In awe

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  • [676] Catch up

    My head is still stuck in Atlanta of a trip I took there at the beginning of May and now we are in June.  If readers were wondering why so few posts lately, that was why.

    I have a bit of catching up to do.  Maybe it is a little understatement nothing much happened in that time. Well, nothing big happened.  I lived my life.  Things happened.

    A week was spent for an one night camping trip at Lake Fairfax. It was my best trip in a lomg time.  I haven’t done a camping trip since maybe 2020.  This was not per se a real trip, because it was literally by my house, about 30 minutes away.  However, I had such a good time with the people there.  Then best of all, I was able to do some trail running and a super long urban run on the following day, something I also haven’t done for a long time, possibly since Covid time.

     I cowboy-camped, meaning sleeping without a tent, right under the stars.  It was a good night. The temperature was about right on the cooler side, maybe in the 50s, so it was a comfortable sleep. 

    I ran about 30 ish miles, might have been 35 miles, mostly on a flat rail to trail path nearby, the W & OD trail.  It has been a long time since I have been on this trail and many sights have changed such a whole lot more data centers.   The highlight of the run was eating at the Carolina Brothers Pit BBQ about near the turn around point in Ashburn. We actually ran past it for maybe 3-5 more miles before turning around.  Then I ran all the way back to the car just before subset. It was a day that worn me out, which is rare. Possibly, I was no longer in top shape.

    The following weekend, I volunteered at our local running club 100 miler, the famous Massanutten Mountain Trail 100, which I ran in the last three years but this year I decided to sit out and volunteer at an aid station and to cheer runners on. 

    I had a chance to mark the course the day before in one of my favorite sections of the course, the Kerns Mountain, a notorious nasty and rocky section of the race. 

    When the race was happening, I was one of a few to pre run sections of it (as a course checker, in case more markers/ribbons should be placed) and mine was from mile 50-62. While doing so, I also took part in clearing a blow down. 

    A volunteer and I was using a hand saw to cut a fallen tree that was blocking the trail.  It took us an hour or so and we ended up giving up since it was too heavy to move it to a side.  We did improve the passage by lowering the branch closer to the ground so runners could just hop across instead of climbing over it.

    Little did we know once we left the trail that afternoon, the wind blew down a bigger tree just outside the trailhead, blocking the exit for cars onto the road and some volunteer cars therefore, were trapped in in a nearby lot.  There was no one with a powered chain saw clear the logjam.  So it was an evening adventure for a bunch of volunteers sent in to clear it.  Yes, eventually, someone was able to borrow a saw and cleared the blow downs.  A side note, the following day after the race, more trees were blown down there and a runner (a friend of mine), had their car trapped in the parking lot a second time.  We had some strong winds that night for volunteers and runners.  And a storm blew through before the race and course was as wet as it can be.

    The best was yet to come, a friend called me up not on the race day but a week before and asked if I could pace him.  I promised sure, since I was not running in it, pacing would be the next best thing. 

    So throughout the day while volunteering at various jobs, I kept track on my runner.  It seemed my runner might not going to make the cut offs.  Each one was very close like by a minute or two.  I was betting, likely this dude wouldn’t make it past to where I was supposed to pace him and I would have a night of sleep.  I was supposed to meet him at mile 65, like at 3-4 am in the morning.  I feared, I might overslept and be a no-show. 

    So by evening, with no updates yet if my runner had dropped, I figured I better get ready and went to an earlier aid station at mile 50 to meet up instead of at mile 65.

    My runner made it in in the nick of time.  From 10:30 pm onward, we would continue battling one cut off after another to the next day’s afternoon 5:00 pm, which was the end of the race. 

    There were high points when morning arrived and the low points like noon the second day when the uncertainty whether we would finish.  As a cinderella story, we did make it in, they recorded the time as 35:59:54.  A hairbreath, 36 hours being the time limit.  Everyone cheered. I was glad. It was crazy. Words could not describe what went through our heads. This was for a 74 year old for his 10th finish at this race.

    Why this affected me so much was three years ago when I was falling behind on my pace at this race, I was chasing cutoffs.  But unlike him, I did not make it to the finish line but stopped at mile 95.  My friend did what I could not do by keeping at it one step after another, even when things seemed bleak, he finished. 

    Many people think I might have something to do with helping him, maybe my presence or encouragement got him through.  I do take the credit of being there, but all the work and struggles were him alone.  As the clock was ticking down, I was thinking to myself, if that were me, I wouldn’t make it.  Yet on the flipside even if I were not there, he would still have made history.  I was happy I got to experience it on the front row seat with him, battling with him of beating the cutoffs. What an excitement.  My blog entry just doesn’t do justice.

    The last weekend in May (Memorial Day weekend), I ran a 50k at Cowans Gap.  More will be written later if I get to it.  It was a fine weekend and a very good run.  10 hours were a little too long for me. I wish I could have done it in 9 or less. It is what it is.

    Then this week, I went to Roanoke and did a trail marathon.  It was also a fine weekend. I wish I have time to write about it. I ran it in 6:03, (with the time cutoff being 6:30) probably my best effort before my 100 mile.

    Briefly, I had one of the best hike while there. And here is a picture.

    Out on McAfee Knob, the most photographed place on the whole Appalachian Trail (might be a bit of an exaggeration).  I had to do the signsture AT pose.

  • [675:25.18] Quarterly update

    Awhile ago, I wrote a summary of runs I did up to 2021,  in a post called (Hello4). It is time for another update to bring up to the present. 

    Also I just realized it is time for a quarterly update. The last two updates are (634-24.16) and here (651-24.17).

    In first quarterly of last year, I mentioned what I was going to do with a lot of races lining for 2024 and by the second quarterly 24.17, I wrote I ran them.  The key take away was to find what I like to do and keep doing it. Nothing has changed much since. I am still trying to keep my passion up for running.

    I was going to save this to the end of the year for a Hello World post (last year Hello7, for the curious), which is a kind of post when I have nothing to write about and need to put something in. However, I also did not have much to write for the quarterly update. So why not do it now and have it done.

    Here goes. 

    2022:  I finally finished the CRAW, a virtual run around the world with a group of 8-9 people.  I was going to write about the experience, but never get to it.  The world is big.  Virtual run started out as fun but ended being a drudgery.  Originally, there’s a map and blog posts of each place we visited, but by the end, all the places seem almost the same.  The Google map did not look too appealing.  Also there was a time constraint of doing research or reading up on the places we been.  By the way, I finally glued all the medals I received for the race on a world map board the race sent me. It took me just as long putting up the medals as running the thing (a 5 year project!)

    Meanwhile, I did many in real life (IRL) races that year as marathon races started back up since Covid-19 closing, including: Grandma’s in Minnesota, Ann Arbor in Michigan, Atlantic City in New Jersey, and NCR in Maryland. 

    I ran some repeated races: JFK, Marine Corps 50k, Rock & the Knob, Naked Nick, Catoctin 50k, Iron Mountain and Stone Mill.  Those who know me or in the area would recognize those races.  They are my favorites and thus I have gone back year after year. Stone Mill, now I have ran it 5 times and got a free shirt!  I don’t know if there any races I ran that many times.

    2023: I did even more than the prior year. How could that be, but it is true. It would be too much to list them all.

    For marathons, Cowtown in Fort Worth Texas was a fun one.  Shamrock in Virginia Beach. Hayden Lake in Idaho, Philadelphia Marathon, and Space Coast Marathon in Florida.  I love running my marathons and I was crossing states off races from my 50 states list.  Little did I know the next two years, I  transitioned  into doing ultra marathons.

    I started doing some of my favorite long races this year, the Massanutten 100, Bull Run Run 50, Boyer’s Furnace. They are still my favorites.

    2024: Last year I did the Grand slam and voted as Runner of the year in my runner club ;), I am embarrassed by the fact I did it. I am not the type of runners people imagine me to be.

     In a million years, I would not dream of doing even one of those races, but I was fortunate to get to do them all (almost all minus Leadville 100 and Angeles Crest). The eight 100-milers I did (not all are part or required for the grand slam) were C&O 100, Massanutten 100, Old Dominion, Western States, Vermont, Burning River, Grindstone, Wasatch Front, and Devil Dog. It is a mouthful to say and remember them. I learned of other slams while at it, so in the future, I might do some of them like the Midwest Slam, or the Rocky Slam.  Nothing is like the Grand Slam though.

    There was no time for me to run normal marathons.  I did get to go to Taipei, Taiwan, ran the WJS marathon.   Also I ran the Richmond Marathon in my home state, and it was special to me.  It was a memory to treasure. 

    2025.  This leads us to the first quarter of 2025.  I felt I haven’t done much for the half of the year.  One highlight was the Virginia Marathon.  I did not know there’s a marathon called Virginia Marathon until this year.  It was recommended to me by a friend.

    My schedule has been busy.  It is a slower pace than last year but I felt still every weekend I have something needed to do.  I ran runs such as Hone Quarry and making a trip down to Atlanta for GSER or Dark Anchor in Savannah was special. 

    I also spent more time supporting other runners and traveling to Savannah and Atlanta for such.

    In a prior weekend, I was at Harper Ferry helping out at the C&O Canal 100.  This coming weekend I will be at the Massanutten Mountain 100 (not running but helping out), I am praying I would get a chance to shine to help some poor runners out in the depth of despair as they tried to run a 100 miler. (more to follow).

    Where will I go from here?  I am a bit under pressure cooker with time and commitments.

    Looking back the last few years, I was free and had a lot of fun and ran in a lot of races and visited a lot of places.   I still want to do the same.  I am in the same financial strait as everyone in our nation, with high inflation and tariffs.  How tariffs affect races?  Maybe our race shirts are more expensive.  We are dealing with a great deal of uncertainties.  My race plan for the next half of the year has already been or mostly  set. 

    As for next year, I will take it as it comes.  There are couple trips I have in mind, possibly visit Savannah again for Dark Anchor, or to Florida for the Long Haul 100, possibly going to doing the PolarNight Soltice Marathon Run in Tromsø in Norway, or Viet Nam for the Ho Chi Minh Marathon, or finally going run the Rim to rim to rim at the Grand Canyon.  Because there are a lot of uncertainties, I can’t say for sure any such trip would happen.  My heart still wants to complete a 200 mile marathon, looking at Cowboy 200.  So likely next year, that would be the goal to attempt. I have a bunch of targets but not sure which one will stick or none of them.

