In awe

Tag: half marathon

  • Day482 Bishop’s Half

    I ran with them once some years back maybe in 2018 or 2019. I might have a post on it. I will need to search back at the older entries (I think I found it, day 136). Bishop is I think the name of the race director. Last time I ran was to do it with couple friends.

    As the weekend approached, I realized I had no plans of going any where because I had no race scheduled. By Friday, my itchyness of wanting to run a fast simple race reached its fever peak, so I Googled for a 5k, 10k, marathon, or half marathons, any that are within my driving distance for me to do. It was my fault that the plan for weekend has slipped my mind since I originally wanted to run in the OSS/CIA race, but I missed its sign-up, which closed a week prior.

    I found Bishop Half from one of the running websites. It was a perfect distance. I needed a fast, flat, normal half marathon to test myself. It was long enough to keep me out for a good part of the day but short enough as not to sap my strength too much, since I have a full marathon (my A+ goal race) coming up the following weekend. Maybe that was the reason I didn’t sign up the OSS/CIA race in the first place. I think OSS was a 50 mile race. I had done too many of the long races already. I wanted to go back to the fun little ones. Not that big races are not fun but big races take so much out of me. I wanted to know how fast I can run as of today too. I used to call this a limit test. It is like taking a car onto the track and run it as fast as it can. All the ultra marathon training for the past six months had made me very slow. I need something opposite.

    The previous time when I ran the Bishop’s Half, I was on a verge of or was recovering from being very sick due to having caught the Lyme disease. My pace then was terrible. I think I pulled a 2.5 hrs half, which normally I run it sub 2:00 time. This time around my body was in a much better shape. I was near my peak of my condition if not at the very peak, since I just ran the MMT (a 100 miler) not long ago.

    The race was what I expected and remembered. This was a contrast to my last post about WEU, where a lot other things dominated my experience of being part of it. I had a lot out of the Bishop Half and it scratched my running itch. It was on an out and back course with a 6.5 miles going out on the C&O Canal and 6.5 miles back. There was a .1 mile somewhere to make it a true half marathon.

    I struggled more at finding a parking spot than at running the race itself. Though the race was pretty interesting for me. In this post, I won’t spend 5000 words on how I slept the night before or what time I woke up and my drive to the course and circle around for half an hour to find the best spot to park. All those of course was a drama. I didn’t sleep well. I woke up super early and parking in downtown was a love-hate relationship.

    The race was in the city on the C&O towpath in Georgetown.

    It was really fun and lowkey. Sometimes I really need to run more of local races instead of all the big names cookie-cutter races. We had a shirt and many water stations, I think 9 in total. Stations 3 and 4 were very close together (like half mile or less). They were also same as stations 6 and 7. There were maybe about 100 of us, but it felt more like around 50 ish. It was bib timed. Bless the director of doing the start in two waves. The first wave was for those who can/think they can run under 1:30. I started in the middle of the second wave. So I think I placed myself at near the rear pack. But truly, I hadn’t run this fast for so long.

    It took me about 1:10 hour:mins going out, which according to my own standard was slow. I became tired at the turn around point. While going out I found a buddy to follow. He had a steady pace and we passed maybe 10-20 people during the first couple miles then we stayed steady. JP, a friend I later met, stayed a few steps ahead of us. By mile 4, JP pulled ahead and I followed JP, but by mile 5 I couldn’t keep his pace and dialed back on my pacing. Then there was two ladies, I wanted to follow. I passed one of them and caught up with the other at the turn around. Unfortunately, I spent too much energy catching her and I was not doing well after reaching halfway.

