Hello #8 (last year anniversary): Somehow, it is my 8th year here on WordPress and 9th year of running marathons. How I remember it this year is the charge on my credit card (I did not sign up for the free version; the paid version has no ads). What can be better to celebrate by writing a race report! An ultra too. The reason I started out blogging was to journal my leap into my first ultramarathon. I think was a 50k in December 2017 (Virginia 1st Landing Seashore 50k, now goes by a different name, I might run it again). How the time flies.
Now onto Bimbler in Connecticut I recently did.
I ran the Bimbler’s Bluff the last few years, and have been going there with my girlfriend, Caroline.
Bimbler’s LakeFall colors on Bimbler’s Bluff (mile 9)
My friend ran by the Bluff’s overlook and said sorry no time to look. We’ll come back next year to enjoy the view. I took a quick snap and moved on.
My friend likes to heckle me, runner what are you stopping for when I stopped to retie my shoelaces and enjoyed the view. Yes, I got to pick up my pace too.
For this race, we have 11 hours from the extra hour of the earlier start. Other people have 10 hours. The early start was given for those runner who would not able to finish within the 9 hours and RD did not want runners to feel the stress of chasing cutoffs. This year, I really needed the earlier start because I had no confident that I could make the cutoffs.
Even with the extra hour, I had to keep moving in order to finish and also each aid station had their separate cutoff, with the last being the strictest (2 hours to run 9 miles to reach it, whereas the early cutoffs were around 2 hours to do 4-6 miles). Indeed, I would have to arrive by 4 pm if I were to run under 9 hours, and I was 15 minutes late and would have been cut if not for the early start.
I have a streak of coming in as the back of the pack runners in races so I know full well I got to keep moving to finish.
This year was especially true having came off from some recent hard races such as the Virginia 100, my legs had not been ready to do the Bluff.
I expected I would be walking the course. The day started off nice and warm at 42 F (5 C) and later would rise to 65 (18 C). Technically I could wear a shirt and maybe arm sleeves and be warm enough. Since I suffered from hypothermia not too long ago, even a bit cold got me scare. I bundled up with long sleeves and sweat pants and added a fleece on top. It was pretty early on I knew I did not need a jacket, so that became an extra item I carried. I did not mind carry extra stuff.
My pace was slow at the start and soon was the last one in our group of early starters. My girlfriend and I were battling to see who would take the lead. During one of her breaks, I snuck ahead of her. She soon though caught back up. She always then chased me forever until we got to mile 15, when our pace diverged. Though I got an update that she was only 10 minutes behind me at mile 30.
I came into the race with the injury from the Virginia 100. So at each aid station, I asked myself if I have the ability to get to the next station. Each time, I felt I could handle the pain/sore and went out again. Note to others, don’t run with an injury. Don’t do what I did. I need to preach that to myself too.
The first aid station was 9 miles out. There many faster runners started catching up and passing us. It served as a third of the way in the race. Note, the long stretch between aid stations. It’s an ultra so 7-8 miles are the norm.
Then by noon I reached mile 15, that mentally is like a halfway point but I knew the course was long. A fellow runner (Roy) told me that it is 33 miles and not 31 miles. I knew that deep down the course is long but hearing from an experienced runner reinforced it, that I had to run steady and be patience. It is a trail race so, distances are measured with an ish to the end. Plus/minus a few miles are acceptable to us. We knew we were getting our money worth. The race was really low cost.
Then mile 22 came. I reached there by 2 pm, pretty much in line with my last year split time. I had fun racing with a guy called Kevin. He was walking and I was walking. He arrived exhausted, so was I. Later though he passed me. He was part of the normal start so in theory he was still an hour faster than me.
I was two hours ahead of the cutoff. We had 9 miles to get to 5 pm station. 3 hours to do 9 miles is doable. This next section was on a double track (jeep road), so in theory everyone was moving faster. I wish I could run, seeing so many other runners passing me in full sprint.
I reached the final aid station at 4:15 pm. Now I gave myself a challenge if I could do 2.3 miles in 45 minutes. Note, this section is one of the toughest because it has a lot of roots, and tricky footing as well as rolling hills. It was hard to run fast.
I climbed the last hill hearing someone clapping and cheering. There was Roy, a guy I was trying chase down too but he finished like an hour ahead of me and came back out here cheering runners. I ran in to the finish, the clock was 4:59:59 (pm), but maybe because it was chip timed, my actual elapsed time was over 10 hours. Oh well. It was a good attempt to get under 10.
In 2023, I was waiting there until 5:15 when RD told me to pick up my friend Caroline because she did not make it pass the last aid station. This year, I was wondering the same if I needed to drive out to rescue her. Words were she’s gotten past the Rt 80 aid station and could arrive any minute now, since she was only 10-15 minutes behind me. We waited. Roy, our mutual friend went back out on the course to look for her. I stayed at the finish in case they want to send me somewhere. 6 pm came. Then we saw her coming in from the other side of the road. We knew she must have gotten off course or something but we were glad she made it back safely. Roy then came back out of the woods in the nick of time, so we did not have to go searching for him either. This race has no sweepers (there might have been for earlier sections but not here at the end). Other sweepers were handing in the course marking flags. That could be worrisome if the markings got taking down while runners were still out on the course. We had everyone accounted for by then. It was a good race.
Like any other years, we had to drive back home in Virginia from Connecticut. A six hours drive could easy extended to 8 or more due to traffic and rest stops along the way. We did not arrive home until 3 in the morning. Of course, we both had to work the next day (which is the very same day, since it was past midnight by time we arrived, but in my mind work is still the next day because I haven’t gone to bed yet). We tried to snooze snooze couple hours before daybreak and hope to survive work.
As for dinner, it was inconsequential. We tried going into New Haven on our way back at our usual place but could not find the restaurant. Possibly it has closed down. Panda Express at the Thomas Edison Rest Area on the Turnpike was the backup choice.
Time and season changes. We would like our experience to be like the former years. We wanted to see familiar faces and friends. We left Connecticut with a heavy heart due to receiving bad news some the people we know at the race from prior years are suffering with a serious illness or have a recent death in their family and so we did not get to see them this year. It was part of life cycle. This was my third time going up Connecticut, and we hope to make it one more time next year. I believe it was Caroline’s 9th Bimbler and next year would the 10th. We will see.
We praised our RD to able to negotiate with the weather god of giving us such a nice day to run. Thank you to all the volunteers for being out there.
My friend Jeremy was running the Wasatch 100 this year and I took on the crewing duty. I initially wanted to pace him during the night portion but the logistics was a bear because they would not allow us to leave our car at the aid stations. So, if I wanted to pace, I had to find someone who would be willing to give me a ride and pick me up again. I guess, if I really wanted to, I could have made it happened. Recently, I have been a much slower runner and I fear I could not have kept up with my runner if I were to pace, so crewing duty was the second best option.
Wasatch 100 is a breathtaking race to do. It is a matter of opinion of course. Another friend who ran in the Wasatch this year said, the views were just meh, unimpressive and I think it has to do with unchanging same mountain range we were on. But to me, the soaring mountains and the deep descents was what captured my heart the first time I ran it last year. The big mountains around Salt Lake lift up my heart whenever I look at them.
I wanted to be in Salt Lake City again, but to run the Wasatch a second time would be way too much work than what I was willing to made, meaning in my current physical condition, there is a small chance I would have finished. Wasatch is hard. A very hard race. Having done it once, it would be crazy to do it again. Except you know, ultra runners have a tendency to dare fate, and I was tempted to do it again. I did put my name into this year lottery and was glad I was not picked.
I flew into Salt Lake on Thursday. The run was next morning. Our accommodation was near everything, within 5 minutes from the package pickup and 15 minutes from the start and 15 min from most aid stations. Brighton, the night aid station was only 30 minutes away (compares to many other races I have been to, AS can be an hour or more from home base) and the finish line was about 50-60 mins away, which was in Midway, and we traveled past Park City, and Heber, which have the most majestic views around. And Heber or Midway is a charming town. I wished I had the time to stop and had a meal there. These were the things I missed out last year when I ran it.
I went to the package pickup first since my runner was still prepping his many drop bags at the house. I was hoping to run into some people I know. It was good to observe how other people preparing their bags and sensed the prerace jitter. Last year, I only used two drop bags, Big Mountain and Lambs Canyon, plus a roving bag I left with my friend to take from station to station (mainly Brighton and at the finish). Tek, another friend who was running in Wasatch this year seemed to used very few bags. I think because when traveling by plane, we were restricted how much one could bring along to a race. Jeremy drove to Salt Lake so he basically carried everything. He used every drop bag location, 8 total including one at the finish. I think was a very smart choice.
It is good to note the race is on a point to point course so it is good to have a drop bag at the finish too for those without a crew or or just want a change of clothes once done. Jeremy left a drop bag there.
Thursday was a short day. We grabbed a bite to eat after getting everything done and we headed back to our house. We had a chance to catch up with Terrence who was on his final race for the grand slam, something I did the previous year. He has been following my progress when I did my grand slam last year. This year, it was his turn and I in turn have been following his. We saw each other at most of our races this year except for Leadville, which I did not get in and so did not go. I was just excited as he was for his attempt and could feel his pressure and nervousness.
Crewing showed me a different aspect to the race. I love running in it and crewing too is special. In a sense, I was just as nervous as runners before the race, but there is also a calm that I won’t have if I were running in it. Also there was a sense of regret of missing out. If someone gave me a bib that day, I would have ran it.
There were other passerbys who saw the crowd at the pickup and asked us what it was all about. We explained that the runners would be running on the mountain range in the distance the next day from Kaysville to Midway and they are here today to drop off their supplies to use along the way and to pickup their bib number.
After the early meal, we retired to bed since we would be up by 3 am in the morning. The house was spacious and comfortable. I had an informal meeting with Jeremy to gauge what he wanted me to do and when we would be setting out. We had a few final things left to pack away. While our house was near to the start, I wanted to be at the startline at least an hour before the race to avoid any last minute stress. At every race or every year there will be someone pulling up late and rush to the start line. I did not need the added pressure to be that somebody. I like things being slow and easy. Jeremy joked that I dropped him off in the dark before anyone showed up. True, the timing mat people hadn’t put down their mat yet when we arrived. One hour wait at the start was not that bad. At least, we did not have to fight for parking spot. Note, runners were not allowed to leave their cars at thr start. For those without a crew to drop them off, they would need to take the shuttle from downtown.
The race started at 5. It was exciting to see running started off and they climbed the first mountain in front of them. We could see their headlamps bobbing up and down as they ascended. I stayed until they dissapeared from view. There was a few runners who started late. One was Amanda. Her crew said it was so stressful getting their runner to the start. And I laughed. I got to see her and her crew throughout the race. Many stories shared in between. Amanda struggled with sleepiness even as early as 7 pm. Eventually, she finished. Throughout the day, I tracked not only Jeremy but other runners I came across.
After the runners crossed the start line was a long wait before I get to meet Jeremy again. He was not expected to arrive at the first crew aid station before 3:45, and actually race day tracker showed he was not to reach there until 4:04. All aid stations were in remote areas so they would not allow us to get there until our runner was near. We had to wait at a nearby park (Washington Park) for our parking pass/permit before heading to the aid station. And there were so many cars there waiting, maybe 200 of them! It took me some time to find a parking spot and when I asked for a pass, they said my runner was still far away and expected to arrived at 4:04.