    [meta: I am thinking to reset the journal count to 1 soon, and increase the Vol to 2, because we human or me is not made to count that high a number.  I might explain the numbering in a future post. Like a sailor, the count is Days been since land/ship been sighted. Ahoy! The days of my wandering is over]

  • [674] GSER 100k – Atlanta

    GSER, Great Southern Endurance Run is not a race but a run I told myself.

    I won’t mention everything but some hightlights and bloops of the trip.

    This was not my first time.  My first time was back in 2020 July and August.  I wrote couple long blogs about it.  It was a 100 mile back then.  Last year I did the 100k.  This year also a 100k. 

    My 100 miler in Atlanta was miserable and I don’t want to dwell on it.  Last year was quite fun to finally get to go back there and ran my heart out.  We had perfect weather and everything.  I got one of my to-dos checked off.  (report).  When you had a good year, you dream of coming back for a repeat, but as they say, you can nevrr step into the same river twice. This year was different.

    This year, I learned from my prior years attempts. I did almost everything perfectly (stressing on the almost). We (my friend and I) got to the finish, ahead of the expected time.  No one was hurt. Mission accomplished. The end.

    It seems I was the first to sign up.  Not sure what made me to do it again.  Usually, I only want to run a race once.  Well my friend Caroline said it was me who signed up first so she signed up.  I think it was the other way around. We were the first two to do it.  And the last two to finish! More on that.

    I usually wanted to run fast that is to get to the finish as fast as I could.  This could be a fast run but I know there were a lot to see and to do as we run through Atlanta.  The race was designed to show off the city.  To slow down and take things in. The race is only fun when you take a bit of risk of DFL-ing or worst not finishing.  

    Our race was like that.  I know we would be slow.  I looked up last year slowest time and prepared my pace chart as such. 

    I came prepared this year with turn sheet laminated knowing expecting a lot of rain.  Last year, I tried to squeeze too much info into the turn sheets my eyes went blind.  So this year, I sacrificed some extraneous info being left out and made the font as big as possible.  That caused some uff-da oopsies when some places on my turn sheets said to turn left and right at the same time.  There were several places I was confused by my own directions. Other than that, we got to the end eventually. I like each failed turn or mistake brought the blood pressure up to the roof.  We had good GPS or other runner friends to guide us in time of needs.

    Most of the course is through the city and suburbs of Atlanta. We had a lot of streets to cross and we ran on sidewalks and passed through public places like parks, stadium, cemeteries and neighborhoods.  Out of respect and sensibility we controled our speed to a slow pace. Often time it was more like doing a quick walk than a run.

    The course was not marked.  We did not expect it to be since it goes through the city for 60+ miles.  It would be a tall task to mark all and then take it down.  I was glad on some tricky trail sections we did have flags and such. Thanks Trena for marking. It was easier this year to follow than last year.

    I have been hyped about doing this kind of race since I first found out about it.  To me it was more a scavenger hunt.  Now I am eye-ing doing something similar in Tampa (Tampa 100) maybe later this year or next year.

    Overall, I enjoyed seeing Atlanta close up. 

    We entered a “restricted Area” in Palasades something Acker Mill or somewhere. The construction man made us go back when we were so close reaching the other side.  There was no construction happening at the time.  It was just an empty parking lot and they were about to open it anyway.  Rules are rules.  We obeyed because the dude was watching us like a hawk to make sure we leave.  We were lucky not being cited for tresspassing.  I believed many other runners did the same so the man was on high alert that runners would be coming through.

    A few of the pictures taken

    I wish though I stopped by more shops while during the run.  I would have liked eating at the Pho we passed by.  We stopped twice, once at a Krogger with a Starbucks and the second time was at Chick-fil-A. I was concerned we used too much time.  It was also worth it because prior years I did not stop but so wanted to.  So I got my wishes.

    Pace:  Our pace was just right.  I planned for 10 pm to reach the foot of Stone Mountain.  The cutoff was 11 and we reached it at 9 pm.  A success.  It was about a 17 min pace.  A pace I need to maintain at my next race the Old Dominion 100.  This gave me an idea how it feels to get that stored into my mind and body.

    The fun part was, the rain.  It was forecasted to start raining from 10am-10 pm.  I guess some places did get rain, but we were staying dry whole day until 8:30 pm at the final couple miles.  When it came it poured as they say.  Lightning and Thunder, the full fury.

    Yup, we got wet. I got lost. I knew the direction by heart but in a moment of confussion since my turn sheet said to go left when it was supposed to go right, I went left.  Luckily, two other runners caught up and set us straight.  We got into the finish before 9 pm. I was one second too slow and earned the Dead Last place.  There was a photo to prove it! So I would have to go back to redeem it. I am still a sore loser for not receiving a DFL prize. They did not have any to give out for being the last runner in this race.

    Besides the race, we spent the day before to ascend Stone Mountain on a nice humid day. 

    Also I found out where the Asian market (H-mart) is.  So we had lunch there and also gathered our pre run supplies.  Walmart was a good place too. 

    Sunday following the race, we ascended Stone Mountain again.  We also entered the amusement park.  It was for the laser show but we did not have time for that.  We took a train ride around (part of the entry cost).  It is costly, $20 for parking and $25 for the park entry.  Food there was alright , prices were decent below at the food court, but prices up on Stone Moutain was almost like in the movie theater ($20 for popcorns, pretzel and a drink). Note, the have stone carving on the other side, which I never know.  But you have to pay to see it.

    We spent the evening with local friends.  I got my favorite after-run drink: Kung Fu Bubble Tea!

    The biggest uff-da oopsie I made was on the day flying back when I returned the rental car.  It was an early flight so I had to be at the airport by 5 am.  That was pushing it, and lo and behold, I found out I left my backpack in the rental car as I got into the airport sky train.  Long story short, the rental could not locate my bag.  We submit a lost-and-found.  By the time we made to the gate, the airplane already pushed off from the gate.  We missed it just by maybe 10-15 minutes.  Note, we got to to the gate on time before the noted departure time, but they usually do close the gate 5-10 minutes if no more passengers were boarding.

    It just made my day.  I was put on a flight to Chicago and then rerouted back to DC.  Most of the day was gone.  The worst part is my house and car keys were all in the lost bag, plus many important items like my hydration vest! I told myself accept it as a lesson learned.  Not let it ruin my trip.  They say a little fly ruins a good perfume. So I can’t let a bit disappoinment ruins my trip.

    update: My backpack is found and it will be shipped back to me in a few days

  • [673][626] 2024 C&O 100

    This past weekend, I had a chance to be at the C&O 100 helping out at an aid station and cleaning up after runners finished.  I love the race and had run it the year before.  If I could do it again racing, I would do it in a heartbeat.  But money is tight for me this year and I have to be careful in choosing which races to do. I can’t be like last year when I could just sign up every race that comes into my inbox.  Helping out at the race is the next best thing to running in it. I brought back memories I had when I ran it.

    I wrote the entry below right after my 2024 race, though I ended up publishing a slightly different and shorter version.  I still like the one I published more, but this version below I like it in a different way, maybe it expresses more what I was feeling while running it. It is more raw.  Basically, I like the race. I like racing.

    I reread it recently, and since I don’t have anything to publish this week,  So, here goes something from my old draft (rejected) folder:

    —

    This will be a big one compares to the last few races.  I did the New Taipei Marathon, and was throughly happy once got it done.  Then there was the Bull Run Run 50, which was another high point, with a result better than I expected. Last week was the Blue Ridge Marathon and I left my heart in that race, with another successful run.  Can we have more?  Indeed. Those who have been following weekly know I have a full summer of fun (in racing).

    We are going through the spring races. There will be many races before the fall season kicks in. 

    The C&O Canal 100 went well, far above and beyond what I dreamed.  I ran my personal best time.

    A bit of history.  I wrote about how I choose my races, especially the 100 mile races. There are not that many 100 mile races compares to marathons.  So, I “did my research” of which ones I want to run by either from a word of mouth or from reading some blogs. I wish I can recall the specific blogs I read about this race. There was one that left a good impression. I wish I had the reference saved.

    My interest in the C&O 100 might have started from a blog I read. I couldn’t remember which came first. The idea to run a 100 or I came across a blog that gave me the idea to do it. From reading the blog, I learned about the course and everything.

    The following events are kind of related.  In 2019 I ran the JFK 50.  A lot of the course was on the C&O Canal towpath.  I also did my first half marathon there and later did a marathon (with the Safety and Health Foundation) on the towpath, though in a section closer to DC.  Also one of my early 5k/10k runs (Fall in Love 5k) was on the towpath. It has some kind of attraction subjectively, that I need also to do a 100 miler there, because it has such a long personal running connection I built with the place. 

    What I wanted at the time was to do a one day hike (100k/62 miles) from George Town in DC to Harper Ferry. I was into backpacking/hiking at the time in 2017 and hiking on the canal was something I was building up to do.  However, each year, I kept missing the signup from the Sierra Club.  Then Covid came. The event was not held. To this day, I have never signed up.

    So what led me to decide to run a 100 mile on the canal?  I don’t remember but I was googling if I were to do a 100 mile which ones would I want to do.  And the short list were the C&O 100, the Blackbeard ‘s Revenge, Umstead, and lastly Rocky Raccoon (as recommended by a friend from Texas).  Covid closed a lot of them.  I did not get into Umstead, missed the signup, but the following year (2021), Rocky Raccoon was available for me.  C&O was too, but I did not want to wait till April and there was a risk that it might get canceled again due to Covid, so I flew to Houston, Texas and ran the Rocky Raccoon as my first 100 mile. Also, possibly, my a running friend was going to do the Rocky Raccoon, so I went there. I also wanted to travel needed for my 50 states plan.

    Now four/five years later I finally circled back to do this C&O 100.  It is not because I am a completionist, but so happened I needed a “training run” and also to pace a friend.

    It was also it happened two years ago (2022), the race sent out a call for volunteers and I responded.  During the event, I met an ultra runner (duh) who totally blew my mind of by running 100s like I was running marathons (which at the time I just got accepted into the Marathon Maniacs club, and was very proud of my standing, reaching 5th level out 9th). I have gone back to volunteer the following year because the race organization was special to me. Since so much energy is vested in this race already, it is reasonable to take the last step, to run in it.

    The last reason is, while training for the Bull Run Run around year 2022 (I trained over 3 years for BRR), I met someone (Iris, who crewed for me at Devil Dog 100 in 2022) who did both the MMT 100 and C&O 100 back to back in the same year.  It was an unimaginable accomplishment.  I  have the urge to imitate.  It blew the whole theory that you can only run one 100 mile race a year or in a season as my mom has been telling me.  It has been awhile since and finally, I feel this year is the year to go for it. Lets try for a multiple 100s!

