saturday, I could run again.

    My friend who offered to pace me at the race checked in with me one more time on Saturday morning.  The race was at night, starting at 6 pm and would continue till 8:30 am Sunday.  I told him it is no good, it still has pain when I touch it and when I flex it in a certain position.  I knew there would be no way I could run on that foot and finish the race.  I told him not to bother coming out to support me because likely, there was no way I would be able to finish.

    Still I held the hope maybe I could do just 1 loop (25 miles) and maybe still make the cutoff for a second loop.  I showed up early at the race to get ready.  Friends showed up, we chatted and when it was time for the race, I went out. 

    I was quickly became the last person a few minutes after crossing the start line.  I was pretty much limping out.  There were a father and son with a dog in front of me.  Soon they let me pass.  I did not think that was a good idea because likely they will pass me back.  The son seemed strong but he waited for his father who was maybe in his 60s and either the dog too which was holding them back or they actually preferred doing it at a slower pace, I went on ahead. 

    The pain started to intensify after a mile. On a scale of 1-10, I put it reaching between 2.5-3.  I still could bear it but it was not fun running while in pain. I could turn back, which would be the quickest way back.  I knew the loop was long, and the point of no return is around mile 13-14.

    I was moving at a constant pace, walking mostly, doing 3 miles an hour (20 min pace). I knew I need around to 14-16 min to have a chance of making the cut and finishing, especially the first loop, we had a tighter cutoff time of 6.5-7 hrs (a 16 min pace). The loop was closer to 26 miles. It was a long course 50 mile race (actually was 52 miles).  When a race gave you 14.5 hours to do, you knew it was not easy.

    By second hour, my pain subsided a bit, maybe down to 1.  I felt it was numb and kind of had a warm pain.  And by third hour, the pain reduced to a tickling sensation.  I felt like my funny bone constantly being activated.  It was a sensation of the leg being weak, that if I put weight on it, it might collapse under me. 

    By now, I passed the first waterpoint, mile 8. I knew exactly how much farther I needed to go.  I could head back using the road or continue on the trail for the full 25 miles. I refused to give up.

    Soon it was dark, now 9 pm.  I had a pace chart on me.  My slowest pace called for reaching mile 11 by 8:30, which I already missed and mile 13 no later than 9:30.  I did not get to mile 13 until 10:00.  I knew I was way behind pace.  We had 3 hours to make it back and it took us 4 hours to reach halfway. I knew, there was no way for me to get back until 2 am. 

    Rain and storm came between 11 pm and midnight.  Fog settled in.  I treaded on.  The father and son team had split.  The father was still behind me and from time to time I saw his head lamp.  The son had gone ahead  before me.  He wanted to make the cutoff and I was rooting for him.

    The trail was mostly the same course and direction as the Devil Dog. I was making various comments to myself, here is the bridge coming up, here the Burma Road, and so on.  We turned here for Devil Dog but we were not turning here today.  Hmm, I wonder where this path would take me.  It was pretty much entertaining myself. 

    I got to the Pyrite Mine trail and I knew we were close to the start.  I could take a short cut to get back.  By now, it was passed 1 am, the cutoff.  There was no reason for me to be on the trail this long.  My leg started to hurt again and I was wondering how long I could last.  I felt I could make it back. The Swinging Bridge should not be too far away.

    If I was healthy, I could run on the final road portion.  After the Pyrite Mine Trail, we were on the Pyrite Road.  I remembered last time I did this, I was running on this stretch to make the cutoff. 

    Soon I saw the Swinging Bridge and knew just a bit more.  We had about jist couple miles to go.  They would take us through the Laurel Loop and Birch Trail.  It was uphill and long.  Then I finally reached the Cross Trail, and in my mind like half a mile more. I finally arrived back at the finish at 2:22 am. On a normal day, this portion probably only take me 30 minutes but today, it was dragging on. I was second to the last runner to finish the first loop.

    No words had to be said, I knew I did not make the cutoff (cutoff was at 1 am).  I gathered myself and walked to my car to change and sleep till morning.  The Aid Station volunteers were starting to make breakfast.  So I had some pancakes and nice food before going to bed.