I so took this literally and dallied around even after I obtained a pass. Jeremy texted me to bring cold water, gatorade and ice. I had the first two items but didn’t have ice. I checked the time I should be able to get ice and back to the aid station within the hour.
However, I was not aware Jeremy was already near. I should have known since I ran this race before, toward the aid station was a ridgeline and is very runnable and then a good gentle downhill. It is where Jeremy shines. Also by the time Jeremy could text me, it should have gave me a hint he was within a mile away or less probably less than 15 minutes out. I should not have gone to get ice. Long story short by the time I was back at the aid station, Jeremy was long gone. He said it was a weird feeling coming in and not seeing me. I felt very bad too, because the whole race was to be there at the crew aid station I missed my runner coming in.
Anyway, I was incredibly upset at myself of how foolish I was to think I could get to a gas station and back. The inside scope was, what I did not know was Jeremy was still at the aid station when I got back, but because I was extremely upset with myself when I thought I had missed him, I immediately left without checking clearly for runners around the station. It was a doubly mistake. I did not realize this until later when I checked his departing time from the station.
I had to reset my mentality. I went for a good dinner then went back the house to shower and collect a few things for the night. Then I went to Washington Park to wait for my second parking permit for the second crew aid station. From previous year, my crew said she picked up my pass at 6:45 pm. Jeremy is a faster runner than I am, so I went asked for the pass at 7 pm, they denied my request and I realized they have been turning many people away too throughout the day and usually that was their auto response, they wanted us to go to them a few times.
Earlier in the morning, they gave passes to families once their runners have cleared the aid station Alexander. Jeremy has passed Alexander like a good while before I asked and I thought he should only have couple miles left, but was still denied for a pass. I told them the story that in previous my runner was 40 minutes ahead of the predicted time and he is likely will be the same and that I missed him that time. After hearing this, they gave me the pass. Through the race, Jeremy was consistently 2 miles ahead of the tracker time. The tracker of his arrival time was incorrect because Jeremy has gone extremely slow on purpose then sped up to his normal pace, doing what was likely a reverse split (I didn’t check).
Yet I was not able to get a pass until much later in the evening, at 7:30 or 7:45 pm. Earlier, the way to Big mountain was simple with only one turn, but I still screwed up because I panic. The turn directions given online were numerous and I was not a good or fast reader so I could not both read the directions and drive. I did read the direction ahead a few times but did not have it memorized and did not exactly understood (verbal language is hard for me). So I had to pull over couple times to check and reread the direction and still could not made head or tail where to go. I did get so a bit confused and lost, thus further delays. Actually, they could have said just turn right and drive for 15 miles until you see the aid station and then pull in. I am good with navigation by sight but just not good at following someone’s directions. They could have just give me the coordinates and I would be fine, instead of pages of pages of you will pass such and such golf course on your right or left or going through such and such junctions and then such and such switchback. Also my experience was by the time Jeremy arrived, there were enough spaces to park the car, and added insult, there were no volunteers checking for my pass. I could in theory arrived at the aid station without one. Yet, I did not want ny runner to be DQ with me not following the directions.
For the second aid station, they wanted crew to park in a certain side of the road at a place past the aid station. This time they did have a volunteer sitting at the entrance checking for passes. But Caroline, who was my crew told me she parked under the underpass before reaching the aid station. So that what I did. There were plenty of spaces there and no one was checking for passes (or no passes were needed). There was also a large lot before the aid station for parking too. I really did not really need to wait for a parking pass. To me, the whole parking scheme was not really needed for late (and slow) runners. It did prevent mayhem. I felt after a certain time, they should have released everyone to the aid station. Their system creates unnecessary conflict point and anxiety for crew and their runners. I did not want my runner to be disqualified because of me not bringing a parking pass. It was hard not to argue with them, that my runner was well ahead of their tracker. I know they have seen it all but to convince them my runner is different, who would believe.
I met my runner. He changed shoes and the whole time, he kept saying he got to be out soon. I believed he stayed till 9 pm, half hour longer than planned. The parking people was somewhat right on the money this time, saying he would not be there till after 9 pm.
I was hyped up at Lambs Canyon while waiting for Jeremy. I cheered and talked to many families and everyone, included one family from Connecticut. They were so glad that they ran into people who know about their race in Guildford. Then I helped as many runners as they were willing for me to help them. I stayed till after closing time to cheer saw the sweeper team went out.
My friend Tek eventually arrived at the aid station rather late. I have been tracking her too. She did pick up her pace later in the day, but it was a bit slower than what needed to get it done and too late. I think by the time she arrived it was near statistically impossible to finish. They say people have to arrive at Lambs an hour before the cutoff to have a chance of finishing. I saw many runners were on the fence at that point whether to quit or go on. Some, decided to quit, some went on. Some struggled with the decision unable to choice one or the other. It was part of crewing side, I don’t get to see when I was running, because there was no time to wait for anyone. I got her back out on the course, because she wanted to go on. She also changed shoes, so it took quite some time to do. Later on, next day, I learned she did not make through Desolation, a pretty much no drop aid station and to bail there mean a long walk to the trailhead. Same with Huy, who was the last runner to leave at Lambs. I believed they walked out there in the early morning around 5 am, instead of climbing over Francis Pass.
By midnight, I went back to the house to sleep. It was a short nap before going to the last and final crewed aid station at the Brighton ski resort. I drove there last year so I had some idea how to get there. It was not hard, but I still got a bit lost in the early morning hours. Near the resort, my GPS indicated I have arrived but it was dark and I was not at the parking lot I was supposed to be in. I think the GPS led me to one of the restaurants. However, I had no clue how to get from there to the big parking lot. After trying to make some few turns I finally arrived. I received Jeremy text that he was at Brighton. So we both arrived relatively at the same time, I then scrambled to find him and his drop bag. There were a lot of people at Brighton. It is well organized but I wished they had more signs out in the parking lot. Some runners were confused at to where to go, since crew used the parking as their setups too. I parked at the far end of the lot where runners come in. It was actually a very good spot for a crew station right out of the back of their cars. Many runners came in and called out their bib number to me, thinking I was a race official there. I should have carried a clipboard and pretended crossing off their names. I know, not to because they do have to report to real officials before continue on or drop at Brighton.
I did manage to find Jeremy and we got him in and out within couple minutes. He did not want to eat. His water was still full. I got rid of his wet clothes and he put on dry stuff. I told him day time would be hot and gave him his sunblock. Then he was off. He did not required a shoe change.
So I stayed at Brighton until closing. There I found out that Terrence did not make it in and Tek also did not. Bruce got a ride back to Brighton. He was a new friend I met, but heard of his name before during my run at the Western States 100 because he was a friend of my pacer. He was highly esteemed by my pacer. Now I finally got to meet him in person. We chatted about this and that.
Karen, who has done Wasatch a dozen times came through. Karen was the mother and son team. She ran with Jeremy a bit and we learned of her back story of how one year she was diagnosed with cancer and went on and competed the race. Her son was out their pacing her this year. She has a strong supported team who also ran Wasatch many times.
She was friend of Colleen. Though I haven’t met Colleen at the time, but I felt so welcome to be unofficially part of her crew. I was given do-negh (donut dots) and we cheered for every runners coming through. Colleen’s crew was worried that she wouldn’t make it. 7:30 am came and passed. Colleen did not arrive until 8:10. She seemed to be in good spirit and her crew would take her home. Even at 8:30 an hour after the aid station closed, a final runner arrived as I was leaving Brighton. I cheered him and drove off back to house to catch up on some sleep before heading to the finish to meet Jeremy, my runner.
11 am. I woke up, showered and then went for breakfast at Taco Bell. Jeremy was not expexted until 3-4 pm. I still had some time. I knew it would be a long day. After checking Jeremy’s progress, I figured I could get to a pacer exchange point to meet him at 8 miles from the finish called Top of the Wall. It was such a scenic drive there. I saw some big mountains and deep valleys. I wish I could stay there forever. Driving up to Top of the Wall was also amazing. Jeremy came through shortly once I arrived around 12:30-1 pm. I had to wait only 10-15 minutes and then off I went to the finish line.
I had still quite a time to kill because I did not expect Jeremy to arrive until 4 pm based on the tracker. So again I dallied with sight seeing and then hang out at the finish with a bunch of friends. Tek had drop and so was Bruce there. We chatted various things. I was excited and so were they. It is a runner thing when we discuss what races we will be doing. I ate my second lunch, a late late lunch of buffalo burger and ice cream brought onsite from a food truck. This is the best part of crewing is you get to eat and hang out. Unbeknown to me Jeremy already arrived maybe 30 minutes ahead of his projected time. He was standing in the middle of the field texting me saying he arrived. O boy. Really? I missed him? Indeed. I was not far away but I did miss the moment when he crossed the finish. It was kind of a booboo. I helped him gather his drop bags earlier and so handed those back to him at the car for him to change out his clothes.
We stayed at the finish a bit longer. There were some people who were part of our running club back home recognized me and Jeremy. Danny and his wife came over and talked to Jeremy. Phil, a grand slammer also stopped to chat. I did not know this year he struggled and seemingly did not finish the run, he said he came in but the final result showed otherwise, I did not ask why. Phil has many grand slam titles. Bundy, whom I think the oldest this year in his 60s, and I was tracking whole day came in as the last grand slammer this year. We also have one woman grand slammer this year. I was tracking her also but did not get to see her in the middle of all the commotions. I saw some got their buckles and the eagles. Amanda, a friend I met earlier came through as one of the final runners. I wished I saw her coming in as well but we were about to leave at that time and were standing in the parking lot when. Everyone was on their feet cheering as final minutes went by. We stood far away waving before headed home.
I believe the last runner made it in at the last minute.
Afterward, it was just headed home and sleep. I already ate and was still full. I know Jeremy wanted food, but he too was tired and needed clean up first. After showering, food was no longer desirable but sleep was. So we all headed to our separate room and slept.
It was a successful trip somewhat. I missed the runner couple times and it will go down in history of my goofball moments. Perhaps after this, no one will ask me to crew or pace them any more. I know things like this happens. I hate it that I goofed. The bright side was I did have a good time with all the friends I met there. I saw some amazing sights and kind of reliving what it was like to run in the Wasatch race.
Train station near the finishDrop bags lined up at the start. The bags at the finish also lined up same. There are 8 rows, one for each aid station with Bountiful B being the first one. Funny thing is I haven’t seen bags being lined up like this in other races. And no they were not sorted.
I had others to crew and paced me in my races. It is a little different now I get to crew someone in turn. It humbled me of how much there is to do and that one has to be on top of everything. While the trip was successful, I wish I had done better, I like to be a bit more perfect next time around. I initally joked with my runner that my most important task was to drive him to the start and take him back home. Indeed. He said, what about the in betweens. I jinked it. Yes, what about the in between. I had fun was what.
I ran in both Taipei and Sydney but did feel out of place while running there because there were not a lot of runners around except on a weekend. Running in Sydney felt more at home, due to less chance of running into people. I usually run in early morning to avoid people. Taiwan though felt small and often time the sidewalk is narrow.
