In awe

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  • Day after

    Day 147

    Actually it is like five days after but still it feels like a day after. I ran for the first time. My soreness has gone down. I ran 7 miles today. After 3 miles fatigue set in. It was a great feeling. Kind of. It was like an old friend. It brought back memory of the race and the feeling of being at mile 20 during the marathon, trying to struggle to the finish line.

    I had a half hour break and did 4 more miles to finish the 7 miles. I ran with my friend and I didn’t tell him I did a marathon a week ago, so he was running fast (8 or 9 min pace) and I tried to keep up with for most of the distance. It was a great feeling to run fast again! That pace is near my peak speed. Of course I was out of breath near the end.

    Looking ahead, this weekend, I am doing beach camping. We will bike and hike and maybe kayak. It is mostly a relaxing weekend. I will do some long run (15-20 miles) on the beach. Totally excited. And swim in the ocean and bay too.

  • Reflection

    Day 146 – full race report (Jack and Jill)

    The marathon course by itself is one worth seeing. The course started from Hyak (aka Snoqualmie Pass, which is not near the Snoqualmie forest at all) and ended in North Bend. North Bend is about 45 minutes away from Seattle. The course is point to point, started from the top of the pass end in the valley, with a total about 2000 ft of elevation change, all of it was downhill with maybe 15 ft of uphill. The trail is on an old rail track, so any change in elevation is gradual. The path is wide, a double trail and even 3 or 4 people can run side by side. It is mostly gravel. The tunnel section is paved asphalt or stone.

    The race is known for running through a tunnel of 2.5 miles in complete darkness, no light except from either end of the openings. Look can be deceiving. It seemed near but 2.5 miles is far away. We lost sense of perspective and even our sense of balance in darkness. Most people couldn’t maintain their pace. GPS watch was completely useless.

    We wore head lamp. But I turned mine off, to kick it up a notch. There were enough light from other people’s lamps for me to see and made out the path, but other people couldn’t see me. It was kind of dangerous, like running with my eyes close (even if I had my light on). I dressed in complete black. Nothing reflected off me except for my shoes and my water bag. Others wouldn’t able to see me as I slipped in beteeen them and passed them by like a ghost.

    The place was damp and cold. I felt the draft blowing through. Cold is relative but I had on two long sleeves, and a short sleeves underneath. There were reverberant too inside the tunnel. You see light reflected off people’s clothing. It was an unforgettable experience. I ran (walked) it alone the day before, so I was familiar with the feeling. It was more scary to be running alone. As a group, I felt like we were doing a prison break.

    Besides the tunnel, the whole course is scenic. Mountains and valleys can be seen along the course. It was one breathtaking sight after another at every turn. Pine trees are everywhere, probably (Washington) Douglas fir and other pines. It was breathtaking. In the morning there was mist and fog surrounded the mountains and trees. That morning had a bit of drizzle. I didn’t mind. Not many people mind. The rain came to keep us cool.

    One thing though, we had to park at North Bend, which was not a bad place at all. It was truely beautiful when I finished the race and looked back up the mountains surrounding it.

    As for that morning, we arrived before the crack of dawn at a park, which I don’t remember the name. We were in no mood to enjoy the view since many of us didn’t sleep the night before. I had to wake up at 2AM to get to the bus pick up site for the 4:30 bus. There were 700 of us, so it took a while to transport us up the mountain. If anyone considers running this course, either have someone drop off at the starting line or take a bus up the pass. Most people took the bus. Buses were for runners only during the morning to the starting line. Later in the day, buses would take runners or family or friends members to/from between the finish line and the parking lot.

    Everyone brought their breakfast with them. I got more. I prepared a 3 AM meal, a 6 AM meal, and an 11 AM meal. I figured food is my source of energy. I needed to eat. Unfortunately, I lost my 6AM breakfast on the way. Not sure where I lost it. I later didn’t even need my 11 AM food, as seen from all the left overs I carried back. I could have run faster without the extra weight.

