In awe

Tag: 2025

  • [694] Devil Dog 100 (4x)

    December – another year gone by.

    I finished the year with my own tradition of running the last ultra at Devil Dog Ultras (100).  I have gone to this race for the last five years. (2024 race report).

    To me it is a low stress, fun, but also known as a sneaky hard race, which it still surprises me after so many times how hard it is. 

    I usually don’t train for it but just go in and wing it.

    Some people got a natural talent.  Mine is to squeak it out and that I did it again.

    I think the downfall comes when people underestimated how hard the race is. Pointing finger at me!

    Speaking from experience, I did not finish (DNF) this race on my first try at their 100k distance. Ever since, I got a bit better at it.

    The finishing rate for this 100 miler is around 50 percent to a low 30%.  This is surprisingly low since the trail is not that hard (just my opinion) and is in the suburb of Washington DC, meaning it is easily accessible for training and the terrain is nothing like on top of a mountain or something. It is in a Forest Park, meaning both easy and hard.

     This year 61 runners finished out of 112 started, and 8 did not show up, which put it right over 50% and this is a good year with the most finishers ever.  The race was sold out too this year.  I remember a year when only 37 people finished, was that last year maybe? That speaks a lot.  The race is definitely sneaky hard.

    I think it is hard because there are slight elevation changes (rolling hills) and roots and a little bit of technical footwork where it feels very runnable, but as the miles pile up, with a slight unfavoritable condition like a drop in temperature (always since it is winter)  would easily derail one’s race plan. Even obe slight fall would do it.  I took two falls this time and twerked my ankle twice. Each could have been a race ending event, but I walked it off.

    While I love running other 100 mile races, such as The Massanutten 100 or Vermont 100 and calling those my favorites, my action proves stronger than words, that Devil Dog 100 is the one race I have come back again and again. I might want to get a 1000 mile, joke one would receive a puppy.

      I almost could not finish it this year or the last year or the year before that.  I have always firted with cutoffs and this time around too.

    I thought I had a plan coming into the race.  I set a goal to run 17 min pace first 33 miles and 18 min pace for 2nd third and 19 min pace for the final third.  And it is a slow progression, easing my way to the finish two a 31 hour finishing.  It was a bit ambitious, I finished at 31:22 (hours).

    My body and my feet had a different goal.  It ended up being moving slower than I wanted to, 18:05 min (per mile) first third, and 19:30 second third and then 18:30 final third. Noting it down for future planning, if I happen to reread it before my next Devil Dog.

    So what happened?  The usual.  I could not run fast maybe due to lack of training or feet just not ready for the trail.

    On the very first loop, I rolled my ankle on a flat section about halfway in maybe at mile 10 or 12.  And it hurt. Silly me. I went limping to walk it off.

    Then with maybe 3 miles left in the first loop, I slipped and landed on my butt because I was trying to look cool like everyone else running down a steep hill.  The cooler 50k people people were passing me at the time.  In my mind, I still got that cool light steps of flying down a hill and I wanted to be like them.  Nope. Not any more. The back of my shoe slipped and down I went. Luckily, I sat on my butt and all the cool kids from behind started asking if I was okay. Embarrassing.  Me an old man trying to run and fall. A fellow runner, Bruce, who is a bit older than me was right behind but did not comment.  Then he ran off and I did not see him again until the last loop.  Apparently he gained an hour on me by the third loop.  That is quite impressive.

     So my pace was not going well.  I started slow on my first loop and ended up even slower in subsequent 4 loops.

    It is a typical ultra thing.  I was wishfully thinking I could do a reverse split.  I proud that I did pull it through for a finish.  No reverse split but did save the race. It took me all effort.

    I ended up pushing harder to make the late cutoffs.  It was never fun to chase cutoffs. 

    Overall, the race was peaceful.  I have done it so many times and each time is a little different.  Some years I was very excited.  Last year was cold.  This year was still cold with light snow covering the ground. But we are thankful the worst such as freezing rain that was forecasted a week out did not occur. 

    The temperature was 37F (the car reading) in early morning and it got to maybe low 50s.  Overnight dropped again to high 20s and low 30s.  Wind was calm.  It was foggy at times.

    It was not as cold as last year (17F). Still, it felt pretty cold without proper clothing.

    I did prepared by dressing well though.  Two layers, shirt underneath, and a long sleeve on the outside.  I had a winter coat on while waiting for the start and ditched it once we got moving. Gloves, hat, bluffs, arm sleeves, and a windbreaker or light jacket too is almost a must.  Note, the park is big so there are some places that feel cooler than in another.  So from time to time, we either put on or pull off what we were wearing.  I think Camp Gunny is a bit nippier than the rest of the course.

    At night, I added a third layer, it was a thin thermo material, maybe wool on the outside and that did the trick for me.  I threw on a fourth layer, a light windbreaker after midnight.  Since I was moving (running) fast to chase (soft) cutoffs, I did not feel the cold. In the past years, I would put a hoodie or even a winter coat in the middle of the night because my pace was too slow to generate enough heat.  Night time was near 20s, subfreezing temperature and many people quitted because of the cold.

    Coming into the race with prior years’ experience, I told myself not to worry too much about the race, but I did. 

    I made a pace chart on a spreadsheet, searching things for my drop bags, packing them and delivering them to the race a day before, and messing with my nutrition plan.  It was hectic trying to pick up bibs two days out.  Then I went to the race site again the day before.  Plus, I did couple training runs there a few weeks out.

