In awe

Category: running

  • [612] WS Training wk8 (1.4)

    Last week of January and my training had been through a rough patch.

    Snow came and gone. Temperature was warmer now (70F this weekend).

    No more excuses of not running.

    Why sign up for a race if I don’t intend to run it someone asked me? Many people would want to take my place! 🙂

    I guess I have to put more effort in it

    This week had some exciting news. I participated in the Vermont 100 lottery. I did not get in. But the whole time I was on the edge of my seat. Then I was hoping to get on the waitlist. I did not get placed in the top of the list but around middle at number 82. As of today, I was moved forward to places to #80. It is not likely I will be get in. I was offered to crew for a friend so I hope maybe at the last minute on the day of the race if somone drops out, I could take their place. Keep positive!

    Another lottery is coming up. Wasatch Front 100 lottery is taking place this weekend. I will be again on the edge of my seat. I hope to get in. There is a 30% chance. Vermont I had 50% chance. By the time this post goes live, I will know the result.

    Race related: I checked (map study) the Old Dominion course.

    I planned to sign up for Icy 8 (next weekend). It is also Twot 100. Holiday Lake is still open. I almost signed up for Red Dirt 100. I might still go. There is Mt Michel marathon. I didn’t think February would be so busy.

    I need to train for BRR 50. I hope to get a better score this year.

    Tuesday: double run day.

    Thursday: run

    Saturday: 5k race.

    Sunday: Clearwater 50k!

    MWF: slept in

  • [611] WS week7 & 8 (1.3)

    I don’t remember much. We had two snow storms. They shouldn’t interfere with my trainings much because most of the snow started or peaked during the day time after my normal morning runs. However, I chose to sleep in on both day.

    So nothing much to report.

    Monday. I believed I went out to the Bull Run trail and did 12-13 miles. Monday was a federal holiday, so I did not work. MLK.

    Tuesday, an excuse to sleep in. Snow did not start until later. I don’t know if I ran since I did not record

    Wednesday. I remembered I went out on one of the snow days and it probably was on Wednesday. Training on snow was hard. It was still soft on Tuesday but by Wednesday there were patches of ice. I stepped on couple of them and did some weird Michael Jackson dances but didn’t fall. After those couple close calls I decided to just walk the route instead of running it.

    Thursday and Friday, I don’t remember being out. We had a second storm system plowing through. I took the night off.

    Saturday, ran on fresh powdered snow for 10 miles. It was a good workout on muscles I rarely used. Running on snow is a different beast. Was moving slow. Downhills were especially fun. I tripped once and almost fell in face first on a creek but was able to regain my balance at the last moment and cleared the water. After that no more running for me.

    Got two new pairs trainers, both are trail shoes on discounted prices. Happy about them because they were discounted. I wore New Balance before (road shoes but ran them on trail) that did not work quite well at my last MMT (feet were hurting badly at the last 25 miles). I plan to test/use these for my MMT100.

    I still need some road shoes for my normal marathons. Personally I perfer wearing Altra Lone Peak but mine only last through a season. Devil Dog 100 totally trashed my favorite Altra. I have two other Altras for road but they seemed to fall apart too after a few marathons. I probably put over 100 miles on those as well.

    Funny story (or a stupid thing), I never considered wearing trail shoes for trail racing until after Burning River where I did not have much traction support from my worn out road shoes on a slick muddy downhill trail where I took a few tumbles. Now I swore by it thag trail shoes are really made for trail races!

    Health report. My left foot has completely recovered after a few days of resting. Now my right foot is acting up a bit after the Saturday run. Not really hurting but whenever I stretch it or curl up my toes, I felt some pain. Also, my weight has gone up a bit (4 lbs) maybe from a few days of resting.

    Week 8 (last week of January) is mostly like week 7. I missed couple days of training for some unknown or reasons I couldn’t remember. Anyway, I will try to do better, now I am over a third of my 25 week plan. 16 weeks left. It was a good time to refocus.

  • [610] WTF 50K

    This is the second half of the last post when I got too tired to finish.

    Waterfall 50k (WTF50k) was like a walk down the memory lane when I attempted the first (virtual) waterfall run in 2020). I don’t remember why I even wanted to look for trail to run in the middle of a cold winter back then. I might be training for something. On a cold Christmas Day in 2020, I decided Waterfall was the hike for me, and I downloaded the trail notes and drove out by myself. At the time I had not met my trail family. I did everything by myself back then. I wanted to get into this run many times but I was not able to because I always missed the opening signup date, so I did many things by myself. The way of how the club work was not known to me at the time. This was back in 2020.

    Ever since, I had kept my eyes on the Waterfall 50K run each year to run it in person. It was usually occurred on the coldest and nastiest day in our winter. Finally this year, I got to run both the MMT training run 1 and the Waterfall all in one weekend. That was a lot going on and as in my last post, mentally I was toasted, more on this. But now I have my trail family, and it is quite fun to see the same people over on both days.

    Two 50k back to back is kind of crazy, but hey, as an ultramarathon runner, we kind of get used to it. Still the course was not an easy one.

    This year WTF50 fell on another coldest day in the winter. The whole day was below 24 F (probably was between 18-24), and we knew it would be cold the whole day. Waterfall course would be mostly the last part of MMT, with Kerns Mountain, Duncan Hollows, and then Bird Knob. Duncan Knob is the extra and also going up Waterfall is not part of the MMT100 but it was worth it.

    My memory of WTF was the nasty river crossing on Orange and I thought that was the Waterfall mountain. Nope, that was just the Orange trail, was it it at Gap Creek or Duncan Hollow. It was just nasty mud stepping on a creek up the mountain.

    I never really found out what so bad about the real waterfall mountain climb until this year when I actually ran on the course. It is on Orange as well, but there is just one steep climb up to Chisman Hollow Road. Now I finally got my geography straight in that part of the trail from the parking at rt211 to here.

    I arrived early as I usually do for all races. We were scheduled to start at 8, I made sure I was there before 7, I think I arrived around 6:30. I was not the first car but there were three or four others already arrived. Some had stayed from the night before. I could tell from the way they parked. Some were still sleeping inside their cars.

    Again the day was so cold. I got out my car to stretch but quickly jumped back inside. Soon many other cars started arriving. We filled the lot. I checked myself in with the RD (Q and Burr). We had a group pic and some pre race briefing and we were off. They said we would have a clear day (no rain or snow in the forecast) but apparently they (weatherman) were wrong.

    I was with my friend Amanda. I met her during my first MMT, wow it had been so long ago, since 2022. It was like a reunion since. It brought back memories. Amanda is well familar with the Orange trail since she had done the ring (twice I think) and this year she is preparing to do the reverse ring. The Ring is to run the whole Massanutten trail (70 miles) and the reverse Ring is to do it in the winter from another direction. I haven’t done the Ring myself, so I don’t know if it true that the Reverse Ring is way harder, but that what everyone said.