    We had a staggered start. I think there were at least 5 waves. I started in the last wave and it didn’t feel crowded at all. I passed close to 200 people. Only a few people passed me back. I was racing with the 4:50 (finishing time) pacer, she handled it with ease. She was running close to 4:40 and I was aiming for 4:30 or less. She of course left all her runners behind at that speed. She was a bit confused about her pace since the tunnel section has messed up everyone GPS watch and mine included. They had pace band but I don’t know how she couldn’t keep the pace. Maybe she is bad at math. Our distances and pace were all reported incorrectly. The 4:50 pacer thought she was 10 minutes behind and couldn’t figure out why, hence she was running with me. She finally passed me at mile 21. I saw her again at mile 24 where she stopped and I think she realized she was 20 minutes ahead of her pace by then. She waited and finished at 4:50, a few minutes after I crossed the finishing line.

    The race was well organized. We had aid station with water and Gatorade every two miles. You know the race director has thought it out, that Gatorade was served in Gatorade cups and water was in the plain cups. Usually Gatorade was placed up front (first table) and water on the second table. The volunteers called out which one was which. There were stinger/gels at certain stations but I didn’t use any of those.

    I hit the wall around mile 18-20. I slowed down to walk and run. I ate my peanut butter sandwich. I recovered a bit. I was too full to eat earlier but I should have eaten to avoid hitting the wall.

    My energy returned. I might have able to finish at 4:30 but I felt I didn’t want to push myself. My original goal was just to get to mile 20 and walk the rest of the way to the finish. I know even if I walked the rest of the way, I would still have plenty of time. I reach mile 20 in 3:28. I could run a 10K when I was healthy under an hour. But I was kept on running and was expecting at some point my heart/body might make me stop and I would walk. However, that moment never came. I checked my pace, I was doing 13-14 min mile pace.

    Since haven’t had much training run over last six weeks, my quad muscles started to hurt halfway in the race. Luckily they didn’t cramp up. Down hill usually make it worse since it keeps using the same muscle group without rest.

    I couldn’t walk once after crossing the finish line. And not even talking about climbing up the stairs for the bus, which was impossible. I pulled myself up. I don’t know how other people did it, but I had such a hard time getting on and off the bus. For the next two days, squading down was a trial.

    I didn’t stay too long after the race. The post race food was the usual stuff. There was no pizza but they offered some kind of pasta. I didn’t take any. I took a carton of muscle milk and a bottle of water and couple bananas.

    They also have another exactly same race the next day. I didn’t go for the second day but I can imagine someone signing up a second day too. I can’t imagine the race director and volunteers coming out for another day. One day seemed to be all I could take. I appreciate all the volunteers to make it possible. Our first day is like a preview for them. I hope their second day would be just as good.

    What else did I do? I cleaned up, unpacked my stuff, I ate like a pig and slept for the rest of the day.

    The next day, I went out to Seattle and visited the farmer market. I saw the original Starbucks store.

    For the rest of the trip, I drove up to Surrey and Richmond and Vancouver, BC. I ate to my heart content there. I am not much a travel blogger, so I won’t share too much. Vancouver is a nice and big city. I was amazed by its public transportation. It was unlike what we have in the DC area.

    As now I am on my way home back to the east coast. I finally understood why Seattle airport is called Sea-Tac. I thought it was a cute and weird name. Sea-tac stands for Seattle-Tacoma. It is kind of boring after knowing the truth. That is a kind of secret I took from Seattle.

  • Race Completed

    Day 145 – Jack and Jill Marathon

    I did not have to use every minute available to complete this race and that in itself is a good news. I finished it an hour and half ahead of time!

    It wasn’t my best time but I was very happy though. I felt like I broke a record. Indeed, it was a miracle that I could even run.

    One lesson learned was that even though the race said I have 6.5 hours to complete, but I started on the last wave and that cut in to my time and in reality I only have about 6 hours to finish (race close at 1pm). So in the future, if I ever plan to use the full time allotted, I must factor in the wave start time.

    As expected marathons unlike ultras did not provide food at the aid stations. I also didn’t eat most of the food I brought with me to the course. Here is a picture of the left overs. It looked like as if it was for the start.

    Update: I checked the last finishing time for the race. They extended the race beyond 6:30 hours of the race clock time. (The last recorded time was 7 hrs chip time, so they were very generous). My worry of losing time at the wave start is not a concern for this race. Though for future races, the time it would take crossing the starting line should be part of the pacing calculation.

  • Just a little bit more

    Day 144

    It is only a few more hours before the race starts. About 9 hours away techically. But to me it is just a few hours since I plan to wake up at 2:30 to make it to the pick up location to get to the starting line.