    With my recent knowledge on bonking, I quickly identified I was not doing well and I needed to get energy quickly into my body and I took my first gel package. I could then get back into pace but I fell far behind the lady I was trying to chase. By about mile 9, I had my second bonk. So opened my second gel and tempo came back up a bit. I think I was running at 11 minute pace. I wasn’t wearing my watch so did not know my exact pace. I can kind of guess. My goal was to pretend it was the last 5 miles of my MMT race and I wanted to “revenge” it by trying to run it under an hour. As readers might know I did not finish the MMT for failing to get to the final 5 miles to make the cutoff during my MMT race a month ago. I don’t feel bad about that but I felt I need to be able to do it. It was a motivation for me to run fast. If that is a pace to run after running 90 miles then I have better to do it now that I have fresh legs.

    As I reached 1 mile from the finish, I felt the energy from the last gel fully kicked in. I also had what is called a runner kick and usually I get a speed boost near the finish. I finished it under 2:10. Supposingly, I might have run a negative split but there was no way to be sure.

    The race reminded me the joy of running a fast simple race. With ultra or even marathon, we normally try to hold back our pace. But with a half marathon I could be riskier by running fast early. In my mind, the thought was to let my feet do their things. There was a feeling of letting them fall into steps. It is also a lot simpler in term of planning, unlike MMT or WEU last weekend where fretted on many things. This race I just put on my shoes and ran. This race was a blast.

    Another thought I had while out on the course was the idea of hitting a comfortable pace. I actually wanted to reject that, unlike in longer races, a comfortable pace usually the one that will get you to the finish. What I mean is over time we developed a pace we love to stick at. I use the same pace foe short, long or any length course. It gives a comfortable feeling when we reach it. I called it hammering. You just keep them pounding. It is a pace we could run and fall asleep on. I tried to remind myself in this half marathon that a comfortable pace is not what I seek. If my body feels comfortable, it means I am not pushing myself hard enough. I want to be off balanced and uncomfortable.

    A race should give that discomfortness. I am not in training any more. So I pushed myself. I wanted to feel as if I was about to choke and I needed breath. My muscle and lung should be screaming. In my mind I told myself I want to be broken by my pace. Let it rip. Break me! Peel the layer off me. Yes it is like breaking a blister or peeling a layer of skin. I felt only in a race like this can I run fast.

    MMT broke me mentally but I wanted this half marathon to break me physically. It felt good when I reached the finish line.

    Next week, I will be going to MN for a marathon. It has been couple months since I last ran one. I hope I can still remember the pacing and get to the finish. It is weird to hear myself say this, but sometimes running a marathon makes me nervous. I do hope I will have as much fun as this half marathon.

    P.S. Grandmas Marathon happened over the weekend. I hope I will write a report on it. Bishop Half was a good preview. I ran till my tank was empty. And I ran fast

  • Day434 New River

    I wanted to use a cop out title Brain Dump 3 / Memory Alpha. Sorry, this is another filler post – skip it if you like.

    Why so many filler posts? I am lazy and have been also busy doing the same thing every day, that is to finish up the Race Back Across Tennessee (GVRAT) the rat race. I have less than 2 weeks to go. It ends at the end of the month. They kind of sap all my mental energy.

    I have less than 150 miles left. So every day I was cranking out about 13/14 miles. Back then – like even a year ago, this is an unthinkable number – no even a month ago I didn’t run that much. I really pushed myself this time.

    Hey, last year, when I looked at people who finished the GRVAT, I was thinking, how some of them were able to pull humongous miles daily. Here I am. I am not like the people at top yet, but I am nearer. I am currently ranked 119 out of like 3000-4000 people who are taking part in this virtual race. Of course, this year there were fewer runners registered. Last year, there were 12000 or more. Might have been as high as 15000 or even 20000 people.

    So every day, I am out on the road, doing my miles. This week was the first time of me running in the rain (this year). Almost every night was raining but one night was especially in the rain. I was lucky the other few nights either I ran after the rain, or rain was light or skipped our area or the rain was about to start but I finished my run. It was not a heavy downpour, but was enough to get a feel how it is like to do it. They say, you got to train in any weather especially the nasty ones. It was not that bad once I was wet. I actually liked it because it was cooler finally! I have been running in the heat ‘extreme heat’ they say or ‘killer heat wave’ as reported in the news. The rain was a relief. I actually ran fast during training that day, which is rare. Usually, I just dragged my feet and took my sweet time in my run.