    I had no idea how many people dropped or finished.  As I slept I heard the first runner finished at 3 am.  Then the second runner finished at 4.  I woke up at 5 am and chatted with friends and watched the rest of the runners came in.  Some of my friends who ran only the marathon only came in around 6 am.  I had a long celebration with them.  Eric, who ran the Old Dominion with me the prior week totally crushed this race.  Randy also finished with  a very good time.

    I could also have done the marathon by starting at midnight instead of 6 pm and I would have considered myself a finisher.  I did not.  It was hard to reason why did I not. I wanted to do a 50 mile and I thought I might have a chance. That was all.  I enjoyed the run (or walk) in a familiar park.  It was not often we got to run it at night.  Usually, it closes after dark (5 pm or something). I had an incredible time out there.  There were no special thoughts, just me, the trails, and some friends.  Of course, from time to time, I had to deal with my foot and its limitations. I felt proud I made it to the end (at least my finish point, not the race).

    That’s my race report.  A bit unusual from my normal ones. Usually I would like to include a nice lesson, (the moral of the story) is don’t run on injured foot. Rest and be smart.  I can’t preach this to others since I don’t follow my own advices. 

    Update: My foot felt better now by the second week

  • [677] Pat Pat, My epic fail at running OD100

    First of all thank you to all the volunteers, families and friends for their supports for the race.  It could not have happened without them.

    Much deserving a mention is my crew and friend who drove me to the race and back and waited at every station from 4 am to midnight after I made the last (one and only) cutoff at Elizabeth Furnace. I rarely have a crew, so, the race is a pity that I was not able to finish.

    Why I wanted to run it again?  It has to be a very special reason to run a 100 mile.  I came across a runner, Annabel, she said she wanted to run it for her mom.  As for me, I did not have a particular reason.  Last year, I signed up because of the Grand Slam.  This year, I just wanted to have fun, to experience the course without the pressure of got to do it, and of meeting everyone’s expectation.  Partly, several of my friends signed up and I wanted to join them to hang out.  I was initially going to do the Massanutten 100, since that has been my race for the last few years.  For various reasons, that did not happen and OD100 then became my race.  I wanted too to pace a runner for his Grand Slam this year.

    We went to the briefing. Nothing new.  I placed my drop bags.  Then showed up for the next day 4 AM. We ran around the parking lot twice and that was supposed to be a mile.  I was thinking great, we got to do the extra lap early so at the end we won’t have to do it again and which would save us time. In theory, we are half mile ahead of our pace chart.  I took that as a good sign.

    This year, I was not the last runner going out.  In fact, I lined up at the front.  We took our time going up on Woodstock Tower.  There were just Wayne and I and a few other runners by the time we reached the top.  I figured, like last year, I would slowly pick off runners.

    From Boyers we entered the Orange Trail heading down toward the Reservor. Then we headed back to Boyers toward St David Church.  We crossed the Fort Valley and ran toward Four Points.  About a mile from Four Points, I caught up with a bunch of runners.  I remember from former year a group of 4 runners called themselves the Lost Boys because they got lost in the Boyers loop.  So I called them the Lost Boys too.  Apparently one of them was a runner I was going to pace.  So I called out, hey would you still want me to pace you.  He said sure.  Together we headed into Four Points.  Note, only one of them (and she wasn’t a boy) finished the race as a DFL (last runner), the rest of us later dropped.

    The race was still early, only a third way into it (mile 32) but there were signs that things were not going well.  Our pace started to slack.  We were an hour behind goal pace of 26 hour finishing.  If we were wise, we should have sharpened up and started the hurry up and go mindset.

    The next 20 miles, we traveled through the swampy land of Duncan Hollow.  It was not that rough for me, but I was moving methodically slow. I did not finish the loop and arrive back at Four Points second time till after 5 pm (my pace chart called for arriving at 2:40 for 26 hours and 4 pm for 28 hours).  This was an hour behind of my 28 hour race pace.  It should have been a warning for me but apparently I ignored it because according to the math.  I reached mile 50 in 13.25 hours, so 100 miles, should take me 27 ish hours. Hence, I was not panicking.

