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  • [Day597] Devil Dog 100

    Devil Dog 100 is so good, I could not stay away again. See last year (report2022). I ran a 50K in 2020, then a 100k the following year, and a 100 miler last year. I came back for a repeat. This race took place in the first weekend of December. A good hard race to cap the year.

    At least that was what I was thinking when I saw the registration open. I don’t dredge this race, since I did it last year. But some previous unpleasant memories from the 100k and 50k, put a bit of fear in me. And as the race day approached, I was asking myself why on earth did I sign this up again.

    First, I do not enjoy running in the cold very much, at least not for straight 32 hours. Second, we usually get rained on. Again this year, rain came whole night for at least 8 hours, heavy at times. Third it is a loop course. Granted there are benefits of getting back the same place every few hours, which make having supporting easy (aid station, etc), but the repetitiveness is something only certain people enjoy. I sometimes do like turning mindlessly and rumbling through. Often, I much prefer having variety more than to do loops over and over.

    There were probably a few more reason why I prefer some other race than this. Maybe it was the transportation of getting to the race, or the duration of a 100 miler. I also hated the course – nothing really wrong with it but the rocky gravel road on a portion of the course hurts my feet after long hours on it. Enough said.

    If I hate it so much why did I sign up? It was a spur of the moment. I wanted to do a 100K since I haven’t able to finish it on this course. The year (2021) I DNF’d it still causes a hard feeling. They give out a special award for first 100K ever. I don’t know what the reward is but I covet it. When I get to the signup page, I saw the 100 miler, I said, for two more loops, I could finish a 100, why on earth do I want a 100K. I figured at the time those two extra loops should not take too long to do, so as always, I went for the longest distance, I did and signed up for a 100, simply as that.

    Second reason was probably my ego. Last year, I finished it in 31 hours, and I felt I could have done way better. This may be the truer reason. But guess what! I finished even slower than last year coming in 31:45! I will explain it in a bit.

    Last year, the Devil Dog was only my 3rd 100. I failed at MMT 100 last year, but finished Rim to River 100 (2021) and Rocky Raccoon 100 year prior (2021). Devil Dog was a redemption race for the failed MMT attempt and the DNF’d of the 100k version in 2021. I was very happy to finally finish it. It was the only hundred I did that year (2022).

    Enter this year, 2023. I ran MMT 100 successfully. A big part was probably the things I learned from the Devil Dog. I also ran Blackbeard Revenge 100 in March, which was an easier race. I did DNF’d at Iron Mountain again. Plus the Burning River 100 in Ohio. Plus, I DNF’d at Grindstone 100 in the fall (though, I don’t think it was my ability that I did not finish, I chose not to run that hard to stay with a friend). So came Devil Dog, with many 100s under my belt (at least three) as preparation. I was certainly well prepared for this race. I did not carry as much mental baggages entering in as last year.

    The tips I wrote to myself two years ago and last year were already ingrained in me. Aid stations – use them, drop bags, use them all. Being efficient – sure, if I don’t need to stop at an aid station, I won’t stop, if I do stop, get back out as soon as possible, and stay no more than 5 mins. One of a very good tip is not to change your shoes or socks if you don’t have to – if you do, try only do it for one foot, like one sock instead of both feet. Usually, it is only one foot that is acting up. This saves so much time! Instance 50% improvement!

    I also have a crew this time as well, a very good crew. I met a guy called Wayne at MMT 100 and at Old Dominion 100. He came to help me at Grindstone too. We have developed a bond. He is even crazier than me in running as many hard races as he can. He also paced me during the evening hour until to the finish. He set up his own private table with buns and congee (rice portridge) and other stuff at the start/finish aid station (Remi). So when I came in, I have everything I need within arm reach. He had two chairs setup. Yes, they say avoid the chair. Then he paced me in the evening hour from 5 pm to the finish, about 18-19 hours for over 100k. He is a unicorn! I was so happy to have such a friend.

    I did it almost like last year. I slept in one of the cabins like last year, bunking with the course #2 finisher, I didn’t know at the time, but it was just like last year, I met some super fast people the night before the race. The guy I bunked with last year also finish like in the top 5.

    Anyway, I went to bed around 8, and was pretty much up by 2 am. I tried to sleep until 5 ish and then got up for good. I slept in the clothes I would be running in. The race started exactly at 6 am.

    We were lucky too. Earlier in the week had been colder with temperature below freezing. But it warmed back up to 60 ish by race day. Rain though originally was to come on Friday night got moved to Saturday night. Unfortunately, this destroyed a lot of runners, including almost me too.

    This being my second time around, I was not as nervous. Several people around me were. There was a woman from Toronto (Shanon), she would not introduce herself to me, but I ran into her couple times as we prepared to go. No hard feeling. She talked to the lady next to me instead to me, so I still got her life story. Canadians usually are friendly. Maybe my vibe did not go well with her, so she ignored me the whole time. This would be her first/second time running a 100, I think it was second time in the US. I would want to know so much about Toronto, but atlas. Not meant to be. I wanted to ask her why she picked this race. We started out the first loop together, but soon I was second to last runner. She seemed to be a strong runner. Not sure when or why she quit. Usually, why traveling that far, you want to finish nonmatter what.

    I don’t mind people getting ahead of me. I still walked at my pace. Soon I caught up to a few, I still was walking the course. In fact, I walked the first two loops. Total about 43 miles. I was moving at a 15 min pace! I surprised myself too. This was not a power walk I was talking about two years ago. It was just my normal walk! I never realized before I could walk that fast. I don’t power-walk any more because it tired me out easily and because I never trained to power walk. My advice is only power walk if you are trained for it.

    The first loop, I got it under 6 hours. Note, first loop is three miles longer. The second loop, I did it in 5.5 hours. By 5:15 I was back at Remi, with my pacer waiting for me to head out for the evening loop.

    The reason I chose to walk the course was incidental. I said to myself that Wayne, my pacer, is a fast runner (faster than me). If my pace died on the third loop while I am with him, it would be embarrassing, so I better preserve my energy and save it to run with Wayne. I plan to do the last 50 miles under 12 hours or so I thought. I was actually expecting to finish around 10 AM. I thought I had a good chance even by walking it.

    Little did I know, I drank a bit too strong of the Gaterade early in the second loop and it was giving me a slight stomachache at the beginning of the third loop. So I did not eat much at the aid stations.

    By the third loop, it caught up to me and I began to feel tired. We made decent time by walking to halfway, but I could not run with Wayne as I had hoped. I moved along by half shuffling and half walking. I tried to eat as much as possible to make up the lack of food earlier. By 9 pm, I got to Toofy, mile 56. I was still on schedule, but the next 6 miles really took a toll. Instead of 2 hours, it took me three.

    The rain came. Before leaving Toofy, I had put on the rain jacket (thanks to Wayne again to get me a head to toe rain jacket). If I had this at Burning River, I would have finished that race. I did not get wet at this time. I stayed warm and dry inside. However, from Toofy to Temi (mile 56-62) is 6 miles, I suffered. I could hardly moved for some reason, likely from lack of calories. I did not arrive at Remi until 12:15 pm. Initially, I was on target to get there by 11 o clock or earlier. I lost about 1 hour in that section of 6 mile! I noted I did over-stayed at Gunny for 15 minutes and overstayed at Toofy for also 15-20 minutes. Meaning I was moving 2 mile and hour (30 min pace). Loop 3 took me 7 hours. If Loop 4 also takes 7 hours and thast loop also taking 7 hours, I would not have enough time to finish. I would arrive at 2:15 or 2:30 pm, exactly as what ultrasignup predicting, and that being over the 32 hour cut off.

    Anyway, I met fellow runner Meghan on my first loop. She was initially near last position with me. However, she said she could run 84 miles under 24 hours on a course harder than this. In the third loop after Camp Toofy (aid station), she passed me. I knew I could be in trouble when she passed me by. Long story short, after finishing, I looked her name up, and found she DNF’d at the next loop. Rain in the middle of night took a lot of people out. Rain probably caught her too just couple hours later. I was sad when I saw her name on the DNF list.

    I was surprised many stronger runners than me were washed out. Meghan had four chidren. She hired babysitter so her husband could be on the course to help her through the night. It was sad she could not finish it. I might of not let her quit if I was around her. However, at the time, I was not doing well either. I believe Meghan almost made it to the fifth loop.

    I got into Remi at the end of the third loop. It was past midnight. I knew I need to get back out as quickly as possible. Wayne got me a bowl of congee. I went to take care my left foot because there was a hot spot. It was too late because a blister already formed on the bottom. I popped it. Put on new socks. A volunteer helped me put on my shoes and tied the laces. God bless her. She also refilled my water bladder.

    By 12:30 we were out again. 15 mins was a bit too long but I needed that break. Soon I had my energy back. I tried to make to Gunny on a 20 min pace. Gunny was about 5 miles away. I made it there under my estimate, by 2 am ish. My strength continued to sustain. I told Wayne I wish to make it to Toofy (loop4) before 5 AM and back to Remi by 7 AM to start on my last loop. Loop 4 was finished in 6.5 hours. I hit all the targets.

    We got to Toofy by 4:55. I gave myself a 5 min rest. This was the longest 1.2 mile ever from the bouncing bridge to Camp Toofy. We passed by it earlier three times, but it did not feel as long as on the fourth loop for some reason. I think it was at least 3 miles long.

    Sun came up as we near Camp Remi for our last loop. I told Wayne, since he had got me through the night, he could go home and rest. There was no needd for him to go back out. I could finish the race on my own now since it was now morning. I did not stay at Remi long. We had to make it to Gunny on our last loop by 9:00. This may seem a lot of time, but it was not. Those who could keep a 20 min pace, should have no problem, but at this point, I was struggling to even get a 20 min pace. I was planning I would need two hours.

    I started running. We saw 5-6 guys ahead. These were the guys who would finish with me. I saw them earlier on the second loop. We were now back together. Slowly, I passed them all. We entered Gunny at 8:40. 20 minutes ahead of my estimate, but a bit behind the 20 min pace. I grabbed a drink and headed back out. My friend John and Charleen were there recording our time.

    Once out of Gunny, we could take a breather. The next cut off wouldn’t be until 11:30. We had 8 miles left. Wayne recommended me not to go too hard because the trail is slick. Wayne had monitor the Western States 100 lottery drawing the day prior and let me know I got selected. He wanted me to be healthy to be able to run in Western States next June. So for Devil Dog, we had to take care of ourselves and not to race for time.

    We managed to get to Camp Toofy by 11:15. Originally, I was to be there before 11. The station does not close until 11:30, so I was still good, but slightly behind pace. I know I would definitely finish. The required paced from Camp Toofy to the finish was like 22-24 min. I had almost 3 hours to do the final 6 miles. As long as I keep moving even if I was as slow as during my third loop the evening before, I should be able to finish on time.

    My pacer, Wayne, set a good 25-26 mins pace. The rest (six) of us follows. He said I could move a bit slower but not too slow because then I could start cooling down and it would be hard to get me moving once cooled off. Indeed, a few times I stopped for bathroom break, I found it was incredibly hard to get back on pace. The last stretch was the hardest as in any races but particularly this race. It was more technical. There were more rocks. More of everything. There were also hills. It is about 6 miles long. My goal to Rally to its halfway called Point Charlie (unmanned water point) by 12:30 pm. We arrived around 12:40 pm. I had 1 hour and 20 mins to do the final 3 hours. In earlier loops, this section only should take about 45 minutes.