    So these last 30-40 days, I have developed some habits of running after work almost daily because I can’t affort any days off. And on the weekend, I usually ‘travel’ for my runs. A pretty good habit but also means I have no life.

    This weekend, I am at the New River National Park. I will have a half marathon there in couple hours and also in November I will be doing a 100 miler here.

    This was a surprised half marathon race. I just happened to come across it during the week and I checked it out. The 100 miler has been on the back of my mind nagging me that I need to do some onsite trainings. So the half marathon came at the right time to kick off my lazy training for the 100 miler. Not like I have been slacking on my running but I felt I need to run secifically for the 100-mile race. One thing was to visit the site. So here I am.

    New River NP has been gaining some recognition in recent years and people are ‘flocking’ here to see this new national park. I think President Obama designated it. It has been a best kept secret of West Virginia before then, but now the secret is out.

    This is my first time visiting the New River. Actually, I’m staying at a hotel instead of camping out (as I should be doing both to save money and to be ‘closer’ to nature). Ya, I have been a bit lazy with the camping thing recently. I used be enthusiastic about camping at every (outdoor) places I go. But camping is a lot of work. I rather now to pay someone to have a roof over my head.

    Anyway, finally I got to train on the actual trail for my 100-mile race. I am nervous about the race for same reasons I have been worrying about other races this year. It will be out of my comfort zone in term of terrain, distance, and possibly challenge. I fear failure too. I did fail to finish the 100 mile distances twice last year. No longer do I have the confident to take on any races. Trail races are much harder and demanding. I ran with real trail people and saw how I stack against them. Not good.

    So here I am at the New River, hoping to explore some trails, do some running, and enjoying the outdoors of this new national park.

    Oh by the way, the drive there was long. I arrived at 2 AM last night – It was kind of my fault to leave late. Actually I am not in the Park yet, since I am staying in a ‘cheaper’ hotel that is half hour away. Got to go prep for my half marathon soon. Maybe will write about it next week.

  • Day354 Race

    Nothing like being in a race. I missed having the in-person race experience a lot.

    Yesterday, I did a race at Blue Knob Mountain in Pa.

    It was unbelieveble finally after six months there was a race for me to do. The announcer at the starting line asked who are doing it for the first time and I think, 80-90% of the people there raised their hand. Me too. I was my first time at that race. The person next to me said we drove hundreds of miles for this race because there is no other race to do! I want to say, me too! Who is crazy enough to wake at three and drove across state line to do it for a half marathon no less?

    I ran a 13.1 miles trail half marathon yesterday. It was a lovely day for running. Cool around 65 degree. Might have been in upper 50s or low 60s during the early morning. As I was driving there, I almost regretted I did not brought a long sleeves (I hate the cold). People were wrapped in blankets. But I did have my hoodies jacket on.

    The race meant a lot to me. Did I mention I haven’t ran in an in-person race for over 6 months? I went to bed early for two straight days to set my body for the early morning hours. I set the alarm on the race day for 3:30 in the morning. I actually could not sleep much the night of because I was afraid oversleeping and missing the race. The course was three hours away and I need to be there by 8.

    3:30 I got up, showered and dressed. I packed the night before already. Then checked and double checked all my things. I would be out the whole day, so I got to have everything I think I need. It only took me 10 mins and I was all set ready to go.

    The time was a bit too early. I did some light reading, emails, facebook, and such. Set a second alarm and went back to bed for an hour or so, with fully clothed (except for shoes).

    4:45 got up for real this time. Raid the fridge for breakfast. This was what I didn’t plan ahead. Grabbed couple slices of bread and spreaded with hummus and off I went.

    It was too early for me to be up at this hour but the drive was 3 hours long and I had to leave early. Tired while behind the wheel, but managed to reach to the race nonetheless. It was a bit early and I saw the marathon people started at 8 am. I picked up my race package and couldn’t be more excited.