    Everything is set. I wish I could take a picture of the things I will be carrying. I am planning this race as if I am doing an ultra 50K race. I got my water pack and food. Real food. Snacks. Tons of snacks. I got coconut water. Strawberry-apple sauce. Gatorade. Rasins.

    I got to sleep. I am excited. I am nervous. Much nervous about this race than when I did my first marathon. The reason is I don’t know if I could finish it or not. I felt I should be able, but who know if my body will throw a curve ball.

    By the way, I had an all you can eat pasta dinner at a Chinese buffet restaurant.

  • Pre race

    Day 143

    It is two days before the race. I signed up for Jack and Jill downhill marathon back in who know when. It is my first far away (Seattle) marathon. I had to book a flight and hotel and car rental.

    I have been eyeing this race since when I first heard maybe back in 2017. My friend did it and liked it a lot. Flying to the west coast costs lot of money and originally I was planning to doing only marathons in the east coast and eventually work my way to the west. However, my friend was going to run with me in this race and I was so excited, however she was injured during training and won’t be able to make it.

    At the moment my health is not that great and that is an understatement. I really don’t know if I will be able to finish it. Last week, I could barely run a mile. I will try any way. Couple days ago, I was able to do 5 miles and that was the longest run so far. My body is recovering from the Lyme disease. I am one week in of taking antibiotic. I have two more weeks left.

    I know now at least I can do 5 miles. If I can do 5, I probably can do 10. I did the math that as long as I could run 20 miles in four hours (or 4.5), I can finish. Will see. My plan is to run 2/3 of the time and walk 1/3. For the first 5 or 10 miles, I don’t have to walk. Then from 10 to 20 miles… I might have to start walk and run. Maybe every 10 min run couple with 2 min of walk. Then 20 – 26 mile , will likely all walk. I will need to bring a pen with me on the run to calc my target pace.

    After all the money spent on this race, it is too late to back out. I just need to rest well today and tomorrow.

  • Update

    Day 142

    I am on medication and my body is still very weak. Most symptoms are starting to go away. I knees are weak. Sometimes it is hard to go up the stairs. The inflammation of my back is gone now. I am no longer sore anywhere on my body. My sore throat has gone away. My jaw hinge is no longer hurting. All kind of weird stuff that was happening before are gone. One of my ear is still block from time to time. My balance is off.

    One thing though I am still very weak. I get out of breath easily and my heart too races too frequently. It is getting better.

    I tried to do some hiking today even though my friend protested against it. It was supposed to be a 9 mile loop at the Little Devil Stair. It is not an easy hike but not a too hard a hike either (rated one of the most difficult in our area) but runners run on this trail. I did it couple times before. To me it was easy. You climb it like stairs. Imagine it is a 100 stories building, like the empire state building.

    The trail started off gently for a mile and then shoot straight up for a thousand foot climb. Something like that. I did the first mile fine. I was strong. Then came the climb. I think I got to 3/4 of the way up when I became very weak all the sudden. I was out of breath and breathing hard. My heart was racing. We took a stop for me to rest up. I got my breathing under control and calmed my heart. Then we continue on. We didn’t get more than 20 steps, my vision started to go blury. My hearing too. I was disassociating all things around me. It was like I am floating. I could hardly focus. I couldn’t hear what my friend was saying. Everything was muffled. Something about I should sit down.

    I sat down. Luckily that stopped me from fainting. I felt I was on the verge of tumbling over. I told myself I got to hold on else it will freak my friend out. She was very worried about me already.

    She asked if I wanted to turn around. That choice never occur to me. I knew we were almost to the top yet, the last quarter mile seemed impossible for me to go on. I felt if I took another 20 steps the same thing might happened again.

    I told the group I can manage to get down the mountain by myself, but they were worried. So the whole group walked with me back down the ravine. I was grateful but embarrassed.

    I made it down and back to the car. I never imagined I can be this weak. I felt I can do it. Yet, when my body run out of energy it just shuts down and it was very scary. When I am not moving I felt I have enormous amount of energy and I can take on anything. However, once I started to move, my energy quickly used up.

    I then waited at the car as some of them tackled the trail again. They did the shorter version (5 miles) and ran down the last 3 miles. I wasn’t sad. Just a bit disappointed at my body is unable to keep up.

  • Result came

    Day 141

    I haven’t written much because I have been laying low due to health.

