In awe

Category: running

  • Day406 What now

    Now what? I don’t know. Run some more I guess.

    I started running at the end of summer 2016. I always have been running since a boy, but it was all for fun. I had no real training. I just put on the pair of shoes and ran around my neighborhood. I had couple friends who were runners but we never ran together.

    I remembered I could run ‘forever’ exploring my neighborhood. I didn’t do it consistently but I know I run maybe once or twice a week. For half hour to an hour. At that time there was no internet, so I was not smart enough to look up a running plan or join races/clubs.

    Oh, during my freshman year in college I did join a running club, but we were really informal thinking back. I don’t remember we ever organized any races or doing a race together. I only showed up to the club whenever I can and run. Usually the distance of 2-3 miles.

    It was not until 2016, I started to be ‘serious’ on my running. Serious means I was consistently running. Pretty soon, I started signing up for local races because it was the most fun thing to be together with other runners. You feel the hypes and energy. We run and be timed. There is usually a race once a month.

    I had a goal to run a marathon by the following year. Now with the internet, it was no problem to pull a plan and started following.

    The race was not hard. Though I remember the first few marathons, I couldn’t walk afterward. Sometimes I would be cramping.

    Years flew by. I had a goal to do all fifty states because that what I read other people did. I got into more clubs like the MarathonManiacs!

    Two years ago, while running the Roanoke Marathon – I met a few people who ran it back to back (doing two marathons in a day). At that time, it was unimagineable for me to do something like that.

    Never say never, somehow a spark started in me. A marathon distance was not enough. I wanted more. That year I did some 50k and a 50 miler. That year, 2019, I was really popping off. Yes, it was more from a spark a runner, Jen, in my local club set in me.

    Last year, during the pandemic, almost all social gatherings were grounded to a halt. No more races and no more social runs. I then signed up for a 635 mile virtual run across the Tennessee over a four month time.

    It gave me the confident to attempt running a 100 mile. I have no idea what let me to do that, but it was almost a natural progression. Real ultras are measured by the 100 mile as a standard (at least that what I believe). I believe all ultra people I came across talk about running the hundred. It is another bar higher than the 50k and 50 miler people.

    I attempted it twice last summer, one in July and one in August, both ended in failure, which made me even more to want to run it until I did it.

    Rocky Raccoon was not my first choice. My first choice was Umstead 100 since I read about this as being a beginner ultra. However, I was not able to get a spot. A lady on my running team said she is doing the Rocky Raccoon. After some researching, it was a good fit.

    Here I am six months later. I did it.

    So now what? One and done is not my thing. I love the Ultra distance and definitely will seek out other 100 milers to run. Now there is no longer the psychological barrier that a 100 miler can’t be done.

    For the rest of this year, I have a few races I signed up. There is the Grayson Highlands 50 in May, then the Laurel Highlands 70 in June. I might be trying to get a spot in the Devil’s Dog 100 in December.

    As for marathons, I am tempted to go to Eau Claire, WI in September or Lake Front at Milwaukee in October. Hopefully Richmond Marathon will be in-person this November.

    Edit to add: I just rechecked my calendar, apparently I signed up another 100, Rim to River 100, before going to the Rocky Raccoon, I totally don’t remember doing so. Something to train for till the end of the year. Now I remember why I signed up – I told myself at that time, better sign up or once I’ve done with Rocky Raccoon, I would be too scared to do another 100 so soon. Indeed, that was a great foresight!

  • Day404 the big one / Rocky Raccoon 100

    I really don’t know how I pulled off this one to run and finish the Rocky Raccoon 100. But yay, I did finish.

    It was the coolest race I did. Long but top of the line race support and community. People of Texas put up an amazing race.

    1. The race is noobish friendly. I picked it for this reason since I had two previous failed attempts in running the 100 and I wanted to finish this time.

    a. what made it new comers friendly? The course is looped, 5 twenty mile loops, so it is a “relatively” short course, the course though has the ability to lengthen itself with each passing lap. There are three on course Aid Stations, and four if counting the start/finish. They allowed plenty places for a drop bag (each aid station is a drop bag point).

    b. plenty of Aid Stations. AS is what can make or break a run. We have one about every 4-5 miles. They were superb full service aid stations. Aid stations for an ultra usually mean full supply of everything you can ask. What saved my race was a cup of coffee during the early morning and as well a hot salty cup of I don’t even know what it is, but I think it was ramen extract package mix in a cup of hot water. I drank that down thinking it was hot coco, that got me running at 3 AM in the morning. And I ran when many others were walking.

    c. Drop bag. At rocky raccoon you can leave a drop bag at any aid station. So you can bring along your favorite food/drink or stuff you need at almost anywhere on the course. Or drop off stuff in the middle of a run was really helpful! My strategy was to run light! I saw some crazy people carry a huge hydration bag on their run and they could hardly move, but I decided to ditch my hydration pack and only carry a hand bottle. I ditched my bag and jacket at an aid station during the last lap, that made a difference in finishing or not finishing the race.

