Nothing much was done today. All that I planned didn’t come into fruition. I’m racing against the clock on many fronts.
FedEx print center, last night I checked they were open late but tonight I went there they were closed. They have the new limited hours from 10-6. So I will have to go there tomorrow to have my turnsheet laminated.
I gave up laminating the map. I looked at it. It was too big. The streets were too tiny. I might as well memorize the path and rely on my phone from time to time and trust my turn sheet.
I tested my GPS. It is a piece of crap. Like previous experience, it didn’t do jack. I should have brought a more expensive model.
I did some shopping today. I think I know what I will eat. I will go light on the calories this time. Just barely enough to get me through. In the past I ate too much and it slowed me down. I need to find the sweet spot.
I was able to read one of the runners most recent race report. He finished it last week. The report was very helpful. He failed to meet the cut off at the Stone mountain before they locked the gate. He got in but couldn’t make it out before the gate closed.
I wouldn’t want that to happen to me. I am not that good in scaling fences in the middle of the night especially when I am half dead after doing 62 miles.
So at least I should push my start an hour earlier so looking at 3 AM start at the latest.
I have been rethinking the start time a bit. I might going to do a night run by pushing the start time even earlier starting at 6-7 PM, so I could make it to Stone Mountain in the morning, 8-9 AM instead of in the evening, the gate should be open by then. This will get to finish around 12-1 midnight the next day.
Doing a night start completely mess up all the gas station stops because likely they will be closed most of the time I am in the city because it will be in the middle of the night. I will be in downtown Atlanta around 2-3 AM when all the eateries are closed. By the time they are open I will be doing the last 40 miles on the Stone Mnt trail. There does not seem to have a lot of places to get food on the trail until I get back into the city and by then it will be 8-9 pm the following day.
The report scared me. I am afraid of pain. I never push myself beyond my pain point. The guy wrote that at mile 80, he felt the pain and blisters and everything including tireness from lack of sleep. I don’t know if I can handle that. I ran 60 miles before. At that time I knew I still had enough in me to push on. However, mile 80 is something I never experience before…and I don’t know if I will be willing to push on. I know it will come…I read many reports about it. No one is an energizer bunny. I am afraid I might break.
conclusion/decision. Start time has me worry. Most likely it will be an early start at 2-3AM. Alternatively I sleep in on Friday, and run at night at 5PM. This is very high risk because who know if I can sleep during the day. If I can’t fall asleep during the day, I will be screwed. To force myself to sleep in the day, then I shouldn’t sleep on Thursday night. This will also hamper my ability. In the end, I am still running out of time. I wish I knew it earlier and readjust my sleep time several days ahead. This is part of ultra learning curve.
I feel the noose tightening so I couldn’t fall asleep last night, thinking about the run coming up in a few days.
A little background. I signed up for this 100 mile ultra (Great southern endurance run, GA,US) I don’t know, maybe at the beginning of summer. It is a virtual run, meaning, I will be running alone, but the course is real (meaning on location). We have 34 hours to finish, which is plenty of time. The good runners could finish under 24 hours, me, maybe looking at 30 hours. 5-6 people already did it. They have been reporting between 29-31 hours. That will be my goal too. I could do a 100k in 13-14 hours, so 26-27-ish hour is a reasonable target.
So with my cellphone I had the turn sheet open and a map spread out on the bed, I traced the route until mile 80. There are twenty more miles to go. And the turn direction gets shorter. There are about 10 more turns left to go. One of the direction was to run 8 miles straight. Sweet. That is probably the longest distance without a turn for this whole route. In comparison, the first 80 miles have about 5 pages of notes. Grr, there are so much information, a turn at every quarter mile.
I need a second study session to get the last 20 miles.
Evening:
I spent the evening looking over the last twenty miles. Apparently there are only two streets I need to know. Stone Mountain Trail and Peach St. Most of the rest of directions is to continue running down the same road.
Afterward, I went out for a 10K. I didn’t have a number in mind, but as I ran, 10K seems good. It was actually quite short. I finished it and felt I have’t really got any work out.
It was so good to have two weeks off running. All my muscles were fresh. Most of my aches were gone. I could run fast again. The feeling of being able to run fast without feeling my heart exploding or head getting dizzy, or just the legs wouldn’t move. They were all gone. I only was running at maybe 65-70% my max, but it felt so good.
I checked the weather down at Atlanta. And it is not looking good for me. 60% of rain on Friday and 30% of rain on Saturday. The plan was to start early on Friday and finish early on Saturday. I could delay the run to Saturday morning, but I got to finish by 10 on Sunday to make it to the airport and fly home on Sunday evening. So I really would not want to delay the run to Saturday, because it is just too much pressure to make the flight. Praying the weather will change.
