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[686] Grindstone 100 prerun

I got a chance to go back to Grindstone 100 course for a preview run a week before my big race. I am nervous about the race, but we won’t talk about it. It is likely the race would already be done by the time this is posted. The race report for that will be posted eventually.

Last year I did not finish it. I arrived to the last aid station with only 4-5 miles remaining when the game clocked expired, which left a sour taste in my mouth. Feeling very unsatisfied, I have to go back to do it again. The What, How and Why of that race are found in my previous race report (2024RaceReport). Yet, every time, the memory of the race comes up, I was still confused and wondered why I did not finish it.

I wanted to go back on the course not for the bitter parts but to see it in a new light, literally. Most of the race where I struggled was in night time, so to able to go over the same part in day time indeed gave a different perspective.

I was able to go back to the course several times since last year race.

My first trip back was in the middle of winter (Nov2024) after Richmond marathon. At that time, I hiked/ran up Lookout Mountain and ran all the way to Hankey. The camping there too was a good experience that time. It was my first camping trip in a long time. I don’t remember if I blog about it. I think a couple week after that, I went up a second time by myself in the middle of the night. I might have blog about it (WinterTwotHike).

Then the third time back was maybe a couple months ago, I think it was the July 4 weekend. Three nights and 2 and half days, exploring the course, minus, Lick Run section and Mt Crawford section, doing just the twot loop (TwotJuly4Camping).

I hiked the whole circuit around the TWOT (about 25 miles) visited some hard part, such as Lookout Mountain, and Hankey, Dowells Draft and Magic Moss Trail and climbed to Little Bald and descended to North River. My whole goal was to know the course.

Last weekend, I wanted to experience what it was like to start from Natural Chimneys Campground, the official starting point and ran both the Grindstone 13 mile course and the 50k course.

In all three trips, I covered 75% of the course. Only Crawford Mnt, Dry Branch, Cold Spring, and Elliot Knob we did not visit.

Compared to last year preparation course prerun, I covered most of it. The part I did not get to last year, I went and did it this year.

Last year, I kicked myself for not going over the part at the start and finish loop (Lick Run and Reddish Knob) in my preparation. My intention last year was to save some mysteries of the course for race day. Looking back, that might was a bad idea.

This time, when my friend suggested to climb Signal Knob to see the sunset, I was thinking let make that into a camping trip. And then a better idea came to me to why not go to Natural Chimneys to explore the campground and do a pre-race run. I want to follow the exact course like on race day. Of course, I had to modify it a bit to make it fit the distance and turn part of it as a loop instead of an out and back. Any out and back course/run is boring in my opinion.

So Friday after work, we packed our bags and drove to Mt Solon, Natural Chimneys Campground. It was a relaxing trip. We did not rush. I wanted to arrive before 7 pm to get the camping pass but it was nearly impossible leaving from northern Virgnia on Friday afternoon traffic and expect to get anywhere.

We arrived by 8 pm. Set the camp up and we were able to get to bed by 10 pm. The next day feeling a little tired since the night was cold and I only slept maybe 2 hours, decided to sleep in till 8. Then we packed up everything because I did not want my tent to blow away while on my run. We decided to go to town (Bridgewater) first for a little breakfast and coffee before starting. And we did not get back to the camp until 10:30 am for the start of the run. I don’t remember if we started at 10:30 or 11 or 11:30, but it started to get hot. The run would take 8-9 hours and so, it was likely we did not expect to get back until dark.

We started out from our campsite, and ran onto the road, Natural Chimney Ln. From there, we turned left to North River, After one block we turned right onto Lick Run. We passed the sign I AM (the way the truth and the life) sign on someone’s lawn. I like looking at things that are out of the ordinary. As we ran across the bridge, I saw the North River stream was dry. The midday sun beat down on us. Lick Run is slightly uphill and curves left and right through various farmhouses. It was about 3 miles and eventually we made a right turn onto a trail with a gate. The trail probably has a name.

It was a jeep trail. We entered and ran about a mile and found a single track trail on the left. We were unsure if that was where the aid station for Lick Run on race day. Things look unfamiliar in the day time compared to our memory from last year race. Indeed that was the location. We actually gone passed it, then I checked my gps and map and realized we missed the turn. We doubled back and turned onto the trail. Also I put a water jug for later on the return trip to pick up, when we would loop back to there. Note, there were a lot of gnats hovering over us all the time on Lick Run and beyond.

From Lick Run aid station, we would climb up to a Signal tower, not sure if it is for radio, TV or cellphone. I think the climb was maybe about a mile. It was our biggest climb that day. Once we reached the crest, we made a right turn on the trail there. It was about maybe half mile we were out onto another jeep trail where we could see the radio (or TV) tower. Once reached the Tower, there is the Tilman West Tr. We went past it, noting that was where we would return from. The rest of the run was mostly on the ridge. We then descended or followed the Tower Tr. We got to a four way intersection and I was lost of which way to take. Luckily there was three people on their bikes resting there. We started up a conversation and asked for direction. They were 68 year old man and woman riding mountain bike. We each exchanged our amazement. They impressed we were running on the trail and we were impressed that they biking were biking on it.

I think we took the trail in the middle (kind of left and through the intersection). It was maybe a mile or so before we reached trailhead. We crossed a bridge and came to a road (Tilman Rd, FS101). There the bike couple caught up to us and they gave us all their water since they finished their biking for the day. We talked about life and everything before departing. We were glad they gave us water because there were very little water in the creek for us to filter from. I had carried a filter on me, thinking to do filtering midrun.

That day, we skipped climbing up to Reddish Knob and saved it for next day. This was at the Wolf Ridge Parking Lot. We followed Tilman Road (turning left), heading toward Tilman West Tr to do our return loop back to our camp. It was about 4 miles on the rough gravel road. While talking, the time seemed to fly by quickly.

Last year, my struggle during the race was climbing the Tilman Trail West back to the Signal Tower. The ordeal seemed to take hours. Today though, it took us about an hour to reached the Tower. We could have done it faster, but I preferred to check the flowers and some birds (a dead bird) and dry river beds and such. We saw a lot. Butterflies and such. and gnats too.

Once reaching the Signal Tower, I thought it was just the Jeep Trail descending would take us back to Lick Run. While it could, but that was not part of the race course. We got off course for about half mile so, we had to turn around and found the proper trail to descend. It was short but steep, maybe half a mile or so (15 mins.). Once we reached the correct Jeep Trail, it was just a long walk back to Lick Run. I think maybe 2 miles or so, It was not bad, there were like 4-5 hills to climb. My memory of this section from the race last year was like 20-30 hills and it took hours to do, but with relatively fresh legs we had today, it did not take that long, maybe 30 mins. Then and so we saw where I placed my water jug. We refilled everything and finished the run on the road back to camp.

Once we reached camp, I wanted to stay on a small trail that goes around the camp to run to the real finish line to get a sense how long it would take (10 mins) from outside the camp to the finish line. So in the actual race if we have to be back by 6 am, meaning I need to get to the outside of the camp by 5:45 to be safe. Yes, every minute counts.

That night, the Augusta County hosted an outdoor movie night at the Natural Chimneys. They also had food trucks onsite. So our dinner was taken care of. We brought tacos and cheese cake from the trucks.

Good thing of having a campsite is we could shower before going to bed. I was exhausted and walked like I ran a 100 mile already. The shower was good and I had a good night sleep from 10 pm to 8 am the next day.

On Sunday, we started earlier. After breakfast and all, we stopped by a local gas station just outside the camp for water and ice. Today, we would ascend to Reddish Knob from Wolf Ridge Parking Lot. The drive to Wolf Ridge took about 45 minutes. I wanted to drive slowly on the forest road. I think we finally started our run at 10 am.

This was just a 9 mile climb. There were on occassion some flat runnable sections but mostly it was just up. Before we got to the Knob, there was a rocky section my friend compared it to Bird Knob of the Massanutten Trail. We reached Reddish Knob by 2 pm greeted with an expansive pararoma view. It was worth the hard effort. We met a married couple on motorcycle at the top and had a good conversation about politics. Eventually, we had to part way and we ran back down, except when we got to a turn at Sand Spring, we took trail to the Sand Spring Mountain down. It was also where we had our water drop. This was the 100k and 50k course but not the 100 miler. I wanted to check out what the trail is like for the 100k people too. It was just 4 miles of descent. Once we reached the road, we had a mile of hike back to our car. We got back by 6 pm, I think it was 8 hours total for the day. We were smart enough to leave some water (1 L) at Sand Spring but I wish I had left more.

I saw some bear bogs. Not so stinky. I did not go near it to smell. The weather was nice. It might be a bit hotter than the day before. I was happy for two days of long run.

Little did we know, we were on the other end of Tilman Road and it was like a mile from Hone Quarry where we ran a 40 mile earlier in the year. Seeing Hone Quarry and road to its finishing line brought back memories. I saw the church with a big cross where the finish was for that race. I remembered running in and urging a runner next to me to run his hardest, who then bested me to the finish line. It was also close to Dayton, where we previously stayed and to Harrisonburg, where we ate and stayed plenty of time.

Seeing familiar places brought back wonderful memories. We decided to stop and have a good dinner at Quacker Barrel before driving back home. Our runs are just that of one memory overlapping another, and I love the new memories we made and left behind at the place for next time.

2025-09-23
[685] First Time Crewing (Wasatch 2025)

My friend Jeremy was running the Wasatch 100 this year and I took on the crewing duty. I initially wanted to pace him during the night portion but the logistics was a bear because they would not allow us to leave our car at the aid stations. So, if I wanted to pace, I had to find someone who would be willing to give me a ride and pick me up again. I guess, if I really wanted to, I could have made it happened. Recently, I have been a much slower runner and I fear I could not have kept up with my runner if I were to pace, so crewing duty was the second best option.

Wasatch 100 is a breathtaking race to do. It is a matter of opinion of course. Another friend who ran in the Wasatch this year said, the views were just meh, unimpressive and I think it has to do with unchanging same mountain range we were on. But to me, the soaring mountains and the deep descents was what captured my heart the first time I ran it last year. The big mountains around Salt Lake lift up my heart whenever I look at them.

I wanted to be in Salt Lake City again, but to run the Wasatch a second time would be way too much work than what I was willing to made, meaning in my current physical condition, there is a small chance I would have finished. Wasatch is hard. A very hard race. Having done it once, it would be crazy to do it again. Except you know, ultra runners have a tendency to dare fate, and I was tempted to do it again. I did put my name into this year lottery and was glad I was not picked.

I flew into Salt Lake on Thursday. The run was next morning. Our accommodation was near everything, within 5 minutes from the package pickup and 15 minutes from the start and 15 min from most aid stations. Brighton, the night aid station was only 30 minutes away (compares to many other races I have been to, AS can be an hour or more from home base) and the finish line was about 50-60 mins away, which was in Midway, and we traveled past Park City, and Heber, which have the most majestic views around. And Heber or Midway is a charming town. I wished I had the time to stop and had a meal there. These were the things I missed out last year when I ran it.

I went to the package pickup first since my runner was still prepping his many drop bags at the house. I was hoping to run into some people I know. It was good to observe how other people preparing their bags and sensed the prerace jitter. Last year, I only used two drop bags, Big Mountain and Lambs Canyon, plus a roving bag I left with my friend to take from station to station (mainly Brighton and at the finish). Tek, another friend who was running in Wasatch this year seemed to used very few bags. I think because when traveling by plane, we were restricted how much one could bring along to a race. Jeremy drove to Salt Lake so he basically carried everything. He used every drop bag location, 8 total including one at the finish. I think was a very smart choice.

It is good to note the race is on a point to point course so it is good to have a drop bag at the finish too for those without a crew or or just want a change of clothes once done. Jeremy left a drop bag there.

Thursday was a short day. We grabbed a bite to eat after getting everything done and we headed back to our house. We had a chance to catch up with Terrence who was on his final race for the grand slam, something I did the previous year. He has been following my progress when I did my grand slam last year. This year, it was his turn and I in turn have been following his. We saw each other at most of our races this year except for Leadville, which I did not get in and so did not go. I was just excited as he was for his attempt and could feel his pressure and nervousness.

Crewing showed me a different aspect to the race. I love running in it and crewing too is special. In a sense, I was just as nervous as runners before the race, but there is also a calm that I won’t have if I were running in it. Also there was a sense of regret of missing out. If someone gave me a bib that day, I would have ran it.