    Side story, I am very afraid of the MMT 100 because I DNF’d there the first time and adding a 100 mile couple weeks before it doesn’t seem like a smart idea.  Anyway, I want to face that pressure.

    Now onto the race! I arrived Friday night near 9 pm. I timed it so I could go straight to bed for there was nothing to do there. I camped in the back of my truck, actually outside for the fun of it. This time unlike at the MMT 100, there was no condensation (dew) on me while I slept, which is something I always forget. (Side story: there I met my guy Jeremy for the first time, who now became a good runner partner).

    The start time was 7:00 am and we had full 30 hours to run it.  The start time was a bit late for a typical 100, but I love having the later start because it allowed me to sleep in a little bit more (the volunteers were arriving around 4 am though). I was actual up by then. I had me move my truck to where other cars were. They did not like how I parked.

    The night was cold and windy, I slept but was interrupted by the elements from time to time. I slept without a tent, which would have helped a lot in a windy time like that night, but due to being too lazy to set up and break it down in the morning, I did not use it. (I brought one but didn’t want to use it). I prefer cowboy camping.

    My goal for this run was getting it done and not break any records.  It was to me a long training run.  My friend Lynne from NY would join me and I was excited.  I promised to pace her at least for the half of it through the night portion. I was her pacer at the Rim to River 100 and Yeti 100 last fall and I did not do my job there and this time I wanted to make it up. I prepared a pace chart (28 hours), and was confident I could do it.  Normally, I don’t use a pace chart, because it gets me off my natural pace. I did it this time for Lynne.

    This race being in the local area means my other running friends would be there as well. Indeed. I saw many people I know.  Caroline was there to cheer and volunteer. I did not need to be crewed. I packed everything into one big bag and left it at the start (One big drop bag), which we would be passing by twice, at mile 40 and 70. I did not plan to leave a drop bag at Brunswick.

    The course: The course was one loop of 40 miles and 2 loops of 30 miles. 

    The loop goes like this: [(from West) North Turn around ….<—5 miles—>…Antietam (towpath Mile Marker 70) …<—5 miles—>…Dargan Bend (Camp Manidokan, 1 mile away off towpath)…<—7 miles—>… Keep Tryst, which is Harper Ferry … <—3 miles—>…Brunswick (Towpath mile marker 55)]. 

    We would start from Manidokan, then head toward Antietam and go beyond it to a North turn around point. Then we head to Brunswick and do another turnaround, then we would go back to, Manidokan, the start of the second  loop. Then a third loop and done.

    The first loop was slightly longer than the last two loops. Second/third loop we turned around at Antietam.

    During the first loop, I mostly walked the first 40 miles with my friend Lynne and then ran (15-16 min mile-ish pace, sometimes a bit faster) the next 60 miles. This year we could have a pacer starting at mile 1.4 due to security concerns (there were couple recent attacks on the towpath near the area at Point of Rock;  note, I did see a suspicious person on the AT bridge during the race at night watching us running through, but it could have been someome’s crew).

    If I really wanted to run for time, I would have several pacers with me, even early on.

    My friend initially did not want to run in this race. Somehow, it might be a late text message from me convinced her to come out. She signed up kind of late and did not have much training. I promised I would go slow. However, her lack of long runs really hampered her progress once we hit the ultra distance. I didn’t know the extend of her lack of training, and hoping she could manage, with a walk and run pace.

    On the flip side, it would help me, because I did not plan to go out fast in this race. I wanted someone to hold me back. The computer (ultrasignup) predicted my finishing time to be 25:30, and I thought it got to be joking at the time.  I believed it should be more at 28/29 hours, thus planned my race for 28 hours (with no stopping at the aid stations).  There were 20-21 aid station stops (7 total, but some we would encounter more than once). With the aid station breaks included, it should get us around 30 hours. I expected 3-6 minutes break per station. If I wanted a longer break, I would have to run faster in order to have the time.

    There were no earlier cut-offs at the beginning of the race so we could leisurely stroll along in the early part.  I did not have crew or pacer other than L. There were several other people I knew running in the race, but we were moving drastically at different paces. John was 8-10 miles ahead. Even the new guy Jeremy passed me. I only stayed with L at her pace.

    My friend Lynne kept me going until later when she was hurting from the run.  The first 10 miles were fine. We were moving fast, around 11-12 mins pace.  I wanted to tell her to slow down.  But many were going even faster than us.  They must be going for a sub 24 and that was like 95% of the runners, so likely running at 9-10 min pace.  Even people I usually think of them as slow (unnamed) were passing us.

      I knew each year there would be about 20-30 runners not going to finish. So I started to count how many runners who were behind me.  It was an out-and-back course, so I could see who were still behind me at each turn around point. I counted there were 25 runners (I underestimated, this year there were around 60 dnfs).  I felt we were mostly at the pace I wanted. As long as we were not the last bunch of runners, we would be fine.

    My friend Lynne, started slowing down after the first 10 miles.  We walked more than run.  Then the rain came as we reached Harper Ferry (towpath mile marker 62).  It was about 11 am, as the weather app predicted. I put on my rain poncho.  My friend Lynne on had her wind jacket and it was not waterproof. Soon she was wet and cold. She said she did not bring extra socks or shoes, since she wasn’t planning to run the whole 100 miles. Well good luck.  100k was her goal. I told her I had an extra jacket and socks (and shoes) in my drop bag at Camp Manidokan, but we needed to get there first and that was still 20-25 miles away.

    There was nothing we could do while still on the course (I did have one of those space reflective emergency blanket and some hand warmers on me in my hydration pack if it comes to that).

    We reached Brunswick aid station (mile 30).  There, rain came down heaviest.  I stayed under a canopy at the aid station until the storm passed.  Then we went back out heading to Camp Manidokan.  We reached Keep Tryst or Tryst Keep (I never remember which is which).  There, Caroline was volunteering. She gave me a ginger rice congee/soup. It helped keep me warm. Lynne loved the Congee too and it got her going again.  We still had 7 miles.  Lynne no longer could run.  She was in serious pain at every step. I could see her hands clenched and eyes focused. We stopped talking, and she said I could run ahead and leave her. I felt sorry she did not quit at Brunswick nor at Keep Tryst. We managed to arrived back at Camp Manidokan. 

    I already concluded, I would not stay with Lynne once we reached the Camp.  I actually went ahead first so I could get into camp to change shoes, etc and to prepare for the night portion of the race. It was about 5:15-5:30 pm, pretty much on pace for me. It would be dark soon.  I wanted to be sure I had dry clothes, a warm jacket, couple of headlamps, and food.  A volunteer prepared a cheeseburger for me while I was taking care my feet (and chafe in my private area).  This was my first meal of the day.  I had some rub burns (hot spots) that I needed to take care asap before they got worse. Lucky my clothes were mostly dry due to having a rain poncho covered me. So no clothes needed changing for me. I used baby wipes to clean myself.

    Lynne decided not to go back out. I agreed with her decision. I urged her not to use painkiller to subdue the pain, which was her original plan to get through the midnight portion. But now it was too early in the race for that, there was still 6 hours before midnight and then another 6 hours before sunrise.  The night was long, there were 60 miles to go.  It would be a suffering fest for her go back out. She could barely made it up the hill at the campsite. I believe she made the right choice to quit.

    Lap 2 (mile 40-70)

    My lap 2 and lap 3 were uneventful after Lynne left.  Going back out, I was still fresh and I followed the pace I had during the day time. I believed I hit it and gained an hour back ahead of pace by the time I reached Antietam.  My friend Jana was there  cheering and volunteering. She would still be there too later in the wee hours.  I didn’t know she was the captain of the aid station.

    I did not stay too long but headed back out after getting some food. John C came in. I was happy to have caught up to John C because he was way ahead of me in loop 1, but now he did not seem too good. He seemed to be in a terrible shape. I thought he would quit. Later seeing him again in the morning, I knew he pulled through whatever was troubling him and I was rooting for him to finish. People joke about me trying imitate the man, indeed. He ran at every race I did.

    My next target was to reach Brunswick by midnight. It got dark by the time I reached Harper Ferry (towpath mile marker 62). From there to Brunswick, I was surprised so many runners did not bring a headlamp.  Many were heading back toward Camp Manidokan (faster than me). They were running in the dark.  It soon got very dark on the towpath.  We were just couple days after a full moon but the moon had not risen yet and there were also thick cloud covering.  I don’t remember if I saw the moon at all during the night.

    I called those runners commandos.  They were practising their ninja skills or their superhero’s night vision ability.  The towpath was mostly smooth and without rocks or roots, but still there could be a million things a runner could trip on at night. Soon it was completely dark and there were still many runners running without a headlamp.  I was not sharing mine. Anyway, there were not many runners in front of me or going in my direction. Note as a PSA, I always keep a headlamp in my runner pack even while day time because you don’t know when you will need it. Too many runners were over confident in their pace of getting back to their drop bag before dark but they miscalculated.

    I wasn’t that ambitious, even if I run a 5 hr marathon pace, by mile 75, it would be around 10 pm. Yes, all those runners, were calculating based on 4 hour marathon pace, so it would still be light by the time they reach mile 75 (and would have gotten through to Manidokan to pick up a head lamp). 4:30 marathon pace would be, right on verge of getting dark, at 8:30, but that would be too risky. I would have packed a lamp at Brunswick if I were them (and of course they didn’t). Hindsight is always 20-20 they say. It goes to show, either they lack doing the planning or they were overly ambitious.

    As for me, I assume my pace was a 6 hr marathon, e.g., to reach mile 50 by 7 pm, and mile 75 by 1 am. (Sorry, I love math, hope readers get the gist, I simplify a marathon length to be 25 miles instead of 26 miles, to make mental math calculation easier).

    I arrived at Brunswick two hours ahead of my pace schedule, around 10 pm. My friend Mike E was there.  He asked if I could accompany a runner.  I said sure if the runner wanted a pacer, because I am a good pacer. I could guarantee a finish or at least get the runner to camp Manidoken by 3 am. Mike said the runner wanted to quit and I believe he wanted me to encourage them not to (we were at mile 60 [100k] by now at the time, so it was a high time to make a quit decision for a lot runners). 

    Unfortunately, that was something I could not help — I didn’t want to babysit someone. It is the runner’s own decision to go back out or not. I would not try to convince otherwise. It is hard decision for the runner. From personal experience, it is usually a multitude of issues a runner has to deal with all at once, food, foot issues, chafing, low energy, low motivation, lack of sleep, etc. When one part falls apart, everything too. It is seldom just one isolated issue to deal with. Having a crew would help manage some of those. I had own race to care about and no time for this. In the end the runner did quit. I headed back out alone.