Even before I started out for the run I was not sure if I would finish tonight. I had only 16.5 miles left, which is a 0.5 mile less than the previous day, but it was not an easy 16 miler. The original plan was to split the run into two, a morning 5-6 miles and a 10-11 miles at night. However, I did not feel like running in the morning.
I didn’t feel like running either at night. I know I want to finish. 17 miles is not easy to do. I experienced it the night before. You have to push and pull yourself toward finishing. It is a half marathon plus a 5K. That 5K at the end is always a killer.
I was dreading the run. 6:30 came by. I still hadn’t eaten dinner. So I ate, not much in the fridge since I didn’t do my shopping. I had only rice left and yogurt. Mixed everything together. I needed the energy for tonight run. I also wanted to eat light nothing too heavy. I learned, a heavy meal makes it very difficult to run.
After dinner, still didn’t want to go out. In the afternoon, they were forecasting heavy rain. The weather got better by 7. The T-storm didn’t come. I waited a bit. The forecast changed to misty drizzle for the rest of the evening. I was still loitering around.
It was 7:30 now. If I did not go out, finishing the 1022K would not be happening tonight. I had only 4.5 hours left before midnight to run 17 miles. Yes, it was still plenty of time, but I didn’t want the run to be a life and death struggle of beating the clock by midnight. I had nothing in me for that kind of run nowaday.
So off I went. The first half mile was unpleasant. Just like yesterday, my feet lost the feel. Everything was so stiff and robotic. I hated it. You know when you can run and when it is not happening. I couldn’t give up. This was the day I would finish. Luckily the body relaxed and I got into the running feel after half a mile.
My feet were still heavy. I didn’t have the light gait that I like. I took whatever my body was offering to me. It was heavy deliberate steps all night. I felt like a bear stomping about the neighborhood.
I took almost the same route as the day before. Nothing fancy. Tonight was to finish. I was not out for sightseeing. Music came into my mind by mile two and three. I felt better. The rain got a bit heavier too. The forecast is always off. I was wet yet not soaked. That came later. I think mile 4 and 5 the rain became heavier still. I regretted of not wearing a hat. The water made it hard to see through my glasses. I had to take them off.
My speed got better. I reached the Fair Lakes Loop, I decided to do two loops early on because I might be too tired later on to do the loop on my way back. I hate running loops but got to do them tonight. I know my body. It always tries to cheat when it is tired. Sun has set. I am only at mile 8. I continued to press on. Rain had stopped. I hoped I would get back here by mile 12 ish then it would be 5 miles to get home to make 17 miles. So my goal is to get another 4-5 miles before heading back.
I did a quick math in my mind. If I reached the end of the road it would be about 2 miles. I planned to go to a 7-eleven near there, Greenbriar Shopping Center, that would be another mile. So I believed out and back to a 7-eleven might give me a 7 mile.
Tonight since I was heading to 7-eleven, I might just get food. I was hungry by now. Not extremely hungry but I could feel it. Yesterday, I tightened my belly, but not tonight. The night was young. I needed food. I got there and brought a slice of pizza. It was not very good. Dried. Left too long in the heater. But I needed the fuel. I brought also an Aloe drink. Then headed back. I was at mile 10 by now. The distance was less than anticipated.
The return trip was uneventful. I stopped checking on the distance, but my mind was alert and would let me know how far I ran without looking at the watch. My thought was to push for home. I got back to the Fair Lakes Loop and still felt strong. I was at mile 12 now. Finished the loop with an even stronger pace. Just like the previous night, my energy kicked in after mile 13. It was a short burn. Still 3 hours for a half marathon is dismal by my normal standard. I slowed down a bit by mile 14. I knew I was doing this. I got to another 7-eleven. I didn’t need to stop but I did. I brought a Coke. Ran into my roommate as I was heading out. I joked, could you drive me back? Technically, I could call it a night. I checked my watch, I just made 16.5 miles and that could mean a finish.
I was still couple miles from home. So off into the night I went. It was anticlimatic. I struggled here and there. Got to the last mile. Arrived at home. I checked my watch again if it was a little short, I would run to the firestation. Nope, it was 19.1 miles in 4 hours. It was good enough for me tonight.
There 1000K race in 48 days done. The actual distance ran was 1022 km.
GVRAT. I will try to get another 1000K over the summer. For now, I am going to enjoy the moment while it lasts.
The Biggest lesson learned since I first attempted it on May 1st and was telling myself, no way I could do it, was you don’t know what your body is capable until you try. Not only that I did it, but have done it in less than half the time that I had thought. I underestimated myself.
I will try to put in a quick post. This could be the day I finish the first challenge of Running Across Tennessee Virtual Race (GVRAT). I have 17 miles left. It is day 48 of the race.
I said maybe because I am not sure I could do 17 miles today. I know I run 17 miles all the time. But last night 17 miles was hard.