    I was rushing to get the right stuff into drop bags even up to the last minutes.  I started purchasing my food and supplies couple weeks out! The best purchased I did was headlamps from Costco for $25. They served me well, maybe more on it later.  I need another pack because it was such a good deal.

    The race consisted of 5 loops of 20 miles.  Well, technically the first loop is 23 miles and the rest then are 19 miles.  In my mind though, I treated them as equal distance for easy math/splits in my head.  Generally, I was aiming for 6-6:15 ish hours per loop.  With 5 loops meaning 30 hour ish finishing time. The race allows for 32 hours but really one should aim for 31 hours due to the earlier than expected cutoff on the last loop. You have to start the last loop with more than 6.5 hours or else it is very tough to finish. I personally, recommending minimum 7 hours for the last loop.  Start the last looo at 7 AM and will be fine.  For the 100K, start the last loop by 6/6:30 PM. Otherwise, tricky. Yes, the 100 milers could go at the 100k pace (almost, maybe at the first or 2nd loop).

    There are three aid stations on the course with 3 additional water only locations.  However this year, I did not use any water-only station to save time.  I might reconsider that in future race as part of my race strategy.  It worked out well this year for not stopping for water at any station but the first one.

    I drank only about 1L of water sometimes even less on an  entire loop 20 mile loop.

    I did have an extra 12-16 oz of gaterade or various other liquid that I would sip for time to time.  I actually did not use my extra bottle until the third loop. I had extra liquid like Red Bull in my drop bags, but because I was short on time, I did not get to use my drop bags often. Later in the race, I just skipped by aid stations or drop bags due to lack of time.

    Oh, I wasn’t going to carry the extra Gatorade bottle but someone forgot it in the dinning area before the start of the race and a volunteer thought it was mine and rushed out with it saying I’ve forgotten it, so I took it. It was unopened.  It might have been someone’s race plan to run with a bottle of Gatorade. Sorry, but thank you for whoever left me the bottle in the dinning hall. I would complain that it was a zero calorie version, but free is free. 

    I started off slow at the back of the pack and met other people around my pace.  My friend Bruce was there and I wanted to run with him  and so was Scott and his son Brandon.  Then there was Kevin. Charlie, John, Jeremy, Caleb and Ben we met and chatted before race but they were way far ahead.  I met my idol Phil for the first time, who I only know through his race reports for Eastern States.  I finally met him in person.  I think it was awesome.  As the race got going we settled into our own pace.  I was mostly with Scott and Bruce on the first loop though later they too either took off or fell behind my pace by the second loop. Scott’s wife was kind enough to crew me too at various aid stations before Scott and son dropped out. I was pressing for time then and it was good to have someone to help the resupplying when I came in. She was back at the finish to cheer.

    The course has a portion of out and back and so I got to see some faster runners.  Jeremy and friends were 3 miles ahead of me by end of the first loop.  I anchored in the rear as the unofficial sweeper I called myself.  I came across Sisou too twice, end of the first loop and then third loop. We chatted and were happily reunited again.

    First two loops I maintained an average pace of 18 min.  I wished I could have gone out faster. I thought I was doing great too on the third loop but I realized by the end of it, I was slipping behind with my pace.  I wanted to finish the third loop around 12:30 am but I did not come in until 1:15 am.  This makes finishing the fourth loop by 7:30 am tough. I realized I would have to run for it to make the cutoff.

    Volunteers were great.  I arrived middle of the night at Gunny 2:45 am, and I was going to be quick.  They brought me hot cider. I was going to skip the aid station table.  I drank it while I swapped out my headlamp for a fresh one.  Note, pro tip, don’t change the batteries but swap to a new/fresh lamp to save time.

      I was wearing the new headlamp I just brought from Costco.  They could last 7 hours on low and 3-4 hours on medium brightness and 2 hours on high.  I had it for 5-6 hours and I felt safer to swap it out before it dies.  They were available at Costco, 3 for $25. Sorry don’t know the brand. They were well worth the money spent.  They work like a $100 headlamp with all the features such as using rechargeable as well as can be used with AAA batteries.  I trusted plain AAA battery headlamps over rechargeable ones in the past because I know with new batteries they will last me through the night but with rechargeable ones, you can’t ever be certain.

    I got to say it works out well.  The downside with AAA headlamps is they are dim.  Costco ones are bright and the battery life is good enough. It just a bit heavier in my opinion but about just slightly more than my normal AAA headlamps. I had heavier lamps in the past. Of course, some of those $100 ones are super light.

    So I started chasing my self imposed cutoffs on the fourth loop.  I wanted to be at Gunny (mile 66/67) by 3:15 am and I arrived by 2:42 am.  That was really good.  I surprised myself of able to move that fast this late stage in the race.  I knew I did it in previous years but this time was a bit harder without a pacer to draw motivation from.

    I wanted to arrived next at Toofy by no later than 5:25 am and I did it by 5:12 am.  If any later, I would not make the first morning cutoff.  Then I wanted to reach Camp Remi (mile 81) by 7:25 (7:30 is the first official hard cutoff), I arrived there at 7:12 am.  I added some cushion to my cutoffs.  It was not right up to the cutoff, but generally 10-15 minutes to spare.