There were other passerbys who saw the crowd at the pickup and asked us what it was all about. We explained that the runners would be running on the mountain range in the distance the next day from Kaysville to Midway and they are here today to drop off their supplies to use along the way and to pickup their bib number.

After the early meal, we retired to bed since we would be up by 3 am in the morning. The house was spacious and comfortable. I had an informal meeting with Jeremy to gauge what he wanted me to do and when we would be setting out. We had a few final things left to pack away. While our house was near to the start, I wanted to be at the startline at least an hour before the race to avoid any last minute stress. At every race or every year there will be someone pulling up late and rush to the start line. I did not need the added pressure to be that somebody. I like things being slow and easy. Jeremy joked that I dropped him off in the dark before anyone showed up. True, the timing mat people hadn’t put down their mat yet when we arrived. One hour wait at the start was not that bad. At least, we did not have to fight for parking spot. Note, runners were not allowed to leave their cars at thr start. For those without a crew to drop them off, they would need to take the shuttle from downtown.

The race started at 5. It was exciting to see running started off and they climbed the first mountain in front of them. We could see their headlamps bobbing up and down as they ascended. I stayed until they dissapeared from view. There was a few runners who started late. One was Amanda. Her crew said it was so stressful getting their runner to the start. And I laughed. I got to see her and her crew throughout the race. Many stories shared in between. Amanda struggled with sleepiness even as early as 7 pm. Eventually, she finished. Throughout the day, I tracked not only Jeremy but other runners I came across.

After the runners crossed the start line was a long wait before I get to meet Jeremy again. He was not expected to arrive at the first crew aid station before 3:45, and actually race day tracker showed he was not to reach there until 4:04. All aid stations were in remote areas so they would not allow us to get there until our runner was near. We had to wait at a nearby park (Washington Park) for our parking pass/permit before heading to the aid station. And there were so many cars there waiting, maybe 200 of them! It took me some time to find a parking spot and when I asked for a pass, they said my runner was still far away and expected to arrived at 4:04.

I so took this literally and dallied around even after I obtained a pass. Jeremy texted me to bring cold water, gatorade and ice. I had the first two items but didn’t have ice. I checked the time I should be able to get ice and back to the aid station within the hour.

However, I was not aware Jeremy was already near. I should have known since I ran this race before, toward the aid station was a ridgeline and is very runnable and then a good gentle downhill. It is where Jeremy shines. Also by the time Jeremy could text me, it should have gave me a hint he was within a mile away or less probably less than 15 minutes out. I should not have gone to get ice. Long story short by the time I was back at the aid station, Jeremy was long gone. He said it was a weird feeling coming in and not seeing me. I felt very bad too, because the whole race was to be there at the crew aid station I missed my runner coming in.

Anyway, I was incredibly upset at myself of how foolish I was to think I could get to a gas station and back. The inside scope was, what I did not know was Jeremy was still at the aid station when I got back, but because I was extremely upset with myself when I thought I had missed him, I immediately left without checking clearly for runners around the station. It was a doubly mistake. I did not realize this until later when I checked his departing time from the station.

I had to reset my mentality. I went for a good dinner then went back the house to shower and collect a few things for the night. Then I went to Washington Park to wait for my second parking permit for the second crew aid station. From previous year, my crew said she picked up my pass at 6:45 pm. Jeremy is a faster runner than I am, so I went asked for the pass at 7 pm, they denied my request and I realized they have been turning many people away too throughout the day and usually that was their auto response, they wanted us to go to them a few times.

Earlier in the morning, they gave passes to families once their runners have cleared the aid station Alexander. Jeremy has passed Alexander like a good while before I asked and I thought he should only have couple miles left, but was still denied for a pass. I told them the story that in previous my runner was 40 minutes ahead of the predicted time and he is likely will be the same and that I missed him that time. After hearing this, they gave me the pass. Through the race, Jeremy was consistently 2 miles ahead of the tracker time. The tracker of his arrival time was incorrect because Jeremy has gone extremely slow on purpose then sped up to his normal pace, doing what was likely a reverse split (I didn’t check).

Yet I was not able to get a pass until much later in the evening, at 7:30 or 7:45 pm. Earlier, the way to Big mountain was simple with only one turn, but I still screwed up because I panic. The turn directions given online were numerous and I was not a good or fast reader so I could not both read the directions and drive. I did read the direction ahead a few times but did not have it memorized and did not exactly understood (verbal language is hard for me). So I had to pull over couple times to check and reread the direction and still could not made head or tail where to go. I did get so a bit confused and lost, thus further delays. Actually, they could have said just turn right and drive for 15 miles until you see the aid station and then pull in. I am good with navigation by sight but just not good at following someone’s directions. They could have just give me the coordinates and I would be fine, instead of pages of pages of you will pass such and such golf course on your right or left or going through such and such junctions and then such and such switchback. Also my experience was by the time Jeremy arrived, there were enough spaces to park the car, and added insult, there were no volunteers checking for my pass. I could in theory arrived at the aid station without one. Yet, I did not want ny runner to be DQ with me not following the directions.

For the second aid station, they wanted crew to park in a certain side of the road at a place past the aid station. This time they did have a volunteer sitting at the entrance checking for passes. But Caroline, who was my crew told me she parked under the underpass before reaching the aid station. So that what I did. There were plenty of spaces there and no one was checking for passes (or no passes were needed). There was also a large lot before the aid station for parking too. I really did not really need to wait for a parking pass. To me, the whole parking scheme was not really needed for late (and slow) runners. It did prevent mayhem. I felt after a certain time, they should have released everyone to the aid station. Their system creates unnecessary conflict point and anxiety for crew and their runners. I did not want my runner to be disqualified because of me not bringing a parking pass. It was hard not to argue with them, that my runner was well ahead of their tracker. I know they have seen it all but to convince them my runner is different, who would believe.

I met my runner. He changed shoes and the whole time, he kept saying he got to be out soon. I believed he stayed till 9 pm, half hour longer than planned. The parking people was somewhat right on the money this time, saying he would not be there till after 9 pm.

I was hyped up at Lambs Canyon while waiting for Jeremy. I cheered and talked to many families and everyone, included one family from Connecticut. They were so glad that they ran into people who know about their race in Guildford. Then I helped as many runners as they were willing for me to help them. I stayed till after closing time to cheer saw the sweeper team went out.

My friend Tek eventually arrived at the aid station rather late. I have been tracking her too. She did pick up her pace later in the day, but it was a bit slower than what needed to get it done and too late. I think by the time she arrived it was near statistically impossible to finish. They say people have to arrive at Lambs an hour before the cutoff to have a chance of finishing. I saw many runners were on the fence at that point whether to quit or go on. Some, decided to quit, some went on. Some struggled with the decision unable to choice one or the other. It was part of crewing side, I don’t get to see when I was running, because there was no time to wait for anyone. I got her back out on the course, because she wanted to go on. She also changed shoes, so it took quite some time to do. Later on, next day, I learned she did not make through Desolation, a pretty much no drop aid station and to bail there mean a long walk to the trailhead. Same with Huy, who was the last runner to leave at Lambs. I believed they walked out there in the early morning around 5 am, instead of climbing over Francis Pass.

By midnight, I went back to the house to sleep. It was a short nap before going to the last and final crewed aid station at the Brighton ski resort. I drove there last year so I had some idea how to get there. It was not hard, but I still got a bit lost in the early morning hours. Near the resort, my GPS indicated I have arrived but it was dark and I was not at the parking lot I was supposed to be in. I think the GPS led me to one of the restaurants. However, I had no clue how to get from there to the big parking lot. After trying to make some few turns I finally arrived. I received Jeremy text that he was at Brighton. So we both arrived relatively at the same time, I then scrambled to find him and his drop bag. There were a lot of people at Brighton. It is well organized but I wished they had more signs out in the parking lot. Some runners were confused at to where to go, since crew used the parking as their setups too. I parked at the far end of the lot where runners come in. It was actually a very good spot for a crew station right out of the back of their cars. Many runners came in and called out their bib number to me, thinking I was a race official there. I should have carried a clipboard and pretended crossing off their names. I know, not to because they do have to report to real officials before continue on or drop at Brighton.

I did manage to find Jeremy and we got him in and out within couple minutes. He did not want to eat. His water was still full. I got rid of his wet clothes and he put on dry stuff. I told him day time would be hot and gave him his sunblock. Then he was off. He did not required a shoe change.

So I stayed at Brighton until closing. There I found out that Terrence did not make it in and Tek also did not. Bruce got a ride back to Brighton. He was a new friend I met, but heard of his name before during my run at the Western States 100 because he was a friend of my pacer. He was highly esteemed by my pacer. Now I finally got to meet him in person. We chatted about this and that.

Karen, who has done Wasatch a dozen times came through. Karen was the mother and son team. She ran with Jeremy a bit and we learned of her back story of how one year she was diagnosed with cancer and went on and competed the race. Her son was out their pacing her this year. She has a strong supported team who also ran Wasatch many times.

She was friend of Colleen. Though I haven’t met Colleen at the time, but I felt so welcome to be unofficially part of her crew. I was given do-negh (donut dots) and we cheered for every runners coming through. Colleen’s crew was worried that she wouldn’t make it. 7:30 am came and passed. Colleen did not arrive until 8:10. She seemed to be in good spirit and her crew would take her home. Even at 8:30 an hour after the aid station closed, a final runner arrived as I was leaving Brighton. I cheered him and drove off back to house to catch up on some sleep before heading to the finish to meet Jeremy, my runner.

11 am. I woke up, showered and then went for breakfast at Taco Bell. Jeremy was not expexted until 3-4 pm. I still had some time. I knew it would be a long day. After checking Jeremy’s progress, I figured I could get to a pacer exchange point to meet him at 8 miles from the finish called Top of the Wall. It was such a scenic drive there. I saw some big mountains and deep valleys. I wish I could stay there forever. Driving up to Top of the Wall was also amazing. Jeremy came through shortly once I arrived around 12:30-1 pm. I had to wait only 10-15 minutes and then off I went to the finish line.

I had still quite a time to kill because I did not expect Jeremy to arrive until 4 pm based on the tracker. So again I dallied with sight seeing and then hang out at the finish with a bunch of friends. Tek had drop and so was Bruce there. We chatted various things. I was excited and so were they. It is a runner thing when we discuss what races we will be doing. I ate my second lunch, a late late lunch of buffalo burger and ice cream brought onsite from a food truck. This is the best part of crewing is you get to eat and hang out. Unbeknown to me Jeremy already arrived maybe 30 minutes ahead of his projected time. He was standing in the middle of the field texting me saying he arrived. O boy. Really? I missed him? Indeed. I was not far away but I did miss the moment when he crossed the finish. It was kind of a booboo. I helped him gather his drop bags earlier and so handed those back to him at the car for him to change out his clothes.

We stayed at the finish a bit longer. There were some people who were part of our running club back home recognized me and Jeremy. Danny and his wife came over and talked to Jeremy. Phil, a grand slammer also stopped to chat. I did not know this year he struggled and seemingly did not finish the run, he said he came in but the final result showed otherwise, I did not ask why. Phil has many grand slam titles. Bundy, whom I think the oldest this year in his 60s, and I was tracking whole day came in as the last grand slammer this year. We also have one woman grand slammer this year. I was tracking her also but did not get to see her in the middle of all the commotions. I saw some got their buckles and the eagles. Amanda, a friend I met earlier came through as one of the final runners. I wished I saw her coming in as well but we were about to leave at that time and were standing in the parking lot when. Everyone was on their feet cheering as final minutes went by. We stood far away waving before headed home.

I believe the last runner made it in at the last minute.

Afterward, it was just headed home and sleep. I already ate and was still full. I know Jeremy wanted food, but he too was tired and needed clean up first. After showering, food was no longer desirable but sleep was. So we all headed to our separate room and slept.

It was a successful trip somewhat. I missed the runner couple times and it will go down in history of my goofball moments. Perhaps after this, no one will ask me to crew or pace them any more. I know things like this happens. I hate it that I goofed. The bright side was I did have a good time with all the friends I met there. I saw some amazing sights and kind of reliving what it was like to run in the Wasatch race.

Train station near the finish

Drop bags lined up at the start. The bags at the finish also lined up same. There are 8 rows, one for each aid station with Bountiful B being the first one. Funny thing is I haven’t seen bags being lined up like this in other races. And no they were not sorted.