    Dropped off that extra five pounds. I don’t know why people were still lugging around theirs on their final lap. Maybe for toilet paper — gosh the lady in front of me just pulled off her pants and pee – I turned away pretending not to see, meh. Good thing though she wasn’t carry her pack. I didn’t ask if she needed some toilet paper. Afterward she let me pass on in front. I think it was her lady friend (a pacer) needed her turn. I think her friend was a bit squirmish to drop her pants. When you gotta go, you gotta go. (I had a similar experience at the wee hours when the girls kept following doggedly behind me and I couldn’t shake them off – I waited until they passed, of course.)

    d. crowd support. You never expect to have a crowd support at an ultra, at least not in a traditional sense like at a marathon since normally the course is so spread out. But this race course is small enough (like at most is 5 miles out from anywhere), there is campground in couple places. We have the huge park to ourselves – they reserved it for us this year. I tried to get a camping spot, but unfortunately unable to… due to my procastination – early bird gets the worm as they say. Anyway, you see people from time to time.

    The interesting thing about this race is they allow people to set up tents, not the camping tents but those picnic three side tents along the starting/finish line on either side. So at every lap you run through this village of people/tent city and they cheered you. Runners brought their kids and family along and they set in their chairs waving and cheering even when you are half dead. I love it. Things were a bit subdue at 3 AM but there were still people there. One or two had their camping tent there though they were not allowed according to the park rules.

    e. plenty of time to finish. We were giving 30 hours, plus an extra 2 for those who wanted an earlier start time. I started at 7 in the morning so I had 31 hours total. It was just about enough time for me. I finished at 28.5 hrs. I almost thought I wouldn’t make it to the finish line. Silly me – strange ideas flew through my head during a night of sleeplessness.

    f. terrain and elevation. I think it has a total around 2000 ft. That seemed to be a lot for a marathon, but with ultra, it was almost flat. All of the hills were runnable. The terrain was rough in couple places – this race is known for ‘rocky’ but it was mostly due to roots and not rocks. I tripped over them a few times, but none of them were a fatal race terminating event. My friend unfortunately had to end hers at mile 40 and this was her 3rd attempt.

    A 100 mile race is hard no matter how friendly and easy they made it to be. It was mostly on trail and few miles were on a dirt road (the gate portion). My experience from this race was sleep deprivation is terrible.

    I was walking with my eyes opened but I could hardly counted as being awake. A few times I almost walked into a bush. I saw weird stuffs – like a bush suddenly turned into a deer and I startled myself and then it turned back into a bush. A few times I thought someone was standing in a shadow watching me. Maybe it was hallucination or maybe it was real.

    I wish I had flew in a day earlier to able to sleep better before the race day. I arrived on Friday afternoon. Getting a rental, and race day supplies, and hotel, by the time I settled in it was pretty late. I was too excited to sleep until around past 2 am. I had set my alarm for 3, thinking I would head out at 4, since it is an hour drive to the race site, and I wanted to be there by 5. I had only a moment of eye close before the alarm went off. I snoozed it, then my second alarm went off. By golly it was 4 am now. I was lucky to get an extra hour in. I woke up and was fine. There was a bit of that hazy-head but I sat around a bit for the body to warm up, then I felt good enough for a shower. I ate some and was ready to head out. I arrived at 6 and the parking lot was full by then. But lucky someone pulled out and I got a spot. There were still many arriving after me. They would have to park at a remote lot that is like 3 miles away. I’m thankful I didn’t need to do so. I tell you, it still took me an hour to walk to my car after I finish the race because I was basically limping – one step and rest for five minutes and another step and rest before I made it to the car. I can’t imagine what I would do, if I had to go another 3 miles to my car.

    The morning went well. Personally I prefer to have started with the 6 o’ clock crowd, but things just worked out for a 7 o’ clock start. I didn’t have to use a head lamp. Less weight, and less stumbling in the dark. Sunrise was just around 7, so the trail was visible.

    My first lap was strong. I tried not to go out too fast but it was hard to control myself. I found couple great people to follow. I called the guy a bionic man because he ran like a robot at a steady mechanical pace. The three other guys behind me were just party people. They were loud and talked the whole way. Luckily I parted way with them a little after. I was with them for maybe 10 miles. The course was more gentle than I imagined (I did study the elevation profile). The terrible infamous rocky roots were not that bad. I ran on more challenging trail than this. The trails were wide and most of them were double trail. Yes it is a fast course as the organizer previously informed us.

    My original intention was to bypass all the aid stations since I had my dropbag at the starting line, which is my private aid station. I figured I would be looping every few hours to allow me to get water/food/and change of clothes.

    Not sure when that plan started to fall apart, whether it was the second or by the third lap, the official aid stations were pretty tempting not to bypass.

    LAP 1 – I finished the first lap around 11 am. A decent time. Each subsequent laps took much longer.

    LAP 2 – My goal for my second lap was to arrive back before sunset since I didn’t have the head lamp on me. I made it my goal of not carrying my hydration pack, which mean none of the basic stuffs were on me. Why carry one when everything you need is five or six miles away.

    The ideal pace would be 6 hrs per lap with 30 hours for the whole 100 mile. I hope to arrive back at the starting point before 6 when it gets dark. I arrived around 4-4:30. I was two hours ahead by then.

    LAP 3 – Going out for the third lap, now the sun has set. I hoped to finish it by 11. They warned us that it would be cold and we should carry a jacket. I don’t remember much after that but I did make it back before midnight. I think it was around 10 pm. Word about this is once the sun had set, the whole environment changed. You could no longer see where you are running even with a flashlight. The place was no longer recognizable. Weird isn’t it, but you get night blindness from the headlamp. The best ones for me were the dimly lit one, then you can see some shadow of trees and bushes to serve as a guide to the trail and can see a almost like in the morning. For me though, the night run became mostly stumbling in the dark. Oh you see all kinds of lighting devices people have. The most popular kind was a waist belt with a row of light. Very interesting. They lighted the whole path. I also saw a guy with christmas light wrapped on him.

