In awe

Tag: BRR

  • [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.

  • [623] Bull Run Run 50

    Last couple years my spring training has been mainly for two races, the first is BRR 50 (Bul Run Run) and the second MMT 100 (Massanutten Mountain Trail Run). I read initially the running club VHTR came to be because of these two races.  They still host them and they are still their signature races. They are as good as always.

    I am late to the party. I ran many other races. I was only fairly recent I found out about BRR and MMT. I did MMT first before I did BRR. They are so good. They are hard trail runs. The club behind it made them so fun to run.  I found people who share the same interest. Almost every trail runner in the area and also some from far and wide have at some point ran in one of these. So I am preaching to the choir to say these are good races.

    I give both races a deep respect because, I felt they are just a bit beyond what I could do. It now seems silly to say this, but I trained for them to finish. Now I did it.

    I don’t remember much from last year BRR event except it was hot and the run was slow and I was almost could not move by the time I finished. (report 2023) (I did reread it now, wow, that was a good race, to have so many memories). Today run was nothing less.

    This year, I wanted to run faster. I usually don’t care about finishing times. You go out and run your best and I would take any results. Usually my goal is to finish. I had a few DNFs, so even if I get a DNF, I learned to live with it.

    But a 50 mile can be used as a qualifier race for some bigger races like the Vermont 100, which requires finishing a 50 mile under 12 hours. I have done a sub 12 hour couple times (at Stone Mill 50 and at JFK 50) but that was more than a year ago.

    I was disappointed last year, I didn’t get any 50 mile under 12. For me running that fast is hard because I am a very slow runner. 12 hours is usually the standard for a 50 miler (many people I look up to could do it in 10 or less). The minimum is 12.

    It was a motivation that I want this year BRR to be under 12 hours. It came about as a wishful thinking. Having ran it once and I compared it to a similar race, Stone Mill (finished at 12:47), I ran six months ago, I did not think it would be possible. It was kind of shooting the moon goal when I told my friend, I would do it, half kidding to fool myself. I felt BRR should be harder than Stone Mill. I wanted it for the Vermont 100 mile qualification, to be doubly sure I can get in, even though I don’t really need it because my qualification race was a year ago.

    Early in week, we checked the forecast. This year run would be pleasant in a cooler weather of 37F low and 50s high (around 10C), runner weather for us who just came out from winter. Heat exhaustion should not be an issue this year. For me, I am trying to heat train, so the temperature actually cold for me.

    I decided to “camp” out. They offered free cabin camping for runners to stay the night before the run. For me is why not. It added the fun to spend more time at the race and to meet more runners. My friend who ran BRR gave me an impression that it would be a lot of fun. I had only MMT camping experience to compare to. However, there was only me and another guy who stayed the night. I met him a few months before during the Devil Dog, and we shared a cabin that time as well.

    We had our dinner and quickly turned in for the night once it was dark. Volunteers would arrive starting at 4 am.  I set my alarm for 5:30 and snoozed it for couple times. But as usual, I like to run in the clothes I went to bed with so there was no need to change. It saves time. When I woke up, I just pinned the bib on my shirt. Collected my bedding and stuff to take back to the car. I had breakfast laid out but it was still too early for me to find an appetite. When all said and done, the race was about time to start at 6:30.

    I did not see a lot of my friends (Jesse was in it, but I missed him). I lined up in the rear. I did not prepare any dropbag (they allowed two). I figured I should be fine.  This was completely different from last year. I grew up! I had my breakfast in one hand (chicken pasta from Costco, which was also my previous night dinner).

    Cheryl would be waiting for me at Fountainhead, at about halfway point, I did not need anything from her, but it was good to know a familar face there. She hadn’t left the house yet, so she could could grab me any last minute things to take to the aid station. I wanted to tell her I will be there by noon but then held back because I did not want to put an extra pressure on myself to make a time goal. Noon was my internal goal.

    Having done the run the previous year, I knew the start would be slow with 200+ runners trying to jam into a single track trail. They had us run around the parking area, through a water crossing. This did slow down the crowd a bit (and let the faster runners spread out). I knew it.

    Vlad, the friend I met me the night before, asked me what my game plan. I am pretty poor in term of coming up with tactics. I love brute force method, but strategies, eh, while I am intrigue by them, I am not that good in coming up with schemes. My overall plan was trying to get to the turn around by 12 and I would be good. The back up goal if I couldn’t make the first, is to meet the cutoffs. I also remember not to go out too fast, because this course is hilly. Many runners burn all their energy early on. I have seen it last year. My plan is to be extremely patient with the “slower” runners.

    While we were behind a bunch of slower runners trying to cross the water, I rehearsed in my head to go slow and to focus on my game plan.