The first couple miles my feet didn’t want to move. Usually I am only like that at the end and not at the beginning. It was like I was not in gear. You could press the pedal as much as you want but I was in neutral. I did shuttle steps until after two miles. At mile three and 4 I started to feel my legs ease up a bit.
Luckily my breathing was alright and the weather was cool. What got me usually is a combination of heat and inability to breath.
So I was running along on pace, not very fast, and miles passing under me until mile 8 I took a fall. I tripped over the unevenness of the sidewalk. Usually this kind of things is rare because I know every nooks and bumps in my neighborhood by now. Also I call myself a trail runner where we do harder terrain than this. Well I was on the ground. My glasses flew away and everything scattered everywhere. I collected myself. Nothing injured. No stratch or bruises. I was OK. I got up again to walk.
The interruption was not too bad. Once my numb was over, I started running again at a reduced pace.
I got to mile 9 and 10. The sun had set. I made a round in a new area I just disccovered recently. It was about a mile or two (Fair Lakes / Walmart). I saw New York Tony Pizza and so wanted to stop for a slice. I was hungry then, and it was about 9 pm. I still got about 5 miles left.
By mile 13 I got my zoom/juice back. I was still hungry but I tightened my belly and ran. I knew sooner I got home the sooner I could eat. I ate before I went for a run at 5:30, I shouldn’t be hungry yet. It was only 4 hours ago. Yet I got my speed. I finally ignited. It felt great to put in the stride.
Miles quickly passed under me. By my watch I was slow. 13 miles is a half marathon. In races I usually cover that under 2 hours, but today, I was almost at the three hours mark, which is quite shocking. I was only this slow last summer when I was sick. Any way, I am watching myself.
I still had some left in me by mile 15. I was no longer running at full speed. I knew when I passed mile 16. Last hill climb and last mile to turn onto my street. I slowed down a lot by now. I know it is the wall. I told myself, almost there. Hit mile 17. Half more mile to go. I found myself walking. Giddy up. Got to break the wall. Ran again, shuttle steps to get to the Firehouse. The watch is not exactly at 17.5 when I got there, so I run and walked some more until it reached it. Done.
I had my second dinner. I had a glass of wine too. My fridge is almost empty, so got to do shopping before the next run.
I just have to repeat the above again one more time, one more night, minus the fall.
I am so happy after what 3 months of staying at home, I am finally back on the trail. Indeed happy trail.
I guess I could always go by myself. The park is always open. Some do if you know where to go. Shenandoah was going to stay open until too many people misused it and it was forced to be closed during the pandemic. It think there were also some politic strong arming against the park officials.
But we are reopened now. Our state went into stage 2. I think there is a stage 3 too. Our local area is still in stage 1 since we just entered it last week, unlike the rest of the state. They have been in Stage 1 I think for almost a month.
So we were back on the trail. The side trails,(trails at park boundary are still closed. So we had to drive on the skyline drive to get to our trail.
I went to bed early after finishing my shopping. However I could not get up at 4am in the morning to do the run. I didn’t leave my place until 6. I still got to the trail couple hours before everyone. I ran about 6 miles on my own.
I put in about 20 miles today mostly hiking, but we did get in 4-5 miles of running too. I am kind of tired now, Vegging on the lazy boy, writing this post. I could run long miles but hiking is something else. I feel so sleepy right now. I wish I can have a full body massage.
I got a hug from my lady hike leader…what about coronavirus 😮? I was like hold on, I need to think about this. This is the second time she hugged me. Maybe for surviving the shelter in place this past three months. And it was the first time seeing each other since the Chile trip back in December. The first time I was hugged was like three years ago when we did our first backpacking trip. Not going to read too much into it. I was surprised that was all, since I am not a feely touchy person, but she is.
My first real hike as in 2017 and also after the corona-covid19 here. Called The Peak and not the mall. Yes malls in our area reopened last weekend. Instead going to the mall we hike the Peak
I love this loop hike since it was really the first hike that got me into the wilderness thing and loving outdoors. Old Rag hike doesn’t count. We did the Anything But Old Rag in 2017 before this one, that could count as my first hike. But the Peak not the Mall, was a hike I saw my first bear literally face to face with one and there was no where to turn and the hike also literally broke me, because it was so hard (now it is like what I do that each day before breakfast). Well it is still draining but not that I need to bed rest afterward for the next two months.
The Peak is the name of a nearby mountain called the Peak. I actually have not climbed up there. They don’t recommend people doing it because of the erosion / to prevent further erosion of the trail. Also the trail up on the Peak is no longer maintained and people will need to have serious bushwacking skill to do it otherwise you can get very lost out there.
My friend also mentioned about next weekend backpacking…I haven’t decided on that trip yet. I do miss backpacking but kind of want to go to Pennsylvania to do that 70 mile run. Will saved it for another post.