    What I think people were carrying so much silly stuffs were because this race had the 100km crowded. They are noobies compare to us. Of course they walked. The pro already finished theirs in the afternoon, so you only had the weird crowd at between 10 – 2 am at night trying to finish their 100km.

    Lap 4. When did I start lap 4? This was probably the longest lap. I think I went out around 10 pm and hoping for 4am/5am start for my final lap. I took some food before starting. Was it a can of chicken noodle? I started feeling nausate at the time, which is normal, since the body started to shut down the digestive system on a long run — at least from what I read.

    I don’t remember much of my fourth lap except yes it was cold. The whole night is cold. 40F. I knew it beforehand but I had no idea where I packed my gloves. Couldn’t find them. Luckily I had those runner jackets that have the extra long sleeves, where you can poke your thumb through on the side.

    This was also the most lonely lap because by then the 100km people had left. Also the pros for the 100 miler are finishing or would be finishing. They were on their last lap and you still had two more to go. It was just depressing.

    The last two laps were mostly just stumbling through. My body mostly refused to run. Did I say it was cold! I like put on everything I had on and still I was cold. I came in for my final lap an hour before sunrise. Was it at 4:30 am? It didn’t get warmer with the sun rising, I can tell you that.

    Aid station was great though. They worked energetically through the night. A fellow runner I was with during the deep of the night stopped at the dam (they nicknamed the place damnation) and she told me to turn off my lamp. I was WTF, who you telling me what to do. I was like at the point of exhaustion. F* the sky. Then she kept on insisting, pointing to the sky. I was moved to tears, because it was the most spectacular night sky I saw. She remained just maybe a mile or two before running off. The moon was there too. It did give me a burst of energy to run for the next 10 miles and she also told me to ask for coffee at the Aid Station. I also didn’t know ramen and mash potato was a thing. She said it easier to slurp that way and it packs plenty of calories. This sweet angel probably saved my race because it was very tempting to quit during these late hours of the night. I didn’t bring along a pacer, but her suddenly appear and stay till I got my groove back somehow served as my needed pacer.

    Lap 5. I finished the 100 miler around 11:35 the next day. It was 28.5 hours since I started. Even though when I started the last lap, it was guaranteed I would finish, like hell I had 8.5 hours to do it, no way I wouldn’t. Still there were doubts near hysteria – I was repeating in my head I can’t make it in time. Not sure why, but that was my mentality… I felt like I needed 10 hours. I was walking and unable to run. I was jealous of those who still could run. Majority though was walking and walking very slowly. Every bench I saw I wanted to sit and close my eyes, even if it was just for a few minutes would be heavenly, except it was too cold to be sitting. I know if I did, there is no way for me to get back up.

    It was quite a scene there when you see a bunch of us as slow as we can get and still competing for a slight advantage because you would think everyone walks at the same pace, and I scratched my head why some could walk so fast effortlessly while at my pace I was unable to catch them. I did see a guy, he did finish, maybe an hour after me, but he was bending side way the whole time while leaning on his trekking pole. I was thinking how he could continue. He did it one step at a time. We were in various state of misery.

    Any joy from the whole ordeal? Yes nothing happier than when we coming through the finishing chute. Cowbells clanking, music blasting, I attempted to run the last few steps awfully, but that was most satisfied moment. A silly fellow runner attempted to challenge me to sprint to the finish. I had nothing left in the tank. She won. It might be the same lady who asked me to look at the stars a few hours before.

    I picked my buckle and did a few remaining things like locating my dropbag. I could hardly walk but I did limp to my car. Rolled down the window, wolfed down a few things I still had — F* the squirrels or raccoons for stealling all my remaining croissants that I forgot to put away. At first I was mad, thinking my fellow runners ate my food but then I saw the tell tell bite mark on the container lid. Humans don’t eat plastic. I was so straving but I was unable to keep awake much longer and soon felt into a deep sleep.

    I did not know how I made it back to the hotel. When I woke up after everyone was gone. I slept maybe 3 hours in the parking lot. Somehow later, I managed that hour long drive back to Houston. I was in the dreamlike state during the whole ride, but that will be another story for another time. I should have stayed at the park for few more hours of sleep. However, I wanted that nice shower the hotel offers. I was going to go out and eat, but couldn’t will myself. Also the fear from my ride back to Houston hadn’t left me. I went to bed early and slept until the morning. I cooked myself a big meal at an god early hour at the hotel, then ate my own body weight, but still I was hungry afterward.

    There is probably some feel good lesson to close this. The whole run has been pretty peaceful. I can probably point to the earlier experiences preparing me for this. I was not a complete noob to say the least. The last four years have prepared me. I know how hard it was to stay on my feet for 24+ hours. I had been through the tougher runs in Atlanta where the sun was burning hot – even at night and we had to climb a mountain at the end of the 60 mile. I had endured thirst and hungry and blisters on my foot and various runner related problems. This race in comparison is easy. You can say, if one set ones mind on it, you can accomplish anything. Hmm. Or good preparation is 90% of the work. Or if you don’t succeed, try again. For me, indeed third time the charm. Nope, those are good lessons, but I think what make this trip worth it, is just to be able to run and have the same shared experience with other runners. I feel happy about it. A runner gave me a pat on the shoulder and said nice work! That was enough, and I felt accepted into this rank — I’m now an ultra runner.