    I checked the crossing the day before and did not cross it thinking it was a foot deep. Then I told my friend Vlad about it and he and I went back to the crossing for a look. After taking a look, he started crossing it, in his clean shoes at the time. I was shock. We found out there was a concrete layer under the water. Water was not that deep. Maybe less than quarter an inch, but the reflection of the water made it seemed much deeper. So I saw him walked across like Jesus walking on water and not sink in, without his shoes even getting wet.

    Now on race day, 200+ runners were not willing to step across this water, but trying to go around on either side. It was actually deeper on either side. Only Vlad and I and maybe a few other bold runners knew how deep it was. I waited until my turn at the crossing, and I showed off walking across like Jesus crossing the water.  People behind me started shouting to others, hey it is not that deep!  By then it was already too late, maybe only 20-30 runners are left. I was laughing inside. This crossing did not get my shoes wet, but I expect later crossings would. Pro tip: don’t afraid of water!

    Bull Run Run takes place each year during the full bloom of the blue bell flowers. The course was lined with these purple bell shape flowers. It is quite a sight. The ladies in front of me were exclaiming, oh how beautiful. Me and a friend came back and did the loop again the following day to enjoy the beauty. For many, it  was their first time running on this course. We ran toward Bull Run Regional Park first where there is a mile loop of just Blue Bells. It is our first turn around point, of this end of the Bull Run Trail (mile 9 ish).

    While running near the Centreville aid station, where I volunteered there two years ago, we heard Kevin’s loud voice half a mile out. He was the former MMT race director, with his megaphone encouraging runners (and heckling them) — this year, he didn’t have a megaphone but his voice still carried. I always love the Centreville aid station.  We would pass by twice. He was later back at the Hemlock station.

    After Centreville, the course get muddier. Here we saw runners returning, so we shared the same trail.  My coworkers and neighbors were out for their day hike, since it was a beautiful day. Kimberly called out to me, and I was surprised of having a local crowd supporter.  Vlad was already back from the other direction. He was in maybe 15-25 places. Not bad. I was still in pretty far back. To me, I was even further back than last year. I expected he might try for the podium. We waved and called out to each other. He ended up finishing top ten!

    I finished the loop and came back to Centreville, but while doing a water crossing, which was about knee deep and maybe 6 feet wide, I tried to jump to the other side at the final few steps but missed, so I felt in and landed on my hands and knees. Note, later I found out one side is shallower than other. I took the deeper side since there was a rope there to aid the crossing. I was okay but got myself muddy. So when I got into the aid station, they were teasing me, that I won the award for the muddiest runner. Yes I felt into a mud pit. Twice.

    Another incident while trying to head back to Hemlock (mile 17). I was about a mile out, just ran through some 3-4 big hills and now it was just a flat section before Hemlock aid station.  I was feeling good at the time. I was in the flow, but I stepped on some mud and lost control. Usually I could recover my footing, but this time my calves seized up. Down I went again. It might look dramatic from the back the way I gave way. A runner came up to me and asked if I was fine. I was fine in term nothing broken, but my calves were cramping and I was in a lot of pain.  I knew I could walk it off.  It was a decision time, should I continue with the race or should I stop? It was only two hours in. I still had a full day ahead, but I also have so many races coming up, I did not want to aggravate any injury and so would miss my other races. I got back up, gingerly tested my strides. Aid station was not that far away.  I reread last year report, I was saying how can people falling and tripping this early on, and here I was! I was laughing at myself here.

    I got to the Hemlock aid station. I passed some runners who were in worse shape than me. I tried to encourage them, asking their gameplan like what they expect to get at the aid station. Some said they would change their shoes.  Some said they would get salt, pbj (sandwiches), and water. I also prioritized in my head too what the most important things to do so since I want to be a quick in quick out.  Hint! or Pro tip, before getting to an aid station, plan out what you need!  This helps speed up your entrance/exit as when give you something to look toward.

    Charleen, a dear friend, met me at the Hemlock aid station. She asked what I need. I had everything fine.  I did get some food, some broth, etc.  I reused the cup to stock up on food to carry some out. I pour some salt over it. That should help with my cramping. I gave her update on John, her SO. I passed John earlier. John was one of earliest memory I had while training for MMT, since I ran mostly at his pace. We had done many other events together since. There were a lot of people in many of races we did, but John and Charleen left me a deep impression because of their kindness.

    From Hemlock to the next aid station (Marina) was hard for me. It was just four miles. I headed out from Hemlock with five or six others. They were stronger runners. They were not people who came into Hemlock with me. They had a bit of rest before going out, and they looked so strong. A few of them were friends in their own group. I knew I wanted to pass them but their pace was too fast for me to overtake. I followed like 10-20 paces behind and never could get really close for me to pass.

    We came to some hills and I could close the gap a bit. It was maybe by mile 3, about mile 20 in the race, the guys got tired and I passed them on a straight away at the big soccer field.  When I pass people, I want to pass them for good. I don’t want to do frog leaping kind of things on a trail because it can be very exhausting. Indeed, I passed them for good.  I was getting stronger and I was familar with this area.  I knew the aid station was about a mile out after another series of hill climb.