    I had an extra motivation because about 6 miles out from Remi (middle of the fourth loop), I met Alex, who is a godsends fellow runner, as I was passing people one after another and I thought he was struggling on his 4th loop and did not realize he was on his fifth and last loop.  He was in pain at the time was stopping for some ibuprofen (note, not recommended for ultra runners to take but that seems to what everyone I know does). He said he promised his wife to be finishing around 7 AM.  So he and I partnered up, though none of us was going to wait for each other.  We spurred each other on to run our heart out and chatted on hill climbs when slowed down.  I had to make my morning cutoff, but he had a faster pace than me and is a really good strong runner.  So we ran and we made it.  He made it in like at 7:05. I arrived at 7:12, just a bit after he did.

    I still had a final lap to go.  There, Bruce asked if I am going out again or I asked him the same thing.  I was suprised to see him still there. While I just got in so I needed fueling on water and stuff, he was ready to go.  He waited for me a bit and that might be his undoing because he unfortunately missed a later cutoff by a few minutes. I believe he would have finished, if he got out the station ahead of me instead of waiting.

      I knew the day time would warm up and I wanted to ditch my layers.  I kept my gloves because my hands were freezing.  That is another story of misplacing my gloves and head bluffs in my drop bags that I could not find them when I needed them. So my hands were cold to freezing the whole previous day until night fall when I realized I could use a spare set of socks as mitten and I wore my sock mittens.  I finally found my gloves later on and had them on the whole final 6 hours of the race.  Only regret was I did not took off my long pants in the morning.  I could have ran with just shorts I had on underneath.  The frictions and heat created chaeffing during the morning time.

    Well, Bruce left first (not by much though) but I caught up in no time.  We had to get to Gunny by 9:00.  So I was running my heart out again and did not wait for Bruce, with the best hope of reaching it by 8:45. Running is a cruel sport. At any other time, I would have stopped to chat and walk with Bruce. I arrived at Gunny around 8:43.  It gave me couple minutes of buffer for my next cutoff attempt.

    The next cutoff at Toofy, which is mile 94 is at 11:30.  I made some wrong mental math errors thinking I now have three hours to get there instead of 2 and half hours. So I wasted a bit of time with  slow walking.  I told myself, I pressed hard on the last loop and it took me 2.5 hours to get to Toofy, so if I realy want to make the cutoff, I should be running just as hard as the last loop regardless what the math says.  So I started running all over again, pushing my pace at every opportunity.  I got there by 11:20.  The plan was to arrive before 11:25.  I prayed hard as I ran, please don’t let me be cut with just a few minutes over. I was not sute how strict the aid station captain/timer was (the Bligans), though they are my friends. Rules are rules I told myself. I have to make a good effort to arrive on time.

    From Toofy to Gunny, I knew I had enough time to finish. Another 2.5 hours but only 6 miles to go instead of 8.5 miles on my the last push.  My pace slacked down a bit.  I sat at every bench available whenever I saw one to rest my feet.  The first two miles after Toofy was an eternity.  Then I toughened up mentally because if I had continued at the current pace, I might not make it in by 2 pm.  I must aim to reach the unmanned water station at midway (mile 97). I seriously believe I was the very last one on the course. So I again tried to go at a faster pace by brisk walking.  I reached it around 12:30. I wanted to let Caroline know I had only 3 miles to go, but phone had no signal. 

    These last three miles are familiar to me.  I tried to memorize every feature there is in my previous loops.  I said there are two big hills to climb and three bridges to cross. And however many rock piles (1) to climb over.  I was expecting every unusual tree and turn. I got to the final turn at 1:15.  Caroline was waving at me near the top of the hill.  Together, we climbed the rest of the way  to the finish line.

    Like every year, there was good finishing line food in the dinning hall.  I got to wind down.  Caught up on things.  I avoided the DFL (known as dead last finishing) by finishing in 2nd from the last place. It was good enough.  The whole time I thought I was the DFL.

    Any lesson learned? The Goods:  I finally have a good set of headlamps.  When I have the chance, going to buy an extra pack for future races.

    2nd: set short clear goals during the race.  Reach for them. Thank you Jeremy for teaching me this at Grindstone when he paced me.

    Bads:  Have to train better next time, and not get caught behind the cutoffs.  I had a pace chart written out but did not get to use it when I was rush for time.  3. Know where I put my stuff. I spent so much time packing my things (2 hours) but still could not find anything.

    Nutrition/water was spot on. Clothing was almost perfect. I still packed too much in my drop bags, working on being more efficient, but it was better to overpack than underpack.

    Thank you for friends, family, volunteers, race management team of making the race possible. Thank you Caroline, my love, for putting up with all my stresses and fusses in my preparation. Those who finished or did not finish, may God grant me another chance to come back and do it again and run with them.

  • [691] Marine Corps Marathon (2025)

    My first Marine Corps Marathon (MCM) was 2017.  I had a big goal that year, that I would improve my time from my last race, and maybe even would run fast enough qualify for the Boston Marathon. Little did I know how hard that would be. To this day, BQ is still some distance dream. MCM reminds me of my once foolish attempt.

    My focus since has slowly shifted away from running fast to running long.  Some of my ultra friends have made it to Boston.  So it is not totally impossible for me to try. Maybe one day.  But whenever I run the MCM, there is a nagging thought, I must make the Boston. My friend Charlie ran a BQ time at the MCM this year!