I had others to crew and paced me in my races. It is a little different now I get to crew someone in turn. It humbled me of how much there is to do and that one has to be on top of everything. While the trip was successful, I wish I had done better, I like to be a bit more perfect next time around. I initally joked with my runner that my most important task was to drive him to the start and take him back home. Indeed. He said, what about the in betweens. I jinked it. Yes, what about the in between. I had fun was what.

2025-09-15
[684] The Ring (70~ Fatass Run)

Those who know, know, what the Ring is. It is not a secretive run, but is a 70 mile *free* run and with the club, some call it a fatass. It was started as a fatass of two runners who wanted to be the first to run on the newly built Massanutten trail. Now, it it is more than a fatass because we have a race director and Virgnia Happy Trail’s signature aid stations and each one is captained by an experienced ultra runner. A free race that rival and surpass in quality of many paid races.

However, the race is not widely known to people outside the Happy Trail club. And there are some prerequisites for the registration that at least one to many are a bar to get over. It was that runners must be familar with the course, since it is unmarked, this is usually meant having done one of the MMT 100 training runs or one of other runs there such as Boyers, Elizabeth, or Catherine Run. This restriction excludes a lot people who are not from the area or part of the club. RDs screen the signups and weed out those who are not qualified.

I think the mystery of the race involves how hard it can be. I have done the Massanutten Trail 100, which is known as a kicking rock good hard race. The Ring is just like that, hard, and on the same Massanutten Trail, but without most of the road sections. To many, including myself who have done the MMT100, we were surprised by how difficult the run is. Might be because it was my lack of training for it since it is not a real race per se and because it was free.

Also, another mystery is the signup is through the club’s own website, which is a bit hard to use and the registration opens almost unannounced. Opening date for registration is posted in the club’s calendar, but I guess only the die-hard runners of the club monitor it. I have in the past missed the signup (openning date) and by the time I realized it, the registration is closed or race is full. You got to be on top of the signup game to run in this. The signup page is also a bit intimidating because it asks you for the day of the week and splits out some random number that in the past, related to the closing of the stock market to find your position on the waitlist. It was a mouthful of what the heck lunatic is this website. In the past, I was confused by it and stayed away from the signup. Today, it is only used to combat spam or robot (AI) signing up.

Third mystery, maybe the name. Obviously, it was vaguely refering to the movie of Lord of the Ring (The Fellowship of the Ring). The run itself has nothing to do with Frodo or Bilbo. Well maybe it is a bit adventurous heading to Mt Doom. Or maybe to rid of the Ring of obsession. I don’t really know. We ultra runners are bit of obsessive cuckoo. Probably the name came about because the first two runners who ran around the mountain loved the movie or maybe it was during the time the movie came out. The name probably more has to do with going around the two mountain ridges in a circle around Fort Valley. Maybe again it is about how hard it is, almost impossible but inevitable, we would get it done in some epic fashion.

Forth mystery is the lingos, staying on Orange. It was the mantra of not getting lost. The course is not marked other than following the orange trail blazes (orane paint on tree trunks and rocks). So for those who know, we would advise each other to stay on Orange to avoid getting lost. The funny thing, though we all know this, yet we still get lost out there. So it is like an inside joke of sort about being lost on the trail. They also say don’t pee on the fence. I still don’t get that though. You get the shock I know, but why? Maybe of the rocks I think. The attempt running on the Massanutten is like peeing on the fence. We knew not to do it, but still do.   Curiosity got the better of us.

What makes me want to run it? The run has been around a long time, since 2001 or 2002. Runners in our club are proud of it. It is like an initiation or a rite of passage thing and a badge of honor. You have to have run the run to be a truly badass. So, now I finished it, I am a bona fide member of the club!

Many of our runs in our clubs involve some form of doing it on the Massanutten mountain, the Waterfall 50k (aka slang or abbreviate as WTF, yes really the expletive), Boyers, Catherine, or Elizabeth Furnace, MMT100 and its training runs, and the Chocolate Bunny. I have done many of those runs the last four or five years. I fall in love with it.   So I was familiar with the mountain and trails and when people say it is a hard race, why not give it a try. How hard can it be, right? Also, friends and others have return to running it again and again, so it got to be fun. To me it is more a FOMO, fear of missing out to be with them to make history.

Why I didn’t do it sooner? Because, yearly since I started trail running, I traditionally went down to Damascus (VA) on Labor Day weekend to run or help in a race called the Iron Mountain, another hard hard race. That race conflicts with the Ring every year since both occur on Labor Day’s weekend. This year, the other race was initially not going to take place because Hurricane Helene, which caused significant damges to the area and trails near Abingdon. So I immediately decided to do the Ring. I got in during the signup period. It was a done deal even after I knew the Damascus race was happening.

Another reason, maybe a more real reason for me is that I have been envious of people who were doing the Reverse Ring every winter while I voluntering at the event and I wanted to run in it too except of its requirement that runners must completed the Ring first. Everyone knows I could do it without having to do the Ring first. But rules are rules. One has to run the Ring first before doing the Reverse Ring.

This year, A few of my friends who I ran the Massanutten 100 together two years ago, decided to take a crack at this. To me it was like a reunion run with my pals on the infamously hard trail. I got to suffer it with them once more time. I guess it is a guy thing.

I prepared as usual, meaning very little the weeks leading up. Doing more mountain runs would have help! The night before the race, I was scrambling at the last minute looking for headlamps, shoes, batteries, and other running stuff needed for the run. As for food, I do

ordered a chinese carry-out fried rics for breakfast. We knew the first 25 miles won’t have any food and packing something to eat for the long run seems wise. However, I was too lazy to pack sandwiches or what not except a candy bar I had left over from a previous run. Ouch, ya. It almost derailed my race for lack of food in the early stage.

Water was also important. I was smart enough to pack some carbonated beverages in my drop bags, two cans of Red Bull for energy at night and that was pretty much it. I trusted the aid stations would tilt me through. And they did. John who ran with me asked me for one of the Red Bull, so I gave it to him. I drank the other one and it helped both of us through the night. John decided to nap, which we all kind of made of fun of him for being a softy. It was his MO though to nap on the trail. You can see where or who I learned it from to sleep while running in my 100 mile races. John.

So, at the crack of dawn, we assembled at the Signal Knob parking lot, our base, start and finish line. There were 54-55 of us. It was more than the lot could accommodate. At early pre dawn hours and the race or run, which does not start until 7 but by 6 am, already had a full lot. Some had to do shuttling from a nearby sister lot at the Elizabeth Furnace Campground. I was lucky to get a parking spot. We should have carpooled.

After gotten out of my car, I saw many friends and chatted and fooled around till the race start. And thus, I forgot about carrying an extra bottle of water. I had everything I needed so I believed, turn sheets, map, my pack and I turned in my drop bags. We could have two bags this year, one for roving that goes from station to station and one to be placed at Woodstock, the second to last aid station. I think the reason is there are not a lot of volunteers to take bags from Edinburg to Woodstock, which is like a 30-45 min drive and back. I think was a wise decision from the race management.

We started out at one end of the parking lot, used a short back trail (Orange) to run back to the other end before crossing Fort Valley Road to head to Elizabeth Furnace side, then climb up to Shaw Gap.

I ran with two buddies, Charles and Costi. We were mostly hiking it since Charles said he wasn’t trained for it and neither was I. We were the last two runners. Costi dropped back to talk to us. Along the way we picked up Michelle of West Virginia who said she met me at C&O 100 last year at her first 100 and knew I would finish that race, which I did and she wanted to stay with me to finish the Ring. Not sure if that to stroke my ego, I do take pride in my pacing ability.   Though I know today is not to pace anyone since I am not sure if the pace we were doing would carry us through.

To pass the first cutoff, we would have to do a 21 min pace. I hiked around that pace, so I knew I would need to run a little bit to not get behind on the pace. Note, the first cutoff is at mile 40, at 9:30 pm, a long way to go (14:30 hours), so it would be hard to control the pace for that long.

We hiked up Shaw, did make a slight booboo by following a white trail instead of Orange/Blue (the Tuscarora Tr.). We had to backtrack. Then we descended to West Veach and hiked up east side of Veach, from there it was a long hike to Milford Gap – 13 mile long. Volunteers (Amanda, Larry and Andy), all are my friends, were there to refill our water. So glad they were there. I knew there wouldn’t be any food, so I joked about having miraculous pizza, which was a reference to the Reverse Ring because they managed to bake home made pizza on an improvised rock oven there.

I felt I was on pace at Midford. Maybe just a tad 10 mins ahead, which was really good for having done 13 miles in 4 hours and only off by 10 mins. Leaving the aid station, Charles already gone on ahead since he had a faster pace, I joined up with Karen from there to mile 35. She was a stronger hiker. By then both Costi and Michelle had dropped back due to my aggressive pace. I held onto Karen’s pace.

Along the way after Kennedy Peak, we ran into Dr. Cooper, who has gotten lost, and went off trail with Charles and they were coming back toward our way. This saved us from going off course too. I knew about that particular turn because, I got off trail there many times. Together, we descended to Camp Roosevelt. It was not Cooper’s day because he had to double over from time to time to calm the crambing. I arrived at Camp Roo by 3:00 pm, which was 30 mins before the suggested cutoff. I knew I was on pace.

Cooper and Charles stayed behind to rest a bit while Karen and I pressed on ahead to tackle Duncan Hollow, Big Run and the Waterfall climb. Charles was dejected that his drop bag was already sent ahead to the next station by accident. Mistakes were made is all we say. Later, we found out he ended up dropping there. Poor Charles.

The afternoon sun shined on us. Soon after a few miles, my water was out. I did not fill my own water earlier at the aid station but handed off the pack to a volunteer, so it was likely they only filled it half way and I did not recheck it or likely because it was hot, I drank a lot more and water was empty before I knew. Oh well, it was what we could do. I knew I would not die of thirst today, it only made the run a bit uncomfortable for couple hours. It was kind of ironic, I would be suffered from thirst when Duncan Hollow and Waterfall are known for being wet and have a lot of water all around. I wish I had carried a water filter. Too late for that, as I was feeling sorry for myself. Then all a sudden Karen fell down in front.

I ran up to her to see if she was alright. She bruished her chin, elbows and knees. Not sure what had happened, maybe kicked a rock or root something. She seemed alright but the air was knocked out of her. Her strong marching pace was gone. I left Karen before we got to Peach Orchard, while she stopped to use the toilet or so I heard she said. I did not look back or offer to wait, knowing, it is anyone race. If I stop, I would not finish. Later, I think she dropped at Crisman.

Going down on the Big Run was not hard but time was flying away. At the bottom of Big Run was the Waterfall Trail that many dreaded. Interestingly, I didn’t see any waterfall. It is just the name of a very steep trail. I called it our first big climb of the day. I knew we climbed Veach and Shaw, which both were quite big climbs, but they were nothing compared to this one because of the steepness. I was stopped to mentally prepare myself and then hiked up in one breath (one take). My friend Jeremy and I came out to hike the Waterfall two weeks before, and every 10 steps, I had to pause to breathe. So today, I thought I would be doing the same, and it surprised me I was doing much better. I had wanted to reach the top by 6 pm but then settled with 6:30 as time slipped slowly by. I made a second booboo when I reached the top by following a false trail into a thicket. It was soon impassible and I turned around and found the correct trail to take.

Reaching Crisman Hollow was a welcoming sight. There was real food and really my first real meal. A volunteer handed me a freshly grilled cheeseburger, with pickles, ketchup, mustard, and the whole deal. Mouth-watering good food. That is the signature service aid station of our club. There is joy and laughters. And I got all the water I needed. Several other runners were around. Really first time during the day to see any other runners beside those few I were with earlier. Charlene was there and her companion John2, who was crewing her.   Cooper got lost and arrived there before me by taking the Chrisman Hollow road instead, so ended his run there. He was retelling how he got off the wrong turn by following some streamers, I did too and almost got lost there where he took the wrong turn. I had the map on my phone and was smart enough to double check so I found the right Orange to go (Orange there can be confused with Yellow).

