In awe

Tag: 100 miler

  • [683] Eastern States 100, a trail running experience

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

  • BR100 report [Day569]

    I have many thoughts about this race. I DNF (did not finish). It is one of dreaded word in a race. Now I have collected a few DNFs, it was not as dreadful as when I first got it at the Devil Dog or at the Massanutten Race last year.

    If I knew I was definitely going to DNF, I probably would not have run it. I felt I had a good chance of finishing before I started. I checked the course on paper and it did not seem too hard for me. The race was not hard, is what I still believe. It might be even easier than the Devil Dog. Most of the problems I found troubling, such as hills and rains happened early in the race. Technically, they could have overcome and I could have finished. … But that is a lot of what-ifs. I accept if I could not finish, I could not finish.

    As I reflected on it, I did not finish mostly due to reduced training after finishing the Massanutten race in May. Then I had an injury (actually several injuries) during the Catoctin run (50k). I rollwd my ankle in that race on my left foot and I forced myself to finish it in 11 hours, when I should have stopped halfway, maybe at 5 hours in. Immediately after Catoctin, every movement of ankle hurt. However, it was recovered enough for me to run Catherine Furnace 50K two weeks ago. So I thought I should be okay for BR100 (Burning River).

    The race started at 4 AM. This was like my 5th or 6th 100 mile race so I know the drill. I had my drop bags packed and ready. I arrived a day before. Sleep-wise, I felt I was ok. I was up before 3 AM. I had like 4 hours. I had been pulling usually 4 hours of sleep during the week. I was not sleep deprived, but I think a bit more sleep would have helped. During the race, that wee hours around 4 AM Sunday really hit hard and I wished I had more sleep the previous nights, so I was not too drained.

    Also, I had couple big runs right before BR100. I wished I had tapered my mileage so as not to be so exhausted for the race. Pretty much, I drained my reserve before the race, so there was not much left for the late push.

    I do not have hard feeling about the DNF. I felt it was just a matter of fact I came up short. I ran until I timed out, arriving at mile 86, Botzum aid station after they closed. I knew there was no way for me to continue. I did not fuss about it. I had whole night to think about it.

    Weather might have played a part. Rain started early almost immediately as the race got underway. First it was a drizzle. By the first aid station (4 miles in), the heaven opened. We were receiving buckets of water pouring down on us. Many cheered. Not me. It meant we would have a cooler run. The temperature high was around 80. At the time it was around 70 F. Humidity was off the chart, I think around 80-90%. It did not bother me, but many runners mentioned it made them unbearable. Rain did not initially affected me other than reduced vision. I could see better not wearing my glasses than wearing them, since they fogged up and rain droplets made them virtually impossible to see through. At some point, I put away my glasses.

    Occasionally there was dense fog. We had maybe 3-5 feet of vision. Since this happened early, and most people were walking up the trail anyway, it did not feel so bad.

    About maybe 2 hours in, the trail started being saturated with water and soon became a muddy mess. The muddy course remained a feature through out the race. Mud was at first not too much an issue but on a slope, mud became extremely slipery. The first few hills I was fine. As I started getting tired though, I started falling all over the place due to slipery hills. In a couple of those falls, I ended up scraping my left elbow. I might have injured my left foot by then but did not realized. This was a new injury. My old injury was the outside ankle of my left foot, but this was the inner ankle on the left foot.

    At the time, I did not feel any pain, but later in the race after 66 miles, somehow the pain became obvious. It was swelling.

    The first 50 miles were boring. I was mostly on pace. I was doimg 7 hours every 25 miles. It was not fast but it was on pace for a 28 hour finish.

    At mile 22, first dropbag was like a savior. It was 10 am. By then chafing was a big issue. I was cut by my shorts and underwear. My shoes were causing a lot of problem too. Feet being wet all the time was not good. I swapped shoes. I applied vaseline liberally. My private part and my thighs were cut from rub burn. So everything hurt when I moved.

    Nothing much happened between mile 22 to 50. The second dropbag location was at mile 34, which I reached around 2 pm. At the time, I believed I could get to mile 50 by 5 pm.

    My feet were in bad shape. I spent a lot of time to take care of them. I changed shoes and socks. I applied a lot of vaseline to places where I was burned. Luckily I had my sissors with me at that station, I cut the sides of my short to made them split-fly. This helped a lot, so that when I moved my legs the fabric did not tighten around my thighs and causing the rub burn. One thing I failed to do was cut my underwear to release some pressure at the time. I did not get back here until near midnight (8 hours later). I think my underwear had high percentage of cotton, so when wet, it was rubbing my private area and this race causing those areas to bleed. I regretted leaving the aid station without taking care of this stress point.

    By mile 40, I was tired but was still able to run. I think I reached mile 50 around 5:40. Unfortunately, I again needed to take care of my feet and other hurt areas. I did not get out the station until 6:00 pm. It was way too much time spent. Now 14 hours into the race. At this time I was still on pace of 7 hours every 25 miles. I was regretting of so much time wasted during the morning hour at the aid stations. I could have saved an hour by now.

    Mile 50 to mile 66 was hard. My running pace was just a slight faster than people’s walking pace. Many people passed me including some older people. I was not panicking yet. I reached Kendall Lake at 9:00 pm. The sun was setting. It was mile 62. 100K done. I knew I was a bit behind schedule. I wanted to get to mile 66 before midnight. It was only 4 miles away but it took me more than 2 hours to get there.

    Mile 66 was our dropbag station. I arrived at 11 pm. My average pace was 2.2 mph. It was a struggle. Again feet were pretty raw. I changed shoes or socks I think. My memory was a bit vague. I had a new headlamp. Unfortunately it did not fit me. It was too loose. It was my first time trying it on. I might have spent 10 minutes adjusting the strap and I was furious at the time wasted. I knew now was not time to waste on it.

    I then spent a lot time fixing my feet and applying vaseline. In my heart I knew, this was the turning point of the race. I wish I could have gotten in and out under 5 mins. I did not get out until 11:25. More importantly, I was behind on my nutrition, but I did not do enough to fix this deficit because I did not have the appetite to eat. If I could have done it again, eat up well at this station to get me through the night. Better yet, to eat up at mile 50.

    By then my body and muscles had cool off too much and I no longer could run. I made it to next checkpoint at mile 70. It was just a bit past 1 am. That was my goal. I knew I was moving very slowly. There I picked up a random pacer.

    I was calculating my pace in my head, from 6 pm to midnight, 6 hours, I only moved 17 miles. At most 18 miles. That was like 3 miles an hour or 20 mins per mile. We need to have a pace under 18 to be able to finish.

    Mile 70. Amanda was pacing her friend, but her friend decided to bail, so she ended up pacing me instead. She paced me all the way to the next dropbag station (Oak Hill), mile 78. We arrived at Oak Hill at 3:45 am. Unofficially, it was more than mile 78, because we were taken on an alternate trail due to flooding at the finish. I think it was at least 2-3 miles longer. However, station closing time was not changed. Oak Hill station still closed at 4 am. We had to get out before then. Normally it would not be a problem, but at this point, I knew I was chasing cutoffs.

    Again unfortunately, I could not move any faster. My feet were raw. Luckily I now had on fresh socks. I emptied all the sands and grits from the shoes. Feet felt a lot better. I was freezing though. My pacer was wonderful in helping and feeding me. Unfortunately, I was unraveling. I did not have enough food but I also could not eat much.