    At the Marina aid station, a friend I met at last year CAT 50k was there greeting me.  I did not remember him until he asked me if I do know him. Then memories came and he pulled out his phone to showed me the photo we took at the end of that race.  I do remember that, like how can I forget since both of us finished dead last there (DNF). Indeed, I had another personal crew at every aid station! This was unplanned. He sat me down, refilled my hydration pack. He said he would wait until I came back later in the afternoon (5 pm). I did see him again. It was good to have a personal cheerleader. Another dude too, who often reminded my own time at my first MMT of carrying an Italian sub, and he said this time, our food is good but not as good as a Subway Sub. He was referencing my MMT run. I was balling.  Gosh. It gave me the motivation to run harder. My subway hoggies is legendary.

    From the marina, my feet were moving better. There was no more thoughts of quiting. The next section were much familar to me since my friend Caroline and I ran on it a few times.  We did it when there were still snow on the ground and when it was flooded. I know the course. Every turn came as expected. I like knowing the course like the back of my hand.  I passed a few people and finally got to Wolf Run Shoals.  I love this aid station’s name. Again I had a personal crew! Jamie and Alex were there. Jamie got me everything I possibly needed. Alex said he loves me in a brotherly way. I again have my own cheerleader. Out I went. She was still there four hours later when I came back around 4 pm. Alex was the aid station head here. The goofy aid station. They gave me encouraging words.

    There I left the station with Charlie P.. He was a friend of a friend, and we did the MMT together last year. He and several of us have become friends because of the MMT. He was moving at a good pace and I felt his pace was too much for me to keep up because I would start to breath hard and sweat. I did not want to push that hard just to keep up with my friend. So like before, I kept back running at my own pace, following in the back. The next aid station, Fountainhead, was only about three miles but it seemed long.  The time was already 12:15 when I felt Wolf Run Shoals. I knew I was behind on my goal pace (since I wanted to arrived before noon) and so I shifted to my the next goal, which was to make the Fountainhead by cut off time. Fountainhead in my mind the cutoff was 1 pm, but actually was 2 pm. I needed to reach it before 1. I arrived at 12:50. This was about the same time I had from the previous year.

    Sheryl was the time/bib recorder there. She came and helped me.  I had been running a bit hard so my mind was all over the place. Seeing Sheryl slowly calmed my mind. She too asked me what I needed. I handed her my cup and asked her to fill it with food. I had all kinds of wraps. There were vegeterian options (she knew I was on a diet). I took some water. Then I sat down for a few minutes on a bench. This was the second time I paused. She offered me a Red Bull, but I said to hold it for me until I finish the Do-Loop, which was a 9 mile loop at the Fountainhead Regional Park. Charlie already left. My game plan was not to stay at any aid stations for too long. Being able to sit down couple minutes, helped.

    Fountainhead was our turn around point but before we could run back, we had to go through this maze (at least to me), called the Do-Loop. It was not too hard, but when you are tired, and it is sort of a loop, some runners, would get lost here either doing the loop multiple times.  Last year, I lost maybe half hour (20 mins after looking up) in getting lost inside the do-loop with a bunch of fifteen other runners. 

    This year, I was praying I would not get lost. The plan was keep my head up to follow the course markings and trust my training I had there. We trained specifically here several weeks ago. I got lost during my training too. Each time, I tried to remember, which wrong turn I took, so hopefully on the race day, I would not wander off onto a wrong trail.  Ram a friend who guided me on this portion during my training run.  A word, the course was marked well, with red tape over trails we should not turn on (but sometimes runner still went over them, due to brain fog).

    The Do Loop section went well. I finally overtook Charlies and others. I passed a few more runners as I exited the loop. I noticed my pace slowed down but others too were slowing down more.

    Coming back out at the Fountainhead, Sheryl handed me her Red Bull. Dan’s wife (her name escaped me) refilled my water pack. I gave her the update on Dan. Dan is the current MMT RD. I saw him on the Do-Loop along with some other runners.  I knew he was cutting close to the cutoff and hope he would be able to make it.  Dan ran the BRR several times in the past. He had some fast records, way faster than I could possibly run.  When I first met him about 5-6 years ago at the VDM (I had a post of that day somewhere), he was no longer as fast a runner as before due to some knee issues. VDM run was what initially drew me into the running club and Dan was the first person I met.  I didn’t see Dan finishes but checking the results, he did reach it with plenty time left on the clock!

    The time now was 3 pm. I was pretty pleased. Last year, I was here at 4:00 and with cutoff breathing down on me that time. At least today, I knew I would finish, since I am an hour ahead (4.5 hours to cover 12 miles, I would have to run a mininmum 22.5 min per mile to finish, a very slow pace). My plan now was to chase the 12 hour goal. I felt I was still 7-14 minutes behind the 12 hour finishing goal. However, there is a chance. I would need to run all the way back. We had about 12-13 miles left.