    Running is no longer fun when things get hard in the wee hours. We were about entering that twilight zone (10 pm-4 am), the hours when our body was not used to running at, where things could get really ugly.

    As for me, I was just getting started. I told Lynne, nightfall is when the true race begins.  I got very excited for this, because I have been looking toward it. To me this is the best part of the race. The morning portion was just a rehearsal.

    My pace chart had me back at Camp Manidokan (mile 70) by 3:20 am. I was 2 hours ahead, so I expected to be back by 1:20. I reached it by 12:40, gaining 35-40 minutes. For the rest of the race, I held onto this 2.5 hours gain. Indeed, the race got hard for me after midnight as well, otherwise, I would have a 24 hr ish finish. 

    At the camp, I needed a bit of time to clean up. I don’t remember if I ate anything before heading back out from Camp Manidokan.  My clothes were wet from sweat but I did not have time to change them. I took care of some chafing issues (my private area was hurting, yes).  I ran many 100s and still haven’t figured out what the best underwear to wear, many recommend EXOskin, plus nutbutter, which I haven’t tried either of them, though in this race I seemed to zero in the right type (similar material). I am kind of allegic to lycra material, so a lot of sportwears are not good for me.  I did not change shoes or socks this time around. They were fine. My feet were in good condition.

    Loop 3.  Mile 71-100-ish.

    Now it is the final loop.  Just another 30 miles were left. By now, I was confident I could finish the race no matter what. I had roughly 12 hours to run 30 miles. 24 mins per mile pace.

    I was tired but still could run.  A volunteer asked me if I needed any food, I said, the next aid station is just down the hill less than a mile away at Dargan Bend, I could get something there rather than now.  I was going to get myself a cup of coffee but forgot.  When I got to Dargan Bend, I again forgot to grab a cup of coffee. I did eat. I asked for a vegan soup to be mixed with mashed potatoes. At the time, I did not feel like eating, but something watery made the food goes down easier. Dargan Bend had a tent set up with a fire going.  I sat down there each time to clean my shoes.  Running on the towpath, means a lot of grits found their way into my shoes  and I would have to clear them from time to time otherwise I would expect blisters forming soon. I consistently cleaned out my shoes and so had avoided having any blisters. 

    And since lap 2, I had swapped to my trail shoes, and that helped a lot compared to loop 1 when I was wearing the road shoes. I love my trail shoes. Someone (Jeremy) asked me the night before the race what shoes to recommend for this race, I said I swear by road shoes, but sadly, it was trail shoes that saved my butt! To future runners of this race, bring both, change them out if one doesn’t work.

    Now arriving at Antietam, mile 75 at 2:17 am, Jana gave me a rock with a heart shape (I need a picture).  She is someone who always find rocks in a shape of a heart. She was so happy I remembered about the rocks and she brought out a whole pitcher of rocks for me to choose.  She gave me one of the smallest.  A volunteer joked about letting a runner carry the heaviest one (1kg) back to the finish. We all laughed. She wasn’t going to give me a 1 kg. In the back of my mind was the Georgia Death Race a friend of my just ran, where they carry a 1 kg spike from start to finish to drop it into a casket at the end.  Jana is a sweet person I see at many of my races, either volunteering or running. She is a speedy runner.

    The night was quiet.  It was roughly 3:30 by the time I got back to Dargan Bend.  On the way, I saw more runners’ headlamps went out. Oh my goodness.  There were still few more hours to go before daylight. Now is the worse time to have a headlamp died. So I saw runners running in the dark again or some with very dim light. They were heading the other direction, so I couldn’t help them. These were runners behind of me. It was not poor planning, but unfortunate that their batteries died. Mine too was getting dimmer. I was praying the whole time, because on this run, the spare batteries were left in my drop bag instead of being carried on me.

    3:45 AM was the cutoff time at Camp Manidokan.  I wanted to see who was the last runner out before the cut off time. There were not a lot runners in the very back of the pack after Dargan Bend. Dargan Bend was a very busy place at this time as runners making in and out just before the cutoff (3:20-3:30). Runners have their sixth sense, so they all rushed ahead of the cut of 3:45. They liked bunched together in one big group. I was sure other runners were probably cut at Manidokan at the time and did not get to Dargan Bend while I was there.

    My last trip heading to Brunswick was pretty uneventful.  There were not many runners ahead of me. I ran for hours before coming across one or two.  I knew I could not make it under sub 24, those who were trying to make sub 24 were at least 8 miles ahead. I actually saw those runners on their way back from Brunswick as I was heading toward it. And there were a lot of them. I gave them labels, like 4 AM finishers, 5 AM, 6M, so forth. They also knew their time table too.  They were all running, none of them walk.

    Then John called me in the dark or I thought was him. I was intrigued knowing John (H) was not too far ahead. I made it my goal to chase whoever was in front of me.

    At 5-ish, I reached Keep Tryst.  My phone died so I did not know the actual time from there. Volunteers told me it would soon be daybreak. I did not want to know the time either. There was a sense of rush to get to Brunswick before day light.

    On my way to Brunswick, I was very sleepy. I was swerving left and right on the trail like a drunken runner.  I wanted to close my eyes so bad or lay down just a bit. I knew where a bench was on the trail but couldn’t find it. My headlamp then died. It was my turn to be a commando of running without a light. But luckily indeed daybreak came a few minutes later. I was saved. 

    Then I saw the real John H and Charleen. The real John and not the imaginary one I thought I heard earlier. They actually called me by name because I couldn’t recognized them as it was still dark, twilight zone. They are always smiling. They were coming from the other direction. That got me very  excited. My savior. They were only about 2 miles ahead of me. I could catch them! If I hurry.  They had maybe 7-8 miles to the finish. I had maybe 12-13 miles.  Let’s go. The race is on. I need to run almost twice as fast as John to catch him. I figure, if John is walking, I most certainly would reel him in.

    I arrived at Brunswick one last time. Emily (later I found this was the famous Emily whom I was wondering who all this time when I got into Western States 100, and here she was the same Emily serving me coffee, and I knew this Emily for two years but never made the connection), she handed me a cup of coffee.

    Actually she was not the one who made the coffee for me, but a volunteer behind the counter. She was dishing out her wisdom as an ultra runner by saying no need to make it too hot, so that I could drink it down quickly. She was right on, without me saying it. The coffee helped. They had made it in the right temperature. I then asked her what time she got. She said it is 6:07.  I said I will try to make it to the finish by 9 am. There were 12 miles left. I made it back before 8:30.

    People who saw me said I was moving strong. Charlie said I looked like being out doing my morning run like I was not tired at all. Emily said, she knew I could get it under 3 hours. I said, it is the coffee. Charlie replied, coffee helps but not like that. We joked.

    The finish.  I remembered people whom I passed earlier as I headed toward Brunswick. So now they were my targets to chase, especially John H. Behind me (on the other side), I saw the rest of the runners who were chasing their cutoffs (I think Brunswick was closing by 9 am). I saw the last runner, Judith. I was rooting for her to finish (and she did make it in with seconds to spare). She actually ran and finished this race several times before. She ran this race every other years or so, and volunteered on her off years. She has been at my other races, such as the Devil Dog, but I didn’t know her back then.

    I was praying that John would take a slightly longer break or walk a bit more, so I could catch him.  In my mind, I needed him to take a 15 min. But Charlene, his pacer is too good and kept him on pace. I was estimating, likely it would be at the final hill battle when I would catch him. I would have to run fast to catch him there. I found out at the finish, John finished just two minutes ahead of me.

    Indeed he was at the top of the hill while I was at the bottom.  Anyway, I was more than pleased to see John at the finish. My time was very good. 25:30 was a personal best. I did not plan to run that fast. I did it almost effortlessly. I am still puzzled over it, whether being slower at the first 40 miles helped me so I could run faster in the final 60 miles?

    A lot of friends came either to watch their runners or to volunteer.  Ram was there, he spent the night pacing someone, maybe Larry. I didn’t get to see Larry when he came in. My mind was fading in and out due to the lack of sleep for the next 5-6 hours. I showered, cleaned up, slept on and off a bit.  Also during the race, I had a strong urge to use the bathroom for #2, but I did not want to do it until after the finish. I was bloated.  I felt much better afterward. Everything was out of the system.  I talked to a first time finisher, Jeremy and then Charlie. They were tired but felt so happy. Also finding out who Emily C is was enough for me. It was like a piece of puzzle is completed. I was in a zen like state, happy.

    Aftermath. Other than suffering from being lack of sleep immediately afterward, I had no usual problems with legs being sore or having clamps or having any blisters. 

    This is pretty much first time that I finished a 100 and didn’t feel like dying. I was suprised my body was taking the race well. I had less fatique than when I ran in the New Taipei Marathon or the Roanoke Marathon. My body, the next few days though, was not in a runable state. More on this in another post. Basically, I am near paralyzed.

    There were two challenges. Rain came early around at mile 20-30 for couple hours.  I had a poncho on, so I did not get wet.  Shoes got wet. I changed those out when I reached the first bag drop area.

    The second challenge was after night fall, it got windier and relatively colder. I brought my winter stuff and had those, so I was toasty warm. I was also moving fine to generate enough heat until morning came.

    Nutrition was fine. This time I didn’t pack any gel or had prepared meals ahead.  I ate whatever the course had for us. I had two main meals: tacos and burgers, and some pb&j.  I snacked on fruits and chips.  My digestive system didn’t shut down. By mile 70, I felt a bit nauseated, so I held back eating a bit until the feeling gone. By morning, I was ok again. Coffee was a wonderful thing.

    I ended up finishing at my personal best of 25:30, by 8:30 am in the morning, and was able to take a long rest until evening before driving home. 

    I did not set out to chase my PR, but when I was at mile 90, it seemed doable and I still felt fresh at the time, so I went for it. Granted it was a flat course, but last year Blackbeard Revenge 100 was on a similar course, I ran a 26 hour something (26:17:50). This was my second time I finished a 100 below 30 hours.

    My next event will be much different. It will be running through streets of Atlanta. It won’t be a race in the usual sense. There won’t be cutoffs, or rules. Mostly will be self-guided. We had 18-ish hours. The pace would be faster (for me) and it would be on pavement. Temperature would be hotter.  We will see how it goes. It will be a fun run. Praying my body to be recovered in time for it.

    As this was only the beginning of many more runs.

  • [672] MMT Chocolate Bunny Run

    (2022 and 2023 report)

    Chocolate Bunny is the 4th and last official training run for the Massanutten mountain 100 race (MMT).  I am not sure how many times I have done this training run, probably twice.  It is always take place at night on the Saturday before Easter, so it is known as the Chocolate Bunny Run. 