  • Day397 Top 10

    I am a bit vain this year to do a top 10 of 2020 of my runs.

    2020 compares to 2019, let’s see. 2019 had tons of going on. I ran my first 50 miler plus going to Chile afterward for Patagonia and did many other stuffs. Thought can’t top that, can I?

    But 2020 was not a dud. Still I am kind of scratching my head trying to think of what did I do in 2020. What happened there. So here go boys and girls, the top 10 of 2020 Antin’s running report.

    10. I had Carlsbad Marathon (plus attending a wedding). Yes what was I thinking? It was a 007 operation

    9. Seneca Greenway 50K. This was pretty dope. We were on the edge of having that canceled due to Corona. We got through by the skin of our teeth. We ran it before masking was required. Yike!

    8. GVRAT. The rat race. Awesome in its own way. I ran 1000 miles. Never done anything like this. I ran across Tennessee virtually.

    7. GSER. I went to Atlanta-Georgia twice during the peak of the second wave of the pandemic to do this virtual run and both times DNF-ed (failed to finish). We could label it as GSER1 and GSER2. Unbelieverably hard and risky. There were BLM protests and all (I saw more police than protesters though). It was one of the epicenters of what 2020 is about (as you know still ongoing with the elections). I had the boots on the ground! I can say I was part of history. Hey, we take that — both the good and the bad.

    6. CRAW. A virtual race across the world and is still ongoing. We ran over 5,000 miles. The fun never stops. 31,000 miles is the end, so 26,000 miles to go. We will definitely be crawling. Are we an airplane though?

    5. Camp Anderson. Another virtual event but WTF, everyone showed up in-person and we cumbaya at the camp… true, glad it was just 10-15 of us and not 150-200. It was still a WTH moment. I had a good 6-hr endurance run. Never was a run so hard. Great people though

    4. Gettysburg Marathon. Thought all in-person races were canceled? I was able to “sneak” across the state line to do this one early morning (I didn’t tell my family). At the time they were not strict about needing a rapid corona test. Love this race though

    3. Rock N the Knob. RTK. half marathon. Awesome trail race. Nuff said. Hardest of hard freaking race…”I need a sherpa”…who came up with a trail and a trail name like this? I will go back for a second. Yup, already registered it for 2021

    2. Stone Mill 50. SM50 stressed me out like no other race. We started in the dark and finished in the dark. Way finding wasn’t hard, but I was worried the whole time of getting lost since “those” trails were not on any maps and the RD kind of handwaved that they were there. We did it that I got to say

    1. Devil Dog the Lite version. 50K. Hmm. It was the last race I did. In December. Pog! Just a 50k but it has a “heritage” and I felt like I ran the 100. This means I need to do the real 100 miler version some day to earn it – a true devil dog

    (Meta: I’m too lazy to post the links to the journal post of the runs I did …maybe some day I will go back to add them. By the way, just go to my run history page, it has the same thing)

  • Day394 oho the 3rd 50k

    A few weeks ago I mentioned about running the 50K fatass on Bull Run Trail with the Virginia Happy Trail people, or do a 50K on Waterfall Mountain (also their trail), or join a guy running on the W&OD trail (Day391). In the end, I didn’t do any of those that weekend (Day392). But then in the following weeks, I was able to do all three of them. I wrote about hiking on the Bull Run a couple entries back and then visited the Waterfall Mountain last weekend (last entry Day393). They all have been a blast. This 3rd run, on the W&OD was of the best of them all.

    It started, unexpectedly couple days ago, I had one of the most spectacular runs (on W&OD).

    Our team has been doing the circumpolar run (CRAW) around the globe as a virtual run, that is, we ran it at a place of our choosing, and pretend we are running around the world. This ‘race’ is divided into 12 regions. We were about to finish the second region.

    I was not sure whether we could complete it on Monday because the miles left over were a lot for our group (twice of our daily run total). We had about 80 miles left when I went to bed the night before. By morning we got it down a bit (we have people on our team that are on the other side of the world). Then as the day progressed it was down to 60 miles and then to 50 miles. In my mind, if the group could get it down to around 20-ish miles then I and a lady could finish out the region, because she and I could do some big mile before the day is over. But through out the day, miles barely bulged much.

    By noon time, I went out and did a 5K. I told my group I would run some more miles after work – gave them a number about 10-ish but I told them we should try to close the region if possible. Some put in a bit more miles. By 5PM, the last person posted to the group that there was only 32 miles left. Everyone said, they finished their posting. A few of them though did not reply (a way to drive me crazy), but I assumed they would not run any more miles since based on past history that was mostly the case. Our group is pretty low key. We rank 131 out of about 200 groups (there are another 100 groups bottom of the pile but they are really not real contenders because they usually have only have one or two people running on their team). Our group is not too shabby compare to them, but we are not really seriously able to run for a prize (there is ‘gold’ and ‘silver’ ranking price). Our team is not even a silver contender. That is true, we all agreed that this CRAW event should not become a pressure. So far, I am well-pleased with how we are doing. We are not fast and we are not dysfunctionly slow (most of the bottom 100 teams are dysfunctional – like one person on a team doing thousand of miles while the rest of the teammates are doing like 10-20 miles). Our team is mostly balanced.

