In awe

Tag: race report

  • [643] Grindstone 100

    I sat out of running in the Iron Mountain 50 this year, hoping to recover from Wasatch and getting ready for Grindstone.

    I had about two weeks of very little of running events.

    Grinstone 2024, was a repeat for me.  I did not finish (dnf) last year and my goal was to finish it this year.  A good report, here, reminded me I faced with similar circumstances as last time.

    The trail was familiar to me. Compared to Wasatch, there was not anything too big of a climb to scare me.

    The race started at 6 in the evening.  We (my crew and I) drove down to Harrisonburg a night before.

    The race went well for the first night.  I was moving at relatively same pace as previous year, maybe 10-15 minutes slower at the earlier stations. 

    By midnight, I made it up to Reddish Knob, unfortunately the aid station there ran out of water. They did have plenty of food (pizza), the best food in all aid stations, so I took a slice of pizza, and drank a can of soda (only liquid they had).

    By 3:15, I made it down to North River Gap, in line with my goal pace. I enjoyed the cheese and deli table there.  They served coffee out of a giant container. I did not take any, but went for refilling my water.

    My water pack was leaking, so I was drench the whole night. My crew later patched the hole found.  This helped kept me relatively dry for rest of the race.  The leak was still there but was not as big as before.

    About gear, just the moment before my race, I realized I left my hydration pack at home.  I quickly repurposed a small backpack into a hydration pack (I found a spare hydration bag, but leaky). My crew found me a soft flask, since it was a cupless race.  I tossed in a few required gear into my bag (a jacket with hood, lights, batteries, food). One thing I missed of not having my traditional hydration pack was lacking pockets in the straps in the front.  I was unable to keep my phone, pace chart, or food in the front pocket. There was no easily accessible pockets with this pack. Also the backpack hangs low in my back and it just does not move as well as a usual traditional hydration pack, which goes high in the back.

    I was concerned that the straps would cut into me.  In the early of the race, the shoulder straps were annoying, cutting into my neck and shoulders, but I got use to it and it was not a source of irritation later on.  One thing I did right in this race was carrying medical tape on me, so I could patch myself at any time.  I used tape to tape my nipples which were rubbing against the shirt I was wearing. Usually, I don’t have chafing issues but today, the shirt I was wearing was a bit rough. I was planning to tape my neck too, but the issue went away.

    Morning on Saturday brought me  renew energy.  I met my crew at 7:15 am at Dowells Draft, mile 45/46. My crew refilled my water. It was the first station allowed pacing. My crew left with me to her car. I told her, I will see her again in 8 hours.

    We had a 26-27 mile loop at Crawford Mt and Elliot Knob. I was pushing my pace a bit to make sure I could arrive back at Dowells before 6 PM.  Last year, I was cut at Dry Branch (mile 52), and I determined not to do it this year. I had to get there before 11 AM. It took about 2.5 hours to climb Mt. Crawford.  Last year, a friend and I tried to do the same but we were a bit late. This year, I was able hit the pace on the dot.

    I arrived around at Dry Branch by 10 AM and got back at Dry Branch by 2 pm.  Climbing up to Elliot Knob and then descending to Cold Spring was time intensive.  We arrived By then, I knew, we had plenty of time to get back to Dowells before 6.  I was feeling good to be ahead of pace.

    We (Wayne, a fellow friend and runner and I) arrived back at Dowells by 4 pm, two hours ahead of the cutoff.  Looking back, things were going downhill for me — my energy was low, and sleepiness started setting in. However, I was high on adrenaline at the time and did not properly diagnose my actual condition.  I left the aid station thinking I was fine.

    My crew fixed my feet with taping, refilled my water, and got me couple cups of ramen.  I did not realize at the time, I was behind on my calories. I should have eaten more solid food here as well as taking a nap if necessary since we were ahead of pace. Wayne, a fellow runner and who crewed for me last year, spent maybe up to an hour at Dowells to sleep and eat real food.  As for me, I stayed about 15 minutes. He was a smarter runner.

    It had rain (a thunder storm moved in) as we descent from Crawford. I was drench from head to toes.  So I dried off myself with changing into a bit drier clothes from the morning.

    Rain started again after leaving Dowells.  I was surprised arriving at Magic Moss by 6:30 pm (early).  I did not stay long except grabbing some M&Ms and off I went.  It rained hard as I made my push to Camp Todd, arriving at 8 pm in line with my goal.

    Looking back, this was a turning point.  I stayed at Camp Todd, maybe for 5 minutes, fixing my feet and shoes.  My crew now turned pacer showed up. Originally, I planned to have my pacer meeting me at mile 92 to do the finally 13-14 miles with me.

    My pacer believed I needed help earlier on so plan changed (at 4pm) to meet up with me earlier.

    This was supposed to be the final hardest climb, and race would be easier after this.  We were at mile 82, with 10 hours left to finish the race. At the time, there were no doubts the race would get done. As long as we could walk, we would finish.

    The short version, the next 11 hours, from 8 pm to 7 am was the hardest part of the race for me.  I was extremely weak.  We had couple thousand feet of climb, and we did get up to the top.  It might had taken us two hours. 10 pm, we arrived at Little Bald.  There was no aid station there, though I wish there to be one.  I had expected the next 6.5 miles descent to take another 2 hours, which would still put me on pace for reaching mile 92, by midnight.

    Soon, it was apparent midnight goal was impossible to reach.  By midnight, I had moved only 3 miles, there were three miles left.  I was moving at a 40 minute mile pace. It was a rude awaken (for not wearing a Garmin watch). I had no idea of my location and how many miles were left, until I asked a fellow runner. I was heartbreaking to know still how far away was the aid station.  I was already in this trail section for 4 hours.  My water I carried on me was empty by now. 

    The conversation between me and my pacer were at the worst.  Language flew and feeling hurted we carried on.  We still had to get down the mountain even if we decided not to continue with the race.  There were still only 1 hour and 45 minutes left before the cutoff.  Every minutes count.  Many runners passed us by including many friends. We stumbled down with a few struggling runners in conditions like me.

    I had mentally checked out. My pacer refused to let me dwelled on the negatives but to me there were no way to finish, much less reaching the aid station in time.

    In my mind, I believed we had 2 miles left, but the aid station just happened to pop in front.  I saw a car, went past at the edge of the forest and I thought I was seeing things.  I could not believed it.  In dazed, I arrived at the aid station with 15 minutes left.

    Here, volunteers helped refilled my water. Another volunteer looked for my drop bag, so I could change into fresh socks and get a new head lamp. Another volunteer asked if I would like some broth and broght me a cup.

    We made it out mile 92 (North River Gap) before the cut along with couple other runners.

    Little did I know, the next 7 miles, had just as much climbing as the previous 10 miles.  It was a struggle bus from 2 am to morning.  We went up and up maybe with couple thousand feet climbing.  Then we descended just as many thousand feet to a valley onto a jeep road.  Time no longer was a concern for me.  I was still hoping to only get to the aid station by 5 am, hoping once I reach the road/asphalt portion, I would maybe still move at 15 min pace on the road and still finish.  5 am came and gone and then 6 am.  I was actually moving at 45 min pace, even slower than before as expected (runners only get slower not faster, in late stage of a race).

    The sweepers caught up to us.  They know my friend, having been to another event couple weeks ago.  Together, we climbed the 1.5 miles jeep trail.  By 6:55 we finally reached the last aid station at Lick Run. 

    It was probably two hours after the aid station closed when we arrived.  No one was there. Luckily the tent and all supplies were still there. I could take some refreshment (self-served) but soon I realized I could not eat much and food wanted to come back out. I was done.  All I wanted was to sleep. We still had 5 miles left to the finish.  We were still in the middle of nowhere. The group said, we had to run to the finish because the station here is closed, but I asked if I could sleep a bit. (to do a self-extradiction).

    In moment of despair, a volunteer drove up on the road. We were saved. He was there to take down the tent and take supplies back.  He agreed to give us a ride back to the finish with him.  My 11 hours ordeal was finally over.

    Looking back, I made several tactical mistakes.  1.  I was moving at 10 miles in 6 hours (35 min pace).  There was no way I could pull 4 hours in the final 14 miles (18 min pace). I should have dropped at mile 92, in order to avoid delaying the sweepers at their job, and everyone else, plus putting myself at risk of serious injury for being out longer than allotted.

    2.  I pulled my left calf before 8 pm.  I should have aware of it as early as 4 pm (Dowells) to take care of it or even fix it at Camp Todd, such as putting on an ice pack or applying Biofreeze (which I had in my drop bag at Dowells) at the aid station.  I should have carried oilment on me for issue like muscle ache.

    3.  I should have eaten more food, at Dowells and at Camp Todd.  What different between Wasatch and here at Grindatone was I filled up my hydration with electrolyes (calories), sometimes doing 50-50 mix, but at Grindstone I drank only water.  So I was behind on electrolytes and calories. Dowells Draft had good food. Camp Todd, does not have much food (we had watermellons). Their ramen soup was too thin to do me any good. Here, I should have brought my own food.

    4th. sleep, sleep as much as possible during the day, because the race has a night time start. I was kind of tired during the afternoon before the race start. I should have taken a nap.

    Final words, I would like to run it again and get it to the finish next time.  I had a good time over the weekend. My pacer arrived at the right time.  It could have been worst if I were by myself.  It was bitter sweet.  I came so close yet so far.

  • [642] Grand slam and Wasatch Front 100

    I had not written much.  After Western States 100, Wasatch was my next biggest huddle to get over.  I was not even remotely confident I had it in me to do the grand slam.

    By any measurement, Wasatch is hard.  I read about it and I watched enough Youtube videos.  There is not enough training one can do to have the experience running at 10000 ft high and climbing 24,000 ft of elevation especially near where I live near sea level. 

    I was concern about running in the high elevation.  I spoke with couple people in my running club who has gone to Wasatch before.  Some went out a few weeks before. One gave me the statistics of how long it takes the body to acclimate.  And he basically said, I could show up Wednesday and I would be fine.

    I took a gamble, since I don’t have two weeks or even one week. Hotel cost would add up quickly.

    My crew and I arrived in Salt Lake City two nights before i.e., Wednesday night.  Looking back, I wish I arrived a week earlier since I traveled for Labor Day anyway, so the cost, was only couple more nights for hotel.  I think the best place to stay at would be Brighton, which was at 8000 ft. 