    The next 10 miles took me 2 hours, which was good.  I figured I had plenty of time to get to mile 75, our first cutoff.  The sun soon set.  A fellow runner spoke to me that we were not going to make it.  So I started counted the time again.  We had 8 miles and we needed to get to Little Fort.  In my mind I thought I had 3 hours, but in actuality, I had 2.  I was planning to get to Little Fort by 8 pm.  She asked me to check my watch again and then I realized it was already 8 pm.  So I had to settle with 9 pm. She (Kalla) and I started running in earnest. I did arrive by 9 pm. 

    Now the next segment was 11 miles and we had 3 hours.  On paper it was doable, but this section, became more technical.  It was dark.  There were 5-6 (the Lost Boys) of us and we caught up with another 3-4 runners.  It made a fun group as we raced toward the cutoff.  I was hoping we might get to Elizabeth Furnace by midnight.  It came down very close.  I got in, got my medical check, and then headed back out.  Time was of the essence.

    At this stage, it was a relief that I made it through the one and only cutoff.  However, I was spent in term of energy.  Because I had run this race before, I knew what was to come.  We had to cross Sherman Gap and the Veach Gap and then climb Woodstock Tower, three big climbs. 

    It was mind blowing hard.  In summary, It took me 3 hours to climb Sherman and then 2 hours Veach.  I wish I could say, then I did Woodstock Tower in 1 hour.  I would have the race done.  I got halfway up near Woodstock, time was about to expire at 770+758 road. I did not think I could move another step. It was mathematically impossible for me to run 9 miles in an hour or even 2 hours. Volunteers there were more than ready to take me back.  So there I ended my race at 7 am with 9 miles left.

    I don’t like feeling sorry for myself that I could not finish the Old Dominion 100, while coming so close with 8.7-9.2 miles left.  But Pat Pat to myself.

    There were various reasons I could tell myself why the race did not go according to plan, but in the end, it was just me not having enough to survive the race.

    Some would be fine and celebrated the distance ran.  I stopped at mile 91.  I was actually done at mile 80, or even at mile 75 but mathematically, I still had a chance to get myself to the finish line.  My body started giving up at mile 86, and I knew it would be a long way to get the final 14 miles.  By then it was no longer feasible for me to attempt limping in. 

    I am grateful though to be able to run in OD100.  Weather played a part.  We knew ahead it was going to hot.  It is usually hot.  The rain was a relieve to cool off the morning portion.  The entire day was humid.  We just perservered. 

    In hindsight, I should have stopped at midnight, since trying to finish the race with 8 hours left was historically very hard at this race.  I attempted it any way knowing there were others who did that before. 

    Proverbial saying, hindsight is 20-20.  Everything fell apart the next seven hours.  The moment I left mile 75, I tripped and felt into a mud pit.  I had sand and mud all over me, on my clothes, my hands, feet, my pack, my water bottle and water hose.  I could not drink my water until I could find a creek to clean off.  My legs were giving out on me.  Then came pouring rain. The sky poured buckets.  Rocks were slick.  I did not chance it.  Even by walking I was kicking rocks and stumbling.  Each time I kicked a rock, my toes hurt.  I never kicked so many rocks even while running the MMT 100, which was known to be rocky.

    My evaluation if a race is good is by how tired I am afterward.  This race even though I did not finish, I enjoyed the course, the clock and the 1 day, 100 miles.  It is always you against the course and the clock. 

    I got a great welcome when I had to do the “walk of shame” to Henry, our race time keeper by the finish line to tell him I quit.  My friends enrupted in cheers and claps.  They thought I made it in, but in fact I was given a ride back.  I had to tell them, I got a ride! Still I was grateful they (the Lost Boys) were there.

    I am grateful to my crew, friends, volunteers and fellow runners to make Old Dominion an unforgetable experience.

  • [676] Catch up

    My head is still stuck in Atlanta of a trip I took there at the beginning of May and now we are in June.  If readers were wondering why so few posts lately, that was why.

    I have a bit of catching up to do.  Maybe it is a little understatement nothing much happened in that time. Well, nothing big happened.  I lived my life.  Things happened.