    Technically, we were still on pace to finish if we could keep a 18 min per mile pace. However, I was done. The next station was 11 miles long. Many parts of this stretch were runnable. Yet I could not run. My pacer had great patience. She got me to run every 25 feet and walk every 25/50 feet. Something like that, but to me my walking and running pace were basically the same. However, running was dreadful for me. Every time, Amanda asked me to run, boy, it was like the end of the world for me. She was a demon to me.

    The next 4 and half hours were unrelenting walk. Sky brightened after 5 am maybe around 5:30. The morning did not bring much hope. Amanda was hoping my mood would improve and thus to run faster when light again. I told her, it is not my mood, it was just impossible for me to move any faster. Even my walking pace was decaying too. No longer could I take bigger steps.

    Deep down I knew it was impossible to finish by now. I was thinking I needed couple extra hours to make it to the finish. I was not beating myself too much on wasting much time at the aid stations, though if only I had gotten out each one under 5 mins, I would have made it.

    Also I really wanted to sleep. I told my pacer it would be so good she ahe would carry me. I knew that would be a DQ, and of course she refused. I could hardly kept my eyes open. We passed couple people who just gave up and sat on the side of the roads to be picked up. My pacer urged me onward and would not let me stop. I felt if I could just sleep for 5-10 mins, I might feel better.

    The aid station seemed never arrived. 5 am. Then 6 am went by. Then 7 am. No aid station was in sight. 8 am. Still no station. By then we knew the station we were expecting had closed. The area was unfamiliar to neither nor to my pacer. We had no choice but kept on going. It was mostly downhill. We arrived then at Botzum, mile 87 officially, but probably mile 90 unofficially. It was 8:30. Botsum had closed since 7:30.

    Both my pacer and I decided to stop here no matter what. Luckily a volunteer was still around and could drive us back to the start/finish. He saved us an uber ride. I did not mind taking an uber, but having an immediately ride back was the best. It was obvious the station had closed.

    My legs were pretty dead afterward. Finally I could sleep.

    The recovery was not bad. The same day after a few hours of sleep, I was pretty much back to my old self. I could move around without much pain. I had some blisters which I did not take care until the following day. My ankle was swollen. It took a week for it to go away. There was still some pain today. However, I think I could run again.

    Summary: If I could do again:

    -prepare for the rain, bring a lot of socks, bring extra shorts and underwears

    -having a crew would have help, with a quicker turn over at the aid station. They could have dress the feet faster, apply lotion

    –nutrition wise. I felt I was behind on my nutrition. This was on me. I brought a lot of sweets but they ruined my appetite. I wish I had more solid food

    Shoes – grits got in. Having gaiters would have help. Mud was messy. I tossed away two of the three pairs used. I wish I had more shoes, like six pairs for this race. I wish I had shoe inserts. I could have swapped the inserts.

    Carrying sissors might have help. Cutting my shorts on the side splits was creative. I wish I had started this early in the first few miles. It might have help with avoiding the chafe. Chafe took so much of my time to deal with. Also carry a lot of vaseline (lube up) all the time.

    Sorry, there is no joy in describe much of my run. Most of my run was me just going through the motion. I started with high hope that I could overcome the weather and distance and hills. The race was wearing me down bit by bit until it was no longer possible to finish. Turning point was pretty much at midnight, but at the time, I did not know it. If I could quit, I should quit then instead of grinding it out the next 8 hours, for next 20 miles.

    Deep down though, I enjoyed the race. The grinding is what running ultra is about. Joy came when there was a finish. It seems depressing when the finish was impossible to reach. However, I praise the race and grateful for the opportunity to run it. I think it was well managed and I appreciate all the volunteers for their long hours and being out there regardless the rain or the late shifts.

  • Day404 the big one / Rocky Raccoon 100

    I really don’t know how I pulled off this one to run and finish the Rocky Raccoon 100. But yay, I did finish.

    It was the coolest race I did. Long but top of the line race support and community. People of Texas put up an amazing race.

    1. The race is noobish friendly. I picked it for this reason since I had two previous failed attempts in running the 100 and I wanted to finish this time.

    a. what made it new comers friendly? The course is looped, 5 twenty mile loops, so it is a “relatively” short course, the course though has the ability to lengthen itself with each passing lap. There are three on course Aid Stations, and four if counting the start/finish. They allowed plenty places for a drop bag (each aid station is a drop bag point).

    b. plenty of Aid Stations. AS is what can make or break a run. We have one about every 4-5 miles. They were superb full service aid stations. Aid stations for an ultra usually mean full supply of everything you can ask. What saved my race was a cup of coffee during the early morning and as well a hot salty cup of I don’t even know what it is, but I think it was ramen extract package mix in a cup of hot water. I drank that down thinking it was hot coco, that got me running at 3 AM in the morning. And I ran when many others were walking.

    c. Drop bag. At rocky raccoon you can leave a drop bag at any aid station. So you can bring along your favorite food/drink or stuff you need at almost anywhere on the course. Or drop off stuff in the middle of a run was really helpful! My strategy was to run light! I saw some crazy people carry a huge hydration bag on their run and they could hardly move, but I decided to ditch my hydration pack and only carry a hand bottle. I ditched my bag and jacket at an aid station during the last lap, that made a difference in finishing or not finishing the race.

    Dropped off that extra five pounds. I don’t know why people were still lugging around theirs on their final lap. Maybe for toilet paper — gosh the lady in front of me just pulled off her pants and pee – I turned away pretending not to see, meh. Good thing though she wasn’t carry her pack. I didn’t ask if she needed some toilet paper. Afterward she let me pass on in front. I think it was her lady friend (a pacer) needed her turn. I think her friend was a bit squirmish to drop her pants. When you gotta go, you gotta go. (I had a similar experience at the wee hours when the girls kept following doggedly behind me and I couldn’t shake them off – I waited until they passed, of course.)

    d. crowd support. You never expect to have a crowd support at an ultra, at least not in a traditional sense like at a marathon since normally the course is so spread out. But this race course is small enough (like at most is 5 miles out from anywhere), there is campground in couple places. We have the huge park to ourselves – they reserved it for us this year. I tried to get a camping spot, but unfortunately unable to… due to my procastination – early bird gets the worm as they say. Anyway, you see people from time to time.

    The interesting thing about this race is they allow people to set up tents, not the camping tents but those picnic three side tents along the starting/finish line on either side. So at every lap you run through this village of people/tent city and they cheered you. Runners brought their kids and family along and they set in their chairs waving and cheering even when you are half dead. I love it. Things were a bit subdue at 3 AM but there were still people there. One or two had their camping tent there though they were not allowed according to the park rules.

    e. plenty of time to finish. We were giving 30 hours, plus an extra 2 for those who wanted an earlier start time. I started at 7 in the morning so I had 31 hours total. It was just about enough time for me. I finished at 28.5 hrs. I almost thought I wouldn’t make it to the finish line. Silly me – strange ideas flew through my head during a night of sleeplessness.

    f. terrain and elevation. I think it has a total around 2000 ft. That seemed to be a lot for a marathon, but with ultra, it was almost flat. All of the hills were runnable. The terrain was rough in couple places – this race is known for ‘rocky’ but it was mostly due to roots and not rocks. I tripped over them a few times, but none of them were a fatal race terminating event. My friend unfortunately had to end hers at mile 40 and this was her 3rd attempt.

