I tried to cover up my excitement. It is just the first one. A izzy bitzy race. Nothing to it.
All them is setting up for this month! My first true 100 mile for this year (coming in two weeks).
I will be running with a friend, Lynne, in two weeks and I am getting her excited too. (Trying to persuade her to sign up another 100 mile, Forgotten Florida, before we dive into this monster, aka, C&O100). I tried to hide it, like you not suppose to name it before the race start, otherwise bad thing will happen. Think of Burning River. I told my mom don’t get too excited before the race because you don’t know if there will be a finish at the end. Runners (me) are superstitious. Don’t jinx it.
Actually, I will be running with many friends. It is near where I am so a lot local runners will be doing it. Which race? The C&O Canal! I have been waiting for this race since the begining. A very long time ago. I will write more in my race report when it is done.
But for now, here for this week, I will be doing the Roanoke Double Marathon (last year event). This is also a marathon I wanted to do for very long time ago. I can’t remember when I did the first time, in 2019 maybe? It is billed as America’s hardest road marathon with 7000 ft of climbing (I think they lie, because they might of included the down elevation with the up, maybe only half of that is real), but yes it is very hard compare to a normal marathon, where usually you see 100-200 ft change with the exception of Lake Hayden in Idaho. Most people want to run on a flat course, but for those into bruishing themselves with hill workouts, come to run the Roanoke Marathon. It’s actual name is something like Blue Ridge Bluecross Anthem Marathon or something. I always call it the Roanoke Marathon.
Here is the kicker, I want to do a doubler, that is to run it twice. Run one at night before anyone show up and run it again with everyone in the morning. It is actually a thing.
Huhuhuhu. I am puffing myself up. Actually for trail runner, the elevation is not that much. It ia a lot but compares to trail, it is quite normal. A lot of my friends actually are heading to the Promise Land to do real mountain running. So I can’t really brag that mine is the baddest. Where for them, they would say what are you crying about.
Why I am doing it? I needed a bit of road running for my up and coming 100 milers. This is a good fit.
A bit of bad news, my one and only marathon in a new state this year, Providence Marathon in Rhode Island, has been canceled. That state is messed up. I should have run the New Port Marathon last weekend if I knew earlier it was going to be like this. There is another Newport Marathon in the fall. Yes, the state is messed up, trying to confuse out-of-state runners. How many new ports are there? (3)
I am a bit heart broken. Yet it is also an opportunity. I quickly signed up for a 100K in Atlanta, the Great Southern Endurance Run. I have been also longing to do this one since I started my 100 mile journey in 2020. Those who have been followed my post for long would remember couple summer ago, I took two trips to Atlanta but came back with nothing. This year is it! I am doing it. (GSER first attempt, second attempt). Granted those two times were a 100 mile attempt, this time it is just a 100k (62 miles). Also this time, we no longer need to climb up to Kennesaw Mountain to start the run. That was a wicked climb. We will start at the foot and no need to climb up. Park service would not allow us to go in. Oh well. I wish I could stay an extra day to snap a photo up there. Please let me finish this big project. GSER.
Why am I doing this? Last heat training session and last long run before everything goes crazy. (MMT and OD100). Yes everything. And Western States. Saying it 10 times fast. I am going crazy and hyberventilating. I will talk more about it in my race report.
Anyway, there are just too many races to keep track of. I will take one race at a time. If I am to die today, I am dying happy, but I always want to do just one more race! Just one more time.
I posted on other social media about this last run. However, I did not go into too much details. It was quite a fun adventure, I lost a glove twice that night, same pair, and I got lost myself when I decided to back track to look for it the second time. Yes, how can you get lost by backtracking, but you can! All I am saying is it meant to be lost. The training run went well overall. I finished by 3 am. I stayed for the night and did an extra run the next day. Here is the full scope.
Last year I was trying to run the MMT 100. Someone (Iris) suggested that I should do their training runs. I was nervous because they called their training runs the Massanutten Academy! You have to apply for it! Later I found out it was just a silly thing. The runs are free. Anyone can join. There were four training runs spanned over four months before the race. And you can sign up each one individually with no commitment to go to the next one or even have to be registered for the MMT race itself. The actual race is in May.
This year I heard about it early and I signed up for all four runs. Tonight training was the last of the four.
The training runs were to be on the actual course. Three of them would be enough to cover every mile of the course. The last one was a bonus night run on the hardest and final section of the MMT course.
This was the section that derailed my race last year. It was also the night time. The training was very important in planning how to deal with it this year. The third training already covered the similar ground. Just having it at night gives the actual race day condition since most of us would arrive at this section some point when we were most tired and vulnerable and the hardest section. Most of us could do well during the day time, but night time when we are out of our comfort zone, that is where it gets hard.
The MMT 4th training event started at 7 pm. I arrived before 4 pm, first to get a parking spot, and second to do some day time exploring. One other car also arrived before me. They were already out running by the time I pulled in. Though they and I would all be back at the parking lot to sign in at 7 to start with the rest. There were more than 50 of us running this.
There was a mile stretch from the Picnic Area aid station to Rt 211 Parking Lot. Last year, this section took me an hour to cover (maybe around mile 87-88 in the real race). So I went out on it to figure out why and to get a better feel of the trail. Indeed, during day time and being full of energy, I had no problem with this section. I walked back and forth at least twice. I learned the trail cold. I was confident I could do this little section on race day. Funny how seemingly I made an ant hill into a mountain last year. There were a lot of this kind of aha moments during the training run.
By 6 pm the rest of the runners showed up. We had a full house. Some people came from far away like Ohio and Pennsylvania to do this training run. The race director (the night event coordinator Larry) and a few also said this year had the most turnouts.
By a little before 7 pm, we took a group picture and crossed over Rt 211 to begin the run. The traffic stopped for us. I met a lot of friends I made previously on other trainings, Amanda, Costi, Stuart, Carl, Jeff, Morty, and some I couldn’t remember the name, but seeing them again brought happiness. Many will be running in the real race in May.