    A week was spent for an one night camping trip at Lake Fairfax. It was my best trip in a lomg time.  I haven’t done a camping trip since maybe 2020.  This was not per se a real trip, because it was literally by my house, about 30 minutes away.  However, I had such a good time with the people there.  Then best of all, I was able to do some trail running and a super long urban run on the following day, something I also haven’t done for a long time, possibly since Covid time.

     I cowboy-camped, meaning sleeping without a tent, right under the stars.  It was a good night. The temperature was about right on the cooler side, maybe in the 50s, so it was a comfortable sleep. 

    I ran about 30 ish miles, might have been 35 miles, mostly on a flat rail to trail path nearby, the W & OD trail.  It has been a long time since I have been on this trail and many sights have changed such a whole lot more data centers.   The highlight of the run was eating at the Carolina Brothers Pit BBQ about near the turn around point in Ashburn. We actually ran past it for maybe 3-5 more miles before turning around.  Then I ran all the way back to the car just before subset. It was a day that worn me out, which is rare. Possibly, I was no longer in top shape.

    The following weekend, I volunteered at our local running club 100 miler, the famous Massanutten Mountain Trail 100, which I ran in the last three years but this year I decided to sit out and volunteer at an aid station and to cheer runners on. 

    I had a chance to mark the course the day before in one of my favorite sections of the course, the Kerns Mountain, a notorious nasty and rocky section of the race. 

    When the race was happening, I was one of a few to pre run sections of it (as a course checker, in case more markers/ribbons should be placed) and mine was from mile 50-62. While doing so, I also took part in clearing a blow down. 

    A volunteer and I was using a hand saw to cut a fallen tree that was blocking the trail.  It took us an hour or so and we ended up giving up since it was too heavy to move it to a side.  We did improve the passage by lowering the branch closer to the ground so runners could just hop across instead of climbing over it.

    Little did we know once we left the trail that afternoon, the wind blew down a bigger tree just outside the trailhead, blocking the exit for cars onto the road and some volunteer cars therefore, were trapped in in a nearby lot.  There was no one with a powered chain saw clear the logjam.  So it was an evening adventure for a bunch of volunteers sent in to clear it.  Yes, eventually, someone was able to borrow a saw and cleared the blow downs.  A side note, the following day after the race, more trees were blown down there and a runner (a friend of mine), had their car trapped in the parking lot a second time.  We had some strong winds that night for volunteers and runners.  And a storm blew through before the race and course was as wet as it can be.

    The best was yet to come, a friend called me up not on the race day but a week before and asked if I could pace him.  I promised sure, since I was not running in it, pacing would be the next best thing. 

    So throughout the day while volunteering at various jobs, I kept track on my runner.  It seemed my runner might not going to make the cut offs.  Each one was very close like by a minute or two.  I was betting, likely this dude wouldn’t make it past to where I was supposed to pace him and I would have a night of sleep.  I was supposed to meet him at mile 65, like at 3-4 am in the morning.  I feared, I might overslept and be a no-show. 

    So by evening, with no updates yet if my runner had dropped, I figured I better get ready and went to an earlier aid station at mile 50 to meet up instead of at mile 65.

    My runner made it in in the nick of time.  From 10:30 pm onward, we would continue battling one cut off after another to the next day’s afternoon 5:00 pm, which was the end of the race. 

    There were high points when morning arrived and the low points like noon the second day when the uncertainty whether we would finish.  As a cinderella story, we did make it in, they recorded the time as 35:59:54.  A hairbreath, 36 hours being the time limit.  Everyone cheered. I was glad. It was crazy. Words could not describe what went through our heads. This was for a 74 year old for his 10th finish at this race.

    Why this affected me so much was three years ago when I was falling behind on my pace at this race, I was chasing cutoffs.  But unlike him, I did not make it to the finish line but stopped at mile 95.  My friend did what I could not do by keeping at it one step after another, even when things seemed bleak, he finished. 

    Many people think I might have something to do with helping him, maybe my presence or encouragement got him through.  I do take the credit of being there, but all the work and struggles were him alone.  As the clock was ticking down, I was thinking to myself, if that were me, I wouldn’t make it.  Yet on the flipside even if I were not there, he would still have made history.  I was happy I got to experience it on the front row seat with him, battling with him of beating the cutoffs. What an excitement.  My blog entry just doesn’t do justice.