    I don’t run the MCM every year.  My last time I ran was in 2023 (report).  I generally prefer a longer distance, like a 50k.  This year 50k was not an option due to the record number of runners signing up for its 50th anniversary, and they need all the resources for the normal event.  I was not going to sign up but a few friends hyped me up for a chance to run with them.  In the end due to the big crowd, I did not get a chance to see any of them either. 

    I was slower and still was recovering from a lot of hard races I did, the Eastern States from August, Grindstone 100 in mid September, and most recent the Virginia 100 a few weeks back during October.  My legs were still stiff.  The pain was gone unlike when I ran the Bluff in Connecticut.  So I knew I was healing.  Yet legs were still a bit sore.  I was not expecting to run a fast time. Why am I even running you ask me? I’m dead. Fomo maybe.

    MCM is Caroline’s special race.  She has done it 100 times, she claimed it was her 25th, but she has couple of those she did that she did not count. 25th or 26th all the same to me.  I used her time of last year to base off my pace chart for this year.  I ran a 5 hour in 2017 and 2023 would still put me at around 5 hours.  My feeling was I likely would get 6 hours. 

    Coming off from an ultra, where I generally set my pace at 16-17 min mile pace, checking the time required for the marathon was a shocker.  It says minimal pace is  14 min.  That is a 6 hour finishing time. A sub 24 in a Hundo.  A very fast time. Wait, this is a marathon. I was thinking if could I pull that off.

    My previous marathon race pace chart was made for a 4:30 finishing time.  I am not going use that. So at the very last minute, in early morning hours before it was time to get up (we set our alarm at 4 am) and there I was at 3 am in bed furiously remaking my race pace chart on my phone to a 5:30:00 finishing time. Caroline ran a 5:30 last year, so it was good to base the time off that. They still had her splits on their webpage. It helped a lot. I felt better once that was done.  Alarmed went off and up we went getting dress and to the race.  I kind of hinted how much sleep I was getting. Near none because I was always too hyper before a race.  Generally, I don’t sleep well.

    We were fortunate to be able to park close to the start near Pentagon City Mall. I read later on the news that Metro was packed.  More than packed, they called it crush load. I have seen photos and videos.  Nowhere would I want to be near the crowd.

    We walked to the Pentagon with thousands other people.  Note, we knew we had to get there two hours before the start.  Even then there were a ton of people already.  We did wait around at a Starbucks earlier when it was not crowded. Caroline had to use the rest room.  Yes, best advice is to hang out in a Starbucks, have breakfast before joining the crowd.

    The walk to the Pentagon was not too far. I did not know the way, but Caroline was familiar with area.  So she led the way.  I don’t remember which way we went. Maybe went down the Army Navy Drive.  Somehow eventually Pentagon came into view. It was still dark.  None of us brought headlamps.  Once we in the Pentagon’s parking lot, it was just a big wave people all going to the same direction.  We joined those who were exiting from the Metro.  We arrived at the race entrance for security check to enter the runner village.  Security check was brief.  I had a hydration vest on and thought it might cause delay like at the Philly marathon.  Nope, a soldier took a look at it and my drop bag and waved us through.

    So glad to get through that and we were off to UPS trucks location to stove away my drop bag.  The trucks were numbered 1-40.  My truck was 35, which was the first two digits of the bib number.  I did not know it at the time and went to the nearnest truck to me, thinking truck 14 was an easy number to remember.  Glad I did not have remember my truck number.  I would have forgotten it by end of the race.  There I was redirected to end of the field where the truck 35 was parked.

    After that it was a walk to the start.  In total I believed we walked 2 miles already. I suspect from our wave to the start line was another mile.  Not that it matter to me but be warn, that is a lot of walking before we even started running if anyone is planning to run the MCM in the future.

    People were everywhere.  Many were sitting and stretching in the parking lot.  Of course long lines at the potty.

    I was glad I did not need to use the potty.  Caroline did and she held it until we were about to start, thinking she was going to duck under a tree or bush to do her business.  Oh there were a lot of people going to the brushes in the dark.  Gross, yes.  There were enough toilets I think for everyone, but still some people prefer the tree of scrubs for their business.  Unfortunately or fortunately, a female soldier caught her as she was stepping away from the crowd and pointed her to use the real potty not too far ahead.  She agreed.  So I waited for her, since we were not moving too fast, since the crowd was just too big, to get to the real start line (arch).  We were still in our corral at the time.

    I was told the race in time past started officially at 8 am.  This year the time was moved up to 7:20.  I hope no one was late. Some will always be late.

    We lined up in our corral. There were three waves, one for the red bibs, the yellow bibs and the green bibs.  I had the green bib.  Caroline has some grayish olive gold color different from mine since she was going the challenge run, that is the series of doing the half marathon plus the full marathon (not on the same weekend), and I was not sure what corral she was to be in.  She said blue or something.  There was no blue wave.  I think she has the privilege to be in any corral.  We lined up with the 5:00-5:30 group.

    At 7:20, the howitzer fired, signaling the start.  The race was officially underway.  Note, there are roads or walkways on either side for people to get to their corrals.  So we saw runners running on either side to rush up to the front either to get to their corral or to look friends, while we stood with the mass in the middle waiting for our turn to get to move up.  There were no movement or very slowly were we moving.  A few runners decided not to wait and left the crowd to go out onto the road to move ahead.  I waited along with many others.  No point to start early.  It was like 40 minutes later, at 8:03 when I officially crossed the start line.  