I started out slowly. Many and all passed me. Amanda and I were ones left behind, as usual, and I called myself an unofficial sweeper. Generally, in a race there is a person to pick up trashes and take care of people in the back and that is the sweeper. That was fine with me. Amanda set a good walking pace and I did not mind unlike last year where I tried to get ahead of slowpokes. I know this was a run, and last year I did run it. I knew I wanted the race day pace. No need to run faster than that. Amanda dialed it in perfectly. I knew I would make the midnight halfway point cut off at the Visitor Center.
I knew Amanda from last year training runs. She was a friend of a friend. Her pacer Ram, was an amazing helper to me during my Devil Dog 100. I am forever grateful to him. Amanda has not done well in recent races. Tonight was the first time I saw her again. Well, I met her once at Stone Mill 50 last November but we did not get a chance to catch up in that race.
There were a time we were alone. It was uphill. We got on the Orange trail after an hour in. Night was coming. We caught up to John. Amanda did not pass John. I was kind of impatient but I held my tongue. At the time, I did not know who John was.
John started to talk about various things. He was not training for the MMT, his wife, I think is. He ran the MMT last year. This year he is training for the Eastern States 100. If you know Eastern States is a very hard race and I don’t think I can run it. He got my respect when he mentioned that. John has done the Barkley. I was not sure if that the fall classic or the real Barkley. Wow I was in the present of a superstar (I met a few that night). Indeed duing the uphill section, John was very strong. There was no way I would be able to pass him and I was glad I did not because I would have made an ass out of myself later.
We reached the top when the last light was fading. It was around 8:45. We then was racing downhill. We caught with John’s wife Charleen. I then realized this couple were manning the aid station on the last MMT training. They know me but I didn’t know them by name until this run.
sunset, as we were about to descend into Gap Creek II (Amanda was up ahead, right behind John. The bright light is from John. He was using a chest lamp as well as a head torch)
This hill tonight seemed easy. It took us only couple hours to reach here. With maybe 3 hours left to get down onto Gap Creek II station, climb Jawbone, and traverse over Kerns, and run to Visitor Center. The cutoff is around midnight at the Visitor Center. I was confident we would make it even though there was a lot of miles to go.
Getting over the first hill, here at Scothorn trail was what led me a DNF during last year MMT. It was incredible hard between mile 90-95. I just could not bring forth any energy at the time.
It did not seem that hard tonight. Charleen set a good downhill speed. We reached the road pavement. John led us across the creek with our feet kept dry. Once on the road, Charleen, Amanda and I raced to the aid station about a mile to 2 miles away. It was a long run but we held a steady pace at least of 12 min mile or faster. Might even be at 10 mins but none of us were out of breath. John fell behind.
At the aid station, we all did our various things. Some used the restroom behind some trees. Some readjusted their pack, or put on layers. Temperture was dropping. We started the run in upper 60s but very soon, we were feeling it was in the low 50s and we knew it would continue to fall to low 30s by midnight. I started to see my own breath. I refilled my water. Got some sodas, and cookie chips. This was the last stop before midnight. The time was around 9 pm. We had a long way to go.
In the 100 mile race, after Creek Gap II, we would have 5 miles of road to the finish. However, tonight, we changed to Gap Creek I (mile 65-67 in the MMT course) by going to Kerns Mountain. Kerns Mountain is the roughest section in the whole race in my opinion. The first time I was on this, I had to used hands and knees, ya, crawling over rocks and boulders. It was slow going.
But first we had to climb Jawbone. John and Charleen led the pack (John caught back up). I took the last position. Halfway up, Stuart and another guy went the wrong way and we found them while they were backtracking. So our group of 4 became a group of 6. It was a joy to have a bigger group. I met Stuart from previous runs.
Amanda could not keep up with John’s pace and she stopped for a break. I stayed with her while the rest of the group continued on. Stuart and his friend passed us. Again I was in the last position.
Tonight I was not in a rush. I wanted to simulate my race day pace. Precisely going up Jawbone was what messed me up last year. People were passing me on this section, and it was about 2 am at the time, and I became anxious during the race to push extra hard. I became even more out of breath, etc. It ended up costing me more time later on (of 6 hours to traverse Kerns instead of 2 hours).
Tonight, when Amanda decided to stop for a breather, I stopped too. Amanda was much better this year compared to last year. She got sick last year. She only stopped once ascending Jawbone.
When we got to Kerns, we caught back up with John and his group. Amanda kept a close pace behind them. I kept a looser pace. If it was an easier section I could hop over rocks and catch up easily. However, I took extra time in more difficult sections. Most of the time, we were 50-100 yards apart. Sometimes though I could get right behind them.
What I learned tonight was my balance had improved since a month ago. I had trouble on this section previously and that was during day time. Now at night, even without shining light on the path, my feet found their footing. It was almost like I couldn’t fall. I hit all the right rocks. My ankles were strong. I was not tripping or rolling my ankles or slipping. Every step was sure and full of confident. I was moving at a good pace. I could run it if I wanted. I walked fast and at times I tried running. All system was good.
Kerns was a long section. I was more mentally prepared. Soon though we reached Q’s view. We know we would be near to Crisman Road. Once on the road, we would run again. We were ahead of our pace. We had maybe two miles to reach the (Massanutten’s) Visitor Center. Amanda put on a steady pace. We left John and Charleen behind. Soon we caught up to Stuart and his companion. We went on to passed some other people.
There was a white van near the end of this section. Some runners were concern about the van following them, especially female runners. The time was near midnight and we were on a remote trail. There shouldn’t be anyone driving around on this part of mountain. One runner was scared enough and waited for us to join up so we would pass the van together. The van seemed to be stalking us. Amanda mentioned she had similar experience last year and she had to hide in the woods until the van disappeared.
We had no more scary incident afterward. We crossed over Rt 211 to the Visitor Center. There were a whole crew of people waiting for us.
I flopped down to the nearest camp chair next to the firepit. We made the cut off. It was a little passed 11:30. I believed I stayed for nearly 20 minutes. Soon I remembered I needed to fill up my hydration pack. John and Charleen would not do the next half but instead going to hike two miles back to Rt 211 parking where our cars were parked.
I grabbed some fries and peirogis from Dan (our MMT RD, overlord). Amanda was waiting for me. I thought her husband was coming to pace her and I didn’t know she was waiting for me otherwise I would have been quicker at the aid station.