    By 4 pm (3:50), I reached Wolf Run Shoals station.  I did not need much there. I only stopped to reset my pace.

    I passed one more runner but the trail was completely empty afterward. In my mind, the 12 hour finisher group must be ahead of me. I needed to catch up to them. However, as I ran, there were no other runners. They were all going at my pace or faster. Normally, I pass people or people passing me. So today was rare.

    Uneventfully, I reached Bull Run Marina again.  I was strategizing when best to take my Red Bull. I felt I should do it when I felt I could not run any more. Just before the Marina, my foot felt dead. While climbing a hill, I opened the can and drank the Red Bull.  I did not know how soon it would take effect. Normally I don’t drink this stuff. I can see it could be useful in a 100 mile race, but in a “short” 50 mile, it might be an overkill. I was not sure if my stomach could handle it. My head felt a bit dizzy maybe for running a bit faster than I should.

    At the Marina, I got some fluid and fruits. I took some Gatorade with me. I stayed only long enough to reset. My other friend was still there but I don’t need anything. He was saying, he knew I would make it.  This is not the CAT50k.  I asked him if he would run the CAT again, he said he already signed up! I said me too!

    Now there were only six miles left. Still I did not see any runner before me. In a sense, it was good. We had some technical sections and I could “breeze” through them without slower runners hindering me.  In the previous year, a lot of people were there, not this time. I praised God there was no one on the rocky sections. I am proud of my footing skill. I am not the best, but I am better than many in this city running event. Most runners are too cautious to go fast on rock because one fall would mean a serious injury. I usually run at the pace of slower runners, and so would be around people who are extremely careful near rocks. Today I scrambled over them like I did during training.  In my mind, I had to beat the clock. There was no time to go slowly.

    While reaching the last mile, I saw a group of 4 runners walking on a flat segment of the trail. I found it just interesting. Were they the 12 hours runner? Why were they not rushing? I thought I was on the edge of the 12th hour mark. Any would be rushing to make it.  So I passed them. Later of course, I learned they were part of a team, they stayed together for their friend’s sake. They made it under 12 too.

    Maybe 500 ft ahead was another runner. This guy was gunning it for the finish. To me that is more like it. I chased him though he was faster so I was not able to catch up. In my mind, I said, I just have to keep up and I might make it under 12.

    We entered the finishing chute.  The time was 11:32:xx. I saw 11:31 from far away, but my head with runner fog thought I missed my goal by couple minutes.  Somehow I read the clock as 12:32. I still held my head up smiling but in my heart, I felt a let down of coming in just a couple minutes late. There were a bunch of what-ifs. The guy next to me sense my mood and asked if I were I aiming for under 11? I said no, I wanted to be under twelve. He was kind of gave me a confused look. So I rechecked the clock again. Oh dang, it is 11:35! I did have it under 12! The euphoria rushed in. I was laughing from ear to ear. What a crazy thing expectation can have on me. One moment thought I missed my goal and the next moment, I bested it by a big margin. Yes, if I ran with a watch I would not have been so clueless. Lately running races without one free me.

    I stayed to watch the race until the end.  David, my DC friend came out. I glad he came. He was on indecisive if he should try this 50 miler. I told him do it next year.

    Vlad, I thought he had left already because he was probably 6-7th place finisher coming in 2 pm ish, was there with his family. I chatted with him and some others.

    Charlie came in under 12, though he did not stay but left immediately. I congratulated him since he said 12 hour was his goal as well. He came in on the dot and well done. We shared like 5 miles together.

    A new runner I met, Laura from Alexandria, she finished under 13 hours maybe 5-10 minutes before the course closed. She was exactly at my pace the year before. I was happy for her. We ran together for a long while maybe the first 5-10 miles. She was asking me about ultras and MMT, and of course, I told her all I knew! Mainly to try it. BRR was her first 50! I hope she has some great memories. JFK 50 was my first and I would forever remember that race. I could have stayed with her the whole way, but I decided this year, I wouldn’t wait for anyone.

    The guy who helped me when I felt, also came in. I went and congratulated him as well. I didn’t know his name, but I was glad he pulled it through. The reason I said it was I normally was the unofficial trail sweeper in most races, for coming in last or near last. I know how hard it is to struggle from cutoff to cutoff. When those final few came in, I could identify with them. Later, we learned there were two more came in after the clock expired.

    I had a wonderful day. I was tired. My legs held up. While the race was hard, there will be many harder races coming up in the next few months. This was just the beginning. I do not need the extra qualifier for Vermont 100, but knowing I still could run a 50 mile under 12 hours give me a boost of confident, that is at least, I still met its minimum requirement.