    Our location at Layton (near Kaysville) was not bad (3000 ft).  It was actually a blessing since it was actually only 15 minutes from the start and 30 minutes from the airport.  It was about 90 minutes from the finish.

    The next day we dropped off my drop (supply) bags (I packed some change of clothes and socks, and warm clothes). I had three, for Big Mountain, Lambs Canyon, and Upper Big Water. I did not have one at Brighton because I would have my crew there. I have my crew at Big Mountain and Lambs too, but these two locations are too important, if my crew missed me, I would be screwed, (too cold to run without night gear).

      Then we went to couple places on the race course, including the start, Lambs aid station and Brighton aid station. Because each location was far apart (like an hour or more), before long the day was over. We did not have enough time to check out Big mountain, Alexander, Washington Park or the finish, or do a small training run at Bontiful B etc.  Having three more days would have been ideal. We also did some shopping beforehand.

    I was blessed in that, a guy I met at a local running club  referred me to his friend, Sean, who would be my pacer at the race.  I would not able to have a smooth race if not for my team of pacers and crew.

    The night before, we went out for dinner at a Korean BBQ, which was a first for me at 100 mile race, but it provided me ample of calories.

    It was my first time meeting my pacer. Sean fed me well.  Sean had met Caroline, my crew chief, prior in former running events.

    Sean asked what things I think I would need and he would provide.  I said I could not find my winter running gear (cap, and gloves), so he brought those along.  It was not too cold but at night it did get cold enough. Those gloves and cap kept me warm.

    Next morning was the race. We woke up around 3 AM.  Note the race is unusual that the start time was on a Friday (and not Saturday).  Weather was typical good, blue sky, with very little wind.  We showed up an hour before 5.  I had a can of Cambell soup for breakfast.

    There were very little fanfare, no race briefing, no music, no celebration.  I did not know who was the race director until few hours into the race at an aid station called John Grobben’s Shed. Some old timers filled me in about the lores and factoids.

    We staged at a parking lot by the trailhead.  I started in the rear as typically. It finally sank in of how tough the course was as I started climbing the first 8 miles.

    My friend Wayne also ran.  We were pretty much together in the early phase until Lambs (9 pm).  He was a stronger runner and I did not want to hold him back.

    We climbed the first eight miles with no sight indicating the end. We actually knew where the end was because we can see from the parking lot up toward the radio/radar station at the peak.  It took us several hours before we arrived there. 

    As we climbed, I can see those who could and who couldn’t do it around me.  Of course, the front runners were strong.  Those in the mid pack too were strong.  Wayne was part of that group.  I was at the tail end, like the last dozen. And we could see everyone were all walking up, and not just normally walking, but extremely slow one step at a time.  Even then, some had to double over to breath from time to time.  I was blessed with a strong body that I did not need to stop but maybe twice. 

    The attitude was affecting some.  Some seemed unable to go on. You could see they started to lose their footing as fatique set in. I asked them to take a break and they did and they let me pass.

    Once we got to the ridgeline, it was easier. The trail was wide and we  all starting running in an easy trot.  I ran with Mary from Washington, a runner my friend talked with before the start.  She was strong and I had no doubt that she would finish.  We passed some older folks and arrived at the aid station together (John’s Shed, RD). The race director was there serving us drinks. Mary then took off running, but I needed more time to catch my breath. I wouldn’t see her again.

    The rest of the morning and early afternoon, the race course took us up to even higher mountains, like at Session Take Off. The scenery was something I only have seen in movies, like in the Lord of the Ring or The Sound of Music.  It was stunningly beautiful.  We felt blessed being just a few of us given the chance to run across those mountains.  The race motto, 100 miles of heaven and hell. We were in heaven.

    We climbed one peak after another.  The Big Mountain was the last summit before we descended to the first crewed aid station also named Big Mountain AS.

    My crew, Caroline was waiting for me as I arrived.  She probably was there the last 8 hours. I reached it at 3:45 pm.  I would not see her again until 9 pm.

    Wayne, a fellow friend and runner had arrived probably 10-15 minutes ahead of me. He was still there when I arrived.  Wayne initially suggested he would pace me from mile 70 onward at Brighton.  I was hoping for that too, but our race pace was too different.  We were not sure who would arrive at Brighton first. In the end, I gained like 45 minutes ahead of Wayne, so the plan was not workable. By the way, Wayne provided me his pace chart, and I used it.

    I left the Big Mountain thinking I had everything I needed.  Apparently the afternoon was hotter than expected. Future, Wasatch runners, day time is Hot!  Big Mountain is Very Hot! I finished all my water in a mile or two after I left and I was still hungry and thirsty.  This was like 13 miles, which took me like 5 hours to get through.  I regretted I did not stay long enough and sufferred while out on the trail.  I rewatched some youtube videos, they said one should not rush through the first crew aid station at Big Mountain.  Indeed. It was my mistake.

    I took my frustration out on my crew. One thing I needed and failed to receive enough fluid and food before I left.  I was calorie deficient, not having been eaten much because the distance between earlier aid stations were 10-11 miles apart, so I did not have the recommended calories (300 per 20 minutes, equivalent to a gel pack, 3 packs every hour). Basically, I have not eaten the whole day. A crew station is a place to get some real good food.

    While the trail from mile 30-45 was generally runable, I was not having fun.  Once I reached Alexander, the Aid station before my next crew location at Lambs, I sent a list of tasks to my crew, also, I was a bit ahead pace (an hour).  I would like my pacer to know that.  My crew chief arranged all that while I was at Alexander.

    I arrived at Alexander with Wayne again. This time I stayed awhile to get enough fluid in me as well ate my fill. It was my second mistake of eating too much in too short a time that I did not feel good by the time I left.  From Alexander to Lamb’s Canyon is generally runnable.  I was targeting to arrive Lambs by 8 pm.  However, I was too full to run.  Sun was setting and it was cooler now.  So I arrived at Lamb’s after dark at 9 pm.

    I met up two fellow grand slammers (Berg and Eli).  Eli is a stronger runner, but he was cramping up. He said he stayed over an hour ar Big Mountain.  He had expected to pass Lambs an hour or two ago before nightfall but now caught in the dark without a headlamp. 

    I lended mine to him since I carried two (one from the morning, and one I just picked up at Big Mountain).  I usually use two on my run. I knew I was a slow runner and had expected to arrive at Big mountain at 7pm and Lambs after 10 pm, so I needed all the light early. Eli was grateful. I might have saved his race.  Imagine he had to descend 2-3 miles to the aid station  in the dark, but I am sure he could have double up with another runner, but sometimes that is still hard.

    At Lambs, my crew and pacer were ready for me.  I was tired but they got me ready for the night.  I had blister forming on one of my toes. My crew (Caroline) cleaned up my feet and taped it. Sean got me plenty of food and drink. I put on an extra shirt and jacket for the night. We were then on our way.  I felt proud, we only used about 10 minutes. My crew took care of my cramping. The leg cramp did not come back at all, even after I finished the next day.

    From Lambs to Brighton was just one humongous climb, like for 9 hours. It was good having a pacer.  Sean kept me engaged.  At each aid station he took care of my needs before attending his own. He helped keeping my stop at the aid station to as short as possible.  We reached Desolate Lake I think, and the aid station had a nice warm fire going and five or six runners were sitting around. We could not stay too long.  Sean reminded me to go.  He got a coffee for me and we headed off.

    We continued to climb until we reached Scott (?) Pass. It was the highest point in the race, I think.  I did not remember much afterward.

      There must have been a long descent.  At times we passed other runners.  There was (#87) he kept with me all the way using me as his pacer.  It bothered me when someone constantly hiking behind me, but since he did not want to pass, over time I accepted his presence.

    Initially, my goal was to reach Brighton by 6 am.  While nearing Brighton, I was doing mental math in my mind, and noted I needed to run  33.3 miles at every 12 hours.  So by 5 am on Saturday, I should have reached mile 66.6.  I felt I needed to reach Brighton, mile 69.6, by 5:45 am, in order to be on pace.  So Sean and I picked up our pace.  We reached Brighton around 5:35. I told Sean, I had to leave the station by 5:45.  (my watched was 5 minutes fast, so I think I left actually left at 5:40). I only used like 5 minutes.

    I had expected my crew to have my stuff ready for me at Brighton.  There was a miscommunication because my crew never knew I needed help and what kinds of help. 

    As I came in the station, my clothes, a change of socks, were in the crew’s car.  It was too late to grab them.  I wanted to fix my feet because it seemed more blisters were about to form.  Sean did what he could, he made sure I had enough food and fluid before I leave. Whereas about my feet, I just had to tough it out for the final 30 miles. My crew said it as much since I need to make cutoffs, I must go.

    This I knew, but in gamer’s term, I was tilted (mad/frustrated). It was a fire raging in me for much of the day for the next 9 ish hours.

    I had expected the last 30 miles to be easier.  I did not check the elevation chart.  I knew we had one big climb.  We did.  Ant Knob aid station too had a very big climb and apparently that did not show up on the elevation chart.

    I reached Pole Line.  Pole Line too had a decent climb.  And it was way farther than I anticipated like 3-4 miles longer.  It might have been in my head and I was getting tired.  From there to Decker was about 11 miles. It was known as the Dive and Plunge.  For fast sub 24 hour runners, this was a dangerous section.  Even in day time, it was hard running downhill, because one misstep would mean plunging many feet down the mountain.  I reached one more aid station at mile 88. 

    By then, I started worry that I might not have enough time to reach the finish before 5 pm.  It was 1:30 pm. I had 3.5 hours for the final 12 miles. The math was very hard to do in my head at the time.  I knew I needed to run to make it.  Earlier in the morning, I could go at 21 min pace and still would finish.  Now, I had to go at 17 minute pace.

    I wanted to reach the Top-of-the-Wall (final 8 miles) by 2:30 pm.  That means I needed to do 4 miles in 45 minutes. The sun was very hot at this time. Everyone around me was running. I sprinted down with them and arrived at 2:15, meaning I am in the game.  Caroline was there waiting to pace me of the final 8 miles. I did ask, but did not expect that she would since she had a slight injury. I had expected the last 8 miles to be on the road but there were 3 miles of trail left and we had some serious descending (maybe 1000 ft or more). I was afraid the trail might be too hard for her. Caroline seemed to have a blast of time.  I just followed.

    It was final a relief when we arrived at the aid station 5 miles out. We had 2 hours left on the clock.  By now, we knew, we could walk and finish.