    It covers the hardest section and final section of the race (about 25/26 miles). Most runners would be going through this section at night. It makes sense to train this at night.

    Night run has an spooky feeling and beautiful at the same time. We were blessed that all my Chocolate Bunny runs happened on a clear night with moon rising. 2022 year we had a full moon, but this year though was the final quarter. I didn’t notice it because I was already passed the Waterfall Trail.

    Last year, the Chocolate Bunny was canceled due to a mountain fire in the area.

    I have come to love the Chocolate Bunny run.  It is very cool to run at night with some of best people, whom I call friends.  I believe it is only one night run we do as a club other than the MMT race itself.  Rumors had it the club used to do a no-light night run and Bull Run night run. Probably, local law enforcement did not appreciate a bunch of runners running around somewhere in their parks, and we no longer do it except the Chocolate Bunny.

    Indeed, as fate would have it, someone (not one of our people) broke their foot on the Big Run Trail and called the police for help at 4 am.  No one was pleased to try to locate the missing injured hiker somewhere up on the mountain. We denied, it was not us. I hope the club was not implicated in it and we will continue to have Chocolate Bunny Run next year.

    This year I am not running in the race and so I have skipped the first 3 training runs (also it was because of scheduling conflict).  I was debating whether to sign up for the last training run since it happens over Easter, and there was church event (Good Friday) and then Saturday Scripture reading through the night, and then Sunrise Worship on Easter morning). I tried to do them all, but in the end, it has to be one or the other, run or church.

    My friend Jeremy will be running in the MMT this year.  So I had a private training run with him in the day time. 

    We also did a made-up MMT 3 training run a week before, which is almost like the Chocolate Bunny run but in the day time and the course was 10 miles longer.  We covered it in 12 hours.  We were proud of our ability to pull off a training run on our own without support, but placing couple water drop.

    On the day of the the Chocolate Bunny, we again went out to the course early, waking up at 5, and starting our run at 7:30. We ran part of the MMT 1 training run, since Jeremy hasn’t done that section before, mostly we wanted to cover the Short Mountain Section, which was about 10 miles.  Then we hiked up Edinburg Gap, for an out and back of maybe 4 miles, so ended up having a total of 18 miles for the day so far.  We knew we have to conserve our energy for the night time run.  So we finished our morning run around 2 pm and went into town (Woodstock) to get rested, food, and be refreshed.  In truth, we were almost spent all our energy.

    The afternoon was hot, so there was nothing much to do but to head to the Chocolate Bunny meeting point and hoping to catch some sleep in thr shades before the run.

    We drove separately and I arrived later at around 5:30 pm. I thought I was being there early to get a parking spot but many other runners were already there.  Fellow runners and friends: Bob, Jeff and Laura  were about to set out early.  When I found out, I asked if I too could go with them.  They said yes. There really no need to ask.  It was a training run, everyone could start whenever they want but it is good to have accountability. 

    I wanted an early start because I am usually the last runner to finish.  By starting early, volunteers would not have to wait at the end for too long for me to finish.  I quickly looked for Jeremy to see if he was interested in the early start.  He was. So the five of us, start at six.  Robert P. too started out early after we have left.

    We had to be careful of not to run too fast to pass the first aid station at Gap Creek ahead of volunteers showing up. Generally, it takes me about two hours to cover the Big Run section to Gap Creek. By 7:30, we already got to Crisman Hollow Road.  Larry (Rusty) our RD (race director) and his wife drove by as we came off the trail.  It was a good sign we would have aids at the aid station.  About a mile later, we arrived at Gap Creek and we were greeted by cheerful volunteers. They were my favorite people, Ram, who paced me last year and Amanda who I ran with a few times in other events.  Kevin, our trail boss was also there (he and his people are in charge of marking the course for the MMT 100 each year).

    This was my first time getting to Gap Creek while sun had not set yet. 

    After Gap Creek we climbed up to Jaw Bone and crossed Kerns Mountain. By now, the fast front runners caught up to us.  It would be a night where many runners would pass us while we were on Kerns. By 11 pm, we reached the Visitor Center, our second and final aid station, which is also about the halfway point. I estimated that it would take another 4 hours to finish the run.

    Jeremy by now had run on ahead. My other friend Wayne who started at the normal time caught up. I checked back my previous run, and it seemed tonight I was a bit slower.

    It could have been the food I ate that was not settling well, by the time I climbed up on Bird Knob, I felt I wanted vomit. Note, others also mentioned similar experience.  It could be a flu or something going on (looking back). We were spreading germs.  I was lightheaded and was feeling unwell.  Robert P. passed me and it was kind enough for him to stop to check on me.  I told him I was not feeling well and possibly due to lack of salt.  So he gave me some Salt-caps and tums.

    I slowed down my walk hoping my body would recover.  After about an hour or so, by midnight, I felt a bit better but by now, I still could not bring myself to run, but at least moving faster.  I am guessing there were 8 miles left.

    The climb up on the purple trail (Brown Hollow) was long and tough. More runners passed me.  I got to meet a new runner, Ian who had gone too far and missed a turn and he was backtracking. He helped me too so I was aware of not going too far.

    I gave him some tips that MMT 100 is doable as long as one keeps on pressing and not give up.

    He and I ran the next four miles together always staying ahead two runners who were trying to catch up to us.

    It so happened the two runners that kept chasing us were also our friends (Emily and Lance). It was good we finally learned who were behind us.

    Now there were only couple miles left. I haven’t gotten lost yet.  A volunteer joked with me earlier saying don’t get lost out there.  I tried not to.  The trail was more familar to me by now where I kind of know where to turn except the last hill up to the finish.  Somehow I got off the trail and for a brief time unable to locate it.  It took me 15 minutes trying to find it and then hiked out. I almost gave up and just bushwhacked out but ended up finding the trail again.

    My fellow friends were waiting for me at the finish.  We cheered, laughed and chatted till wee hours when the cops showed up to look for a missing hiker.  So the party ended for me.  I made a trip home.  The rest of the trip was uneventful.  I made a pitstop at a Sheetz gas station and slept till I was good enough to drive again.  Coffee helped. Days later, looking back, we were grateful to make it back home safely. 

    Lessons/thoughts:  None.  I just love to be out there whether alone or with a friend or in a group, it was a good run.  My weekend was all of the above.  We thank volunteers of sacrificing their sleep and time for us to be able to enjoy and train up on a race.  Actually, it is better to sleep at the trail after the run instead of making the long drive home. I would still be able to make it to the Easter Worship on Sunday.

  • [671] BBR 50

    Bull Run Run 50

    (2024)(2023)

    It is my favorite race from my favorite running club, the VHTRC people.  BRR and MMT are my two beloved events, if readers haven’t noticed yet from my  posts of last few years. 

    I mentioned them day in and day out.  My spring training was always occupied by these two events.  Why?  The people, the challenge, the grit and everything about ultra running are captured in these two events. See my 2023 and 2024 race report.  I have been repeating the same things each year report to say I love these two events a lot.

    This year I am not running the Massanutten 100 (MMT), so Bull Run Run 50 (BRR) is my only club race I am taking part in. 

    This year, unlike the last two years, I did not have time to join the group runs but instead I trained on my own.  I started the training in middle of December, when it was still winter, immediately right after the Devil Dog 100 mile. 

    I went on the trail almost every week, sometimes near my house at the Centreville side, but  my focus this year was mostly around at the around the Fountainhead, called the Do-Loop.

    The reason why I needed to train at the Fountainhead was because on my first race there in 2023, I got lost.  Last year during the Do Loop training run there, I got lost again. Ram, a friend of mine, then took me into the Do Loop and learned it before the race.   This year, a few times on my own into the park, I got lost too in the Do Loop.  So I told myself I need to know that section so I would do fine on race day.

    The trainings paid off.  My race went without a hitch. I finished at 12:35 elapsed time.  My time was an hour slower than last year, which could be because my body was not recovered from a 40 mile run the week before.  

    However, from other metrics such couple 5k races I have done, I am getting slower with age, and possibly from inadequate/improper training this winter/spring season.

    Some lessons learned:  I was reminded not to goof off during a run. Some people, every race is a race, meaning, it has to be a PR attempt (for a personal record). It demands a full concentration.  There is no such thing as a social run. 

    I do take my race seriously, such as arriving early, sleeping early, packing my things ahead of time, studying the course, memorizing the pace table and cutoffs chart as well as knowing where the aid stations located, and creating a race day plan and strategy. Racing is a lot of work. 

    However, the moment the race begins, all the stressing of racing faded away.  I was a happy camper and I wanted to be in the moment and laugh and enjoy everything, the view, the flowers, the people, and temperature and such. 

    I would stop to take photos.  I would talk and laugh with volunteers.  I even waited for a friend at an aid station.  Then a volunteer reprimanded me, saying, what are you waiting and goofing around for, and dare me to run the course over twice (100 mile in a day).  He was half joking and half serious. He himself has done the feat of running a 100 mile in a 50 mile event when he was his prime. I am never come close to that level of fitness, but I understood the mentality. One has to be serious to attempt it.

    Indeed, volunteers took their time off so we could have our race, we better make it worth their time.  This was a race and not a weekend training run. 

    Treat it as such, I told myself.  To me, it reminded me to pick up my pace or else, I might not even finish. 

    The race got hard after mile 12.  This year I did not cramp up like a previous year.  Still my legs were tired.  I ran with a good pace to the first Hemlock, arrived basically the same times as last year at 10:06 am (a tad slower maybe). The race started at 6:30, so it was 3:35 elapsed. Hemlock was around mile 18. 

    All my friends were around.  Wayne caught up to me.  I passed Dan.  Jamie and Jill too were there.  I was in a good company.  These people usually were faster than me but today I was in their company. 

    But my legs were tired.  So not long later, all my friends passed ahead of me except for Scott.  Now Scott has always been a stronger runner than me.  I was surprised when he and I left the station together and we ran a few miles together.  He told me today was not his day.  I could see that he would walk more than run.  However, he was still gaining distance ahead of me.  I did not chase him but I ran at my own race, so soon he was too out my sight and I ran by myself.  I learned by now, there were certain people, I could not beat and I would just ruin my race if I had tried to keep up.

    So all my friends disappeared ahead of me.  Some “slower” people I passed earlier overtook me too.  It was fine.  Patricia was one I overtook, now she was passing me.  My strategy was the same, let people pass and focus on my own race, such as telling myself to drink, to eat, and to move at a constant pace of not too fast nor too slow.