We set off for Bird Knob. Stuart and his friend just arrived and we couldn’t wait for them. In the 100 mile race, this was an even harder climb after Kerns Mountain. I blacked out on this section during last year race. Tonight though I was full of energy. I let Amanda lead. It was a hard climb up. The moon came out. I believe it was a full moon.
Once on Bird Knob, it was not too bad. It was just long. We reached the purple trail. We almost missed it but Amanda had good sense once we passed it, she knew. We knew to back tracked. We found the purple trailhead. Someone had knocked down the post indicating the turn.
Purple to pink trail was not hard to find. Indeed it was long section too, maybe 6-8 miles. It took us like three hours. We reached the picnic area and made the turn on the Orange trail. Lucky we did not miss the trail but we found two other people who missed it. A third person was hurt and stayed at the Picnic Area to be picked up. We did not know until we finished. We had a mile to go to get back to 211 parking. Amanda was very good here. We arrived at 3:20.
Meaning the entire 25 miles took us 8 hours and 20 minutes. Meaning for the 100 mile, it would took us 33:20 hour:min. This is definitely an acceptable time. The race cutoff for this year is 36 hours. I felt I was only using 30 % of my effort. I was not rushing. I felt at this slow walking pace I definitely would make the final cutoff on race day.
I told Amanda, she has to keep this pace to finish and keep the time at the aid stations short. Not like tonight because I spent ungodly amount of time at the Visitor Center. Got to keep it down to 5 mins or less. In the real race, we have a total of 2:30 hours for aid stations and pace slowdown due to being tired. If there will be 10 stations, then we could stay up to 15 minutes, but of there will be close to 20 stations, we can only stay at most 7 mins. So, plan the stops carefully.
Conclusion: We were the last two out of 50 runners. By keeping a steady walking pace, we ended up passing about 6-7 people and we were no longer the DFL (dead fricking last). If we keep this same strategy of not rushing, we could do the same on race day. It does not matter which position we start in but which position we will finish. If we finish around 33 hours, we would be ahead of maybe 50 people!
My personal plan is — likely on race day, I will be going at the same pace as Amanda, till mile 62-67. I will ram up the pace as we near the end. I know it is easier to say than done. If Amanda could keep up with me, we will finish together. By 50 miles, I know whether she will be able to keep up or not. She will have a team of pacers helping her after mile 50. I plan to do Kerns Mountain and the few sections after at a faster pace than last year. I think this time I will finish it. The web signup, puts me in the 32 hours finish time. Last year, I would not believe this, but this time after finishing Blackbeard’s Revenge in 26 hours, I believe I am capable of the MMT under 32 hours.
New Year is already here! I am behind on making my resolutions. I am not a big fan of making resolutions because I usually fail after a few days. I also the type of person who needs to have them because I love structure.
I did not start the year with a bang, but I did start it off running. Seriously, I ran a 50K on January 1st. I still need to write a report on that.
In other areas besides running though, I have some “debts” to repay. I felt behind on a bunch of things. There are two race reports to write! I need to prepare for several trips this spring (Texas, Canada, Outer Banks, Roanoke, and Massanutten). One is next month and I haven’t reserved my flight. And most importantly, I need to refocus myself for this new year.
Originally, I was going let it slides, like I have been for the last few years. This year was going to be like the year before. It is not far from the truth. Same old same old. I figured the previous year resolutions should do for this year.
However, after reading some other people posts, I want to give this year a serious thought. I lile from RunningOnFumes of choosing a word or phrase for the year. For me, I would like 2023 to be *resolved*. Hopefully, I’ll reach some goals.
SeizeLife at LiveTheMoment/EatTheMoment mentioned about 168 plan. We have 168 hours total in a week. How do we use it? I Googled and downloaded the spreadsheet. Basically, it helps listing out what things are important and ideally helps you to focus your time to have a fulfilling week. I will look into it and hopefully will use it.
Resolve 2023.1 – practice and use the 168 plan
I know People/cities die for lack of vision. I live by purpose. I want it to be meaningful.
The last few years I have been quite unfocused. I tried aiming toward a target to transition from road running to trail running, and it took over three whole years to do it. Looking back, it wasn’t bad, just me stumbling through life.
What does this mean? Running 100 mile races helped me understand pace degradation. You know I could run a marathon between 4-5 hours, 26 miles. In my head, I know the pace. Miles just fly by. Every couple hours, you get 12 miles.
But in a hundred mile, you experience the pace slowing down. In your mind you still want and hope to run a 12-13 min mile pace. Reality is your body is moving much slower.
When I run, I set goals, like by what time, I should be at a certain place. Pace elongation stretches out the time. a five minute wait becomes 10, and 10 mins becomes 20 and so on. It seems a step taken should be closer in distance to the finish yet would take much longer time to get there. The famous Zeno’s Paradox! Every step only brings me half the distance closer but never reach it.
This is how I feel with planning the last three years. Originally, things I wanted to do in 2018/2019, finally only got them done last year. Yes, what or why did it take me so long!
I still love setting resolutions! Eventually, I will get there right? I recheck my to-do bucket list and glad some of them are finally coming off it. Yet there are still so much more to do.
This morning I was exploring from 100 mile races in the Philippines! They have The Hard 100 – they give 40 hours to do. So it got to be hard. I want to do it! Now I am aware of it, it probably will take couple years for me to get there.
Three years ago, I would not dare to dream about running this 100 mile race, but now, ya, it is more about when I can go and how it will fit into my schedule.
Last night, I met up with David, my running friend who has been doing runs and races together this past year, and we were talking about tons of races through out the night. One of our mutual friend wanted to her first (half/full) marathon. We were excited of sharing our knowledge. At the same time, I was checking my schedule to see how they would fit in, because I want to run races with them. Our friend Siri has interesting idea of going to the spa and hot pot after “our” race — DC rock n Roll, which I haven’t signed up yet.
Marathons on my new lists to check out is Las Cruces in NM, Burlington in VT, Space Coast Coco Beach in FL. I can’t do the first two yet because of scheduling conflict this year, but Space Coast is a possibility!
Oh yeah what about my resolutions?