  • [615] BRR Training

    It has been a quiet week.  After the Icy-8, the next day I went out on the Bull Run trail to run.  This is the trail in my neighborhood.  We have a race called Bull Run Run (BRR) 50 (mile).  I ran it last year.  It is usually at the beginning of April and was a quite popular trail race, that usually sold out. Only last year was my first time getting in. They say, you have to be fast or lucky to sign up. I got in again this year, so I have to train for it. There used to be a lottery system because it was so popular.

    I want to run better than last year when  finished with only 15 minutes to spare. My secret goal (or not so secret) is to run it under 12 hours. This is hard.

    It has some good climbings. Nothing too serious but the first time I ran on it, it was a what-the-hell moment.  Now a year has past, and hills there are not too threatening.  I would still walk up on most of them instead of running. I am no longer get out of breath.  The goal is to be good enough to run on them even when I am tired.

    So the last few Sundays, I have been covering the Bull Run trail. Usually I put in 25-30 miles.  I call it my long run day.

    This past Saturday, we had an official Bull Run Run training run at one of the notorious sections called the Death by Do-Loop. I suspect whoever came up with the name is a computer programmer because there is something called the Do While Loop. The concept is the same, you keep doing until it expires and for computer, it means go on forever (in an infinite loop).  So our training was to run on the Do Loop until we can’t any more.

    The portion we ran was about 7-8 miles long.  There is a 1.5-2 mile loop at the end where many people usually get lost.  I got lost there last year during my BRR race, so this year, I said I must run it so much that it would be impossible for me to get lost again.

    I did get lost.  I ran only two loops that day.  My first loop was fine as I was following other runners.  By second loop I was by myself.  It was when the fun began.  I was mostly deep in thoughts.  And somehow I never exited the Do Loop but kept walking and running back and forth.  I was not really lost but the trail was still new to me and I was surprised how it looped me around at some portion when I was not paying attention.  So I went back and investigated how that happened. A friend, Ram came along and helped me and led me through the whole Do Loop again and I finished it.  I did a partial 3rd and 4th Loop with another friend until it was near sunset before quitting.  I had a good day.

    I had an admirer who was impressed because I got into the Western States 100.  We talked about Wasatch (another 100).  They laughed when they found out I signed up for about ten 100 mile races this year.  They said I must be rich! Not only is the race expensive, but flying there and the hotel cost would be through the roof.  I said, I haven’t told my boss yet for the days I would be off. I am counting all my PTO.

    My left ankle took some beating from the weekend training. I did not roll it.  It felt numb after spending a day on the Do Loop.  I have not been on trail that much the last couple months since the Devil Dog.  Now suddenly I am back on the trail my ankle is complaining.

    The very next day, I hit the Bull Run trail again. While it was raining a bit, a friend came and join misery. There was a lot of mud. We slipped and slided around. It was fun, satisfactory fun that we put a good training. I finished the day with a bowl of hot soup.

    I am proud that I have been consistently trained on the Bull Run. Definitely, I will run better this year.

  • Day529 BRR Training 1

    Bull Run Run Training 1.

    BRR training started a week after the MMT training run. I did both sets of training last year and doing them again this year. The only difference this time is I will be running in the BRR (actual race) this year. Last year, I only did the training runs but not the race itself. It’s long story, which I am about to tell.

    What is BRR? It stands for Bull Run Run. The race has been rebranded as BROT, which stands for Bull Run & Occoquan Trail Run, but I prefer BRR better for short, because that is the name I first encountered with this race and it rolls off the tongue. Yes, it is related to the American Civil War also, the Battle of Bull Run. I don’t know much of its history even though I visited the Manassa battle field and its museum. Funny thing was during the training run, an older runner was listening to a podcast about the Bull Run Battle. He forgot to bring his ear piece, so he had it on speaker. The few of us crowded around him to listen along with him.

    Note, I use the abbreviation of BRR to refer to the race (in April) and the training runs interchangeably, but rarely will I refer to the trail itself, even though that is the name of the trail. I know, hope it won’t be too confusing to my readers. In the same way, I’ll refer to MMT as the race and its training runs, even though it is the name of that trail.

    History, my history: Since forever, might be 2017 or 2018, in my early years of running, I had wanted to do this race. Every single year, I missed the registration because either they only opened for club members or by invitation only or they were quickly filled out and I missed out.

    There is some weird procedure to get onto the wait list. You are given a random number when you registered, and then the pick is based on a particular day of the stock market closing index price mentioned ahead of time. Depending if the index goes up or down, it would determine the sort ordering, for getting people off the list. They say it is clearly explained on their sign up website and is fair since the stock market is supposed to be random.

    I just find the sign up procedure weird. And math, I love math, but for a lot of people, it could be a turn off. It is like you have to solve some high level math problem to sign up a race. They also use some Latin words on their races too (yes, it runs by a bunch of brainy older people — lawyers). I took Latin as my foreign language elective, so I love Latin. But if I am a younger zoomer/millenial, I might not sign up. I’m not knocking at them. I was introduced into the racing world using the modern way of run-signup and ultra-signup websites, so was expecting something more slick. BRR sign up site is just unusual. Anyway, I finally got on the sign up list this year, without much problem. It was like my fifth or sixth try.