The Sport arena in New Taipei where we picked up our runner’s package. It was about 30 minutes train ride. Notice, the signs are bilangual. Also, see the 7-eleven in the corner. They are everywhere. I felt they are better than ones we have here in the US. They serve (cheap but acceptable) food too. I was told that public bathroom requires squatting. I did not use one while out and about.While taking the bus to Wanli, we passed by Taipei 101. There was not enough time to stop for sight-seeing around the area. My Taiwan friend gave me a list of suggestions of places to see and food to try. I did several of them, especially the beef noodle dish, which Taiwan is famous for. And yes bubble tea (at the airport). Not that we did not have enough time to do everything, I just did not want to rush to rush from place to place. I had about 12 hours of sleep each night! Usually, I sleep from 6 pm to early morning (due to jetlag).We did walk around the memorial square, was it freedom square? Quite a big area. I climbed the stairs to one of the palaces. I think it is a concert hallMarathon location, Green Bay (Fei Cue Wan). We ran past other wan (bays) too but I couldn’t remember their names. Green Bay the most famous one. Leaving Taipei, the city is so organized viewed from the air. Taiwanese people are well known for their organization skill. There are a lot of future developmentsGrace Point Church in Sydney. We stayed near there. Arrived in Sydney but did not take many photos on my own. Houses, churches, school almost look the same. Everything is very blocky/rectangular. They love round-abouts. These two roads are main roads but only have single lane. People don’t mind going slow. On my way out from Australia, the security guard tossed out my sealed and unopened bottle of Vegemite (yeast, for bread spread). Just a few moments later, I found the “taste like Australia” stuff in one of the airport stores, bigger than the bottle that was tossed out. I did not want to be scammed again (by our TSA once I reached SFO), so I didn’t purchase it. I still have no clue what Australia tastes like
Hard to believe my trip of the decade/century is over. I don’t remember when I last went to Sydney. Some believed it was 2009. I was there for another cousin’s wedding previously and again this time. It was actually my third time. Was it really that long ago?
We did a lot the previous times, all the tourist stuff, like visiting the Opera House, taking a train ride, the walking through the Botanical Garden, the Aquarium, the ferry ride, the monorail, Blue Mountain, and the beach.
This time, I spent more time with my relatives and mostly just “partying”. We ate a lot. It was too boring stuff to post. Food blogging is not my thing. Also, blogging about family or the wedding is not my thing either.
I did try to remember what the wedding dress look like, since the last wedding I went to, a friend later asked me about the dress and all I said was I don’t know — to me all wedding dresses look like a wedding dress. Well, I tried, but I can’t recall the wedding dress this time either. Unless you have to pick one dress over another, I could not tell one from another. I could tell you about ram sticks and their clock cycle and latency, but dress, eh, they don’t capture my imagination as a piece of ram drive. Such is life.
My Uncle who has to be over 80 was driving me home one night, my last night there. I was thinking the whole time, how did I get myself in this situation. He was a safe driver, but if anything were to happen on the ride, my cousins would be blaming me for not declining his ride. My cousins love their uncle/father a lot but no one wanted to speak up telling him he shouldn’t be driving late at night. I was thinking, I could have taken the Uber. He was still a strong man.
He and his wife just wanted to spend more time with me. We went to his house and we looked at his plants (his pride possessions) and such and he also did not want his nephew to drive us home because they had kids and it was a school night (that was an excuse though because we could drop the kids off first). There are many of this kind of stories, I felt there was no point to share, but they were wonderful and weird memories for personal reasons, maybe too personal to share.
Yes, such as we did laundry and then drying them on clothlines (this is quite normal thing to do). Houses typically do not have a clothes dryer. I am just not used to airing my laundry. I think it was funny. Everyone seems to use the clothline. We are spoiled here in US.
Also, they do not have zoning laws like in the States or at least I think they don’t. I was running in a residental neighborhood, which seems to stretch forever, and occassionally, I would come across a business in someone front yard, a legit business like a cafe or a physical therapy or a hotel. It was just weird, but also good, I could stop any time to have a coffee in someone’s yard, and I did at the Swinging Monkey, which was just a small camper trailer parked in a front yard. It was just weird. Coffee was good. Aussies love their coffee.
At least, in my area in the US, if I leave one neighborhood, there is a distinct difference of a boundary. We use dead-ends to our advantage here. We have neighborhood with just only townhouses, single houses, or apartments. We don’t put it all mangling together. Usually, one community here is semi walled/separated from another, usually by a road or park or some natural/man-made barrier (trees, ponds, even fences, gated community). In the US, if I go into a community, I would get lost, unless you know how to follow the main road out. Because, usually in the US, roads just get smaller and smaller as you get deeper in and you eventually reach a dead end no matter where you turn.
Not so in Sydney. I ran like through 10-20 communities on just one street, and they seem no different from one before other than a change of name (street sign). There are no natural borders.
I have to give it to them of the good signage — they are pretty good in tell you which town you are approaching in a certain direction. I was looking for Burwood during my run, and luckily there were signs pointing me there.
In theory, I could wander around without a phone, without fear of getting lost and I tried exactly that. It was just a giant grid system.
For us, at least according to my experience, we build our community in a hub-and-spoke system, like a tree, trunk, branches, stems and leaves (because, we don’t want cars to go through local secondary or smaller roads) if they don’t belong there. It is rare where houses would be facing the main road in where I live.
Sydney is not like that. They do have interstates (Motorways), and main roads, but their secondary roads are their residential, and usually just one lane. There is no further subdivision. Houses are everywhere. There is no separation.
Their schools also are small. Elementary is just a small building that one could almost mistakenly think an apartment or something. They love their fences. Most properties are fenced off with metal fences as tall as a person. They don’t have big sport fields like we do for schools. They also don’t have school buses, at least I didn’t see any. So there is no drop off zone at school. I think eveyone walk or take public transport. There are no big parking lots (they call it car park). They do have parking decks (but not at a metro stop like we do). Like what! everyone parks on the street. Just so weird to me. Learning to parallel park is a must.
Most houses are built with concrete. Maybe wood is more expensive. We saw many rebuited homes. Some are two levels. They are quite beautiful and nice. Yes, their houses are smaller than in the States, but they were also nicer looking. They love their houses with long glass panels and concrete (modern architecture style). Almost all have a balcony of some kind. They love porches. And they were not obsesses with bathrooms as we do. The whole house usually only has one bathroom! My uncle’s house is a bit better to have a separate water closet (just the toilet with no sinks!). I don’t get the rationale of having a room just for the toilet. Maybe because it is a less frequently used? My little place here in the US has four bathrooms! It was not typical for Australians to have a bathroom in the master bedroom and separate one for guests or other family members in the hallway or one for guests or a mud room. It is a reason their houses are smaller.
I did some real running while in Sydney. I did not track how far, but probably between 30-40 miles. Could be even 50. I wish I did a night run. It was my best day in Sydney after the wedding day of course.
Unfortunately, I was not able to find some dirt trails to run on. I ran on the Cooks River cycleway (paved), it was better than nothing. There were nights, I could not sleep and I wish I could go out and run, but I did not want to wake up the whole house with my nocturnal activities.
There were not a lot of changes I noticed on this trip. It has been 15+ years since I have been there so I had expected something new or an evolution. Yes, they have more US brand stores like Costco or McDonalds than last time. They love Krispy Kreme like we do. They have Planet Fitness like we do.
One change I noticed was probably at the airport where almost everything was checked by biometric. Taipei even required finger printing of both my index fingers at custom. Hong Kong required facial recognition for even boarding, no need a passport or boarding passes (they trust their system). Sydney is still like the US, they still manually check our ID cards at the boarding gate with our boarding pass (which we scanned), but facial recognition is used at border entry and departing at security checkpoint. Note, in the US, we as passengers could pay for the biometric scan (just weird, to look at the machine and it determines if we could enter the country – Global Entry program). There were only 10 or so people using the Global Entry while there were several hundred people (maybe even a thousand), lining up for the normal border check. I was pretty sure, the normal line was also using biometric. I arrived early around 8 am. So what the difference? Not many people were willing to pay for the Global Entry for the shorter line.
I glad I went. I like Taipei more but Sydney was not bad. I would have gone any way, just for the wedding. I wanted to run and I did run. I reached my objectives. I was there for a wedding and it went well. I met my relatives. checked. I don’t know anything more I wanted to do, other than if I could go for camping in the desert or mountain. Also, I wish I could run on some mountains. Maybe that something for the future. Also, New Zealand is still a goal and it was not too far from Sydney.
I thought I have a good sense on my ability after these last 7 years. My fastest runs all have been in the early years 2016-2018. I went into Clearwater Marathon to do a 50k with more like a vacation in mind and not expecting to set a record. It surprised me when I finished faster than I ever had before. Must be the nice weather and water.
Clearwater is a destination marathon. When I checked the entrant list out of habit to see if anyone I know, I saw there were a lot people from out of states.
It has been on my list of places to visit since couple years ago. My cousin has been there. He isn’t a runner. You can’t go wrong with a visit to Florida in the winter. I searched and found they do have a marathon. So I registered. It served for me to cross off one of the 50 states. At least that was last year plan. This was before I decided to run at Space Coast.
I did an impromptu visit to Florida over the Thanksgiving and ran the Space Coast Marathon (report). I picked Clearwater over Space Coast because it was the cheaper option (my logic, ended up doing both, the irony of instead saving money I spent twice as much). A marathon in Florida wasn’t technically needed any more. Still, I like to run as many marathons as I possibly can. It was in the pipeline, and the show must go on. Other justification was this was a last fun trip before the hard work for the 100 milers.
Clearwater was kind of my first 50k for 2024. Road marathon, that is. Now here I view 50k and marathons to be equivalent. Yes, a 50k is almost 5 miles more, i.e, 31 mile instead of 26.
I ran a 50k not long after the new year at the Mid Maryland 50k race, which was a trail race in bad weather. Also I ran Redeye 50k on New Year day. Those kind of runs did not count because rail runs are a different beast. Trail runs are almost training runs. I don’t put all my effort in it like road races. Mostly it is the pacing. Trails, I run at 15-17 (even 18-20) min a mile but road races, my speed is higher and this time at 11-12 mins per mile. Road running is what I like the most. I like the fast pace, big hype, and many people. I don’t know why I like it. I just do. All those things are what many ultra people do not like (true, UTMB Grindstone, left a bit of sand and aftertaste in my mouth). The debate of road race vs trail race can go on forever.
Clearwater Marathon was held on a sunny weekend with 65-70F on a beach. It was a worthy vacation in the middle of winter. I can’t say enough, no wonder people love to go to Florida. Back home for me was still cold and in near freezing temp. Two different worlds.
My mom chose to come along. I don’t mind. I did want her to come along. Trips are better when they are shared to have someone to witness my performance and fun. However, I have gotten used to traveling alone, so having an extra guest kind of change the dynamic.
My trip started with a lot of rough spots and mishaps, though many were out of our control. First was the last minute need to go back to my house for my ID card (because I wouldn’t be able to board the plane without one). I didn’t plan to take the day off work, but situation forced me to leave my work early.
Then I had to pick up my mom, which was not on my agenda. She was going to meet me at the airport originally but some complication came up, too long to share. My mom always wants to do thing her way. She had arranged without my knowing, my transportation by asking my cousin for a ride for me! It was quite convoluted, in that I had to drive to such and such place, leave my car, etc, meeting her, wait for my cousin. Also on the way back, I would have to find a ride to my car etc. It is like 9-10 steps to get one thing done. At the time, we were expecting a snow storm on our return. I wouldn’t like planning things depending on contingency, like what if we won’t make it back in time. In our area, with snow, all plans are off. And indeed, we couldn’t make it back. Why don’t I just meet her directly at the airport, just one step. I can get myself to the airport just fine as I have done so on many of my trips. I don’t need my travel plan to get more complicated involving myself with everyone in my family and hers. Then the argument became, if I can get to the airport so easily, why don’t I go pick her up too. But she lives literally next to the airport. The drama. The planning differences between someone who flies once every 10 years versus one who does it 10 times a year.