    I followed Amanda and pretty soon we were climbing up on the Waterfall Mountain. The course was dry. But the climb was unforgetable. It was so steep. We hiked up. They had doughnuts for us at the top.

    We reached Chrisman Hollow and we continued up to Kerns. I was more familar with Kerns having ran on it so many times for the MMT100. You can say I memorized every rock there. Kerns was my downfall during my first MMT, so it is always in my mind as being hard.

    Today though it was not that hard. Yes it was rocky. And the leaves made it hard to run on. It started snowing when we reached about halfway. I was fine with it, but our group speed slowed down. There was another runner in front of us, but unfortunately, I did not get her name. We hiked the whole Kerns together until Jawbone.

    I was still with Amanda. Amanda was being nice of not passing the the lady in front until the lady stopped to use the restroom break before descending on Jawbone. We passed her. Amanda told me turn on Jawbone and we left Orange.

    Amanda and I ran down. It was quite exciting. Now I could recognize the trails and their names, it brought back memories of how hard it was to climb up on Jawbone during my MMT. Now going down on it was a cinch. It probably only took us 15 minutes to descend.

    We arrived at the first aid station. We were pretty much the last one to arrived. There Amanda went on to climb Duncan Knob, but for me, I decided to walk out with another woman, Angie whom we met at the there. Angie does not believe she had enough time to finish the loop, so call it a day. Though we still were responsible to get our butts back to the parking lot on our own power. Angie was hoping to get a ride at the net aid station. However, she did not know the way to get there without doing the full loop as laid out in our turnsheet. I don’t either, but I was guessing Chrisman Hollow should take us out. People at the aid station (Kevin and Carl) said the same. We also had the option to go down on the Waterfall at Orange. Since it was snowing, going down by that route was not a good choice. I was not sure on the distance, but our aid captain believe we could do it. I think the time was still early, around 10:30 or 11 ish. Angie agreed to take the road. Together we decided to hike out.

    I did want to go up to Duncan but it was snowing a bit hard at the time, hiking out seemed to be a correct decision.

    Angie is from NC. However she and her husband had done many of the runs with the club. She is not new to trail runner. She would be fine walking out herself. However, since she was on my training ground, I decided to accompany her. We talked about many things. They (her husband) will be doing Iron Stone 100k this summer, a race I was considering.

    The walk out was uncomplicated. We just stayed on Crisman until we got to the Visitor Center. There was an aid station at the visitor. We had to be there before 2:30. Since we were taking the road, it was not an issue for us. Also we already dropped from the run. Soon other runners who finished the Duncan Knob loop popped out from ascending the Waterfall Mountain the second time join us on the road to the Visitor Center. We had some fun cheering them.

    There was a runner, a very fast runner, one of the top 10. He did not know the way or had the trail note or map on him. He ran by following another runner. The person he followed was an unwilling party and the guy did not wait for him. He was chasing the dude from station to station.

    So he asked Q and those at the aid station for direction. So they told him a quick version. Stay on White, turn on Orange, then turn on White. Orange, Purple, Pink, and back on Orange. It was a bunch of colors. We knew there was no way he could memorize all that. They simplified for him to turn whenever he sees a new color. It was a joke and we all laugh. We knew the guy would not get lost because he was fast and he was aiming to catch up to the dude who just left the aid station.

    We too went out from the Aid Station heading toward the 211 Parking. We would not ascend to Bird Knob as others do but to keep on white to the picnic area and then turn on orange. There were only two or three miles to the parking. While on the last part, the first place runner (Barett) passed us. We initially though no way he would be one of us because he was so fresh. I did not recognize who he was at the time. He had his hood on.

    We arrived just a little after Barrett finished. For us we ran 17 miles. He did 31 miles, almost twice our distance. The dude was not even breathing hard. It was like a light jog in the woods.

    I initially wanted to go back out to do the Bird Knob loop since I still had time, but it was so cold out there. They lit the fire and offerred me soup at the finish, and I was too comfortable to go back out. I ended up just staying at the fire for the next 6 hours or so watching everyone finishing their run. That was my day.

    I have not successfully finished Waterfall yet. The time requirement was quite tough. We had about 9 hours. But meeting the 2 pm cut at mile 21 is quite hard to do. I know I will try it again next year.

  • [609] MMT Tr1 and WTF50

    MMT Training 1 was finally here. We did the first 32 miles of the course. I waited a year for this.

    MMT stands for Massanutten Mountain Trail 100 mile endurance race, a run I have been doing the last couple years and is very if not most important run for me for the entire year. Last year, it was my biggest race. I finally “conquered” it. But still, somehow I am back at it again this year for old time’s sake.

    It has a series of training runs leading up to the race day. Today was the first of four. I refer MMT both as the trail the race runs on, the mountain itself, and of course the race and the training runs. Everything is MMT. We often call the trail the orange trail or just orange because it is the color of its blazes (trail paint). We have many of our club runs taking place on it. The running club mainly started because of this race many many years ago (and the other race called BRR, but that is another story).

    The day was as cold as last year. We met at Signal Knob. I arrived at 5 am like before and got myself a parking spot. Parking wouldn’t be an issue since half of us would carpool to the start. Signal knob was where we would be finished at. The group met here around 5:30 to sign in and then carpool to the Caroline Furnace and we would run back to Signal Knob Parking.

    The key to this is slow people would get a ride and fast people would finish first, then someone slower would drive them back to their cars. It always work out everyone would get a ride one way or another and no one would be strainded.

    This training is a point to point run as will the next one. Only the third and Chocolate Bunny Run would be on a loop.

    I got a ride from Tony just like last year. We arrived and waited. This year, the ride was more subdue. I only know Tony, John, and Lorraine. Only John was talking the whole way. I didn’t mind. John was funy and my role model. People mentioned I am trying to be like John to show up at every running event. Little after 6:30, (maybe 6:40) we were given the go signal from our RD and off we went. There were about 40 of us.

    We ran up the Moreland Gap Road. Soon we were sorted out by our pace. It was the same road we ran on a couple weeks ago for the Boyer’s Furnace 50k. I like seeing familar ground.

    Kevin slowed down to run with me. He was the guy who finished Western States last year and was also at the Boyer’s Run. We talked about it. I told him not to wait for me since he is a faster runner. He was defintitely excited for me. He got into Leadville this year, so I am excited for him too. The other guy, Charles did Leadville last year, so it was really cool. Charles was not here today. I unfortunately did not put my name in the Leadville’s lottery, so there is nothing for me in hoping to get in. Thinking back, I should have. There’s always next year, or join the Life Time Fitness to get an entry.

    When we got to the Orange trail (MMT trail), Kevin and a bunch other guys took off.