    Unlike last year, when I thought my body might slow down even more here and I might not be able to finish it. This time, I was pretty sure I could finish. Out of the six guys among us, two had pressed ahead six miles out. Two remained with us until here and then put an extra effort to be ahead. Because they are slow at the technical sections, I was able to stay on their tail. Ben and another guy Jon were not that far behind me. This was Ben N. 3rd Devil Dog 100. We pretty much finished within 5 mins of one another. In theory, I could run the last three miles. However, consider, my running pace might be at most 5 mins faster than my walking pace, I only gain at most 15 mins by running. I might finish at 1:30 instead of 1:45. If it were six miles out, by runing the final 6 miles, I might have come in at 1:10-1:15. My pacer was right. He said the finish is now certain, urged me to consider the bigger picture because the trail here is dangerous after the rain, we needed to finish it in a safe manner, so I can have a chance at next year amazing race.

    I did get a second wind, and my walk gait was a bit faster. I entered the finish line full of joy. My friend Caroline came out after church. She looked for me at the last half mile and found me. Same for several other families who were looking for their runners. It was very exciting at the last few minutes of the race. We all pretty much know one another. No one here was cut or unable to finish now before 2 pm. We all who were still on the trail made it in. The sweeper came in within minutes of the closing. My last loop took 6:45 hours. I could have got it under 6.5, or even 6, but a finish is a finish.

    I was excited to see Caroline. She took all the final photos of me. Mike Edwards who helped me last year at the finish line did the same this year. I just found out this guy completed a 200 mile this year and he will repeat it next year. It is a race, I wanted to do myself. I salute him. He ushered me into the mess hall and got me something good. Hot tea etc. He took care of Caroline too even though she did not run. I had a good bowl of bean, cheese, and taco type lunch. My bowl was filled to the brim. I didn’t know what it is but it was good. Bob G. was there. It was so good to be praise by this famous Bob. This race was his creation, literally. He was part of the original crew who came up the concept behind it. It was quite cheerful to see all the behind the scene people. Even after 32+ hours, the place was alive! I did not suffer a bit of sleep deprivation this time around.

    Photo taken by Caroline, about half to a mile from the finish. I thought we had arrived when I saw her. Did not know we were still quite a way out. There were three or more climbs left.
    Taken by Caroline, from the finish line. Last year, I struggled up this final hill.
    Picture by Charleen on the very last loop at Gunny, mile 86. Rain finally stopped

    Same as last year, my friends were instrumental in getting me to the finish. They said it so all me, but I know if not for them, I might have quit in the middle of the night. This would have been a very different report. It was certainly good to have a pacer. Wayne stayed with me for the entire 3 loops. He even had to walk/run 1-2 miles to his car, since crew were not allow to park near the start and finish area (for safety to runners, friends and spectators). So he really had a 100k day in around 20 hours. I know if he was by himself, he might able to do 100k in 17-18 hours or less. I ubderstand it is just as hard running way slower than your pace as in running faster than your nornmal pace.

    Coda/Epilogue: Caroline and Wayne already said they wanted to be with me at Western States. I kind of allude to this. I was on my second loop when my name was chosen to run in Western States. It was a live drawing happening on the west coast at the time. My phone started going off with congratulatory messages. It is a coveted race like the Boston Marathon, except for trail runners and there is a lottery system unlike the Boston Marathon. Everyone on course too were offering me words of congratulations. People I did not know were calling me out, saying that guy got into Western States. Amanda Lichy, fellow runner and friend and a volunteer at the Devil Dog was third person who congratulated me on the course. How did the word get out so quickly! I was double happy when I finished the Devil Dog. I had something to look forward to. With these two friends, I felt I definitely will do well. I lined myself up with a 2nd pacer too (Susan, who is a local trail runner in Sacramento). They have been constantly giving me tips how to run the Western States, even before I finished the Devil Dog (and to go for the Grand Slam! More about that in future posts). Everyone was enthusiastic! In a sense a race is never fully finish! There is always a next one.

  • [Day596] WS training w1

    Some have asked me how will I train for Western States 100. I have no idea, but the Run’s (the race organization seems to prefer to use the word Run over Race) website has good write ups on how to train for it.

    Main points I got out were to train running in the heat 100F and above at least 2 weeks out for the body to adjust to it. It might seem foolish, but some suggested to run with a winter coat on for that 100F heat experience.

    Second is the course is mostly downhill, training for long downhill run is important so as to prevent the quad muscles from seizing up. I experienced that before in a marathon, this is 10 times that.

    Elevation: It will be a race I have never done before. The elevation 22000 up is a bit high. The first and longest climb is 2500 ft over 4.5 miles. It is average 555 ft per mile.

    Time limit: is 30 hours. I ran about 10 100 mile races and only finished two under 30 hours and the elevation gain was in couple thousands. Time is a factor.

    Computer prediction: The computer is way off I think of predicting me to finish 24.5 hours. It did give me the confident to sign up though. Well, I signed up before knowing the prediction. I am in the 60% percentile. It neither predicting I could or could not finish.

    Knowing I am going to run it regardless the outcome, I started training. Since I just finished the Devil Dog 100, the first day was still pretty sore. I walked a mile on Tuesday. By Thursday, my legs were better. I could do about five miles.

    Weekend Saturday was my long run. I did 20 miles, not much, but on a trail with some elevation, at Signal Knob. It was a place I went maybe 2019 to start my trail training for the JFK.

    It seems to be good if 2700 ft in a about 10 mile loop, is enough vertical and long stretches of downhill for me to train for WS.

    My time was not that good. It took me 4 hours on the first loop. Second loop was on tired feet and I finished in 3:45 in medium effort. I think might get it down to 3:30 ish. The goal if possible to get it down to 3 without exhausting myself.

    I have about 25 weeks to train. I haven’t counted up the weeks yet, but half a year is about 25 weeks. Give myself couple weeks of break, plus tapering.

  • [Day595] Fairfax Turkey Trot 4 mile run

    Fall is full of races. Turkey Trot is everyone’s favorite race.

    My friends and I just finished running Stone Mill not long ago and we were half joking around that we should do more races together. I suggested or proposed we do a turkey run and if they had any plan for one.

    Every year I run either the Fairfax Mantua 4 miler or the Ashburn 10k on Thanksgiving. Not so much as to give back to the community, though most races on Thanksgiving are charity in nature, but I wanted to run the longest distance I could find (a few years ago, 10K was a long distance to me), anything but a 5K and not too exhausting. These two races fit the bill.

    I have been alternating back and forth from either those two from year to year. This year I wanted to expand my choices to try something new, so I was contemplating either to try Centreville 5k or Reston 5k. I was about to sign up for the Reston one because it was on trail.

    The guys wrote back, saying lets do Columbia Island 5k (they had 10k as well). We just finished a 50 miler a week ago, so we were not ready for a 10k, 5k seemed perfect. Columbia Island was a bit far for me but its location is closer for my friends who are from the downtown (DC). They could bike there instead of driving out to the suburb of where I am. I don’t go downtown unless for work.

    The day of Thanksgiving arrived. I woke up a bit late than I wanted but it was fine. The race wasn’t going to start until 8:00. I had about two hours to get to the Columbia Island, which is just across from the Pentagon, where the marina is. I have not driven thete before other than ran by maybe once. My GPS showed the estimated traveling time about 20-ish minutes, which was not bad. In our area, we have to plan an hour ish driving time usually to get anywhere. Our traffic problem was like top 10 in the nation, might be top 5 in some reports. I planned to arrive there maybe an hour before the race to get settle in. As far as I know, I was on schedule. There was not any traffic on the road, since it was Thanksgiving, and it was relatively early.

    However, while on the Interstate, another friend called me on the phone. While talking with her, I took a wrong exit off the highway, 7 miles earlier. I was not too sure if the turn was correct, but by the time I confirmed I was lost, I had probably ate up 15-20 minutes. Apparently there were 3 exits with the same name for Route 29. I took one too early instead waiting for the last one. This made a difference if I could get to the race on time or not. I figured, 8 miles, no problem. I probably still have half hour of time.

    It was a particular exit where once you got off you couldn’t turn around to get back on the highway. There was no on ramp from there except off ramps. I had to take the local roads to get to the race site and I was still 7 miles out. As it would have it, every single block, I encountered redlights after redlights. Initially, I had the patience to wait it out, but it was Thursday morning, with no other cars on the road but me. It was frustrating to stop for no reason. Not once but the entire road. Some blocks were short. I could see five or six blocks down, and I was stopped at every single block. Initially, I had an hour to spare, then it became half hour and less. By the time I got to within a mile, I knew, I only had 15 minutes before the start. There would probably no parkings left being this late to the race.

    What I did not mention was the day before the race, I also found out I have registered to run at Fairfax Mantua community couple months ago. Its start time was an hour later, so I could still make it. I still had to use local roads but apparently the lights seemed to favor cars leaving the city than entering, so I did not have to stop once after I turned around and going back out west. It was so strange. In about 15 minutes, I made it to my second race and I still had an hour to spare. I was also lucky to get into one of the last few parking spots remaining. I picked up my bib. There was no stress exactly how it should be.

    In situation like this, I felt, why should I struggle to go to the first race when everything seemed to set against me. The closer I got to that race the more problems I seemed to encounter. Once I turn around, all problems seemed to vanish. No lies. It was the weirdest morning. So, I was at peace once I set out for the Mantua race.

    The morning was warm. I ran this race like 4-5 times so the course was familar to me. We had a record turn out with 1500+ participants. I did not check if I PR’d (set my personal record) on the course but I was faster than last year with a time of 37:34.

    This was after the Bay Bridge incident. So I was a bit used to being deflated at a race. Though I felt I have redeemed back my race, still I was some what salty about not being able to get to Columbia Island. I felt I tried so hard to do a race and did not succeed. There were just so much effort in term the logistics, it took the joy out even when I get to run. I missed the days back when I did not have any of the complications. It was on Thanksgiving no less, so I should look at the bright side, at least I had a back up option. Give Thanks I could run!

    Some crazy stuff at this community, several neighbors set up tables outside their houses and offer drinks (beer and strong stuff). Most people bypass them, but I took a few shots. It was quite fun. I used to stay away from this kind of craziness.

    Until next year. I do love Mantua race even though it was not intended, but I ended up there.

    Arriving at the start. We had one of the warmest Thanksgivings. We still had 20+ minutes left before the start, yet everyone was gathering

  • [Day594] Space Coast

    Little did I know there is a bigger excitement (or plan) for me for next year. The news of me getting selected to run the Western States next year put a different light on everything, including the things I originally planned to write like this Space Coast Marathon. The year is not over yet for me. I also lost for words and my memory from Space Coast seems a little too distanced away for me to recall.

    Why is that? I will try as best to remember about this race not too long ago over the Thanksgiving weekend and then will move on to the next post. Because I have still a lot to say, because a lot had happened this few days.