It changed my travel plan a bit from taking the rail to driving and parking at the airport. It ended up being a better plan to have a car instead of taking the train, because I went straight into work once I came back. Having a car at the airport was nice (I could also leave my car at work). The cost was about the same (I got a discount for parking at the airport).
At the airport, the airport’s internal rail to our departing gate (concourse) was not available. We were not sure what happened, nor did the staff. No announcement was made. They must have taken one of the trains offline or trains were required single tracking (sharing the same rail going both direction). We waited on a crowded platform for 30-45 minutes at the busiest time with no train appeared going to C Gate and it brought undue stress for my travel companion whether we should walk or continue to wait for the train. A side comment, after being in many other airports, our airport at IAD is a bit over complicated and over-engineered. It also lack of signs and such of where and how you need to go if things go wrong, this time, train was not working. Taking the train was the main (and only) way to go from Gate (concourse) to Gate (concourse). And hmm, the planner never expected the train to not being available.
The train did come, and it was packed already. People were smart to take the train to B Gate then rode it back to C — which might seem logical but not, because the line is is not linear, anyway, they were smart in beating the crowd. Don’t ask why B Gate is in the opposite direction as C and our location we were at was not A but T, which is in the middle between B and C, yes Dulles is confusing; the staff told everyone not to board for B Gate train because it was going the other way, however, many did and ignored the staff. Luckily, we managed to squeezed in and we got to our gate just in time for boarding. The parking and train delay used up our two hours we planned to be at the airport. I was planning to work remotely at the airport as I had done in past trips. Not this time. We barely made it to our departing gate. I don’t usually use gate C either, being I don’t usually take this particular airline. I did it this time because it was the cheapest direct flight. When it comes down to traveling on 3-4 major airlines, there is not much choices. Each airline like cable companies carved up routes where they have a monopoly over. My opinion, air traveling is dreadful, yet the only way. (I heard stories of those making 3-4 connections to get to a place, such as my Idaho trip).
We arrived late Friday night in Florida (when all settled, it was past midnight). The car rental was a breeze though, because we got into line before the crowd showed up, but I was given an electrical car, which I did not want due to lack of charging stations available and the time (7 hours) required to charge it before returning it. I did not want to complain too much seeing the long line and took what they gave me. I know I could “upgrade” or change or cancel my reservation and pick a different car, but it was late and I wanted to get to bed as soon as possible because we would have to be up before 5 for my 5k in Saturday. I was grumpy because my trip started out since noon, and I missed both real lunch and dinner. A couple hour trip has turned into a 12 hour ordeal (yes, first world problem). All the while, back of my mind, I needed to sleep. I have been training my body to shut off around 8 pm. I was cranky by now because it was way past my bedtime.
It also added extra burden to learn how to drive an electrical vehicle. It was not hard, but took me time to google how to turn on/off the car. There was no on/off button like I expected. Basically, step on the pedal and go. There is the little shifter thing but it has only three positions (not marked) forward for reverse, shifting back to drive. No one cares about neutral, unless of course your car breaks down and it needs to be pushed. There is a button for park on the side. You could go directly into park from either the forward/reverse mode. I was playing with the thing since it was so simple to me and didn’t know I had it on reverse, so when I let go the pedal, my car accelerated backward. I thought pushing the stick forward was to start the engine or go forward. Yes stupid me of not reading. Polestar was aiming for the minimalist look and feel, so instructions and words are few. Luckily, no one or car or pillar behind the car. The car was okay. I had a scare. I quickly, changed direction and headed out the lot. A fun learning experience. This is like in a movie. Comical at best.
Our hotel was satisfactory. It was one of the cheaper ones but it was along the race course. Ideally, my mom could wait for me there while I run. I would go by it twice during my race. Ideally, but things never work out like that. It was only a mile from the start and finish. However, the plan fell through due to my mom unable to get to the finish line on her own, so she had to come with me at the start of the race and waited, so much for the hotel.
I needed the walk and training for my hundred mile while on the trip. By training, I chose to walk to most places because most places were quite close and I did not want to pay for parking. My mom walked along with me but however, due to her footwear choice of wearing sandals, she got blisters early on (first couple minutes into the trip). I told her to go back to the hotel to change shoes, but she wasn’t sure she could find me again, so she stayed close to me. I was not going to go back with her. I got a race to do.
By Saturday, I had to sleep early for my Sunday race. I slept well, but my mom was up and about. She blamed the coffee that kept her up at night but I think it was her being on the phone the whole evening. She got very excited when she talked with her friends. For me, I needed my sleep.
She also did not bring enough warm clothing. The weather was not hot as she expected but got windy and “cold” in the 50s. It was 45F in Atlanta during our layover. By any measure, it got chilly on Sunday even down in Florida.
Her wellbeing became my another thing I needed to check off. It was not a game stopping moment but issues like these put a damper on the trip (things like not getting enough sleep, not wearing the right clothes or shoes or bringing an ID or whether she has her medications). I felt like taking care an adult child. I don’t check these things unless it is taking a newbie on a backpacking, where safety issue comes into play, even then, everyone is on their own if one chooses to bring less things. It must have been so long since I had a trip with my mom.
Even toward the end of our trip, we ran into issues. We ended up being stranded in Atlanta after not being able to make our connection flight due to our earlier flight being delayed nearly an hour. We might have made our connection (with only 5 minutes for the transfer) but I went to the wrong gate previously shown on my phone/pass (they didn’t expect me making it, so it was already changed; I thought I could beat the system by going there anyway), which did not help. Delta gave us vouchers for hotel and food. It was not bad, but we were separated from our luggages. Our luggages made it onto the plane and arrived safely home (Delta held our bags for us; and we were grateful), but we were left behind in Atlanta.
There were also major oopsies trying to get to the hotel in Atlanta during our layover with many other stranded travelers like us. There were two hotels having the same name (they are different tier) and my taxi driver took us to the wrong one somehow assuming we were rich people (what, is it because we took a cab rather than wait for the shuttle?)! We were not aware of it until at the check-in counter. My mom said I was scammed. The receptionist told us to wait for the shuttle, which might take us to the other hotel. I thought not. I decided to call an Uber to get us to the correct hotel. I guess, I should have gone with Uber instead of the airport taxi to avoid such mistake. Only good thing was we beat the other hotel shuttle van, which carried all other stranded travelers. The hotel shuttle only runs once every half hour (we did wait almost that long but it seemed never came). We had our room first. It was near midnight by the time we had everything settled down. Things like these made me angry, but I swallowed my pride and rode it out. By then it was the third day of having very little sleep.
We did not even talk about the TSA. Yes, Unlucky me. I was stopped by the TSA. It delayed me at least for 30 minutes when normally takes only a minute for me to get through. I had to be checked like 5 times. The first time, they said I was a pre-check passenger so they waved me through (I had to hold a sign so that people knows I was a pre-check; weird that I was the only pre check there, and maybe because I was the only one), but I think my laptop was causing an issue. I think some areas, like in the South, there is a deep distrust of the federal government, so people do not use the pre check program. They needed me to go back to be rescanned along with everything. I took off my shoes, my jacket, my hoodies, everything they wanted. I don’t mind. I’ve been through three airports on this trip and each airport TSA procedures were a bit different, but yes, I knew carrying less is better, clothes, shoes, belts, no papers or phone in pockets. Funny, they said I was not listening to their instructions because I started to take off my shoes. There was absolutely nothing on me. The guard had no clue what was setting off the alarm. It was flagged by probably people in the backroom. They couldn’t find anything. I think because my bag also used for backpacking and has been to many places, so it might have picked chemicals like propane that might trigger the sensor, but nobody knew. Yes, I had a water bottle too I forgot to empty. 5 times I had to go back through the security! The thing is each time they had to search my bag again and scanned with their special x-ray machine and made me stand aside waiting. Each time they needed a different person to check. Each time, I had to request permission to let me back out through their special gate (they said I had to go back out and I can’t just walk back through the medal detector, which makes sense to have one-way direction to avoid confusion of who being checked) and I had to cut back in line with everyone staring at me. Note, I couldn’t touch my bag. They handled it. They tried placing in different direction (somehow orientation matters). Five times, so almost all its 6 sides were scanned. They didn’t put it upside down. Each time, I was flagged again to step aside. Each time, the guards there acted like they never seen me before. I was ready to do a full body pat down, which they did. Luckily, they did not say they wanted a further interview me, they did ask where I was going and who I was traveling with, and my flight number, which are routine questions. You know you must be in deep doodo. I could not think of why I was stopped. Must be the Florida water. It was all part of the procedures. Why 5 times, my best guess was the machine malfunctioned. Yes, I hate traveling. Insanity is to do the same thing over and over and expect a different outcome. They could have said, I need to bagcheck it because it wouldn’t pass their sensor.
It seemed like I was just complaining a lot but like running an ultra, when I set my mind to run my race, no matters the costs or problems, I will accomplish my goal. So I pressed forward relentlessly getting past all unexpected things that always crop up. Only this time, there were more issues than normal.
I ran my race and got it done. I got myself back home to prove I did it. I was angry. The trip was exhausting for me and was many ways different from my trips in the past. It was no holiday for me. Each thing was not much, but thousand things, I was dead by a thousand cuts.
As for my run itself, I enjoyed it a whole lot. I arrived a day early so, I could run a 5k on Saturday and to check the marathon course beforehand. Sunday was the main event.
The race organization was good. It was in tip top shape like many of my races. The police and course volunteers were plenty. The course was well marked with cones. Almost every block had volunteers. Aid stations were about a mile or two apart. I did not need them but it was good that they were there. People were friendly. Only one thing that could be average was they had to reopen the road at 1:30 pm. It was enough time for me to finish a marathon, but for some people, 6.5 hours is not enough time. (Space Coast kept theirs open for 7 or more hours, I believed the last guy finish at 8 hours — officially 7 hr course but unofficially 8 hr). No such thing here. I left about 2 pm when everyone too left. The last guy came in at 7 hours (30 mins after closing).
The double loop course made things easier. We ran two loops. I think looped marathon courses are kind of boring to run. It does have the benefit of not getting lost and to go a bit faster on the second loop. I did not go faster on my second loop though.
The half marathoners were with us on the first loop. There were plenty things to see. I did not talk to anyone but #40, he said his name is Deco but I couldn’t him on the finisher list. He did finish though. Reason I mention is for trail races, we like to know who we are running with, but road marathons, people usually don’t talk. It is two different culture. The competition is more intense. There was a half marathoner who tried to race with me, and she did beat me at the last mile. She was with me for at least 10 miles. I tried to engage her in conversation, but she had her earbuds on. I was ignored. Yet, I was aware she was next to me, running side by by side. I ran hard. So because of that I got exhausted before halfway.
I did start off faster than I knew was wise. We crossed over three bridges. Those were the tougher sections.
We started at Sand Key Park. There were plenty of parkings. Race started at 7:00 but we were there by 6:00. We ran to Clearwater Beach (on the road, mostly main road). Then we were moved to a wide sidewalk/bike lane around mile 3-4. We crossed over to mainland. From there we entered some residental areas. We passed by a golf course. Basically running in a big rectangular shape on the map and we crossed another bridge to get back to Sand Key Park.