    I did not want to walk, fearing the course might be longer (some 100 mile races are 104 miles long). Caroline assured me not this course.  The last five miles were on the road but we had rolling hills, with a net down hill run.  It seemed forever before I saw the finish line.  I finished at 35:27. Happy to have it done.

    We had a small gathering.  I did not know that # 87 finished after me. Eli finished couple minutes ahead. I thought I was the last grand slammer to finish but there was another who came in after me.  Berg was still at the finish.  Wayne had dropped at mile 92, unfortunately. He met us back at the finish.  The race closed at 5 pm.  I went and collected my drop bags. There were food out but I did not feel like eating.  The race officials were friendly. A few came by and chatted with me.  Berg and I went to collect our grand slam trophy and had our photos taken.

    It was surreal. I did the grand slam. It was an incredible run.  My phone blew up with many cheering messages. I had it on airplane mode  most of the time until I had finished.  Some had followed my journey since Western States.  Some followed my live tracking the whole Saturday and night before.  I was cutting close to cutoff at some point, giving many of my followers a scare. We all breathed a breath of relief once I crossed through the finish line.

    I accomplished only a few (14) had done this year. A lot people run a 100 miler but only a handful went for a grand slam (in a given year).  Nowaday, there are so many type of grand slams, but this one is the original and contain 4 of 5 oldest 100 mile races. So now my name is entered into the grand slam list as runner #418, listing along with many who were/are much more accomplished runners than me.

    The start, up the slope over Kaysville (to the right, back of me). We were maybe a mile up from the trail.  We explored the start line a day before the race
    I wish I had taken more pictures because it was just so beautiful, though I was very focus to get the race done. Salt Lake City was the location for 2002 Winter Olympics

  • [636] Vermont 100

    1. Vermont is one of the races in the grand slam series. I tried to find out more of this race before running it. There were very little that struck out to me

    Now having run it, I could understand.  There were no significant climbs, but we had pretty views of mountains, farms and field. We were either constantly climbing or going down.  The course is best described as rolling hills.

    I ran Old Dominion 100.  Vermont is best compared to Old Dominion.  We do a lot of roads.  There were aid stations closely spaced together.  Old Dominion seems to have more towns or at least near a major population (Woodstock).  Vermont course was entirely in the middle of nowhere. There are farms but we had no cell signal. Vermont too is near a town called Woodstock, though I did not get a chance to visit it.

    Vermont course is definitely more scenic of the two. Western States and Wasatch probably takes the crown.

    2. Motivation for running Vermont.  More people want to do Vermont than Old Dominion.  OD only takes about 100 runners. Vermont takes 450.  It was 4 times as much fun.  I constantly saw runners on the trail. In OD, I felt like I was the last runner, but at Vermont, it was more like midpack, people at Aid stations said, we should slow down.

    3. I could not remember much about my race due to the lack of sleep.  The day before the race, I planned to fly up.  It was supposed to be a 2 hours flight. However, the trip was canceled due to IT issues (CrowdStrike) at the airport. My friend’s quick action of switching to driving to our destination, saved my race. It was already early afternoon, at the beginning of Friday rush hour traffic, when we started our journey to Vermont.  We did not arrive until past midnight. By the time, I settled, showered, and arranged things for next day, it was near 1 in the morning. 

    As best as I could, to sleep, my mind was awake. I felt I slept maybe 15 minutes before my alarm went off.  We met a friend, who would led us to the race site.  We finally arrived at 3 am, an hour before the race.

    There were a lot of runners.  We started like any race. We went into a trail.  By 5 sky was lighted.  I settled into a nice pace.  Unlike at OD, there were way too many people around.  I did not have to use my headlamp. Soon, I started passing people. We know the cardinal rule of starting off slowly. Many really took that to heart.  I was not particularly chasing anyone, but if I felt the one ahead of me is being clumsy or slow, I’d pass them.  Most of the time, they would not pass me back.  Until maybe 20 miles in, I really found my own group who were going at my pace.

    I met Chris from Maine.  He ran two 100 before this one, Javelina Jundred and Oregon. We talked a bit.  I knew I was moving at a sub 24 pace and was wondering if he was aiming for that.  No, he told me.  He just wanted to finish.  He was not planning to be agressive with his pace.  Others asked me the same question, I said, hell ya, I am always going for time, for my PR. It would not be a walk for me today.

    Not long after, I caught up to Kim, one of our local club members.  Then Eric.  I ran with her group a bit.  Everyone was moving fast here. I did not push hard on my pace to stay with them, so there were time I fell very back back, however, usually my stronger uphill or quicker downhill would allow me to catch back up.

    4. Getting lost.  I was getting too comfortable with my pace, I started closing my eyes while running.  I know, trying to get some rest. It was at this point, I was following the runner ahead.  The runner and I were moving faster than other runners around us and soon we separated from the rest.  This should have been an indication we were off course, but it did not occur to me to stop to check my map (I downloaded the gpx file from a previous year runner; note, the race does not provide course maps or gpx files since the course goes through 30+ private land properties). We ran about half mile down a nicely paved road (after Stage Rd AS), until a car drove by and the driver told us, we should have turned back there. It was then I checked my map and indeed. We should have turned much earlier. This mistake caused me 15 minutes, but in the grand view, it did not affect my race much.  It was just a lesson to pay closer attention to the trail markings.  I did not get lost for the rest of the race.

    Noon came and gone.  I had some solid food at couple of the aid stations.  They offered popsicles.  Ice were out (melted) by now.  It was hot.  I was near Ten Bear and hoped to catch up to some 100k runners, especially my friend Caroline, but she was likely 8 miles ahead.  We had the longest climb at this point, but we were on a road. 

    4.  Ten Bear aid station was a party place as expected.  I arrived around 3:30 pm.  I went in and out, there was nothing I needed.  I did not run with a drop bag in this race because we arrived to the race and missed the check-in time for drop bags.  It ended up not being significant.  I relied totally on the aid stations for all my needs.  My feet were fine.  I did not need to switch shoes because there were no shoes for me to switch into.  I only brought one pair, the same pair I was running with. It was a big risk. We dealed with the hand we were dealt.

    Camp Bear was like at mile 40.  We saw the 100k people returning.  I tried to look for my friend or anyone I could recognized.  For their race, they have been out for 6.5 hours. I was estimating that it would too take me 6.5 or longer to get back to Ten Bear, which would mean around 10 pm. 

    5. I had a pace chart on me.  I was aiming for a 29 (or 28) hour finish.  My goal was to get back to Ten Bear before midnight. The trail at this time got hotter and hotter.  I was able to catch up to some who did not do well with heat.  We had our second longest climb to Margaritaville.  From there, I switched socks (I carried a fresh pair in my hydration pack). I was tired by this point.  My calves were cramping a bit. 

    Evening came.  Night started cool off.  I ran with a new group of people, and this was the group I mostly stayed with until the finish.  I was fine physically, but a lot of people around me were suffering from chafing. I was semi on pace for the sub 24 finish if I hustled a bit.  I knew, if I want the sub 24, I should get to mile 65 by 7:30.  7:30 went by, then 8:30.  So, I set a new goal, if I could get back to Ten Bear before dark, I could still have a chance for a sub 24.  It was then a race against time.

    I reached Ten Bear by 9:00 pm as last ray of light disappeared.  I knew it was not feasible for a sub 24. I was an hour behind that pace, but it did not matter, because I would finish my race.  Here I did take a bit of time at the aid station to eat and rest.  Night came. We only had 50k to go and 13 hours to do it. It was plenty of time.  If I was fresh, I could try running a 50k in 7 hours. In my mind realistically, I needed 8-9 hours. Pacewise, I  knew, I was ahead of my Old Dominion time by an hour. Old Dominion had harder remaining miles (Sherman and Veach). Here, at Vermont, I need we would not have such a long and hard climbs.

    I knew the night would not be easy.  The moment after sunset my pace dropped to a crawl.  Many people passed me.  I did not mind.  I knew, I was doing fine.  Many runners had their pacer with them. They were people I found weak and slow earlier now lit up with a stronger pace. I was thinking, if I have my pacer, would I be like them. How good to have a Susan (my pacer from Western States) with me at this time, we would conquer the night.  It was not so.  I plopped on.

    6. I chose then to stick with a group through the night. I don’t remember the runner’s name, but his pacer was Jason. Jason was tired.  I said, pacer should not be this tired.  His runner defended him saying Jason had been up since 4 AM crewing and now pulling a double duty to pace through the night.  Fair enough. I have crewed people before, I’d rather run than crew. I know how tiring crewing can be.

    3am.  We arrived at Bill’s.  Here I got a second wind.  I did not eat much. Bills is a warm and indoor aid station.  They had cots for us to sleep.  No sleeping for me. I found my friend Caroline sleeping and was going to wake her. But I felt bad to do so.

      At this point, I was running mostly with my eyes shut too.  Caroline can have her sleep. So I left the station alone. Sometimes, I would fall into a ditch or hit a tree and then I would wake up. They were out of coffee.  I searched for coffee since sunset and could not find any.  Sometimes, I forgot to ask. It was not until 5 AM, there was Dunkins at Keating’s.  Someone said they had doughnuts at a previous station and it would have been a treat, coffee and donuts!  Yes it would.  I think this was at Keatings. It certainly woke me up.  Jason said, I am making my move and my gait is strong.  I am no longer dragging my foot, but I am lifting my heels.

    I joined a new team,  Mike and company.  Morning dawned.  We reached our last and final aid station.  Mike wanted to run it in.  I said, I could run.  So literally, we ran the last 10k to the finish.  We caught up about 10 or so other people.  Many seemed to be in a bad shape. All were walking except for us two.  We were booking it.  I felt fresh.  I felt good. Morning usually brings me fresh energy.

    7. Gpx file ended maybe a mile out before the actual finish.  This was disheartening.  To us, the course seemed 1.5 miles longer, as we wind around farms and last few trails. I felt the finish was right there, but we never quite reached it. It was not a straight way in.

    I crossed the finish 26:31:17.  They had chairs for runners at the finish!  I sat on one.  There were no photographers.  This was not Western States, where media is buzzing about.  There were families and spectators cheering.  The RD (Amy) gave us our buckles.  I really ran in a Solo division, no crew, no pacer, no drop bag, but I did not want to change from “Crew” to “Solo” to get an extra award. I literally could fall asleep if I sit still for a moment.