    The last weekend in May (Memorial Day weekend), I ran a 50k at Cowans Gap.  More will be written later if I get to it.  It was a fine weekend and a very good run.  10 hours were a little too long for me. I wish I could have done it in 9 or less. It is what it is.

    Then this week, I went to Roanoke and did a trail marathon.  It was also a fine weekend. I wish I have time to write about it. I ran it in 6:03, (with the time cutoff being 6:30) probably my best effort before my 100 mile.

    Briefly, I had one of the best hike while there. And here is a picture.

    Out on McAfee Knob, the most photographed place on the whole Appalachian Trail (might be a bit of an exaggeration).  I had to do the signsture AT pose.

  • [675:25.18] Quarterly update

    Awhile ago, I wrote a summary of runs I did up to 2021,  in a post called (Hello4). It is time for another update to bring up to the present. 

    Also I just realized it is time for a quarterly update. The last two updates are (634-24.16) and here (651-24.17).

    In first quarterly of last year, I mentioned what I was going to do with a lot of races lining for 2024 and by the second quarterly 24.17, I wrote I ran them.  The key take away was to find what I like to do and keep doing it. Nothing has changed much since. I am still trying to keep my passion up for running.

    I was going to save this to the end of the year for a Hello World post (last year Hello7, for the curious), which is a kind of post when I have nothing to write about and need to put something in. However, I also did not have much to write for the quarterly update. So why not do it now and have it done.

    Here goes. 

    2022:  I finally finished the CRAW, a virtual run around the world with a group of 8-9 people.  I was going to write about the experience, but never get to it.  The world is big.  Virtual run started out as fun but ended being a drudgery.  Originally, there’s a map and blog posts of each place we visited, but by the end, all the places seem almost the same.  The Google map did not look too appealing.  Also there was a time constraint of doing research or reading up on the places we been.  By the way, I finally glued all the medals I received for the race on a world map board the race sent me. It took me just as long putting up the medals as running the thing (a 5 year project!)

    Meanwhile, I did many in real life (IRL) races that year as marathon races started back up since Covid-19 closing, including: Grandma’s in Minnesota, Ann Arbor in Michigan, Atlantic City in New Jersey, and NCR in Maryland. 

    I ran some repeated races: JFK, Marine Corps 50k, Rock & the Knob, Naked Nick, Catoctin 50k, Iron Mountain and Stone Mill.  Those who know me or in the area would recognize those races.  They are my favorites and thus I have gone back year after year. Stone Mill, now I have ran it 5 times and got a free shirt!  I don’t know if there any races I ran that many times.

    2023: I did even more than the prior year. How could that be, but it is true. It would be too much to list them all.

    For marathons, Cowtown in Fort Worth Texas was a fun one.  Shamrock in Virginia Beach. Hayden Lake in Idaho, Philadelphia Marathon, and Space Coast Marathon in Florida.  I love running my marathons and I was crossing states off races from my 50 states list.  Little did I know the next two years, I  transitioned  into doing ultra marathons.

    I started doing some of my favorite long races this year, the Massanutten 100, Bull Run Run 50, Boyer’s Furnace. They are still my favorites.

    2024: Last year I did the Grand slam and voted as Runner of the year in my runner club ;), I am embarrassed by the fact I did it. I am not the type of runners people imagine me to be.

     In a million years, I would not dream of doing even one of those races, but I was fortunate to get to do them all (almost all minus Leadville 100 and Angeles Crest). The eight 100-milers I did (not all are part or required for the grand slam) were C&O 100, Massanutten 100, Old Dominion, Western States, Vermont, Burning River, Grindstone, Wasatch Front, and Devil Dog. It is a mouthful to say and remember them. I learned of other slams while at it, so in the future, I might do some of them like the Midwest Slam, or the Rocky Slam.  Nothing is like the Grand Slam though.

    There was no time for me to run normal marathons.  I did get to go to Taipei, Taiwan, ran the WJS marathon.   Also I ran the Richmond Marathon in my home state, and it was special to me.  It was a memory to treasure. 