    A 100 mile race is hard no matter how friendly and easy they made it to be. It was mostly on trail and few miles were on a dirt road (the gate portion). My experience from this race was sleep deprivation is terrible.

    I was walking with my eyes opened but I could hardly counted as being awake. A few times I almost walked into a bush. I saw weird stuffs – like a bush suddenly turned into a deer and I startled myself and then it turned back into a bush. A few times I thought someone was standing in a shadow watching me. Maybe it was hallucination or maybe it was real.

    I wish I had flew in a day earlier to able to sleep better before the race day. I arrived on Friday afternoon. Getting a rental, and race day supplies, and hotel, by the time I settled in it was pretty late. I was too excited to sleep until around past 2 am. I had set my alarm for 3, thinking I would head out at 4, since it is an hour drive to the race site, and I wanted to be there by 5. I had only a moment of eye close before the alarm went off. I snoozed it, then my second alarm went off. By golly it was 4 am now. I was lucky to get an extra hour in. I woke up and was fine. There was a bit of that hazy-head but I sat around a bit for the body to warm up, then I felt good enough for a shower. I ate some and was ready to head out. I arrived at 6 and the parking lot was full by then. But lucky someone pulled out and I got a spot. There were still many arriving after me. They would have to park at a remote lot that is like 3 miles away. I’m thankful I didn’t need to do so. I tell you, it still took me an hour to walk to my car after I finish the race because I was basically limping – one step and rest for five minutes and another step and rest before I made it to the car. I can’t imagine what I would do, if I had to go another 3 miles to my car.

    The morning went well. Personally I prefer to have started with the 6 o’ clock crowd, but things just worked out for a 7 o’ clock start. I didn’t have to use a head lamp. Less weight, and less stumbling in the dark. Sunrise was just around 7, so the trail was visible.

    My first lap was strong. I tried not to go out too fast but it was hard to control myself. I found couple great people to follow. I called the guy a bionic man because he ran like a robot at a steady mechanical pace. The three other guys behind me were just party people. They were loud and talked the whole way. Luckily I parted way with them a little after. I was with them for maybe 10 miles. The course was more gentle than I imagined (I did study the elevation profile). The terrible infamous rocky roots were not that bad. I ran on more challenging trail than this. The trails were wide and most of them were double trail. Yes it is a fast course as the organizer previously informed us.

    My original intention was to bypass all the aid stations since I had my dropbag at the starting line, which is my private aid station. I figured I would be looping every few hours to allow me to get water/food/and change of clothes.

    Not sure when that plan started to fall apart, whether it was the second or by the third lap, the official aid stations were pretty tempting not to bypass.

    LAP 1 – I finished the first lap around 11 am. A decent time. Each subsequent laps took much longer.

    LAP 2 – My goal for my second lap was to arrive back before sunset since I didn’t have the head lamp on me. I made it my goal of not carrying my hydration pack, which mean none of the basic stuffs were on me. Why carry one when everything you need is five or six miles away.

    The ideal pace would be 6 hrs per lap with 30 hours for the whole 100 mile. I hope to arrive back at the starting point before 6 when it gets dark. I arrived around 4-4:30. I was two hours ahead by then.

    LAP 3 – Going out for the third lap, now the sun has set. I hoped to finish it by 11. They warned us that it would be cold and we should carry a jacket. I don’t remember much after that but I did make it back before midnight. I think it was around 10 pm. Word about this is once the sun had set, the whole environment changed. You could no longer see where you are running even with a flashlight. The place was no longer recognizable. Weird isn’t it, but you get night blindness from the headlamp. The best ones for me were the dimly lit one, then you can see some shadow of trees and bushes to serve as a guide to the trail and can see a almost like in the morning. For me though, the night run became mostly stumbling in the dark. Oh you see all kinds of lighting devices people have. The most popular kind was a waist belt with a row of light. Very interesting. They lighted the whole path. I also saw a guy with christmas light wrapped on him.

    What I think people were carrying so much silly stuffs were because this race had the 100km crowded. They are noobies compare to us. Of course they walked. The pro already finished theirs in the afternoon, so you only had the weird crowd at between 10 – 2 am at night trying to finish their 100km.

    Lap 4. When did I start lap 4? This was probably the longest lap. I think I went out around 10 pm and hoping for 4am/5am start for my final lap. I took some food before starting. Was it a can of chicken noodle? I started feeling nausate at the time, which is normal, since the body started to shut down the digestive system on a long run — at least from what I read.

    I don’t remember much of my fourth lap except yes it was cold. The whole night is cold. 40F. I knew it beforehand but I had no idea where I packed my gloves. Couldn’t find them. Luckily I had those runner jackets that have the extra long sleeves, where you can poke your thumb through on the side.

    This was also the most lonely lap because by then the 100km people had left. Also the pros for the 100 miler are finishing or would be finishing. They were on their last lap and you still had two more to go. It was just depressing.

    The last two laps were mostly just stumbling through. My body mostly refused to run. Did I say it was cold! I like put on everything I had on and still I was cold. I came in for my final lap an hour before sunrise. Was it at 4:30 am? It didn’t get warmer with the sun rising, I can tell you that.

    Aid station was great though. They worked energetically through the night. A fellow runner I was with during the deep of the night stopped at the dam (they nicknamed the place damnation) and she told me to turn off my lamp. I was WTF, who you telling me what to do. I was like at the point of exhaustion. F* the sky. Then she kept on insisting, pointing to the sky. I was moved to tears, because it was the most spectacular night sky I saw. She remained just maybe a mile or two before running off. The moon was there too. It did give me a burst of energy to run for the next 10 miles and she also told me to ask for coffee at the Aid Station. I also didn’t know ramen and mash potato was a thing. She said it easier to slurp that way and it packs plenty of calories. This sweet angel probably saved my race because it was very tempting to quit during these late hours of the night. I didn’t bring along a pacer, but her suddenly appear and stay till I got my groove back somehow served as my needed pacer.

    Lap 5. I finished the 100 miler around 11:35 the next day. It was 28.5 hours since I started. Even though when I started the last lap, it was guaranteed I would finish, like hell I had 8.5 hours to do it, no way I wouldn’t. Still there were doubts near hysteria – I was repeating in my head I can’t make it in time. Not sure why, but that was my mentality… I felt like I needed 10 hours. I was walking and unable to run. I was jealous of those who still could run. Majority though was walking and walking very slowly. Every bench I saw I wanted to sit and close my eyes, even if it was just for a few minutes would be heavenly, except it was too cold to be sitting. I know if I did, there is no way for me to get back up.

    It was quite a scene there when you see a bunch of us as slow as we can get and still competing for a slight advantage because you would think everyone walks at the same pace, and I scratched my head why some could walk so fast effortlessly while at my pace I was unable to catch them. I did see a guy, he did finish, maybe an hour after me, but he was bending side way the whole time while leaning on his trekking pole. I was thinking how he could continue. He did it one step at a time. We were in various state of misery.

    Any joy from the whole ordeal? Yes nothing happier than when we coming through the finishing chute. Cowbells clanking, music blasting, I attempted to run the last few steps awfully, but that was most satisfied moment. A silly fellow runner attempted to challenge me to sprint to the finish. I had nothing left in the tank. She won. It might be the same lady who asked me to look at the stars a few hours before.