As with most races once the half marathoners left us, it was very lonely. I hit my wall early around mile 13-14 to my surprise (normally I don’t until mile 21-23).
There were about 1000+ half marathoners but only maybe 300-400 marathoners. The ultra runners were even fewer, about 100 of us. So the course felt a lot empty after the half marathoners left us. There were a few marathoners and ultra (50k runners) around me but everyone was far apart. Unlike before, there was no more running elbow to elbow. It really cut any chance of a conversation.
I have been in the rut before so I knew I just had to keep moving regardless if people were passing me and leaving me behind. Aid stations were about every couple miles apart. I persisted to go from aid station to aid station. I did not use aid stations much on my first loop since I carried my hydration pack. On the second loop though, stopping at the aid stations gave me a target to get to. Soon I got back into my running pace by mile 15 and 16. As an ultra runner, I learned to set mental goals, such as reaching the next bridge or the next aid station. No matter how long or far, you just have to pull yourself together. You just got to do it over and over again. It is a mental thing.
I was able to catch back up with some runners now. I also know there would be many new runners and they would too hit their walls for the first time in their life. Pretty soon I saw a few started walking. This was still early, not yet at mile 20 when majority of people would start dropping into a walk. I urged those not to give up. I was surging forward.
At mile 17, the 50k runners (myself included) we had a 5 mile section spur of an out and back (2.5 miles out and 2.5 miles back) and we were separated from the marathoners. I knew, it would put me an hour behind the marathoners by the time I rejoined their course. This also was my second low point because we were leaving all the familiar people around us.
I knew I had to do it, to make this trek. I signed up for a 50k so this was my race and my course. Luckily, once I made the turn, I was with many 50k runners. There were at least a 100 of us. It was a surprise to me because for the past couple hours, it was hard to find any ultra runners and suddenly everyone I saw was an ultra runner. It was an out and back, so on my way out I could see the faster runners already on their way back and after the turn around I could see the slower runners who were behind me. I was not so lonely after all. It was in about 40th place, mid pack, dropped to 46th after the official result released. We all gave each other encouragements when we passed because we know how boring the out and back course could be. This cheered me up considerably when I saw people, especially those who were struggling, making myself feel lucky that I was still running. I started to feel my pace was not bad. At the time, I did not know I was running at my personal best. It was just natural. I was not straining. It did not feel like a record breaking run. Runners call this finding the flow. I was swimming in the current.
I regained my momentum on the way back after rejoining the marathoners. I did not feel extremely tired as before and I was moving. I took some gummies that were available at one of the aid stations and swallowed down some Gatorade. My fastest 50k run was a little shy of 6 hours at the Marine Corps Marathon (around 5:56 time). I was not certain I could beat that, since I have been much slower recently since October of last year.
As I rejoined back the marathon course, I saw an official pacer ahead. I was not sure what pace she was pacing, since she reached already at the end of the street (maybe 100-200 yards away – 300 meters).
I asked the aid station volunteers what pace she was running but they seemed not to understand my question. I asked a few other volunteers too, none of them know or understood me or they were ignoring me. I did not want to waste too much time at the station. It was late in the day (for they probably were out there for 4-5 hours) and volunteers were tired. Unlike volunteers at ultra events who are usually knowledgeable and ready to help, these volunteers were only there to pour water for us and probably hoped their shift would end soon. They felt they had down their job with all the cups available on the table and I was ignored. Maybe I surprised them as the only runner who needed more than water. Only way for me to find out what pace the pacer is pacing was to catch up to her. It gave me the motivation to keep the pacer in my sight.
Less than a mile later, I caught up. She was the 6 hour pacer. I knew if I stay in front of her, I would get my 6 hour 50k finish and likely PR (setting a personal record). I told her how helpful she has been for me to have her as a target. Even though, I did not run with her at the beginning (since I was doing an ultra and ran faster than marathon crowd, but having her at the end helped; note, 50k people did not have pacers; some races do, but not here), but in my mind I was expecting the 6 hour marathon pacer to be around once I rejoined the course. My goal has been to keep the pacer in sight.
Funny, I did not see the 5:45 pacer. Probably there was not any 5:45 pacer. Maybe I did but did not remember. Somehow now that I was on the marathon course again, I was catching up the marathoners. Ultra runners were moving much faster compared to the remaining marathoners. Most 6 hour marathoners were either walking or doing walk and run. For me, I got a second wind and I was running. It felt good to show off. Soon there was only 5 miles left. I sent my mom a message to let her know I am expected to arrive on time. It was 11:50, and I had only 4 miles left. In my mind, I know I could reach the finish in an hour.
Then there were 2 miles left. The resorts and condos near the start came into view. I started to see many more runners, because many were moving slower, but I was moving faster. Everyone was like 3 ft to 10 yard apart. I continued to catch up to people closing the gap on many. I finished at 5:39 (race clock, bib time was 5:37). I was just happy to get it done and set a personal 50k record while at it. It was 14 minutes faster than my previous record. Not earth shattering fast for a 50k, but it is 30 seconds faster per mile. I ran at a 11 min pace. I know there is still room for improvement. I take it and PR is a good thing. Note, a 12 min mile pace is my normal pace. It felt good to run fast. Of course, I would like to do it in 9 min or 10 min, because in an ultra, that translates to hours or more of early finishes. In a race, every second count!
Unrelated. After I just finished the race, a running friend texted me that I got into Wasatch 100 on lottery! He was the same guy who first told me about my entry to Western States, a bearer of good news. The drawing was the day before but they did not post the entrant list until Sunday. I was following the lottery but they had computer issues, so we did not know the results until Sunday. Not many people were aware of me getting into Wasatch than Western States.
What this means, it is a grand slam (to do 4 of 5 historically prestigious races in a sunmer; I got into 3 so far) minus Vermont! I am on the waiting list for Vermont 100. Come on Vermont! Let me in. A friend said I should write to the RD to petition for an entry (they do have provision tickets available for grand slamers, however, I did not select it during the initial signup). I rather try my “luck”. I am 73rd on the waiting list at the moment. My chance to get in is not that great but there is a chance. We still have 4 more months before panicking. If I get in, that would be great, if not, I won’t cry over it.
Also unrelated, I had a EV rental car, believe to be a Polestar 2. It drove fine but finding a charging station and charging it to the full 100% was impossible. We did find an EV charging station in an empty office building parking lot across from the Buccaneers stadium, and it was cool I got to see the Stadium as a side trip. The office parking was secluded (dark) and kind of creepy to stay there to charge the car. We felt like trespassers. We charged it for 2 hours and it got it from 75% to 87%, which was good enough if it was my personal car, however, our rental agreement required it to be at 100%. It probably would take another 3-4 hours to get it to 100%. I had to pay a surcharge for returning it less than a full charge. The fee was almost as much as my rental. Yes, my rental cost was quite low, cheaper than hiring an Uber. I was not happy nonetheless. I wouldn’t want an EV again but the experience of driving an EV the first time was well worth it.
Conclusion: We encountered a host of minor annoyances on this trip, but we were blessed with the warmer weather compared to back at home. Be thankful. We (I) had fun running my race and setting a personal record. I have been a slow runner, so it not typical for me to do a marathon and break a record. I take that gladly when it happens. Clearwater is definitely a destination marathon. I recommend it. I would go back if not for the other 35-36 more states I want to visit.
With my 100 mile races getting in the way soon this year, doing marathons would have to wait a bit till next year or later. There is at least one more marathon this year (Delaware in May). Clearwater definitely was a time to be treasured and remembered.
I am having my International Debut at the Toronto Marathon.
The trip has been short. I spent a night at Niagara on my way to Toronto. And two nights in the suburb of Toronto (Markam). It is maybe 45 mins north of Toronto. Traffic is pretty bad here but probably not as bad as back home in the Washington, DC area.
It is a bit far from the marathon start and finish, but there is a large chinese population and many chinese stores. Some considered this the new china town(s). For me, the whole weekend have been tasting many chinese cuisines. They are low price and good food. People speak my native language. I can understand them but I can’t speak to them. I had dimsum for breakfast, Hong Kong beef noodle soup for lunch, and congee/soup for dinner.
I had a bit of problem for the first couple days because of not able to connect to the canadian cellular network until I was able to sign up for a local data plan. I purchased a prepaid sim card at a supermarket. Many stores no longer sell sim cards because you could order them online. I didn’t know that before I arrived.
Tomorrow would be the Marathon. I have been resting quite well. My mileage has been quite low. I started the GVRAT – and this year, I am aiming to run 10k (ish, 5-6 miles) everyday for 123 days.
It adds a bit of challenge. Day 1 was good. Day 2 was a bit hard. Day 3 was very hard, especially with the trip to Canada. Day 4 and 5 were a bit better. The body started to adjust of being out there every morning. Tomorrow would be day 6 plus, the marathon. I don’t know if I could handle the day after tomorrow. I bet the body would be screaming for recovery.
The Amory at Niagara
One good thing about being able to run is exploring places on foot. I ran down either direction from my hotel, traveling 3 miles one way and then another three miles the other way. It doesn’t beat driving, but it does give a sense of accomplishment to cover the surrounding area of I am staying.
It is not my first time visiting Niagara Falls or Toronto, but actually the first time to cover a lot of miles on foot. One reason I picked Toronto Marathon (May race instead of the September race) is the course being point to point.
I think the race will be good. I will write more (hopefully).
While I had wanted Umstead 100 to be my first 100 mile race, Outer Banks’ Blackbeard’s Revenge was the runner up on my list. I ended up running the Rocky Raccoon instead in Huntsville, Texas as my first during 2021.
Since then I ran other 100 mile races and finally circled back to this one.
So I took Friday and Monday off to travel to North Carolina to line up at the start. It was necessary and worth the trip.
Aside, we spent 10 hours in the car there and 10 hours back, the drive was almost as long as the run (gps calculated that the trip only would take 5 hours, but I had to make some detours to pick up my mom, etc).
We had optimal weather window to run this. The rain did not come but only a little bit on Saturday afternoon. We did have some constant wind but it was calming down to about 15-20 mph. We couldn’t control the weather. Temperature wise was mild as well, ranching from low 50s to high 70s.
I enjoyed my time there while met up with some recently made friends from other races. At the package pick up, I ran into Joe and Simon who were my pacers at the Fort Worth Marathon last month. During the race I happened to meet Fernando on the course whom I met at the Devil Dog 100. I was able to ran with Fernando a bit, maybe 10-15 minutes until we arrived at our second drop location around mile 41.
sunrise of the first day
The main thing was I got it done. It was on road surface instead of trail. This was my first road 100 mile race. It was a fast race because I PR’ed it, running my best time, of 26:17:00, cutting the time from Rocky Raccoon by almost 2 and half hours.
The course was slight on an uphill at least that how I felt, but overall was flat as a pancake. It was also my first point to point 100 mile race. Logistics was about the same. I was worried about where to stay before the start. I chose Kitty Hawk to be closer to the start rather than near the finish. It was an option. One runner chose to leave their car at the finish and hitched a ride to the start, maybe about 3 hours drive. Another choice was to stay somewhere in the middle and I was kind of like that, about an hour from the start and 2 hours from the finish.
The race also offered after race shuttle to take runners back. However, this was done at a 4 hr interval, so getting a ride back can be tough if you finish after one of the rides departed.
I had no problem running this race. I was prepared by previous races. I did not specifically trained for this since I came off running the Devil Dog in December. I took couple months off to recover. After that I did couple training runs for BRR and MMT. I ran couple marathons (Ft Worth, Seneca Creek, and Virginia Beach).