I was going to do a random Friday post or Friday fav post… but a hiking post is fine. Also I need to post something to get to Day 300. Just one more filler post I’ll be there. Hope you enjoy! 🙂
I don’t remember which days my runs were on, so this summary is kind of a joke.
ah Monday. Normally a rest day but it was too good not to use it for a run. Did 26 miles on Memorial day. Wrote a blog about the run to my former high school. It was a hot day.
Tuesday. Short run 14 k. So about 9 miles.
Wed-Friday. Work got busy. Friday put in couple miles. Weather was too humid.
Saturday. Just plain lazy. Watched the shuttlerocket (SpaceX Falcon9 capsule Dragon Demo-2) launched. Ended up it took whole day and didn’t run.
Sunday. out of guilt ran 20 miles. I orginally intended for 26 or more, but started out way too late. Just too much to do to get ready for work again. Great weather though nice cool 65 ish.
GVRAT progress. I reached more than half way. At 380 miles. There are about around 250 more miles, to be considered “finished”. I haven’t run that much in a month, 380 miles! Normally that about how much miles I do for the whole season!
I finally signed up another virtual race and it will take place in Atlanta. I am a bit nervous because it will be my first 100 miles. We have until the end of August to do it. The event itself has a 34 hours limit (yes, it is a 100 mile event).
I am nervous because I am running on an actual real course and it is far from here. I am thinking on the logistic right now, like how do I get myself down to Atlanta.
The curfew and rioting there is not helping. I plan to do it on the July 4th weekend, but nothing is concrete at this point except that I have paid for it already. Hopefully things will calm down a bit.
I felt when I started this project, it was more or less a journal for myself or a letter to myself. I didn’t expect to have an audience who would follow my stuffs.
The people who I expect would follow don’t — I mean those real life friends and family or coworkers. Not that my online friends are any less real.
Today probably a good day to go back on the stuff, which I was putting off couple days ago, that is, my pastor’s teaching and how I might benefit from them.
Pastor was speaking on the call by God (Jesus calling his disciples the first time and their responses) during wednesday service. This all related to discipleship, and transformation. I might not able to tie all these ideas together, since I was running at the time of the meeting and couldn’t concentrate 100% on the message.
One idea was we hear the call — those who hear, responded immediately to the master’s call. They would leave everything to follow.
I saw similar parallel in my life. You can say I got my calling of running. When I first took up running, I dove right in without hesitation or give a second thought. It was natural. I didn’t look back. I was 100% committed, because I love it. It is easy to do thing because we love it.
Time spent on training was not a cost at all. Racing though is expensive but I was more than happy to pay for it. I couldn’t wait till the next race. Usually I signed up multiple races way ahead of time and training for them was automatic like as a matter of fact a natural conclusion.
Calling involves turning our back on what we once considered important and leave everything to follow our pursuit.
There were much more to the discussion. I took the first point and run (pun) with it. There is the idea of repentent, counting the cost, denying own self, following the master, being committed to the end, and on. Jesus said, come follow me, I will make you into a fisher of man.
If any man comes after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. Mark 8:34. (ATV – Antin’s garbled version) Some version has if any wants to be my disciple.
(This was written a week ago, I was hoping over time, I could remember other points and flush them out or make them related to my running, but life got in the way, and I even missed the pastor 2nd talk the past Wednesday on Discipleship. So, here it is, before this blog get burried and not see the light of day)
[long post] Back about a month ago, I went on ‘a walk‘, which was really a long run but I was very under-motivated at a time and was too ashamed to call it a run. All my races were being canceled at the time and my training for my biggest race of the year (June 13/Laurel race) was derailing faster than I can blink, since I want to train in the woods for that race but couldn’t do it because all the parks were closed (and we were supposed to stay at home) – led to no LH#4 trip. I know I could have sneaked into the woods and no one would care or be able to find me. Virginia has a lot of woods and national parks. Rangers can’t cover all of them. There are places no one would go to.
The walk ended up being a 24 mile run, but was short of a marathon which was what I truly targeting, since the last few runs earlier were virtual marathon runs. This one fell short and couldn’t be used as a virtual marathon.
The cool thing about it was I got to see my neighborhood – the big neighborhood what I normally don’t get to see when traveling in in a car. I experienced how big my community really is. It is a new perspective knowing it is big, yet also feeling good that I could walk around it. If you look at the map, the path I ran has a triangular shape.
Near the tip of the triangle, is where Main Street intersects Lee Hwy and becomes Rt 236, and I decided to turn back at the time because I never walked across that street before (crossing over to Main). I felt that was a new frontier. It was like in the Lord of Ring, when Frodo and Sam said after taking one more step, they would left Shire behind. I was there not daring to cross it that day, because it would have taken me outside my zone (neighborhood) and into Fairfax city.
Well, this past weekend, I crossed the street and continued on much further, in fact all the way to my former high school. I spent the afternoon exploring that new area, basically running up and down on Lee Hwy and Fairfax Blvd (same street but their name changes along the way).