As much as I wanted to stay for a bit, I had to cross Kerns before nightfall. It would be dark in two hours. Kerns is known for being hard, rocky, and slow to traverse. I had less than two hours to do it. If after dark it might take 3 or more hours and it would mean not making the first cutoff. I got to say, it was easy doing it in the daylight. I reached Jawbone when I had to turn on my headlamp, maybe by 8:30 then.

The descent to Moreland Gap was not easy. I knew that, having done it two weeks prior. So, I did not arrive at Moreland until 9 pm, 30 minutes left before the cutoff. It was what I hoped for.

At Moreland Gap aid station, I caught up to John and possibly Lisa. She dropped at Moreland while John and I were trying persuade her to join our misery in climbing Short Mountain at night. We knew it would be a piece of work (hard) to tackle Short Mountain. We resupplied at the wonderful aid station. Tom S., a friend, got us everything we asked. Temperature was already dropping. John seriously said to me, while half jokingly, that we needed to pack winter gloves for this night hike. My hands were cold and stuck them inside my shorts pockets.

Nothing much could be said about our trek over Short Mountain. We passed couple people. The name of the runner escaped me. I think couple of them later dropped. Short Mountain seemed harder than Kerns and rocky. We were battling fatigue and sleepiness. When we arrived at Edinburg Gap, it was midnight. There were maybe 7-8 other runners around, which made our arrival very festive. First time to see so many people. I met Demitre, Collen and others. I finally caught up to Charlie too. He was the person I have been chasing but everyone said he was swift. He was with another friend (Caleb) as he was headed out while I just arrived. His wife was there crewing. It was the last time I saw Charlie since he is way faster and gone on ahead.

I stayed at Edinburg for about half an hour to change socks and replenished everything. I don’t remember what I had eaten, but probably something good and hearty for the next climb. The aid station was not bad.

Indeed, on a normal day, the next section should not be too challenging. It was about 7 miles and should take maybe a little over 2 hours. It was longest section for me that night timewise, taking me 3.5 hours. I arrived at Woodstock at 4 am. I think mostly it was fatigue that slowed me down. However, I was moving. This section I was alone, by myself. I saw a headlamp far ahead and followed it but did not really catch up to anyone.

At Woodstock, again it was a party. There were many people there (runners). Some were sleeping, others were on their way out. I asked for wipes and cream for lubing up. They had all kind of things but runner’s stuff. I carried them in my pack but it wad too much work to dig them out of my bag.

As for food, I had a good ginger broth, then headed out. There were others sitting around still, covered with blanket. One might have been my friend Robert. I was too rush to notice. We were two hours ahead of the cutoff, so in theory, a nap is quite appropriate. While I was tired, I wanted to get the run done. We only had less than 13 miles to go. I wanted to finish it before sunrise.

From Woodstock, it was a gentle climb for like 4 miles before descending to Fort Powells. It was uneventful. One runner followed me out, hoping to keep up with me. I did not wait but maintained my pace. By morning, some time after 6 am, I arrived at Fort Powells. There again, running friends Nick and Samantha, filled up my hydration pack and resupplied me for my next stretch. This was the coldest time of the night (or day now), temperature might be low 50s or high 40s. I was covered in a blanket, sitting with Caleb to take a breather. Michael, a runner from behind us, came in and then took off running. I then set off chasing after him.

We had just 8 miles left. 4 miles on road/ with a bit of trails, and always uphill climbing to Signal Knob. It was a gradual uphill so I just had to be patient. With going at 2 miles an hour pace, I knew my estimated arrival time was 10 am, so there was no need to rush rush.

At top of Signal Knob, I stopped to enjoy the morning sun. The antenna tower was an amazing and welcoming sight after the all night climbing. I said to myself, I climb 65 miles just to see this. Our wonder. Our Mount Doom.

The descent from there was definitely the hardest of the whole course. I had no idea even though I had hiked there a zillion times. It caught me by surprise. There were only four miles left, so had to suck it up and took it slowly. The last mile was a joy. I could almost run it. People then were waiting for me at the finish. I could not wait to tell the whole world I did it.

I stayed to cheer the several who were behind me, including Robert, Caleb, and John, who came in as this year DFL (dead last runner). He was awarded with slices of cheese. I’m sure he was proud of it. I think that was so goofy. Charlie waited for all his friends to come in. We laughed and ate. Tracy was serving. Q was around cracking jokes, asking of we wanted to do it again.

The run was amazing. It was hard and well earned. As much as I would like all those who started with me to finish with me, but like any races, some made it and some didn’t. I was not fast and I was around many who did not finish. Many (30-40 other runners) finished ahead of me and I never get to see them, like Siqi, who finished second and Dan came on first at 16 hours and something. The run has a group component as well as individual. It is meaningful only what I put into it. While placement is important in a race (to some) but what more was having fun. I think I had a nice day being out there. It felt like an accomplishment to join the cohort of others who are part of the fellowship of the Ring. I am so grateful for all the volunteers who made it all possible.

Most welcoming sight. The end of the final climb before descending for four miles. Mt Doom of our quest.

A runner asked if we get to see the overlook! You can see Shire (Front Royal) in the distance. I didn’t know we do get to see it if we stayed on Orange. Some runners didn’t know Orange goes that way and missed by staying on the fireroad.

Camera really makes the sun so beautiful. What a joy to see the sun to my sleep deprived eyes

Another view from Signal Knob

So, I have overcome the Ring. That’s that. Q, the former RD, sneakily asked if anyone of us would want to do the winter version, called the Reverse Ring, because you do it in the reverse direction. I think all of us said no. He slyly let us know that the registration is open already. For Fear of Missing Out, I put my name in. I’m third. John was first to register. Until then, I got to train.

2025-09-07
[683] Eastern States 100, a trail running experience

My motivation for running this was the name Eastern States. As I have done Western States 100 last year, it seems fitting to try my hand on the east coast version (note, they are not related but the name). I met some runners at the bib pickup who tried to do both races in the same year. It is something I would go for too.

Short version: I ran, It was hard, and I did not finish. I learned from my experience to enjoy on the trail.

I am familiar with the race organization and know they put up “fun” trail races. Fun means hard. I ran their Rock n the Knob marathon couple years ago, and it is considered the hardest marathon in the area. One that took me 8-9 hours to finish and it ran like a 50k. Note, in recent years the race has relabeled itself as a 50k. I have expected Eastern to be the same level of hard.

It seems just a few weeks ago I finished Vermont 100. The last couple weeks since have bern a blur. I guess I mostly rested. I did two weekends (8 hours total) of trail work to fulfill my volunteer hour requirements for another 100 mile race I will be doing soon in the fall.

Life has been busy and running was pretty much nonexistent since Vermont 100. In fact, I don’t think I have trained much except for couple weekend runs this whole year. Going into Eastern States, I knew it would be a struggle. I always thought I had time to train over the summer once Old Dominion was done. But after three successive 100 mile races, Old Dominion, Vermont and Eastern States, I wondered where my time has gone. Advice to my future self: train for hills.

The race has a 36 hour cutoff and thus requires about maintaining a minimal 20-21 min pace. To me this doable. It’s a walkable pace.

My plan was to run a 17 min pace first third, then a 19 min pace second third and slow to a 22-24 min pace the final third. It should allow me to finish on time. With the last two 100 mile races, I thought I have a good chance.

I usually have a fast walking pace and I was hoping this might get me through the whole race. It was a big bet I know.

The first mile started on the road outside PA state park of Little Pine Creek. We ran a few miles to spread the crowd and everyone had a quick 12 min or faster pace. I was at the very back but still did a fast pace.

When we reached the MST trail, there were a crowd of runners at the bottom of the trailhead waiting to climb the stairs up.   We milled around a few minutes (10-15 mins) waiting. Some went for bathroom. Families and friends were also around cheering us because it was inside a campground. I have expected this to be the first hard climb. I read in other reports that most people could summit it before the sunrise.

The first stair climb was not the hard climb I had expected. We had a mile of rocky and knarly trail (MST – Mid State Trail) but it was not too bad with fresh legs. I took it slowly and I was the last few runners left. I was not worried and knew methodically I would catch up to people ahead over time. My goal that morning was not to fall too far behind from the bulk of runners.

I knew I was in trouble when I got to the really first climb, I was out of breath after a few steps and it did not seem to be any steeper than trails I used to do. Everyone around me seemed to be full of energy and tackling it with ease. The trail was steep, but it was not straight up sttep. My heart rate was through the roof though. I chose to stop for a break. My glasses were fogging up. Then second and third break before making it all the way up. It was still early in the race, so I could burn some time. The few slower runners behind me passed me by. There might be only one or two runners farther back. I did not want to be the last one. It was kind of embarrassing.

It was two hours later since the start of the race by the time I was up on the ridge. I felt better after the many breaks up on the first climb and I now could move a bit faster. Luckily on subsequent climbs, I did not have the same trouble. The trail gradually evened out and I caught back up to the five or six people who were ahead of me. Some were people I know such as Samantha from our running club and Anuj (gentleman I met and finished together at VT100). They lifted my spirit as I aimed to get to the first aid station soon around mile 7. I had high hope to run with them for a long way throughout the day, but soon they were falling behind me after a brief conversation.

The first AS was a water only station. My pack was still good with water or so I thought but having heard the next one is a long way to go, I stopped to fill up. They filled it to the top. It was good because I found out I drank almost all with only tiny bit left on the way up.

I hit the second AS on my expected pace mid morning, though not at 17 min pace but 19 and I could live with that. I told myself this race is hard, but as long as I maintain a 19-20 min pace, I would finish. I was aiming to gain about a min or half a min per mile and I aimed to lower my stoppage time at the aid stations. By now, I fell into a group of people about my pace, one of them was a mother and her daughter. We would be together until we dropped from the race the next morning.

The trail was still knarly and to me it was not really runable yet. People I talked to told me that the later sections would be easier on the footing. Climbs will still be there but less technical.

Indeed, the trail became less rocky and more runnable. I picked back up the pace a bit and arrived to the first crewed station, pretty much on target of a 19-20 min pace but not the 17 min pace I had wanted. I knew to finish this race, I would have to be quick and efficient. I went through the AS less than 3 mins and was out again. I was happy to see me crew and friends. I entered the race in the Solo Division (meaning no crew or pacer, but won’t mind to switch to crew if needed as the race permitted us to switch midway).

Because I was quick at the AS, I caught up with a lot of other runners who had stayed 10 minutes or more longer. One was Fredinald. Fredinald had done the race 10 years ago and today was hoping only to reached 50 miles. We hiked the next hill together and chatted. I knew a lot of people around me were struggling with the pace. I felt I need to get ahead of them because people like Fredinald had no intention to finish, which did not bode well.

My goal was either to run past them or if they could stay my pace, and use them as a companion. We were all in the same boat of being slow. I put my faith in my hiking ability and hoped that I would not suffer the same fate to quit the race too early. I hoped to go more than 50 miles.

I gradually picked off others and passed runners including our local running friends, Daisy and Jeremy (who did finish). I know I was not out of the woods yet with a 20 min pace, but at least I was gaining 1 min every mile. But passing people let me know I was doing the right pace. I hope by nightfall, I would gain an hour from the cutoff.

By afternoon, on a long section to Hyner Runs we had several long runnable sections and people around were picking up the pace and passing me. There were people by the look of it were trying too hard (hard breathing and out of shape) and I was wondering if they would finish. I was still maintaining my walking pace because that was the best I could do but I was able to still pass people. I was surprised to reach Hyner well ahead of my plan 20 min pace. Actually the original plan was to get there by 6:10 pm but with me just mostly walking, I set my goal of getting there by 7:30, and I got there at 6:50, 40 mins ahead. That was still a huge win. I took a few minutes at the AS and headed out before 7 pm, ahead of many runners who came in ahead of me. My crew and friend said she would meet me at the next crew location at Tomb Flats.

It was reassuring to know she would be there in the middle of the night. I figured, I am likely to get there between 1 am to 2 am. I wouldn’t believe that I later arrived near 3 am (2:45-2:50), behind my intended pace.

Usually I do better at night or so I believed. I reached the halfway point, mile 51 at 10 pm. I was still good on pace. I could finish the race in 34 hours if I maintained it. I have been passing people just by walking and not rushing.

However, by midnight, things got hard. I now couldn’t recall the specifics that slowed me down. The trail was harder to find. I was getting sleepy. People whom I passed earlier throughout the day now passing me back. I did not mind, but I knew I was not pulling it through.