    Space Coast crossed my mind as a race to run from time to time. First I wanted to see rockets. Second I wanted to see Cocoa Beach. Actually, I don’t really want to see the rocket itself. What I wanted to see was the launching of the rocket. I like to see the monent when force pushing the rocket upward exceeds the force of gravity. As a little delusion myself think I could see a space launch there every day, like fireworks at night, right?

    As for Cocoa Beach, it is because of Mario Kart, and it probably has nothing to do with reality. I was glad when I found out Cocoa Beach actually exists though it might not be like in the game. Space Coast Marathon actually takes place near it. It seems silly to pick a race because of a childhood’s memory of a video game. But anyway, those were my reasons. Finally, of course to cross one of my 50 states races.

    I did not plan to go down to Florida to run Space Coast this year because, I thought my schedule was too full already. In the beginning of the year, one of my friends wanted to go. So I started making plans, like checking for airfare, researching the race, the race cost, the registration, the pre-race instructions and so forth. Then I found it takes place during Thanksgiving. I was then reluctant to sign up because airfare would be higher and traveling would be hectics with so many other people flying during the holiday.

    As the day of the race approached, the airfare lowered a bit and I bit my tongue to commit, even after my friend backed out from going. I was able to find a time where I did not have to fly a red-eye flight for cheap ticket. I also decided instead of flying out Thurday or Friday, I flew on Saturday to save some money and also to spend the holiday at home. I could come back immediately Sunday night. The schedule just worked out. I saved a night or two on hotel too.

    Car rental was cheaper than I expected. There were offers of $5-$15 car rental. It was too good to be true. Indeed. I won’t call it a scam but it was close to one. If it is really a scam, the government would have shut it down. The reason for the low prices was because they were located off airport. The company I picked, while promised free shuttle pick up at the airport once I arrived, did not show after an hour of waiting. There was a phone number to call but it connected to an auto prompt system. I then checked on the company’s reviews (yes, should have done that first), everyone said it is a scam and the wait for a car is very long and they would nickle and dime you. The moment I saw that, I understood, I have been fooled. Instead of waiting more time to connect to a teller, I walked back into the airport where they had counters for the national brand car rental companies. I randomly chose one on the spot I know should be cheap. Went online to make an immediate reservation. I got my car in less than 5-10 minutes. Easy. The car was immediately ready for pickup without a hassle. I lost money with my first rental, but I figured I do not have an energy to fight for my back. The second rental was not too expensive either, maybe few times more, but the total was still way below the national average. I had car rentals that were more expensive than my hotel bills. This here was still relatively cheap, I think between $15-20. Much cheaper than hailing for an Uber ride.

    I stayed at a cheaper hotel as usual instead of the race’s host hotel. The same afternoon, I went to pick up my race package. I believe mailing the race bib ahead of time was not an option. We had to pick it up in person.

    I stayed a bit. The package pick up was the same location as the start and finish line. Not exactly the same but they were in the vicinity. I also learned that parking spots would be hard to come by at the Cocoa Water Front Park.

    For race day, we had several different options where to park. I parked at the public library which was about maybe half a mile away. I did not mind the walk. There were closer parking lots maybe within a quarter mile from the start, but I felt I might not be that lucky person to get spot and also after the race finished, I might have a hard time getting out among all the traffic. Library seemed to be the location not affected by the race day road closures.

    Geography. The race is in the city Cocoa which is different from Cocoa Beach. About maybe 7 miles away. It is not too far away. I did not know that until I arrived (I am not that good at remembering what I read in my research). The host hotels and my hotel were in the island over. I stayed on Merritt Island. Due to time constraint, I did not explore the place much. I do like the place because it reminded me of my former country in Vietnam, at least just a bit because of the tropical weather. Florida is pleasant to visit in the winter. It is a place I want to stay after I retired as do so many people.

    Instead of visiting Cape Canaveral or Cocoa Beach, I decided to walk around the area near my hotel. I walked maybe couple miles to a buffet place and had an early dinner and then walked back. By the time I got back, the sun had set and it was the right time to sleep because I would have to be up early.

    I believe the race started at 6:30, my memory is a bit vague now. I had to be up by 3:30 AM to be at the race parking lot by 4, to fight for my spot. They do have a shuttle on Merritt Island, but I did not want to depend on the shuttle since I wanted to stay around after the race and would not want to be bounded by the shuttle’s schedule. I believed I was a bit late arriving than what planned, but I was at the Library a little after 4. There were other runners arrived but I did get a parking spot.

    Then it was the long wait for the start. It might seem long to wait for two hours but by the time I walked from the car to the start, there was a decent amount of time spent. The place already had people, milling about. Soon more and more arrived as the shuttle buses came. I got everything I needed. There were about a thousand marathon runners and maybe twice as many for the half marathoners. The place probably had few thousand people, plus volunteers, vendors, and friends and families.

    They offered drop bag service but to me the weather was perfect and I did not need to wear a jacket, so did not have anything to drop off. I guess, it was good to change into clean clothes once the race is done.

    I spent my time waiting for the bathroom. Since, I arrived early, the line was not too long. I also spent my time walking around. It was good to know exactly where I was. I am not a map reading person. I could read map but I prefer to actually walk the place to know my location and soak it in. Walking around served as a warm up. So yes, I walked around for two hours before the marathon start.

    The course is easier than most other marathons I did. The start and finish is located in the middle. It is an out and back to the north for a half marathon and another out and back to the south for the second half marathon. We as marathon runners would run both the north and then southern route. There is no way of getting lost except when near the finish when we arrive back at the city Cocoa or unless they start to close the course, then yes, one would need to know where to go.

    The half marathoners could choose which ever direction they wanted to run beforehand (the bib is color coded, so one can’t change their mind on the spot). The north side has a stricter time limit while the south side does not have time limit other than when the full marathon ends at 7:30 hours (and when the break down the aid stations and reopen the roads). They also have a sweep wagon to pick up runners. North runner would start first before the people who were running the south course.

    We started in the middle of the street. North bound half marathoners started with us in the dark. I don’t remember if I wore a headlamp because it was still dark. With so many people, generally you don’t need one. Some did. I think I didn’t wear one. The streets I believe were lit.

    I started at the very last wave. They had informal corrals. I met an older gentleman, probably the oldest runner on the course. His name was Bob. He has done Space Coast 8-10 times. He told me about the roads etc because I said I don’t know where to go because I had not really study the course. He said he knows the course by heart because he would be coming in after they take down the directions, etc.

    The morning was nice. Since I started very last, I was slowly catching up. I passed different pacers. I don’t remember but I felt they had more pacers here than at the Philadelphia marathon, at least for the slower people. Soon I caught up to the 5:00 pace groups. There were two pacers. One would run an even pace and another would do run/walk. I think that was pretty interesting.

    My goal of that day was to beat the 5 hour people. I know I don’t want to join the pace group but would go on my own.

    Soon I caught up to the 4:45 and then passed them. I was straining to see the 4:30 people. It was not my day. The weather was getting warmer. I was tired soon. Miles went by. We had aid stations every two miles or so. Some neighbors would also set out their tables with adult beverages and some had nice fresh fruits, breads and snacks. Some only leave a cooler with a sign letting us know the snacks or food are for us. Not many people are brave enough to try stranger’s food, besides I think, everyone remember the rule of not trying new things on race day!

    For me I had an iron stomach so I would stop at any stations available but avoid the official ones due to crowding.

    I felt the crowd support and atmosphere was great. It is a small town, so it would not be like Philadelphia, but people were welcoming and I had a good time.

    The road was closed for us. Though some residents (one, at least) did try to drive among the crowd of runners. Some runners were trying to report that to the police or security officers.

    I did fine the first half. It is usually the second half that give me trouble. I got to the halfway point, and went out for the south route. There I saw the the fast marathoners coming in for the finish as well as the half marathoners.

    I ran with couple people. I saw Bob a few times, usually at some turn around points and I waved and encouraged him. He remembered me and pressed on. I know for him it is a harder race than it was for me.

    I had few more miles left before finishing. The 4:45 pacer passed me back. I was trying to hold off the 5:00 pacers. The finishing loop was pretty exciting. We came out at the park where the expo was and people who finished were staying around to cheer. It was where they served food, drinks and music. So I thought it must be the finish around the corner. People were cheering me on, so I ran faster.

    Little did I know the finish was maybe half more to 3 quarters of a mile. It was to the end of the road that is far far away near the bridge that crosses to Merritt Island. Interesting indeed. Of course, after finishing, runners would have to walk back to the Park where the party was held. Fun indeed on tired legs. Usually, there were friends waiting and walking along, so it would not be too bad.

    I finished under 5. I think around 4:53 (too lazy to look it up). I was torn whether to stay at the finish and cheer for people who were about to enter in or walk to to Park to enjoy myself with food and stuff.

    I chose to walk back. And cheered at the Park and scammed runners like I was scammed earlier by saying the finish is just a little more around the corner. Fun. Some runners were jaitbaited but some knew the course and would not be fooled.

    I stayed for three more hours or so. Soon there were fewer people finishing. They were already taking down the baricades on the road from the Park to where the finish line was. Some runners coming in around 7 hours to later were confused as where to go. I acted as a race course volunteer and pointed to people which way to go. Some had family or friends to guide them. Some I ran with with them.

    Soon after a while, it seemed nobody would appear, I decided to walk further up the course to try to find Bob. I found one runner who was still on the course and I asked him, if he had seen Bob. He said is here wearing such and such color. I said yes. He saw him. He said while at a mile out, there was a bus/van to pick up runners since they would not make it to the finish by 7:30 hours. Many got on the bus, but not him (the guy I was taking to). He said there would be no way for him to quit a mile out even if the time has expired. He though was not sure if Bob has quit. In his opinion, Bob would not do so. I didn’t think so either.

    So I waited a bit more. Bob did show up. I ran with Bob to the finish. He came in under 8 hours. I thought he was the last runner, but there was another runner after him. They gave him a medal and he was considered an official finisher. I was so happy for him.

    I learned a bit, that is never give up even if it passed the impossible. Even though the race might close at 7:30 hours but they might also still keep the clock runners for those who refused to quit.

    The rest of my day in Florida was uneventful. I went for sushi. Then I had to make my connection home. The airport was as busy as it could be. I got through security without any issues (through the pre-check line). It was a long wait for my plane at 9 pm. It was delayed and so forth. The food court was too crowded. I was hungry but was not willing to wait in line. Anyway, it was as expected a long trip home. Also about the car rental, I had forgotten which company I got my car from and that was fun little trip I took driving around to find out. Later, I found my rental agreement and everything was solved.

    Overall, I enjoyed my travel and my run. I saw many runners. Some were very grateful when they arrived at near the finish to see me cheered and encouraged them. One lady complained that she had to run still a bit more. I shared with her, she does not have to, she can stop here, however, both she and I knew it wouldn’t be a finish. She reluctantly ran the course. Later she came back to thank me. I asked, does that last mile worth it? She said certaintly, beaming with her medal in hand.

  • [Day593] News flash

    to blogosphere, there is no time for a long write up. I got picked in the Western States Lottery yesterday! It is an incredible honor. I am excited beyond words.

    Western States is like the Olympic for trail runners. It is America oldest 100 mile race.