    I was with a friend, Lorraine, whom I met at the Iron Mountain the last few years. This was her first time on the Orange. I liked to play the host, since she was on my training ground. She is a faster runner than me, but she held back to run with people so as not to be lost. I was pretty sure she has prepared for the run, so even if being on her own she should be okay. She is an experienced trail runner, who probably started running before the time I learned to walk. We stayed pretty much together until Edinburg (aid station).

    It started snowing and also strong winds (gusts at 50 mph) were in the forecast. Lorraine was wondering if trees would topple over since the ground was saturated. We started seeing signs of strong winds. The howling from the winds was all around. Yet, we were not being blown very hard yet. There she and some others decided to head back to Caroline Furnace using the service road that ran parallel to the trail. It would be still quite a run for them. We had ran maybe 10 miles on the Short mountain so heading back would be just as long, but at least it wouldn’t be a full 32 miles as the course is called for. It is easier to get back from Edinburg than at the later station.

    It was 10 am, I made it to the first cutoff and decided to move on to Woodstock. We had to be at the next cutoff before 2:30 pm.

    I was moving fine but alone. Now I moved a bit faster with no one in front. Not long later I caught up to two of my favorite runners, Jeff and Jamie. They were usually faster than me but Jamie rolled her ankle and Jeff hiked with her to make sure she would be fine. Jeff gave her his trekking poles to use. Then he used some sticks he found for himself as in the year before. I always like him. What a gentleman. I slowed down to hike with them to Woodstock. Jamie was hiking but in a pretty fast pace.

    We talked on various things. These two runners made me very happy as usual. I ran with them during my MMT races. Jeff has done MMT 100 and the Old Dominion race many times as a young man and until now. He gave me advices to be prepare for Old Dominion. He said expect the the heat. They ran it in 95F. Actually, last year when we met at Old Dominion, he pointed to me saying, he and I have to do this race. He has a buckle already but me, i’m in the hunt. At the time, I laughed it off, no, Old Dominion is too hard for me. Now, here I am taking it on!

    They say to set “realistic” goals so we won’t disappoint ourselves. But I say, let shoot for the moon.

    I arrived at Woodstock by 1 pm. About the same time Wayne and Cheryl arrived, the two of my other good friends. I was excited to see them.

    I set off for the last leg toward Signal Knob parking lot along with Jamie and Jeff as they set out. We were in a group of about 6-7 people. There was Daisy and friend, Aaron and Nathan. Wayne took a bit of time so I didn’t wait for him, knowing he is fast himself and can easily catch up.

    This section to me should be the easiest. Last year, I ran through this. I had expected to run through it again, hoping to beat last year time. We had about 12-13 miles left. We had at least 4 hours to do it. The elevation would not be much since we would mostly descending.

    Wayne and Cheryl caught up. I decided to do a good deed for Wayne, who was being held back to stay with his friend Cheryl.

    So I said to him to let me take over. I could stay with Cheryl and Wayne could run to the finish.

    Initially, everything was fine. We descended from Orange after meeting the Blue trail (Tuscarora) from our left. We turned left on the service road. Jamie made a call to the RD (race director) to let him know she is ok and would expect to make it to the end.

    We caught up two other runners Aaron and Nathan, who signed up for MMT 100 this year and out on training run, just like most of us. Jamie and Jeff were on a hill over. Our progress thus far was not bad. I hoped we could stay together all the way to the end.

    Time passed quickly. We came to the last mountain, going up to the Meneka/Bear Wallow/Sidewinder Tr.

    This is part of the Signal Knob loop. To me, this is home tuff because we only have about 4–5ish miles to go. It was 3:30 pm ish, so we still have 90 mins before 5 pm when sun would set. To me, that was plenty of time and finishing before sunset was not an issue. Often times in the past, I would run down from Signal Knob. It is easy on this side of the mountain.

    I had the gpx course file loaded on my phone but I was not using it. There is no need.

    Cheryl had improved of knowing how to use the directions from her watch. (see the story on New Year, when we got lost).

    As we were decending from the mountain through a series of switchbacks, her watch threw her a curve ball saying we were off course. I was pretty sure we were on course to the parking lot since to me, there should only be one way off the mountain (and now I checked, only one way, unless bushwalk). Our way was the quickest.

    However, we came to a fork on the trail maybe 3 miles from the parking lot. I was joking with her of asking which way we should be turning.

    She was confused. Her watch was not working. I took the left branch, still being on blue (but my friend hadn’t learned to navigate by blazes). The right is the trail was to Mud pond/ mud gap was on a different color. I knew not to take that trail.

    She asked me to check my trail note. I refused. But I know my trail note did not mention this trail. Cheryl believed we were close to the finish but as we hiked on, it seemed taking longer than expected and it let her to believe we were really lost because in her mind, we took the wrong fork and we should back track.

    Sun was setting. Wind got stronger and temperature was dropping fast (from 60 to upper 20s, that it was around freezing). The temperature has been dropping throughout the day because a winter storm was on it way across the nation. The same storm system that caused a deep freeze through the US later in the week.

    Cheryl started to panic that we were lost on the mountain and probably we would be frozen to death. To me, we were not lost, and I clearly knew we were only a few miles away. I told her before we would come to several side trails like that and a stream crossing below.

    Her panic became a near total breakdown. Tears streamed down. She was not moving much. I urged her to keep on going as probably we were only half mile away from the parking at the time.

    Nothing I said had any effect since she held onto the idea that her watch was infallable. Convincing her that I know the way or that we were on the right path only caused greater distress because I said those same words before couple weeks ago and got her lost ;). She kept repeating it is just like last time (meaning we were as lost as last time). I stopped responding to that. It is not like last time.

    Later the next day, I was validated with a friend who confirmed his watch was also wrong at that section. There are many (technical) reasons why the watch is wrong (I won’t discuss it here). I ended up pulling out my phone and showing her we were on the race course. I am not sure if she believed me then. She followed me. Otherwise, I would have to run down to the finish to get some people to come up to lead her down.

    At the last mile, the sun had completely set. We were going up on a small climb. She said, there shouldn’t be any more climbing, which was a correct idea I shared with her before, but this little climb was there from the year before. So I knew we were still going the right way. No point in arguing with her.

    I continued to urge her there was only half a mile left. She later said that was longer than half a mile. She was right (half mile only starts at the group campground, where Orange met Blue), we were not at the campground yet. I didn’t intentional lie. I was just was not sure exactly how many miles at the time. I judged the distance based on my map and it showed 800 meters. I knew we were very near.

    Then we saw two volunteers (Tonnie and her friend). They were either out to look for us or out for a night run. They urged us that we were less than half a mile away. We could see the Fort Valley Road. Cheryl said, she did not remember there was a road there. I told her, this location was different from when we started in the morning. All trails look the same to new trail runner. Road meant we were near to the parking lot and in no time, we popped out the forest. RD cheered us and relieved that everyone was accounted for. We were given warm soup/ramen and bread. They cleaned up and packed up. I was just glad the ordeal was over. Cheryl’s husband thanked me.