    The marathon did have a draw but I was fearful this marathon would be too hard. I signed up to do the half. This is weird coming from me since I usually only run marathons. Our start time for the half, was an hour later, so I went back to my car to try to catch a brief nap — I set the alarm of course. Not that I really sleep so close to race time.

    What I like so much was it was a real race and it was challenging. I love trails and running on the trails. I wore my boots for this because I preferred more an ankle support even if it means sacrificing mobility and speed. I don’t run that fast on the trail any way, so it was not much a trade-off.

    I am telling you, this half gave me a good beating. The course was challenging. I have not done that many trail races.

    I was not ready for the up hills and also trails. My feet felt like lead. After two miles my calves were screaming. It was hard. There were more than 10 miles to go. I have not done any hill work for a long time and it showed.

    I rolled my left ankle early on into the race, I think before mile 3. I had to stop and retied my shoes. People passed me by. Then I got my mojo. Calves no longer were hurting. I ran a bit faster now and were able to catch back up with the crowd. I passed them actually. Down hills were easy for me. I kept catching people until I was in a comfortable pace.

    It was a technical course for most part. There were a lot of rock hoppings. So the pace for me was slow. There were several giant climbs but fun. One was over 1000 ft.

    The finish was like any finishes. I was glad it was over by then. My time was 3:45 (hr:min). Yes, a half marathon that is almost like a full marathon to me. I didn’t see a lot of people. I sat around at the finish area for a bit watching others finishing before I started to get cold. So I wrapped it up and get home.

    I did get lost on the course near the finish line. It is not something I like to talk about. It was totally on me for not paying attention to the flaggings. It almost costed me the race, but my spider sense saved me after going about quarter mile the wrong way, I backtracked and saw the correct way. I lost at most half an hour there. I thought I was going to run to the finish.

    If it was not for Covid time, I would stay for few hours to celebrate with other runners. I had another event to go to that day, so after grabbing some food (this race has the best food, all they were you can eat too), I headed out.

    Rock -N- The Knob Half Marathon Run

    I am not a picture person. My phone was in my hydration pack the whole time. The place was beautiful.

  • Fun and Rest

    Day 94 / weekend half marathon

    I had one of the best races ever. I say that to every race though. But this race I set a PB. I didn’t upgrade to the full marathon and that was a very wise choice. I knew my previous record was 1:49 (hh:mm), so I lined up behind the 1:50 pace group. I was assigned to Coral 3, but the  pacing team actually lined up at the end of Coral 5. We had wave start and Coral 1-5 were part of the first wave. With a couple minutes delay between each coral. Boy did they started out fast. They knew they were going faster than pace. I followed the last pacer of the 1:50 group. He was saying if we want to finish at 1:45 we have to run at 8 min pace. And I checked my watch we we’re running at 7:45 and he agreed. He said the other pacer of the 1:50 group was even faster than him, and laughed. Later on I think after 5 miles I couldn’t keep up with them any more. I told myself I have to run at my own pace. I had no hope of breaking a record. They finished probably at 1:40. They totally left everyone behind!

    My legs were heavy from the start. I think my calves were still in recovery. My breathing were surprising under control. I wasn’t breathing hard at all. I slowed down a bit at mile 5-6 because of a big hill (400 ft?). No good. I couldn’t climb it. I know next marathon is all hills 2000 ft of them. 5 times higher! That is only a month away. I got to the top and got back into my pace.

    I was slowing down again at mile 11. Luckily I saw someone, and she gave me the strength to speed up again. I caught a second wind. When I crossed the finish line and looked up at the clock, unbelievable, it was 1:46 and a Personal Best (PB).

    First half I had 53:10 and second half 53:33. I stopped my watched a 10 seconds late. However, still I didn’t run a negative split. 

    I celebrated this by going up on the mountain in West Virginia, the Big Schloss.

    The race though was in downtown DC, and there was no snow there. It was cloudy and a very decent temperature for running (3-5C?)