  • [Day592] Bay Bridge 10K

    A fine beautiful morning, there were many people running this, but I was lucky to get a shot where it did not seem to be so crowded

    This was a double event weekend, I wrote several weeks back. Initially, I did not feel good to write about this run because it was not a run in my view. I had Stone Mill the day before, a 50 miler. Then I rushed to do this. I ended up walking, which I was not my intention, yet could not really blame anyone but myself.

    My two races required waking up around 3/4 AM. It meant sleeping early or having very little sleep. For me it was not enough sleep. The were relatively far from my house. Both required about an hour to 90 min of driving.

    Saturday event required more energy from me, since the race lasted 13+ hours. I was there from 5 am to 9 pm. I finished it, hungry, tired, cold, and sleepy. This was the beginning of my “tilt” (tilt in gamer term means anger that causes one to lose concentration in a tournament and ultimately causing a lost. It is like a building or a leaning object that eventually would tumble over). Things went down hill actually even way before Saturday night. The second race required even more mental energy.

    Why do I do it? I wanted to run the Bay Bridge 10K a few years back when I first heard of it. I tried a few times to sign up but usually one reason or other I did not get to run it.

    I have driven over the bridge many times. It is awe inspiring in our area due to its length. It id quite scary to drive on it. I used to white knuckle holding on the steering wheel on this bridge.

    It might not be the longest bridge in the nation but it is probably the longest in this area because it connects one side of the Chesapeake Bay with the other side. The bay is quite wide. It is 4 miles across at this crossing. It is also high too.

    I always like bridges and this one a bit more. There is also an annual event where people swim across the bay at this location. It is quite beautiful to look down at the water below, seeing sail boats and other water crafts. 

    It is a novelty for me (the wow factor). In our area, we have couple races like this such as running on our biggest airport runways or the cherry blossom 10 mile in DC. It is once in a life chance event.

    In fact, I have done both. The Dulles run was more memorable. Running on the Dulles Airport’s runway was unforgetable. Now every time I fly in or out, I’d say to myself, I ran on that runway before, like an airplane. Imagine, they stopped all the flights for us that morning so that we could run on it (actually it has couple runways, they only shut down one of them). Same for the bridge. It is a crucial crossing point, but they shut down the traffic on one of the spans for us to run across, which I think is quite cool. There is a special feeling to able to run in a landmark location. Now I can say, I walked across this bridge.

    As a joke, I want to remember it also by peeing over the side of the bridge at its highest arch for some reason. I think someone did at the New York Marathon (at a different bridge, maybe Brooklyn). I think it is funny that whatever silly idea I have, some other people too had considered or done it. There were too many course marshals and police officers here though to pull it off. They also had Coast Guard in boats below patroling. It would have created a scene for evening news if someone did do it. I might get locked up somewhere if I had tried.

    In a previous year, I ended up running the Bay Bridge virtually. The virtual option is still available this year. Some virtual races, I did them pretending them as a real event, but this one, I wanted it run in real life since I could get to it.

    This year, my friend said his parents were going to do it. This was exciting. I always wanted someone like my mom to join me in my races to share in my passion but I knew my mom’s physical fitness is not capable and it is not ever likely she would be able to do it due to her health issue. I was similarly excited for David’s parent who are in my age to decide and run/walk a 10K with us. David was obligated to join them. When I heard about it, I decided to join in as well. I felt like an honor to be part of this (their) epic event. This was a few month ago in the fall or near the end of summer when I signed up.

    At the time, we also wanted to run Stone Mill 50 which fell on a day before of the same weekend. So the logical choice was either to run Stone Mill or the Bay Bridge. I have signed up for Stone Mill. The question then to me, would I add a second race to make it a double header.

    I was pretty sure I could do both, Stone Mill on Saturday and Bay Bridge on Sunday. The challenge is more on the recovery and the mental readiness.

    My friend David too felt he had to pick one over the other. I did not force him to do Stone Mill with me, but I believe he could run in both events like me and a 10K would be easy. Though if he had to pick, I would support him doing the Bay Bridge over Stone Mill because I wanted him to enjoy the run with his parents rather than with me.

    A little background about why we wanted to run Stone Mill: David, me and another friend, Alex had run Stone Mill last year together. At the time, it was David first 50 miler. I had thought it was a once and done thing for them. But this year, they wanted to it again. Stone Mill was one of my favorites, so I already signed up. David though was on the fence. He did not want to get injured by the distance then could not run in the 10K, plus he has other races such as the New York Marathon.

    As it turned out the day before Stone Mill, David told me he registered at the last possible moment and would run Stone Mill with me and Alex. He kept it as a secret to not alarm his parents, because they would not want him to overdoing it. However, I was happy someone joined my craziness to do a double header.

    My other friend Caroline heard of me running the Bay Bridge wanted to do it too at the last possible moment. Because we became closer friend through couple trips and races we did together this year (Connecticut and Idaho), she made it my responsibility to sign her up.

    Since it was a last minute sign up for her, many amenities, like shirt and parking was no longer offered. As how she was to travel there, it became my responsibilty too somehow. I did not want her with me because I had my own race yet was impossible to turn her down without upseting her.

    She had a 50K scheduled on Saturday. Her race would finish way before me because mine is almost twice as long. She would have to wait for me.

    I had to go out of my way to pick her up after my own race. I also had to drive Alex home first after my Saturday race before picking up Caroline. Initially, I tried to refuse or at least have her meeting me at my race or the hotel, since her race is not too far from the hotel. At some other previous events, she had done so. Personally, I think she could have stayed at her house and maybe it only added 15-20 more minutes to her commute. It was frustrating to me she added a significant time to my travel for no reason, but anyway, I was willing.

    To readers, the best course of action was to say no to both Alex and Caroline.

    The hotel when we arrived had issues and we ended up either having to share the same bed or sleep on the floor. It shouldn’t happen but sometimes, things don’t work out. We were in an awkward situation and it was embarrassing. The whole thing was preventable because I had in mind for her to get the room ahead of time since she was in the area after her morning race and her race ended much ealier than mine at 3-4 pm instead of 9-10 pm. I believe we could have gotten our room if she had done as I wanted. All the extra work, I had to put through and now we didn’t have a bed.

    At my Burning River Trip next year, I will share a room with another female runner (note, not my idea); From this 10K experience, I might need to rethink on sharing a room. I might have to decline my friend kindness in order to get a good sleep.

    I knew running my best was impossible when I woke up, because I hardly slept. Caroline and I started talking a bit too early in the morning. We were sleeping on the floor, so it was uncomfortable and we did not sleep well. As to why, because we did not want to share the same bed, which was a given. The irony. We slept too late at night. Still morning arrived, we had to make our way to the event.

    The morning was colder. I dressed in multiple layers, more than usual, for as if I knew I would not be running that day. Or maybe because I overdressed, which prevented me from running.

    We drove to Annapolis which was about an hour away. In picking the hotel I had considered this, either taking a long drive in the morning or a long drive at night. I chose a long drive in the morning because I wanted to sleep early after my 50 miler. Usually, I am not a good late night driver but I’d rather be an early riser. This time, it seemed to be a mistake.

    We had a beautiful sunrise. We followed other cars into the parking lot at the Navy-Marine stadium at the Naval Academy. The directions given and organization of how and where to park once we arrived were well done.

    Initially, I was nervous because I haven’t been there before. I did not want to get lost (like at the Philadelphia Marathon). We still needed to make the shuttle ride and so forth, because we couldn’t park at the start or finish. There were a lot of things Google map can’t tell you, like where the shuttle located and how to get there, since there would be road closures. Google usually is not good at detecting closures. We parked. The lot was huge. They used the extra field around the stadium as additional parking spots. There were many thousands of cars there and yes finding our car afterward was hard, since the lots have no labeling system. To me all directions around the stadium looked exactly the same (I even snapped a picture beforehand to help me). My friend who has been there before warned me about this. She had difficulty in finding her car in past events.

    We found the our shuttle that would take us to the start. Underwent security check, which was pretty quick.

    There was an incident on the bus too. Maybe this was the one tiny thing that got magnified and remembered. When you think you are having a bad day, you start to notice a bunch of bad things.

    Caroline trying to get to a seat almost tripped over by a guy who was man-spreading in his seat because either his arm or leg was in the aisle.

    He took up two seats even though he was not a big guy while everyone on the bus shared a seat. We were not going to sit next to him anyway because Caroline and I were going sit together.

    He gave us a mean look maybe because he was expecting an apology. I am sure we had apologized. He might have thought, we were falling on top of him. We avoided further escalating the situation and so ignored him. Usually runners are a nice bunch of people. This was unusual. He had ruin the joyful atmosphere.

    Once we reached starting area, we got in line for the bathroom which like any other races took almost an hour because everyone chose to use the first bathroom area they saw.

    Note, there were more bathrooms at the starting line and on the bridge throughout the run, so there was no need to panic at the time, but we did not know. We lined up for bathroom here because we saw other people doing it. Everyone got off the bus and saw people lining up, so we did as well. I did not really needed to go. Of course, going was better than holding it in. It was group think.

    My starting wave was at 8 AM. We just barely made it in time. We were lucky to have set out so early to only barely made it to the start. We can imagine where some might have missed it. We were in the first wave where they allowed walking about middle of the pack. I think there was a 9 AM start and maybe even 10 AM.

    We had another friend, Jana, who was running in this event. However, I believe she started at 7:00 so we did not get to see her. Initially, we were planning to meet up at one point either before, during or after the race. There were just too many people and due to various parking locations and we did not get to meet up. Jana was also at the Philadelphia Marathon, I also did not meet her there because I was doing too much that weekend. We only see each other through social media even though we ran in same races, which was no different than any other days. It drives home the point, unless it is arranged or destined to meet, it is impossible. I count it as a blessing at least I ran with David and Caroline in-person.

    I also met a fellow local runner and blogger, Vanessa from SheRunsbytheSeashore. She wrote about meeting me in her 10K Bay Bridge report! So as a return courtesy, I am returning the honor. Please check out her blog. She typically runs 5k to marathon distance. She is a running coach and the president of her running club ESRC. She reviews races and products on her blog. She is a race ambassador (Bib Rave or Rave Bib), so gets free runs on some of the races. I followed her blog since forever. She has been improving at her mile time, something I am jealous about and wanting to do the same.

    We both are chasing our 50 states. She is about where I am at 14-15 states. I am usually a few states behind. There are some states she done that I haven’t such as Georgia and Rhode Island.

    I was glad to see her. Sometimes you bump into people you really look up to. Out of thousand and thousand people you get to see a familiar face. As the race got under way, Caroline went out ahead and was gone. Of the races we did together, we never waited for one another. Maybe this was the first time I am being left behind. I was a bit salty. Soon I caught sight of David not far from start line. Maybe a quarter mile in. He was walking in his jeans. I did a double take. So he explained to me that he might have injured himself the day before while running Stone Mill. I felt sorry about that. I originally, promised he would not get hurt because I would pace him gently in the 50 miler.

    Walking the 10K. I chose then to walk with David rather than trying to catch up to Caroline and we talked and took pictures. David’s father occasionally dropped back and took pictures of us or asked us to take pictures of him. David urged me to run ahead but I was not in a mood for running anyway, so I stayed behind and kept David company was a better option. Maybe also finally, it was a down time where I could better process my Stone Mill run from the day before too.