    Patricia was one of those few would I ended up with staying together for a long time for the rest of the race. I believe, we ran 30 miles together. Sometimes, she disappeared far ahead but sometimes I found her catching me up again from behind.  I must have passed her during an aid station.

    I arrived to the next aid station, Bull Run Marina. It was joyous. I know the volunteers there. They got me everything I needed.  Wayne was there too but then he took off ahead of me again. I believed others did as well.  It was similar to the earlier stations. I went onto the next station.

    Wolf Run Shoals station.  It was long and hot.  My feet were tired.  I walked more than run. Me and several others were around me.  Less people were passing me now.  Maybe a group of 7-8 people caught up to me then passed me.  I called them a train.  They passed me like a train.  I did not care.  The best thing happened to me was my other friend David somehow caught up.  We were together earlier at the start and ran maybe first 5-7 miles together.  But he was a tad slower and I have left him after the Centreville aid station, but now twenty miles later, he caught back up or I really had slowed down quite a lot. I got him into running in this race and it was good to have a fellow friend running along side.

    I refueled with some chicken noodle broth.  Q, another volunteer I know,  was helping at the aid station and we joked around. I got myself some ice cold stuff.  Off I went with David out the station. 

    We had a series of climbs up to the Fountainhead.  David was laboring on the slopes.  I was fine.  David then would run at a quicker pace on the flatter section, but I would catch up once there were hills. Together we made it to Fountainhead by 1:15 pm, 6:35 elapsed, this was mile 28, a little over halfway. In theory, if we keep the same pace, we could finish it under 13 hours.

    But time was getting tight.  I knew during the first year, 1:15 was the time I arrived at Fountainhead too, and that was my slow year.  The Do-Loop is a section that has a lot of climbs and it might take me 3 hours to get through them.  4:15 pm was Fountainhead cutoff, meaning we have to finish the Do Loop and get back at the Fountainhead by 4:15 pm.

    David and I set off after a brief stay at Fountainhead. I did not have the appetite to eat real food.  Jeff, another volunteer I know, offered his hamburgers. I know from past races, his food are delicious.  You don’t pass up his food. Today though, the burger tasted dry and the sun was too hot for me to take in hot food.  He said try it with ketchup and added ketchup for me.  Ketchup helped get the burger down.  Jeff made the burger bite size (like a restaurant slider). It gave me the energy I needed for the Do Loop. 

    One crazy thing I did was to fill my pack with only ice.  This was a bad idea.  I thought the ice would melt and I would have ice cold water.  The thing is, the melting was happening too slow.  I did not have much water to drink for the next 4.5 miles. The ice method worked in the previous section when I was not drinking that much, but here, I was thirsty and it took forever for the ice to melt. It took us a long time before we arrived at the real Do-Loop.  I think a little over  an hour to go 4.5 miles. 

    David was saying, this does not look familiar.  I said of course, during the Do Loop training, we never run in the White Loop.  We had to do the “White Loop” first before doing the Do Loop.  It was new ground for us.  Luckily, I had the experience from my previous two years. The turns in the White Loop was vaguely familiar.

    We finally reached mile 32.9 at the “Do Loop in” aid station.  The Do Loop itself is only a 2.5 mile loop.  Time was ticking. I felt, I must finished the Do Loop before 3 pm to have a chance at finishing the race.  I believed I arrived back at 3:00.  The Do Loop only took me 45 minutes.

    At this time, I needed to get to the Fountainhead by 4 pm.  Aid station there closed at 4:15.  It also took me about 45 minutes and I arrived at 3:45 pm. 

    On my way out of the Do Loop, I still saw people coming in.  I think the Do Loop station closed at 3:45 pm.  I saw 5-6 runners were heading in, including some runners I know.  I fistbumped them and gave them encouraging words. Then I saw the sweepers.  They were running in from the Fountainhead, very lively and full of energy. I told myself, I really need to get this race done before they over took me.

    From Fountainhead to Wolf Run Shoals on the way back was just as long timewise.  After 30 minutes of running, I passed the mile marker 1.  I think it was misplaced.  I must have run 2 miles by then.  And some trail hikers I passed said to me I still have two miles to go before the aid station. BS.  At that time I did not know who was right. I told myelf, soon I would arrive at the aid station.  Indeed a few more minutes went by and I arrived at the Wolf Run Shoals station.  The trail marker was likely wrong.

      After Wolf Run Shoals, I just had to repeat the course back to Hemlock.  I started passing various people.  Many of them were not feeling good.  Some sat down on a rock waiting to cool off. 

    I saw some of my friends when I got back to the Marina.  I was surprised seeing Scott and Dan.  I have left David in the Do Loop, but was hoping he would make the cutoff.  Marina closes at 6 pm.  I was there at 5:45, which should be enough to finish by 7:30, with 5.4 miles left. Patricia also arrived at the same time I did.

    Joe, a runner I met at Stone Mill was out running ran up to both of us and I found out he was also a friend of Patricia.  Joe got into Western States this year.

    On our back to the finish. Joe ran along side of us and we had a brief chat.  I kept my mind occupied. I caught up to Scott and then Dan as I pushed for the finish.  The moment we saw blue bells, we knew we wete in the Hemlock general area.  Dan told me about a bench they placed in memorial to a former club member Ed Cappacino (not his real name, just a name we called him) as a marker exactly a mile to the end. I never met Ed before he died, but I love the bench there. I think it was 6:55.  I was a bottom of the hill.  I was going to walk with Dan, but he told me to hurry up and finish. 

    He was right. I should not goof around. So up the hill with my best effort and run about quarter mile and I arrived back with crowd cheering. Dan and Scott and Patricia came in a few minutes after me.

    Blue bells: The course was filled with wildflowers such as blue bells

    We stayed an hour more waiting for a few others to finish.  My friend David came in.  I was exhausted.

  • [670] Hone Quarry 40

    Dayton, Virginia. 

    It seems like a classic race in our area but this was only the third year.  I have heard about it last year, when a friend recommended it to me as a good training run for the Western States, but due to scheduling conflict or possibly it was being sold out, I only got to run it this year.

    I love it.  It has some big climbs. Not just big but out of the world big, that I can only compare it to Wasatch or Grindstone level climb or maybe Massanutten kind of climbs.  I almost fainted at one of the midway climbs.

    I had gone expecting it to be easy because a few months ago, I have been there to scope out the trails. To me it was just a 50k with 10 miles (a lot) of road running added on.  I was hoping to get it done in 10 hours.

    The race allowed for 13.25 hours so I knew I had plenty of time.

    We stayed in Harrisonburg overnight, so that we could arrive the next day early for the bib pickup.  It was maybe 20 minutes away from the city.  The race started at a normal hour of 7:00 am after lighted. We were advised to carry our headlamps but it was not really needed.  I still carried mine just in case.

    The first four miles were on the road.  It gave a fast easy run to the Hone Quarry park/trailhead. 

    Runners gradually sorted out according to their respective paces. I was running with two new friends Scott from New York and a young man, I believe is from Richmond.  Scott is a seasoned runner having done many tough course.  He was preparing for a 350 miler.  As for the young man, this was his second ultra. He has done the High Bridge 50k (or Night Train 100k) which was almost all flat.  This would be a step up.  It seemed he stayed back to feel the course first.

    Once we entered the trail, my pace slowed down a lot.  I was then left alone most of the day.  A few stronger runners caught up and passed me.  Then heard my friend from behind when we got to the first out and back where there a hole puncher to punch our bib.  Some runner was fidgeting the thing to get it to punch to no avail.  I tried too but was not able to get a hole to punch. Sissou, Caroline’s friend came up and punched all our bibs for us. She has a stronger grip than all of us.

    The view was amazing. 

    Lover Leap rock: I took this to prove I have been to the out and back section since I was having a hard time with the hole puncher.

    We continued on to the first aid station at mile 6.  It was too early for a break.  We had plenty of fluid. I was still full from my breakfast. In fact, I was too full.  I felt I still had a pound of steak in my tummy from the night before and two pounds of Thai Druken Noodle I just ate few hours early.  The noodle was not settling well.  Every jump I hopped, I felt the stuff inside was bouncing along.  I needed a big belch to relieve the tension.  Eventually, it came. I was a happy camper. Looking back, the heavy meals were what I needed for this race. It ran more like a 50 miler.

    After the aid station, we had 7 miles of climb (maybe 5 and 2 miles of descent).  It seemed a lot but it was not too bad. It was steeper at the beginning then it began to ease out.  We were still moving upward most of the time. Eventually, we reached a split in the trail. We turned right for Union Spring (aid station).  The aid station was still a couple miles away, but this is another out and back, a lollipop section.  I was able to see the faster people heading back already.  I recognized many.  Soon, we made another right, at the top of the lollipop loop.  There was a sweet down hill section that I could really open up my strides.

    I was glad to finally reached the aid station and also caught up to 4-5 other runners.  I stayed here a bit to rest up and refilled my pack.  I was only at mile 12.5 and I already finished 1.5L of water.  I mixed 50-50 Tailwind and water to my pack. Grabbed some peanut butter and jelly squares and was ready to head off.  The 4-5 runners ahead of me were already long gone. Sissou came up from the road, I waved and headed out.

    We started climbing again, maybe about a mile long.  The guys in front of me were slowly losing stream and I was able to catch up and passed them.  Before the highest point of that section, I was able to catch up to Bruce and friend, who has done this course the prior year, whom I was not expecting to pass until maybe very end of the day since he did the course in 10 hours. 

    They were comparing their time at the summit.  This year they did it 10 minutes faster reaching the second summit in 4 and half hours. This was my first year, so there was no standard for me to base off of.  But catching up to Bruce was a good thing.

    He along with others let me ran down the other side first and it was maybe 4-5 miles still to the 2nd aid station at mile 19.5.  I was hoping to be there before noon. 

    After the down hill stretch, we had about a mile plus on the road to run once we left the trail for the HQ camp aid station.  It was a boring stretch. It was hot in the middle of the day on a jeep road.  A positive side was I could wave and say hi to those who were heading back out.  They were from the middle of the pack.  Many of them are about a mile or two ahead of me.

    I reached the aid station at 12:35, an hour before closing.  There were not many behind me.  Bruce and I headed back out on the jeep road to get back on the trail for the biggest climb of the day.  We came across Caroline as she was heading to the aid station.  She had about 30 minutes before the cutoff.  For us, we were heading to the waterfall for our second bib punch.  I came across Kiran, Jamie and Jill, the happy bunch.  Kiran and I shared many miles on the MMT course last year.  It was a happy reunion.  Jamie too, I met her at my first MMT, thinking I could out run her but in fact blew up my race. It is funny to me now looking back that one has to be extremely patient on the trail.  They started on the hill maybe 15 mins ahead of me.