    I was not lost, but the way Cheryl’s reaction or crying made everyone there believed I let her the wrong way or on a longer way. It is credible because couple weeks earlier I did lead her the wrong way and everyone knew that. So here we were again. RD was being diplomatic saying, it would be interesting to review her watch tracking later. I am pretty sure the tracking would support me.

    I was a bit miffed. We missed the 5:30 cut off by a bit, so really was a DNF. I think we arrived around 5:40/5:50. We could have made it earlier if we did not slow down the last several miles, doubting which way to take. I was not doubting but I had to wait for my runner to make up her mind of which way to take.

    Anyway, for me that day, getting in by certain time was not too important. It was but then wasn’t any more. I was glad no one was hurt. I believe it was a good object lesson for my inexperienced friend. I like giving real life practical training to new trail users: The to-do and not to-do when one is lost. Cheryl certainly learned/relearned many of the things I taught her during our first hike on the new year day.

    #1 Lesson: again: dress warm for the weather

    #2 always expext the unexpected. Murphy’s law

    – expect to stay out longer than planned.

    –map/directions. who didn’t bring a paper map but relied only on technology? gps is not 100% accurate especially out on the trails. Have a second and third backup, such a phone and a paper map and a friend. Someone didn’t print out the turnsheet RD provided for this run!

    -Eat real food and water. my runner got tired/to the point of exhaustion by consuming mostly gels throughout the day. Gels work for marathon, but not so much for ultras. Ultras you have to pack your own food on your run

    -being independent. Most trail runners are pretty independent. We help each other, but each one is expected to know the way and handle the course by themselves

    –Preparation sums it all up. With preparation, you could handle most “emergencies”

    We had to get home early because many of us would be out on the trail again the next day to do the Waterfall 50k. I will leave that for the next post. (Basically, I dnf-ed at the waterfall, but that is for the next entry).

    Aftermath. This is pretty much a rerun of the new year post. Cheryl said no more trails for her, but her other friend told me pretty sure she would return. Soon a few days later, she messaged me about the Elizabeth Furnace Run in March, on the day the registration opened. So, I guess we are headed back out soon 😉

    My friend said, she learned roads are good because you can’t get pick up (rescue) if you are not on a road when you are lost.

  • WS week6 (1.2)

    Almost another 3 weeks. No it is another 3 weeks. I use 21 days as a gauge. This second set of 21 days was pretty hard. Training can hit a wall as well. It is not what I want.

    I want change in a good way. I want to feel a bit off balance all the time. This couple weeks seems to be my body coping with changes and tries to pull me back to the center. I need to push harder toward the changes I want instead of moving back to what I was. Yes I need a plan and stick with it. I need to up my game.

    It was only last week being the new year and with new resolves and new hope. This week already felt old.

    Monday: Normally I don’t run on Monday but I went ahead and did it. It felt good (or as least now it did)

    Tuesday. Rain. The reason I shifted my run to Monday was because of the weather. Morning was fine though. I don’t remember if I went out to run. Tuesday night, I was working on my Sydney trip.

    Wednesday. Ran well. Or I thought I did. I didn’t journal, so I don’t remember. I have been getting out the door earlier and earlier. Today I was out by 5:30 am.

    Thursday. A double run day. I ran in the morning. 10 miles. I was out by 5:15. It felt good to start early. In the afternoon, I had a solid hour of run. It was on a local trail too.

    Friday. I felt strong, but I took the day off, mostly because I would have some long runs on Saturday and Sunday.

    Saturday. Massanutten Mountain Trail 100 training run 1. 32 miles. It should have decent workout for me

    Sunday. Waterfall 50k, also on part of the MMT 100 course. It should be a good workout too. Duncan Knob, Kerns Mountain, Birb Knob. All good significant climbings.

    Update: There are so many areas to focus. Hill training, speed work, down hill, strength training, interval, tempo run. Before I know it, the week is over.

    I brought some new gadgets such as heart rate monitor. Trying to do zone 1 and zone 2 training to bring up my efficiency.

    My ankle is a bit better than last week. There is less a feeling something is wrong with it.

    I might have run a bit much, my right shin started to feel something. I lay off some miles and hopefully it would recover by next week. We will see. I am push myself toward my boundary.

    The week has been normal. Next week will start again. I signed up for some races. End of the month approaching soon. BRR and MMT trainings would be in full swing soon. I signed up for Catoctin 50k, I will need training for this. Last year I DNF’d it so, I am seeking revenge. Catoctin got some wicked hills. I need to go out there to do tempo.

  • [607] Mid Maryland 50k

    It was my first race of the new year. I was having racing fatique or hangover from last year. I am sure readers are too when almost every post is a race report. I was not going to sign up, sometimes it just a bit overwhelming to have a race or event every week.

    In the end couple reasons got me to sign up. First, a race is always a good training run because I usually run at my best in a race.

    Couple of people I know would be there. I drove up with Caroline who introduced me to her friend who finished Western States 10 times. I knew Tom Green would be there, but whether I could talk to him was unknown. My friend had a high certainty I would. There are many good runners in our area (or club) but actually to be able to talk to one is kind of hard. He is no just anyone, but a living legend.

    The race started on time. We expected snow, rain, and heavy rain. They all came pretty much on schedule. We were dumped with a lot of precipitation.

    The course was 6 loops, 5 miles-ish each and would give us 31 miles.

    I ran as I normally would. I carried a heavy water pack. I didn’t mind. I normally drink it all without having to refill it. I dressed warmly, and purposefully overdressed for the occasion. I had a rain cover on me, a fleece, and an outer winter coat. I also brought some hand warmers and one time use rain poncho. I planned to use an umbrella too, so I had it in the car at the ready.

    We arrived early and got a parking spot right in front of the start/finish pavillion. This came in handy because at each loop, I could go back to the car for my stuff and it served as my own aid station. I was not planning to use it, but since it is right there, I could if I wanted to. Many people set up tents and tables for their relay teams or their runners in the grassy area. It reminded me of Rocky Raccoon or Pemberton 24, races I did, that more like a camping trip. I did not have to set up my tent, though I had it in the car.

    First loop was fine. We had the best weather of the day. You could even see the blue sky through the clouds on occassions. We knew it will snow soon though. I ran with Lynne, a friend who came down from New York. Boris too, I think I met him before. He is a triathlon guy. So he took off a bit faster. Another guy I knew from a previous race (Naked Nick and Rock-n the Knob), Paul, was even farther ahead. Based on their estimated finishing times, I wanted to be between Lynne and Paul. I looked at everyone’s predicted finishing time before the run, so I had a general sense who to follow.

    After the first loop I was hot. I did not want to ditch my jacket though. Not because I would need it again, but I felt I need to learn to run when I feel hot. I think I kept it on for the second loop.