    Question to self, if I didn’t encounter David, would I have enjoyed the run more? Original that was my intention to run “fast” on the 10K, but by then, it was no longer the goal. I was glad I ran into David. Even though I gave up running my event (so the whole event did seem like a waste of time and money by my usual standard), I did not regret it. My friend Caroline commented that, I finally understood running is not everything.

    David too could have blamed me too for getting him to run in Stone Mill and so resulted in him not being able run the Bay Bridge. He did not blame me though. The least I can do was to join him in our slow walk across the Bay. I think this way, we could enjoy the view more.

    Time flew by. I was bundled up. Most people around us (80-90%) were walking. There were some runners running by on the left side. Many of them should have been in the earlier waves but maybe because of bathroom issue started in the later waves and trying to run through the crowd. There were just so many people. A note to self, if I want to run in this race again, to request for an even earlier starts where walking is not allowed.

    We finished after an hour or so. Maybe 90 minutes. I did not check my watch. I was there to just enjoy a good walk. The day was good. The weather was chilly and windy but being prepared for the cold, it was not much. There were times when I felt overheating and had to take off my coat, but then I felt the chill and had to put it back on.

    We had plenty of snacks after we finished. We had a free beer. There were various tents with different sponsors. So we went tent to tent to check on various sponsors and get free stuff. Most of the times, it was candies they were giving out.

    I found Caroline. She did not know I was walking the course instead of running it and thus I finished like 30+ minutes later. David and I were remaining inside the finishing area to eat our fill before exiting. It was one expensive buffet of eating fruit cups! We were having fun. It was a one way ditection for the runners, once you exited, you could not go back, so we stayed. Caroline already exited, so she asked me to bring her some food to the outside. There was not much to do once we were out so we decided then to head home.

    Getting back on the bus was a bit chaotic. There were buses to different places. No one knows where to go and there was of course a long line. It was not as well managed as when we arrived in the morning. We eventually found the correct bus and got back to our car.

    In term of running, it was below my effort. I had fun being around other runners. There was band playing on a stage. The atmosphere was festive like any big marathons. There were give-aways. We didn’t stay too long but still, it was an all morning affair.

    The lack of sleep kicked in soon in the afternoon as we were driving back to DC. David and Jana and I were originally planned to go somewhere near Annapolis for lunch, but we were quite late in getting back to our cars and I did not want to fight for a table with ten thousand other runners there. Both David and I have extra people with us (David with his parents and I with Caroline). We understood it would have been hard to get a table for a large party. It was best each of us to have lunch separately.

    Caroline and I headed for northern Virginia because we were more familiar. She has a favorite restaurant in Annandale. We had Korean seafood, and best of all Caroline paid for my meal. After that I got home, all I wanted was sleep, since I haven’t slept for nearly two days. I slept till the next morning.

    Looking back, probably I should not have done both events together. I wanted to do 20% more in everything. I imagined if I had a good rest, and even if I ran into David, I would be so focus in my run, I might shout out to him and wave and then pass by. It would have been a different experience. Whether that is a better experience is hard to say. However, I would have missed the chance to talk or hang out.

    We did cross the Bay Bridge on foot. It was an accomplishment and I might never get a chance to do again. But if I do get to do it again, maybe next time will be better when I actually run across the Bridge. There’s always next year they say.

  • [Day591] Races in 2024

    Happy Thanksgiving! Black Friday sales for races.

    My race schedule has gotten maybe a bit simpler and a bit complicated.

    A few months ago I went on a soul search as I do every year of what races and goals I should try to reach for, so that by the time races open for next year I would jump on for cheaper signups.

    Some (many) races have Black Friday sales.

    Around this time previous year, I would start signing up for races. See my previous plans from last two years, 2021 and 2022. This year I felt my schedule has gotten out of hand because I keep on adding more and more races.

    I become demotivating for me to plan for next year. For the last two months I kept asking myself what races do I want to sign up. I knew in my heart I want to do all of them. But I would have to pick and choose due to constraints. In the end, I did not sign up that many races.

    So here are my goal for next year: I am running some of same races as this year. Massanutten is a repeat. Burning River 100 is another repeat. I want to do Catoctin 50k or maybe Iron Stone. Grindstone 100 also a redo. Iron Mountain 50, I would like to finish it for real. These were pretty much the goal for this year.

    My most hyped race will be running a marathon in Taiwan (Wanjinshi) in March.

    Some other lofty goal is maybe will sign up for C&O Canal 100. I might do some of Midwest 100 races (Indiana 100, Hallucination 100, Mohican 100, or Kettle Moraine).

    Yeti 100 too is on my target.

    As for marathons, I only have one Clear Water Marathon in Fl and Providence in Rhode Island. I have not thought much about my 50 states. I might do Fargo too. They kept on sending me Black Friday promotions. I think it was their 20th year.

    Tbh, I have lost interest in the 50 states goal. I am willing to run any marathon. Eventually, I know I will reach my 50 states. Like every year, I think I start focusing on my 50 states toward the end of the year when I don’t have anything else to do. At least that was the pattern the last two years. States I wanted to run did not happen but states I did not plan to run were done (e.g. New Jersey, Idaho, and Connecticut).

    Below schedule is still much in flux. The live version is up on the site. As in the past, it will be constantly modified through out the year. I like a static version here, so I could look back and see how my goals changed.

    I penciled in those races I wanted to do a few months ago. I think it is a good outline of what to come.

    Unlike last year, I think it is fine not having every race written down yet before the start of a new year. I am at peace with it. Sometimes I just have to be patient that I can’t run in every race out there.

    Happy Thanksgiving all.

    ====

    Jan 5 (considering) La Cruces Marathon, NM

    Jan 27 (reg’d) Clear Water (Tampa) Marathon.

    Feb 17? Austin Marathon / Baton Rouge?

    Feb 17, Red Dirt 100? Forgotten Florida 100?

    Mar 17. (registered) New Taipei City Wanjinshi Marathon.

    March 17 – 27: possibly away for Sydney Trip, Six Foot Track 50K (not met qualification 4:20 marathon time), March 10.

    March 23, (not to sign up) Blackbeard’s Revenge 100K. /Aussie Trip

    Apr 20. (reg’d) Roanoke Double Marathon 1:00 Am – 2 pm.

    Apr 28? (goal) C&O 100

    May 5 (reg’d) Providence Marathon, RI, need flight. 434 mi, 8 hrs driving. recommended by sherunsbytheseashore. Or fly!

    May 4, (considering, but probably won’t do) Atlanta Greater Southern Endurance 100K.

    May 18 (reg’d) MMT 100. open on Oct 31.

    June 22, 2024, (considering) New York City running Exposition (100 mile)

    July 8-9 (likely) Catoctin 50K. or Iron Stone 100.

    July 28 (reg’d) Burning River 100

    Sep 20-22 (reg’d) UTMB, Grindstone 100

    Nov. (considering) Tampa 100.

  • [Day590] Philadelphia Marathon

    Why I ran the Philadelphia Marathon even though I ran a marathon in Pennsylvania before? As some know, I am trying to run a marathon in all 50 states. So in theory, it doesn’t make sense for me to run another marathon there. However, occasionally, there some states (like Virginia), I would run in again and again. Pennsylvania is also one of those states.

    Short explanation of how come, is no reasons other than I wanted to.

    The longer answer is more convoluted. Last year around this time, I ran the Atlantic City Marathon to have New Jersey done and met a guy there who said he wanted to do the Philadelphia Marathon this year. I said cool, I would join him. I signed up, hoping to meet him there again. I do have his contact. Anyway, he ran and finished, however, there were too many people, and so I missed him as he came in.

    Philadelphia is not that far from me, about 3 hour drive on a normal day. However, nothing is really normal with me. I left for Philadelphia after work and it took more than 4 hours, in traffic. When I came back, I was also stuck in traffic because some freak accident in the DC area. Also I-95 is usually heavy in traffic. I think it took me 4 and half hour coming back. I was totally exhausted, not so much by the run but by driving.

    What I did not mention was I made the same trip on Saturday because I went to cheer people who ran in the JFK 50. It was a lot of driving for me this weekend (probably 12-15 hours total in the car).

    Overall, I love the event and my time there. My weekend was a busy one because I wanted to be in three places at once. In the end I settled for two. I went to watch the JFK 50 race on Saturday and skipped out of going to New York for a convention. We were blessed with good warm weather on both days.

    I kind of wanted to run in Philadelphia for a long time, but I did not do it because very early on I had Pennsylvania met when I ran in the York Marathon. This is for running in all 50 States. It made no sense to me to repeat a state, but finally gave in.

    I still wanted to do a run in Philadelphia for its historical significant such as the Liberty Bell and city hall.

    There is also cultural significant. For me, it is the Rocky movie and for Philly cheese steaks. Unfortunately, I did not have time to stop in the Italian quarter (and the Philly cheese steaks at the finish were all sold-out). However, I did manage to secure myself a cheese steak hoggie in New Jersey the night before. I know, it is not the same, but was close enough, that it blew my tastebuds away. For context, last week, I had my physical, and my doctor recommended me to stay away from red meat…so I would have to follow my doctor’s advices soon and eat healthier stuff. Yes, I will start my dieting after this. Dieting always starts tomorrow.

    In the mean time, that cheese steak was so good. It was like a once in a lifetime food.

    When I started running a few years ago, I wanted to go to Philadelphia to do the Rocky 50K, where you run around the city and then do the rocky steps by running up the steps of the Art Museum like in the movie. Rocky 50 is a fatass, meaning it was not an actual race but an informal run where you are responsible for yourselves and there is no award and such.

    The Philadelphia Marathon fulfill most of those wishes. I did not get to run up the steps, but I was there near the steps. There were antiwar protests going on, so I did not want to go near there to do the rocky run. Anyway, I was too exhausted after the marathon to climb any stairs but I did see some wandering up the steps.

    We finished in front of the Art Museum. We were separated from the steps by fences. I don’t think the museum would be happy if ten of thousands of people decided to run up on its steps. But I was thinking it would be awesome if we get to run up them as a finish.

    The marathon weekend came. I drove there Friday after work to pick up my bib. Hotels in the city were too expensive for me, so I stayed in New Jersey, the cheaper side, even cheaper than Delaware. Friday, I did not know where to park for cheap and paid quite a lot for parking near the city center ($30) and that was after-hour parking for couple hours. Normal hour is about twice of that. I was lucky on Sunday to only pay ($12) for the entire day in a decent lot near Drexel University. Initially, I was afraid my car would be broken in. There was one lot near a community college I initially planned to park where it was mentioned in a review that undesireable (zombies) people would hang out in the lot. Philadelphia has a homeless problem like any major US cities. I am used it in the DC area but seeing them in other places kind of scares me.

    I stayed in New Jersey because it is cheaper. It has a bit of feel of being back home. I prefer staying in smaller towns. I think outside of Philadelphia would be cheaper too but it would require me to travel further north and west. New Jersey neighborhood does not seem to be that modern (or clean) either but my stay was comfortable and I felt safer.