    Mike and I knew, the first priority is to get clean up and be comfortable.  So we quickly left the finish area and headed for the car.  My friend was there to help me change out and dry my stuff.  I striped off old clothes. Empty the hydration pack.  I had my planned drop bag which I did not get to use during the race but still in the car, so everything was easy and within reach (and clean).  It might seem fast, but this changing out and into clean clothes took me probably an hour because my limps were frozen by now once I stopped running. 

    Then I tried to eat, but felt I wanted vomit. Note, they had breakfast still at the finish tent. I tried to sleep in one of the cots they had in the med tent.  I could not sleep.  It ended being better to just sit outside and enjoyed runners as they came back from the finish line. The weather was good and we had people milling around and other runners in similar condition like mine sitting about. 

    I saw all my friends finished.  Some had to rush immediately to the airport for the flight. Many did stay for lunch.  Vermont is the first 100 where we had a nice meal and the award ceremony.  (Old Dominion too had a breakfast; I missed out the nice food at Western States, but I was sick at the time).  I was between falling asleep and widely awake the next monent.  I had a good time with some best people in the world.  They teased me about my next 100 (Wasatch), something about trying the sauna there.

    The drive home was long.  We had an early dinner around 5 pm. I mostly slept on the way and did not remember much until we got home like 2-3 am in the morning.  Luckily, I did not have to drive much.  Traffic seemed better than when we headed to Vermont.  I drove maybe 30 minutes, but I could not control the car’s speed (I sped up and slowed down and unable to get a stead speed to stay with other cars, because my reaction time was way off), so my friend took over.  Whenever, we stopped at a rest stop, I would eat another meal.  Every 2-3 hours, I’d get very hungry.  By 11 pm, there was no more food, because restaurants were closed.

    Conclusion: There’s none.  The run was a day 100 mile.  We enjoyed the nature and friends.  Many people made this possible.  As in any race, I am grateful. Some of my friends will be back.  Tek is seeking for her 5th buckle.  Lynne might come too.  I might go back.  I felt Vermont was easy.  This was unexpected because I spent many weeks worrying about it, (since I first got in).  I do have a coach from QT2 to help me.  I was glad, my training was adaquate.  My coach’s last minute advice got me through the race.  He told me to keep my strides short on the downhills.  There were a lot of running at the end.  I glad I saved my legs until the very end. It is always better to run at the end than in the beginning.

    There probably more I want to say, the event is still too close for me to see objectively. Maybe some day I will do a follow up.

  • [635] Cat 50k

    First year running the Cat [2021], I did the half Catoctin (we call it the Cat/half Cat).  It ended up being unsatisfied, because it was too short.  It was too easy and I was not challenged.  In the past, the  half cat (25k version) was for former full cat runners who had reached a certain age. It was created for (or inspired by) Tom Green, who missed running the full Cat and he said, if there is a half distance, he would do it. Tom is a respected, local famous runner, and in his younger days, he did many legendary runs (famously known as only one who finished the first grand slam in ’86). I was blessed to get to know him recently when I was connected to him for his advices on how run Western States successfully. Tom was its 10 times finisher.

    Cat is nothing like the Western States, but it is our local version of a badass race on a hot hot summer day. The first year I ran it, the age restriction and other requirements were lifted. Now half cat is always sold out. Many people prefer the shorter run.

    This race is hard. It seemed benign that is is only 50k (32-ish miles) for 16 miles for the half, but it runs almost like a 50 mile.  I was pushing it to finish under 9 hours. The course cut off was 9:15-9:30.  This year we had extra 15 minutes, so it was 9:30. The last couple years, the RD gave us a few minutes of early start!

    In 2022, I successfully finished Cat, the full version. I was blessed with a cooler temperature.

    Last year, 2023, I attempted a repeat, but ended in a fiasco. I did not emerged from the trail until 2.5 hrs after the final cutoff. My friends and volunteers were waiting at the finish for me. It was a hot year. It was quite embarrassing. I vowed to redeem it. I have to show I can run the Cat in a hot year too.

    So comes this year. We had a normal summer temperature on race day, about 85-90 degrees. It was Still hot but not sizzling hot like last year. Maybe because I had heat trained for this year so it did not feel as hot. We had high humidity in the morning but it did feel better later in the day. My shirt and shorts were drenched with sweat and ice water (from aid station) for the full duration. 

    Note, I heat trained because of Western States and Vermont 100, both are known to be hot races, so heat was not a big deal when I do the Cat.  It was hot but was not as hot as while out in California as the Western States hot.  I did not fainted nor had heat related issues.

    I ran smarter than last year. I came in with the full experience from former years.  I ran slower earlier on but would not give up on any freebies. I was not able to get a reverse split (4:22:00, the first half, and 4:40:00, second half, 7% slower). If it was downhill, I ran. If it was uphill, powerhiked. At Aid stations, be efficient, know what I want ahead of time and stay as short as possible, mostly to get water, get some fruits and sugar, say hi to a few friends who volunteered, and head out, were stuff I rehearsed in my head. I treated it as if it were my goal race. Bringing my A Game.

    Last year, I got into trouble with my pacing early on because, I was not watching the clock and had too much fun talking to people. This year, I was more agressive at checking my pace every mile. I kept my conversation to a minimum, as one should regardless. Someone said, we had to keep our pace at 18 min per mile and I did just that.  Padding extra minutes by running faster whenever I could like on the flats or downhills.

    The first half was unevenful.  I was in back of the pack. I tried to catch up to people whenever I was possible. I was surprised when I passed Addie maybe about 5 miles in. She usually was a stronger runner than me. She did pass me back in the second half and finished almost 10 mins before me.

    I reached first aid station mile 6/7 at 9:45 am, 1:45 into the race.  This was a little slower than my first attempt, but was an exceptable time.  I gained a bit of time by the second aid station (3 miles later), reaching at 10:35. We had to get to High Knob, mile 16, by 12:35 pm, while on paper is 6 miles away.  In actuality, it was about 8 miles away and had significant descent and big climbs. 2 hours were barely enough. I arrived at 12:22 pm.  In former years, I would have been pulled but this year, we had like extra 15 minutes.

    I knew, trying to get back to Hamburg Rd under 2 hours would be tough.  I did reached it by 2:15 pm.

    My split was like the former year (2022).  Once I reached Hamburg, I knew getting to Delauter Aid Station, 3 miles away, would not be an issue.

    I did not remember when I arrived.  Likely it was around 3:00 pm ish.  We had 7 miles to get to the finish by 5:30.  They said we could run at a fat man pace and still finish. I knew I should have enough time but I wanted to be back before 5 pm, as a matter of pride.  I wanted to be under the previous course cut off (5:15 pm).

    So it was an all out effort.  My legs were tired.  Addie and others passed me here. I also passed some other people.  This section was mostly downhill, so I could run a bit without much effort.

    We reached White Rock.  I passed Karen, a strong runner in the first half. Now I was passing her because she seemed to reach her limit.  The time was 4:26.  I knew there was 2 miles ish to the finish. I believe I could do it by 5 pm, running at 15 min a mile.

    Downhill now was hard on me.  So I slowed down.  The trail was rough. I reached the river at 4:58.  I knew, There was no way for me to get to the finish by 5.  So I took a bit of time in the last quarter of mile.  I crossed the finish at 5:03, the total time was 9:03.

    Afterward, it was a party. This race, we had plenty of food and drinks.  Tom Green was there. My other friends too. Ike Kim, I ran with him during Old Dominion finished an hour before me. We talked about Western States and such. Many were happy I finished that race. Sun Lu/Lu Sun too. We talked about our other friend Wayne doing the Iron Stone 100k on the same day. Lu ran it last year with Wayne and said, he would not do that race again since it was quite dangerous on the ankles. I was going to go to the finish for that race, but I took quite a beating at Cat.  The plan was scratched.

    Normally I don’t chafe at shorter distances, but the Cat had my private area all burned, inner thighs too. I was quite uncomfortable. I went and changed to fresh clothes.  Still, going home was a better option.  I was not sure I could survive a three hour drive to PA, but going back home was only an hour drive. I stopped at a rest area to get sodas and food to keep me awake for the drive.

    Also, by 6 pm, most people had left. Even the RD was ready to drive off. Addie and her friend Christine was waiting for another runner.  We found that the runner was last seen at 5:30pm at the last water station (7 miles away). Note, this was two hours after the station was supposed to close.  I and others decided to hike in looking for the person, after the expected arrival time had passed.  I hiked up about 2 miles to White Rock. From there, we walked with the runner down to the parking lot.  By 8:30, it seemed we were not getting any nearer, so we phoned down to have a car pick us up at one of the cross roads.  Addie and her friend drove up for us. They picked up the runner. I and everyone else (search party) finally reached the finishing lot by 8:45 pm. We hiked down because the finish was not too far away and there was no need for us to take the ride back.  It was extra 3 hours to do 2 miles (note, I did this section in 40 minutes earlier).  We were crawling! Luckily, no one was hurt. We got everyone back. The runner was not looking too good, but we got her down the mountain. She went about 10 miles beyond her ability, probably 5 hours longer than she expected.

    It was the same lesson learned at last year.  Obey the cutoff time.  Don’t push on once the cut passed. We could have got her back by 5 pm if she had remained at one of the aid stations before they closed. Once the station closed, it was too late. I wonder too what time the runner left High Knob (mile 16)!  Was it one of the oopsie, this one left after the cut?  I was barely made the cut myself. She had to hike out by herself. Plus, all the volunteers and friends were waiting for her at the finish, just like they did for me last year.

    The race advertised as no sweep, no ribbons, no sympathy, old school tough course on the hottest day in the summer. Still for runner’s safety and volunteer (sweepers), 9 hr sweeping duty was a bit over the top.   I have done long sweep myself for another race, but not like this. We noted, it would be better, if there a second sweep halfway (8 miles ish). Plus, also, runners should be pulled once time expired. I think though the runner was not pulled because there was not enough cars to drive runners back at some of the remote aid stations. It is an old school race.  I have been in such situation too to walk out when pickup was unavailable.

    The race is changing. This year, we had plenty ribbons at near the finish so that runners know to make the turn into the parking lot. Also we have sweeps in recent years. Plus, we had an extra 15 minutes! Many people were able to finish the 50k because of the extended time.