    I finished loop one in 1:03. It was not fast nor slow. My goal was to maintain the pace if possible and it would be 6:18 ish finishing. My predicted finishing time was 6:00 h but I knew it was tough to reach because the course had a bit of hills.

    Loop 2, I tried to keep up with Adeline, another runner, I met before, at OSS/CIA last year. She led me through the loop but I could not stay on her pace. I finished around 1:05 h as my split.

    Loop 3, Not sure if it started to snow now. I think I caught up to Paul. He did not seem to doing so well. He carried a heavy pack for some reason, like me. Since it is just a 5 mile loop, we didn’t really need that much water. I carried mine just to be used to the weight as a training. I was not wearing trail shoes either, mine broke and I haven’t replaced them. The ground started getting a bit slipery.

    Loop 4. Now we are more than 15 miles in. Snow had changed to rain. It was a good thing I stopped by my car to get a rain poncho. I assumed the one I brought was a winter one, but it happened to have short sleeves. It would do. Only my arms got wet. I also probably got rid of my winter coat by end of the 2nd loop. I was a bit cold now without my coat. The rain poncho though trapped heat well. It ended up balancing. I walked mostly. The Runner’s wall had set in.

    Loop 5. I don’t remember much about this loop. I met couple people.

    There were a long train of runners behind me. Some passed me.  Melisa from the Boyers Furnace Run was behind me.  I did not know that at the time but I heard a loud crash and so I turned around to look.  There she was on the ground.  Her friend and I went and got her back to her feet. The trail now was slick with wet mud. She stepped on one of patches and slided off. I recognized her as the birthday girl from Boyers run a week before. She did her first ultra on her birthday and now she was here to do it again.  We finished the loop together.  I was not sure my split for this loop because I did not check the time on Loop 3. I believed I came in at 5:25, meaning I was still hanging onto my pace.

    and finally Loop 6. Last loop. If Loop 4 was hard, Loop 5 was when heaven opened. Rain poured down hard now. I stopped by my car to get my umbrella. I probably the only one who ran with one. I figured, I likely would walk more than run. Carrying an umbrella would keep my upper body dry at least. Little did I know my hand would be freezing and the umbella get heavier with each mile. There were less people on the trail now. Many had finished already. My goal was if I could to pass my friend Caroline. I believed based on Naked Nick’s pace (our last race together a month ago), I would gain about 5 miles on her by then, but she was no where in sight. I was really hoping to catch her and possibly Lynne. Though at the time I expected Lynne to be maybe 15 mins behind me based on her last year finishing time.

    I started to run again even with an umbrella. I passed a few people. Winds were blowing strong. Some commented they wish they had an umbrella. The trail started to be flooded. At first I tried to avoid the water, but then it was unavoidable. I stepped through it. It was quite a joy. My feet were icy cold. To me, it made me run even faster. In my mind I was flying through the trail. It was slippery. I skided from left and right. Soon there was only a mile left. Caroline was still not in sight. I felt disappointed but then I knew, she must need plenty of time for her last loop then because by then it was closer to 6:30 (2:30 pm) otherwise she would not be able to finish, so it was good I did not catch her. I came in at 6:37 h (2:37 pm).

    I waited a bit (10 mins) to see if Lynne was behind me after I crossed the finish. I was getting cold so I made my way to the car. It was too cold that day to wait for friends and runners. We joked about being selfish when it comes to our comfort. I haven’t eaten much that day so I knew I was behind on my calories. I had snacks in the car so it relieved a bit of the hunger pain. Rain came down hard then. I was glad I was back in the car. I had warm clothes and everything. We called it a day and headed home. I got treated to a nice meal too.

    Caroline ran strong that day and finished the loop 20 minutes ahead before I came in. In an ideal condition, she would be able to do the 6th loop. I would not have caught her given my pace that day. It seemed the umbrella did slow me down on the last loop. I did the loop in 1:12 h. So, even if I ran the last loop in 1:03 or 1:05 time, I still would not have caught up. I would have to run under 52 mins, not an impossible pace, but a very fast 10 min mile (my 5k pace) on tired feet and hilly terrains to catch up. I was running a 14 min pace that day. The gap was too huge to overcome. Putting it down here, so next year, if I get to run this course again, I would try to reach under 1 hour per loop, possibly aiming for that 52 min on the last loop. Set high goal they say. Until next year.

  • [606] WS week5 or 1.1

    Nothing much happened this week. A new year! My weight is at 167 lb. Not sure if it has an effect on my performance, but I recorded it down. We will see if in June it is still the same.

    I had a kind of normal training like the previous week. Been waking up consistently and running consistently. Changes don’t come overnight. I mean performance here. I always try to see if I can do more.

    Monday: New Year. redeye 50k. It was a nice training run. I will post on it soon. The week does flow together from one week to another. I am losing track of time.

    Tuesday, couldn’t remember much. Probably was an off day. Missed evening training probably for the same reason.

    Wednesday: ran in the morning.

    Thursday: ran in the morning and again at night.

    Friday: felt a bit funny with my left ankle so took the day off. Also, so could run better over the weekend

    Saturday: Had a big run. Mid Maryland 50k.

    Most beneficial for me this week was I met the first person who completed the ultra grand slam. He is a friend of a friend. So I had some good advices. He also ran the Western States 10 times. I have watched many youtube videos, like Tom Evans’, but to met someone who is willing to opening talk about their race experience and who seems to have a genuine interest in my attempt at the race is rare.

    One of couple helpful tips I received was on pacing. As a runner, we should keep track of (all) the cutoffs, because crew might not give an accurate feedback of how their runner is doing, due to either misjudging the pace or being too optimistic of their runner ability. The key is keep moving, and moving quick through the aid station. Ultimately it is the runner’s responsibility on time keeping. He advised to carry a pace chart and cutoff time sheet on you.

    I think the most inspirational part was his last Western States (2014). It was humbling to know he was over the 30 hr time cut off at the first aid station, then fought back, going from aid to aid in near cutoff, but he made it to the finish line (splits are available online, which will be helpful for me to judge my own progress).

    I hope I won’t be the guy fighting from cutoff to cutoff, but I do have to prepare for that scenario. Race is toughest when there is no margin for mistake. Mental toughness.

    He said he will keep track of my race progress during my race. I think my splits will be available online almost instaneously (there’s a website for 2023, so likely it will be same for 2024). I think that is a motivation,when he said before I think of quitting during the race, know many people are following my progress. Yes, basically, don’t quit as tempting it may be.

    For next week, yes being careful of my left ankle. It is acting up for some reason. I need to be healthy to get through next week, which will MMT training 1, and also Water Fall 50k, another double day run.

  • [605] Redeye 50k

    Last year I had a faster finish (around 3:19 pm, and I mistakenly thought I finished at 4:45pm). I only remembered being chased by the sweeper. I did it in 7:19h, which at the time was disappointingly slow, but this year was an hour slower (8:17h). It was a fatass, meaning free race.