    However, as I looked at the remaining miles to close the region, I said we could finish it. I know we have a strong runner on our team (S), and she said she planned to run after work too, however, she is in the West Coast, so as I was leaving work, she was still working and and she did not confirm yet, and so I was not certain how many miles she would be doing or if any at all.

    She had been running 10 miles the last couple days, and I did not want to over burden her to run another 10 miles today. She is a newbie ultra runner, who just said to have stepped into the ultra world of running her first 50K a few weeks back.

    I asked her if she planned to do 5 miles or 10 miles. If she would do 5 miles, I would have to run 26-ish miles (marathon).

    In my mind, it was game on. I was ready to run a marathon or more. I love the challenge. I told myself even if it is a 50k, I can do it.

    We had warm weather. It had been cold on x-mas and the weekend that followed, but on Monday, it rised 20 degrees to around 50s. As I left work, it was still around 50 but I knew it would drop back down to low 30s when I finished by midnight. Brrr.

    I was ready. I packed my hydration bag with a long pants but I had shorts on, planning to put the pants on later in the evening. I put on a double layer top, a t-shirt underneath and a long sleeves over it. I tied around my waist another long sleeves, for just in case. I hate running in the cold. Put on a glove (just the left one because I lost the right one over the weekend at the Waterfall Mountain.) I carried a hand torch and a giant head lamp on my head. I put couple packs of gels in my hydration pocket and an extra bottle of water in my vest’s other pocket.

    By the time I left my work building, it was near 5:30pm. I had until midnight to count as a finish for that day. This was about 6 and half hours. I know I ran 50k in 6 hours before but tonight I had to do 32 miles (which was a mile more).

    The extra half hour allowance was not that much extra time. Because, I was not in race day condition…first, it was the time of day. In a normal race, we would start in the morning. Now it was at the end of the day. The body is not as strong or fresh at night than in the early morning. Also in a race, there are rest stops and aid stations. This time, it was self-supported (I had to carry everything on me like water, extra clothes, flashlight(s)). This would slow me down. Also an important factor is race day crowd support/race director/timing device and finish line, which would have given me the extra drive. Lastly, the course. At an official race, the course is usually controlled, but this run was not. I would have to stop for all traffic lights and at street crossings, which would eat into my time. (A 10 min pace could easily become a 12 min pace by waiting for 2 mins at a crossing.)

    However, I was prepped and hyped. Let run this 32 miles in 6 and half hours. So I stepped out. I had a course in mind. The W&OD (Washington-Old Dominion) Trail is within walking distance (maybe a mile) from my workplace. Recently I learned someone ran a 100 mile on that trail doing a out and back from Arlington to Purcellville, so 32 miles on it is doable.

    At first, I did not know which way to go, then I decided to run toward Arlington instead of Purcellville, since I could get better support (gas stations/restaurants) going into town than away from town. Also I am more familiar heading into town (Arlington/DC) than going the other way. I believe too it would be warmer by a few degrees. The suburb tends to be cooler.

    The sun had already set. I could feel the temperature dropped. As I started running, I warmed up a bit but I decided to keep my second layer on, knowing it would continue to drop through the night. Let it be a bit warm now than cold later. I figured I would be the frog in the pot, and I might not notice the gradual change in the temperature. Fingers-crossed.

    I decided to check in with my group every 10 miles and to keep them posted. First 10 miles I was strong. I got to Arlington where W&OD trailhead is. My group posted a few more miles by then. There are ‘only’ 18 miles left they said. The time was 7:15 then. I took a 15 minute break. Not intended, but by the time I started again it was 7:30. The night is still early and, it gave me a big boost that finishing the Region is within reached.

    I had not heard back from S. I know she would not fail me, but then I would not want to put 10 miles on her. I could run 18 more miles, but I also wanted to be back at my car and not be out for that long. I did not expect the rest of my group (other than S) to run any more based on the past four months we were together (we only put like 30-40 miles per day). I felt we squeezed enough out of them already.

    So I continued on toward DC using the 4-mile run trail, which was a ‘continued’ of the W&OD at a light around the corner. I felt I should give S some buffer and in case she couldn’t run, I could go back out to run. The fewer miles I have to do later on, the better.

    I didn’t get hungry, but I knew this was an ultra and I need food in order to keep me going later on. About a mile, I know there was a Giant, our local groceries. I stopped there before and knew they have a foot long Italian breads, with cheese and salami. I love the salt content. I set that as my turn around point as well as grabbing that italian bread.

    Around mile 15, I got a message from S. She got off work. It was around 9pm. She confirmed she could run 10 miles later that night. I took my second break at mile 17. Why is this significant? Weariness has taken in. I started to walk a bit instead of running. I had still 5 more miles to the car. I told S, she might only need to do 6 miles and at the same time updated the group of my progress. I told them that I would have 22 miles by the time I finished, basically 6 miles for S to do. I also was at the West Falls Church Metro station (our subway), and if our group had enough miles, I would take the train back to my office. No one posted any more miles. So I went on with my run.

    However, during the last hour, someone (actually multiple persons) updated their miles and it was the 6 miles total needed, but neither S nor I knew about it and they did not let the group know. My team. grr. But we did not know. Everyone was aware we would be finishing the Region, yet none of them spoke up about having enough miles. S started doing her 6 miles and I did my remaining 5 too.