In the middle of the night around 2 am, I met a friend we ran together before in another race (I think at MMT), he also battling sleepiness from fatique. We both decided to take a 5 min nap on the side of the trail before continue on.

I knew we did not have much time. It was more a gamble. If I could freshen up, I might have a chance. It was about two miles to the next aid station, so I urged my new friend if we could run for it because the cutoff was soon. So we ran. I think it was more than 2 miles, felt like 4 but eventually we reached the big river at Tomb Flats. (I called it the Rocky Chucky; it was probably the crossing of Pine Creek). My crew was there cheering me on as I crossed. It was not an easy crossing because the stones underfoot were slick. There was a rope but it was not taunt and no other people were there to anchor it like in Western States. The rope was there as a guide but not so much as for weight bearing. The runner in front of me was falling and moving the rope around and it caused me to lose my footing too. Eventually, I got across.

It was the station with my first drop bag. I had my dry shirt and socks there, but I felt if I stop to change, I might not be able to start back up. Note, generally consensus was volunteers at earlier stations were snappier in offering runners their drop bags and more attentive. Not putting any shade since now it is middle of the night and we were near closing time. I didn’t want my crew to help yet since I was intended to run solo.

I was 15 minutes from the cutoff. So I went out after getting some water and food. An aid station volunteer gave me a small can of coffee, a cold brew. Looking back, it might have helped run better if I did change out the wet clothes and rest a bit like some of my friends in the race did. But with only 10-15 minutes before the cutoff, it was just too scary to sleep with your crew looking on.

If I thought, the time on the trail between 2-3 am was bad, wait till it was 3-5 am. Now I was actually sleep walking. I had no idea how I got through this. The race seemed slipping by me. My former friend who ran with me down to Tomb Flats was no longer with me. I took another 5 min sleep break on the side of the trail and then forced myself up again. It was a long way up and mostly just climbing. The sleep did me good for maybe an hour before I was sleepy again. Amazingly, I caught up to the earlier sleepy friend I met on the trail, and he was just as sleepy as I was, so we both stopped one more to sleep. He slept on a rock to the left and I slept on the rock to the right. And now a lot of runners were passing us by. Some exclaimed, some just silently avoided us. I knew too much sleep, we wouldn’t make the next cutoff. Once again, after 5 mins, I got up. This time I abandoned my new friend and ran like if the devil was after me. As I have done a lot of races, you kind of knew when you are in trouble with pacing and being the last one back. My spider sense was hurrying me to run for it.

God was with me and I sang as I ran through the woods. By now whether I could make the next cuttoff or not, it does not matter. I just want to have a good morning run. The trail was empty of runners by now.   I knew soon it we would have daylight. I was pretty sure I was the last runner. The rest wouldn’t make it.

5 am came, I have survived the race for 24 hours. 6 am was sunrise. I passed two gentlemen stumbling slowly forward. I knew they likely wouldn’t make the cutoff. They cheered me when they saw my pace. I was a bit glad, I finally was making progress. The next cutoff was at 6:30. Somehow by God’s grace I made it through at 6:27. I had no time to fill up water (well I could have but chose not to). I had some water left in my pack and the volunteer filled my handheld bottle and off I went. I knew I would be out of water in the next stretch.

With the morning sunrise, I had new energy. There were now a lot of people I was passing, dozen or so runner in a group usually 2-3. I passed one after another as I made my way up. People who recognized me cheered me on and exclaimed I made it through the last cutoff. I was definitely proud of that. They had assumed I would not make it through the night because they were ones who found me sleeping on the trail.

From Tomb Flats to Cedar Runs was 10 long miles. And Cedar Runs to Blackwell was 8 miles. This was another long stretch! There’s nothing else but to hang onto my pace. Like it has been the last 24 hours, as long as I could maintain a 20 mins pace, I could finish. Note, of all the people I passed, only myself and another lady would make it to the next cutoff.

My feet started to have blisters since I did not change shoes or socks Tomb Flats (mile 62). I had my second drop bag at Blackwells, mile 80, with dry socks and shoes and was hoping I could change them out. Somewhere a mile out from Blackwells, my GPS goofed up. There were some weird flagging seemed to indicate a turn but I found no where for turning so I lost some 5-10 minutes going back and forth in determining the right way to go. My frustration level was high and there were some runners about to caught up from behind. I knew, I needed to get to the AS by 9:15 and I was seeing my clock winding down. My best guess was it might be still two miles away.

Two female runners passed me, so I asked them for the distance, they said they were expecting 4.5 miles left. Uff-dah and they were booking it. I knew I would have to run hard to make it to the station. So after them I chased. I caught up to them on a downhill and I could hear the people cheering from the aid station we had maybe 10-15 mins left on the clock. This was a huge gain from 3 mins at a prior station. I encouraged the two runners saying it only takes 5 minutes to get to the AS. So I ran again and arrived at the station with 8 minutes to spare.

My pacer was ready to pace me out. I competed as a Solo runner (no pacer) but here, I knew I needed all the helps I could get. It was time to be crewed and paced and gave up on my solo status. It would have been good if I asked for my drop bag. My mind at the time was to get out quickly.

My water has been out for a long time. So, I had my pack filled. Not sure if I ate something. I must have. As for changing shoes or socks, it was too late. No one was asking if I wanted to change, I would have said no either way. I reached mile 80, and there would be 24 miles left and have until 5 pm to reach it.

Here at Blackwells AS going out seemed like a giant maze. As usual, I asked which way is out. Volunteers pointed in a general direction and I was sure they gave verbal directions too. I had my pacer so I was not worry about finding the trail.

This is on me. I should have slow down or stop to fix my gps but I was pumping with adrenaline of having made the cutoff again. So I was rushing out.

Other runners later too attested that volunteers at the particular station said to go up the road, and some of us really went up the road instead of turning onto the trail on the left.

So up the road we went. I started mumbling that I hadn’t seen any flagging at all. My companion/safety runner said she saw them just ahead.

All the warning bells were going off by now, because I haven’t seen any flags but was assured by my friend that she had. I decided to turn around disregarding the two other runners who were running with us.

Going back downhill was easier than going up hill. But the time lost was pretty much not recoverable. I checked the watch and it was 9:40, we were way off course, for me, that is too late. We did find the trail at the bottom of the hill.

The sweepers caught up to us. The only way was to go forward (I was considering turning around back to the aid station at the time, so that I could sleep). The next aid station was 4.5 miles away. It was an awesome climb. I finally get to slow down and enjoyed the view. From 10 to 1 pm. We trekked on. At time, I felt sorry that I was the last runner. But God was humorous and merciful. Right before we reached the aid station Sky Rock, not so much rocks but it was up up and up in the sky, we stumbled on a runner laying on the trail. The sweepers went and worked on the troubled runner who said he has not eaten for the last 7 hours. The sweepers told us to continue heading to the aid station. People at the aid station sent a medic team down. Everything ended well. The poor runner was rescued. I was relieved that I was not the one laying on the trail.

My 100 mile (103 actually) ended at mile 85. There would be 17-18 miles left. The volunteers were kind enough to feed us with mellons and fruits and we eventually had our ride back to the finish.

The rest of the day was spent sleeping, eating, and cheering as runners came in at the finish including a few of my friends, Ike, Scott, and Jeremy. Scott ran it 10 times or something. I also made a new friend at the finish with another runner who also ran it 10 times.

Is there a lesson learned? Probably. I could have trained better of not getting behind on the pacing early on. My friend teased me of trying to wing a 100 miler without much training especially a hard one.

It is always hard to catch back into the game once falling behind.

As for staying strong or up during the night, that is always hard. I could have carried some caffeine pills. That was on me of not having a counter measure for sleep deprivation ahead of time.

Third, probably most important, is stay alert and be reactive to turn around quickly the moment the path was doubtful. I did talk too much and thus missed the turn.

Fourth related to it, fix the gps immediately, that was one reliable tool to stay on course.

Fifth, course study! I studied the course turn by turn the first 50 miles and but not for the second half. So it was on me. I should have familiar at least of all the aid station’s entrants and exits.

Bless the Lord, there were many instances where I could have tripped over and got hurt badly but always at the last minute, I regained my footing and did some acrobatic stunts. I finished relatively healthy, minus some blisters and sunburn. I had a great time both hiking and then the early Sunday hour run, with renewed strength. That was my best moment of the race to catch up from behind.

I was thankful to have a friend and pacer ready to jump in at any moment when I was in distress. As to whether I could finish in my condition, it was hard to say. I was barely hanging on. Time was slipping. There were 8 hours left and two more aid stations to go. Even couple of friends who were stronger runners than me finished with only 10-15 minutes to spare. It would have been a very hard push to the finish.

The two female runners, who got lost along with me, they finished. I salute them for having the true courage and strength of not giving up and overcame a big setback. I do wonder…what needed to push that hard. I knew I did not have it in me that day to do the heroic thing. It was my weakness for possibly giving up too soon. My pacer did tell me to run like them.

Yes, DNF hurts, then again we have to be thankful of what we already achieved. We all entered a race always hoping we would finish. There were a lot I can take away. I had a nice day on the trail and I had good trip going there and coming back. I run to meet people and I did. I run for the experience. It was a good experience. Thankful I got a chance to do it and ran with some very good friends.

2025-08-27
[682] Vermont 100, 2nd time

I am happy that I finished this race the Vermont 100 a second time. A few of my friends have done it multiple times. This was my 2nd 100 this year, first finish of the year. It was not any harder than other 100s, but difficult enough. I had expected a faster finish, but had to struggle to almost to the final hour.

It was not easy. 15,000-17,000 ft of climbing is a lot. Imagine like running a marathon with 4000+ ft of elevation. Marine Corps Marathon has 699 ft gain, and people said that is a hard and hilly marathon. Richmond Marathon has 683 ft is a a hilly course. I was so happy when one volunteer told me she did that marathon last year when she recognize the shirt I was wearing. America toughest marathon, the Roanoke Blue Ridge Footleveler Marathon has 3564 ft of gain.

Those who run 100s don’t usually choose a flat course. I think 17,000 ft is a typical elevation gain. There are some 100s with more extreme climbing. And some with a flatter course. Grinstone 100, the one I will be doing in September has 21,000 ft of gain.

Vermont is a good beginner 100. It is challenging but doable for many first time attempt. During the prerace meeting, there were about 50% from a show of hands that this was their first 100 mile/100k run. 100k too is a good stepping stone before trying the 100 miler. 100k is 62 miles, just a bit over 50 mile. 50 milers are what people (or least I used) before attempting a 100 mile run.

A few friends from my area also were in the race and at time they were good motivators. We all started together. I was the second slowest in the group. I had a goal to catch up to them. I guess it was a friendly competition.

I knew I had to run my own race. As this was my second time doing it, I had last year result to aim for. This year body was different from last year. I felt being less trained. Result showed I was slower. I finished about 2 and half hour slower at 28:56. And very early on, I had to give up at running the last year’s pace.

Since I started from the back of the pack, I ran with people around me. There were at various time, I was joined by Tek, Roy, Dave to about Stage Road (mile 31). Later I passed them and was joined by Anuj and Carita to mile 62, they kept me going at time I was about to flame out. Later still Brian and Pete. Brian was pretty much kept with me to mile 90 before taking off. Roy passed me at Cowshed and at the time I was doubting if I could finish even though I was an hour ahead of the cutoff. Roy thought my math was way off.

I finished the race with Carita, Justin and Charlie. I met Carita earlier on in the race but forgot who she was after she ran off. She later told me she went the wrong way and was 3 miles off course. Similarily, Justin has gone off course for maybe a mile and caught back up to me around 3-4 am. We pretty much then powerhiked together the rest of the way. I was glad to finish together with them. I too gone off course, maybe a quarter mile. It was not due to markings though, I somehow assumed the turn was to the left when it was to the right because I saw people’s headlamps going left. It could all have been my imagination at the time.

I did not have a crew or pacer, but people around were like pacers to me. The best was Anuj, he and I chattered for a long time on the course, maybe 8 hours or more. I amost thought he could not make it but he did finish, just 10 minutes behind me. And he took a 45 minutes break at a aid station (Camp Ten Bear before midnight), meaning, he must have run to catch up in the morning. I said he passed a lot of people.

My report is pretty much echoing a fellow runner Eric’s report. It was a redemption run. I did not finish an earlier race this year, this race I did almost everything needed to get it done.