    2025.  This leads us to the first quarter of 2025.  I felt I haven’t done much for the half of the year.  One highlight was the Virginia Marathon.  I did not know there’s a marathon called Virginia Marathon until this year.  It was recommended to me by a friend.

    My schedule has been busy.  It is a slower pace than last year but I felt still every weekend I have something needed to do.  I ran runs such as Hone Quarry and making a trip down to Atlanta for GSER or Dark Anchor in Savannah was special. 

    I also spent more time supporting other runners and traveling to Savannah and Atlanta for such.

    In a prior weekend, I was at Harper Ferry helping out at the C&O Canal 100.  This coming weekend I will be at the Massanutten Mountain 100 (not running but helping out), I am praying I would get a chance to shine to help some poor runners out in the depth of despair as they tried to run a 100 miler. (more to follow).

    Where will I go from here?  I am a bit under pressure cooker with time and commitments.

    Looking back the last few years, I was free and had a lot of fun and ran in a lot of races and visited a lot of places.   I still want to do the same.  I am in the same financial strait as everyone in our nation, with high inflation and tariffs.  How tariffs affect races?  Maybe our race shirts are more expensive.  We are dealing with a great deal of uncertainties.  My race plan for the next half of the year has already been or mostly  set. 

    As for next year, I will take it as it comes.  There are couple trips I have in mind, possibly visit Savannah again for Dark Anchor, or to Florida for the Long Haul 100, possibly going to doing the PolarNight Soltice Marathon Run in Tromsø in Norway, or Viet Nam for the Ho Chi Minh Marathon, or finally going run the Rim to rim to rim at the Grand Canyon.  Because there are a lot of uncertainties, I can’t say for sure any such trip would happen.  My heart still wants to complete a 200 mile marathon, looking at Cowboy 200.  So likely next year, that would be the goal to attempt. I have a bunch of targets but not sure which one will stick or none of them.

    [meta: I am thinking to reset the journal count to 1 soon, and increase the Vol to 2, because we human or me is not made to count that high a number.  I might explain the numbering in a future post. Like a sailor, the count is Days been since land/ship been sighted. Ahoy! The days of my wandering is over]

  • [674] GSER 100k – Atlanta

    GSER, Great Southern Endurance Run is not a race but a run I told myself.

    I won’t mention everything but some hightlights and bloops of the trip.

    This was not my first time.  My first time was back in 2020 July and August.  I wrote couple long blogs about it.  It was a 100 mile back then.  Last year I did the 100k.  This year also a 100k. 

    My 100 miler in Atlanta was miserable and I don’t want to dwell on it.  Last year was quite fun to finally get to go back there and ran my heart out.  We had perfect weather and everything.  I got one of my to-dos checked off.  (report).  When you had a good year, you dream of coming back for a repeat, but as they say, you can nevrr step into the same river twice. This year was different.

    This year, I learned from my prior years attempts. I did almost everything perfectly (stressing on the almost). We (my friend and I) got to the finish, ahead of the expected time.  No one was hurt. Mission accomplished. The end.

    It seems I was the first to sign up.  Not sure what made me to do it again.  Usually, I only want to run a race once.  Well my friend Caroline said it was me who signed up first so she signed up.  I think it was the other way around. We were the first two to do it.  And the last two to finish! More on that.

    I usually wanted to run fast that is to get to the finish as fast as I could.  This could be a fast run but I know there were a lot to see and to do as we run through Atlanta.  The race was designed to show off the city.  To slow down and take things in. The race is only fun when you take a bit of risk of DFL-ing or worst not finishing.  

    Our race was like that.  I know we would be slow.  I looked up last year slowest time and prepared my pace chart as such. 

    I came prepared this year with turn sheet laminated knowing expecting a lot of rain.  Last year, I tried to squeeze too much info into the turn sheets my eyes went blind.  So this year, I sacrificed some extraneous info being left out and made the font as big as possible.  That caused some uff-da oopsies when some places on my turn sheets said to turn left and right at the same time.  There were several places I was confused by my own directions. Other than that, we got to the end eventually. I like each failed turn or mistake brought the blood pressure up to the roof.  We had good GPS or other runner friends to guide us in time of needs.