    I arrived back at my workplace where my car was parked and told the group I did it. Entered my miles and so did S. We finished our region, 3094 miles in 73 days. We had a few miles over. (A team member on the other side of the world then started the next Region, I guess it was like 8/9AM for her the next day, which is perfect, since we do not want any time off the clock. Talk about a relay)

    I did not mind that my run was not a 50k nor a marathon. What matter was we finished the region. It was a team effort. Mondays are normally my rest day from running, so the less miles I needed to do the better. Yet, there I was running a 22 mile on a cold winter night.

    I was a bit miff about certain team members who did not communicate to the rest of the team of what they did or plan to do so enable better plannimg for everyone since this was a team effort. The reason is none of us want to run extra miles that do not count toward our goal. We all could run, but if we could be inside, we would choose to be in.

    Grrr.

    We celebrated the end of the region. I was happy that I finished the run at 10pm instead of at midnight. I still had to drive home, shower, and eat. I still had my Italian on me. I was carrying that foot long in one hand while running and had a bite every so and then whenever I had to wait at a street crossing. It looked ridiculous. However, now I wanted a proper meal. By the time all said and done it was midnight.

    I was enjoying the run. It was as exciting as an actual race, since I know every mile I ran counted toward the team mile. I had the biggest kick (or runner high) in such a long time. I felt asleep with a smile.

  • Day392 slow news cycle cont.

    There is just not a lot is going on with me as twenty-twenty comes to a close.

    We had our first snow this winter. Last week was warm with the temperature up around 60s and this week was freezing cold in the 30s. The snow came but did not stay the next day. I am so jealous as my friend in West Virginia posted nice snowy scenery of their trails. I wish I have snowshoes and join them.

    I hate myself for not running when the weather is nice and only run when it is unbearable outside.

    I have not done a lot of running the last two weeks. I ran maybe only two days. Last weekend I didn’t run … after written up such a nice plan (day391) but in the end, I did not execute it. Often times I don’t like planning ahead like that because once it didn’t happen it is a big let down. I knew it too at the time of writing it up. What happened? I think I was paralyzed with too many choices.

    In gaming term – I am tilting toward losing the game. I did FF (forfeit) the game last week. I need to get back into my running.

    What I have been doing instead of running was watching youtube. Dang it is so addicting.

    Definitely tilting/inting. I am part of a team running event (running around the world). We are closed to finishing Region 2. Yet I can’t able to bring myself to run these days to finish up the region. We are about 400 miles away. I could have chopped that to 300 or even 200 if I have not been tilting.

    I read somewhere that people have a tendency to self-sabotage when they are about to succeed. I think I have that problem (they call it inting in gaming, that is, intentionally losing the game because they are tilting so badly).

    As you can tell I have been watching a lot of videos of people playing video games on youtube. Somehow I found that entertaining. I myself don’t play (no computer).

    I was also hoping to finish the journal for this year, that is reaching day 400 entry, and close it with a summary. Yet it might not happen. I don’t want to write every day just for the sake of ending the year.

    For me 2020 has not even started…I felt still so much left to do. There is something to look forward to for 2021. It will mostly a repeat of 2020. My runs will be the same. I am still training and executing the same plan (for the Laurel Highlands race and Graysons Highland too). One thing different is I have the Rocky Raccoon race in February. My first 100 days will be a bit different because of that. I will start off with a much stronger season than in 2020.

    I am happy 2020 turned out the way it did. There was no way I was ready for those big races I planned for 2020 and the pandemic gave me an extra year to prepare for them.

    10 more days left for 2020…hmm what should I do? That is what I have been up to. Oh my Garmin watch said I ran 2090 miles this year. I reached and passed my goal of running 2020 miles. This I think is more than my last three years combined, and I think in part thank to the pandemic. I am trying to run a few miles more. I might double this number next year…(not a promise), but might able to.

    oh on other news, I am so much better this year than last year, in term of money. Last year I was on the brink of bankruptcy and it was like for two weeks I couldn’t buy food. My boss didn’t fund the 401k (retirement plan) this year … but it didn’t affect me because I increased my own contribution. Cashflow-wise, I probably never been richer in my entire life. I think again thank to the pandemic, my expenses were cut (no more metro rides, and no more eating out, and no more races and traveling, and no more going out). I also didn’t have to buy any new running shoes (no races). I didn’t cut my second phone or gym membership even though I no longer use either of them, this could have save me another thousand of dollars. What am I going do with the money? I can buy my air ticket to Houston for the Rocky Raccoon (and pay for a Covid test if the race requires one). Sorry, first world problem.

    If I don’t get to write another entry before the new year – I wish ya a merry Xmas and happy new year.

    P.S. Amnesia. I thought I wrote about the Occoquan adventure, but somehow did not. See Post 393 on Occoquan and the Waterfall Run.

  • Day391 short news cycle

    Lack of news because I did the Stone Mill 50 and then the Devil Dog 50K, and ran my last race of the year, I am relatively free this weekend. I was going to do the WTF 50 (course preview), a new course I found by the Virginia Happy Trail people. They are weird I tell you. Ever since I ran their Vicky’s Death March a few weeks back, I am more into their club things and they have tons of set trail courses to run. Last weekend, I joined a few of their members to do the Buck Hollow/Mary’s Rock run and this week I was going to do their MGM stands for Big Butt in latin or Fat Ass Run on the BRR (Bull Run Trail/Run/Ultra – the last R escapes me). They love accronyms. But there the WTF, that a few of them wanted to do today and I like the name. I read it is a tough course. WTF does not mean I thought it means but it stands for WaTerFall. Cute. I guess it is the name of the local mountain or maybe an actual waterfall or a trail name but I couldn’t find it yet on the map.