I resolve – 2023.2 – to not be lazy with my training, specifically waking up in the morning to train
2023.3. plan better
2023.4. sit down and get my Annapurna trip together. It is supposed to be this year but I am so scared with the planning
2023.5. put sydney marathon on my planner. I could definitely go this year, because my schedule is open, but need to take that step to make it happen. Also so scared about travelingbout the country. Going oversea isn’t scary but how to meet up with my cousins and auntie there, is. idk, it should be excited, but i’m shy.
2023.6. mexico trip: likely won’t happen this year, but good to dream to run with Ramamuri (Tarahumara). Caballo Blanco Ultra 50 mile in March. From The book Born to Run. One of my favorite ultra running books to read.
2023.7. walk the talk (resolve to get things done). Pretty much this year theme. Resolve to resolve.
conclusion: the whole post is about to get myself to make some goals and they don’t usually get done on my time table. This leads me to not make more goals. However, I should look hard and get my things done. So I made some new year resolutions. Let’s be bold!
I have been recovering well the last two weeks. I just have nothing to blog about. I was thinking of doing some kind of highlight reel of my 2022, so here it is.
It is also a time to pause, meaning what am I doing next. I know I have a bunch of races for next year. Nothing truly is challenging me except for the MMT 100 and possibly Teach’s Revenge 100 (OBX), though what I am excited about is the Toronto Marathon! Yes, I am thinking about racing all the time. I guess more to be revealed in future posts. Plus, I have a few vanity races such as Lake Tahoe, and maybe will do the CIM (California International Marathon).
So much have happened in 2022. I had a great fall season! Nothing new here for those who kept up on my blog.
I started up the year slowly, with a bunch of baggages. I was injured after last year Devil Dog, and I believe it sidelined me for at least 8 weeks. My mom was sick during November-December time frame that created ton of pressure in my family, resulted in a big dispute between me and my sister. I had hard time focusing as much as I tried to ignore the distractions. I tried to focus on the issue and not so much the emotional turmoils. Less talk/cry more work should be my motto. All in all, my spring training was delayed.
Then I did manage a couple marathons in the spring, Newport News and Salibury. I was happy with my results though they were not my best time. I love those two races and they were on my list for a long time and finally was able to run them. I linked to their reports. Then I ran the Massanutten 100 (MMT) as I was returning to a good running shape. Though I did not finish the race, but it was the high point because it was a hard race and I gave it my best shot. It helped later in the year. MMT was supposed my A+ race.
After MMT, I tried to reset quickly. During the summer, I trained and ran the Iron Mountain 50 (IMTR). It was also another high point to see if I could beat the course 12 hour time limit. I did not succeed but it was also a valuable lesson that I need to be better. And it propeled me into a strong fall season. I also ran Grandmas in Minnesota for fun. I had fun.
There was no time to be upset about Iron Mountain. I was not much upset by it. A failed attempt is a failed attempt. Do better next time. Yes, I waited four years to run it, but there is always a next year. Iron Mountain was not an A race, but it was very close there, like a consolation prize. (I don’t really plan for B races).
Things picked up fast in the fall. It was like I got an extra boost. I did a race almost every weekend. They were not hard per se but many were adventurous. I traveled to places like Ann Arbor and Atlantic City. They were places I have never been to. It is one of the reasons I like doing the 50 states marathons, to visit different places. There were many other races I did and they were all great, but they are just too many for me to remember and name them here. (I will try to find links to my spring plan, summer plan, and fall review and plan, where I mentioned some of them).
A few of the races that stood out were the Stone Mill 50 and then JFK 50 and of course the Devil Dog 100. They were my biggest races. I could not imagine of even doing one, even last year much less all three together. I trained a whole season just for one event in the past.
Devil Dog was the best because it was last and is in a league of its own. I can’t say enough. It was the most intense and most gratifying. My mind is blown away by it. I did finish and that probably made it a great year. It was as if I came back with vengence to redeem my last year failed attempt and the two earlier races of this year. I want to prove I can do it. It was a risky plan because the implication if I have failed again is huge and that was a reason I did not say anything about either the JFK or the Devil Dog, but I made a lot of noise about Stone Mill as a diversion.
I still wish though to give a list of marathons I ran this year. Originally, this post was going to do it, but I got bored when I was about to get started. Maybe will leave this for another time. I ran maybe 5 or 6 of them. The list of all my races is somewhere on here or the internet, but I like to make some comments and reflection on them.
Marathons do get easier now (this year). I did feel nervous when I ran Newport News, and other marathons but by the time I did the NCR (last one of this year), I was completely confident that I could finish. Even running a 50 mile is easier for me now at the end of the year than at the beginning of the year. My perspective shifted after completing the Devil Dog. I guess with trainings, the body can be conditioned to make the run seems easy.
I still remember not long ago, I was thinking how could people run a two marathon distance in one day and I was amazed by that at the Roanoke Marathon where some runners signed up to do just that. I get exhausted just doing one. I know it is all about pacing, but still to my early days, it was impossible. I want to say 100 miles too is the same but I think, a 100 mile is a different beast. Spoiler: I will finally attempt doing a double marathon in Roanoke next Spring (already registered).
Anyway, this weekend, if weather holds up, I will be doing a 50k “recovery” run (Naked Nick) in Pennsylvania. Should be an easy run. A race report will be available later. Question is can I do it? I don’t know. I only had two “runs” since my 100 mile race. When I said runs, they were more like a walk. OK we’ll see. Don’t ask why I signed up a race so close following my one hundred. I agree I am out of my mind sometimes.
ps. or fyi. Seneca Greenway 50K registration opened two days ago. This is my favorite. Also I am thinking of fitting Shamrock Yuengling Marathon in my schedule. Yes, time for signing up more races when I have nothing to do.
Halloween can mean a lot of things to different people. Candies yes, lot of them. Staying up, yes. Partying yes. For me, I’m boring, and didn’t do any of that. Instead…yes, it was about racing!
For me one of the most exciting and anticipating things this year and by somewhat an accident too, was signing up for a race on Halloween. No I mean “the race”, the one and only I have been talking about day and night, the MMT.
MMT registration opened on October 30 at 8pm! I wasn’t sure if it would be opened at midnight or in the middle of the day, but by October 31, when I so happened to check, 100 people already signed up.