I packed a bit better. I had everything packed into four 1 gallon ziplock bags.
I still over packed my things but I got the nutrition about just right and spaced them in the dropbags. My suggestions to myself from a previous race report about planning to bring my own food as the primary source instead of relying on the aid stations, helped me to throw in some cereals and candies into my dropbags. I glad I did. This is not saying it couldn’t be done by eating aid station stuff or that their stuff was bad, but it reduced a set of variables from the equation and give a better chance of finishing.
I had a positive experience through out the race. The course was beautiful and we were blessed by good weather of neither too hot or too cold or other extremes (too windy). The beauty of the place was overwhelming. I have been to Outer Banks maybe 10 years ago and the memory of that trip left a deep impression of endless seasshore (and of course the lighthouses). I will try to share some pictures. It is subjective, but OBX is a place I love to vacation or retire to because it is just so beautiful. If one theme about this race is the peacefulness of everything.
Another reason I like this race because it was a point to point course. It is hard to put up a point to point race both from the RD perspective and ours. It is a lot of work. The last three 100 mile races I did were all looped courses. Rocky Raccoon was like 5 loops, Rim to River was an out and back race, going out 50 miles and coming back with a bit of variation, and the Devil Dog was 4 loops in the Prince William Forest. Even Massanutten can be considered a single loop in a figure eight pattern. This race, Blackbeards starts at one end of NC-12 hwy to the other end, from paved road to end of paved road. The road continues on in either direction as an off-road path (and probably goes by a different name).
For us runners, running 100 miles in a loop or point to point is the same. However, when the course is in a straight line instead of a circle, you get a sense of the large distance covered.
Also everything is harder, so as arranging ride back or to the start. I like the extra challenge. Maybe more on this later. The race organization did an amazing job to lessen the burden of this. There are a lot of information given ahead of time in term of bag drops, aid stations, hotel, parking, shuttle rides, and dealing with planning for the unexpected such as weather, etc.
Another reason, take this point as a grain of salt, I think it is an easy 100 for first time 100 attempts. I think the race organization babied us too much, but I understand it was for our safety. There were tons of information in the race handbook and the RD when over them multiple times. I did not mind being beat over of the head the same things.
Now about the race and my experience, I think it was perfect. I am not sure how many people signed up. I wish there were more people running it. I felt we were very much under the capped. If this continues, the race might not be around in the future. Not sure why people are not running this, maybe too easy, too hard, not being on trails, the logistics factor, but anyway those can be overcomed.
We had probably 100 runners in each event. There were four events (plus virtual events). We had the 100 mile, 100k (at 10 AM start and at different location than the 100 mile) and plus the relays for both distances. However, there were about only 50 finishers in 100 mile and 100k event. There were about maybe 5-6 relay teams. The exact numbers are on the race signup and results website. I think there were a lot of drops but I don’t know the drop rate. I felt there were close to 100 runners at the 100 mile start, but on about 50% finishes. This is typical I think.
So what do I think is the challenges? Other than the distance, I think the main being weather. We were buffered by wind (strong headwind) through out the race. It could have been worse. The wind was ‘calmer’ on our race day. They were saying it was blowing hurricane strength the week before.
We had only faced with 15-20 mph constant wind. Also the temperature. We had relatively warm weather to run in this time, however at early morning, I think it was in the low 50, and when I breathed, I could see my breath. My fingers were cold. Lucky I put in my dropbag a pair of gloves for the evening portion and buff/neck gaiters too. I wore sleeve inserts on either arm. It was my first time and they helped a lot.
Then during the day the temperature rised to near 80. We were burning. I was sunburned on my face, neck, back, forarms, and back of my legs. I applied sunblock lotion but only did it once and in the early morning, but did not reapplied so, I was burned. Don’t misjudge the spring sun. It is still hot.
The temperature, I felt could have been worse if it were to drop a bit lower or get higher. This depends if you like cold running, but for me, I prefer warmer weather. We also was rained on for a bit. maybe for 10-15 minutes. Thunderstorms were forecasted the day before and the day after, but we only had a brief rain session while out on the course, and I was actually grateful for the rain even though it made me wet and cold. The reason was, I was hit with ‘sandstorm’ during the afternoon. Not really a storm but the wind stirred up the sand and when it hit me, it was painful to have sand repeatedly blasted on your body. The rain actually prevented this, making the sand stick together. I appreciated that sand stopped blowing on me. We were so exposed out there. Wearing long sleeves helped. Facing the elements was probably the hardest challenges.
Aid stations and drop bags. We had 17 aid stations. There was almost a station every 5 miles except for the first two. We had our drop bags at about every 20 miles. I think it was more than enough.
My greatest advice to myself was to pack my own food as my primary source and rely less on the official aid stations. This is not a complaint. I reread my last 100 mile race report and that what stuck as being successful, and I said really? My MMT failed attempt was attributed to my lack of eating. So the trick was to bring my own food to eat at anytime and all the time.
Because it was a road race, we shared the road with cars. We had to wear a safety vest/reflective gear throughout the race. There was a significant night portion. We had to have spare lamp and bateries. This was not an issue for me, for my light lasted through the evening. I wore one of those fancy lighted fiber optic tubes. They had their pluses and minuses. The plus is it meets all the required gear but having a spare. The disadvantages were the wiring get in the way of my running, and also harder to put clothes on and off or any other things that goes over the shoulders like a water pack. It was a tiny inconvenience. A lighted belt or a clip on blinker would have been better.
And also, I should have gotten two sets, so that during the day, I could stove away once I reach my drop location and at night get it from a drop bag. Instead, I only had one set, so I wore mine the whole race.
we ran on the left side of the roads. There were sidewalks but the course and directions were provided based on the lefthand side of the road. Road’s shoulder was wide enough. However, when cars drove by fast especially on the bridge, and at night, it was quite stressful to runners.
As said, I had generally a positive experience. I had a fast race. It was peaceful. I was mostly by myself on the course. Because the field was small, I was not able to find someone matching my pace to tag along. There were maybe 10 people whom I was leading from the second half after 50 miles, but they were going a bit too slow for me. I gained about 30 minutes on my nearest competitor (Rich, a new friend I made while running) by the time I finished, not a huge gap, but far enough apart.
A small critique was the aid stations were understaffed (they did call for volunteers) and I tried to ask my mom to help. I felt many families could have helped and I think many did, however, like my own, many spent much of their time wanting to crew their own runners. A few of the stations only had one or two people. They did their job well, but more volunteers would have been ideal. Also the food, I felt was quite limited.
Not sure if it was because the 100k people (the horde) had just gone on ahead of us and ate everything. I had sufficient stuff from the aid stations, but I had done the three other 100 mile races where their aid stations were a buffet of hot food and an island of cheers. This race was more a solitude affair. Here we had mostly hummus and gels. I glad for having a sloppy joe and a cup of noodle that saved me at a portion of the course when I was most needed for real food. Also a slice of American cheese I picked up a long the way, helped so much later in the race when my stomach was turning from eating my own food too much. These were provided by the aid stations. However, bringing my own food was still the best advice to myself.
sunset and beach time. This was the following day after the race when I recovered enough to walk around. I did cross the Jughandle Bridge during sunset.
First Big Race of 2023 done. And PR’d it. The last 5-10 miles were very hard. I was exhausted. Singing got me through. I sang thanksful spiritual songs. That did it. It gave me tge energy to run to the finish. Finished in 26 hours. Originally I was targeting between 28-30 hours. But by the first 6 hours I was already knew I was 3 hours ahead of schedule and I could maintain the 3 hours lead through out. We were running at 12-14 minute pace, which meant a 20-25 hour finishing. This is fast in my book. The lead allowed me to stay in the rest stations longer. At couple of the drop bag locations, I stayed up to 30 minutes. In total, I probably rested over an hour to two hours. I could aim for a sub 24 hour finish, however, I love having my rest. There was no need to kill myself to get that sub 24 hour finish.
TLDR – 10th state completed. I enjoyed my weekend stay in Ann Arbor, Michigan, brief as it was.
I was nervous when I arrived on Friday in Detroit, Michigan. This is a cold place. Though I run well when it is nippy, I don’t like the cold. I packed a bunch of sweaters and long pants, and all my other winter running stuff seeing the temperature might reach down to the 30s.
The cold weather ended up being not an issue. We had a great and warm day. Overcast in the morning and became sunny later on. The temperature was little cold for some, but for me it was perfect. It stayed almost constant around 60F, about 15 C. I ran in tee and shorts, though I wore a double layer tee I got from the Duluth marathon and a thick shorts, I think of wool like material. The shorts were a bit too warm later on.
The race started at 8 AM so, to me was kind of late and it allowed me to sleep in a bit. I like starting after the sun is up. Many races usually start at the crack of dawn.
I stayed in a motel not too far from the race location, at about three miles away. I could have run to the start. Ann Arbor is a small sweet town. It has all the city anemities without the big city’s headaches. There was plenty of time for me to get to the race. I left my hotel around 6:30 and felt kind of late, but did not have to rush.
Ann Arbor being so close to Detroit, its marathon get over shadowed by the Detroit Free Press one that will be taking place in a couple weeks. That one is an “International” Marathon, because the course takes you into Canada and many times more people from all over will run it. It is always fun to say you run in another country.
But today, Ann Arbor is just a “boring” two loops around the course. It seemed kind of a let down. Nevertheless it was a great marathon, and I did not regret my choice. A pacer asked me why I didn’t choose the Detroit one. I said because I did not like the cold. Plus, I was really over with the big marathons. I like the flexible low key races offer. Did you know, you could still register for the race on the morning of the race? I never heard of a recent marathon that allows you to do that! And you can pick up your package on the race day morning too! You couldn’t do such thing in any bigger marathon. Even several smaller races I did in my city, they wouldn’t allow a race day bib pick up.
My impression is it was well run. Crowd support was tame, but they had volunteers almost at every block and I was never alone. Most of the crowd was at the start and finishing area (and at the park, mile 8-ish, and 21-22).
They had buses to take spectators to the park (Gallup Park). Hence, there were more crowd support there a little past midway. It was also the relay exchange point.
The course was well marked. Signs were at ever mile for the half and the full too! I noticed they replaced signs for the first loop and put up signs for the second loop (not sure how they did it)! That is attention to detail. Since the course is lap course, they really did not need signs on for the second lap (both laps should be 13.1 miles), but they did. Usually in many events, marathon is a second class citizen compares to the half marathon (nobody cares for the full once the half is done). I have been to races, where mile markers for the second half of the course were not provided (not naming which one).
The first six miles, we followed the roads out of town. We passed through the University of Michigan. I have been through some big campuses, but this was on another level. It is a big campus. I imagined myself being on a quest in the game Final Fantasy. I already ran on the course the day before so as not be distracted by the sights on race day. I have a particular attraction toward big tall buildings and such.
The other six miles, we were on some kind of rail to trail (I’m guessing) called the B2B (Border to Border) trail. It is paved. Nice and smooth. My first time running on a trail paved with concrete. Yes, it is same as running on the sidewalk. We were on it for maybe three miles before we reached the Arboretum. It is just a short section, maybe half a mile but there was a tough climb (I think about couple hundred feet). Later, I found out this was called the Arb Hill. Most walked up the hill. I tried to run it. On the first loop, I did it well, but on the second loop, it almost broke me. I made use of a relay team person to pace me up the hill. She was the only other person running up on the hill. Then we were back at the university and back at the start. Marathon runners were diverted to the back streets to run around the block and back out.