    So I will be religiously doing all the training runs. The truth is the race no longer scares me as it once did and I don’t need to train for it. I could do a 50 miler on any weekend without breaking a sweat (maybe a little), as I proved last season. However, I found from last year that BRR training run was very good for my MMT and I think a lot runners who will be running the MMT would do the BRR as preparation. So here I am.

    We had a good day. The temperature was between 35-45 F, way warmer than a week earlier. It felt it was more like fall weather. They were saying last year temperature was 6 or 16 degrees. Making today a nice day for a winter run. I had expected the run to run west, where my house is, only later after finishing, I found on their Facebook page that they made a last minute change, to have the run toward east because of the trail work being done on the west side. But anyway, it did not matter. A training run is a training run. Running eastward actually was more beneficial for me due there being more hills.

    I originally planned to wake up maybe at 3:30 am but overslept until 5:30, because I stayed up too late the night before. Anyway, I got home late due to lunar eve-eve new year’s celebration. I made very little preparation unlike the week before when I prepared for the MMT training run. This was a local run, and in the city, so no need to fret about packing emergency aid, food, and everything. Water was the only thing I needed. And no need to set an alarm, so as it turned out, I overslept.

    So I got up around 5:30 and I was thinking to myself, if could I still make it. I did not think I could make it on time after a bit of calculations. The original plan was to run from my house to the trailhead maybe at most 5 miles away and from there run to Hemlock Overlook, which was also about another 5 miles, where the rest of the group would meet. At the time, I did not know the distance was 5 miles, but I was planning a 4 hour run to the real starting line. We were to meet at 8 am, so it meant a 4 am start from my house. It would have given me a lot of mileage that day, again, at the time I didn’t know how far, but I was planning for a 30-40 mile day.

    Because I was running late, I decided to drive to the trailhead instead. The actual meet location was too early for me to be there and I wanted to have some early miles done. As I was driving, I made up my mind to go a trailhead nearer to my home, Rt 28 parking lot, but it was not the lot where everyone to meet. It saved me from running 4 or 5 miles from my house, but still would give me plenty miles for the day. I arrived there before sunrise. I was the first person in the lot. I got everything ready and as first light dawned (around 7 am), I hit the trail. It is a county park, so technically we were not allowed to be on the trail when it is dark. That was the reason I waited for some light, so I didn’t have to use a headlamp and also I would not be violating any local ordiances. I doubt anyone would call the cops on me, but you never know.

    I tried this run last year too but I was slower last year and missed the group start. This year I started 15 minutes earlier and I must have run faster. I met my goal of getting to Hemlock by 8 o’clock.

    The first couple miles, I was running at a slower pace, of 15 min mile. It was very slow. I had not warm up yet and the terrain was uneven. It was a bit cold but I knew also it should be warming up by noon time.

    I arrived at Hemlock as the group just started off. I could see them from maybe 100 yards away. I was not too late. I caught up with the group as they were circling around the parking lot. There were maybe 75-100 of us, which was quite a big group for a training run. Some came late too as usual since this was in the city. There were whole lot of excitement.

    I was more familiar with the trail this year than last year. I made many posts about this trail before. Those were the days when I first explored it on my own, I think around 2020 and 2021. It was such a joy then as it is now. Now running on it again, and finally the first time with the big group, I felt great. I had previous good memories as I ran. BRR training was where I met Iris, who later helped crew me at my Devil Dog. People like Iris are dear to me. That was just last year, but it felt so long ago. This year, Iris wasn’t there. A race director once told me, that volunteers are his dearest people, so it is the same for me. Anyone helped me in a race, they are my “brothers and sisters, and mother and father.”

    BRR and MMT are almost same for me in my mind. I’d lump both of them together. They were both organized by the same group of people, my local trail running group. It is quite famous here in the tri-state (DC, Maryland, and Virginia, well DC isn’t a state, but you know, we treated it like one). It’s name though is probably well known to our surrounding states as well, West Virginia and Pennsylvania. MMT is probably more well known around the nation in the trail community, since it had been around for a long time and it is a 100 miler.

    But as for the BRR, it is much more modest. It is a local race. And it is only a 50 mile compares to the 100 miler sibbling. This training run had only about 1500 ft of elevation change. The course is a series of rolling hills, so not that bad actually, at least for me who went to last week training for the MMT training run, where we did 5000 ft of climbing in a single day. Still I believe, BRR helps my training.

    I fell into my pace after couple miles. I met up with a friend from DC (Jana), and we ran together to the Bull Run’s Marina. I was surprised to see her here. She recently has done a lot trail runs, such as Naked Nick. She said though 50K is her max. I tried to convince her to try running a 50 miler, but she said she doesn’t do night time running. I said, it is only maybe an hour of darkness, and if she moves fast, she would finish before dark. I hope some day to get her to join me on longer runs.