I got to my high school. It was remodeled after I graduated. It looked a lot different. I have been back maybe once or twice to watch a play and at another time for a football game (something I didn’t experience while I was in school, it was all 20+ years ago). Funny how time flies. I felt it was just yesterday I graduated. I was feeling though, that this run was like the first time being back. I was wondering whether our senior class gift to the school is still there (most likely not). This moment was strange too since school is out due to the pandemic. There were a few people around. Some were running on the track. One father was taking picture of his daughter who was in her graduating gown. There were many signs posted along of the side walk congratulating the seniors because they were denied of a formal graduation ceremony.
Sadden that this year there won’t be a high school graduation celebration
At the time though, I wanted to see if I could run to my university, which was another maybe 5 miles away. In the end, I was hungry. It was about 6 pm in the evening. I scratched the plan to run to my college, since there are fewer restaurants near the college, because it is outside Fairfax City.
So I continued down on Rt 236. Got my dinner. There are a bunch of asian stores in that area, where I was. Annandale is known as Korean town (now Centreville has taken over that title; or has become K2, 2nd Korean town). No, I didn’t get to Annandale yet, but its influence can be felt.
The sun was hot. My pace became a walk. I walked for the next couple hours after dinner basically around a 6 miles block, by turning on Pickett Rd, and again on Fairfax Blvd, which took me back to my high school, after passing Fairfax Circle.
The rest of the journey was uneventful. I saw a beautiful sunset as I was heading west. Fairfax Blvd becomes Main St. I stayed on Main Street, which later becomes Lee Jackson Memorial. Once I crossed back onto Lee Jackson, the rest of the run was like the previous ones. I was in a familar territory, my neighborhood. Funny, a month ago I wouldn’t have considered that to be familar to me.
Why am I going into all these details? It can be a little dry even for those who know the geography. Get to the point, right? I passed through many sections of my “big town”. From Centreville, to Chantilly, to Government Center, and Fairfax Corner, into Fairfax City. Fairfax City is not small.
Centreville and the surrounding areas have been blooming like crazy for the past 20 years, even last 5-10 years, the place has become unrecognizable. They are still building it and transforming as we speak. To me that is very exciting, because I live in a dynamic city. For example, while growing up, Centreville was not a Korean town. There was only one Asian store there. Two actually, a Pho place. However, over the years, now almost every store has become Asian, mainly Korean, exaggerating a bit here. The best things are they stay open late into the night (pre-pandemic). There was once a Korean restaurant that opened 24 hours. I never went out that late, but my friends said it is typical in Korea.
Example of Asian influence. Bubble tea stores are popping up every where. Bubble tea was going to be my dinner, though I ended up with a bowl of Pho, from few stores down. By the way, Pho doesn’t taste good as a carry out. Regretted of getting it.
In contrast, Fairfax City, while is still ‘expanding’, as I ran through it, has kept in its historical state. There is of course much history behind, since it was established 1869, but has existed long before that. I would say, the residents or local government has put a halt on it being transformed too quickly, because in the 50s, the surrounding area was growing at 60% [wiki] in population. That is quite a scary number (from 299,000 to 489,000) of people for the region in 10 years time. I think Fairfax too struggled to keep up at that pace. Things have slow quite a bit, especially the heart of Fairfax (the city).
Note, we have Fairfax City which is inside of Fairfax County. Sometimes they seem to be synonomous, but Fairfax is self-ruled, I think (and is separate from the County). While many other municipalities like Centreville does not have self-ruled, and is under the County’s management.
I felt I have walked into the past as I traveled down Fairfax Blvd. It was how it look maybe 30 or 50 years ago. It was just a weird feeling. Having been living in Centreville, and also working in downtown DC, I have come to expect new buildings and the modern look. But as I ran, I was saying huh, how come there isn’t any tall building here or there. Or why is there a strip mall here? There were a lot of ‘huh’ moments. It seems the locale is 20-30 years behind time. It is changing, but it is not doing as fast as out in the extended suburb. There are not many buildings/houses over three stories. Most of them are single story, flat. There are a lot of “green space”. All the surrounding places around Fairfax City has exploded with ‘high density’ this and that, but it seems Fairfax City is still a low density area. The image I had in my mind was like New York City Central Park being surrounded by all the skyscappers. I’m not complaining though, but that is how it comes across to me. I get the residents’ sentiments. People want to feel their root, how things look when they were a child here.
I came across a ‘house’, but it was like a farm to me. It might have been one. They kept all the land and now zoned as residential. There is a house at the very far end of the long driveway. This is rare in a city. I have not come across a lot of houses with a driveway, and one that is long, where you almost couldn’t see it. I said wow, I never expected a farm to be inside a city. Centreville and Chantilly used to be farm land too but now you can’t find any. You could if you drive a bit out to the next division/county over, e.g. to Cox Farm, where my sister loves to bring her kids there. We still have the street name called “Centreville Farms Rd” or Franklin Farm Rd, but no farm there.