The half marathon started with the full. There were many more running the Half than the full. My goal was to run fast enough so that the first place runner doesn’t lap me and that I could lap some half marathoners. I thought it might be impossible for me because I was expecting the first place to come in between 2:15-2:30. I didn’t see the first place runner passing me nor was I able to catch up to some who walked the half.
The course was not crowded nor was the street dead empty. I have been in races where I was the only one running. Being alone doesn’t bother me, but when I do marathons, I like having some crowd around, maybe to witness me and fan my pride. I ran a 4:30-ish finishing time, so there were always people around me. Honest truth, I didn’t run slower just to be with people.
I came to the race not sure what pace to run in or time I would get. I got a fast time back at a marathon in June. I did not feel I would be able to repeat it at this race. Any time around 5 hours would be good and was an acceptable goal for me. I lined up with the 5:00 hour pace group. Erwin, one of the pacers was pretty fun to talk to. We had done the Marine Corps the same year a while back. I didn’t know him before, but his races tied us together. By mile 2, I felt I could start pushing my pace a bit harder. I felt great and left the pace group. I was on my own. Usually this could spell disaster because I would have gone out too early and too fast and could suffer by the second half.
The day before, I checked out the course and ran about 15 miles of it. (Not really advisable, because part of the course had no sidewalks, and required sharing the road with cars, which can be scary; this was before the race, during the race, they closed the roads, so no danger). I was a bit tired after a few miles in but not too much. In the back of my mind, I was thinking whether that “long” run I did was a smart idea, because now I started with tired legs. However, I was glad for the pre-run because I knew every turns and everything what to expect for the course. I could be more aggressively tackling the hills because I know how long they would last. Indeed, I will boast a bit, after doing trail racing, no hills in a marathon really scare me.
By halfway, 13.1 miles, my time was around 2:18. (first place finished at 2:48).
My feet felt a bit stiffer and heavier but miles still flew by under me. Little did I know, I was faster on the second lap than the first. My goal was to break it down by 5k, knowing recently I did 20 5k in one day, so 5k distance was fresh on my brain and easy to see in my head.
Normally in the past, I didn’t focus much on calories. Today, I brought couple candy bars (those sticky granola bars). It was something I learned from the MMT race to be prepared for the bonking. I ate a bar for breakfast just right before the race. I did not want a heavy breakfast this time and I was too lazy to go for a real breakfast. I had another one by mile 8-ish when I was hungry. I was originally saving it for mile 13. I figured I need another bar by mile 20. Then I had a gel left for the final hill climb.
I started hitting the wall at mile 20. So I popped my last granola bar. My strength came back and I could get to mile 23. Before mile 23, the aid station offered me gels. I took one. It kept me going to the big hill at Mile 24. By then, I lost track of the 4:30 pace team (they out ran me). According to plan, I then used my last remaining gel. Going up the hill was tough. I was able to pass some people because most were walking except the relay team people.
There were about two more miles to go and pretty soon it was down to one mile. I love running through the school. It gave me some extra boost when I could see people around.
I might have pushed a bit harder here. The bonking was completely out of my system. My legs felt great. No longer was I fake running. You know when you are tired, you kind of gingerly tapping you feet with each step (I called that fake running because you are in the motion of a run but you are not going anywhere fast). Real running is when you pound the pavement hard. Probably the gel kicked in by now. At this time, I knew no matter what, I would finish. Always in a race I doubted my ability to get to the end, but there is always a turning point. This was my turning point. It came kind of late, but I felt a rush of power. I reached Hill St. Basically the end is in sight, just down the road and make a right to the chute. I crossed the finish around 4:31. (The actual bib time was 4:30:01).
Because I had a flight to catch at 4:00 pm, I did not linger long. I figured I had to absolutely leave by 2 pm in order to make it. I normally would like to wait till the race is closed before leaving. It is part of the fun. This time, I left by 1 pm (at the 5 hr mark) after my pace group came in.
It was a small race, so I think by 5 hours, many already finished. There was no post race celebration for me. I took couple water bottles and a cookie and a banana. I was not sure if there were free beers given out like in many other marathons. I just tried to leave as quickly as possible, since I needed to return the rental car, get gas for it, and take a bus from the car rental to the airport, go through security and get to my gate. There were many unknowns that could ruin my trip home. Luckily everything worked out smoothly, I still had about an hour left before boarding when I arrive at the airport and I finally could relax. To me that was the real finish. I celebrated it at the airport and I grabbed lunch.
Compared this to my other marathons, I enjoyed it just as much. We had great weather, and that like 75% making the race better. It was a repeated (double) loop course. I generally do not like doing a marathon of this format (because it’s boring), but the plus side was there were plenty of aid stations. My finish time was decent. I did not finish with cramping like in some of previous marathons. I think I ran at a relaxed pace, and it was alnost like a morning stroll or a training run. Weird for me to say that. My 10th state in my 50 states quest was easily completed.
The race course and various sights
Milesflyby also ran in the Ann Arbor (Half) Marathon. Her report is way better at describing the course. Congrats to her for a fast finish.
I am on my way to Michigan for the Ann Arbor Marathon.
This will be my 10th state.
I am excited. This is not one of the races that has been in planning for a long time. I only wanted to go to Ann Arbor recently maybe a couple months ago. I made it happened. Here I am.
For Michigan, if I did not know better, I would probably pick the Detroit Free Press Marathon, because I knew a friend who did it before the Pandemic. Not anything against that race, it’s just the timing was not right. I would certainly like to run across to Canada and back.
Ann Arbor Marathon is nothing like that. It is a two loop kind of run in Ann Arbor. It looks quite a small place on the map. I know I will have a lot of fun running it. I think the reason I picked this race was because it is cheap.
Gosh I am afraid of the cold. I think this weekend the temperature will drop to 36F in the morning. Brrr.
I have never been to Detroit before. This will be my first time. Minneapolis, where I went last time is quite big and bland. I wonder if Detroit is the same.
I only will be here for the weekend, just a little bit over 24 hours. Friday night, whole Saturday, and leave shortly after my marathon on Sunday afternoon.
I hope to spend some time exploring if I could. I kind of want to go to Toronto too but that is 4 hours away. We will see if I can squeeze it in my schedule.
Why I go here? I think things just worked out. As readers know, I tried to get to Tulsa, OK, but I ended up here in Ann Arbor. I might as well cross off Michigan.
My race won’t be until Sunday morning. I hope to keep safe until then.
PS, this morning I woke up and read about someone doing a race last weekend in Oakland University, and I thought that was Oakland, CA. It is instead here in Detroit. Go check out the blog MilesFlyBy on WordPress. She will be running in the Ann Arbor Half Marathon this weekend.
It’s that time again, to pick what races will I be doing for next year. Scheduling is so hard. Since when I started running, I always wish I have an event coordinator because I hate making plans. I like planning (or having one), I just don’t like choices I need to make. I usually end up doing all! Have the cake and eat it too they say! I wish someone just give me a list of places of where to go next. Then I just wake up and go run.
It is not because there are no races to run, but I want to run races that fit my goal and mean something to me (yes, kind of hard to define). Last few years, my goal was to “step it up” to the next level of running. Each year has been “better” in some way. Going into trail running was definitely satisfying.
I am still searching for my goal for next year. A defining moment to make 2023 special, like MMT is for 2022.
I am sure I will still run plenty of trails next year. There are certainly many interesting (and hard) races to do. I am seeking something different.
I did Laurel Highland, Grayson Highland, MMT, Iron Mountain, Catoctin. Those were all my dream races. They are done and completed.
I am still progressing my 50 states plan/goal. My usual approach is pick couple states I haven’t done and plan around those. Yesterday, I looked at the airfare. By golly, a couple races I want to go, the price has doubled or nearly so. No way am I paying $700 when in the past I could fly across the country for much cheaper. What is wrong with the inflation! 9 and 10% every month!? Or is this an annual rate? I don’t know econ but it is hurting my pocket. Anyway, traveling to races has become too costly.
Air travel has gone up a lot. Maybe it is to a certain city at a certain time on a certain date.
I am scraping my trip to Tulsa this fall and likely for next year as well. I will wait till things get cheaper again. Oklahoma City near there is a bit cheaper. Maybe that is the direction to go. I don’t like having to transfer, but I think I might have to suck it up. Not many people want to go to Tulsa.
I am thinking not to run anywhere too far next year. There are plenty of local races or races I can drive myself to.
Over the weekend, someone asked if I ran the Tunnel Hill before. Hmm, that’s an idea I need to look into.
I have been thinking, instead of me picking races, I think they pick me. There are certain races, I just cannot get into, maybe it is my bad luck or something. And there were races that were not on my radar and then they popped in.
Tulsa has been one of my early targets maybe even back in 2017, but somehow I am unable to get there to do it for one reason or another. The invisible hand seems to steer me toward OKC or some other place.
Earlier in the year (summer) I tried to get into the race The Wild Oak Trail. I did not get accepted. I ran there on my own before, so no biggie that I did not get in. It is a race by invitation only. I could and might plan to do it on my own time.
Similarly, I couldn’t get time off for the midstate trail (PA) 100k fatass this summer, so that is something I really want to do next summer.
More bad lucks, Today, I received an email from a race I signed up just couple days ago. The race is canceled due to low demand. There were only 80 people signed up when they expected more than 400. It was also a race I have been wanting to do since the pandemic. It is rare to have a race canceled on me and it was not covid related. I am sad. I was so excited originally because it was going to fall on my blog anniversary weekend.
Unfortunately, it is just not meant to be. I was so close to going there last year too, I remembered I sat in my car that evening (maybe just couple weeks after my mom had her stroke, read my last Halloween), at the last minute, I canceled it, but I was really worn and burnt out. Just not meant to be.
Last night while at a bar after a happy hour run with my group, my friend David was telling me how he wanted to run the Las Vagas’ Rock n Roll. Me too! Please do it. Unfortunately, I can’t join him because I will have a race that weekend (Feb 25-26).
He was deciding between it and Austin. I told him, I looked into Austin and wanted to run a marathon there. If he is going to go to Austin, let me know, I will sign up and join him. I have Cowtown at Dallas-Fortworth the following weekend but that is fine too, I can do both races and go to Texas twice. I want to do a race with someone!
Another person, a work associate wrote me in reply to a work email, and in the signature block, the person snucked in a line about about the Army Ten Miler. Almost like psst, Army 10-Miler is coming up! He knows I run. I asked is he trying to get me to sign up! He said no, but he will be running it! I ran this when I was 18, eons ago. I want to go there to relive it now maybe 18 years later. Registration is still open! I really want to do it again. Psst, I signed up.
So where will I go next year? I have some ideas. For now I just sit tight. I will let the next few months to shake my schedule around, and hopefully, by or near the start of 2023, I will officially reveal my schedule.
My live schedule is always available in one of the pages here. For those who can’t wait, they can always visit the page. I think the page is race-schedule, but I am too lazy to look up the link.
That was the Eighth marathon-state and 42 more states to go. If I count the Rocky Raccoon I ran in February in Texas, it would be the nineth. Rocky Raccoon was an ultra marathon, and it is not the same as a normal marathon.
When I run a normal marathon I feel I am fast again, relatively fast when compares to my other races. I am able to push more until I hit a breaking point. I feel good doing that.