    At the marina, we took a break at the aid station for this run. It was an out and back, so we would be back here again. It was well stocked with everything we needed, fruits, candies, sodas. And this training run was all free to us. It was festive because we had a big group there. We took a couple group photos. I recognized many familiar faces. However, I am not friend with them, like I am with Iris, Ram and Caroline. They were not on first name basis, but rather it was hey runner. Some people turned around here early to go back to Hemlock, since this is individual decision of how much or how long they wanted to be out there. For a few of us who needed more miles, we continued toward Fountainhead Park, which was about 6.5 miles away.

    Jana also went for a few miles more so that she would finish the day with 12 miles. I wanted to go until I was tired. 12 miles were too little for me. Though since I had 5 miles earlier, if I turned around then I would have 22 miles for the day, Jana told me. I did not believe her at the time, but her math did check out.

    It was too early for me to be turning around though. After saying goodbye to Jana, I continued toward Fountainhead. I got to mile 14, and turned around at the road, wolf run or something, maybe a mile or two before reaching Fountainhead. During the real BRR, this would be an aid station. By then many already turned around, and I believed I was the last one. I caught sight of Tracy and Tina — I believed I ran with Tina (from Baltimore) last year on this run, but she didn’t remember me. She arrived late last year and everyone had left, so it was me and her and she didn’t know the way and I led that time. Anyway, she was on time this year. She partnered up with Tracy. I didn’t know Tracy at the time.

    I tried to rush back so that the group if they were waiting for me would not have to wait for too long. I don’t need people to wait for me, but I am known within this group as one who likely to get lost and also one of the slowest. I was then stopped by a couple Asian hikers, because I looked Asian, they started up a conversation. They wanted to know about my parents and if I attended church, since chinese here in the area all kind of know one another. All they just need you know who your parents are and who your pastor is before long they could identify you. I stopped and started talking to them. Last I’ve been to a chinese church was almost 20 years ago. Things changed.

    Then a couple more runners came by and I believed they were part of our running group. I quickly caught up to them and joined in their run. Indeed, they were part of our training run. I was glad I was not the last person on the trail. Sorry to the asian hikers. They did not know I was in a group run. I left them behind. Actually, I stopped for way too long (maybe 15-20 minutes) and I was cooling off to the point I was starting to shake. Again, we are in two different worlds between runners and hikers. Hikers felt they have all day to talk. We runners are more bounded by time and have to get going.

    I found out the two runners started late and kind of doing their own thing but they were stronger runners than me. Josh came to the run from Virginia Beach and he did the BRR 50 miler race last year. His friend, Spencer, was the area native. They wanted to have 20 miles that day. I told them I already had 19 miles in and hoping maybe for 10 more by the time I finished. I could only stayed with them for about 2 miles and had to slow down. Their pace was too strong for me. I think Josh could run the race in 8-9 hours. Spencer is a bit weaker, but not by much. They both were in excellent built and young, maybe 5-10 years younger than me.

    We got back to the Bull Run’s Marina. Quatro the aid station captain and this training run RD, was still there. We were guessing he would have left by then. The time was around 11:30. I was glad because at least I could get water and some cookies for my return trip. From the Marina back to Hemlock is about 4 miles. I was bonking hard during this stetch. I took the red trail up to Hemlock instead of following blue circling around the base, and climbling up on the otherside. My short cut saved me maybe a mile. Of course, during the race, this would be a DNF. Today though wasn’t a race.

    Quatro was already back from the Marina. I expected that. He said couple other runners were still out besides Josh and Spencer. Shortly, we saw them came in (Tracy and Tina). I stayed for a few more minutes until Josh and Spencer also came in.

    I still had five more miles from Hemlock to my car. Slowly but surely I made it back to my car. I did come across of the group that was repairing the trail.

    For training goes, it was a run. A good run. Last week I worked on more technical stuff. This week was mostly working on the consistency in my run. I needed both types of training. The trail was runnable and so it was a good training on relatively flat ground with some hills tossed in. I had some solid “fast” miles while I was with Jana. Jana was about my pace, but I had to run to keep up with her. I believe I could out run her, but on this training run, she was stronger.

    I still have to work on to be a stronger trail runner. I crapped out too early. I need to have stronger endurance. I need to run faster uphill and also downhill. I know I would do fine for the BRR race because I am a strong hiker. However, I want to be able to run the full 50 miles instead of just hiking it. Also it would help me on the MMT in May. BRR training is complementary to the MMT training.

