My head is still stuck in Atlanta of a trip I took there at the beginning of May and now we are in June. If readers were wondering why so few posts lately, that was why.
I have a bit of catching up to do. Maybe it is a little understatement nothing much happened in that time. Well, nothing big happened. I lived my life. Things happened.
A week was spent for an one night camping trip at Lake Fairfax. It was my best trip in a lomg time. I haven’t done a camping trip since maybe 2020. This was not per se a real trip, because it was literally by my house, about 30 minutes away. However, I had such a good time with the people there. Then best of all, I was able to do some trail running and a super long urban run on the following day, something I also haven’t done for a long time, possibly since Covid time.
I cowboy-camped, meaning sleeping without a tent, right under the stars. It was a good night. The temperature was about right on the cooler side, maybe in the 50s, so it was a comfortable sleep.
I ran about 30 ish miles, might have been 35 miles, mostly on a flat rail to trail path nearby, the W & OD trail. It has been a long time since I have been on this trail and many sights have changed such a whole lot more data centers. The highlight of the run was eating at the Carolina Brothers Pit BBQ about near the turn around point in Ashburn. We actually ran past it for maybe 3-5 more miles before turning around. Then I ran all the way back to the car just before subset. It was a day that worn me out, which is rare. Possibly, I was no longer in top shape.
The following weekend, I volunteered at our local running club 100 miler, the famous Massanutten Mountain Trail 100, which I ran in the last three years but this year I decided to sit out and volunteer at an aid station and to cheer runners on.
I had a chance to mark the course the day before in one of my favorite sections of the course, the Kerns Mountain, a notorious nasty and rocky section of the race.
When the race was happening, I was one of a few to pre run sections of it (as a course checker, in case more markers/ribbons should be placed) and mine was from mile 50-62. While doing so, I also took part in clearing a blow down.
A volunteer and I was using a hand saw to cut a fallen tree that was blocking the trail. It took us an hour or so and we ended up giving up since it was too heavy to move it to a side. We did improve the passage by lowering the branch closer to the ground so runners could just hop across instead of climbing over it.
Little did we know once we left the trail that afternoon, the wind blew down a bigger tree just outside the trailhead, blocking the exit for cars onto the road and some volunteer cars therefore, were trapped in in a nearby lot. There was no one with a powered chain saw clear the logjam. So it was an evening adventure for a bunch of volunteers sent in to clear it. Yes, eventually, someone was able to borrow a saw and cleared the blow downs. A side note, the following day after the race, more trees were blown down there and a runner (a friend of mine), had their car trapped in the parking lot a second time. We had some strong winds that night for volunteers and runners. And a storm blew through before the race and course was as wet as it can be.
The best was yet to come, a friend called me up not on the race day but a week before and asked if I could pace him. I promised sure, since I was not running in it, pacing would be the next best thing.
So throughout the day while volunteering at various jobs, I kept track on my runner. It seemed my runner might not going to make the cut offs. Each one was very close like by a minute or two. I was betting, likely this dude wouldn’t make it past to where I was supposed to pace him and I would have a night of sleep. I was supposed to meet him at mile 65, like at 3-4 am in the morning. I feared, I might overslept and be a no-show.
So by evening, with no updates yet if my runner had dropped, I figured I better get ready and went to an earlier aid station at mile 50 to meet up instead of at mile 65.
My runner made it in in the nick of time. From 10:30 pm onward, we would continue battling one cut off after another to the next day’s afternoon 5:00 pm, which was the end of the race.
There were high points when morning arrived and the low points like noon the second day when the uncertainty whether we would finish. As a cinderella story, we did make it in, they recorded the time as 35:59:54. A hairbreath, 36 hours being the time limit. Everyone cheered. I was glad. It was crazy. Words could not describe what went through our heads. This was for a 74 year old for his 10th finish at this race.
Why this affected me so much was three years ago when I was falling behind on my pace at this race, I was chasing cutoffs. But unlike him, I did not make it to the finish line but stopped at mile 95. My friend did what I could not do by keeping at it one step after another, even when things seemed bleak, he finished.
Many people think I might have something to do with helping him, maybe my presence or encouragement got him through. I do take the credit of being there, but all the work and struggles were him alone. As the clock was ticking down, I was thinking to myself, if that were me, I wouldn’t make it. Yet on the flipside even if I were not there, he would still have made history. I was happy I got to experience it on the front row seat with him, battling with him of beating the cutoffs. What an excitement. My blog entry just doesn’t do justice.
The last weekend in May (Memorial Day weekend), I ran a 50k at Cowans Gap. More will be written later if I get to it. It was a fine weekend and a very good run. 10 hours were a little too long for me. I wish I could have done it in 9 or less. It is what it is.
Then this week, I went to Roanoke and did a trail marathon. It was also a fine weekend. I wish I have time to write about it. I ran it in 6:03, (with the time cutoff being 6:30) probably my best effort before my 100 mile.
Briefly, I had one of the best hike while there. And here is a picture.
In awe 