    I picked my buckle and did a few remaining things like locating my dropbag. I could hardly walk but I did limp to my car. Rolled down the window, wolfed down a few things I still had — F* the squirrels or raccoons for stealling all my remaining croissants that I forgot to put away. At first I was mad, thinking my fellow runners ate my food but then I saw the tell tell bite mark on the container lid. Humans don’t eat plastic. I was so straving but I was unable to keep awake much longer and soon felt into a deep sleep.

    I did not know how I made it back to the hotel. When I woke up after everyone was gone. I slept maybe 3 hours in the parking lot. Somehow later, I managed that hour long drive back to Houston. I was in the dreamlike state during the whole ride, but that will be another story for another time. I should have stayed at the park for few more hours of sleep. However, I wanted that nice shower the hotel offers. I was going to go out and eat, but couldn’t will myself. Also the fear from my ride back to Houston hadn’t left me. I went to bed early and slept until the morning. I cooked myself a big meal at an god early hour at the hotel, then ate my own body weight, but still I was hungry afterward.

    There is probably some feel good lesson to close this. The whole run has been pretty peaceful. I can probably point to the earlier experiences preparing me for this. I was not a complete noob to say the least. The last four years have prepared me. I know how hard it was to stay on my feet for 24+ hours. I had been through the tougher runs in Atlanta where the sun was burning hot – even at night and we had to climb a mountain at the end of the 60 mile. I had endured thirst and hungry and blisters on my foot and various runner related problems. This race in comparison is easy. You can say, if one set ones mind on it, you can accomplish anything. Hmm. Or good preparation is 90% of the work. Or if you don’t succeed, try again. For me, indeed third time the charm. Nope, those are good lessons, but I think what make this trip worth it, is just to be able to run and have the same shared experience with other runners. I feel happy about it. A runner gave me a pat on the shoulder and said nice work! That was enough, and I felt accepted into this rank — I’m now an ultra runner.

  • Day322 A run in Atlanta inside perspective

    [long read] It has been a week since my 100 mile attempt. It is like a dream now that it is over.

    Through out the process I have been asking myself how I feel. I felt excited and anxious during the planning and still is and am very much respecting this distance. I did not finish but was not disappointed. I wrote up the report how I can do it better so that I would be able to finish next time. There were not a lot of thoughts going through my head during the run, unfortunately. The main reason I like doing long runs is to take my mind off things. It is very relaxing to me. This race was anything but that. I for few times I zoned out and I suffered (by getting lost). Most of the time during my run, I had to be on tip top attention focusing on navigation and time management. Two areas I did poorly and resulted in not being able to finish. However, I feel relieved and a sense of achievement from doing the run.

    I started the year training for the 70.5 mile Laurel Highland race, but due to Covid19 and it was canceled/postponed. Running a 100 mile was on my mind but it was set either for end of the year or later in 2021. It was only after doing the GVRAT, I felt I was ready to tackle GSER, which pushed up the time table quite a bit. I found out about the race quite late, mid May I think, and same for the race director. She threw out the idea of the race around late April. I checked it out and felt I had a high chance in running it and it would serve a good preparation to a tougher (real) 100 mile race. GSER being a virtual made it easier, the pressure to succeed is less than in a real race.

    The final couple weeks before the race – I was in a funky mood, some kind of depression, maybe because I had just finished the 1000k of the Tennessee run, and there was not much else to do. I took the two weeks easy. Really easy. No running. Just only slept and ate. Not only that, I was lazy and procastinated in preparing for the 100 miler. If anything I think that led to me being underprepared, such as running in the heat.

    As those of you who have been following my blog, you knew the last few days before the GSER event were hectic for me. I was scrambling studying the maps, getting my stuffs ready, my pack, my maps, and choosing the start time. There were tons of things to do and I was stressed out, when I realized I wouldn’t able to handle everything. Life and work didn’t make things easy. I should have taken a whole week off work beforehand. I felt I was couldn’t get the basic things ready as I like. I was going crazy and angry. I was not sleeping well. I didn’t adjust my sleep time for a night time start. Even the trip to the airport was stressful.

    Thursday 8:00pm. Atlanta. Landed in Atlanta and was going through final packing. One thing I did well was I arrived at Atlanta a night before. By utilizing the 7/4 weekend holiday, I flew in on Thursday night.

    I had the Friday off, and originally, I wanted to run early Friday around 5/6 AM. However, after hearing people say, that it is hard to reach Stone Mountain by closing time, indeed, 13/14+ hours, I figured I needed either 2/3 AM start, for extra buffer time. But I was flying out Sunday, noon, so 2/3 AM start on Saturday was out of the question. Techinically 2/3 AM start on Friday is doable but I would miss the sleep the first night in Atlanta. Hence I decided to settle for a Friday evening start. It was a wise choice.

    Friday 6:30 pm. I arrived up at the foot of Kennesaw Mountain. Uber dropped me off (they wouldn’t let cars go up). In my race preparation I know to expect hiking up to the top for the start. It was about a half hour hike.

    I was still adjusting the start time and originally set at 6:00pm, but I felt I might be running too fast and would get to Stone Mountain too early in the morning before they were open, they open at 10. So I moved it an hour later to 7:00 pm, timing to be just right that I would reach Stone Mountain at 10/11 AM the moment they are open to ascend the mountain there. In reality, I did not reach Stone Mountain until 4/5 pm. I was off on my planning.

    The afternoon was hot. I was sweating bucket of water. The 2 L of water along with an 8-12 oz flask, were quickly gone. It was supposed to last me for the whole night, but I think it only lasted couple hours. My pack was full with food (mostly granola bars). By the way I carried most of those back with me, and did not eat them. I stuffed some bars in my shorts too. I was fully loaded. I had other stuffs like flashlights ready though darkness was still couple hours away.

    Kennesaw trailhead was easy to find. I crossed the parking lot, got to the sign and took some pictures. There were people around. The parking lot was full. I think there were about 50-75 cars. I followed some other people and began to walk up on the Kennesaw Mountain Trail.

    I didn’t run yet, trying to conserve as much strength as possible because I knew I would have a long night plus the whole day tomorrow. My expected finishing time was 30 hours. I hope to get as many miles as possible during the first 12 hours. I was secretly hoping to get near the 50 mile mark by morning. 13-14 hours, that was the original plan. As you read on, things quickly didn’t go my way.

    The climb was about 1 mile long. I knew this since having studied this part closely beforehand and the trail map/sign indicated that as such, confirming my knowledge. I was smuck about my hiking skills. This was child play in my mind. It is a popular trail for local people. I saw all kinds of people. Families, couples, lovers, some carried their cat in a basket/or strap to their chest (like it was their infant), dogs were not allowed on the trail unfortunately. There were some who were really not fit to hike. I passed them as quickly as possible when they had to stop to take a breather. Some were wearing masks, many didn’t. I had my face covering on. I pushed on. Sweat was dripping down. It was not easy to breath. I got to give it to the heat.

    I reached the upper parking lot. No car was allowed up there but those of the park police. There was a good overlook and you could see Atlanta in the distance. Wow That was like 10-15 miles away. Knowing I should be there by morning, kind of imagining the path in my head (my run would take 35 miles to get to Atlanta, to the inner city). I followed the next set of trails to reach the summit. I stoped to take some pictures. Giddily excited. This would be it, my starting point for my first 100 Mile attempt. Everyone’s starting point, not just mine.