To me, it seems people don’t want their neighborhood to be changed too quickly. Yet it seems also they are being left behind.
I was thinking, how come our city is not like say New York, or LA. Of course no one wants to be like them, at least not to have their troubles. But there is a good side in how ‘efficient’ city is when it is planed or organized. I have spent most of my running time, running in DC, or around my house in Centreville, and I just love the inner city feel (at least the rich part). I felt Fairfax or Centreville is missing something. It seems they lack a ‘vision’ of having a coherent master city plan. DC is a planned city. Yes, we have ton of growth. And Yes we have people who don’t want changes. But as I ran through the city (Fairfax City), I felt things got built or placed randomly. We do have zoning laws, but it doesn’t seem being done right.
Another thing we lack is an identity. We don’t have something to make Fairfax City unique. We have a lot of streets named after Confederate Soldiers/generals. This little history too I think one day will disappear because there is a movement to push back anything that has to do with the Confederate because of its tie to slavery, and the negative aspect (white supremacy), as seen in recent years’ protests, and antiprotests, and racial killing.
In DC, we have a lot of statutes and monuments and museums and government buildings to showcase – a tourism magnet. But in Fairfax, when someone speaks of Fairfax nothing really comes to mind. People make fun of it by saying we have Bulgogi (Korean Bbq). There is a video out there on Youtube made a few years ago comparing Fairfax with Arlington. Arlington has Starbucks. I think we have more than that!
I felt the city should have visible symbols that they can be proud of. We have a Fairfax Museum. I have been there, but it is nothing anything close to being like a museum in DC. There is nothing we can be proud of. Our identity mainly stems from being a suburb of DC. Fairfax City is even less developed than its surrounding. The whole city is underdeveloped, which is not neccessary a bad thing.
It does have an university, which was actually built outside the city because it couldn’t find enough land in the city (or that people doesn’t want anything to change within), that was where I was going to run to, but changed my mind as I was heading there.
Our county too lack a distinct identity. We are known as having one of the largest school system. We are supposed to be a pretty rich county, something like top 10 or even higher. We have tons of trails, for which I am glad. We have couple well known towns, mainly Reston, Herndon, Tysons, Vienna, Centreville, and Annandale. I leave out Alexandria and Falls Church for a reason (they have their own thing – self rule). I felt we can do better in term of having the infrastructure to support ‘future growth’.
Another example: The county has now a place for all its adminstrative building (in Fairfax Corners). But it seems to be a half baked idea. Not all the government functions are located there. I felt they should. We zoned it as such, why not make it a full blown the seat of the government for the county there? But we have too much money. We have three or for four different locations for the county HQs (headquarters). Might be a good thing. We have divided the county into “areas” by number internally, e.g. Area 1, Area 2, Area 3. Is there area 4? There is the north county, and south county. The government center, is on the west county, but we don’t call it as such. Weird, it is neither north or south. Don’t ask me which area it belongs. The area number seems to be labeled as such by construction people or some engineers/city planners (internally) and was never a name supposed to be used by the public. Schools though are divided by area number (weird right?).
It brought to mind as I ran, that DC has Wards (political sub division). I felt our county would be better if we are divided into wards, like DC. I don’t know why it is better, but at least I felt each Ward then would have its own identity. Ward 1, vs Ward 10. It is a bland identity, but at least it is something. Yes, voting wise, we have district – I am belonging to the Springfield congressional district even though the actual Springfield area is 20-25 miles away! They gerrymandered my area into theirs for historical reason. Don’t remember how many years ago that was. It is meaningless. I don’t vote for Springfield issues. There is probably some wise man, saying I got this wrong.
Another similar thought on identity is we should bid for an olympic event in our area. This actually came up last year or the year before when we tried to submit a bid – I think Baltimore did, they tried to get the Washingtonians to join them, though a lot of people I talked to were laughing at the idea – horrible idea to bring an olympic here to DC with our high security concerns. But we should make the place ‘tourist friendly’, and a successful olympic bid would do that. Also we should have a stadium or two, with at least one for the university. We should help our university to get into div 1 for its football program. Yes everything is about sport, especially football, in our nation. We should have national standing, and even internationally if we have an olympic here. The Washington Redskins were looking for a practice facility. We should have built one for them. However, many people opposed it. Not in our backyard, they say. Imagine every weekend tailgate party; the noise and mess of 40,000-80,000 fans streaming through your quiet neighborhood. No way, they say. I have attended a ‘big’ school with a football program. Ya, you can’t sleep or study with a game on.
I have traveled to couple other countries. I saw how they arranged their cities. There is some desire for my local area to be like that. Fairfax county/city right now feel a bit of being in the backwater.
Bland architecture. I felt the whole city is like this. Having been in “better” places, this has a rustic feel in the middle of the city. Not that they planned it that, but time passes them by. Not making fun of it.