    Not writing out of frustration, but for those who wanted to start earlier, they could move to the either side of the road.

      There was no rush for me, since I knew it would be chip timed anyway, there would be no rush to get to the front.  From experience of my first MCM, I knew I would run into a walk of people even if I rush.  The best strategy was to trust that the race organizer would space out different wave groups so as not bunch together too much.  Indeed, this year experience was much better than my former years. Maybe my pace is slower and there were not that many of us in the back since many have rushed on ahead.

    I joined the 5:30 pace group.  They were doing walk-run, 1 min walk and 2 min run.  Their run was like 10 min pace and the walk was brisk fast walk.  Still the first few miles, they were slightly behind pace, according to my pace chart.  We should be doing around a 13 min pace, but we were moving at a 14 min pace.  I was a bit impatient.  Caroline already ran off by herself.  I could hear her somewhere over the noise of the crowd, hoohoo-ing as she ran.

    Slowly but surely I got ahead of the 5:30 group as we crossed on the Key Bridge into Georgetown.  The sun was beautiful over the Potomac. I remember during the 50k, the instructions were 50k goes left and marathon course goes to the right.  Today, everyone would be turning right into Georgetown. The crowd was cheering as we reached Georgetown.

    I carried my hydration pack so I did not need to stop for water.  From Georgetown to Rock Creek.  Seeing the 5k marker and then 10k.  I did a bit of course study the night before so I knew the course, at least the important junctions, though I wish I knew every mile of it.  The turn around at Rock Creek was at mile 7.5.  That was a long way.  My feet started get tired by mile 8.  We saw the slack wagons (buses) that marked the tail end of the marathon, and they would pick up runners who decided to drop or who could not make the pace.  We cheered runners who were at the very back. 

    I was happy once we got to the Kennedy Center and on our way to Haynes Point.  Soon we reached the Blue mile where the halfway point is.  Caroline just so happened to pop right up from behind.  I passed her somewhere and did realize.  It reminded me I caught up to her there in 2023 when I was running the 50k. 

    Another thing I looked toward at Haynes Point was someone set a table with adult beverages.  I was hoping they would be there this year.  And they were.  Oh so lovely. They had OJ, Whiskey shot, and Miller Lite.  I chose the W. That got me going and off I went.

    We reached mile 15 and arrived at the DC gauntlet.  A runner was struggling so hard.  This was where people started bonking, aka, hitting the walk in marathon speak.  I reassured him he will beat the Bridge, the checkpoint at mile 20 we need cross by 1:33.  He has two hours and half, plenty of time.  People around started asking how many more miles and such.  I felt like an experienced runner on this course, and started giving out this and that stats.

    At couple miles later an ultra friend called out.  Wow who could find me in this sea of faces?  It was Keith!  Then David at mile 19, and Mike at mile 20.  My wheel came off at mile 20.  I was out of water and I finished all my gummies.  I have beat the Bridge, the 14 street bridge crossing over the Potomac into Crystal City.  I have plenty of time to beat the Crystal City Gaunlet. But I was not running any more.

    I had to start walking.  Just like in ultras, when you can’t run any more, you fall back to trusty walking pace.  There were sea of people.  It was a joy to see so many runners.  On the other bridge, I395, was bumper to bumper traffic, some cars would toot their horns at us and we waved back at them.  What a long bridge!  A mile! Good thing it was not very hot this year.

    Once arrived on the other side, we ran around a big parking lot and entered into Crystal City.  The crowd and the energy their was off the chart.  People were crowding into the running lanes.  Whole street was filled with people shouting and all.  Note, we were not fast any more.  I could hardly keep a foot in front of another as we stumbled down Crystal City Drive.  It was a mile out and turn around.  We had a few miles left.  

    I reached 40k at 5 hours.   Less than 2 miles to go.  My legs failed me the second time at mile 25.  I knew the last mile is always the longest.  We just had to walk it out.  Many were walking and some were pushing hard to finish it. It was humbling, as fast as I wanted to go, I had to walk it. Highway 110, there were no crowd here. Just a long road. We knew a hill at the end waiting for us.  And soon enough the hill came into sight.  Mustering all I had, we ran up and into the finishing chute.  Time of 5:19.

    It was a great finish.  The time was way better than I had hoped for.  This was a similar time as the Virginia Marathon I did in spring, but that one had way more hills.  I felt I ran fast and I ran hard. 

    We slowly made our way out the finisher village.  People were everywhere. I gathered my drop bag, changed my clothes, and had my meal.  For those not from the area, there are plenty reataurants right in Rosslyn as runners exited out.  I went to a Korean Carryout, Seoul Spice and had two bowls of bulgogi rice.  Caroline finished 20 minutes after me.  She met me up outside.  All said and done it was 5 pm by the time we left.  We went out for a real dinner to Yechong (in Annadale) to mark our successful run.  I could always eat some more. 

    We did not use metro but had to walk couple miles back to Pentagon City. I later read Metro had serious issues that day.  Many took a long time to get to where needed to get to and some couldn’t get to where needed since they closed Rosslyn station for couple hours due to crowding.  The line for Metro was wrapping around the block. I was happy I did not have to rely on Metro like in did in other years.

    Any take away from this race?  It was a fun run to test truly what my recent speed is.  I like it being short enough and hard enough, yes right at the tip between a hard ultra and a short run.  Marathon is a good balance for me.  I like hard long race, and a marathon just hits the spot. I know, a lot of friend would not consider a marathon as an easy run.  I have done enough (on my personal tracking page, I reached 100 races of marathon or longer distances). Wohoo.