    BRR will give us a generous 13 hours to finish. I think I could do it in 12 hours. I hope maybe get it down to 11. Any below 11 hours would be a pipe dream. Since the training run was not a race, I finished around 2 pm. 7 hours after I started. I put in 27-28 miles. I did not have my gps watch on me, so couldn’t tell the actual distance I ran. There will be a few more training runs, one in Feb and one in March. Overall, I had a great time, a much more enjoyable than when I was at the MMT first training run. A couple guys recognized me from the week before.

  • Day459 BRR Training Run 1

    I wasn’t even signed up for the BRR – Bull Run Run (50K), but I was at their first training run the past weekend.

    In our area there is a famous Civil War battlefield, actually there are a few, but Bull Run is probably more so because it was Confederate first victory and the Union retreated in disarray in our backyard.

    The race is not about a remembrance on the war or its history at least to my knowledge. It is just a run that happened near the famous battlefield. No race is held on the actual battleground itself (I think that is the National Park’s rule across the nation that forbids running or similar activities in a National Park or on a hallowed ground).

    The BRR will take place along the Bull Run Trail starting from Bull Run Park and along the namesake river. And I think it will be an out and back. I am not familiar with the details because I never got a chance to run it. I think that generally the direction.

    As for the trail, I have been training on it since last year for other races because it is the closest trail to my home, maybe about 4 miles away. To my joy, it is one of those trails that is not being “improved” on. All, if not all our urban trails are paved and widened so they are no longer are natural trails any more. I understand doing so allow greater access, but it takes away the joy of those who like the tough terrains. This one Bull Run Trail still has dirt and mud and all the nasty stuff (and feels authentic) and it is quite long (as least long enough for a 50K) and out of the way of development, so it gives the feel of being in the wild. Occasionally, we do see some houses or bridges.

    I have been eyeing and wanting to run the BRR (the race) when I first was interested in ultra/trail running, but the race is usually full by the time I find out about the sign up. As so, this year, I heard it is sold out. I have never gotten a spot. Also, back then I was nervous about doing it too and usually don’t pay a closer attention to the sign up date, because I think it was outside of my ability (I hadn’t run a 50K then). Now, my perspective has changed, after all I could run a 100k or more. I am no longer scared of a 50K. But BRR now has less a draw on me.

    I happened to saw their training run announced on Facebook, and no sign up was necessary. I jumped at the chance to run it with my local runners. A training run is almost like the real deal.

    My scheduling worked out. My other race, the Waterfall 50K was canceled for a 2nd time (a bit of a disappointment) but it opened up my Saturday.

    We had probably one of the coldest day this winter this Saturday. People said it was 16F but I think it was around 9F (-12C) when I started the run. The cold just sucked all the heat from me. I don’t remember if ever I was outside when it is this cold. Luckily it was not windy. I started at the trailhead near my home and ran to the training rally point, about 5 miles downstream. We were to meet at the Hemlock Overlook.

    I overestimated myself and did not arrive to the training place on time. Also initially I thought it was only 4 miles. I was dragging my feet somewhat in getting out the house, due to the cold, and I wanted to make sure I had everything for the day. Luckily another runner was also late. She came from Baltimore and had trouble finding parking. The group had left before she was ready. I ran with her till we caught the tailend of the group. It was good to have a companion.

    She ran at a much faster pace than I could keep up, so by 10 mile in, I needed a break, when we happened to be back at where my car was. Unbeknown to me the aid station was only maybe 3 miles further. I stopped at my car to change out my clothes and pants and lubed up. My shirts were soaked and the sweat on my hair was frozen. It was that cold. I got some rub burn I had to take care of – usually is the case when the clothes are wet. I felt better after changing and I ate some bread I had in the car.

    I caught back up with my new friend since she and her group stopped for a toilet break. On the way back, we stuck with her new group. Later though, one of the ladies was moving much slower, so I slowed down too and stayed with her. I became the group sweeper (meaning being last person). We got back to Hemlock and other people were waiting for us. We somehow took a longer route back (1.5 miles longer).

    My run continued into the afternoon because I wanted to add more miles. The day warmed up to 32. The ice on the ground melted and the trail became slushy and muddy. I finished with 27 miles. I originally intended to do a 50K (31 mi), but toward near the end I was low in energy and since it was not a race, there was no point to grind out another 4 miles to get the bragging right.

    Experience: I would say I enjoyed the training run maybe even more than if I run in the race itself. We had good support. People were nice. Even toward the end of the day, I was still meeting a few stragglers. Some started even later than me. I think it was special to bring out a bunch of ultra runners and it felt like a race day.

    I was not training for BRR since I did not secure a spot in the race. No one minded. The thing is we could just show up and do the training. I felt good to gather with other runners. I noted this is my first social run since the start of the pandemic.

    Note for self. I met an older lady during the BRR-TR who has done the MMT 100. Her advice to me is do all their training runs – especially the Chocolate Bunny (around Easter I think), which is a midnight run on the mountain. I think it is something I’ll be looking forward to do. This is important because from now on, all my trainings will focus toward the MMT.