Nutrition, I watched my calorie intake, that is to Eat early and often. By afternoon, I did not want to eat. I switched to fluid, mixing Skratch with my water. A side effect was it made me super thirsty for 8 plus hours. There was nothing to cure the thirst, drinking water didn’t help, nor sodas nor more Skratch. So I stopped drinking Skratch and switched back to water and sodas. By 1-2 AM, Spirit 76 (mile 76), I was extremely hungry, the people at the aid station fed me and I was well.

Shoes: They say the course can be done with road shoes. I ran with my trusted trail Altra Lone Peak. I don’t know which series, probably 9. I did not have switched them out. I ran with just one pair all the way through. I did have a backup pair at Spirit 76 (mile 76), but I did not have to switch. The road was sandy and dusty, so from time to time, I did have to empty out the grits. Feet were healthy, no hot spots or blisters.

Simplified. So many races I worried about various things, like dropbags and equipment. I went light this time. I prepared two drop bags. Brought no extra food. First drop bag had my balms and lotions and sprays for curing various ailments. I placed that at mile 62. My second drop bag was my extra pair of shoes, I left it mile 76. I did not need to use either of them. It was good to know I would have them if needed.

I wore a hydration vest with a 1.5 L bladder. I carried a 20 oz bottle for filling with soda drink along the way (I like Ice, the sparking soda). I carried a zip lock bag to take extra food out the station.

I knew Aid stations are time killer if not careful. I wanted to minimize time needed to stop. There were 25 aid stations. Each of them, I stopped for about 5 minutes. People might think that is too long. Yes, indeed, but by the time of grabbing something to eat, filling up water, fixing shoes or what not, thanking volunteers, that 5 minutes were up. I did a race before (Old Dominion) where we only stopped only for 10 seconds at each station, because that time, I was running with pros good at time keeping (one was a former NFL level coach) who know every second count. Not stopping for too long at an aid station contributed toward a successful run.

The rest was just being “Chill.” My understanding was to enjoy the race and sight. Indeed, I had a peaceful run.

My personal entertainment during the race was trying to figure out the minimum pace I needed to maintain and still finish it. It is a harder problem than it seems especially in a race when your brain refuses to work. I had a spreadsheet setup on my phone, so at various point of the race, I could update it and it spits out my target time for the next aid station and so forth. I knew I was ahead of race pace for finishing under 30 hours at least by an hour.

It was an interesting “math” problem I did not solve it until the next evening after driving home. The problem goes like this. Like any runner, typically, our pace would start slowing down. At what point would our pace be too slow to finish? For Vermont 100, I knew I need to maintain above 17:50 pace (overall average pace, 18 min is needed for a 30 hour finish, but the last runner came in with 17:50 pace, so to be safe,we target 17:50 pace).

For example, if I arrive at mile 50 an hour ahead of the cutoff (and say the cutoff is set at 18:00 min pace, meaning closing at 15th hour). I arrive in 14 hours. What the slowest pace I could maintain if I am slowly slowing down. I’m an hour ahead. Solution, If I am halfway and I am an hour ahead, I only have 30 minutes leadway not an hour is the answer. If used up more than, 30 minutes, I would have to run at a faster pace to catch back up for remaining half. How I came up with 30 minutes? It is the ratio of mile already ran (50 miles) over total miles multiply by the total time I am ahead of the cutoff (60 minites). I was proud of myself to figure out using ratio instead of a traditional way.

Another way to solve it is more straight forward, You take the total amount time left divided by the total distance left to get the minimum pace to run. To find what time you need to be at the next aid station, you multiple the pace with the distance to the next aid station. To see how much lead time, You do the same with the current pace and multiple by the mileage to the next aid station. Then subtract both times. Sorry it is a lot of math and I lost all my readers. Anyway, those were the math I did repeatedly during my run. In the end it was just garble garble in the middle of the night. I relied heavily on my spreadsheet and a lot precaculated figures.

Running 100s is hard, especially with the math. I appreciated friends who came out and supported me. I am thankful for all the volunteers and neighbors. Other than the race, I had memorable experiences on the way up, the food I ate and the conversations I had.

Some notable places: Molly’s at Hanover – I had tacos. The Cappadocia Cafe in White River Junction – I had Pogaca. The Vermont Welcome Center in Guilford. Lombardi Rest Area on the Jersey Turnpike. Biden Rest Area in Delaware. Labanese food stop in Danbury. Korean BBQ afterward.

I wish I had taken more pictures but I got tired after 20 miles and so no more photos after that.

2025-07-24
[681] July 4 Hike – BP (TWOT)

I have been on the Twot loop, as it is known among us local runners but its real name is the Wild Oak Trail, many times either hiking, running, racing what not, except for biking and swimming boating or fishing.

It was the trail that I earned my backpacking badge. It was my earliest known trail even before I hiked Signal Knob or Massanutten or Bull Run or the Seneca Creek trail.

I don’t write about it specifically, because the two races there the TWOT 100 or 200, and the Grindstone 100, I was not able to do yet to this day (to finish with an official time) even though I have run so many hundred mile races. It does rub the wrong way for me to be on my home court and couldn’t finish it. The trail is way harder than the Massanutten.

But I have run, hiked, trained, and camped there many times. Hone Quarry is near there and I visited it during the past late winter and spring this year. (Hone Quarry 40, preview run, Grindstone 100).

The Wild Oak Trail (TWOT) is located in Spokeville, VA, about 10-ish miles from Harrisonburg and Staunton.

It is a place I prefer more than the Shenandoah, mostly to avoid the crowd since we are so close to the cities in east coast, primarily the DC area.

The AT is fine place to hike, camp and run, but the TWOT is my favorite place. The views are just as good if not better than many places.

Last weekend, just off the cuff, I wanted to go for camping. I did have an ulterior motive. Since I DNF’d at the last Grindstone race, I wanted to go back to know and experience again why I did not do as well as I anticipated in it. I knew already from my race report, but I wanted to walk back on the ground to see if there any stones I should uncover or memorize. So it was going to be a holy experience for me. I had intended to go back there several times after my race last September but whatever the reason I was not able to until the Fourth of July weekend. I dragged my friend along for the fun of it. Misery loves company they say.

I have not done a real backpack trip since summer 2021, when I visited the Smoky. I don’t remember if I posted any about it. Usually, I don’t like doing a write-up for things that are not running related. If I find it, I will link it here in the future.

I really wanted to get back into hiking/camping.   One of my big goals and always have been, is to backpack the one of the very long trails, like the AT, PCT, or CDT, or the one that goes from east to west of the country, for thousand of miles long. The mountain is always calling me. Except I just don’t have time. Running have taken over my life the last few years.

This year July 4th fell on a Friday and it was a great opportunity to do it for a long three day trip.

I had in mind to check out or have refresher of the Grindstone 100 course, and the race is coming up in a month or so. I would like to have a weekend on the course.

The short version was everything kind of worked out.

Thursday night, Campsite unknown

I left work a little later than I wanted. We did not get on the road until after 8 pm. I knew the campsite would be hard to find after dark. Indeed, I could not find it, the one I camped at in November. In the end it was already midnight, and we were tired.

We drove in the park over an hour turning at one wrong turn after another arriving at who know where. I actually reached the place where we were supposed to leave our water around halfway through the course. The original plan was to drive there in the morning to drop off water first before starting out.

We could have gone without leaving water since there is a creek nearby and a gas station too about a few miles away, but that would leave some uncertainties and extra hiking to seek water.

Since I had a friend with me, I did not want to cause an alarm about not having water.   (As luck would have it, we did run out of water, or due to poor planning on my part, we leave that later).

At the moment we were in middle of the night without a camp, so the first order of business is still have a place to sleep. We could sleep in our car until morning, which is kind of bad because we intended to do “real camping. So I pulled the car into a place at a trailhead and dropped off the water jugs. Then I decided to hike a little bit into the trail in the middle of the night, from memory there should be a place to camp. I was unsure how far though. We lugged all our packs along just in case we needed our things but I knew we would come back to the car in the morning to head to the real trailhead we original intended to go.

We might have got to our camp after 1 am. Then quickly set things up and went to bed. First night was uneventful. The night was hot. Moon was out. So were stars. We just did a hike that got our blood flowing. Now we needed to sleep. I kept the canopy open, we slept under the stars, till it got colder and then I went out to close it. First night usually is hard to fall asleep for me.

Friday, the next day. A real hike.

The next day was our first long day. We had some decisions to make. Since the course was a loop, we could actually start from where we camped. However, the rest of our trip, and where we stay, and where we get water would need to be adjusted. I felt that was too many things to change on the fly. Again, if I were on my own, I don’t mind, but since I was with someone, we had filed a flight “plan”, we had to stick to it, you know in case something happened, people can search for us.

We headed back to our car and drove to the orignal trailhead — the Twot Lot, and started from there. In broad daylight while driving back, we saw all the campsites we missed the night earlier.

I signed in at the guestbook, noted other people on the trail that weekend. Not too many maybe two other parties and we did not encounter them at all. My friend later commented, that Frozen Ed (a famous runner in our community) checked in there a few weeks ago. It is interesting to know who has been there.

We then prepared our breakfast in the Twot parking lot. It seemed like cheating and not real camping experience, but we needed our calories. The day would be long.

A little past 8 o’clock, we started our hiking for real, going clockwise. As my convention, I gave my friend a choice of going either left or right. I decided beforehand already of going “left”. This was to climb Lookout Mountain first instead of the Grindstone Mountain. I have done in the counterclockwise many times but seldom hiked in the clockwise direction except for the Grindstone 100 race. I actually like this direction because the camping and water points work out fine, as also more ways to change midway.

The planned course was a 50 mile-ish trip. Later, once on the trail, wisdom dictated to cut it down to half, which was part of the plan too, a plan B. This course has several ways of making it shorter, such as heading to Camp Todd or to the start at Twot parking lot by road if needed to instead of on the trail.

First, we went up onto Lookout Mnt, then crossed over on Hankey Mnt, was to descend to Doswells Draft, and to cross over to Chimley Hollow, then up on Crawford Mnt, down into Dry Branch, climb to Elliot Knob, to descend into Cold Springs, and hike on forest road back to Crawford to climb it second time, backtrack to Chimney Rock, up over Doswells Draft to Hankey again, (we skipped all those) but continued on the TWOT counterclockwise loop to Magic Moss, climbed up on Dividing Ridge to Grind Spring Ridge and passed over Big Bald, descended to Camp Todd, up Little Bald, and was to travel to Reddish Knob if time permits then find our way back to the Todd Lot either on Tilman Rd or through one of those trails like Reservor or Tower trail. It is a lot for the weekend. Generally, would have to run it to cover everything on the Grindstone 100 course in 4 days instead of 2. For those who want the GPS file, they are available on the Grindstone 100 mile race website. For future trip, if we want to make it longer, it could join up with the Hone Quarry 40 loop, to make it into 140+ mile adventure.

So actuality, we stayed on the Twot loop our whole weekend, just 25 miles and cut out all the Crawford loop and Reddish Knob loop.

There were no rush for us since we had three days to do it, even out to about 9 miles a day. I realized we couldn’t do 25 miles a day for three days straight. I had on near 50 lbs pack. So it was not going to happen to push the pace.

By noon on Friday, we just reached the top of Lookout Mountain, maybe about 4-5 miles. We decided to stop for lunch. I unpacked and had a proper hot meal. I calculated we likely reached our campsite by 4 pm.

After lunch we continued climbing up to up on Hankey Mountain. By 3:00 pm we reached Doswells Draft Trail. I was out of water by now. I estimated it might be 3 miles to descend off the mountain to a water point (where I did the water drop the night before) or we could continue climbing up Hankey to a place I know there is a very nice campsite. Valley always bring to mind flies, gnats, ants and other bugs. And the place we stayed the night before seemed to have lot of ants. I was trying to avoid it.

After talking over with my friend, who had some water left, we went up the ridge to set camp. There were about two liters of water shared between us. We still had to cook plus over 16 hours left before we reached our next water source.

There were no water to clean or wash anything. The climb up was extremely hard but we were glad we made it. Yes, had to go to bed sticky and dirty.

I was tired so the first thing of business was to set up camp (the tent) and then changed into dry/clean clothes. Then I had a small meal since water was lacking, and everything I cook needed a lot of water. I did not want to make a fire since there was no water to put it out if in an emergency we needed to (Yes, I was taught by others to pee into the fire to put it out if necessary, generally not an appealing task to do).