  • [690] Bimbler Bluff 50k

    Hello #8 (last year anniversary): Somehow, it is my 8th year here on WordPress and 9th year of running marathons. How I remember it this year is the charge on my credit card (I did not sign up for the free version; the paid version has no ads). What can be better to celebrate by writing a race report! An ultra too.  The reason I started out blogging was to journal my leap into my first ultramarathon.  I think was a 50k in December 2017 (Virginia 1st Landing Seashore 50k, now goes by a different name, I might run it again). How the time flies.

    Now onto Bimbler in Connecticut I recently did.

    I ran the Bimbler’s Bluff the last few years, and have been going there with my girlfriend, Caroline.

    2023: 8:16:00.  Normal start.

    2024: 9:45:00.  1 hr Early start

    2025: 10:00:00 1 hr early start.

    Bimbler’s Lake
    Fall colors on Bimbler’s Bluff (mile 9)

    My friend ran by the Bluff’s overlook and said sorry no time to look.  We’ll come back next year to enjoy the view.  I took a quick snap and moved on.

    My friend likes to heckle me, runner what are you stopping for when I stopped to retie my shoelaces and enjoyed the view.  Yes, I got to pick up my pace too. 

    For this race, we have 11 hours from the extra hour of the earlier start. Other people have 10 hours. The early start was given for those runner who would not able to finish within the 9 hours and RD did not want runners to feel the stress of chasing cutoffs.  This year, I really needed the earlier start because I had no confident that I could make the cutoffs.

    Even with the extra hour, I had to keep moving in order to finish and also each aid station had their separate cutoff, with the  last being the strictest (2 hours to run 9 miles to reach it, whereas the early cutoffs were around 2 hours to do 4-6 miles). Indeed, I would have to arrive by 4 pm if I were to run under 9 hours, and I was 15 minutes late and would have been cut if not for the early start.

    I have a streak of coming in as the back of the pack runners in races so I  know full well I got to keep moving to finish.

    This year was especially true having came off from some recent hard races such as the Virginia 100, my legs had not been ready to do the Bluff. 

    I expected I would be walking the course.  The day started off nice and warm at 42 F (5 C) and later would rise to 65 (18 C).  Technically I could wear a shirt and maybe arm sleeves and be warm enough.  Since I suffered from hypothermia not too long ago, even a bit cold got me scare.  I bundled up with long sleeves and sweat pants and added a fleece on top.  It was pretty early on I knew I did not need a jacket, so that became an extra item I carried. I did not mind carry extra stuff.

    My pace was slow at the start and soon was the last one in our group of early starters. My girlfriend and I were battling to see who would take the lead.  During one of her breaks, I snuck ahead of her. She soon though caught back up.   She always then chased me forever until we got to mile 15, when our pace diverged.  Though I got an update that she was only 10 minutes behind me at mile 30.

    I came into the race with the injury from the Virginia 100.  So at each aid station, I asked myself if I have the ability to get to the next station.  Each time, I felt I could handle the pain/sore and  went out again. Note to others, don’t run with an injury.  Don’t do what I did. I need to preach that to myself too.

    The first aid station was 9 miles out.  There many faster runners started catching up and passing us.  It served as a third of the way in the race.  Note, the long stretch between aid stations. It’s an ultra so 7-8 miles are the norm.

    Then by noon I reached mile 15, that mentally is like a halfway point but I knew the course was long. A fellow runner (Roy) told me that it is 33 miles and not 31 miles. I knew that deep down the course is long but hearing from an experienced runner reinforced it, that I had to run steady and be patience. It is a trail race so, distances are measured with an ish to the end.  Plus/minus a few miles are acceptable to us.  We knew we were getting our money worth.  The race was really low cost.  

    Then mile 22 came.  I reached there by 2 pm, pretty much in line with my last year split time. I had fun racing with a guy called Kevin.  He was walking and I was walking.  He arrived exhausted, so was I.  Later though he passed me.  He was part of the normal start so in theory he was still an hour faster than me. 

    I was two hours ahead of the cutoff.  We had 9 miles to get to 5 pm station. 3 hours to do 9 miles is doable.  This next section was on a double track (jeep road), so in theory everyone was moving faster.  I wish I could run, seeing so many other runners passing me in full sprint.

    I reached the final aid station at 4:15 pm.  Now I gave myself a challenge if I could do 2.3 miles in 45 minutes.  Note, this section is one of the toughest because it has a lot of roots, and tricky footing as well as rolling hills.  It was hard to run fast. 

    I climbed the last hill hearing someone clapping and cheering.  There was Roy, a guy I was trying chase down too but he finished like an hour ahead of me and came back out here cheering runners.  I ran in to the finish, the clock was 4:59:59 (pm), but maybe because it was chip timed, my actual elapsed time was over 10 hours. Oh well. It was a good attempt to get under 10.  