  • [631] Old Dominion 100

    Last year, I went to the Old Dominion 100 race not to run in it but to crew for a few friends. Never in a million years, I thought I would run this. Why? Because it is too fast for me to finish. I am a slow runner. But as things have it, by providence hand, I not only get to run it but finish it as well.

    This race, I knew about it for a few years and I knew at the time that it was not one I could do. Not saying it cannot be done as a first 100.  I just struggled with a few DNFs (races I Did Not Finish) and so I was reluctant to try, like why signing up when the odds are not in my favor to finish. Old Dominion to me is on another level hard, and where people run to demonstrate their speed in ultrarunning.  The race motto is you and the course and in one day (meaning under 24 hours).

    People I knew who were stronger runners than me struggled to meet the cutoffs in this race.

    Last year, I watched my runner Greg finished and several others too, Tek, Wayne, Larry, Scott, and Sean. Some of them barely made the final cutoff of 28 hours. They are so much a better runner than me. I was at Elizabeth Furnace watching Wayne came in just under the cutoff and at the finish as well. I knew first hand the stress and effort it takes to get across the finish. I was thinking if I could pull something off like that.

    So I have been holding off from running in this race. In fact, my desire to run it was very low compare to running the MMT 100 (Massanutten), a race I just did. I love MMT and wrote many entries about it the last three years.  Astude readers would know I wrote nothing about the Old Dominion, even though they both share similar/same course in the same location.

    At the time, maybe around 2019, I was training for my first “ultra” (50k/50 miler), I got to meet a guy, Carl by chance. At the time, I didn’t know his family was deeply rooted in the MMT race, and I asked him which 100 miles to do near me if I am to pick a 100 mile to run. 

    His word to me was to run the MMT first and then do Old Dominion. I knew he was not bias in his answer. I gave me some thoughtful tips. It was funny now a few years later, after I did the MMT 100, I got to meet Carl again and I told him, hey, I am running the Old Dominion. He laughed and said, I never told you to run both races in the same year! What!? true. I did that to myself.

    Ok, how did I get into this pickle?  Running one race, MMT 100 is hard enough, adding on doing the famous Old Dominion two weeks later is just insane.

    Fortunately, I do have my friend Wayne’s footsteps to follow. He did just the two big Virginia races back-to-back last year.

    So what make me to jump the gun to do such a hard race like OD100?

    It started with the Western States 100.  WS100 and OD100 shared similar history being initially a horse race.  Then some guy decided to run on it and finished within one day (his name is on the internet/WS100 &OD history). So Western States 100 mile run was born. The enthusiasm spred to the east coast, VA especially (the RD at Old Dominion explaining in details at the race briefly each year). And two years later, Old Dominion had their first 100 mile run. There was some history of how someone, might have been the race director Pat, that led to Old Dominion. The race has been part of her family. The race is family run for almost 50 years. There is no big corporation sponsorships.  They pride the tradition. How the race is today is how it was back then.

    And very soon there were also other 100 mile races such as the Vermont 100. In short, these group of races, became part of the ultra grand slam.

    I signed up for Western States 100 this year, which is a big boy race, I decided to why not give a shot at the grand slam as well. I know, logically it doesn’t make sense, like one race is hard enough, but let do three more other hard races. But the flip side, is how much tougher can it get. Let suffer it all at once.

    Old Dominion, being the first race of the grand slam series, and maybe the easiest, I should give it a try. If I finish, the dream lives on.  If I do not, that would be the end of my grand slam attempt.

    I went in hoping to finish, but also knew from computer’s prediction at ultrasignup page had me at a 30 hour finish. So, there is a high chance I would DNF, since 28 is final cutoff. This race awards a buckle for those who finish under 24 hours, but allows anyone coming in under 28 to be a finisher. Ultra signup predictions have been usually correct for me in the past.

    My game plan: I did the usual work. Prepared a pace chart. Studied the course. Watched some race related videos. Prayed/hoped for the best. Physically, I have been running one race after another, so that wasn’t an issue.

    Looking back, since I have done MMT recently, I had still the memories (muscle memory) of some of the harder parts of the course such as Gap Creek (Duncan Hollow), Moreland Gap, Crisman Hollow Rd, Duncan Knob, the Edingburg to Elizabeth Furnace, and Veach Gap.  Even Sherman Gap can be considered like Shaw Gap.  MMT and Old Dominion shares many similar trails. Old Dominion just has more road portion (I believe almost 3 times as many), about 60+ miles of road and only 40 miles of trails compares to MMT, which was like 20 miles of road and 90 miles of trails (I firmly believe the course for MMT is longer).

    OD100 is probably one of the few 100 mile courses that is measured! Those who come from marathon running background could not believe that trail races are not measured in the same way as road races (there are a lot of handwaving estimates)!  This OD100 course is measured like a marathon race with a Jone’s wheel (something like that). This is to my favor of not having bonus ultra miles.

      I was able to tap my friend Ram to be my safety runner from mile 75 to mile 86. He was good to keep his words and showed up. I spoke with him maybe back in March during a BRR 50 training session, and I even forgot about it until he reached out during race week and asked if I still need a pacer. He was a godsends. Initially, I was prepared to run it solo, like in many of my other races.

    Pre-race: Having been to last year pre-race briefing, this year was not much different. We went over the race course. I think the course briefing was way better than last year. At least the powerpoint presentation was less confusing. There were arrows overlays on photographs of various tricky places.  Maybe I was more familar with the course, the briefing made more sense to me this year than last year.  Maybe because I was running in it I paid more attention to the briefing.

    Boyer’s in/Boyer’s out was confusing in the past, but not this time. The emphasis was to make a left and another immediate left onto the (purple?) trail. RD said don’t trust your strava Gpx file here, they were known to be wrong. Also, I crewed my runners at Four Points last year, Four Points in/out (mile 32 ish, and mile 47), was not that tricky to me. Lastly was Woodstock tower split, the signs there were easy to follow. Kim, a friend and race official told me repeatedly to watch for the race signs. Woodstock in/out, was easy. Indeed, they were clearly marked which way I should be turning. In years past, runners have gone the wrong way at these few locations.

    I enjoyed the post race briefing time. I met up with some friends. Vlad, a runner, I met at Devil Dog and Bull Run Run 50 (BRR50) was there. We were surprised to run into each other again. I helped him set his dropbags.  I met Steve C from Charlottesville, whose name I came across a few times but couldn’t place a face to until at this race. Tek also there, she had done OD100 a few times, and I met her there last year and at the C&O100. She and a few others (and Wayne, plus Fernando) were ones who inspired me to go for the grand slam and all and while proving to me that the body indeed can take the pounding of week after week of ultra-marathon running. She and those few others runs a lot of ultras weeks after weeks.

    There, I also got to meet Charles and his wife. Charles and I did MMT together and also Boyer’s 50K this past winter.

    Special mention here, also Kim O. (daughter of a former winner of OD100) was first to greet me when I picked up my bib. I knew Kim like forever since I started running ultras (at Eastern Divide 50k and the whole race series, now no longer available) but never knew she has a deep connection to this race until last year. She expresses in the past that she would like to run this race very much. Secretly, I wanted to run this race to show that slow people like me could finish OD100 too. Maybe it will serve as an imspiration for her to take that step  to  sign up.

    We dispersed after the meeting. People wanted to get a good sleep before the race. I wanted to get a good meal. The RD mentioned four or five Italians nearby. Instead, I beelined to the one of a few chinese carry-outs a mile away. I chose Happy Family and Young Chow fried rice. Yes, I picked rice over pasta! I stopped by a Food Lion to pick some snacks and drinks. The fried rice was for breakfast. Unfortunately, it didn’t taste that good at 3 AM the next day and it didn’t taste like Young Chow fried rice I expected but more a regular fried rice except with bbq pork added as protein. The Happy Family was good.

    I camped in a field near the start. We had cooler weather around 50F. Unfortunately, the interstate I-81 is like half a mile away, and it was very loud at night. It sounded like sleeping next to an airport runway with planes taking off every few minutes apart. I found sleeping in the car to be quieter, but then it got hot unless the windows are down. I survived the night like taking a redeyed flight. A hotel might have been a better choice.

    The race started at 4 AM.  I had goosbumps going out with a bunch of really good runners.  I was at the race last year as a spectator but this year, I was a participant. It was hard to believe.

    The whole field of 100+ runners rushed out. They were indeed very fast. My friend Tek and I were only ones left at the start. We were the stragglers. We took the walk and run approach and not very long we were left alone on the horse track (race starts and ends at Woodstock’s country fairground race track). I didn’t Keith S. was behind us at the time. He might have woken up late. Their were a handful who did not check in at the time the race started. Keith was a guy who ran 117 x100 milers, just an incredible guy. He got a sub 24 buckle here a few years ago.

    Out we went slowly.  It didn’t bode well for us, but I trusted my friend because in many races, her pace had enable her to finish even though it might seem slow at first. She is a stronger runner than me. In ultras, you have to be a tortoise vs the hare.

    After few miles, Tek felt behind my pace, and I left her, keeping my own pace. I was not going to wait for anyone in this race.

    The morning dawned and I moved from aid station to aid station.  The race had about 22 aid stations. Some were small (like from the back of a truck at Boyers in/out) and some big, with tent and food.  Most food choices are simple cookies, chips, and fruits. I knew if I want solid food I had to wait till 2 am in the morning at the Veach Gap aid stations since those two are served by the Virginia Happy Trail Runners (my club). So, I just had to preservere until then. (There were pancakes and sausages at cold spring, not saying there isn’t real food available during the daytime, but few).

    Slowly I reeled in runners. Some I tried to talk to them. By mile 20, I was pretty much caught up to the bottom 13 runners, (not much), but I could not run any faster. It seemed this was where I stuck. Over time, I learned these two runners, Sean and Marshall, were from Roanoke and Lynchburg. Together we spent the rest of the day running.

      They are friends and know each other before the race.  We kept near a 14 minutes pace. They believe with this pace, we could get a sub 24 hour finish. They asked if I was aiming for sub 24, I said no way, and that bus had left a long time ago.  I did not believe with my pace could get the sub 24.

    After some calculations, I had to admit that Sean was right. 14 minute average pace would get us the sub 24.

    We could not believe why others went out so much fast.  I knew each year only a few could get under 24 hours. In theory, there should be more runners around our pace. So, there were 90+ people ahead of us going for the sub 24 hour pace, we were thinking a bunch of them will blow up later. We would hope to catch up to some of them. At this time, I don’t know the numbers of how many did not finish.  While running, I did not see many giving up. Supposedly, this year, we have more than average numbers of finishers.