Eau Claire was everything I like about running a marathon. Maybe my first marathon was like that. Beautiful, and I feel successful. I was doing my thing and in my own separate world. There was the hype and race atmosphere. Many people tried to do their first marathons etc.
I started off slow. Maybe I blame the weather. It was a bit nippy. Leaves in Wiscousin already were turning yellow, but the day was going to be great. Our pacer encouraged us to finish the run early to avoid the heat (80 F). We started off around 45 F though. I tried to stay in my car with my hoodie until the time of the start. I already decided to run in shorts and tee. I was willing to stand the shivering of the first hour or so. Hey this might be my last race before winter.
The fact I did not have my breakfast was kind of suck. I did not pack my meal the night before, thinking I could get something from a McDonalds or 7-eleven. I was feeling lazy. Making sandwiches is a lot of work to me. Google said Dunkins and McDonalds would be open by 5 am. I was in a small town though and on a Sunday – the general hour doesn’t apply. Nothing was open. I kind of woke up late too around 5:30 am. Plus a half hour drive to the race, I had very little time left. The race started at 7:00.
Last time I ran an “official” fast marathon was almost two years ago in Carlsbad, California. The Moonlight Marathon in West Virginia I did a month ago doesn’t count because that was like training and also that was “hilly”. Also Gettysburg marathon I ran last October doesn’t count – that was not a new state for me. I finished Eau Claire almost an hour ahead of my Moonlight Marathon. This is what I mean by fast. I needed to feel I was near my max performance.
Parking was going to a problem I thought since they would block the roads. I arrived before they put down the barricades. So I was lucky. They actually only put up the starting arch like 15 minutes before the start. It felt unreal that they were behind schedule. We were going to run in the middle of the road. Things looked like last minute flash in the pan operation to me.
The race place felt empty. Later I found out less people ran it this year than in previous years. Maybe about 40% less people, likely due to the pandemic. Not that it bothered me whether there were 40 people or 3000 people, a race is a race. There were 200 of us but it seemed even less – like 75 or 50 people.
We started off on time, just after a beautiful sunrise behind us. I warmed up in no time. We had wave starts – and I was in the last wave because I put 5 hours as my finish time. I think the race average finishing was 4:20 in the past. This year was 4:10. Yes, there were a lot faster runners than me. I met a few during package pick up such as a runner called Steve and another Braxton.
I had no idea exactly of the course. I did my homework but still. It was a road marathon and I knew it would be a lot of turns. The course markings were more than sufficient and they had volunteers at every turn, so following the course was not a problem. It was more a thing for me not knowing what ahead, that I had to be more conservative with my pace.
I followed a pacer ahead. Very early on, I stuck with the 4:30 group. In my mind, many times in the past the 4:30 group would pass me in the middle of the race because I normally run a 4:45 or 5:00 hour marathon. I had a bit of age discrimination that day because pacers for 4:45 / 5:00 and beyond were all led by older guys. They look like they were in their 60s. I know I am not that young (and my hair is graying like them) but I wanted to be with the younger crowd. I didn’t want a grandpa to pace me. I felt embarrassed.
Initially the 4:30 pace group only had me and a lady. After a few miles, we picked up a few more runners. I had to pee at the time. I felt I could hold it but better if there was a place to let it out. We had aid stations every couple miles and I hoped at one of them should/would have a porta potty. I think at mile 4 they had one but it was still locked (zip-tied). So shoot. Then I saw someone ran into a local park and I followed. I thought the dude knew a place for bathroom. Then he ran around the corner of a building (probably was a public bathroom – but the door was locked) and I found him squatting with pants down around his ankles once I came around the building. He quickly got up but he already had a big pile of poops on the ground. I was disgusted both at myself for the discovery and at the dude. Any runner would have done their business before the race! And why not go into the treeline at least! Leave-no-trace man. Now it means someone would have to clean up after him. Why did we wait till after the start to look for bathrooms? I was fuming.
Anyway, I could go into the woods and do my business but I held it in after finding the guy shamelessly making a mess in public. So I ran back out to the race course and tried to catch up with my pace group again. I believe, it was not until mile 6 or 8 before I found a potty from a construction site where I finally could pee – that was like an hour later.
The rest of the race was uneventful. I left my pace group by then and ran by myself till halfway. I settled into a kind of new group of people but we were all kind of far apart. I could still see the guy who pooped still running ahead. I told myself – I am not visiting any aid station after the dude. I was sure he didn’t wipe. I kind of felt sorry at the same time. If I had any wipes I would give it to him. My goal was to pass him but he ran freaking fast, maybe so that he wouldn’t have to talk to me, but I was trying to chase him at the same time. Yup awkward.
Later I did pass him – he and a bunch of people were finally ran out of steam. Or maybe I was really speeding up. I felt strong and I think I was actually steady with my pace. Then for a few miles I was with a lady – later on, she said she is Annie. I did not start a conversation and neither did she. I just tried to keep my pace steady. I could see she was fast and in my mind, I had no intention to over take her. There were times she was way ahead of me and times when she dropped behind. However, after a while, she was constantly at my side or I was by hers.
The race course took us out onto a gravel road. I was hoping being a more experienced running on trail I might be able to lose some people. I think at this time, We ran into the 4:20 pace group. It was like running into a wall. I was surprised that Annie had no intention to pass the group. At the time, the trail was a bit crowded and so I did not pass either. I felt it was awfully slow.
The pace leader Paul, introduced himself. He might have gone off to the bathroom too because he ran out of nowhere and started chatting first to Annie and then to me. He asked our names and where we from. He took back the pace stick from a fellow runner (Cooper). It was a social group. We had lot of people and there might be as many as 12-15 of us behind Paul.
The race had couple hills. I think maybe 200- 300 ft or so. They said this was a new course. It made no different to me. Not a super big hill, but Paul had us do 30-30, a 30 seconds of walk and then 30 seconds of run. We would repeat until we crested it. He was right, we felt great coming out of the hill. He said, we would make up time on the down hill portion. We did.
Miles flew by. 14, 15, 16. I started to feel the pace getting to me and I believed I would need to slow down. A few times, after slowing down at aid stations I could not keep up with Paul and the group any more. Also our group of 15 now shrunk to like a group of 5. Every mile we would lose someone. Cooper would call out, we lost so and so. Paul also had Cooper to call out our last mile time. We should run at a 10:05 pace, but usually we are a bit ahead, e.g. 9:55. Annie, Cooper, Paul, me, and another lady were only ones left. I told Paul mile 20 is likely the last mile I will be with them. For Annie, mile 18 would be the longest distance she ever ran. We passed mile 18, 19, 20. Miles were getting tougher. Soon even Cooper disappeared. Cooper had ran in 18 states. Paul had like 50 or so and lost count. Me, I had 7 states but lost count of my marathons either (around 33, now I checked).
Annie and the other lady I think Kim, took off. I felt a burst of energy too and ran off with them leaving Paul behind. From experience, I know I couldn’t sustain the pace, but it felt good at the time. I don’t remember where but eventually, I was not able to keep up with Annie, probably at around mile 22. Paul caught back up, maybe at mile 24. I told him I couldn’t do it any more. He said, to run with him hip to hip. Ya sure. I really couldn’t. I dropped to a walk. That was really suck that I hit the wall. I will myself as much as I could but I couldn’t get going. Later someone said, you could actually hear the finish noise because we were literally just a block away. However, I was not as familar with the course as I should and I had no idea where I was. We still had two miles to run (an extra loop from the finish). It took us to the school – University of Wiscousin – Eau Claire campus. The students were all out cheering. They called it the Gold Blue or Blue Gold mile. I don’t think they helped but I got back to a jog. At least I was moving. Like with any marathons or races, the last mile was the hardest. I gradually picked up the pace again and arrived at the finish.
Annie finished like at 4:16. Paul arrived on time at 4:19:55. His wife owns the pacing company and he said he could not finish a second late or his wife would kill him. We were ahead of pace by 30-50 seconds during the run. Paul must have slowed down to make the perfectly paced finish. I arrived at 4:21:27. And Cooper came in around around 4:30. I did not wait for any others. Steve whom I met during package pickup waited for me. He finished around 3:30 (hr/min). He said Braxton was around 3:00. Braxton wanted to qualify for Boston. We all revered Steve who ran in the Boston in the past.
It was a fast finish for me too. It was not my fastest. My fastest was around 4:12. And my second fastest was 4:16. This should be my third fastest time. I did not intend to make a PR (personal best/record). You kind of know at the start of the race whether it would be your fastest. I felt I goofed a bit by not warming up before the start, or to use the bathroom, or to get up earlier. So I did not expect making any record. I knew I was running generally better than other marathons. I did want to run a fast one since my last one of 8:25 was awfully slow and kind of want to prove myself I can still do it. To be able to keep up with the 4:20 pace group for most of the race was an achievement. Also, Annie kind of pull me to an even faster pace near the end and this either helped or messed me up – I rather take a positive look that it helped me reached my third fastest time. Everyone runs their own race is the motto. It was a win in my book.
Is Eau Claire worth going for others? I think it was well managed. They had a half marathon and 5K event too. The course is generally beautiful. It is in a small rural town but not so small like Damascus, VA. I think a decent size. There are many bridges. I think the place is calming and beautiful to run. It is not like big city marathon such as the Marine Corps with many thousands of people, but Eau Claire definitely put up a good race like any big races.
It is one of those destination races for me. Once and done. If I live nearby I might run it again, but it is halfway across the country and the nearest airport is about 2 hours away. The drive from the airport was boring to me. I am the guy that hate driving. It was mostly woods on either side of the highway. Camping is one of the recommended activities and the second recommendation was to see the country fair/rodeo show. I love those stuffs but not when I am there for running.
I did not visit museums or any historical buildings. Another recommended thing was to see their trails and parks. I ran out of time so I did not go on their trails. I would have if I had a bit more time or I had planned better.
My remaining time was to eat. None of the places I would recommend on here. Not that they were bad bad, but I chose some places in a bad neighborhood. It also helped me see a city in a different light. Restaurants in the Mall of America were pretty bland – your usual standard chain restaurants. I visited Mall of America, supposingly America biggest shopping mall. There were some eating guides available, but again I didn’t have the time or energy to seek those places out – I kind of hate any crowded downtowns and the lack of parking and all so, I did not even go there.
I flew into Minneapolis/St Paul of course. Other than that, I did not find much to do in the city. To me, Minnesota felt like Texas of the north – that everything is big. The airport MSP is one of the nicer ones – I explored the whole airport since I spent about 4 hours there. It needs a bit more arts is what I can say. An airport is airport – after a while, you kind of hate it no matter how nice it is. I flew Delta – the service is nice. I got my can of coke and cookies. I was happy. I slept on the way back. It was a direct flight. Happy to make it home.
Epilogue – I am thinking of running Grandma’s Marathon in Deluth in the near future. It means I will be back in St.Paul/Minneapolis. I only learned of Deluth from the lady at the car rental counter, when I asked her what is there to do here in St. Paul. She said I should visit Deluth. De-lu what? The town near Canada. What!? I thought it was a restaurant or a park. Later, I was able to find the city on the map, oh, that is too far. Ya, I know, Deluth is not in St. Paul, it is like two hours away.
Oh also I don’t know how to pronouce Eau Claire…I think the people there say it as Oh-claire. I have been saying it as oo-claire. I don’t think anyone there speak French. Maybe it was a historical leftover from a french origin. I think it was headwater of the Mississippee. No it was another river. I should have read up more on the place I visited.
In awe 