    Dr called and confirmed I have Lyme Disease. It explained everything that happened to me the past month. I wanted to run but the fatigue, the irregular heartbeat, the shortness of breath, and the general unwellness made me unable to run much.

    Eating well boosted my performance just a bit for a time. I felt a bit better last week. I felt I could run. I ran last Tuesday and was a bit faster running at 10 min pace instead of 13 or 14. I was hoping that was the beginning of my recovery.

    I am happy now. No more doubting what was wrong with me or if it was all imaginary. It is real. I can do something about it. Not just random stuff like eat well sleep well kind of shot in the dark thing. I was willing to try anything at the time, because being not able to run drive me nuts.

    Hopefully in couple of weeks I will be back in shape. Next week is my July marathon. I won’t be ready for that. I am hoping August Marathon, will be my full strength. Then comes Sept and Oct.

  • 4th of July weekend

    Day 140

    Good news. I ran today. It felt good. It was a slow run and I couldn’t get my heart rate above 110 beats. I ran for 4 miles, actually 3 mile and walked for 1. This was my long run for the week! But I’m very happy because I wasn’t out of breath!

    My body is really weak. I am still happy to run because for last three weeks, it has been on a downward fall. I was wondering when I would reach the bottom. I actually couldn’t run at all. And today I felt I could finally find a pace and keep it. It felt great.

    I felt now this what I can work with. I can rebuild and I will take it step by step. I will need to work up my mileage all over again. It is like I have a three year set back. It is hard to believe in three weeks time it got me down to like I haven’t ever run before. I still have five months to prepare for the 50 mile race. So it is not too late.

    I have a bunch of marathons in between and the few of those will probably be scratched (meaning I will run very slow or not finish). The one in couple weeks, my target time will probably be 6 or 6.5 hrs. I will have to see what the cut off is. It might really be a scratched for me (DNF – did not finish).

  • Reread

    Day 139

    I reread a blog post I wrote a few days back about why I run. At that time I thought my running career would go on indefinitely. I was young and there doesn’t seem to be why I couldn’t run except for lack of interest. Now looking back I spoke too soon.

    I don’t think I am being taught a lesson. But immediately after that I started to struggle with my run and everything. It is like a switch is turned off.

    I did many things since. Too much to recount them here.

    Last weekend I had to take a break from running. A 5K was only thing I did. A consolation for me was it could have been worse. At least I finished. I don’t mind when people were passing me because at least I know I have done my best. Run used to be effortless for me. I just tapped on the pavement and I would glide across. Big steps and fast steps and I hardly breathing. Now I am huffing and puffing. It doesn’t matter if I take a big step or small step or if I run in fast cadence or slow cadence, I just don’t go any where. My lung feels like exploding and my heart really twists violently inside and a few times I put my hand across my chest to feel if it is alright. People were calling out to me, asking if I am Ok. Luckily at the 3 mile mark, I had a burst of energy. I felt a little bit like my old self and ran to the finish line. It wasn’t super fast but the feeling was the same. It was like I could fly again.

    I have been fasting every Monday for the past month immediately after I got the news that I have high cholesterol. I was determine to lower it. A total life change. I went from eating burgers every day to eating none of those food. I still eat out but choosing Panera or Chipotle instead and usually having a salad or a wrap. So that I cut 15-20% of my calories. No fat or sugar either. Instead of Coke I now have vitamin water.

    The result is my run now is 25-33% slower. I can’t get any slower than that. Any slower would be walking. I can walk in a 5K but I can’t walk the whole thing in a marathon. I wouldn’t able to finish within the given time. Walking through a marathon takes about 10 hours and most races stop around 6.5 or 7 hours. I used to do it little over 4. And I thought I was slow because others were doing it in 3 hours. Everything is relative.

    I wish it is the other way around. If I improve on what I eat and my run would improve 25-33%. Why food matters? On the weekend I went for a bike ride. Originally I planned to ride on a trail that is 45 miles long from the city to way out in the suburb and back making it a 90 miles ride. This was before I experienced being very weak. It is actually biking to another city in the outskirt of the DC area. By middle of the week, I realized I probably wouldn’t make it out and back, so shorten the ride in half, a 45-50 miles ride instead. I did this distance a few times before. But on the day of, once I got on the bike, I knew I wouldn’t make it at even this distance either and cut it down to 30 miles. My friend was biking with me. He biked slow but he had to stopped and waited for me a few times. The first 15 miles was a struggle. I just couldn’t keep up. We got to Leesburg by lunch time, and we met up with a friend for lunch. I had a whole 14 inch pizza. It was one of a few times I broke my diet. Actually 2nd time since I started eating right. The result was, on the ride back, my friend was getting tired but I was full of energy. I felt I could pass him if I want. We ended up biking back faster than when we headed out. I was so happy. Food really helps. It was an insight.