    This hill was brutal.  I believe I started climbing around 1 pm and the sun was out in full force.  It was the hardest climb. Eventually I caught up to Kiran and Jamie and Jill.  Kiran was having some leg cramp issue.  I offered her my salty food, but she said she had some in her pack.

    Eventually, we reached the top and followed along the jeep road to Flag Pole, mile 25.  Jamie and Jill were then resting at one of the open areas, campsites or knobs. I thought they had quitted because Jamie was on her back on one of the big rocks, chilling.  I stopped and chatted. They seemed alright.  The aid station was literally maybe a thousand steps away.  We were saved.  I had ran out water again and was feeling a bit dizzy.  A dude decided to drop there.  I glad to see the young man I met earlier in the day.  He was in good spirit and sprinted off.  I saw him many times later.

    Kiran too decided to head out but I still needed maybe another few more minutes.  Jamie and Jill then arrived.  They got what they needed and I headed out with them.  However, their pace was too fast for me.  I dropped back to my own walking pace while they ran and so soon they were out of my view.

    From Flag Pole to Big Hollow Station was not too far, about 4-5 miles.  I had hiked this section previously and the trails and the turns were familiar to me. It was mostly jeep road.  A dude I was with earlier were sprinting down the road in big strides.  I too decided to let gravity to do the work.  This was also a short 0.7 mile of out and back and so I saw again familiar faces of friends who were ahead of me.  They gave me a heads up that the aid station was just ahead. 

    I arrived at the aid station at 4 pm,  mile 29.  The aid station would close at 4:35 pm.  I was wondering if my friend Caroline would make it in the next 30 minutes. This race was tougher than I tought.  Next section would be the longest section, 8 miles, and I had 3 hours to reach it (by 7:05 pm).

    Helen and I started off together heading back uphill on the road.  It was a long road.  I think we stayed on the jeep trail for the next 4-5 miles.  The view was wonderful.  Time ticking by, 4 pm, 5pm, 6 pm, and I was wondering how much farther to go.  Helen asked me if 7 pm was the cutoff.  I said yes.  We needed to get there before 7.  I was confident both of us could reach it. I checked the map, we should be still on the course.  In my mind, last time I was on this, it only took an hour or so it seemed.  We should be descending soon. Not today. I didn’t get lost, I was just tired.  So I munched on food I brought out from the aid station.

    The jeep road eventually turned into a single track.  It became more technical and interesting with lots of ups and downs.  We climbed maybe a dozen or so ups and downs but it was still always heading the same direction.  Eventually, I saw the trail sign of Heart Break Trail with mileage (2 miles). Yippy, only two miles left.  It was one last climb they say on one of the race signs.  Actually there were like 4-5 climbs always going up, but I had my second wind so hills not were not an issue.  I started passing couple more people.

    Then I knew I reached the top.

    Top of Heart Break hill

    I don’t remember when I got to the last aid station, likely at 6:15 pm.  I was out of water again and filled up maybe a cup since it was about a 5k to the finish (they said 4 miles, but I told myself, it was just a 5k on the road).

    I saw couple more guys ahead of me, so I chased them.  I caught up to another young man and he said he was cramping and he had tried everything.  I offered him my gel but he said he still had plenty of those. So I asked if he wanted some gummies, tossing him my bag of gummies.  He took them.  I used my first gel of the day there for myself. I started off running leaving him behind.

    Not long later, maybe 10 minutes or so, I heard fast footsteps approaching from behind.  As courtesy, I was prepared to step aside to let the runner pass, but as I turned around, it was this dude, the young man I gave the gummies to. He was all happy and running fast.  H*ll no, he is not passing me today.  I pushed off harder.  Really, there was no way I could keep up with his pace.   I figured I must be moving at a 12 min pace, he was likely doing 10 min. 

    Later he told me he was doing a 9:30 pace, fastest mile in the whole race.  We were grinning from ear to ear. He, of course, passed me and said something.  I said, no matter our pace, we’d push to the gas station (since that is the end of the road, and a turn). I shouted after him, to go, go faster. I did not know how much farther to the finish but I knew we had to make it to the gas station.

    I felt I had plenty of gas in my tank and pushed harder.  Our gap got wider and wider and soon he was outside my voice range.  I then saw the gas station ahead and I turned and looked there’s the church on the hill with a big cross.  That was our finish line.  The dude ahead of me already reached it.  I gave myself a finish push and soon arrived there also a few minutes from behind.  I finished at 7:08 pm, so it was 12:08 elapsed (hr:mm).

    This was not even a big hill, but we had to climb many like this. Oh the misery.
    The 15 foot waterfall or something, a little disappointed and there were many flies nearby. Proof I was at the hole puncher (dangling from a string).
    yuck, don’t zoom in. flies crawling everywhere. They could be bees. My friend said she was stung

    Conclusion:  It was an amazing race.  I had a good time.  I did not like the jeep trails that much but it was also a blessing to have a faster run.  The race had a mix of trails, big climbs, rolling down hills, and a good chunk of road portion. After such a difficult day, I did not mind having a fast run on the road at all. Will I do it again?  Iffy, unless I am training for something that requires the big hills workouts.  

  • [669] Virginia Marathon

    Things are getting busy for me, so I won’t be able to do a long post like I always want.

    It has been a long time since I ran a marathon.  Back in the days, I did like 4-5 every years.  Last year, I only ran twice.  This year, this was my first.  I have been running a lot, and mostly ultras the past year.  The marathon distance I love was but had to put away to focus on the 100 mile distance. Now finally, got to do it again.

    Some stats:  I ran a total 14 one-hundred-mile races up to now and last year, I did eight of them.  In about the same time frame, I ran 15 (states) marathons.  It showed a transition from going from marathons to ultras. (I haven’t counted up exactly how many marathons I have done, maybe guessing around 30).

    In between, I ran 50k and other distances like recently a 40 mile, or a timed event such as 6 hours or 12 hours.  In total I have done about 90 marathons and ultras combined (with a few dnfs, so the exact number of races finished is not certain). Yes, I likely with reach 100th race this year.

    I love doing a marathon as much as running a 5k.  I felt marathon is my thing.  50k, 50 mile, or a 100 mile, those distances are fun, but nothing is like running a marathon.  I can get really fast at some early portion, then settling in a good pace, and then struggling to reach the finish line, and the relief once stepping across it.

    We had an excellent spring weather.  It was cool and chill in the morning.  We arrived at a little after 6:30 in the morning (set 4 am alarm clock, with hitting the snooze button once, but finally got up at 4:30).  It was about an hour drive for us.

    I packed a can of chicken noodle soup.  It was not enough and my friend shared with me her peanut butter banana sandwiches and apple slices.  Still they were not enough, but oh well, I got to run with what was in me.  I had a heavy dinner the night before too, but I also ran a half marathon (Annapolis Half, no write-up posted yet, and might not get around to it), so maybe, I was lacking some calories.

    The course was beautiful but hilly.  It had a total 3000 ft of elevation gain, a small mountain (Buck Hollow Trail, we did a week earlier, has a climb has 2600 ft, from parking to Summit, note for international audience, meter conversion ft, is about 1/3 of it), which is about 1000 meters.

    early first mile

    Our start time was 8 am.  The sun just rose for not too long. The first mile was not easy.  We immediately got some rolling hills. I just took it slow.

    One hour in, we reached mile 4.  I got into my pace.  We had a segment of 6 miles (about 3 miles out and then 3 miles back). It was still rolling hills.  I love the out and back because you get to see the runners that are ahead as they loop back and then we get to see the runners from behind.

    They had sweepers!  Often sweepers for marathons are done in a van or truck, but this race, they had couple volunterts at the last runner following.

    I saw a few of my friends.  Christine and Chris.  We ran Stone Mill two years ago with her husband and she volunteered the last one. Caroline’s friend took a picture of me. I made new friends.

    My other friend David was running in the 20 mile distance called a merikos.  I have never heard of a merikos.  He started half hour later.  My goal was to catch up to him.  It was likely impossible but I was like shooting the moon to try it anyway.  David actually ran a minute per mile pace faster than me, so really no chance in that for me to catch up.

    At mile 11 after the first out and back, we saw the half marathon people joined in.  They took the righthand branch and we were heading for a left turn for another out and back with the merikos runners.  Merikos runners were actually coming back so I saw David, thinking, I was maybe 30 minutes behind.  In reality, I was closer to an hour behind by then.  The going out portion was mostly uphill.  It was another nearly 6 miles (3 miles out and 3 miles back). I reached the top around 10:45 at maybe mile 14-15.

    On this portion, I met new friends, Joseph and MaryJane.  They were like couple minutes behind me. I was able to chat with Joseph a bit. He came down from NYC and this was his second marathon and he will tackle a 50 miler in May.  Quite a feat.  It was like looking at my young self.  He was so enthusiastic.  MaryJane and I were ones who hooted loudly at every runner we saw, shouting “Good Job, your doing great!” and such.  It was fun for me.

    We got to mile 17.  We joined back into the main crowd now with runners having red bibs (half marathoners), light blue bibs (merikos), and dark blue/black bibs (marathons).  It was still another out and back but the climbing was less severe so felt fast for me.  I think the out portion was mostly downhill.  By noon, I reached the turn around point around mile19.5.  Now only six miles to the finish.  It was mostly uphill now.  I was hoping to get back by one pm.  Feet were heavy.  I walked ocassionally.  Then there were 3 miles left.  Wanting to use the rest room, I stopped to do it, thinking, hey it might take me another hour to get back to the finish, better to stop now.  After my brief break, I decided to try finishing before 1:30 pm.  The time was 12:55.  So I busted out running near a 10 minute pace. It felt fast.  I crossed the mat at 1:25.  My official net time was 05:25:50.  It is one of my slower marathons, when in the past, my acceptable time was around 4:30. 

    Still, I think I had fun. It was a beautiful course.  I met wonderful people and ran with my friends. We stayed around for chocolate ice cream, chocolate milk, and to see other people finishing. Anna and Yana came in. They were from the Virginia Happy Trail and said we will see each other again at the Bull Run in two weeks. I don’t remember seeing them before until at this race. We met some other 50 states people.  A family/friends came down from NY and did the Annapolis Half the day before and then ran the Virginia half marathon. I said me too, I did that. They took our photos at the finish for us.