    Most fatasses in my mind are not real races and so usually I don’t run at my best. This year, I had both Boyers and Redeye 50k fatass with only two days apart, I did not even bother to run fast on either one.

    My goal was the same for Redeye as for Boyers, that is to maximize my time being on my feet as a training for Western States.

    I could have finish around 3 pm but I forgot how fast people normally run at Redeye. Most people managed to finish by 3 pm.

    And when I did not show up after 4 pm, the race director started to worry for me. I had assumed like last year to have until sunset (5 pm), and thus I did not push myself to go faster. Also I was with another person.

    I also missed the sweep because it was a loop course. When I finished the second loop, fhe sweeper already went out ahead of me.

    Trail ribbons were already pulled by third lap and generally, it was not an issue, but I was not completely attentive to the trail on my second loop, so I got lost on my third loop. In my mind, I thought I knew the way, but I in fact missed one of the turns at mile7. I would still have found my way even if I were completely lost, but I had to find the correct trail to be on the course and that probably costed 30 minutes or more. It was on me. However, now I am more familiar with the trails at that section.

    Last year the course was almost completely new to me. The way the race set up is we learn the course during the first two loops and on the final loop after the flagging were cleared, we would be on our own to find our way out, and many people don’t run the third loop. As an ultra runner, I took this as a welcome challenge. Welcome to the tough love of trail running for the uninitiated.

    The day was festive. Several runners who did Boyer’s 40 mile couple days before also came out for Redeye 50k. Boyers is a tougher course with 6500-7000 ft of elevation gain. Redeye only has 1000 ft per loop. So making it 3000 ft total. To us who has done Boyers, this run was super easy.

    Still we started with tired feet. I need the double day long run for my training. I had to go easy on the pace so as not to injure myself.

    Indeed, my legs were happier to tread on the hills of Redeye 50k than at Boyers. The technical section that previously caused me issues suddenly seem so much easier to handle.

    A lot of my running friends came out. I was almost the first to arrive. Tony T. was already there. Tony did Boyers too. Then there is Nick (I don’t know him but everyone seems to know the guy, and he joked of going by the name of Bartholomew). RD said he was definite that there was no such name on his list. It must have been an inside joke. The Bartholomew I heard of was Ash Bartholomew from Lucy’s Dad, YouTube video, of 2023 last runner of 2023 Western States. That story is my motivation to attempt Western States.

    Then there was Justin. He met me before, but I forgot his face. He brought his daughter out. It was a good chance for an reintroduction. They knew me from Massanutten. I was the guy who carried a bunch of hoggies (italian subway sanwiches) on my run and everyone still remembered me because of that.

    Wayne, my pacer from the devil dog, showed up not long after. Wayne also did the Boyers couple days ago. I model my training for Western States and or races after him.

    Along with him was a band of chinese runners. They were mostly from Maryland and I have seen them in the past, but usually in shorter races. We reintroduced each other again. Cheryl told me she met me at the Old Dominion while crewing for Wayne.

    Charlie, Wayne’s friend was there. We ran and trained together for the MMT (Massanutten 100) in 2023, a very hard race. Wayne and Charlie were discussing how to improve the core and bowel muscles so as not to get stomach issues during a run. They also talked about speed training. In fact, Wayne started his speed training since September. I noticed how much faster Wayne has gotten. He said, we got to mixup the training so that the body/training would not stagnate. He was talking about the mix of various things. He recommended me to do at least one session of hill training a week. Weight training as well and a speed work. He swore by MAF, something about keeping heart rate low during a run. However, but now he said that is improving too slowly, and we have to have some higher intensity on occassion. Speed work is new to me. As I said, I model my training after his because I have seen how he conquered some tough races I thought would be impossible to do.

    With all these tips, I felt my time at Redeye was well worth it. I need both knowledge and application. I got both that day.

    Loop one, I was mostly with Wayne and heard him talked on various things.

    Loop 2, Wayne took off ahead and we never caught up again. I was with his “pacer” Cheryl, at least that what most people on the course (I knew) called her or known her by during the MGM 50K, another recent race.

    Wayne had originally planned to stay with her, but even in loop 1, I realized Cheryl’s pace was too slow for Wayne but it was about right for me. So I stayed with her.

    Now Cheryl just got a brand new navigation watch but did not know how to use it. At the very first turn after leaving the aid station to start the second loop, she already made the “wrong” turn. It is a loop course so in reality it does not matter. However, I called out to her to let her know, we should be turning right instead of left. It should be a red flag that I should not stay with her.

    I knew my way around the park, especially after doing a 100 mile there twice. I was pretty sure which way was the correct way.

    Soon, there were some other runners caught up so as to confirm we were indeed going to the right way. I know some runners like Q, like to go in the reverse direction, which might have created some confussion. I think he did so to check on runners and also helped them with navigation.

    However, as long as one follows the course markings, it should be fine in going either direction except the final loop when the ribbons would be removed.

    We finished the second loop in two hours. Our first loop took us three hours (8:00-11:00). Our second loop, we were climbing up to the parking lot at 1:05. I was pretty sure, we (I) could do the next loop in 2.5 ish hours, so putting us at 3:30-4:00 pm finish.

    I got to the station, talked to people, since I was not pressed for time, there was no incentive for me to leave the station in a hurry. In hindsight, I should have left. Mike E was there. He told me the sweeper already had gone out to remove ribbons, but if we hurry, we could catch up. Cheryl said, she would not do the third loop without a guide. Since, I was generally with Cheryl on the second loop, I was willing to be a guide on the third. This was a bad idea, looking back.

    I felt we stayed at the aid station for a bit too long. Having done enough ultras, I had an internal clock to tell me when I should be leaving. Basically, if I were to stand around with nothing to do, then I have stayed too long.

    We checked the time on the way out, it was already 1:25 pm. On the third loop, My runner was much slower than earlier loop which was expected, since 22 miles ish, is the “wall” for many marathon runners. Cheryl is an excellent marathoner, but was not immuned to it. I was not hit with the same fatique because I was not going fast that day, also I have a higher tolerant for distances.

    I had expected my runner to be able to keep up with me. While I am a slow runner, my purpose that day was for my own training. By going slower than my normal pace, pretty much made my training less effective. Though, I was aiming for time on my feet.

    Her speed almost matched my walking pace. I did not mind, as long as she was still strong and moving. All the flaggings were indeed gone. There were like two to three runners behind us (They were Cheryl’s friends) but they were like 5 mins apart. In hindsight, I should have left her with them.

    By one hour mark, I checked on Cheryl, if she wanted to head back, we could still turn around before the halfway. At the time it seemed like a joke to turn around. We chose to keep going forward because distance wise is the same in either direction. Now looking back, turning around might have been a better choice because the directions to get back were still fresh but going forward we had more unknowns such as the chances of getting lost.