    In my mind, I want to pass about 30-40 runners to feel safe of not being cut.

    I stayed with Sean and Marshall. It was their first time running a 100 mile race. They were very efficient at aid stations. Usually, they got out before I do. They both had been in high pressure situations where speed is everything in their professional life (including working at professional football level), so they understand the time value dynamic between running and stopping at an aid station. We were quick with our aid station transition! I never seen anyone moved this quick through an aid station in a hundred mile race.

    Slowly we reeled in a few more runners by halfway. We passed about 10 more or so runners. There were still 80+ runners ahead of us.

    My pace was pretty steady by mile 47 (Four Points Aid Station).  The first 50 miles were mostly on the road. I knew the bottom 50 miles would be harder.

    By halfway, Sean and Marshall were no longer keeping up with me. So I went alone doing what I have been doing the whole day, that was to keep moving.

    The day was not too hot, but I was given ice in various aid stations. Ice kept me cool. 

    The ATV trail, an infamous section, was not too bad. I did get some hot spots under my right foot from the gravel and sand. I saw some ATVs on the trail but they all parked while I went by.  It had been my biggest concern of sharing the same trail with the ATV, I would be breathing all the fumes, smog and dust. It became a non-issue.

    Night came, I passed a few more runners. Now it was about 30 runners behind me and 70+ were in front. I came across Charles.  He was usually ahead of me. Unlike at MMT, he did not stay back with me to talk and run. We did talk when we were at aid stations, but usually he was ahead of me.  I was lucky to be able to finish with him in the morning.

    My pace slowed down a lot during the darkness hours but I knew I would get to Elizabeth Furnace (mile 75) at about 10 pm.  My pacer/safety runner, Ram, would be meeting me here at 11 pm.  I was an hour ahead, and I thought I might miss him.  Fortunately, he arrived early and we recognized each other voices in the darkness at the aid station parking lot by chance.  He hurried to the Elizabeth Furnace aid station to pace me.

    I took at least 10 minutes to change shoes and fixed my feet for the midnight run. This was probably my longest time spent at an aid station for this race.

    We would be going up Sherman Gap, the hardest climb in the whole race.  I knew about this tough climb before this race. It is infamous of being hard.

    Indeed, it was very hard.  It took me about an hour and half to climb it. It was slow going. Every step I felt like fainting and falling over. My safety runner constantly reminded me to drink and eat every 10-15 mins. We took breaks when needed.

    Then there was Veach Gap.  My running club (VHTRC) served the two aid stations at either ends of Veach. It was like homecoming. Larry, last year finisher, was there as the station chief eith his wife. Jamie gave me a big hug while I was still drenched in sweat from just the hard climb and descent from Sherman Gap. The Veach East was boisterous. I flopped into the chair they had. They were efficient and refilled my pack with water. I was given real food. I don’t remember what, but I took everything. Also the coffee was great. I wanted to stay there for a long time, but they kicked me out after 5 mins.

    At the pre race briefing – I was standing next to Charles (fellow runner) and his wife in the back. We were not in the picture. We were intended to hit the exit once the meeting is over

    By Veach-West (mile 87), I dropped off my pacer/safety runner.  I was able to move faster on the downhills and caught up to a few runners.

    By now, I had 13 miles left.  Past 3 am. I remember thinking I had one hour to get to finish for a sub 24, joking to myself. There were 5 hours left in the race to the final cutoff and I knew the finish was certain.  It still took me another 3 hours before getting to the end. (6 am).

    The final bit was an uneventful climb up to mile 97.  There was an aid station at 770/758. It was mostly constantly uphill. Ram gave me two gels packages before I left Veach. The first package got me to 770/758. The second got me over the Woodstock Tower.

    Kim O, was driving around from the Woodstock AS. I got some encouragements from her when we met. She is part of the race org, so I guess technically she was allowed to be driving around to check on runners. My stayed at the Woodstock station was brief. I took a cup of coffee and left. I knew sun would be rising soon.

    There was still 7 miles left. Descending from Woodstock was not too hard. I still had the energy to run. My feet had not locked up like at MMT. I had about an hour to get to town for a 6 AM finish.

    By time we reached the last aid station at Water St, the sky was conpletely lighted. We had maybe two miles left and quarter mile to go around the horse track. It probably is measured in horse distances.

    I reached the track as the sun was rising over the mountain. It took me maybe 5 minutes to go around. It felt like a mile long, but I had extra burst of energy. I forgot what was my official time, but I saw on the clock was still 25:55. I reached it under 26 hours. (My Official finish time is 25:56:16)

    Having been at the finish line last year, I knew my expectation that there would not be any fanfair or greetings from the race director. It is low key. It was very subdue.  There was the official timer (Henry) who has been the race timer since the first Old Dominion race.  I was lucky that Charles’s wife was there waiting for Charles.  She greeted me and cheered as I came in. Charles came in a few minutes after me.  I waited for Charles before going to my car to change.

    Later, after getting myself comfortable, I went back out to the course to see the golden hour finish (final hour before the race ends).

    Several other people also came out to watch the race. Mordy, Tek, Terence from NY, and Janna was there. They are all my people. I met Mordy and Janna here last year too. It was a bit more festive than before. My friends Sean and Marshall finished and came in. They had their families there greeting them.

    Then, there was the breakfast and awards presentation.  They let every finisher to give a short speech. I found it was very unusual but I enjoyed it a lot.  Last to be presented the award was John Kelly, the first place finisher.  He gave a good speech about Old Dominion being an old school race and that he enjoyed running on the country roads and surrounding trails the Old Dominion has offered. Indeed, he summed it all up for us. It was the same John Kelly who finished the Barkley this year.

    My take-away:  There were many memories. I did not get to share about Jeff P. who was at the Mountain Top aid station. He got me ice and a popsicle, plus his presence was enough. The dude is a genius. He said the time he ran OD100, he cried when night came because it was so hot during the day. He knew firsthand what ice could do for runners.  He actually predicted/urged saying he and I will run the Old Dominion this year when we were at the race briefing last year and I blew it off as he got to be joking. Then he said, you don’t believe me? He ran this race like 10 times. I took his bet and signed up. If not for Jeff, I might not have been in the race. If anything, I wanted to be like Jeff.

    I was able to spent some good time with several friends.  VHTRC of course was amazing to serve runners in the middle of the night at Veach. I was grateful for Ram to have paced me. His encouragements got me through the night. I was glad of making new friends, such as Amy from Florida, Terence from NY, Ike Kim from MD, Sean and Marshall, my fellow runners from VA. Why I love running ultras, because of friends and people I get to meet. This post won’t be as emotional as MMT100, but I glad I got it behind me. Now onto Western States in a few weeks.

  • [629] MMT 2024

    Wow, what a weekend! In my last post, I said I some hard races are ahead, I did not expect this one would be one of them that would need my 100%-200% effort.

    I knew MMT would be hard but I felt, with three years of preparation, I got it down. I was going in with 70-75% effort and believed I could get it done, thinking it would be just a bit tougher than my C&O 100 and the GSER 100k I just did.

    [MMT1] [MMT2] Reports from my previous years, showed the race was tough. This year was no different.

    While last year I finished, I can’t remember if I could walk to my car or not, I remembered thinking the race was easier than I expected, because I had adaquate training and I managed to get through to the hard sections and it was mostly smooth sailing afterward.

    Maybe that gave me a false sense of confident for this year. I came in feeling prepared and I was.

    Like last year, I hit all early aid stations on pace and some even ahead of pace. It would be my fastest time finishing if the second half was the same and I was aiming for a faster finish.

    I was not even struggling. In my mind, I was going at a very relaxed pace, and I was gaining faster time.

    This year trail condition was worse than last year. Most trails were flooded and muddy and we started under a steady rain.

    I had no idea, why I was ahead of pace by halfway. I had better shoes. I kept my feet better. It was not until mile 90 when my race fell apart. 

    I did not have sleeppiness issues like last year. My energy level was strong for most of the race except the final few miles. And the race at that point on became like my first MMT, struggle bus.

    I had a theory why my energy unexpectedly crashed. I think I drank too many cups of coffee and Red Bulls. That’s my theory. My body was probably over stimulated and final crashed.  I still managed a finish, since I built up enough lead time.

    That’s pretty much a summary of MMT 100 this year. I did have a good time. It was one of my best time out of all 3 years. It was the people I got to be with. More will be said below.

    As for race preparation, I did like what I did in the past. I did the training runs (and wrote about those) and looking back, just like previous years, while it seems my training runs were horrible, but by race day time, I was fully ready. This change always surprises me.

    I prepared a pace chart (I used the same one as last year, except updated it with my actual last year splits).

    I prepared my drop bags. They were much simplier than previous years. They were smaller and I put everything in a gallon size ziplock bag, except for shoes. I packed mostly a change of clothes and socks.

    I only used four drop bag locations this year: Elizabeth Furnace (50k ish), Habron Gap (55 mi), Roosevelt (65 mi), and Gap Creek (70).

    I had a crew (Cheryl, who was Wayne’s friend and crew person, I first met and ran with Wayne at MMT2). I was lucky to have a crew. She fed me well. She met me from midnight to end of the race. She was a new friend I came to know since the start of this year training cycle.

    As for training runs, I ran TR1 and TR2 but missed TR3 and TR4 due to being away for my Taiwan trip (and also the TR’ courses were changed at the time because of a forest fire!) 

    People were talking about the firewall/fire breakers they came across during the race. I was like scratching my head because this was my most run on trail for last three years and I saw no firewalls.

      I had forgotten about the recent forest fire there!  I even peed on a burned tree and was thinking huh, why was the tree like that. I had forgotten about the fire until now after the race.  It was only a month ago.  It was my big curiosity to go up to the MMT mountain after coming back from Taiwan to check out what the fire did to it.  Then I totally forgotten it.  Understandably, I had so many races the past month.  But wow. Now it made sense. There was a vast stretch seemed to be empty than before. Some trails like the Stephen’s Trail was bulldozed, I think for the fire fighting effort.  I heard Kern’s was burned but we went through it at night, so did not get to see it first hand.  wow!

    We were blessed to be able to run on the MMT race course without any diversion. I am so grateful.