    6:56 pm. Started my watch at about 6:56 pm. I was using both the Strava and Garmin to record. Off I went. I didn’t really run down hill, but I was kind of slowly jogging, back down using the same trail. Once I reached the upper parking lot, I followed the road down as according to the turnsheet, instead of on the trail I hiked up. The sheet was very accurate at this point and I was praising it in my heart. All the turns were spot on. I had a great outlook. It was hot, but all system were go. Little did I know that heat was one factor that would derail my whole operation.

    The first marathon (25-27 miles) had many turns. There is a new direction every quarter miles. The guidance was very detailed. It told you which side of the road you should run on, traffic and how to prepare for the next turn. There were a lot of reading to do while running. Yet I had those down pretty much. I read them many times already, on the plane and in my spare time. In truth, now having run it, next time all those bit of information can be ignored. There was really only one road, Kennesaw and Roswell, for the next 5-6 miles. I wasted a lot of time trying to follow exactly everything and it slowed me down tremendously. Who care when I pass the Big Chicken or the OK Cafe? This was a preview of the whole run.

    Still I was taking things slowly. Better get the turns right than missing them and getting lost as I told myself. I had no problem leaving the Kennesaw Mountain. I was running to Marrietta on Kennesaw rd. It started to sprinkle somewhat by the 2nd mile and I had to put away my phone since it was not waterproof. I kept my map and turnsheet safe too, each inside a ziplock bag.

    Running to Marietta was not a problem. I realized my pace has been much slower than normal. My breathing was not that good. It was only about say 3-4 miles. So I need time to “warm up” even though it was 90+ degree that night, a joke of warming up. I made my way across Marietta Park. Saw a man proposing to a woman and we all clapped when the woman accepted. I continued on. I drew strength from people’s clapping.

    This part was very easy. It was just one road Rosswell st. By 6 miles, my first 10K, I checked my distance and time. My distance already differed from the turnsheet by 10%. So either my watch was wrong or the turnsheet was wrong. However, this kind of situation is to be expected because we know in a race unless one run a perfect path (they called a tangent), you are going have more distance than the official course. Also our GPS watch is not a “scientific” grade instrument – they are wildly inaccurate due to many factors (many people didn’t know). More of this to come. It was kind of a foreshadow that extra miles are not good, but I quickly suppressed my doubt. Indeed throughout the night I added as many as 10 extra miles as you will see.

    8:00 pm. Sun was starting to set, but the heat was oppressive. Past 8 actually. I know I was doing a much slower pace than expected but I kept telling myself, that is normal because I wanted to save energy. You want to run very slow in the beginning so have the energy to push at the end. I got my experience from running a lot marathons. I know 100 miler is nothing like a marathon, but principle should be the same. I was not too worry about my pace. The slower the better as long as I am ahead of the curve.

    I was doing mental math on the distance/time. I know as long as I keep a 3 mile pace I would be able to finish. 3*33 hrs = 99 miles. 3 mile pace is like 20 minutes per mile. I was not too worry about that because I was doing around 4-5 miles per hours at the time and banking the extra mile. So I saw my speed as a graph in my head and comparing that to the minimum/maximum time allowed for the race. I was planning to bank a lot of extra miles. All this though was wishful thinking, soon throughout the night I was constantly battling with just barely staying ahead the curve and that was a serious problem.

    9:00 pm. I reached the first neighborhood and turning off the from the main street. I think in a real race there would be a race station there. This course previously was used in a real race. I tried to drink conservatively. Yet the night was hot. I was hot and sweating. I finished all the water in my flask. This neighborhood has a local runner who knew our race director well, since it was mentioned in the turn direction. The turnsheet was telling people to wave to the guy and pee in his lawn and steal his moonshine etc. I like that. Well I didn’t know the guy and didn’t feel comfortable of stopping by his place drink his stuff and relieve myself. There was no need I still have plenty of water, or so I thought.

    9:30-10:00 pm. Now it was completely dark. The moon was up. A full moon or close to it but I didn’t have enough light to see. I was already suffering from night blindness from my flashlight and from the constantly checking the turnsheet. This section took me into a trail system. There was one car left in the park parking lot – they shined their light at me – newbies, you don’t do that to people because you blind them. They were mounting their bikes on the back of the car. I was really exhausted. This trail system had been my nightmare during my preparation because the only instruction on the turnsheet was to find the semetary and use the GPS map. I couldn’t use the GPS map. There were ton of trails and side branches. The sign at the gate said park close at dark! I never break any law / local ordinances before. But I had to do this. We are going to YOLO this, I was telling myself.

    I was already very tired by then. There was a picnic table. I sat down. Restudied the map and gps map. Luckily the trail has their own map too and signage. They numbered the various points, which made it easy, I just had to go from one numbered point to the next, like in frisbee golf. This was a new map I didn’t have before the race and I wish I did. But studying the new map I had an idea how the race path would take. So after eating some fruit gummies, I started off. In my head it seemed just few minutes break but I probably stayed for 20-30 mintutes or even more. It was way too long to check the direction. However, I said I have to take this slow because I don’t want to get lost in the park. This was the kind of pace for my whole race. None of this usually happened in my other races. I was both panicking internally yet at the same time was telling myself, I am still ahead of the game.

    There were a lot of turns in the park. But each turn there was a park sign with a map. Each turn was only about few hundred feet/yards away, very short distance. I did not run. I just hiked. It was slow going but I told myself it is dark, and I was on a trail I never been on before. There are some technical stuffs, rocks, branches, hill climbs and downhill, all the elements that can disable me. Once you are hurt, the 100 mile run would be over. I was only maybe 10% of 100 miles done and there was still a long way to go. I do love trail. I love night run because it is intense. At any other time, this would have been my joy. Yet I had to control myself not to run it. It was not my turf. I wish I had a trail buddy there.

    10:00 pm. I found the semetary. I heard noises there and thought people were partying up there. However once I reached it there was no one there. I know those were noises from real people. Ghosts and supernatural stuff does not scare me. At least not that night. In my mind I got to do this 100 miler, no matter what. I checked my watch and know I was way behind schedule. I wanted to reach the Braves Stadium by 10 pm and now it was 10 pm I was still stuck in the trail system.

    Luckily the crazy trail section ended shortly after and I was on a wide bike path, which was very runnable. I ran on many bike paths before. I felt I finally could do some speed work then. There was one biker passing me from the opposite direction. I was not alone. The moon was higher and brighter.

    11:00 pm. Sometime later I reached Acker Mill Ln/Rd. Hallelujah. I saw my first convenience store. I think the time was close to 11. All my water was out by then. I went in. Refilled. Got some soft drink. I don’t remember what. Could have been mountain dew since that is my favorite. During the whole run, I tried many different drinks as many as possible! Heavenly for me to drink sodas. The break was much longer than I wanted. But got to push on.

    Things got a little hazy from there. I was still optimistic. So far I hadn’t made any wrong turn, just the park and direction was slowing me. Then the trail splitted. I saw the direction and I know I had to leave the bike trail at some point to get on the road. But when I did, I arrived at a street crossing not mentioned in the turnsheet. I checked the GPS, GPS showed I was off track. Looking back it now I was just a little bit off, maybe like a few dozen yards. I was actually in the right place. In my mind though I thought I was half mile off, the scale on the google map always confused me. I thought I have to follow the trail a little bit more (the turnsheet distance might be off here too), So I went back on the bike trail. This was my first mistake of the night.