    We waited for our last friend to come in.  She did it.  It was a waiting game because we don’t know if she had dropped but the course official said the sweepers were a mile away, so we knew it would not be too long.  Then our friend showed up. Happy to see the appreciation.  David probably waited for a long time for me too, so in the same way we waited for others.

    That is the conclusion of my 2025 first marathon (and might be the only one).  A look back at 2024 first marathon (in taipei, here). The Virginia Marathon also reminded me of Lake Hayden Marathon I did in 2023. It also reminds me the Gettysburg Marathon (2020).  People asked me, which marathon is the best, I said all of them.  This one is the best so far for this year 🙂

  • [668] Hiking Buck Hollow & St Patrick’s 5K

    It has been a long while since I went on a real hike!  Hiking was how I get out into the woods before I discovered trail running.  I used to do it all the time along with backpacking.  I haven’t touched my backpack since the Corona/Pandamic.

    I missed doing it.  I started my blogging journey since picking up ultra running.  Most of my entries were about running.  My last time out on the Buck Hollow trail was recorded here (2018).  

    Not that I don’t like hiking any more but when you can run on it, why hike? Unless something happened, hiking was not an option.

    So I dug out my backpack.  Actually I got a hand-me-down pack from my cousin and I needed to test it out to make sure it was comfortable for an up coming trip to the Grand Canyon (still in planning stage).

      For the last 5 years, I have not done any backpacking.  So this past Saturday was a perfect time.

    I drew up the plan to hike up on Buck Ridge, cross the Appalachian Trail and Skyline Drive, and ascend to Mary’s Rock and then back track and use Buck Hollow Trail to loop back to the car.  We parked on 211, just a few miles west of Sperryville.

    I have not been back to this section of the trail since forever.  I used to go there all the time.  My memories were not as good.  So I printed out a trail guide from HikingUpward and followed it.

    Since it was on a weekend, I was afraid the small trail parking lot would be overflowed.  We planned to arrive early at sunrise to avoid the crowd.  As perfect a plan it was, we slipped by two hours and did not start until 9:15.  We were lucky there were still a few parking spots left.  The plan B and C was to either park further down and use Pass Mountain Trail (not as scenic) or to drive to Skyline Drive and use one of the bigger lots there. 

    I loaded my pack with the usual stuff, clothes, supplies, water, minus the tent, and food.  Originally I wanted a fully loaded bag to pretend going on a camping trip but the weight was too much, so I took the tent and food out. It saved about 10 pounds.

    A friend told me, to be ultra light in packing, is not the brand of equipment I am carrying but the philosophy of what to bring and leave behind.  I want to bring everything including multiple sets of the same thing. I am the opposite of an ultralight trail person.

    I knew the pack was going be heavy.  On a flat and none technical trail, it is doable.  But when you are outdoor on a technical trail, and here at Buck Hollow, the first thing we had to do was to hop across some rocks.  Boy was the pack heavy.  I remembered the last two times, I almost fell in the creek.  This time, I did a bit better.  I was standing there rehearsing multiple times in my head of how to jump across and finally did it without incident.  Phew.  My feet remained dry.

    The hiked upward was uneventful.  It just climbed without end.  We got to  a fork and I asked my friend which way she wanted to go.  I had in mind of going to the right but I like choices.  My friend chose left.  In normal time, I probably would take right and race up to see who get up first.  Note, I already knew both trails would meet back together a few miles later.

    So we took the left branch.  It was steep climbing.  By 11 ish we reached the end.  We came across other hikers out with their dogs.  Some were friendly and we took our time to chat and said our hello.

    We also came across couple runners.  Though their names escaped me now, but we have seen them (or they’ve seen us) in other races. We chatted too.  All trail runners are friends when we are out on the trail.

    We then hiked the last mile up to Mary’s Rock.  I have been there before but it was a long time ago.  

    We had an amazing day because the sun was out but there were some mist and the clouds form some thick stream like ice cream.  

    We had lunch up on the rock.  By lunch, I brought like 5-6 fig newtons.  I already ate all of them during the ascend.  My friend shared with me her sweet potatoes and tangerines/Hallos or Cuties.  Then it got crowded. Groups of people showed up, there were like 20+ people around us.  We stayed there long enough and so we needed to descend.  

    The coming down was faster.  It was all downhill.  Sperryville was close by and was a perfect spot for a reach late lunch or an early dinner.  Forgot what the place was called, Hidden Twig or something.  It was a good ending to a perfect day.  (total: 9 miles)

    ****

    Next day I ran the Lucky Leprechaun, a 5K St Patrick’s Day Run with Potomac’s PR Race, my local shoe store.  I ran it before but recently as in the last couple years, longer races like 100 miles have taken over my schedule and shorter races, I just couldn’t squeeze them in. 

    This weekend finally I got to circle back to do one of my local races.  The course was familiar to me.  I ran it once or twice before.  

    We arrived early so as to get parking. We got a street parking. Note parking was not an issue, but street parking there were only limited spots available.  The sun was just rising.  When we went into the PR store, it was still dark outside but by the time we got out bibs, it was already lighted.  Not that there were a crowd in there but I was amazed how fast the time went.

    The hour before the race was quickly passed.  We were first looking for coffee and then for bathroom.  Then the starting line.  Reston Town Center is huge.  I always get lost there. 

    I ended up had to hold in without finding a bathroom.  (Bathroom/Pottyjohns were located at the purple parking lot like in the past, but I could not find them until at the end of the race).

    Off we went.  There were quite a lot of runners.  First mile had some wicked hills.  I run ultras so it was not that bad but I was not warm up yet so,  I walked the hills.  I felt tight in my calfs and shins.  Better to ease it in than running too hard.

    By mile two, I caught up to my friend and was about to pass her.  She planned to walk it. But maybe because of some friendly competition, she took off. 

    I was about to hit my strides by now.  Things were loosen up.  Then came more hills. 

    Mile 3 seemed forever to get to.  People in the back surged forward.  I felt still maintaining a good pace of 11 min ish pace. 

    The finish was on a slight uphill. 

    Note, then I saw the bathrooms!  Hey, just what I needed.  Better take care of business first, I told myself.  I saw another runner did the same.  Now there was no line for the bathroom, so I hopped in on one. I was sure maybe later, they might not be quite empty.

    So  I crossed finished after coming out, finished 37:09.  Not bad. It was under 12 min pace.  If I could keep this pace for 24 hours!  I could run a 100 miles.

  • [667] Seneca Creek Weekend (2025)

    My finishing times at Seneca Creek

    • 2025: 7:48
    • 2024: 7:44
    • 2023: 7:38
    • 2022: (probably schedule conflict)
    • 2021: 7:14
    • 2020: 6:29

    My finishing times through the years indicated I am getting slower.

    It is fun to run fast but also fun not having to push the pace too hard.

    What reasons why I am slower? Maybe I weight a bit heavier than before.  I have not trained to run hard and fast.  Also my foot hurt and not at 100%.  I have been resting but I might have put too many dings on my left foot.  100 milers do make run slower.  Also, I am not pushing the pace as hard as before.  My competitiveness has gone a bit down.

    Almost every year I run in the Seneca Creek 50k.  I missed one year I think was due to scheduling conflict with the Newport-VA Marathon. 

    This year weather might have been one of the best compares to last year and 2022.  There’s a rainy year and snow year and as far as I remember always cold.  This year too.  We started relatively warm in the 40s and later rised to mid 50s but I felt chilly and stayed in the car with the heat on until 5 minutes before the start.  My friend and I arrived early by 6:15 to secure a parking spot with couple steps from the start. I was pampered.  I remembered former years, I would be out there in the cold jumping around to warm up.

    The race was uneventful.  We started by running down maybe half a mile on the road and then entered the trail.  And couple miles later we passed the Riffleford aid station on our way out.  I knew we would not be back until at least 6 hours later.

    Because I ran in the race a few times, everything was familiar.  The first aid station was 7.5 miles away.  One needs to be patient. I sat on my pace and actually slowed down to a walk.  I think at 2.5 miles, I rolled my ankle (the weak one) not sure why.  I don’t think I roll it but might have kicked a root and it started hurting.  I could not put any weight on it.  So I limped for couple miles and people passed me by.  One even asked (I think was Dr. cooper) if I was okay.  I was fine.  I felt I could at least walk to first aid station and might have to call it the end there.  However, after couple miles my pain went away and I started picking up speed.  I arrived at Rt 28 aid station with My friends Robert and Caroline.

    I knew I had to take it easy and Robert went out ahead of me.  I went for the potty.  After some rest, I went out.

    The second Aid station at Berryville Road was also about 7 miles away.  It was a long way.  My goal was to get there by 11.  The aid station closed at 12:45.  I forgot my split time now but I remembered I was on pace compared the week before, maybe at around 10:35-10:45.

    Then, I was hoping to get back to RT 28 aid station (5.5 miles) through the Seneca Creek Trail by noon.  This was at mile 19.  The week before, I was able to do 20 miles in 4.5 hours. So I was hoping the same this week. I think I arrived at 12:15.  Not bad, a bit over my target.  I did kind of stop to talk with Bruce, who will be going go to Western States this year.  I was hoping to run with him today on the trail together but our pace did not match up, so he let me to run a few minutes ahead.

    After the 2nd Rt aid station, the next one was at Riffleford Rd.  It was about 7.5 miles using the Seneca Ridge Trail but I believe it must have been 8.5 or more.  It took forever to get there.  I arrived exhausted around 2:30 pm.  We were an hour ahead of the cut off at the decision point.  I was hoping to finish by 3 pm. 

    We had about 5 miles around the lake left.  There I met my fellow friend  Elliot from the Stone Mill and the Catoctin run.  Elliot was moving strong and I was tailing him hoping to catch up.  I finished a few minutes ahead of him but he started like 15 minutes late so he bested me by the bib time.

    I came in a bit after 3:15 pm and I spent the rest of the afternoon cheering other runners as they finished.  Bruce came in.  Then Caroline came in. It was a great day.  I was tired but satisfied. I stopped at Mc Donalds for some fries and chicken nuggies to celebrate, plus an shamrock shake.  I have been wanting a good milk shake for a long time.

    The next day, my friend Jeremy and I went back out or the lower portion at the Muddy Branch Trail and ran 10 miles out and back to the C&O Canal, to make a 20 miles day.  It took us a little over 4.75 hours.  The pace was a bit fast for me, but I glad I hung on (14.2 min pace). 

    Then on Sunday night, I added 5 more miles by walking around my neighborhood.   I think I ran a total of 62 miles this week. It was quite an accomplishment and I haven’t run that much for a long time.  I think usually I keep my weekly mileage to around 30-40 miles.