    I felt a bit lazy and couldn’t will myself to wake up early in time to haul my butt to the trailhead. They were running at 6 AM in the dark and the place is about two hours away. Also I didn’t pack last night so it was not happening. I might try tomorrow morning, which will be another great day.

    Last night a guy was running a 100 miler on my, yes my track, the W-OD (Washington/Old Dominion Trail). That is awesome. No I don’t own it. I am just surprised any one would use that trail for a 100 miler since it is ‘boring’. I didn’t know it was that long either. The guy ran from Arlington and out past Leesburg to Purcellville and back. It was not exactly 100 miles so he did some loops in the middle of night at the other end point before coming back. I normally ride my bike there but never occur to me to run it.

    That kind of give me an idea. Maybe I could do the same!

    Why am I going all over the place? I was or am still trying to find out what I want to do today. I could head to MGM for the Big Butt and see some club members or go to WTF for some waterfall or go see this guy who is doing a 100 mile; he is also a club member. Or doing something completely different on my own.

    On other news, I signed up to be a sweeper for the World’s End Ultra for mile 35-50, roughly. Sweepers ensure no one left on the trail. We sweep the runners/or herd them to the Aid Station for pickup. Usually sweepers have a tough job to encourage the desperate few who are about to be cut to hurry up. No one was taking this segment so I took it. It will be from 5PM to 10PM. I think no one took it because of the emotional aspect to “sweep” people off the course after they have been running for 12 or more hours but likely won’t be able to make it to the finish. We are the person to break that news to them. It will be a fight. You know ultra people have the indomitable spirit and I will be the one to break that in the nicest possible way.

    There was an application process. They would like the sweeper to have first aids knowledge. Usually runners fell behind because of an injury. So I am thinking on signing up at a local REI to have a refresher. I learned those stuff like 25 years ago, so might need a bit of update.

    As for the distance, 14-15 miles shouldn’t be too bad. They asked me what my experiences on trail. The race is billed as the toughest ultra in PA, so ya I got to be able to run the trail. I plan to go to the trail in the spring and run it. I am excited. The race will take place in first weekend of June, a week before my A-race Laurel Highlands Hiking Trail Ultra. I was just looking into that. I told them I should be able to handle the trail by then.

    Why I am even a sweeper? My friend is doing the sweeping first 20 mile. He said to come down and join him to spend the day there. I think he is also doing the Laurel Ultra, that how we meet last year.

    As for the Rocky Raccoon 100, I said I have to book the campsite couple weeks ago. I didn’t and ended up all camp spots are taken! Anyway it means I have run my 100 and not sleep, since no campsite. I might snooze in the car afterward. I won’t have any pacer coming with me, so not having a campsite to set a base camp is not a problem. As I said, I will be running through the night, so no need a camp. This will be in first week of February. Still about a month out.

    Yes, I said after Stone Mill, I have to focus on Rocky Raccoon. I need to get up to speed soon. Very soon. That’s the news for this week.

  • Day388 some boring stuff

    boring stuff to most but me, I checked out some spring marathons last night. Hey it is that time again where races are on sale.

    I would have to defer the One City. Finally there are words from them. It will be a virtual event. I am no longer enjoying running virtual marathons, so I will defer this to next year. No flaming on the organizer. It made perfect sense to have it virtually since Covid cases are rising everywhere and the fear that cases will overwhelm the health system is real. If they had it in person otherwise, people like me would be considering traveling hundreds of miles to run and likely increase the risk of bringing the virus to them/taking it back home to my community.

    Charlottesville Marathon. Kind of eyeing this. They will be hosting it outside of the city since the city itself has a maximum limit of 50 people per event. When there is no running races in 2020, any races in the spring is selling like hotcakes.

    Roanoke Double Marathon. Also eyeing this. This one originally on my schedule last year, but Covid canceled it. The same organizer. We are facing the same circumstances. Likely it will be changed to virtual again. Know this, I’m still kind of wanting to sign up. I can save $35 for the early registration.

    Dirty Kiln in PA. Also eying this race. Because it is outside of my state, I will need to be tested for Covid before running. PA requires visitors to be tested for Covid within 3 days before arrival or quarantine for 14 days after arrival. I think this is a sane way. So no more sneaking into another state to run a race. Well I think everyone should be tested before running a race. Weird they think other states have more covid cases than they do. I read on FB many runners before running the JFK went and got tested. I guess this is likely will be a trend in the running world.

    That’s all. I am about to get up to run the last race of 2020. The race is at 7 AM. About 2 hours more. The wait.

  • Day386 VDM

    I did the real VDM – Vicky’s Death/*Delightful March, a run by the local Virginia Happy Trail People. What I mean by real is that I ran one like it back in October, almost two months ago (here), except this time I did the full loop instead of skipping Hawksbill Mnt. I know about Virginia Trail runners since I started running but somehow they never fit into my plan because I am mostly a road runner. They are really the old school trail runners – most of their events are free and self supported and you run and responsible for yourself out there. They are hardcore runners.