    So I knew the course well except only the last 50k section.   (a few times, I dropped, such as during Waterfall 50k, I didn’t go up to Bird Knob, my memory escaped me what other events caused me to miss the Bird Knob’s section).

    This year, since rerunning MMT 100 again, I made many friends.  Caroline, a new friend and one I ran many recent races with since the last MMT, was my cheerleader from start to finish.

    Iris, too, my earliest fan and friend (from even before MMT1) and supporter was there cheering and volunteering with her husband.

    Plus there were many old friends and new friends I made. I could not named them all. Mike Ed was there, whom I ran with last year. I guess that what makes MMT special. It was like a family reunion. 

    The connections we made, some mentioned were why we ran 100 mile races. Many people I don’t know their names.  Definitely many volunteers put their hearts into making it a successful weekend.  You can tell when people, runners (past runners too), families and friends are enthusiastic about this event and making it feels like this is one and only one. We were under rain and cold for like 2/3 of the time, but seeing them warmed our hearts.

    Yes, this was my third time running it, and it felt like it was my very first. The atmosphere was different in a good way (at least to me). I think almost at all aid stations, there was someone who knows me. I got hugs and fist bumps and encouragements even in the dead of night. I felt special.

    And even when I could not see their faces. Thry said hi and gave words of encouragement. Gap Creek was loud! Amanda, also a friend I made during MMT 1 and 2, gave some personal greeting at 4 am (3:45 exact), something about she and I ran through this section and I look strong today, before I took on the trek up Jawbone, which also known be pretty hard and an ankle killer (Kerns is, but I always lump the both together). I was able to went through it rather quickly this year.

    Trail Con: we touched on earlier, The ground was well saturated. The top soil was slick as it can be. MMT trail is covered with rocks and this rich top soil. So it was treacherous conditions to be out there when is wet.  I took a few falls but nothing as a race ending event. My right knee was hurting and was bruised after the race morning but I did not realized which fall that injured it.  My hands and legs were cut by thorns and bushes (note the trails were trimmed a couple weeks before the race, but they always grow back so quickly). I lost a couple toenails (they were blackened, which will eventually fall off).

    For the record, temperature was like the previous year, around 50  F.  I could see my breath throughout the first 50 miles. Night and early morning was a bit cooler. The second day was better. Started overcast then cleared up.

    Anyway any of those falls could have weeded me out early in the race. I think many runners dropped because of the cold, wet, and muddy course, including some runners I highly respected and thought they could grunt it through.

    —-

    The rest of the post is my play-by-play account.

    Start to Edingburg: I ran from the back of the pack. rain. had a good rain poncho on but water did get through. I wore long sleeves so it helped keeping me warm. I was wet too. Climbed on the Moreland Road and Short Mountain was not as bad as during the training run. I was with a new friend Arun (whom I met during the first training run) and then with Jeff P. 8:00 am rain stopped. And later with Scott. Unfortunately, I don’t get to see them again.

    Edingburg to Woodstock. Caroline met me at the AS. I felt pretty good. I did not have a drop bag so I did not stay too long.  I was with Scott, a strong runner, and there I also met Kiran and Sunny. I pretty much stay at Kiran’s pace through most of the run, and I knew she was a strong runner. At the time, she did not introduced herself, and from time to time I saw her again and again at an aid station, most of the time I thought she was ahead of me but I caught up to her. I ran at my pace. I did realize it until after 50 miles.

    Woodstock to Elizabeth Furnace, passing through Fort Powell.  I met Charleen. There was Alex, and Brian, I don’t remember exactly where I saw them, but they gave me much needed encouragements. Brian’s wife, Ashley was running in it. Brian kept giving me updates how far she was behind me.  Ashley passed me during training runs, and I had expected the same.  I was not competing with her but it was fun being chased.  Ashley at the finish came and said hi! She finally overtook me on the last stretch. A friendly competition.

    And of course, where there’s Charleen, there’s John also who encouraged me. It is like having a crew without having a crew. Similarily, there were other families waiting for their runners, so I see the same people at every AS. Alex was waiting for his.

    Elizabeth Furnace, was where my first drop bag located. I changed socks and fixed my feet. Popped a blister. My right heel was cut from the back of my shoe digging in. A volunteer offered me black tape (duct tape) and a paper towel and so I created my own sport tape / bandaid with those.  It helped. Saved my race. I knew I was a bit tired here already. My legs wanted to cramp up, so I got up to get moving (last year I cramped up here).

    Shaw, Veach and Indian Grave. The Climb up to Shaw was not too bad.  I was with #125. She was a strong runner earlier but she had what she said was a heat flash halfway up on Shaw. She was half bending over, two hands on a tree breathing hard. Me and another runner stopped to ask if she was having a medical emergency. She said she did not need help.  Later she appeared quite strong again after an aid station. She and a bunch of people sharted running after Midford Gap (someone, Larry and friends, carried like 50 gals of water up from Veech to here), so I stopped to refill.  They did not. It was not an official aid station, but it saved runners like me who ran out of water.  Why I ran out of water, was I did not refill my water bag while I was at Veech.

    Getting down to Indian Grave was brutal for me.  This is at mile 49-50. My left knee started acting up. It was not pain but it was like not willing to extend and it had a funny feeling, like my funny bone is being tapped.

    It felt weak, momentary and every time when I put weight on it, I felt it might collapse under me.  Back of my mind was, uh-oh, I might have to drop from the race at the next aid station or a later station if it started hurting. Lucky, it didn’t hurt until near to the end of the race. I got down the mountain with a few close calls but did not fall. Indian Grave always is scary to me even on a good day because of the steepness. 

    I was moving slowly due to my knees while many people passed me.

    About a mile-ish to the aid station, I saw #125 again and I thought she would be long gone. So I stopped and asked her condition. She was clearly struggling and in great deal of pain. #105 (Melissa) also came by, we talked since we passed each other a few times. She also tried to help #125. Her issue was beyond our ability because she was suffering from chafing. Melissa offered her tapes, but it was probably too severe now to use. #125 ended dropping. Also, Melissa stopped and rested at the station, while I pushed on through as fast as possible. I did not see Melissa again until at the end of the race when she came in just couple minutes after me. I am very happy for her.

    In this section, I was with Ben and Charles. Charles was someone I met during a  training run and at Boyers 50K. Ben is from Boone and Asheville, NC. Ben is this year the longest time a runner spent on the trail also known as DFL. It was heartfelt seeing him come in later at the finish. Note, Ben has done some harder races like the Hellbender. Charles and Ben were real chill. I met Ben early in the race and now he was back here. I would see him again from time to time. They chatted a lot. Together, we got to Habron.

    Charles plans to run Old Dominion in two weeks, so like me this run is supposed to be an easy (joking) training run. Charles is a stronger hiker even without effort, he was passing ahead of me on technical sections and so on the road, he was flying to Habron. But he also waited for me a few times. I was surprised that later he tapped out.

    Habron to Elizabeth Furnace. Night came and settled in. Originally I was secretly hoping to get to Elizabeth Furnace (mile 65) before nightfall. I know it was a wishful thinking. Then I bargained it down to Habron Gap by nightfall.

    I took a significant time at Habron AS to fix my feet since they had been wet throughout the day. I was now an expert at this unlike during my first MMT. We had similar wet conditions this year. Feet were good. No blisters, but couple hot spots were forming. I knew I had to keep those under control.

    The trek up Habron was not as bad as I thought. I caught up to Kiran again. She had her pacer. Somehow, I was able to lead them up. They were pretty much on my heels. A few people passed us. From here on out, I was with her.

    When we went down on Stephen’s, Kiran led because my left knee was weak but apparently I could still keep up with her pace. Note, Stephen’s Trail was unlike during training. The whole trail was bulldozed, probably for the fire fighting effort. We hiked on clay and mud. We passed a lot of people (4-5 runners, but in my mind were a lot, none of them I knew or seen before).

    At Camp Roosevelt (Camp Roo), Cheryl, my crew, and who was also an aid station’s volunteer, helped me.  I stayed for a long time. I was ahead of pace so the long stay evened it out. I might have changed socks. I had a good meal.

    Normally I’d carry food out to eat while on the trail, but here, Cheryl had me sat down, covered me, and I took a breather. I told myself won’t argue with my crew chief since I appointed her to that position. She did me much good to get enough caffeine into my system and also food for energy for the following day. Kiran had her feet fixed by her team.

    Camp Roo to Gap Creek 1.  Everyone knew this was the worse section on the course. Or so they thought. I knew ahead of time how wet it would be and tough. For me, I think, the last section from 211 to Crisman Hollow road, was the hardest.

    Gap Creek is never dry even on a good day. We sloshed through river of mud and puddles. It was not unlike any trail we have been doing much of the day except a bit more muddy here. The cold water actually helped with my feet (since there were hot spots, the cold served as a numbing effect). 

    Many though did not expect the steep climb up to Duncan Hollow and then the long descent on the other side.  Many passed me while we ran up, but got exhausted at the top. I was exhausted too. My left knee might had given me some issue. Going downhill was fine for me.

    Kevin M. (I believe this was his 8th MMT) showed up out of the blue. He passed me long ago early in the day, but he said he got lost and went on a white trail at Roosevelt, not sure which trail he went to. We arrived at Gap Creek together. Of course, he did not need much at the aid station. He wore flipflops on the trail and his feet were fine. Interesting guy. He has been to  Western States and told me about Truckee. about weeds and booze at one of the aid stations but he said young people like me probably prefer sugary candies over those adult beverages.

    Gap Creek to Visitor Center.  I had my drop bag at Gap Creek with dry shoes. I changed shoes and socks. I might have taken a long time to get out. I thought it was before 3 AM but when I checked the clock on my way out it was closer to 4 am (3:48 or something), I was shock. I was not sure if I could get to Visitor by 7 like last year. So I was almost an hour late on my pace at this point.

    We had to go up Jawbone. I did not think it was too bad. I was with Ben. I led Ben through. I thought the whole time, he was behind me. It was until morning came I turned around, it was a completely different runner and their pacer.

    They, by the look, they were super strong runners and I felt embarassed, I did not offer them a chance to pass me. I called out a few times but now was not sure I was speaking to the same person.

    At Q view, when I took a pee break, the whole train maybe 5-6 runners ran/fast hiked passed me. Why did not anyone say anything!  The faster pace did help me get to the Visitor Center early.  I think I arrived around 7:10 but I was exhausted. In theory, I went through Kerns an hour faster than last year. Cheryl was there and helped me. I don’t remember what she did for me, but I let her fix me as best as she could and off I went. I think, I aslo stayed there quite a while, maybe 30 minutes. Kiran caught up again.