Those were just some silly reflections. Not sure if they will ever get any where. I am not a politician nor have plan to become one. I see it as quirks or wrinkles of my locale. No one has tried straighten them out. Maybe some did and failed.
I got home after the sun has set. It was a long 41-42 miles run. My watch battery was low and I had to stop the gps tracking 6 miles short.
Watch data. 35 miles. I stopped it 6 miles from home. I ran the remaining miles using Runkeeper to track. (not posted). Destination: My former high school. It was recently renovated. Now it is a lot better looking. When I attended there, it was a flat ugly building, said to be built in 1936, like the shopping strip photo.
I am a bit tired after a run. Not sure if I can pull my thoughts together for a post. I am been wanting to post a lot so I can get to Day 300. Yes, I have a post ready for that day.
Every 50 days is like a pause to look back what has changed and how my life is doing. It is like looking at a big picture. I wrote up one about a month ago when I was bored with the quarantine/stay at home policy.
Surprisingly the last three to four weeks have been rather busy. For a couple reasons. I got a hang of the working from home thing and I also have a renewed interest in running due to the epic virtual race I am taking part in – The Great Virtual Race Across Tennessee, aka, GVRAT, and we are known as rats.
So each morning, I’d wake up and do my run and each night I would be out there 2-3 hours. I would be out on the road 14-16 hours over the weekend on Saturday and Sunday. If I feel good, usually I do, I go out again on a Sunday. Yes, I am I like the hamster in its little running wheel, never tired of running. I used to have couple hamsters and I would love to see them spin the wheel.
I get home late at night usually after 10 or 11 and am half dead, trying to stay awake to cook and stuff food into my body before collapsing in my bed. It is a good life! There’s too little time to think of anything else.
The big concern is how is my body holding up? It has tear and wear. I hoping it is holding together. I feel like Lazarus each morning – a dead man rising.
The hardest distance to run is not the long ones but the short one between my bed and door. As long as I could get out of bed, I would be running. I took this from the race director of GVRAT. It is so true. The first step is the hardest one to take.
Today, I received my shirts from two of the races, as well as a medal.
It is a big hunk of metal with the word Footlevelers Blue Ridge Marathon. Has a picture of the sun and mountains and trees. I did it virtually 26.2 miles. The quarter there for comparison. Probably 20 quarters can fit inside the medal.
The medal is from the Roanoke Blue Ridge Marathon. Originally I was going to run it twice (called the double) on the same day, but I chickened out, and did only the normal marathon. Later, those who have been following my blog, knew I ran 62 miles couple weeks ago, which is much longer than the double marathon. I consider that goal is reached. Maybe next year though I might try it for real.
Oh as a weekly run summary (back on topic), I ran a lot. 95 miles total. I had two days off Monday and Tuesday. I ran a total 42 miles during the rest of the week days, and on the weekend I put in 53 miles.
[old post] originally written on 2019 Veteran’s weekend
It was a wild weekend and I was still running high on adrenaline just thinking about it. I spent 12 hours in the car to do an eight hour marathon. I spent eight hours running before, and even 10. What tired me was not the race, but everything surround it, either before or immediately after. I overpacked my weekend, as always.
If it was the usual running, I wouldn’t have been so exhausted. It was too three other camping trips or outdoors events in one weekend, plus the cold weather, that really got to me.
Thursday, I came home past midnight and was franctically packing for the trip. Why I always leave things to the last minute? I don’t know. I had many things to pack.
I intended to do a bike ride on the race course on Friday, which mean I had to hit the road at dawn to get myself down to the course around noon. Fortunately, I didn’t wake uo in time on Friday and didn’t leave my house until 11. I brought my bike any way. It took up all the backseat section of my truck. Luckily, I did not try biking because it was way too dangerous. I am not a pro to do downhill biking with such steepness they have there at Kairos resort.
Then I had to pack for Friday night cold camping. I brought the usual stuffs, tents, sleeping bags (two of them), fleece blanket, pillow, toiletry kit, food, cooking kit, fire kit, safety/med/first aid/injury kit, water and filter, flashlight and batteries, camp shoes, and hiking boots, and lot of thick hiking socks. Cold weather gear – wind breaker, wool layer, a base layer, long johns, spandex underwears, head cover, gloves (two kinds, inserts), and more socks (for sleeping). Then duffle bags. You got to waterproof them even if no rain was forecasted. I got together four or five bags. Yes it was overkilled. Oh, let not forget my stuff animal. I love my cat! It served as a good pillow.