    If I continue on my vegetarian-like diet, I am thinking of taking vitamin supplements. That is a start my friend told me.

  • Maybe that is my current limit

    Day 138

    I always want to know what is my current limit. Now I feel like a boat out of the water. I really love running but as much as I tried this past week I couldn’t get anywhere.

    I, in the past, laughed at older runners who swing their arms vigorously while their feet do not seem to be going anywhere. Now that is me. I am willing to do anything to propel me forward even if it means swing my arms 10 times faster than my legs are moving. My body just wouldn’t budge. Now I believe my nonrunning friends who often told me they just couldn’t run. Now I couldn’t run even if I want to. I could jog and that about it.

    If it is really exhaustion or if it is due to my improper diet, I can make adjustment and in no time I will be back in my old self. Otherwise, it might be a long wait and I might have to hang up my running shoes.

    I have been reading a lot on why I am feeling anemic.

    I have a few reasons of my own. #1 reason was I just recovered from an illness. It was not serious but it lasted couple weeks and it affected my body. Apparently I am not a super hero and don’t have an indestructible body. I am human and with all its frailty. I completed couple marathons since but results were not good.

    #2 All my running friends have been telling me I have been running too much. Surprising given we are runners and there is nothing about running too much in our vocabulary. I didn’t know this myself. I have been feeling fine all the time (except for being sick, but that only happened at night) unlike my previous recovery from a long run, this time around I did not feel much pain or tired. On paper though I did a lot. I already did three official marathons in three months. I have seven more to go. I have done many off the record runs.

    A week before my ultra, the same week I was sick, I went on a 27 mile hike. It was a tough hike. I got blisters on both bottom of my heels. Then I had my ultra the following week, it was 28-29 miles and it took me 7 hours. I ran for about four hours at top/maximum heart rate. And couple hours just a step below the maximum. I didn’t think I exerted too much of effort because I felt I walked most of the time and averaging only at 3 miles an hour.

    Then the week after that, I went out again and did a 27-28 miles run/hike on my own and it took me 10.5 hours. I ran for maybe an hour at maximum heart rate. My Garmin listed it as a 5 (top) red zone for aerobic, which would require lot of time for recovery. I didn’t know at the time. I felt I could go out again and do another run.

    Since then, I did a half marathon, in which I had the worst finishing time in my life, at 2:30. Still it was a run. It was about 25% slower than my usual pace. Garmin listed that event a grade 3 aerobic.

    Throughout last week, I couldn’t really run. Thursday practice was the hardest. Garmin listed it as a grade 1 aerobic, which is not much. However, I felt that run was harder than doing the marathon. I had a 5K today too and also received my worst time. About 25% slower. For the first time I did not finish under 30 minutes.

    #3 I didn’t think of was the food I eat, but I changed my diet about couple weeks ago eating way less meat and more salad, no fat or sugar, trying to lower my cholesterol. I might be missing some vitamins. One that I could think of is vitamin B12 which only comes from eating meat. B12 affects one’s energy level, since it is needed for making blood.

    My friend K has been onto me the whole weekend, like isn’t it obvious that I am not eating and I have been doing all these crazy runs. Wouldn’t my body break down? Nope it wasn’t obvious to me until she said it. Now I felt kind of foolish.

    She said I got to eat. I got to eat the right things.

    #4. I was leaning toward the 4th reason that I might have picked up a bad bug from my recent hiking trips or running in the woods. There is a tick that spread a kind of sickness that causes the spleen to rupture and destroys red blood cells. It is like malaria. Unfortunately, or fortunately it is quite rare. Like only 50 cases in 10 years. The area where the ticks reside is in the northeast of US. I am in the mid-atlantic, too far south.

    I plan though to still get my blood tested again to rule out any parasitic infection. I did have fever and rashes. So there signs that I got something. It might not be the usual flu.

    Lastly, I need to sleep earlier, to make blood.