    Then, I met a fellow Devil Dog’s runner, Vladamir. We roomed together before the race at the Devil Dog. He was the second place finisher. I was glad he still remembered me. He was taking his family on a hike. I knew we were near the exit to Burma Road, maybe a mile or two and then we would be nearing the finish, because usually people with families would not be far from the trailhead.

    We took a left on the Burma Road and crossed a road to get to Taylor’s Farm Rd. From there, we should be within 3-4 miles to the finish.

    This section gets hilly. We continued on Taylor’s Farm passing Blacktop road (I don’t know the name at the time but I knew where it would lead). Note, we will meet it again later at Old Blacktop Rd.

    There was doubt whether we should be turning at the road. Cheryl doubted and stopped to check her navigational watch. I was pretty sure here we had to go straight, because making a right there would bring us to Camp Gunny on the Devil Dog course. I am 100% familar with the Devil Dog course and camp Gunny was not where we wanted to be headed toward.

    I was not following the gps course, but my memory from the previous loops. The course was marked a little differently this year at that section.

    I knew we would pass a foot bridge soon, which we did. We came to the foot bridge and made the climb uphill.

    My mistake was I forgot I needed to make a left turn after the bridge but continue onward for maybe a mile. Last year, I think we made the turn further down at the yellow blazed trail. There were two trails crossing our path we were on. At the time, my mind was drawing blank. When I passed the orange blazed trail I made a mental note, but I didn’t slow down to check the trail’s sign post there. In my mind, we still had further to go. As for how far, I did not remember and I was hoping to see something to jog my memory. I know in hindsight that was not the best thing to do. A better way is to check the map, which I did have with me.

    I believe, I might have gone about a mile. Cheryl caught up to me and said the trail was unfamilar to her. Actually, she had been complaining the whole Taylor’s Farm section, because her watch went off.

    She was absolutely right, my mind was still drawing blank of where we needed to turn. The trail did not seem to be the same. So I checked my phone. I did not download the gpx track before the start and my phone would not download it anyway because it always strips off the .gpx extension and my mapping program would not load the file without the extension.

    I had Google map in offline mode, which had saved me many times in other trail runs. From the Google map, I determined we were off course. Her watch showed as much, however, she did not know how to get us back on course. Cheryl insisted we to go back to the previous road crossing or use the google map directions, which as readers know do not work for trails.

    I presented her the options. I do vaguely knew where I was even though she doubted my directions. We had three choices at the time. One, to continue forward, I knew it would intersect a road where cars drive on. and we could either walk back to camp ot get picked up 2, to do Cheryl’s plan by going back to the previous gravel road, to make the turn she was insisting of turning, 3rd, was for me to find the correct trail of the course and finish the race

    Note, in either option 1 and 2nd option, I only would lead her to the road and she would be on her own. 1st option would be the safest and fastest for Cheryl. 2nd option I knew was a definitely the wrong way and we would only get deeper into the woods, but Cheryl did not believe me and she wanted me to go that way with her. I would not.

    For me, I could do either 1 or 3. I prefer 3 because I knew we were not that lost. 2 miles were easy for me to make up. We still had time since it was 3:30 pm then. I know, we supposed to be back by then, but things like this happened.

    I could get out quicker, but we could only moving as fast as she could manage.

    I was not too tired. I knew if I run it, I could be out in 30 mins to an hour by covering 2-4 miles distance. I could make it by 4 pm, but I was not so sure about Cheryl could keep up. At this time, she was not able to run but walk. It was 20-25 min pace. We had about 3 miles left.

    It was her first time being lost in the woods. She later described it as being “devastated.”

    I led her onto the Turkey Ridge Trail and she said, this looked like the trail at the beginning of the loop and was checking if that was the right way. She was trying to convince me to turn around again. However, I was sure where I was heading and stopped talking to her. She only expressed more doubts and confussion.

    I vaguely remembered being on blue, then orange and then yellow and white (blazes). Since missing the Turkey Ridge Trail earlier, I stopped at every sign post and read all their arrows and directions and distances. I was glad they gave ample information and I knew in general, I was back on course, though I had about 5-10% reservation. I mostly checking the post to know how many miles to the finish.

    Mike, a friend, who was volunteering that day, called me to check since it was already past 4 pm. Later, he told me that the runners who were behind us had came in and so he knew something had happened when we didn’t show up.

    I gave them my location saying we were on Turkey Ridge heading toward the campground.

    Once we reached the campground, I saw two parked forest ranger vehicles. I presented Cheryl another option, if she does not want to hike out, and believes we are still lost, she could ask one of the rangers for a ride back. Two miles probably would take only a few minutes in a car instead of having to run out.

    She said she recognized the place now.

    We got on the white blaze trail (I think was the South Valley trail). To me, this trail for sure would lead us to the finish. I still was being extra careful. Every turn, I would look and read all the signs. I made all the correct turns and got us back to the swinging bridge. I gave Mike another call saying we reached the Bridge (the Bridge was where we entered/exited the loop, a key location). Mike understood we were only half mile out and should arriving within 10 minutes. There was only one last hill to climb to the parking lot. I got us out.

    Lessons learned. I regretted taking a new person with me. I don’t mind being lost, because it was part of the training, but because I had to slow down my pace for another person, my training was not as productive.

    For Cheryl or anyone new to trail running, be always prepare when going into the woods, always carry enough water, food (calories), expect to be weak and tired and getting lost, expect being longer than planned, carry a map, dress warm, know the directions even when the course is marked, have a contingency plan, and carry a phone. Absolutely, be selfsufficient. I carried all those, but my runner did not, and it hampered our pace and could have ended much worse.

    We eventually got out of the woods. We have gone for 8+ hours (one hour longer than planned). We managed to finish before sundown. Cheryl’s friends were still there. Mike and Caroline joined in a brief celebration of a friend’s birthday. It all ended well. They did not have to send out rescuers for us.

    Epilogue: Cheryl though was shaken, but her spirit is not broken. She plans to do more trail running and has already signed up for the first MMT training (coming in a week), which takes some serious high level of ultra trail skills.

  • [604] Boyers Furnace Fatass 40

    They say it is better to finish than to start. I started the year with the Redeye Fatass 50 and finished the year with a fatass at Boyers Furnace (BFF), a 40 miler that loops around the Massanutten Mountain. It is part of the course of the Massanutten Mountain Trail 100 mile and Old Dominion 100.

    It is a wicked trail. Massanutten course has monster climbs and descents and Old Dominion course has roads full of rolling hills. Lucky we did this in the winter instead of summer.

    My goal was to have a good training run, basically to fill time. I need 13 hours on my feet. I like to run hard too, but today was not one of them. It was pretty obvious early on I could not mantain a high tempo run.

    We started a few minutes earlier than 7:30 after taking a group photo. The sun was coming up. We made the steep climb up to Kennedy Peak. I walked up and ended up walking most of the course.