At first, I said I was not going to sign up, not going to sign up. I didn’t know it was open but something in me kind of prompted me. You know that 6th sense of warning or weird feeling. So I checked the website. Note, I usually don’t keep checking a race website.
MMT scarred me. So there was no reason for me to anticipating it. I received enough of a beating from it this year. My schedule is already full when I finalized it a couple weeks ago. Well it’s kinda of full. Well maybe I could squeeze it in. But I had the other hundred mile lined up for next March. I promised myself only to do one big race a season. OBX one is pretty big. It is on road so it is a bit easier and there are no mountains to climb. So maybe it is time to do step it up and do two one hundred mile in a season! And I was thinking about running the C&O 100 too. Screw the plan. Hey let do 3 100.
But this MMT race is hard! It was super hard and I did not finish it last time. Maybe that was just a fluke you know. I got to try it a second time to be sure. I was so close to finishing it too, so this time I’m sure can tilt it over. I literally know every mile of the course. I will be so much stronger this time and I have been training whole summer already. I will be ready by May next year.
I said even though I am not going to sign up but I am gonna check out the website and see what’s new. I saw this!
What is this!? MMT registration is open! And what’s new this year is it added an extra whole hour to the cut-off — a 36 hour time cut-off! Last year we only had 35 hours. This time it is 36! One whole hour! I have not check the course yet, did they add an extra mountain for us to climb? Last time they shortened the time by removed one one of the mountain (Scothorn on the return trip, we still had to climb Scothorn going out). We worry about that later. I only needed just a bit more time (I was cut at the 34th hour at mile 95). Who know if I sit out next year, they might switch back to the 35 hour limit? Maybe this is the one and only chance I get of having a good shot at finishing this?
(Aside: I spoke with the former race director, Kevin, over the weekend when I ran another of his race Bobcat-11 and he was surprised about the changes! He was asking what time I got at the MMT. I did not want to disappoint him like na-na-na I got to run it on an easier time after he stepped down…so I promised I will finish it in 35 hrs next year, I think I can)
After checking the list of participants, Oh, they are in. My friends, my buddies. The list already had a hundred people! Let me be the 101! I got to sign up right now. FOMO kicking in fast (fear of missing out). I did. Oh and the price is so cheap too. It is two and half dollar for every mile. A bargain! A local fifty miler cost more than that! Money speaks.
Note, I am putting a positive spin on this. Hope y’all enjoy my rationalization. This is how sign up an expensive race ;)…More to come!
I signed up is all that mattered. Running part we will worry later. My readers will hear about MMT for another 6 more months.
what’s next…I didn’t do much over my weekend so nothing to write about. I did the bobcat-11, but it was like a fun run. Next week is the Stone Mill. Hopefully a report will be ready soon after.
2022 Edition. Part of the tradition is around this time of year, I will reveal my next year race scehdule. couple weeks (Day442) ago, I already hinted/ let it known a few races I already signed up.
3 marathons I signed up were, the Newport News One City, Grandma’s in Minnesota, and Salisbury in Maryland.
My goal as always is to chip away my 50-states goal. Grandma is the target for that And I might likely go down to Atlanta to run theirs. One City and Salisbury are states I already did. They are just races I want to run.
I also, signed up for a 100 miler – Massanutten. It is the big boy race. It will be one that challenges me at the next level. What I mean is I will be running like never before! 2021 was a pop off year, and 2022, definitely the real deal in running if I get Massunutten down.
Other than these, there will be some repeats of 2021 and some volunteering. Some races are not determined yet. Catoctin, Iron Mountain, Rock n the Knob, definitely I want to rerun those. Rim Tahoe, is a new race and is a maybe. It has a lottery and requires traveling. Lake Ridge too is another repeat, I would like to do it on a weekend like I did this year.
Some were deferred races from 2020, such as the Marine Corps, Rock -n- Roll, and the Richmond Marathon. I also want to run the Philadelphia Rocky Fatass, Philadelphia trail marathon and the Devil Dog 100. All these were kind a deferred race from 2020.
By the way, I am kind of on the fence too on Laurel Highlands – a race I ran this year, but I want to run it one more time.
By the way, the live schedule is on the site, and it changes from time to time.
I also as with thousands other runners tossed our names in the lottery for Western States – one of the most coveted races for ultra marathoners. My chance of getting in is like 1:20000. One can only dream that I will make it on first try.
I do plan out my races a year in advance. Kind a. All in all, my races are not much a surprise. My goal (A) Race is probably the Grandma’s Marathon and maybe Massanutten.
~~~2022~~~
Marathon Goal: MN
(Dec/Jan) (doubtful) Holaday Lake?, VA
(Mar. 5-6) (reg’d) One City Marathon, Newport News, Va (race is on Sunday). Check back in Sept.
(March 26?) (likely) DC Rock n Roll Half. reg is open
(April 2) (Reg’d) Salisbury Marathon, MD, sign up is open ($85)
(May 14) (reg’d) MMT 100. Definitely
(Jun 4) (volunteering) 1st Weekend. 100k. Worlds End, PA. Should consider running it. very difficult. might defer to 2023
June 18, 2022: (reg’d) Grandma’s Marathon, MN. travel required
Jul 9. (likely) Catoctin 50k. Real deal this year. reg open Jan 1.
Jul 16-17. (considering) (Hyped) Tahoe Rim Trail (TRTer) 100/50. reg lottery open is in Dec 5. Drawing Jan 1, Stroke to sign up. race is on Sat. 8 hr trail work req for 100Mi. Travel.
(Sep 5) (considering/likely) Iron Mnt Ultra 50 – IMTR, labor day weekend. Don’t miss reg Jun 1.
(Sep 12) (considering/probably) (Claytor Lake) Lake Ridge Endurance Run – 24 hr? defending my title 😉
(Sep 25) (considering/but not likely) Pemberton 24x5K, Friday 7:00 pm – Sat 7:00pm. Reg open on April 28. only if i get in.
(Oct 25) (reg’d/but need confirm, deferred from 2020 & 2021) MCM 50K, again! 6 hr is course limit. Need to re-reg in April.