    Pretty much like any other marathons, I did not get much sleep the night before. I woke up every hour to check my clock. By closer to 4 am, I started to feel sleepy but I knew I wanted to get up at 4, so I could get into Philadelphia by 5. Usually this is the case, when I wanted to sleep I can’t and when I need to get up I feel I am about to sleep.

    I already knew what I would be wearing. I picked them out few days before. The temperature was decent at 45 F and would go up to 55-60 (I think about 15C). It would get warm by noon. So Layering was the key. I had a T shirt as my base and put on a long sleeves and I decided to run in shorts. I knew I had a long wait time, so I would wear a sweater and sweat pants on top. I had on a wind breaker too, a head buff and pair of mittens. I decided to not to wear my hydration pack to make going through security easier. Don’t follow my advice here. I read online that some people experienced not receiving water at some water stations when they ran the half marathon the day before. It did not matter, many people brought their hydrations pack on. It did make it a bit easier for me of not wearing one. Less things to be checked when I went through security.

    They fenced off the whole start and finish area. Those who entered inside had to go through security check at a gate. Apparently this was their first year doing it based on comments I read. This was one of the reasons to arrive early. Some people who arrived at 6:30 were stuck in long security queue and also long bathroom lines. Parking too was probably hard to find by then. Probably some missed the start because of the various delay of getting to their corrals. We had close to 13000 according to the organizer.

    As for me, even though I left my hotel early, the entrances to the freeway were blocked due to construction and I had to use local roads to get across New Jersey. I had to fight with my google map direction because it tried to rerouting me back to various closed entrances. Apparently Google Map did not know about the closed roads.

    I arrived in Philadelphia with no further issue once I crossed over the river. There was no traffic. The lot where I parked was already seemed to be full. I got a spot. I was just happy things worked out. Another reason I did not sleep well was I was trying to figure out the Philly train system and if I should use the train into the city. For me, driving ended up being a better choice. The race though recommended people to walk or use public transit. They also had shuttles from various points in the city.

    Then I walked with the rest of everyone. It was easy to pick out people who were running the marathon. There were no other people walking around at that time but us. We all headed toward one direction. We all had our running gear. They gave us clear plastic bags for putting our clothes for the bag check and everyone was using them. You could spot runners with their clear bags from far away.

    I got through security without issue. The check bag lines too were not that long. It pays to arrive early. I decided to take off my sweater and sweat pants and checked those in. It was nippy and so I had to keep moving to stay warm. A lot people were huddling and hunkering down. I believe the best things to do was to walk around. They had heated tents and VIP tents, but yes, you have to be part of them to use their tents.

    Soon it was after 6 am and the start was about an hour away. Bathroom lines started to grow long. I knew there were bathrooms outside the security area where I passed earlier. I felt I needed to go but did not want to stand around waiting for a bathroom. So I went back outside the security check zone and indeed there were empty ones.

    The security lines at various entrances were pretty long though. People were lining up several blocks away to trying to get in. Now it was about 20 minutes until the start. Some people started to run from entrance to entrance to find a shorter line. There was a sense of panic in me as to how would I getting back in. I came from northside (Art Museum), where when I exited earlier had no lines. Most people though arrived from east/south east side. So I walked back to the north entrance that was about a mile or even two away as the clock was ticking down. It was a long walk. The north side now had a few people forming a short line, which took me maybe five minutes to get through. The announcer even was telling people to move to the north side, but many people either think it was too far away or did not want to leave their places in the line.

    There was hardly anyone at the north entrance

    The race itself was like any marathon I ran. I was placed into the 4:30 corral (purple) but I decided to move back two corrals to the (blue). There I found the 5:00 pacers. I know possibly I could run a 4:30 finish but I felt more comfortable if I run with the 5:00 people.

    We had a clear bright and glorious morning. I entered my corral with thousands others. The race kicked off on time. By the time my corral crossed the start, it was 7:30. We were excited. They said there were 11000-13000 of us. Crowd support I felt was pretty good, and I think better than many marathons I did. The city felt very welcoming (unlike when I ran the Toronto Marathon or Baltimore). I was hyped and started pushing my pace early. Soon I was overheating and had to take off my long sleeves. The winds were blowing at a minimum. I could imagine how much colder this race could be. We traveled through the downtown, chinatown, Italian quarter, and out to somewhere in the suburb to the south. There was always something to look at. It was less busy. The corrals separated runners out well, so were not too crowded at any point unlike the Marine Corps Marathon where constantly there were sea of people running elbow to elbow.

    We started going up some long hills by mile 10. Everyone ran up on the hills though. I guess the locals were used to this. We crossed back the river / railroad and the last 10 or so miles were an out and back along the river. My pace slowed down quite a lot by then. At mile 17/18 we saw the 3:15-3:20 people at their mile 24. They were amazing as their pace was so much faster than us. They were crushing the hills. We were running downhill. I knew they were almost two hours ahead of us.

    I like the out-and-back not so much as running it but for seeing people, you could get to see the past people coming back as I headed out and on the return I get to see the slower people (the tail end). I was trying to spot my friend. On occasions, someone on the other side would stick out their hands for a slap or say something encouraging. I would do the same.

    I ended up walking a few times. My goal was to not let the 5:00 people passing me since I started with them. So I ran when I could. At the last mile, we had people lining the street cheering. I finished at 4:41, almost 4:42.

    It was a time I could live with. I wanted a 4:30 but I knew it was a bit hard to reach that day. Heck, I could even settle for a 5 hour. Even if I did not slow down in the second half, it was probably hard to hit it. I think I only lost 5 minutes in the second half. After checking my split, I slowed down about 10 minutes during the second half. My first half was 2:14. Yes, aiming for 4:30 was hard if not impossible at my pace, unless I could do an even pacing.

    I stayed maybe an hour more to cheer people coming in. This was one race where a lot people stayed behind a bit to watch and cheer. It got colder for me. 50F was still pretty cold if standing still. So I left for warm food in chinatown and then drove home.

    You alway learn something new. At this marathon, what surprised me was there were plenty spectators handing out tissue paper to runners. I ran for 7 years and this is something new to me. What do people do with tissues? To blow their noses! There were some handing out toilet paper too, but let leave that to imagination. There were piles and piles of tissue paper on the ground;) I thought that was interesting. I ran in colder races before and this was a first to see such as sight.

    Also, this is the first time on quite a few occasions people moving from left to right or right to left without looking where they were going and bumped into me. There usually some jostling around but this was not it. I think the runner either seeing someone or something at the other side (like their friends) and decided to go from sideline to sideline to say hi. I guess I was not paying attention either. A few times, we had a bit of a close call of tripping each other and crashing to the ground. I am judging them for wasting their energy and not using it to running the tangent.

    Philadelphia is a beautiful city for its buildings. At night though, the town is scary. This is my opinion. Locals probably don’t feel as unsafe as I was. I’d rather stay indoor. I guess it is like any major cities in the US, you just have to watch your surrounding.

  • [Day589] Eastern Divide 50K

    Last time I ran Eastern Divide was in 2019 (report). It probably would be interesting to look back. I will do it maybe after this post goes live.

    The race captured my imagination the first time I did it. At the time, this was a hard race. I finished in 6:54 h and I thought I was slow because in a previous 50K I did it under 6 hours.

    The race used to be in June. I was a new comer then in the ultra racing and in the trail running world. I did my first 50K in December 2018 at First Landing State Park and I wanted more. Eastern Divide was that next step due to elevation of the course.

    I remembered it being hilly. I liked the point to point aspect of the course. It makes me feel I was going somewhere. The scenery too is amazing, both summer and fall have their own beauty.

    This year the race was moved to the fall. The atmosphere was different. There were less runners running this time than before. Maybe because it is colder and also fall has too many choices in term of racing. For me, this race was in conflict with 3 or 4 other events I want to do. One was the Rim to River 100.

    We used to be have total participants near capacity of 200 people. Now it was about 70 runners. Being in the fall means cooler temperature. It was actually cold for me.

    I was just recovered from a virus or head cold and was not really ready to run it. In normal time, I am afraid being cold. That day, it was very cold for me because I was weaker. I put on plenty of layers.

    I stayed in Beckley West Virginia the night prior, due to I need to get back there (actually to Fayetteville) after the race. It was about two hours away.

    So I got up around three in the morning and got to the race around 5 AM. Because it is a point to point, we were told to meet at the finish at Mountain Lake (Tree Top Adventure Course, which was a mile up from the Mountain Lake Resort) and be shuttled to the start. Note, in a former year I ended up at the resort, but luckily someone led me to the correct place. Note, the instructions of where to go were very clear on the race website, it was on my part I did not read them carefully that year. We had to be on time because the last bus would leave at 6:30. The race was at 7:30.

    As you can tell, this race has these minor particulars that if not followed, as a runner you will be screwed. You might be disqualified or missed the start and so forth. Following their instructions is important. It is not hard, but every year there bound to be someone like me, who skims through stuff and misses pertinent information.

    There were parkings available at the start but not for runners due to race permit requirements. We could be dropped off at the start, but as a runner, we could not leave our cars there, since the park wants the spots to be for park visitors. RD said, every year, there is someone who did not read the instructions and would be surprised by this.

    This year I was the second person arrived, the race director Steve being the first. He had marked the course, set up cones and signs leading to the parking.

    I was surprised to see him already there. I thought I had time to catch some sleep before anyone shows up. He told me where to park. I parked. I had my brief breakfast, used the bathroom, and settled in. I seeing him standing alone out in the parking lot, so I joined him and we talked.

    I have done a few of his races since 2019. I did all of them you can say. Old Glory (report) was next race I tried and that was his hardest. His races have a progression. High Bridge 50K (report) being the easiest due to it being on a flat course. Eastern Divide is in the middle. It is mostly on roads with some trails and country/forest roads. Then there is the Lake Ridge at Lake Claytor (report). It is a timed loop course, where a runner chooses to run either 6 hours, 12 hours, or 24 hours. I love Lake Ridge the best and have been at every single one but the corona year.

    As we waited, soon the buses arrived. Some volunteers showed up. Runners showed up as well. Steve left to show the bus drivers where to park. I was left to direct traffic into the lot. Initially, I panicked that I might misguide people. Runners are smart. They soon figured out where to park by following one after another. We made an informal parking lot out of the back of a farm.

    As it was time to leave, I gathered my stuff. It would be a one way trip, so I had to decide what to bring along and what to leave behind in my car. I needed my water pack, my running shoes. I changed into clothes I think I needed. The base layer stayed on me but I was switching my outer and mid layer. I had a buff and gloves. I don’t remember if I ran in shorts or long pants. Likely I kept my long pants on with shorts underneath.

    I was excited. I got on the bus with 20 other people. I think the other half would meet us at the start. Not everyone used the bus. The RD said every year, there would be someone arriving late. So he had two buses. The first bus left on time. The second bus was to catch those arriving late.

    The bus ride only took about half an hour. It took us into the the Appalachian, to Cascades Fall. It is supposed to be the lowest point of the course and we would run back out from there to Mountain Lake. Yes, several thousand feet of climbing. I think 4-5 thousand for the whole race. I don’t have the exact number. I am sure it is on the website. It is a lot of elevation gain. Many runners did not realize they are climbing from the valley to the mountain top.