    I was in my best mood. My body finally “warmed up”. This was where I could really run for hours and run fast. I felt strength and I love night run on an empty trail and so I pushed on. It was uphill too and I love hill work, that my strong suit. So I poured my strength out and turned off my mind. I was in zone so to speak. You know it. I was running blindly into the wrong trail.

    Maybe for a mile or even two, my spider sense told me to stop. I then realized then there was no more right turn. Either the turn sheet is screwy or I am off track. I pulled out my phone quickly checked the map and the route track (at that time my phone still worked and it had the race route showing). OMG I was completely off. Miles off. I really hated myself then, knowing in my heart, I was probably at the right place in the beginning and blindly ran these extra miles. Nothing worse than having to turn around and run those miles again (I think I was now 1.5 miles away from the turn off). No matter, it is a 100 mile run. I had built enough buffer for stupid mistake like this.

    It brought to mind of my recent made running friend, who did the Black Forest Ultra in PA earlier in the year. He told me his story of getting lost early in the race and later couldn’t finish the race due to being out of time. He was the fastest dude I met running mountain trails. I had a sinking feeling, this could be me, though I could run fast, but as long as I keep making silly wrong turns, I would be done for.

    12:00 am. I headed back to the turn off point, much more slowly. I believe I was walking back instead of running. Got off the trail finally at the right place. Checked the turnsheet and GPS. It did mention about Highway Interstate N some point at where I was confused. The turn direction was to follow the yellow line (and I found it). No matter. I crossed road. I was so close to the Braves Stadium at the time and I understood the geography of the place, having studied this part in my race preparation, so even without the turnsheet I could navigate this part. Sometimes your own instinct is better than the directions given. It was past midnight by then. Took some pictures of the stadium. A lot of people were hanging out at the the Battery. I guess it was a hip place to hangout. They have bars and stuffs. The turnsheet instructions were very detailed here. It was like a scarvenger hunt. Look for the Big Baseball. Run under it. Look for such and such Hall, which I didn’t know it was a drafthouse. But I found it after wandering around the place. Look for set of four stairs, didn’t find those. I went down a different stair and crossed a wrong street.

    My spider sense said I was lost. Headed back to my last known location. Forget about the set of stairs, moving on to the next instructions, it said look for the parking lot. There were like 6-7 lots there. They all have color code. I wish the RD would say, enter the Orange Lot or the Red Lot. I lost so much time at the Braves stadium. Those were all useless instructions. The key was to find the predestrian pathway to cross over the interstate outside the stadium. The most simply instruction for myself if I am going to redo this is just follow the private road (battery rd) around the standium, maybe take 10-15 minutes and get out of there. No need to play scravenger hunt in the ball park, looking for this and that landmark, which was completely waste of time. I think I lost 30-60 minutes there looking for this and that clues. The predestrian skywalk was easy to find. Jeeze. That was only thing needed.

    1:00 am. Bye bye stadium. I guess it was 1 am by now. I was still pretty fresh. My blood was flowing. I had some setbacks but again night was still early. I had maybe 5 hours more of darkness and I could do another 20-30 miles before day break. I got to make a lot miles now the night is a bit cooler. I was still sweating bucket but the temperature was around 80 degree. I was wearing long sleeves and felt like 90-100 inside.

    My next point was to reach 26 miles/marathon. At the stadium my watch was reading 19-20 miles. In my mind I have less than 10 miles to do. 26 mile point did not seem that far. 6 hours for 20 miles. 6×5, 30 hours for 100 miles. I was still in the game. By Golly that was not true. 26 mile point was at a street called Tuxedo. I don’t know what happened next but this 6 miles took me forever to get there. Really literally the almost the whole night to get there.

    Things are very vagued here, maybe because it was deep in the night. Might be my sleeplessness is causing memory lapse. Well I had to go back onto the trail. I didn’t mind. I think it was pretty easy. I got off the trail again, didn’t know where or when. The next neighborhood was pretty confusing. I had to make a turn into an unmarked street called green river something. The turn sheet instruction was clear about looking for the house address on the brickwall, but I must have fallen asleep at this point. I was in my rhythm again and I just wanted to run for a long time. I didn’t like to pause and check the turnsheet every two-three minutes.

    As such I passed the turn and also continued for half mile or more again uphill I think. Again hated myself for running the extra mile as I headed back. I found the turn now I was awake. The whole neighborhood was pretty confusing. It was small like a parking lot, or square, with a lot of small houses. It was a music school or something but no one was around. I knew this during my preparation. You have to go behind a big parking deck etc. I got lost many times there and had to stop each time, checked my map, checked my turnsheet, checked map, double checked. There were many turns. This maze was worse than the Stadium. I cursed at the turnsheet. At least at the Stadium, there were signage and things were big and massive (and logical). Here most roads don’t have signs because they are private roads. They even used chain link to block off some of them. I found the church parking lot the turnsheet mentioned. It was a humongous church. I felt confident of being back on track.

    2:00 am. Tuxedo Rd was where I had to turn but it was still no where in sight. I passed through the pacer community. That was the road name. West Pace something. At this point I really wanted to use the restroom. But we were in a residential. I wouldn’t pee in people lawns. The thought did pass my mind a coupple times. Just go behind a tree. No one sees you, but who know I am in a rich neighborhood. They sure will have all kind of sensors and night vision camera. There are a lot of nice houses. Massive mansions. Yet no sidewalk. What happened next was the pacer road measurement was conpletely wrong! I think on the turnsheet the distance was like .4 mile but in actuality that stretch was like 3-4 miles long. A big different. I don’t remember how I handled my pee problem. I think I held it in until morning at a potty station.

    3:00 am. I made it to 26.2. By that point my watch was showing 30/32 miles – 50K. I was way way behind. 50k now according to my watch but on the turnsheet, I had only ran a marathon. I was streaming both internally and externally. 8 hours for marathon was insanely slow. I got to do 3 more. (8×4, means my ETA is now 32 hours to finish the race). I was still in the game, but my speed advantage was dwindling. My next target was to make it to mile 50k mark per turnsheet, not by my watch mile. That is only about a 10K, no a 8K. It shouldn’t be that long. However. The Tuxedo community is also massive. Also a very rich community. Yet no sidewalk. Some of the distances were also off. So I was running blind most of the time. I missed every single of my turns. Most costly was the last turn. I think I was another half mile or mile passed the turn had to come back. This on the turnsheet was correct. It was a real 0.1 mile, but I ran 1 mile more. Purely was my mistake here. I think every street there was called Tuxedo. It was a Tuxedo nightmare. And people there didn’t sleep either. Where all these cars going in the middle of the night 4 AM for God’s sake? There was no sidewalk, but I constantly had to get off the road to let cars pass by.

    I said I must push on. I still got this. I was still maybe an hour ahead of the buzzard. Worse outcome would be I just on pace and would have to battle the pressure of the cutoff the whole way. The battle of attrition I call it.