(Nov 13, 2022) (reg’d/but need confirm, deferred from 2020 and 2021)Richmond Marathon. ahhh, going to be intense
(Dec 4): (not likely) Rocky 50 PA Fatass. http://www.rocky50k.com/. Always been considering, 1st of Dec
(Dec 4) (Considering the 100M)Devil Dog 100K/100MI, Triangle, VA. As such this or Yetti. The full monty (race reg opens on July 4)
My running season is near an end. I have a few more races in the bag before the year ends but I am not that excited about them like I am usual do with my previous races. On a scale 1-10, with 10 is the best, they are like a 4 to me. Yes they are still interesting…but I think I have run just one too many races. It is like trying to eat when you are full.
What does this mean? I am trying to process my thoughts and emotion. Races used to be super duper good. I used to have that anticipation from six months out, then two months and the week of and the hours before a race. Now, I have to check my schedule every weekend, oh, did I sign up for that? Guess I am going away again. Usually I don’t pack until the last final moment. Don’t get me wrong that I have become jaded, maybe a little, but as you can tell from my race reports, I am still super excited of every single one of them that I had done, like the last EC marathon I ran. It is that, there is so much more “drag” now aday when I prepare for a race, maybe it is a mental drag or resistance to running a race.
Maybe it is burnout. Couple other runners on a Facebook group page I am part of, posted similarly to what I am experiencing this week. And aha, so am I experiencing it! I am in my 4-5 years of running. I started at the end of 2016.
For example, there was an annual 10 miler in my neighborhood the past weekend. Usually I signed up weeks or months in advance, this year I waited until the day of and in the end, I did not have the will power to get up to run it. I didn’t sign up, but I could if I really wanted to. This has never happened before to me of skipping a race, since I love racing! Granted, I rationalized that missing this one race was not as important as missing a marathon! But in the past, a race is a race no matter the distance, because I would be just as thrill as running a 30 mins race or a 30 hours race! I did miss that race because I just couldn’t pull myself together to go do it. If I have an opportunity to do a race, I would do it! Races were like a treasure to me.
I know it is always ok to take a rest sometimes. I am more concern of my inactivity. I wanted to do it but couldn’t will myself into action. Don’t do it if I don’t want to do it as long as I am happy, right?
Maybe I did not have enough down times or rest between a race to process all my feeling, of all the highs and the lows of running one. Not that races are no longer giving me the trills, it is maybe that I forced myself to forget about them as soon as it is over and move onto the next one immediately and when you have repeatedly doing it week after week for so many times, they all become a blur. I ran like 9-10 big races this year, with possibly the biggest one back in February. Truthfully, I have never truly recovered from it. Physically yes I recovered, but not mentally and emotionally. Not that it broke something inside me, but something indeed is not the same. Surely, I do want to run an epic race again! It is hard to explain.
Physically, I can run race after race each weekend. We are talking of marathon level runs. But it is also the mental toll – the stress in preparing for the race and also the emotional soup afterward.
I noted that usually after a major race, I had a crash. Emtionally drained. It is like being in a hard fought battle. This led to a period of a mini depression sometimes. As they say, every high has its low.
Last two weeks, was like a mentally forced down time on me. I lost all motivation to run after the EC marathon. Again it was not that I don’t like running, but it was because I couldn’t bring myself to get my foot out the door, because I couldn’t get myself off the couch!
What am I getting at? Training is never easy. It takes effort at least some effort above the normal routine. Once I stayed inactive, it is hard to get back into training. To me, training is like running/going uphill. You beat one hill another hill pops up. You have to keep doing it. But on top this dealing with the after race effect made it almost impossible to do any training.
I had the postrun problem after the recent marathon in Wiscousin (Eu Claire – EC Marathon for short). EC Marathon did provide that extreme high-feeling-good vibe, but afterward, it was like the tide has gone out. This is not a feeling of depression but a feeling of actually being normal. I don’t think I was in a depressed state. Right? I felt I lived a normal person life for once – waking up, going to work, coming home, and ralaxing by watching ‘TV’ – not really TV per se, but similar, letting the brain rot in front of social media. Knowing too much sedatary is harmful to mental health and my training, but it was too tempting to just do nothing. Social media is designed to draw our clicks and eyeballs! Aptly Facebook was in a hot seat this week with the Senate hearing. I was like that every day after work for two whole weeks! I was in a social media trap and unable to get myself out.
I guess by me writing out my thought process can help me get back to my training. Over all, I want to reach the end – like in a race eventually, there is an end point. There are several big goals I wanted to reach, such as maybe running a 200 miler couple years from now, and so I need to get to that level of fitness. It means running the races I am doing today.
In my previous post, I set out my races, my “cornerstones” for next year. I already signed up a few of them for next year. It is like a track that will lead me to an end. You lay down the important ones first and everything fall around them. I think though none of them are likely critical races for reaching the so call “next level” (200 miler fitness). They are like small little ones. Eventually I will get there. It might take couple of years to get there.
This post is kind of different from normal. It is my self-talk to get myself together. It is like house keeping for my mind. I broke down my goal/plan and remind myself constantly what they were. I likely and hopefully will run until I’m 60 years old or beyond. Yet my best physical condition is probably the next 10 years, even maybe the next 5 years. I am fighting against time too. If I could, I would go all out, that is, finish my 50 states marathon goal in one swoop. However, I am constrainted also by finance. Realistically, I can do maybe 3-4 marathons a year. Even if I double it, it still is taking a lot of time and effort.
I came up with a plan to break down the next 10 years in 3 phases. It is nothing like rocket science. It is something simple that I think is doable for me. The plan is, using 3 years to save up, and the fourth year, I can go out big abd push for one of those major goals. Then repeat. Next year is the third year of this first cycle. So hopefully, by 2023 or 2024 I can go and settle one of my big goals. This is not just for running. Currently the biggest goal I have is to trek the Annapurna circuit, that was what I really wanted to do after coming back from Patagonia. I want to see the mountains again. Not just any mountains but the massive large ones (that they would call them massif that would take days and weeks to scale). I want to do one thing that is life-chanching and unlike anything I did before. Annapurna is one of them at least to me. I might also do my 200 miler the same year. And maybe too I will reach 50% of my 50 states marathon! Annapurna is in the front. See my bucket list for all other goals.