    Most of the course is through the city and suburbs of Atlanta. We had a lot of streets to cross and we ran on sidewalks and passed through public places like parks, stadium, cemeteries and neighborhoods.  Out of respect and sensibility we controled our speed to a slow pace. Often time it was more like doing a quick walk than a run.

    The course was not marked.  We did not expect it to be since it goes through the city for 60+ miles.  It would be a tall task to mark all and then take it down.  I was glad on some tricky trail sections we did have flags and such. Thanks Trena for marking. It was easier this year to follow than last year.

    I have been hyped about doing this kind of race since I first found out about it.  To me it was more a scavenger hunt.  Now I am eye-ing doing something similar in Tampa (Tampa 100) maybe later this year or next year.

    Overall, I enjoyed seeing Atlanta close up. 

    We entered a “restricted Area” in Palasades something Acker Mill or somewhere. The construction man made us go back when we were so close reaching the other side.  There was no construction happening at the time.  It was just an empty parking lot and they were about to open it anyway.  Rules are rules.  We obeyed because the dude was watching us like a hawk to make sure we leave.  We were lucky not being cited for tresspassing.  I believed many other runners did the same so the man was on high alert that runners would be coming through.

    A few of the pictures taken

    I wish though I stopped by more shops while during the run.  I would have liked eating at the Pho we passed by.  We stopped twice, once at a Krogger with a Starbucks and the second time was at Chick-fil-A. I was concerned we used too much time.  It was also worth it because prior years I did not stop but so wanted to.  So I got my wishes.

    Pace:  Our pace was just right.  I planned for 10 pm to reach the foot of Stone Mountain.  The cutoff was 11 and we reached it at 9 pm.  A success.  It was about a 17 min pace.  A pace I need to maintain at my next race the Old Dominion 100.  This gave me an idea how it feels to get that stored into my mind and body.

    The fun part was, the rain.  It was forecasted to start raining from 10am-10 pm.  I guess some places did get rain, but we were staying dry whole day until 8:30 pm at the final couple miles.  When it came it poured as they say.  Lightning and Thunder, the full fury.

    Yup, we got wet. I got lost. I knew the direction by heart but in a moment of confussion since my turn sheet said to go left when it was supposed to go right, I went left.  Luckily, two other runners caught up and set us straight.  We got into the finish before 9 pm. I was one second too slow and earned the Dead Last place.  There was a photo to prove it! So I would have to go back to redeem it. I am still a sore loser for not receiving a DFL prize. They did not have any to give out for being the last runner in this race.

    Besides the race, we spent the day before to ascend Stone Mountain on a nice humid day. 

    Also I found out where the Asian market (H-mart) is.  So we had lunch there and also gathered our pre run supplies.  Walmart was a good place too. 

    Sunday following the race, we ascended Stone Mountain again.  We also entered the amusement park.  It was for the laser show but we did not have time for that.  We took a train ride around (part of the entry cost).  It is costly, $20 for parking and $25 for the park entry.  Food there was alright , prices were decent below at the food court, but prices up on Stone Moutain was almost like in the movie theater ($20 for popcorns, pretzel and a drink). Note, the have stone carving on the other side, which I never know.  But you have to pay to see it.

    We spent the evening with local friends.  I got my favorite after-run drink: Kung Fu Bubble Tea!

    The biggest uff-da oopsie I made was on the day flying back when I returned the rental car.  It was an early flight so I had to be at the airport by 5 am.  That was pushing it, and lo and behold, I found out I left my backpack in the rental car as I got into the airport sky train.  Long story short, the rental could not locate my bag.  We submit a lost-and-found.  By the time we made to the gate, the airplane already pushed off from the gate.  We missed it just by maybe 10-15 minutes.  Note, we got to to the gate on time before the noted departure time, but they usually do close the gate 5-10 minutes if no more passengers were boarding.

    It just made my day.  I was put on a flight to Chicago and then rerouted back to DC.  Most of the day was gone.  The worst part is my house and car keys were all in the lost bag, plus many important items like my hydration vest! I told myself accept it as a lesson learned.  Not let it ruin my trip.  They say a little fly ruins a good perfume. So I can’t let a bit disappoinment ruins my trip.

    update: My backpack is found and it will be shipped back to me in a few days