    5:00 am. Long story short. It was like 4/5 am I got to 50K. I was very upset by this time. All my advantage was now gone. I was barely making the cutoff if there was one. Soon it would be dawn. The sun would be up and a hot day expected. My goal to run to 50 mile during the night failed. Epic Fail, because I only did 30 miles in the last 10 hours. My night time advantage was gone. I didn’t and couldn’t accept that the turnsheet was wrong. I felt I was just running too slow. Indeed I was too slow. I was beating the air. I was not sleepy but frustrated. There were many people on the road. I passed by what I thought was a strip club. People were all standing outside making out and stuff. Laughing and making noises.

    6:00 am. The rest of the night was uneventful. I got to Beltline, another bike path/ trail to rail exactly at the cutoff, maybe 10 minutes after the cutoff. I was afraid I couldn’t find it. This was one of the longer segment in the first half. Straight into downtown Atlanta. The morning had dawn. People were out now. I looked at joggers and jealous at their speed because they were fresh. I used to run like they do. Fast. Now I was slowly plodding along one step at a time. Even the slowest person was passing me. I had ran the whole night more than 12/13 hours now into the race. I was not sorry because I knew I had another 20+ hours to go. I felt my heart was exploding and legs were heavy. My next goal is to reach 50 miles. I was hoping to get there by a certain time, I was thinking noon-ish. I felt I could still make it. I was hoping to rewach Stone Mountain by 1/2 pm. If I do, I am still in the game. Even if 3 Pm I would still be OK.

    7:00 am. Every step was hard. My strategy was to do 1/3 2/3. Run one mile walk two. I had no problem at the Beltline. I sensed my pace increased. Didn’t feel good but I was catching up all the lost minutes. After that I got into the city of Atlanta. My progress was slow but enjoyed all the sights the city had to offer. The city needs a lot of fixings. I got to the Olympic part. The environment was not welcoming. The neighborhood was scketchy. I was disappointed but also kind of expected it from the rumors I have heard. Atlanta there was no paradise. It is not a shiny city as seen from afar.

    10:00 am. It was very slow going. Hours ticked by. Orginally I wanted to get to Stone Mnt by 10. 10 AM went by. I was still in the middle of downtown Atlanta. My next goal was to get to mile 50. Stone mountain was at mile 62. However mile 50 seemed so far away. Of course I had done 10 extra miles already from getting lost. That was like 2-3 hours lost time. At this point the turn ditections had become easier. There were only a few streets. No more scravenger hunting. There were still a couple weird comments from the RD, like heading to L5A, something like that. The clue was completely over my head, and I just ignored it. I understood, the race was tailored to the local runners, because they would recognized the references.

    12:00 pm. Each Road was like like 5 miles long. I no longer cared about if the turnsheet was wrong or not. The longest segment was Josiah L William Rd. It was forever. I only used the paper map by now since my phone was acting up. I lost internet so along with everything. However, my map does not correspond to reality. The street names were changed. My map showed the older names. It was frustrating. (No one makes paper map any more, hence map being outdated). I knew I was on the right track but there is no way to be certain exactly where I was or which street I just passed. No matter because there was no turn, just one straight road.

    1:00 pm. I got to mile 50 around 1-2 pm. I was joyous. It was very hot by then. I made countless stops to stores and got water and sodas. I stopped a bit maybe 30 minutes for lunch at a lake. Tuna – I had those tuna for salad/sandwich, that was probably the best I had in the whole race. I was definitely behind on my calories count. I felt it in every step/but didn’t realized it at the time. I thought I was just low on sodium. I know I was very behind schedule too. I still had 10 more miles to go to get to stone mnt. In my mind I could do it. It wouldn’t be too late. I felt if I can still get to Stone Mountain by 5 I would still be in the game. I could still finish this race. 50 miles mark was a good point because you could fold it in half to get you expected finish time. I guess I got there in 17 hours. So my finishing time would be 34 hours. The race gave 34 hours. I knew I had about 1 hour to spare. I knew I wouldn’t make any wrong turn any more, So the last 50 miles would be faster/ taking less time. Yes a reverse split! I was still cheerful as I sent in my progress to the Facebook page. I had my internet back, but I could no longer bring the map track back up. I stopped using the phone. My watch was already showing mile 57 something, might have been mile 60. I was happily chatting away! I got my strength back to run.

    As I was thinking, how crazy it would be to do a reverse split on a 100 miler. People will laugh at me. Only I knew the truth because of the extra miles I had been putting in and it is possible to do a reverse split.

    Afternoon: Hours ticked by. I saw the looming dark clouds. I read the forecast that there would be 30% chance of a thunderstorm in the afternoon. It was both welcoming as well as fearsome. I need a cool off. A rain would do me good. Yet I don’t like getting wet. I did not pack a rain jacket, lack of room. I got to ascend the mountain before the storm. It would not be good to be up there during it or after it. It is an exposed place of granite rock, and very slipery when wet, like standing or wet marble at an incline. I couldn’t able to ascend if ground is wet. I was walking now most of the time. No more 1/3 – 2/3 thing. It was very hot. Rain didn’t come.

    I expected this. I wouldn’t mind walking because when evening comes I could run again. Walking is fine as long as I could make close to 3 miles an hour, I wouldn’t be that far behind. I saw I was making around 2.8-3.0 pace. So I was good. I was three hours away from the Mountain. I was keeping track of all the miles/minutes gains and losses. I still had an hour to spare according to my mind clock. I still had hope! I could do this. I had about 14-15 hours left in the race, surely I could do it, as long as I don’t get lost. The second should be easier than the first half. There were only two major roads, El La Ponza something and Peachtree. I will be doing 40 miles on those.

    Late afternoon. I got to Stone Mountain around 4:30. It was longer than I thought. I was exhausted. I got to a bench. I didn’t want to tackle the mountain yet. Sun was blazing. I sat. Fixed my feet. I had blisters. Cleaned those up. Wiped myself down with a wet wipe. Cooled down. my water was out but I know I can get them after the mountain part. There is a gas station immediately at the bottom. I was at the bench maybe 45-60 minutes. It was an unwise decision. I don’t know why I did it, but it was too hot at the time. I wanted to lay down and sleep. However I was not sleepy. The advice someone gave me before the race is you have to constantly make forward progress. Once you stop, you are pretty much done. I had a sense as I laid on the bench, this is Waterloo. I might not make it pass this point. Such thoughts scared me. I gathered my strength and got up. Up to the Mountain I went.

    5:30 pm. what I didn’t realize is how hot the afternoon was and how hard the trail up the Stone Mountain could be. As expected I was completely exposed on the bare rock. The reflected heat was hot. It is also about a mile up. Yet unlike Kennesaw, this was a technical climb. It is boulder scrambling. Running was out of my mind. If I am fresh, yes, it would be a great run, but not in my current condition. I labored up. Some parts, I had to get on my hands and feet. I used the railing but it was burning hot. If I slip I would be rolling off the mountain. I think it took more than an hour to reach the summit. Near the summit there was a tree and sat down on a boulder under the tree. Dude, someone pooped there, nasty. All the toilet paper and poops. Dude. they supposed to carry their poops down the mountain.

    Anyway, I had a bit more to go. I didn’t want to come back down. I explored a bit hoping there would be a shop or restaurant up there. There was a building in the distance. When I got there. Nope. It was closed.