    I did not pick up my bib the day before, so I had to pick up that morning at the start. I was nervous of being late and not getting a bib and could not run. It worked out. We got to the start as the sun was about to rise. It was still dark but the sun would rise within half an hour. We did not need a headlamp to run but it was good to have one in the early hours before the race such as using it in the bathroom. The bathroom was the warmest place. Maybe one or two would try to stay warm in there, but the rest of us, we braved the cold outside.

    Kim the co-race director gave us her briefing. I don’t remember what was said. We walked down to the trailhead by the creek, then she counted down and we went.

    I was not feeling well even early on and slowly became the back of the pack. I stayed in front of a lady and so avoid being the last runner. Slowly, I caught up a few others. I knew my pace was not good. I was probably 7-8 from the rear. Each time I passed someone I would keep the count in my head.

    About a mile in, we reached the fall. This was one of those places to take picture. The fall sight is different from summer when I first ran this. We took a series of stairs to get up.

    In this race, there is an award to be the fastest male and female to reach the ridge, I think abour 4-5 miles in. at the first aid atation. Our race director would be there waiting for us.

    I know I wouldn’t be first to get to the top but I had to try. Climbing is my strong point. I was able to pass couple people. One guy said he remembered seeing me before. We chatted and I found out he was from NC so he probably saw me at the Iron Mountain 50 Mile. He agreed.

    After reaching the Aid Station, we got on a jeep road. For the rest 20 miles or so we were on one road after another. There was no car driving on it but it was hunting season so occasionally we saw hunters or their cars on the side of the road.

    I was behind a woman. Sometimes I passed her other times she caught up and passed me. I don’t remember her name, but she said she came here with several friends and they talked her into running this. Her friend though dropped down to run the 8 mile instead of the 50K. Later her friend came out to pace and we found out she won first place for female. She was being humble saying she won by technicality because the initially first place runner made a wrong turn got lost at the last few miles and so she won without realizing. A win is a win.

    We were descending from Butt Mountain and we were heading toward civilization. We reached a small town or could be an area with some camping cabins. Then we made a long climb up to Wind Rock. It was past noon now. Carrie’s friends came out and met us saying we just have a few more miles to go. They urged us on to make the 1:30 (6 hour) cut off.

    I was hoping I would not make the cutoff so I couls go back into my car. The cutoff was near where we parked at the finish. I said if I could see my car, I would not want to continue. Fortunately, Carrie’s Friends said we would not see our car before we make the turn into the woods to an aid station (AS4).

    Our race director Steve was waiting us there (again). I think I was cutting close to the cutoff. RD Steve said it is up to me to quit or continue, he would not sway me one way or the other. We still had about 10K left and this part is the “fun” part around Mountain Lake. Indeed I like this the best out of the entire course. It was challenging in term of path finding and foot work.

    They changed the course slightly this year to avoid going through a shooting range. In previous years, they were able to negotiate with the range to temporary stop for a day.

    Why it is this part fun? It is most technical part of the course. There is no clear trail. It is a mountain bike trail but it goes all over the place. It is the place easily get off trail and make a wrong turn. I prefer to stick close to the runner before me (Carrie). We did not get lost. One time she went off the trail, and I was able to warn her in time.

    There were a lot of climbings. Soon we came out to an aid station at the top. We we ran down a mountain road that let us to the resort. At the Mountain Lake Resort, Carrie’s friend came out again and paced Carrie to the finish.

    We had maybe 2 miles left. We had to climb up a hill to an overlook. It was worth it. This part was new this year. We went around the “lake” (dry now). It would pop out to a field where the finish line is.

    I was the third from the last runner. Two more finished behind me. Two people DNF’d. I was fifth from the bottom. Two people passed me since the start (Carrie and a dude from NC). I don’t mind. I felt I tried my best in my condition.

    Also, I did hold back through the run. I felt I could have pushed a bit harder but I planned to pace a runner that night in a 100 mile race (though I planned to do only 30-40 miles), so I had to hold back. Carrie said the total milage was closer to 28 miles instead of 31. I was moving about 16.5 min per mile pace. However, because of my weaken state, even though I thought I was holding back, the race exhausted me. I ended up would not be able to pace Lynne at Rim to River that night (pacing).

    The finish line food was good. We had chili, one of my favorite food.

    My time was 7:37:55. I signed up this race thinking I could beat my previous time, but ended up finishing much later.

    Would I run it again? It usually is in conflict with my other races. If I do have a free weekend, I would like to run the course again. It is a trail race, but since most of it is on road, dirt road, gravel, etc, I am no longer a fan of road running.

    Steve said, the Old Glory one, due to not many people interested in it, it is no longer held. He said that race is expensive to host and last time I did it, there were only 20 people signed up.

    Next year, 2024, I know I would not be able to do Eastern Divide. I promise to pace a friend and this time for real, I would not try to run in a race on the same day I have pacing duty. I promise I would be a good pacer.

    (Meta/context/Note, this Eastern Divide was held on the same weekend of Rim to River 100, which I wrote couple entries ago).

    Sorry no pictures. The course was beautiful. It was a nice day

    Some civil war history. Union troop from West Virignia made a raid int Virginia and used this turnpike to retreat back to West Virginia. This place was a spa (salt/sulfur spring that was popular with the people at the time)

  • [Day588] double header (Stone Mill 50)

    Running races back to back is not uncommon to me. I have done so since the beginning. This past weekend I signed up to do both a 50 miler and a 10K. I chose to run Stone Mill 50 but walk the Bay Bridge 10K. I will leave the Bay Bridge for a later post. It was a good day, but there are just too much to say. I primary focus on running, so Bay Bridge, while was still a running event, came off to be more a social one. If I have time, I will go back and write about it.

    TLDR – It was a good weekend and a good race

    Stone Mill 50, It was my 4th time running this. If I can have one more finish, I will receive a jacket as a finisher prize. I started running it in 2020, the year I got serious with ultra racings. These are the three previous reports (2020, 2021, 2022). I haven’t reread them, but I guess they are pretty similar. I love this race. I always think it is a hard race before running it, until I run it and after finishing, it does not seem that bad. Each time, I step across the finish line like it was a cake walk.

    I have done many harder races than this. This one is not what I should say hard. The cutoffs are generous. However, in my mind I always feel a bit of fear before attempting because of the cold and some creek crossings and the distance. I have to give the distance the respect. The course also has a decent amount of rolling hills. It feels like always an uphill 12-13 hours climb.

    We probably had one of the best racing weather this time. It rained two days before, which helped a lot to pack down the leaves. It gave a more solid path to run on. I have been out on the course the last few weekends and running on leaves was a problem for me because they slided around underneath and also they cover over roots and rocks. The rain made the path easier to see. While rocks and roots and a bit of wet did make the course slipery at times, but generally, I think it was better than a totally dry course. The trail though was dry enough to run on. The day as any year started off cold (38F, and lower at some part), but it got up to 60 F, where we could be comfortable in a t-shirt and shorts. I dressed in layers and striped when needed. Some bridges had ice on them from frost. We saw a runner fell after stepping onto a bridge. I had a couple close calls.

    We started at 6:00 AM. There was a 5:00 AM start for those who believed they needed an extra hour. Many of those who trained with me took the earlier start. Many also were their first time running a 50 miler. This was the first year I saw those early runners off. I always arrive to the race early but usually I stayed in the car to get ready such as eating and final preparation before going to the start line.

    The 5 AM start. There were some timing issue with the laptop. Runners were waiting for the go signal from the RD.

    The course is open for 13 hours typically. 14 hours for the earlier start. There were several cutoffs. Generally, we had to maintain a 15-16 min-mile pace to finish by 7 pm. The first three cutoffs required about the same pace. The last cutoff was at 6:40 PM at RT355, and the pacing to reach that was a bit more lenient (20 min pace). Technically, in order to finish within 13 hours, you have to be at the last cutoff by 5:40 pm. But they gave us until 6:40 pm before the aid station closed, so I think that is quite lenient and they would leave to finish line open until everyone arrives, which is about an hour more than the posted time. This year was the current Race Director (Barry) last year, so next year there will be a new director and these cutoffs might change.

    Basically if you pass the last checkpoint, the finish line would be kept open until you finish. In a typically year, it means it would stay open until about 8 pm (imagine 15 hours to run this). Usually there were not many people that need that extra hour at the end, since if they could not make the earlier cutoffs, they likely would not have made it to the final one. There was not a person that went over 15 hours.

    This might seem counter intuitive of why the cutoffs are longer at the end but I found it was helpful that as long as you are determined to finish, you could and would (at least you don’t have to be stressed with the cutoff of the last 4-8 miles). You just have to at least get to mile 42 in a decent pace of 15.5 min pace.

    Cutoffs are not usually my worries. This was my four times running it. So I prepared a pace chart. Not blaming on my pace chart, but this year was my worst performance, coming in at 12:47. My previous times were 12:37, 12:21, and 11:16, with each year being faster than the one before. I was actually expecting to come in under 11 hours this time, but instead was closer to 13 hours.

    As to why I was slower? I think mentally, I was not as competitive. Physically, since Grindstone, I have not trained as aggressively as before. The week leading up to the race, I did not run for a full week. It showed. I was tired by 8 miles in. Mentally, I knew I could pull through a 50 miler (and more). Physically, my legs were screaming at me. It was not until after mile 34, I felt the legs finally relaxed and gave in to allow me to run at the pace I wanted. Note, there were significant climbs after this, so on my pace chart it did reflect that I was running faster.

    I was big on pace chart this time, since I have been pacing other people recently in their races and pace chart is one of the needed tools to accurately pacing someone. I wanted to have better gauge of my pace through various aid stations and it also would give me an assurance how much time and what pace I needed to run to finish. Previously in my other runs I do these kinds of rough calculations in my head. But this year, I created a spreadsheet that takes the mental load off me. I still do mental maths, but not too many at the same time. The interesting take away was the last cutoff would give runner enough time to finish. In previous years, I was always stressed out about the 7 pm finish, but not this year. Knowledge is power!

    I was targeting to run around 15 min mile pace. I hit this target. In the beginning I was a bit ahead of pace, running near 13 min (the time including spending at aid stations).

    I also was running by feel, which mean if I don’t feel well, I don’t push myself to run harder. There were several times I intentionally slowed down for others. I paced with several runners through the course, otherwise, I could have done maybe 30 minutes faster if that was not the case.

    The first couple miles, I ran with my recently found pacer (Wayne) who paced me at Grindstone, and also my to-be pacer at the upcoming Devil Dog in a couple weeks. However, his pace was too fast for me in this race to keep up, so I dialed back. Soon I found a woman who gave me a decent pace (#104). We were running around 13-14 min mile pace. It was slightly slower than I want but since the race was still early, it did not matter. It was good that I don’t go out too fast.

    I was with her for about 6 miles until we reached Seneca State Park (Clopper Lake). There I met Lee and Christen. We were still maintaining a 14 min pace. #104 passed us. I stayed with Christen, but she became slower still became she frequently needed to use the bathroom break. Lee pressed on ahead and was out of sight and never seen again. I tried to pace Christen to Riffleford (mile 12). Christen had her crew there, however, she was a few minutes slower in coming out from the aid station. I waited for her at a road crossing about a mile away while chatting to a volunteer. We then ran down the road segment together (RT 28). We had a good pace of even (9 min according to Christen’s watch). It think it was more like an 11 min pace. The road segment allowed us to catch back up on the time lost at the previous aid station. However the road was short, and lasted about 2.5 miles.