    I am used to the paid 5K and 10K where people prepare everything for you and run and get a medal and pictures and everyone go home feeling good. There is none of this stuff with trail running. It is the adult version running. Today 25 miles is like road running 5K. There is no pat on the back of good job – because we are expect to be able to run miles, plus elevation, and not get lost. Totally hardcore running. I am happy to finally say I am there at that rank now. 25 miles on the mountain is easy for me. It was like stretching my legs.

    Trail running was not for me until recently after doing ultras and most ultras are out in the woods. So I have been trying to connect to the trail community. This year has been quite good. I connected to people in PA/WV, that has been amazing. The stuff they did are just crazy. Of course PA hosts the Eastern States – which is like the Western States – one of the “majors” for trail running competitions. We don’t have any famed races here in VA. Old Dominion used to famous but now people get old and it does not have the same draw as PA. If I could join a running club I would join the PA one (Allegheny Trail Running).

    Recently I connected also with the Montgomery County RR after doing their Stone Mill trail race. VA Trail racing club people are still pretty weird, though we are all together – the Virginia people helped out with the Maryland people – everyone knows everyone. My prejudice against the VA trail people is still pretty high. People in the DC area are weird and you just get use to it when you have live here long enough to know because we are super rich and we (many) have access to high level in the government and we can’t talk too much about our jobs. So people here are just too snobbish and standoffish. This shows on the trail too. That is why I could get along so well with trail runners outside of DC but not people here. That is fine though. I run my own race. (PA people can attest to what I say).

    There were like 30-40 people showed up today on our run today. This is a great turn out, since it was an unfunded – free run for 25 miles with 7000 ft of climbing. Yes normal people would not come out to run this. It is just so demanding. Time wise etc. People rather run a real marathon than doing this kind of runs. So this is only for people who really like trail running. There is no prize either. We all started at 7:30 and everyone run their own pace and find their own way.

    I was ‘stroke’ about this run for weeks. They traditionally host it the day after Thanksgiving (on Black Friday). This year, they moved it to Saturday. This just fits so well. I prepared for it like a real race. I went to bed by 9 ish. I had everything ready. Clothes, food, set alarm. I woke up bright and early. I was out the house by 5:55 and Got to the trail by 7:15.

    We had warm weather – all relative. 42-45 was warm for me. I ran in T shirt and shorts where normally this would be too cold for me. It is all relative.

    This time I am determined to do the whole loop. Last time I skipped out a few miles – like around 5 by skipping Hawksbill.

    This time, the group I was with was slower. Much slower. We walked like 80% of the time. They were really slow. It might be that I have gotten much faster and stronger. I just did a 50 miler two weeks ago, so my body is still relatively fit. So this run was super easy.

    I was with my group the whole time. It was zero stress. I was only one who brought food with me. I ran with a footlong sandwich in my hand. It was too eye catching in our group. A weirdo running with a long bread/Hoggie the whole day :). People were saying when am I going to eat it. The sandwich really helped. I had enough calories and was happy. None of them brought food because they expected food at the halfway point at the visitor center. Unfortunately they did not have food when we got there. That was a bit a bummer for them.

    I did quite well. Last time while climbing up on White Oak Canyon I almost fainted. This time none what so ever. The climb did not affect me. Also I did not roll my ankle. So everything was good.

    My body finally is strong enough to do something like this and not get super tired. I have been doing a lot of hiking these past four years. I have been running marathons – probably more than 10 now. But in the past, I am half dead after finishing a big run. But now even doing a 50 miler does not affect me. I see a qualitative change. I am just happy about this. It means I can go on to the next phase of running a 100 miler.

    What I want to say is it open a big area. Now I can do trail running. It is like freedom. Things that were impossible now is possible. Things that were hard are no longer.

  • Day 384

    I am back to my usual of trying to scape together enough content for a post.

    I finished the 48 hours run. It was not much to say except for the lack of sleep – but I cheated a little with an hour extra sleep one night during the graveyard shift. I think running a marathon is harder than doing this 48 hour of running. Actually it is only 44-45 hours because you don’t run at the final 48th hour. Because I was able to catch some snooze, I was not too overly tired.

    I think for me, what would be the right level of challenge if it was running a 10K every 4 hours for 24 hours straight or 24 hours of 5K at every hour (Pembleton — I really want to try that next year).

    Anyway, since I finished the 48 hour challenge, every 4 hours there is the residual urge to go out and run. I woke up at every 3 hours thinking, oh, did I miss a run and told myself no, go back to sleep.

    Not feeling any particularly tired today. Yet I told myself, better be safe than sorry. Even though I could run today, I decided to stay put and rest up. Monday is my normal rest day. So I have to force myself to rest.

    Nothing particularly insightful gleaned during my run. Time just went by quickly. Run, then changed, clean up, record the run, eat. do laundry and rest about couple hours and then start the cycle over. So I remember was Run, Eat, and Sleep. Time went by so fast.

    It was a run I always want to do. It was like a mini camp for running. I read about people (two highschool runners – forgot their names) went to Kenya and ran with the elites there. They wrote about everyday was running. I was jealous of them to have such an opportunity. So the past weekend was like that for 48 hours totally gear toward running. I had a total 13 sessions. It was great. It was 13 sessions of tempo run. It was like a dream comes true.

    Though I ran 50+ miles over the weekend, I was not exhausted. That I found fastinating.