    6:00 pm. I slowly made my way down. I think by then it was six PM. The turn sheet said used the path or the service road. I chose the service road thinking it would be easier. It was longer. I got lost too and went down on a side trail. But I descended. Just kept going down till you get to the bottom. I thought I was still on the right track. I got to Robert Lee Rd. The turnsheet said follow Robert Lee Rd to the parking lot. Here I didn’t check the map. It might have been my phone was quarky or my head was from heat exhausion, but I made the worse decision in the whole race. I thought either way Robert Rd would take you to the parking lot. I took the right but it should have been the left. I think I walked 2-3 miles before realizing I wouldn’t get to the main parking lot. Holy guacamoly. Only way of course was to backtrack. I was fuming.

    7:00 pm. I knew it. Race was over. There is no recourse. I did do the calculation in my head. That turn was the last straw that broke this camel’s back. All hope was lost. I told myself I could not afford any mistake and here I was. I cried. I got back there to the main parking lot, still not at mile 62.2 yet, but my watch already showed 70+ miles done. The park was closed by now. I was still using the turnsheet (I think it did say take a left on Robert Lee). Somehow, I overshot the turn off. I went to what I thought was another exit but the gate for that was closed. I couldn’t get out. It was anticlimatic. I no longer cared how long it would take to get me out the park. The parking lot was empty now. I was pretty sure before my ascend I read, park close at dusk. Now was only 7. We had one to two more hours till sundown, why is the park closed? Later, I read it was because of July 4th celebration, and earlier they had a protest, that might have led to closing the park early. I didn’t know any of this until the next day. The protest made it on the evening news – about armed men parading around at the site.

    The South revered their Civil War Heritage but in the current climate that is seen as racist. I grew up in the South and the Confederacy was always seen as pleasing to me. I did not know I was indoctrinated and came to accept a lot of Southern symbolism and values. What were passed as honor and glory was truly a veil to cover the dark history that was rarely mentioned, supression/slavery/Jim Crows. Off topic, I know, though I grew up in the South, no one would consider me their southern boy, because I look Chinese! Silly for me to claim the Southern Heritage. My great-great-great Grandfather didn’t fought in it. In the end, the thing what matters is you have to treat people with respect and dignity. Those things, like Stonewall statues, was an era past. They fought for the wrong causes and lost (South kept saying state rights) and it is time to move on. Systemic racism is real both in the South and in the North. Blacks are being treated as second class citizens and I believe as an immigrant I fare much better. Any way. enough ranting. It is a hard topic.

    Well the first thing is I need to get myself out of the park. I could climb the fence, but I was too tired. I didn’t want to break anything (bones). I didn’t have the comfident that I could do it safely. Luckily a park officer showed up. He pointed me and this other guy who was also stucked inside how to get out. We had to walk maybe quarter mile – half mile to the other gate. Surely that gate was open for exit and I totally missed it the first time I passed by. There was an officer there. I guess I was afraid getting near the officer the first time so totally discounted it to be a way out.

    I sent in my fairwell on the race Facebook group page. Finishing the 100 miler was no longer within my reach. I know I still have 10 hours left to do about 40+ miles. Technically in good time, 4 miles an hour is easy peacy, but not today. I could barely get two miles an hour. I had hope once darkness falls my faster pace would return. I wrote to them that I was quitting. They were very supportive saying in this kind of heat and for me to put in 100K is no easy feat. I love them. O you could make friends anywhere you go in the running community.

    In the back of my mind, I remembered one of my race director (for the OGU) said, at some point in an ultra you would come to a time you want to quit. He said, he always tell his runners to sit a bit, cool down, and maybe half hour later, you would find the strength to do it, so don’t quit too soon.

    After I posted the message on the race Facebook group, I felt a sense of relieve. No longer was I worry about finishing or clock management. I walked on. I really wanted to call an uber right there and then and get off the mountain, but I said, I should pause a bit even though I pretty sure I wanted to quit. I continued using the turnsheet and got to Main St. This next few directions were all easy. I knew them by heart. There was the gas station before a new bike trail start. I went in. Watered up. Got soda. Got batteries for my headlamp, even though I already decided to quit, one part of me wanted to continue on, and I would need strong light once darkness falls. I brought my dinner. I didn’t remember what I ate. I wanted noodle soup but they didn’t have it. I think I ate a can of peaches and emptied a bottle of muscle milk. I felt great. But dinner costed me another hour I believe. Yet I didn’t care because I was no longer in the race.

    8:00 pm. It has been 25 hours since I started. I traveled a bit more, maybe one or two more miles and got to the next gas station. Speedway. The sun was setting and I can see that. My decision was if I press on, it would be dark soon. But now I was really sure I wanted to quit. My pace did not return. My rash burn was bothering me all over. I could apply gel and lotion to fix them, but since I am already quitting, and where I was still kind of a remote place. I rather getting pickup during the daylight hours than in the dark. I was telling myself, is there any value to push on until midnight or even 10 o’clock? I already reached my goal to make it to mile 62 on the turnsheet. The answer was yes, I got to put in my miles for the other virtual race, Tennessee GVRAT, however, that is so silly. I got two months to do that one. So I should make the speedway gas station as my final (finishing) point. I smelled awful. Even I couldn’t stand my own stench. Only after you stop you started to notice all kinds of things. I went in to the Speedway and brough the Axe deoderant and sprayed myself plenty. Still didn’t smell good. The Uber took quite a while to get to me. There was no where to go but to wait for the Uber.

    8:30 pm. My garmin indicated 77 miles done. I took one more look and reluctantly pressed the stop button. 25:35 (25 hours and 35 minutes). I think 25 minutes was waiting for the uber. My race was officially over. Race mile though was 62-63 miles.

    The rest of the adventure was just that. I was fell asleep the moment I got in the uber. No longer could I stay awake. The night was cool. The driver had his window down – maybe I was too stinky or maybe due to fear of coronavirus. He was young, in his twenty or even late teens. He was the first Uber guy with his mask on the whole time. The price was very reasonable I think $25 and not $90. My first Uber guy did not wear a mask! But the first guy picked me up in a BMW. I think the second one was a toyota. I respected what this guy did though. I had my own mask on too. The ride was long too, maybe an hour or more to the hotel near the airport where I stayed for the night and flew back in the morning.

    I did not regret the decision to quit. There is no if, like I could finish or not. Not going to play Monday Quarterbacking. What’s done was done. I did not feel badly that I did not tough it out. I felt I gave enough to the race. It was not my all, but enough at the right point. I knew I still had some left in the tank, meaning I had not reach my limit. At least I felt I still have about 20 miles and might able to squeeze 30 miles. But to go for that emptying the tank point, I felt I would hurt my foundation and the risk was very high I might not reach the finish point even if I gave my all (100% sure I wouldn’t able to do it). It was no longer fun. I was cutting my loss early.

    I hated getting lost. I hated hours wasted at various places. Yet I knew I could still come back and do again. I had great confident I definitely can redo this race and finish it. I felt I already won it – a weird feeling in what seemingly a failure, but I felt I really achieved my objective, that is to reach 100K. 100 miler is just that, you have to come up solution for the unexpected during the race, being flexible and to be able to push on. The last 40 miles were an insurmountable problem for me at the time.

    I am not making light the 40+ miles left to do and those would not be easy miles. I am not comparing myself to those who did the remaining 40 miles and toughened it out. I respect greatly those who finished. 100 miles is no joke.