    We entered the Muddy Branch. This was a segment I did not train on this year because either I was away for Hayden Lake or was at Guilford, Connecticut. It felt long and not too familiar to me. Christen’s pace was alright, it was not fast or slow. We were passing people. Normally, here was when I would really run fast. Today I was with Christen. She was slightly slower. I promised her we would get to Pennyfield (mile 24) before noon. It was 10 am and we had 8 miles to go. Usually my goal was to arrive at Pennyfield by 11:30 or earlier. I could run a marathon under 5 hours and Pennyfield is about a marathon distance. Today, we only had to keep a 15 min pace to get there.

    Pennyfield was our first cutoff (at 12:30). My goal was to be there by noon based on the average pace required to finish the race before 7 pm. So 12:30 cutoff time was a more generous time. I told Christen we should leave Pennyfield by 12:00. My pace chart was based on time leaving an aid station and not on arrival time. So any time spent at an aid station, had to be earned.

    About couple miles before reaching Pennyfield, Christen took a fall and landed on her nose. She was a bit shaken up and also she had a slight cramp in one of her legs. Her speed suffered a bit. I went on ahead and ran with Sophia (who was passing us at the time), while she called her husband.

    But all three of us reached Pennyfield at about the same time. It think at 11:50. Christen had her crew to take care of her. I helped myself first with water, refilled my pack and got various food to eat. Also a volunteer (Mike) told me that my friend “Daniel” (David) already passed by the station. All this time I thought David was behind me. This news kind of shock me that he was ahead. It meant my pace was slower than I thought (at least slower than David and last year).

    It was not that it would matter much. Everyone runs their own race (pace). But I would like to catch up to David somehow. I figured (or guessed) that David had a mile on me, so if I run a minute faster at each mile, I would catch up to him about 15 miles later. We were at mile 24, so I would imagine catching up at mile 39 – ish (just before the Riffleford AS, which was at mile 42). I caught up to him at mile 44.

    Sophia was a lady we were chasing early of the day. She was initially ahead, but Christen and I caught up to her at the Muddy Branch and she then followed closely behind, but passed us at Quince Orchard Aid Station, while Christen was using the restroom, then we passed her again near Pennyfield. Just maybe five minutes before Christen fell, I happened to turned around and saw Sophia falling, so I went back to help her up. Not long later, Christen fell too in the front.

    Sophia explained she torned her ACL couple years ago and this morning while crossing one of icy bridges, she kind of tweaked it again. It was hurting. She had both her knees taped up. She was thinking of quitting at Pennyfield. Her boyfriend Keith is the famous runner who had run this race every year (14 times), who happened to run 70 miles one year after taking a wrong turn and still managed to finish in time.

    I kind of convince her she still had time to finish the race based on her current pace. And she was not walking but running at the time, so there should not be an issue of making the cutoff. Again, because I had my pace chart, I knew exactly how much time we had and what effort needed to arrive.

    I told her she needed to get out of the Pennyfield station fairly quickly. She had blister on one of her toes and she planned to pop it at the aid station. Gretchen, one of volunteers helped her with the antiseptic. I helped her with her shoes. She brought an extra pair at Pennyfield, so in my mind she was not so new to ultra running (though she said, this is her first 50 miler). My presence seemed to help Sophia and there was no more talks of quiting.

    We left Pennyfield together exactly at noon. Christen was not around at the time, so we did not wait for her. Later Christen said she left couple minutes behind us at 12:02. I paced Sophia with running and I think we were hitting about a 12 minutes pace. It was a bit too much and Sophia was getting out of breath. She asked if we could walk. I agreed. So we did run/walk. Usually our walk was less than 30 seconds and our run was about 4-5 minutes. I told her to aim for running every 100 yards or so. We reached Stone Mill ahead of schedule, with an average pace of 13.1, which was quite good. We were 40 minutes before the cutoff. Sophia told me her pacer would meet her at Stone Mill. I did not plan to pace her beyond the Stone Mill aid station.

    I did not stay too long at the Stone Mill Station. There were a lot of food available here. They were all good to eat. I took a chicken noodle soup here, because that was the easiest to swallow and I mixed in with some advocado and rice before heading off. Christen was fast in getting out. She actually caught up to Sophia and I, but Sophia went to talk to her crew and new pacer, so Christen and I left the station together without waiting around for Sophia. Also we caught up to #104.

    We ran maybe half a mile to a mile up the road before making the turn to the Seneca Creek Greenway. Because Christen did not have much sleep the night before, she explained she would be extremely tired and having hard time focusing. Her pace slowed significantly once we hit the trail. I decided not to wait for her. We discussed this couple hours beforehand, saying I would take off once I passed the Stone Mill Aid Station. It was not like I suddenly dumped her.

    I passed a few other runners as I climbed up, though not as many as in previous years. This was where I shined because of the hills and because of the endurance aspect, I felt I was stronger than others at later stage in the race.

    I felt finally I could run the race at my own pace. My feet were tired but I tried running whenever I could. This year, Gretchen was not at the Berryville Road (side trail) with her wagon and private aid station. I reached Rt 28 West Aid Station by 2:25, way ahead of the 3:10 cut-off. There were a lot of people here.

    Ben, one of race directors of Rock and the Knob race, was there to cheer me. I have seen him in couple of my other races (such as MMT). I think he has moved back to the area. The aid station here was just as good as any other. I tried to keep my time short and headed back out. A runner recognized me (I think was Carl from Ashburn). He decided to drop from the race. I sat with him a bit. At the time my calves were tingling, almost hurting but not. After resting a bit, I headed back out.

    I followed a woman out. She was moving fast (or faster than me). I thought there might be some epic battle between me and her for the next four miles. I stayed on her for about a mile until we reached a mill, and there she let me pass. I did not see her again. She was one of the heavier runners and I was surprised she could run as well as I was. I felt I was half her size.

    There were not many other runners on this trail at this time. In prior years, here was when I would be passing a lot of runners. I passed a guy, I didn’t know his name (could be Rob or Dan), but I remember him from a training run. Soon afterward, I reached the Germantown Rd Aid Station. This was a fun one. The pie and some adult beverage gave me a boost. I know I would reach Riffleford on time.

    Riffleford mile 42 (or 41.5 depending who you ask) is I believe the true cutoff for this race. I arrived at 4:25 pm, pretty much on pace. You have to reach here by 5:10. Which means a 15.9 min pace for the 6AM starters or 17.3 min pace for the 5AM. The reason why this was the “real” cutoff is if you reach this station by 5:10, you could move at an easier pace for the final cutoff at 6:40 at RT355, and there is no more cutoff for the finish line. Runners had only needed to maintain a 20 min pace to get to RT355. 20 min pace is a walking pace for most of us trail runners.

    At Riffleford, I met so many friends. Riffleford was in charge by people of my running club (Virginia Happy Trail people) I met Annie, Sue, Crystal, and another woman I forgot her name, (probably Grace). Soon too I caught up to David. I didn’t catch up to David until after leaving the Aid Station and outside the Seneca Park. I walked with David maybe over a mile or so. Night was coming. We had our headlamps on. David asked me to go on ahead. I reached the RT355 somewhat 20 minutes behind schedule at 5:45 PM, probably, I was more tired than I thought. Billy C was there to greet me. He had been at various aid stations. He was supporting his friends who came down from Frederick to run this race. Night was getting colder. I took a vegetable soup to go. It was a good thing I packed a jacket (and gloves) at Riffleford aid station. I put on my jacket.

    The final climbs to the finish line was in the dark. I passed a gentleman (Mike or Michael), he later was awarded as being the last official finisher of Stone Mill (under 13 hours and starting at 6:00 am). For those who ran enough ultras, would know the DFL award (dead freakin last; some races would use a different accronym to avoid profanity, but it symbolizes the persistency to hang on to be the very last finisher.)

    I then was alone for quite a time. I felt I could run and press the hills. My legs no longer seemed tired. I felt I was flying. My goal was to catch another runner before me because I renember from a prior year, the next person might be 20 minutes away. That I how I came across Sue. She did not have her headlamp. I think it died. She had one tiniest lamp on. It was part of her hat and could barely generate enough light.

    As I passed her I was thinking, if the person does not have a lamp, I would stay and walk with the person. But because I saw the person had on some kind of light, I did not stop but was going to pass quickly. Her light was like one of those Christmas tree lights for decorative only and not for illumination. It think you could hardly see the trail with those. As I was passing, she called out my name. Is that you, she said. Well, I was intrigue, I did not know (recognize) her yet she knew my name. It meant she was one of those who did the training runs with me. She indeed was from Frederick, one of Billy’s friends. She said, she might not have introduced herself before (Sue), I knew who she was. We did run together in the last training run. With light from my headlamps, she began running the last few miles. We were moving at a 13 minute pace. Her watch had died but I knew exactly where we were. We had about a mile of trail left. I could hear cars from the Watkins Mill Rd. We ran the last mile on the pavement and finished together. Her friends were waiting for her at the finish. I got recognitions and hugs from helping her.

    I stayed to wait for David. Alex (also a friend) already arrived before me. Alex and David ran with me last year and this year we decided to do the same. Alex finished an hour ahead. David did not come in until about half an hour later. In the interim, I saw many people I met on the trail coming in. It was joyous because all of them were people I met during training and here they came in.

    For many this was their first 50 miler. Sophia came in. I did not see Christen. I believe she must have dropped. I would like to know though at which aid station. I was thinking, likely at Riffleford. She should have no problem meeting RT 28 cutoff. #104 came in, either must have come in as I was leaving or after I left. It was reassuring when I checked the results, she made it. Her pace must have slowed significantly but she made it.

    Why was this race special? I guess as I run more, people started to recognize me. This was a race where several of our running clubs gathered (Baltimore, DC, Frederick, Virginia Happy Trail and West Virginia). Some big name local runners join us, like Carl B. and Michael W. I recognized the 2nd, 3rd and 6th place finishers.

    The truth is after a year, I probably would not remember any of these people. I reread my previous year report, I was scratching my head, who was Dan and who was Jeremy. However, I still remember vaguely the moment I had fun out on the trails.

    My two day-to-day running friends, David and Alex also joined me on the run. We carpooled together. David originally was not going to run but he signed up the day before the race. Wayne also is my friend but he left after he finished and we did not get to celebrate together. Wayne finished like two hours before me. John and Charleen were volunteering at an aid station. I was happy to see them. My finish time was not as good as prior years but I think I had one of the best time just seeing people and helping them during the race. Even without seeing friends, I would still enjoy spending time on the trails. I use races also as a training run, because it beats of doing it on my own.

    Some lessons: watch out from falling but we all do fall, don’t spend too much time at an aid station, don’t wait for people, keep moving, be friendly and enjoy the run. I think I did all that

    A side note, I put a drop bag at Riffleford (mile 42) but not Pennyfield (mile 24) this year. A bit different strategy but it worked out

    Morning Fog on Clopper Lake