     In 2023, I was waiting there until 5:15 when RD told me to pick up my friend Caroline because she did not make it pass the last aid station.  This year, I was wondering the same if I needed to drive out to rescue her.  Words were she’s gotten past the Rt 80 aid station and could arrive any minute now, since she was only 10-15 minutes behind me.  We waited.  Roy, our mutual friend went back out on the course to look for her.  I stayed at the finish in case they want to send me somewhere.  6 pm came.  Then we saw her coming in from the other side of the road.  We knew she must have gotten off course or something but we were glad she made it back safely.  Roy then came back out of the woods in the nick of time, so we did not have to go searching for him either. This race has no sweepers (there might have been for earlier sections but not here at the end). Other sweepers were handing in the course marking flags. That could be worrisome if the markings got taking down while runners were still out on the course.  We had everyone accounted for by then. It was a good race.

     Like any other years, we had to drive back home in Virginia from Connecticut.  A six hours drive could easy extended to 8 or more due to traffic and  rest stops along the way. We did not arrive home until 3 in the morning.  Of course, we both had to work the next day (which is the very same day, since it was past midnight by time we arrived, but in my mind work is still the next day because I haven’t gone to bed yet).  We tried to snooze snooze couple hours before daybreak and hope to survive work.

    As for dinner, it was inconsequential.  We tried going into New Haven on our way back at our usual place but could not find the restaurant. Possibly it has closed down.  Panda Express at the Thomas Edison Rest Area on the Turnpike was the backup choice.

    Time and season changes.  We would like our experience to be like the former years.  We wanted to see familiar faces and friends.  We left Connecticut with a heavy heart due to receiving bad news some the people we know at the race from prior years are suffering with a serious illness or have a recent death in their family and so we did not get to see them this year.  It was part of life cycle.  This was my third time going up  Connecticut, and we hope to make it one more time next year.  I believe it was Caroline’s 9th Bimbler and next year would the 10th. We will see.

    We praised our RD to able to negotiate with the weather god of giving us such a nice day to run.  Thank you to all the volunteers for being out there.

  • [682] Vermont 100, 2nd time

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

  • [678] OSS/CIA 50 mile (DNF)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    Update: My foot felt better now by the second week

  • [675:25.18] Quarterly update

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

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

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

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

    Here goes. 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

  • [671] BBR 50

    Bull Run Run 50

    (2024)(2023)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

  • [667] Seneca Creek Weekend (2025)

    My finishing times at Seneca Creek

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

  • Day662 Midlife crisis

    [updating a post written in 2023, might not have published back]

    oh no…January 2, I don’t have a new year resolution this year. I will resolve to be purposeful!

    This probably will be a weird post. I haven’t figured out what I want to do for this year.

    Last time I was in this state was back in 2016. I ended up buying a truck, fell in love with a woman, and somehow running a marathon (actual a 5k, but it led to signing up for a marathon). Then ended up going up a mountain like Moses, experienced a life changing event at a burning bush. No not like Moses, I did not lead his people out of Egypt afterward. I’m kind of seeing myself doing it again now.

    I still drive a truck! Loving it. People I knew started calling me Bear for my outdoors adventure image though I am nowhere near the macho-ness.

    Here am I now, what should I do?? I did all those things because they were new and hard and adventureous. They are no longer new to me now. I still love to spend time on the mountains.

    I am not into creating a new branding of myself. Usually though soul seeking time would result in remaking myself like back in 2016. Maybe I am pivoting to something new.

    I think it comes down to what is worthwhile to do. This time I think would be less dramatic. Actually, I kind of remake myself the past year.

    I need to realign my mission goal again. (I did during 2023, but it was not published).

    I still want to run across the continent. I do want to travel more. I do want to race more.

    The last few years were fun. I got myself to be an ultra marathon runner. And claimed the title of runner of the year in my running club.  It was fun. It took me longer to get where I am. I am still not very good at it but I can say, distances no longer scare me. Anything under 100 is doable. Anything over 100 is probably doable with some planning. The mystery is no longer there.  I am itching to try a 200 miler.

    It opens door to many races. What I really want to try is the Atacama Desert Crossing. I want to try some multi-day running adventures.

    Couple friends wanted to do Vol State or HOTS. Someone suggested the trilogy. I want to do the Tuscarora trail or something similar like the Mid state trail. Here I am dreaming.

    *Rim to Rim of the Grand Canyon. While driving up to Pennsylvania, my friend mentioned something she wanted to do is to hike from Rim to Rim of the Grand Canyon. I did something similar (I only hiked down to the River and back up) and at the time I was not an ultra runner yet. I don’t know if I can fit that into this year. It would be dope if I can do it. Saying this, because I would go just for a hike, even though truly I wanted to run across the Canyon and back in one day.

    Another thing I want to do this year is the Sierra Club One Day Hike (100K). I was interested in this before I was an ultra runner. At the time Hiking one day from DC to Harper Ferry seems interesting because it was impossible for me at the time. Of course if I get accepted, I would run this thing instead of hiking. Probably will take me 16 ish hours.

    I need to make more friends who is into what I am into. Meeting Caroline was something like that. We are both seeking to cross off 50 states marathon. She is like 10 states ahead in 2023. And she did it, finished all fifty states.

    Funny nothing much has changed since 2023.  My goals still are same today as two years ago. A lot of changes are in the air though, vaguely, my career, having a new roommate, moving to a new place, starting a new relationship, and future. Only till 2026 will we know.  My life might turn upside down.  I might have to put aside my personal goals for something bigger. Well I don’t have to have everything together. Once😀😛 I have a clearer picture, I will post again like I did in 2023, likely though it will be 2026 or 2027.  As I get older, pace slow down. I can’t accomplish as much as before, so 2023 goals are still 2025-2026 goals.