I have been asking myself, what am I doing here. What am I trying to accomplish? I know I want to reach my limit and go beyond what I see as my wall. I thinking to borrow a motto from someone: Thinking what is impossible and attempting what is impossible. I didn’t come up with this. I googled, William Carey, a Christian missionary said something similar, you too can google it. I guess it all started from him.
This requires thinking unconventionally. Sorry this blog is long enough, but my last point is, as I looked back at my goals I already did, I realized at the time they were hard, but I was too conservative in achieving them. I have been taking too many baby steps. Why not just take one giant step? I should always ask myself, even though my prudent mind says this is the time table or solution to achieving this goal, can I push it to be 120% more? Say if I think it will take me 5 years to run all 50 states, is there a way to do it in 4 instead? I am critical of myself of being too safe with my goals. My point is we focus too much on what is feasible and dare not to venture into area where our mind says not possible.
Though I wrote all these things, but I can too quickly forget them…it all too easy, once I turn away, my mind focuses on something else. Sad. I want to remind myself to push on. This for me to read again and again to overcome whatever is dragging me down and derailing my plan.
Going to ramble on something. Time flies. I looked back a few years ago of the things I did …. and this came about when I stumbled on an old document in my drive. Actually not that old but is now dated for being over a year. I used to record a brief summary of what happen each day/week. And somehow during the pandemic of last year I stopped doing it. I was glancing over at the things recorded. Wow, time flies. So what if five months or five years have gone by?
To me looking back was like a blink of an eye but looking forward into the future is slow and hazy.
I was wondering why I stopped writing entries. So what happened? I think I got into running virtual races after the covid19 happened in our area, I was especially drawn by the one of racing across Tennessee. I am still doing it this year. The epic race took all my time and attention.
I keep a record of things because it shows where I was heading in life and it kind of determines where I would go next. I was thinking about life in general how easily for me to get off track or be distracted even with all the planning and tools I have at hand.
I thought back of the time about learning land navigation by dead reckoning, probably the simplest method, and I was taught to pick a point in the distance and head straight toward it, while counting the pace. I was not very good at this of course being a city boy. In a woods or anywhere for a fact, it is very hard to keep going straight in one direction. There is always things crop up that you have to go around. The terrain is constantly changing as you walk. Nothing is smooth and flat as appeared on a map. Small stones and rocks you can step over it but bigger obstacles, you have to go around. As I learned, after a few steps, I got off course even though I thought I was going in the same general direction. This would amplify the farther you go, unless you do correction. I was inexperience (and still am). This is especially true in the woods when you can’t see that far ahead.
So what this got to do with life? I like planning things. Often my planning is like a point-to-point navigation. I will try to achieve this goal first and then after that decide on the next goal.
I like simplicity and probably due to my limited ability that I can only do one thing at a time. Actually one thing then rest and then plan and then another thing.
What I realize is, looking back, all these goals I tried to achieve, they did not line up to a straight line. They kind of meander left and right. In fact looking back, what was I trying to do? I have no clue. When planning you think you have a clue, but looking back, many things came about due to unanticipated encounter – might have called it fate. How did I get into running the last five years? And how did I come to running long-long distance? Sure I like it immensely, but I didn’t foresee it five years ago. Now I do nothing but run, which is my passion.
While some goals are so easy to achieve, even those initially were hard or impossible, they were accomplished, and others I thought shouldn’t be that hard are still pending. This is so true about my 50 states marathon goal. To this day, I had run only in 7 states and there are 43 states left. You might say, I am just bad at executing my goals and I am easily distracted.
Today is my weekend off – meaning I am not traveling or have plans. I have been a bit busy the last few weekends, having to prepare for and then to run in Grayson Highlands ultra and then last week went to Richmond to run in River Rock. It was very straining on my mind. I was emotionally very high from the runs. One was the hardest race I did and the other was also hard too but very vacation-like kind of running. I had a blast. They took a lot of my mental power to plan and execute. It might not have reflected in my journal entries but they were a heavy weight for a long time.
Well this weekend I should go up to PA World’s End State Park to visit a section of a trail I will be sweeping for a race in two weeks. I am kind of nervous because as a sweeper I am responsible to get the last runner off the trail by herding them toward a designated point (15 miles long), but however if I get lost or unable to run fast enough to catch up to the last runner, it would be very embarrassing, especially if they have to send someone else out to look for me if I didn’t arrive by a certain time. My shift is an evening shift, from 5:00 pm – 10:30 pm, a lonely hour slot once the sun sets. How is this related? I will be using my land navigation skill plus running in the dark!
But I am a bit tired today and couldn’t wake up for the long drive. Also just no desire to travel at all this weekend.
I have nothing much to write today, so going to say I signed up for another marathon — Moonlight Marathon at Blackwater Falls, West Virginia.
The race itself is not that enticing, since we will be running on a 3 mile stretch of road back and forth in the middle of the night. Eww is my reaction. This is the most boring of marathons. Any way, the park at BlackWater has tons of trails so during the day time, I can have plenty of trail running. So as an extra challenge to myself, I will go into the race probably having run a marathon or more that morning and trying to stay myself awake that night doing a timed marathon on their real course. Then probably run some more in the woods the next day. My time for the marathon will be bad (they give us 9 hours and I will fully use it all), but I will be there for the fun at the park during the day. This will be on the last weekend in August, still a long time away.
That is what I really want to tired myself to the point when I go to bed, I would just crash and be weak for the whole week after. That is what I call fun! I need something like that every weekend!
Enjoy your weekend. Next week is the Memorial Weekend – I will probably be around. Personally, I will try to rack up enough miles to finish the CRAW region (racing around the world). Our team is expect to finish our region that weekend. This race is 3 year long and we are about couple months from finishing the first year. So I will be running.
This week, I made plans to do the Atlanta 100 over July 4th weekend while piggy back off a family vacation to the Smoky Mountains. In the end, it was not practical. So the plan was scraped. Vacation though will still be on. I will go to the Smokies but will have several days where I will backpack on the Appalachian Trail alone.
The plan was great though. eh, kind of. I had to go to Atlanta some point this summer to complete the (V-)GSER because it was something I didn’t do last year. I want another crack at this.
My family wanted to go to the smokies at the end of June. The time kind of line up with GSER. I could do the GSER before the trip or after the trip, because Atlanta is only 4 hours away from the Smokies, and I am like 2/3 of the way there.