It just meant we headed to bed early. A slight passing rain came through but nothing was really wet. In a sense, I was hoping to refill our bottles from the rain, but it did not rain very hard.

The next day, we headed off to an early start skipping breakfast. I wanted to head to our water source first before having breakfast. A side note, our mountain camp was full of spiders and ants, exactly the kinds of bugs I wanted to avoid in the first place. The view though made it up. Plus the night was cooler. Air smelled better. We were not disturbed up on the ridge.

Saturday, 2nd full day.

We descended back to where we left our water (2 Gal) Thursday night.   The water crisis was now resolved. The two water jugs were still there and in good condition. I might have stayed two hours here to cook and rested. The campsite actually did not have any bugs and we could have descended the night before and stayed here. It was a fairly big site for two of us and could have fit 4-5 people.

After the big breakfast/lunch we headed up to Big Bald. This was our first hard climb of the day. While climbing up we saw some race ribbons, likely from a past race or something.

The afternoon was uneventful. We friend pointed out the Bear Bog, called Bradley Pond (not the same one on Bradley Rd). I never recalled there was a bear bog here, but I have not been this way for a long time since Grindstone course doesn’t go through here. We took some photos and continued on.

We reached over the other side, which was Camp Todd. We filtered our water (actually a full gallon, 4L). We probably needed 6L, but 4 L would do. We then lugged the water upto Little Bald where would be camping for the night.

It was 4:30 pm as we started off from Camp Todd. I knew it would take a very long time to get up to the Ridge, and was hoping no more than 3 hours.

It was just constant climbing. We arrived around 8 pm, backpacker midnight some call it. We set up camp, cooked, cleaned, by the time I went to bed it was 9:30-10 pm. It was very late and I was tired. I think I immediately felt asleep. This site though had very little insects, but we were drenched by the heavy dew. So the tent was very wet the next morning.

Sunday, last day of the trip

Sunday, we had 7 (but felt like 8) miles remaining. It would be all descending. I estimated probably took us 4-5 hours to descend. I had a lot of food left over, so instead of carrying them back down the mountain, it was good to eat them. I had a feast. My friend had a meal package left (intended for me). I had maybe 1.5-2 days of food myself, even after I had my big breakfast.

The descent was fast initially. But the day wore on. Sun shone down. At the last part, it was not all descending but some climbling too. Maybe we got to two miles at the end, we had to climb up maybe a mile. That really worn us down. We did reached the parking lot around noon and that was a good feeling we got the weekend wrapped up early.

We had plenty time to head home, then we cleaned up and then enjoyed a good Korean BBQ before the day was over. There was nowhere better than home.

Conclusion. Backpacking doesn’t have the excitement of getting to the finish line like in a race. It is something that takes a lot of time to plan, prepare and execute. Like running, sometimes we have to make decisions on the fly, such as what to do when running out of water, or that we are carrying too much food, or what if we got lost.

Time seems to flow differently while on the trail. Like with running, a four day weekend seems like only one or two days, yes, I wish I would take a day or two off to make it into a 5 day weekend trip.

The TWOT loop was like my backyard kind of camping trip. It provides just the right amount of challenge but also nearby. In no time we were home and back to the society.

Afterward, another friend of mine reached out, asking if I be interested in backpacking in Colorado and if I have any backpacking experience. Do I!?

I won’t claim myself to be an expert but I am all for going out to Colorado. I have not done something like that, other than going to the Smoky, Patagonia or the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu. I am looking at 60,000 ft climbs and descents and 100+ miles, with the highest point at 15,000 ft.

We haven’t settled on how many days, we would do it in. Likely 4-5 days or 6-7 days, plus couple days to get acclimated. (Location is the famous Silverton for the Hard Rock 100). If the trip is successful, I will do doing a lot more stuff out in the west. Montanta, I’m looking at you and Grand Canyon. I have plenty of trips I want to do in the high sierra, slot canyons, JMT, etc. Mt Elbert too. Until next time.

I don’t think I ever did a proper twot write up, so I did it here for memory and reference. And indeed, some day, if I have a week time, to attempt a 140-150 mile backpacking trip at Twot.

2025-07-15
[680] Cacapon 12-Hour

I woke up on Monday and wondered why was I so sore, then I remembered I ran a 12 hour race (11:15) on Saturday at Cacapon State Park in Berkeley Springs, WV.

I think it is funny I don’t remember what I did over the weekend. Like why I felt being beaten up.

I was just being out of shape after three weeks with little to no running, nursing an injured leg. But it was good to be back. Now I could run and jump again. My cardio has taken a nose dive. While Cacapon was a good work out session, I could not really fly on the trail. My average pace was over 20 min per mile so I will have to go back there to do better, maybe next year.

Timed event is a little different than other races. Everyone had the same amount of time and the goal was to run as much distance as we could. So faster runner likely finish with longer distance than slower runner. It is a good way to train for endurance.

The concept is same as any other races, but the execution is different. There’s no DNF. It was individual strategy of when to give up. Most set a distance-like goal, for example to reach 26.2 miles or a 50k, then stop.

For those who want to use all 12 hours, it requires that mental toughness of hanging on and pacing at the beginning of not going out too fast. I set a distance goal for myself but also wanted to stay on the course as long as I could.

A friend and I drove up in the morning. We arrived close to the start time, so almost all the parking spots were taken. The RD said this was the first time where the lot is full. We had about 50 runners. I knew some of them. We got our bibs and proceeded in setting up our own aid station. The race had one aid station but we could set up our tents and chairs near there. I did not need much so I did not set out anything but my water bottle.

The course is a 5 mile loop and has decent elevation climb, 750 ft of change. It is runnable but also rocky, muddy, and enough hills to make it a challenging run. I think most people could do 1-2 loops before tiring out. I walked all my loops.

My first loop, I was kind of slowing down to learn the course. It was marked but some intersections seemed doubtful to me. I just followed along the runners in front of me.

By second loop, I felt a bit of leg cramp, maybe due to the humidity, and 90+ degrees heat, I needed to slow down. By third loop, the sun was fully out and I stopped for a half hour lunch and chat with friends. On a normal race, a half hour lunch is too long, but on a timed race, I realized I have to maintain under 90 minutes per loop to finish with 8 loops in 12 hours. So by the third loop, I realized the most I could do is 7 loops with a lot of time left over. So, half hour lunch was perfect to squeeze in.

After lunch, I continue on for 4 more loops. It was actually getting harder. In my mind, I can go for 6 loops for a 50k without much struggle. But whether I could motivate myself to do the last and final loop was another thing.

By 4:30 PM, I finished 6 loops. I had over 2 hours left, so, I tried for the final loop. By now everything was familar to me. I know the trail and all the ups and downs. I just went with the float. Halfway through the course, a storm seemed to about to start. There were some rumbling of thunders. I told myself to pick up the pace or else I would be drenched in the rain when it arrives. So I tried move a bit faster. My legs were heavy. There was another runner near me too. Together we raced back to the start/finish area. We made it in the nick of time before the sky opened and poured down buckets of water.

I love being lucky. We had a good dinner afterward and then a good rest. The weekend was nicely tucked away.

Other thing that happened was Western States 100 took place over the same weekend. I was glued to Youtube and twitter updates, keeping tap on friends who were running it and other runners in general. I took part in the a small fantasy (betting) game, so have a personal stake on some of the runners. It made it more fun to watch. I had fond memories of being there last year, running in the race. I felt blessed to finish and also fortunate at the same time. I were not running in it this year, which I was glad because I knew I probably could not do it again of giving everything on the course and get a finishing time.

The idea it was alright to take a DNF but at the same time it stinks to do so. It hits close to home where I had to take some repeated DNFs.

It was incredible hard seeing and experiencing myself of runners struggle through their 100 miles. Who knows if I could still manage to do what I did last year. My next race is coming up soon.

2025-07-08
[679] Life, misc, catching up (Catoctin 50k)

I wanted this year Catoctin run to be like last year except I could not step into the same river twice. I had a series of races right before it.

Recent setbacks. Old Dominion 100 did not go the way I wanted to go. It was so close yet so far. 10 miles too far. I don’t know if I can get over that. I can blame it on the training etc of what leading up to it. In the end, it resulted in an injury. So I was sidelined for following two weeks (on my third week without running). I am now 99% recovered but still haven’t got back out running like I used to.

Then came the OSS/CIA 50. I knew I would not be able to do well when I entered. It was hard. I love the hard run. I was limited by what my injured leg could bear. Luckily I did not make it worse.

When the Catoctin race came, I was smart enough to sit out on it. It pained me that I could not run in it. I chose the second best option to volunteer. I was asked what if one day I could not run any more, what would I do. I got a good taste of that. I was injured once, a few years back due to a lower back pain and had to sit out for a few weeks, so this was not the first time I had to take time off from running. If one day I never run again, which is inevitable because I will get old, I will deal with it when the time comes. I would still love to cheer on others.

This year has been great. I don’t know why. I haven’t done anything significant but just feel great. Maybe having less stress of not racing so much.

I wanted so much to make it like last year, mostly because of the race Western States 100. It has been exactly a year when I toed the start line. This weekend is the Western States 100. I wished I were there. Couple of the people I know are running in it. I will be very happy for them regardless how they will do. Some will be chasing for the grand slam, so some I will be seeing (again) in Vermont or at Wasatch. I am not doing the slam myself, but I hope to be there. The perspective is a bit different now playing a supportive role compares to doing it myself.

Likewise, I originally wished to write about my experience at the Cat 50k this year. But as a supporter, it is not the same as running in it (2024-report). I was happy I volunteered last weekend and saw my friends going through the aid stations on a tough course and saw them survived the race and also some that did not. We earned praises from runners and the race director for managing our station well.

One thing I wanted to mention was the course was slightly changed before the race (there was a reroute) and because this was an old school kind of race, in that we don’t mark the course, so it was a fun day for people getting lost (for some people not all). We did our part, in that unofficially, we kind of marked our small section of coming into the aid station with balloons. And because of about a quarter mile section that deviated off the trail, we sent volunteers near the exit to tell runners where to go. I was mostly the person there unless my friends came through then I either helped them or joked around and sent them out the wrong way (joking). I felt I did an important job that day. (I was at the Delauter aid station — we were a newbie crew but we were praised for running the aid station like pros, which I was glad).

So as expected, the last three weeks haven’t been too well for me. I took 3 DNF/DNS’s. Never before had I encountered such setbacks. They were inevitable. I have done only two smallish runs so far, about couple miles instead of the usual 25-30 miles.

I was asked when is my next big one. It is coming up in couple weeks. I don’t feel ready for it. I know I am not. The race name (in VT) must not be mentioned for fear of jinx-ing it. Then another big one after that (Eastern States) and then Grindstone 100. I have an axe to grind for that one. I am not afraid of you, Mr. Grindstone (for those who grew up watching Home Alone). They all come one after another. Ahhh. One harder than before. I have to start training hard.

That’s a wrap for this week. I will be watching the Western States even though I am not running in it and probably never will again (report). I love my buckle! I still need to get a belt for it.

When I could not run any more, all I have left is memories from my former races. Yes, and that actually what I did while volunteering, we were talking about our races when I was asked which one was my favorite. I love all my races, thinking back those times I was out on the trail. There’s another alternative, that is hiking/backpacking, more to come (exciting news to share in the next post).

A small 5 mile training run with a friend at the Manassas National Battlefield last weekend (Juneteeth).

2025-06-26
[678] OSS/CIA 50 mile (DNF)

Two years ago I did this race (report) and I liked it a lot. Have I ever not liked a race? Last year I volunteered. This year, even with an overloaded schedule I wanted to runnit again. Maybe a bit of hubris on my part that I could finish it even right after a 100 mile race. It is a local race in my area on a trail now I have known like the back of my hands, having done couple hundred mile races there, i.e., the Devil Dog 100.

OSS/CIA is a kind of celebrity race in that I could brag about the OSS officers (precursor of the CIA) used to train there. There’s another place near our area that has a celebrity status, and that is Camp David, where there are trails nearby and which we will be doing a 50k the following weekend.

Don’t take my words, I don’t know where Camp David is before writing this (a quick Google search did show where), but some say it is somewhere near there and I did see security presence when we passed by the camp entrance as we drove from Owens Creek to Gambrill Park.