    A couple more resolutions

    *Be laser focused

    *overcoming my fear of starting new things

    My previous goals

    1. 2023 published version

    2. 2024 goals

    Last year, I was aiming for finishing the race called Western States.  It was everything to me.  This year, I get to cheer other people doing it. I really want to do it again or to be there.

  • [659] Mid Maryland 50k

    Rinse and repeat of last year (2024).  I am not going to say this race is my favorite, but it was still a race.  It took place in the middle of winter.  It was as cold ad last year and maybe even colder this year relatively for our area.  I think the wind chill was down in the teens.  Weather is always a bummer for this event.  Why did I do it?  Maybe because there was nothing else to do. I went last year and so kept the tradition alive. The first real race of the year (Red Eye on New Year Day was my first event). This was a few days after of the first weekend of 2025.

    Because it is fun.  Eventually, yes, it became fun.  The race was a great place to catch up with friends.  I went there knowing two of my other friends were going to be there.  I went there again with Caroline. I saw a few others such as Judith and Tom.

    I knew what I was getting into.  Last year we had snow in the middle of the even and then it turned into rain and ended pretty bad weather condition that no runners would have wanted to be outside running. 

    We were a bit fortunate this year that it snowed a couple night before and we had a dry course. The snow/frost was not an issue.  The ground was hard and frozen.  Not slipery but I was always careful.  There were patches of ice here and there. 

    The course was cleared of snow when we started.  The trail was runnable. The cold and wind though was harsh.  I put on many layers of hats, shirts, jackets, pants, gloves, bluffs and everything.  I knew I would be cold out there for close to 8 hours.  Being warm during the run was the key to finish the event.  I’d rather overdressed than underdressed.  I started stripping off my layers eventually and found the right combinations in the middle of the race. It did slow me down and took a lot minutes off the clock putting on and pulling off shirts. 

    I was smarter this year, though unintentionally, I started the first three loops without my hydration pack.  I became thirsty though by the second loop, but the aid station was at most only 5 miles away. 

    I was not running to get a better finishing time than the previous year.  I always like a faster time but it like a pie dream.  I was hoping to just finish, having fun, and enjoying the race.

    It was six loops of 5 miles.  In my mind I thought it was 3 loops of 10 miles before the event.  I did not come into this race as prepared as I was for other races. I thought I would lost count on the numbers of loops in the middle of the race, but ended up I could remember which loop I was on.  I did the first three loops and then I did another three loops, by counting backward after the third loop of how many loops I had left.  Time went by quickly.  

    Originally, I was hoping my friend Jeremy would keep me company but he ran too fast and I was a bit too slow so I lost track of him.  Same with Caroline who outran both of us early on, and I could not run with her.  I decided to take my time and slowly reeled them in.

    The first loop took me about 1:20 (h:m).  I purposely went out slower because I wanted to talk to a few friends.  By second loop, I picked up the pace and finished around 1:10 (h:m).  A lot faster runners and relay people looped me by now.  It didn’t bother me because my speed and theirs were too different.  I was just slow. You just had to step aside and let them pass. 

    I struggled a bit by the third loop and it required some effort to get it in at 1:15. I was secretly wishing I could run a 5 mile under an hour.  It was a wishful thinking.  I was no longer as fast as what I used to be (I used to be able to do a 10k in about 50 ish minutes).  Looking back this is my eighth year since I started running.  My first year, was when I was at my peak and every year has been down hill then. 

    So I just had to accept the fact I am now much slower, but in my mind I was still fast like I was when I first started.

    I caught up to my two friends at the end of the my fourth loop, who had started out faster than me.  Secretly, I wanted to lap them but I knew in order to do that, I had to pass them by second loop, that plan was dashed when it took me too long to catch up to them.  I would have to run twice my current pace to loop them, which was impossible.  One of my friend decided it was too cold to continue.  So I put him in my car to warm him up.  I checked back on him at the next loop.

    The rest of loops were uneventful.  At least now I don’t remember much but was glad to be out on the trail.  I started to notice the trail was getting soggy.  The temperature was warming up but the wind was still strong and cold.  I really had to put some effort in and still my time and pace was sliding.  I was happy to finish the loop and I started the fifth loop and sixth.  My friend was still around so, I told him if he is willing to wait, I will finish my loop in about an hour.  I could not remember much about my fifth or sixth loop.  Loop event kind of do that to you where each loop kind of mesh together with the previous one.  I think I started to catch up to some few other runners, who were still left.  Many already finished.  I ran with some faster people, such as relay people.

    My last loop was all by myself.  Almost everyone had finished by now.  There were maybe one or two runners walking the course.  Some have friends joining them.  I knew I had two hours to do my final loop and so I took my time to walk as much as I could.  I still run on the downhills. 

    I am not too fond of loop courses.  They have their purpose.  Some people love them. It was easier pace myself on a loop.  You know exactly how much time it will take after the first loop.  Also, the trail becomes more familar the more loops you do.  You have the same aid station at the end of each loop.  It makes planing a drop bag, also the logistics of getting back to the car easier if you happen to quit.  We had our car right at the start, so we went by it each time. 

    I had a great weekend and it was a good workout.  We saw the last runner finished and we left around 5 pm and called it a day.  My time was 7:11:56. This year was not as exciting as the last year event (at least that my impression).  I reread my last year report, I had fun in the mud.  This year’s challenge was the cold and I overcame it.