I could spend 4-5 days in Atlanta and I also have support during the run, which would ease up a lot especially toward the end of the race.
In the end it was not meant to be. First, driving to Atlanta is at least 12 hours and I prefer to have a day to two days of rest before starting this. I felt it was very rush, to spend the weekend driving down, and I would have started the run immediately once arrive, which I don’t like. My family of course think I could do it. The race would last for 36 hours. And immediately after beeline to the Smokies. It is all very rushed.
I prefer rather to go the Smokies first and then leave early like in the middle of the week and then make my run Thursday-Friday, Saturday would be sleeping in and spend Sunday and Monday driving back. but this would leave only three days at Smokies and was not ideal either.
It was a hasty decision, but in the end I decided not to go for the GSER at this time. Glad it was so because, later I looked at my planner, and I saw I would be doing the Laurel Highland in June and my body likely would not be ready for it.
However, this would leave me a lot time at Smokies. I plan to do all the hikes there, at least as many as possible (mostly the Appalachian Trail section). To be continue…
Keeping with tradition, here are some races planned for next year. Most of them will be either a redo / or races that were deferred from this year.
For the rest of this year, there are possible one or two races left.
Some are fatass races or virtual races. I orginally signed up for Richmond Marathon, but then deferred to next year. Now my friend wants to go do it. This is a strange race. It is a virtual race but on a actual course. My friend wants to use the course because they have mile markers and water point specifically set up for the Richmond Marathon (plus real tracking/timing). However, my friend is just borrowing the course (since it is open for public) to do his MCM 50K marathon. I also signed up MCM 50K, but deferred it to next year as well. Here is the weird part, because my friend shown interest in traveling down to Richmond for his “virtual marathon”, I am thinking of heading down there too to run even though both of races (Richmond and MCM) were deferred!
Why is life so complicated?
11/7 – Possible virtual race in Richmond. More like cheering for a friend
11/14 – Stone Mill 50 miler.
12/5 – Devil Dog (lite) 50K
Due to COVID-19 restrictions still in effect the two real in-person races are iffy but I signed up on both of them. Stone Mill was original on track, but now there is permit a snag and we are still waiting for word if the race is a go. I am kind of disappointed even though I have been through so many of these cancelations this year.
Fingers crossed. Next year is no different. COVID-19 is here for the long haul, so everything is still day-to-day and week-to-week.
Dec. Rocky Fatass Philadephia run. Not likely. The “run” is officially canceled on its website, but still it is a fatass and any one can show up and do it on your own. I was kind of enthusiastic about this earlier, but now kind of eh, it is too much work. We will see.
—–
For 2021:
(Jan) (doubtful) Cold TWOT is in January/February, one of those holidays (President Day/Martin Luther). This is another Fatass type of race. I didn’t sign up but I might show up and run a loop or two…
Feb. 6-7 – (reg’d) Rocky Raccoon 100. This is currently the race I am training for. But with COVID still raging, no one know if I can travel to Houston-Texas for it. It is just a pain in the rear dealing with what-ifs.
–(Mar. 3): (Considering) One City Marathon, Newport News, Va (Feb/Mar). Originally a goal to run this, but there is zero sign if the race will be held. There is currently no sign-up being available. We might not know until next year.
-(April 17) (considering) Blue Ridge Marathon, double marathon maybe. Just maybe! I was supposed to run it this year, then I changed it to Virtual. So still kind of want to do it. Might have to defer it to 2022.
(May – 1st-2nd. ) (rescheduled/deferred) Grayson Highlands 50 Miler. 50% disc of $160. I registered and deferred to 2021. This race is a go. I will start training after Rocky Raccoon.
(Jun 2nd weekend) (deferred) Laurel Highlands 70.5 miles Ultra. Goal race! fingers-crossed. need to confirm the race date. This is a go too. I just reconfirmed I will attend this race. This was my goal race for 2020 but deferred to 2021 (Organizer did go ahead and held the race in 2020, so we are expected the same thing for 2021 – a very hard race)
July 4 Atlanta 100 mile race (virtual) (considering). Yup, Been trying this twice this year unsuccessfully, so really want to try it again.
(Jul 11) (considering) Catoctin Ultra (50k). reg opens on Jan 1 to Jun 1. Hot race to run. Was a race I signed up but did not do because I was just returning from Atlanta and was still under 2-week quarantine period. So maybe will do it in 2021.
(Sep 5) (considering/not reg) Iron Mnt Ultra 50 – IMTR, labor day weekend. highly likely. Don’t miss reg Jun 1. It was canceled this year. It has been on my list since 2019. I already think I have a lot of races on my plate so this might be deferred to 2022.
(Sep 25) (considering) Pemberton 24x5K, Friday 7:00 pm – Sat 7:00pm. Reg open on April 28. I missed the registration opening in 2020, so aiming to do it 2021.
(Sep) (likely for 2021) Yeti 100. Abingdon, VA. fast, flat, race around 9/25/20. Really don’t know.
(Oct 4) (considering) Maine Marathon. Portland, ME. to replace the canceled May Marathon. Just Maybe.
(Oct 25) (deferred to 2021) MCM 50K, again! 6 hr is course limit. Need to re-reg in April. Yup, I deferred the race to 2021 so got to run and have it done!
(Nov 14) (Reg’d; deferred to 2021)Richmond Marathon. Alsoa deferred race. So likely going to run.
Nov 21 – JFK 50 miler. Possible. Or Stone Mill.
(Nov 22) (Considering) Philly Marathon. Already a full plate but this is a possibility.
(Dec) (Considering)Devil Dog 100, Triangle, VA. Ah the real Devil Dog. Debating between Yeti or this.
That is it! My eyes are bigger than my stomach. I won’t run all of them, but hopefully many of them. COVID-19 restrictions and various other complications make a lot of races being uncertain either from the race organizer’s point of view or me as a runner (like the decision to go to Texas or Georgia). It will be a hard decision to make with each race. Also even without COVID-19 just the training and recovery is hard to have all of them done.
So there! I hope to run the Rocky Raccoon, Laurel Highlands and Grayson’s Highlands. The rest eh, we take it as they come.
In awe 