In this report, we will focus on the OSS/CIA 50. For me it was pretty cool to say I run in the Prince William Forest for the OSS/CIA 50.

This year like any other years, I did not get into Highland Sky, where many people I know went to, including my good friend David. I am happy for him to finish it. I was not sad to miss out on that race though and was glad to take this other race instead. Sometimes it does feel like this was the second best option. Some of my running friends including Charlie, Randy, Brian, Eric and many others were running in this one too.

I was nervous on days leading up to the race whether I would be ready in time. As some knew, I just finished a 100 mile (well nearly finished) and I was still recovering from it. From the 100 miler I injured my right foot, maybe pulled a muscle, or some kind of inflamation going on or shin splint. My take was I kicked a rock too hard and pulled something. My foot was swelling and it hurt even when while walking. I was hoping for a miraculous healing by race day so I could run it. By Wednesday, I felt it was like 50% better. Thursday, the pain went away but still felt a bit sore. And by Friday, I could feel I could have a bit mobility. I was hoping by Saturday, I could run again.

My friend who offered to pace me at the race checked in with me one more time on Saturday morning. The race was at night, starting at 6 pm and would continue till 8:30 am Sunday. I told him it is no good, it still has pain when I touch it and when I flex it in a certain position. I knew there would be no way I could run on that foot and finish the race. I told him not to bother coming out to support me because likely, there was no way I would be able to finish.

Still I held the hope maybe I could do just 1 loop (25 miles) and maybe still make the cutoff for a second loop. I showed up early at the race to get ready. Friends showed up, we chatted and when it was time for the race, I went out.

I was quickly became the last person a few minutes after crossing the start line. I was pretty much limping out. There were a father and son with a dog in front of me. Soon they let me pass. I did not think that was a good idea because likely they will pass me back. The son seemed strong but he waited for his father who was maybe in his 60s and either the dog too which was holding them back or they actually preferred doing it at a slower pace, I went on ahead.

The pain started to intensify after a mile. On a scale of 1-10, I put it reaching between 2.5-3. I still could bear it but it was not fun running while in pain. I could turn back, which would be the quickest way back. I knew the loop was long, and the point of no return is around mile 13-14.

I was moving at a constant pace, walking mostly, doing 3 miles an hour (20 min pace). I knew I need around to 14-16 min to have a chance of making the cut and finishing, especially the first loop, we had a tighter cutoff time of 6.5-7 hrs (a 16 min pace). The loop was closer to 26 miles. It was a long course 50 mile race (actually was 52 miles). When a race gave you 14.5 hours to do, you knew it was not easy.

By second hour, my pain subsided a bit, maybe down to 1. I felt it was numb and kind of had a warm pain. And by third hour, the pain reduced to a tickling sensation. I felt like my funny bone constantly being activated. It was a sensation of the leg being weak, that if I put weight on it, it might collapse under me.

By now, I passed the first waterpoint, mile 8. I knew exactly how much farther I needed to go. I could head back using the road or continue on the trail for the full 25 miles. I refused to give up.

Soon it was dark, now 9 pm. I had a pace chart on me. My slowest pace called for reaching mile 11 by 8:30, which I already missed and mile 13 no later than 9:30. I did not get to mile 13 until 10:00. I knew I was way behind pace. We had 3 hours to make it back and it took us 4 hours to reach halfway. I knew, there was no way for me to get back until 2 am.

Rain and storm came between 11 pm and midnight. Fog settled in. I treaded on. The father and son team had split. The father was still behind me and from time to time I saw his head lamp. The son had gone ahead before me. He wanted to make the cutoff and I was rooting for him.

The trail was mostly the same course and direction as the Devil Dog. I was making various comments to myself, here is the bridge coming up, here the Burma Road, and so on. We turned here for Devil Dog but we were not turning here today. Hmm, I wonder where this path would take me. It was pretty much entertaining myself.

I got to the Pyrite Mine trail and I knew we were close to the start. I could take a short cut to get back. By now, it was passed 1 am, the cutoff. There was no reason for me to be on the trail this long. My leg started to hurt again and I was wondering how long I could last. I felt I could make it back. The Swinging Bridge should not be too far away.

If I was healthy, I could run on the final road portion. After the Pyrite Mine Trail, we were on the Pyrite Road. I remembered last time I did this, I was running on this stretch to make the cutoff.

Soon I saw the Swinging Bridge and knew just a bit more. We had about jist couple miles to go. They would take us through the Laurel Loop and Birch Trail. It was uphill and long. Then I finally reached the Cross Trail, and in my mind like half a mile more. I finally arrived back at the finish at 2:22 am. On a normal day, this portion probably only take me 30 minutes but today, it was dragging on. I was second to the last runner to finish the first loop.

No words had to be said, I knew I did not make the cutoff (cutoff was at 1 am). I gathered myself and walked to my car to change and sleep till morning. The Aid Station volunteers were starting to make breakfast. So I had some pancakes and nice food before going to bed.

I had no idea how many people dropped or finished. As I slept I heard the first runner finished at 3 am. Then the second runner finished at 4. I woke up at 5 am and chatted with friends and watched the rest of the runners came in. Some of my friends who ran only the marathon only came in around 6 am. I had a long celebration with them. Eric, who ran the Old Dominion with me the prior week totally crushed this race. Randy also finished with a very good time.

I could also have done the marathon by starting at midnight instead of 6 pm and I would have considered myself a finisher. I did not. It was hard to reason why did I not. I wanted to do a 50 mile and I thought I might have a chance. That was all. I enjoyed the run (or walk) in a familiar park. It was not often we got to run it at night. Usually, it closes after dark (5 pm or something). I had an incredible time out there. There were no special thoughts, just me, the trails, and some friends. Of course, from time to time, I had to deal with my foot and its limitations. I felt proud I made it to the end (at least my finish point, not the race).

That’s my race report. A bit unusual from my normal ones. Usually I would like to include a nice lesson, (the moral of the story) is don’t run on injured foot. Rest and be smart. I can’t preach this to others since I don’t follow my own advices.

Update: My foot felt better now by the second week

2025-06-20
[677] Pat Pat, My epic fail at running OD100

First of all thank you to all the volunteers, families and friends for their supports for the race. It could not have happened without them.

Much deserving a mention is my crew and friend who drove me to the race and back and waited at every station from 4 am to midnight after I made the last (one and only) cutoff at Elizabeth Furnace. I rarely have a crew, so, the race is a pity that I was not able to finish.

Why I wanted to run it again? It has to be a very special reason to run a 100 mile. I came across a runner, Annabel, she said she wanted to run it for her mom. As for me, I did not have a particular reason. Last year, I signed up because of the Grand Slam. This year, I just wanted to have fun, to experience the course without the pressure of got to do it, and of meeting everyone’s expectation. Partly, several of my friends signed up and I wanted to join them to hang out. I was initially going to do the Massanutten 100, since that has been my race for the last few years. For various reasons, that did not happen and OD100 then became my race. I wanted too to pace a runner for his Grand Slam this year.

We went to the briefing. Nothing new. I placed my drop bags. Then showed up for the next day 4 AM. We ran around the parking lot twice and that was supposed to be a mile. I was thinking great, we got to do the extra lap early so at the end we won’t have to do it again and which would save us time. In theory, we are half mile ahead of our pace chart. I took that as a good sign.

This year, I was not the last runner going out. In fact, I lined up at the front. We took our time going up on Woodstock Tower. There were just Wayne and I and a few other runners by the time we reached the top. I figured, like last year, I would slowly pick off runners.

From Boyers we entered the Orange Trail heading down toward the Reservor. Then we headed back to Boyers toward St David Church. We crossed the Fort Valley and ran toward Four Points. About a mile from Four Points, I caught up with a bunch of runners. I remember from former year a group of 4 runners called themselves the Lost Boys because they got lost in the Boyers loop. So I called them the Lost Boys too. Apparently one of them was a runner I was going to pace. So I called out, hey would you still want me to pace you. He said sure. Together we headed into Four Points. Note, only one of them (and she wasn’t a boy) finished the race as a DFL (last runner), the rest of us later dropped.

The race was still early, only a third way into it (mile 32) but there were signs that things were not going well. Our pace started to slack. We were an hour behind goal pace of 26 hour finishing. If we were wise, we should have sharpened up and started the hurry up and go mindset.

The next 20 miles, we traveled through the swampy land of Duncan Hollow. It was not that rough for me, but I was moving methodically slow. I did not finish the loop and arrive back at Four Points second time till after 5 pm (my pace chart called for arriving at 2:40 for 26 hours and 4 pm for 28 hours). This was an hour behind of my 28 hour race pace. It should have been a warning for me but apparently I ignored it because according to the math. I reached mile 50 in 13.25 hours, so 100 miles, should take me 27 ish hours. Hence, I was not panicking.

The next 10 miles took me 2 hours, which was good. I figured I had plenty of time to get to mile 75, our first cutoff. The sun soon set. A fellow runner spoke to me that we were not going to make it. So I started counted the time again. We had 8 miles and we needed to get to Little Fort. In my mind I thought I had 3 hours, but in actuality, I had 2. I was planning to get to Little Fort by 8 pm. She asked me to check my watch again and then I realized it was already 8 pm. So I had to settle with 9 pm. She (Kalla) and I started running in earnest. I did arrive by 9 pm.

Now the next segment was 11 miles and we had 3 hours. On paper it was doable, but this section, became more technical. It was dark. There were 5-6 (the Lost Boys) of us and we caught up with another 3-4 runners. It made a fun group as we raced toward the cutoff. I was hoping we might get to Elizabeth Furnace by midnight. It came down very close. I got in, got my medical check, and then headed back out. Time was of the essence.

At this stage, it was a relief that I made it through the one and only cutoff. However, I was spent in term of energy. Because I had run this race before, I knew what was to come. We had to cross Sherman Gap and the Veach Gap and then climb Woodstock Tower, three big climbs.

It was mind blowing hard. In summary, It took me 3 hours to climb Sherman and then 2 hours Veach. I wish I could say, then I did Woodstock Tower in 1 hour. I would have the race done. I got halfway up near Woodstock, time was about to expire at 770+758 road. I did not think I could move another step. It was mathematically impossible for me to run 9 miles in an hour or even 2 hours. Volunteers there were more than ready to take me back. So there I ended my race at 7 am with 9 miles left.

I don’t like feeling sorry for myself that I could not finish the Old Dominion 100, while coming so close with 8.7-9.2 miles left. But Pat Pat to myself.

There were various reasons I could tell myself why the race did not go according to plan, but in the end, it was just me not having enough to survive the race.

Some would be fine and celebrated the distance ran. I stopped at mile 91. I was actually done at mile 80, or even at mile 75 but mathematically, I still had a chance to get myself to the finish line. My body started giving up at mile 86, and I knew it would be a long way to get the final 14 miles. By then it was no longer feasible for me to attempt limping in.

I am grateful though to be able to run in OD100. Weather played a part. We knew ahead it was going to hot. It is usually hot. The rain was a relieve to cool off the morning portion. The entire day was humid. We just perservered.

In hindsight, I should have stopped at midnight, since trying to finish the race with 8 hours left was historically very hard at this race. I attempted it any way knowing there were others who did that before.

Proverbial saying, hindsight is 20-20. Everything fell apart the next seven hours. The moment I left mile 75, I tripped and felt into a mud pit. I had sand and mud all over me, on my clothes, my hands, feet, my pack, my water bottle and water hose. I could not drink my water until I could find a creek to clean off. My legs were giving out on me. Then came pouring rain. The sky poured buckets. Rocks were slick. I did not chance it. Even by walking I was kicking rocks and stumbling. Each time I kicked a rock, my toes hurt. I never kicked so many rocks even while running the MMT 100, which was known to be rocky.

My evaluation if a race is good is by how tired I am afterward. This race even though I did not finish, I enjoyed the course, the clock and the 1 day, 100 miles. It is always you against the course and the clock.

I got a great welcome when I had to do the “walk of shame” to Henry, our race time keeper by the finish line to tell him I quit. My friends enrupted in cheers and claps. They thought I made it in, but in fact I was given a ride back. I had to tell them, I got a ride! Still I was grateful they (the Lost Boys) were there.

I am grateful to my crew, friends, volunteers and fellow runners to make Old Dominion an unforgetable experience.

2025-06-10