Then of course the big event, the race itself. You got of think of clothing for pre-race, race, and post race. Pre-race was a fleece jacket over a long sleaves and a short sleeves. I had tights on. I ran with my camp boots with two layers socks. I had two buffs on, one over my head and one around my neck. I had my racing glasses and a heavy trucker cap. For hydration pack, instead of being minimalist, I had a 20L hiking daypack. It held my phone (which I forgot in the tent), my thick wallet, my Sawyer water filter but forgot the sawyer water bag. My set of keys. I carried a wool long sleeves, and a clean shirt to wear at the end of the race. Two bottles one with half filled with Gatorade, the other empty to be filled at water station because this race was cupless. I also carried an empty hydration pack (2L). Keeping all the things needed for the race was not fun.
During the race I stripped down to only one layer and the rest of stuffs went into my day pack. After the race, I pulled out a clean set from my pack and bundled up. I know I could have left everything at the starting line (because starting and finish line was at the same place) or use the dropbag and left them at an aid station. Silly me to carry everything on me. I don’t think though that was a reason it took me an hour longer to run the 50k.
Ah, I placed in my truck also four pairs of running shoes. In the end I did not wear any of them. The hiking boots did it all. They are now very muddy. Surprised to me some finished with very clean shoes. I am just sloppy I guess.
Don’t forget the food. I brought lot of them, both for pre-race dinner and breakfast. I did my shopping on the way. Unfortunately, I did not pack the food to eat during the race. I brought a lot of food too for after the race meal. You have to eat a lot to add back the calories lost during the race. I did not eat that much though and brought all the food back home. I did not have an appetite after the race!
Saturday night camping was an optional challenge. I could have driven six hours home that night. I would have arrived around midnight or a little after. However, I had a habit of sleeping immediately after a long workout, so driving the long distance home would have been a very bad idea. Or I could have stayed at a motel/hotel along the way. Spending money for such luxury and I did not want to when there was the ‘free’ /low cost camping available. My campsite was only $15 with race discount (about a price for my meal).
The other option was to go camping at a place nearby. Jefferson Forest is just down the street (still about 30-45 mins away) and Salem, which is where I wanted to do my hiking (the Triple Crown). I thought about going there and hiking about 10 miles into camp. So, I packed a separate bag for all the light weight gear for this second trip. Fortunately, the plan didn’t pan out. I stayed the second night at the race course venue. It was all by myself then since everyone else had left and I got to unwind on a dark and cold night (moon was up). Still being by myself, the night felt darker.
I had the Saturday night camping as an option was because my friend and I were supposed to go to do the Triple Crown, which is really close to where I was racing. I would have gone there if I knew for certain that my friend was going to be there and that she would be happy to see me.
However, she said her plan has changed since I was going to do the race and she did not feel like driving six hours to hike by herself. For me too doing it by myself was no fun, knowing she probably was not there. Also even if she were there, we kind of still left on a sour note the Friday morning, so I did not want to run into her not knowing how she would reacted if she saw me. It was a no-no to be out in the middle of no where with someone who doesn’t want to be with you. However, I had all the gear with me and was ready for that trip after my race. I just was not able to will myself to do it. Physically, I know I can do it, but mentally, I was not.
I had no regret because there was nothing better than to be able to unwind after the long race. I did. I built a fire, both for cooking as well as I had nothing better to do and there were a lot of fallen branches. I sat all night by the fire by myself tending it. This was a big thing, because I was not good at making a fire.
Then on Sunday morning, I had to leave at the crack of dawn to drive back and to have everything pack up ready to roll out. However, I overslept again! I would have a long drive of about 5-6 hours back home, except I was not going home. So it was not a leisure packing up, but a rushed packing. Just I threw everything into the back of the truck and drove. The morning was beautiful!
One of my friends wanted to do a day hike in West Virginia at Harper Ferry. It was his birthday and it has been a tradition we started last year to get together. So, I was beating the traffic to get back by 11ish to meet up with him and his other friend.
I packed a separate bag for this day hike too. I would be simple since at most we would be doing only 5-6 miles. It is a cake walk for me. However, a hike is a hike. I carried the daypack that I ran with on Saturday. The day was warmer, but I had my fleece jacket on. I had hiking pants and boots. My pack was light. I had a fresh shirts and pair of socks.
The birthday event took whole day, but there was still one more event left — church. I didn’t mind the slow pace stroll. We had a lot of fun catching up. It though caused me to be late for evening church. However, I ended up of not going. I had packed a fresh set of clothes for that event. I had also intended to shower first before going to church. I did not want to smell like I had ran an ultra and spent two days camping and a day hike before arriving at church. In the end I missed the evening church.
I closed my day with stopping by my mom’s place. This was not planned. However, they don’t care how bad I smell. I found out then everyone there was sick, from the oldest to the youngest. Even the family dog was sick. I stayed a long time, talking and listening to my mom talked.
This post ended up longer than I wanted to. It was because, man I had an awesome weekend both with the race and time by myself, and with friends and family. I did not end up being with the one I wanted to be with, but it was definitely a worthy trade-off. Sometimes, you can’t have everything.
In awe 