    In the beginning, I was with Kevin J and he just finished Western States this year. I was able to bounced off some ideas from him. This year’s heat was not an issue. He loves the crossing at Rucky Chucky because the river was so clear and he could see the bottom.

    Charles S was with him and he talked a bit about Leadsville (because he did Leadville). He said if you are a Lifetime (some exclusive level, gold level or something) member you can get in without going through the lottery. It is a reason why 1000+ people enter but only 200-ish finished. Too many were overconfident of their ability.

    I was teasing him to sign up for Massanutten 100 and Old Dominion. I said when you get home, you have to sign up and I will sign up too. I checked when I got home (the next day) and indeed Charles signed up! Now I have to keep my promise too!

    Soon both Charles and Kevin ran far ahead and I was behind with the slower people. I was with Kyle, Tom, and Angie. I was told ahead before the run from my friend to keep pace with Angie. I met Angie last year at the Redeye. To me she was a slower runner and I had no plan to stay with her.

    My original goal was if I could stay with my Devil Dog’s (race) pacer, Wayne, however, Wayne was running too strong for me to keep up and very early on I knew keeping up with Wayne was out of reach. As being a more experience ultra runner, I learned to check my pride and run according to my ability. Today, my ability was at more a walking pace.

    Angie ended up being a resilient walker and set a strong pace for me. In fact, her walk pace required me to run to keep up. The initial 20 miles, I was leading in front, maybe about 20 yards or so, sometimes more and sometimes less, but she was always on me. Initially, Angie did not talk much after the brief first re-introduction. I told her where I met her before. She remembered me at the Chocolate Bunny run (a 50k night run around easter, part of MMT training). As she did not seem talkative, I did not bother her again, though knowing she was always behind me. Later, she explained she did not get enough sleep and was having a migrant. She later after feeling better was full of words and kept me company.

    Kyle too was around. We leapfrogged each other a lot early on. Kyle hasn’t done a 40 mile before other than in hiking. He hiked the whole Massanutten trail before for camping. So in theory, today run should be easier without the heavy 40 lb pack. However, he seemed to be much affected by a lot of uphills. I stopped to check on him a few times when he seemed to be out of breath after each climb, but each time he said he was okay.

    Tom, Charles and Kevin kept wandered off (to pee) and they kept ending up behind us from time to time. Even Charles, I think he got lost some point for staying on Orange at Veach, so we saw Charles over again.

    One constant was Angie. She was a powerful hiker. She was worried that she was in runners’ way but I told her, her pace was incredible. I believed she maintained a near 15 min pace. I told her with this pace she could finish a 100 miler. Indeed, this was the pace I set when I ran the Devil Dog 100 recently.

    After Woodstock aid station, Angie and a few others, Charles included, Melisa (birthday girl, she turned 40 and decided to do her first altra by running a 40 mile), took off and passed me. Note, Charles and Melissa and a few others passed us before but they got lost and made some bonus miles and so we met again at Woodstock. This time they passed us for good. I tried to catch up but could not until I got to Edinburg Gap before I saw them again. Sam another runner we met at Woodstock stayed with me.

    Woodstock was at a little after the halfway point. It was about 8 miles to Edinburg Gap. My aim was to get there before the cutoff. I wrongly believed it was at 5:00 pm, because I got my info from Angie, who said, we had to get to Veach by noon, Woodstock by 2 pm and Edinburg by 5 pm. I arrived by 4:57. It was my longest stretch. The downhill to Edinburg Gap was quite rocky. I thought I could have sped up, but I had to watch my footing the whole way.

    After Edinburg Gap, the course became easier. It was all on road. The climb was less steep. Then it was mostly downhill. I ran the whole way. It felt great to be able to finally run (stretching out my legs so to speak). I finished maybe around 7:30, 12 hours since I started (11:38:00 per time keeper(.

    We had a good after party. Many stayed or came out for it. We were teasing each other to come out again in two days for Redeye (on Jan 1) but many said no way. The sweeper Aaron (?) said this is the first time when he finished to see so many people still around. Usually there were only 2-3 left. This time, there were 10-20 plus people. Boyers is hard, but when treating it as a training run, it was not that bad.

    There were only three aid stations, Veach, Woodstock and Edinburg, but each was very good. I saw all my good friends. It was good seeing John and Charleen at Edinburg. I had a good time with all other runners.

    Sunrise after a mile up from Camp Roosevelt at an overlook on our way up to Kennedy Peak
    at Woodstock. I think I take this same picture every time I pass here because it is irresistable
    Boyer’s Ruins. I was glad to have Angie with me for most of the run, she shared with me all the waypoints that were coming up including here the Boyers Furnace
    We were running down on Moreland Gap Road (from Moreland Gap) and passed Caroline Furance. This is the start and end of the MMT 100 race. It brought back a lot of memories because that was my hardest race and I finished it. I ran this race twice and at the time running the final five miles were not fun. Today though, running 4-5 miles downhill gave a good feeling! I still had a mile to go to get to Camp Roosevelt, but when I passed Caroline Furnace, I knew the end was close.

  • [Day603] Week 4 WS training

    Time started to merge in my head. Week 3 week 4, like in ultras, miles and time just become a one big blur. I could not tell when one week ends and when another one starts.

    Week 4 is mostly mirrored week 3. We had the two back to back holidays.

    The roller coaster I did on Saturday knocked me out most of the week. Sunday, was Christmas Eve. Originally, I wanted to use that day for another hard training, but my body was broken. Rest was the right call.

    Monday being Christmas and for once we had very good weather. Alas no training either. I was mostly procastinating and putting on weight by eating whole day after being knockout the whole Sunday.

    Tuesday. Forced myself out and had an hour of low impact running. I always felt good once I ran. It was raining a bit and I ended my run early.

    Tuesday night. skipped due to having to work late

    Wed. Another day like previous. It was rainy and wet. Got my run done in about 1.5 hours. Personally I think it was good and much needed to be done. I was out of breath on some sections.

    Thursday and Friday was a blur. I probably didn’t run. Work was quite hard.

    Weekend, I had some hard runs. I did the Boyers Furnace fatass, 40 mi run. Then Monday a red eyes 50k. Probably a separate blog for each or both of them.

    Sunday was “resting”. I walked for 4 hours. Most of my body was still sore from the Saturday run.

    I blame the holidays. I did not get much out of this week training. Now it is the first of 2024. I really have leas than 25 weeks onward (we don’t count the last week before the race). The past few weeks were a bonus to get me started on this. I love it. It got me up to a mini peak. Now I could reset for another month and go again to get that base training for some real changes.

    My goal is really aiming to be ready by May. Of course, I will be doing the MMT 100 and likely OD100 before Western States. Originally, I was going to skip those for sake of Western States, but now there is no way I am avoiding a run. There is no reason other than I want it all! High risk high rewards. My own grand slam. Go big or go home they say.

    Change: I need to get back on the horse for week 5.