    Visitor Center to Picnic Area via Bird Knob.  In my mind, I dreaded this loop, mostly the climb up to Bird Knob. I remember I passed out here in a previous year (MMT1). Bird Knob was not as bad as Habron or Jawbone. Sure, there were some climbing, but I was on top in no time.  Kiran and Sunny came by.  Sunny passed us looking very strong. This was her first 100. I spoke with her Friday at the bib pickup but during the race I didn’t see her much except once at Edingburg and now here.

    I wanted to stay with Sunny, but her pace was beyond my ability to keep up. So Kiran and her pacer again were again setting my pace. They gave me a good pace. I laughed and talked. Kiran took a pee break so I went on ahead and lo and behold I saw Sunny, either she slowed down her pace or my pace was really fast. I thought she would have left me, but it seemed many times she waited for me. Her climbing was super strong but she was slow enough on the downhills and I was able to stay with her. This section had longer stretches of down than uphills.

    I could not be able keep up with Sunny once we arrived at the Picnic Area. Cheryl again met me. She did what she did. I was definitely beyond tired at this stage. There were about 10-13 miles left.

    I fixed my feet again. There was no med kit, and Cheryl found a tube of something that to me like lubricant, maybe vasaline but in a tube form. I put that on my feet after cleaning them. Glad, Cheryl had baby wipes. I had them too but they were packed away in my hydration pack. I took a cup of coffee. Cheryl gave me another Red Bull,

    I think it was my fourth but can’t remember. I knew I had too much sugar and caffeine in me, but I felt I had to stay awake. And of course, the caffeine crash came next. I also stayed here a long time (there’s a video on Youtube of probably 12 hours timelapse collapsed into 3 min, and I could see myself in it, meaning I stayed a rather long time).

    Picnic Area to Gap Creek 2. I promised Cheryl I would be at Gap Creek by 1pm.  I figured, I could do 6 miles in two hours. I knew there would be a lot of climbing. The mile section from Picnic Area to 211 East Parking Lot was shorter than I thought.  It was also wetter than I expected. But feet were wet most of the time any way, so it did not matter much. I just waddled through.

    Kiran and her new pacer (she swapped out after the Picnic Area) passed me extremely fast.  I had no intention to keep up with them like before. The two hard boiled eggs (soy sauced favored) I had and was about to eat one of them, dropped onto the trail. Nooo, I screemed in my head. Note, Kiran did not bump into me, she was probably still 50-100 ft behind. She asked if I was okay. I felt fine but it seemed my pace was all but gone. This stretch was shorter than I thought and soon I arrived at RT 211 Parking.

    At 211 Parking, I met many good friends, and couldn’t remember all but Marty gave me a big hug and told me to go get it.

    This section was my waterloo during MMT 2022. It still gave me nightmares. My energy level tanked just like that time. I reassured myself that God sent Elaina and Christian just at the right moment to pace me through Gap Creek that time.  Christian was at the Visitor Center AS earlier in morning and I told him it wouldn’t happen like in 2022. The thoughts of them gave me new strength to climb up. A mile at a time. It was a very long climb, first on the white trail, and that was like 2-3 miles in my mind and but got through them.

    We turned onto the Orange trail. I haven’t been on this part since last year, and all I remember was it kept going up. Maybe for 5-6 miles at least felt like that in my mind. I know in training runs we ran up on these hills. Now, it seeemed almost like Mt Everest. We came to creek crossing after creek crossing. I did not mind. This was the last ordeal and soon I knew we would be on the final road section.

    I think we got up on Duncan Hollow a second time. This part always confuses me. The course was well marked so we don’t usually pay attention but I had a feeling we’ve been up here. Anyway, we got to the downhill. My legs could move better. Earlier it was the downhill that hurts.

    On the Crisman Road, a few runners passed me, notably was KC. At the time, I was doubting my chance of finishing. My leg, especially the left knee obviously was not able to hike fast. It was slightly swollen. Luckily, I could still put weight on it. So I started to lock my knee and I started  limping.

    The Aid Station was still a long way. In my mind was a mile but it seemed like two as I started limping. I saw friends who gave out words of encouragement along the way. Some people I knew, some I didn’t but they knew me and some were completely strangers. Everyone was driving carefully. I arrived at at Gap Creek at 3 pm exactly as KC told me. She was then took off.

    Gap Creek to Finish.  Cheryl waited for me at Gap Creek since noon.  I was two hours late and was very late. I felt really indebted to her. This time, I tried to leave the station as quickly as possible. I couldn’t find my drop bag, but anyway, there was nothing I needed from it other than put away things I didn’t need.

    Mike Ed said I carry half a kitchen sink on me. True. I had two shirts, a rain jacket, a full water bladder, my head lamp, trashes, a can of Red Bull and many stuff include the two hard boiled eggs that were dropped on the ground.  I carried everything to the finish.

    Happy to have a crew in this late stage. My mind was zombie by now. Cheryl put a gel in my hand and out I went.

    There was only 3.8 miles left. Likely the road was about 3 miles and there was a 0.8 of trail at Camp Caroline, our Finish. I moved even slower than before.

    I tried to get an app to tell me how was fast I was moving and how far I needed to go. But those apps required me to log in. I did not have internet. I gave up. I hoped I would be making 2.5 miles per hour needed for a finish. Nothing stressed out more of than not knowing my pace.

    Once I entered the campground of Caroline Furnace, I was pretty sure I would finish.  The time then was around 4:30 and I had half an hour left and there was not much more trail. Katie K (the former Bull Run Run 50 co-RD)  passed me, plus many others.  Caroline came out to meet me, and joked with her that I would have to crawl in and get it to a time of 35:58, the exact time when she finished her first MMT.

    She then tripped over at a bridge crossing. I hardened my heart and not stopped. Got to get to the finish. 

    I wouldn’t be running. But then I did, when Dan looked at me and said come on, Run it in, with his hand beckoning me. To hell with the knee, I gave one final push and I stepped across the finish and in my mind it was the fastest run I could manage.

    Everyone was there cheering. Many more runners also came in (10 after me, totally 119 finished that day). Melissa came just after me. Plus Ben and Donnelly.

    Donnelly was like a legend at the club, but I did not know her, but I think she had one of the most finishes (20 finishes, second to Keith). There were many club VIPs around. I don’t know the whos who. Wheeler was talking to Caroline the whole time and from time to time engaged me in their conversation. I didn’t know she was also a VIP! She broke the women’s age group record that day. She could run this race faster than I could dreamed. All these runners are giants to me.

      Cheryl had me sit down, got me food and said she would look for my drop bags. We stayed until 5 or 6-ish. I lost track of time. Once sat down, I could not get back up, until two last sweepers came in and they sat at my table or so one over and they offered me advils and also a hand to get me on my feet.

    They started closing down the place. Many people came by to congratulate me. There were a lot of laughters. I saw people in their various states — some and many had already taking off their shoes, but some like me preferred to keep them on because we knew it would be painful and ugly to fix. I turned and saw Katie K foot, omg, the blister.  Yes, it probably took me an hour to just taking my own shoes off. I was wishing that somone would dress my feet for me. Time slowed down. I tried to get to my car and tried to sleep before going home.  It was like doing everything all at once. I did sleep first.

    To me, this was just a training run but a very hard one. It did not hit me until much later, what it means after waking up that it was a very important race, probably the one most significant race this year.  I avoided a DNF.

    Taking a DNF (didn’t finish) is hard. Almost all runners have encountered a blockage or a DNF at some points. Some might never getting over a race and MMT is such a race that is an impossibility to overcome for some. I know people were proud of me when I crossed the finish line.

    Q said, I was someone who got a redemption. My redemption was last year. I don’t mind to relive it again. It is a special feeling. Many themselves had run this race. They knew how tough and some too had experienced disappointments like me. For me to cross it, they either experienced the joy when they ran it, or the joy of overcoming this trail with me even if they never ran it.  I felt blessed that I received a gift of a body of capable to do this hard 100 mile run. I did not know, I was so loved by many.

    It was a very good challenge while on the trail.  I really think the last 50k ish of the course was fun. Sunny asked me why I love this race and why I love trail running, the answer is complex, but ultimately, I found doing hard things like this fun.

    Unlike at the end of my last report, I wrote there were many serious races ahead, now after MMT, I am not sure if I had the ability to do the next one. There’s a possibility I need to deregister myself on some. My knee is certainly an issue with no solution I can think of. Yes, see a doc, but. Can I still run at my level and how soon? I know there are many unknowns.

    I wrote a lot already, the question of why I run comes up from time to time. There are several levels. I just attended a prep meeting for a later 100 mile I will be doing not long from now and people in it said, if you want to finish a 100 miler, you have to find your Why. A strong Why will keep you going. I did it because it was fun. I did it to see how far I can go. I did it for people, to fun with together on the course. Rarely have I done a 100 mile race where I didn’t know anyone. I think I run to build a little treasure of memories, to look back on in the future and to relive it.  Nothing like a 100 miler, you get the ups and the downs and everything.  My friend told me something about changing the world with my running, I think that is too deep for me. Whether my runs will have a lasting impression, likely not, and do I need to? It is something to explore in future runs.

  • [625] Roanoke Marathon

    I finished the Roanoke Blue Ridge Double Marathon. It was my third time at this event. It might seem so long ago when I did my first event there. Roanoke Marathon has it history and how it shapes me to be a runner indirectly at least. My friend was studying at Virginia Tech at the time and did it as her first marathon.  I wanted to run it too to test my own ability. Yet I was afraid of the course at the time and did not do it until 2019 after I was more confident as a runner.

    The year I did it, I found out there were people crazy enough to run it twice the same weekend. It was unbelievable who would do such a thing. I believe one of a few if not the only marathon in the whole nation that does that.  It started imformally and later became as a real event.  This year there were around 80-90 runners who attempted it.

    For those who know, I attempted it last year but did not finish (due to weather cancelation). This year, I got to have it done. 

    We had good weather. Optimal weather for running, 50-60F.  I could see my breath during the night but it was not cold. 

    I started on time this year (see last year, 2023 or 2019). I did not try to sleep beforehand, due to being afraid I might overslept like last year. I got to the course early around midnight, which was only 5 mins away from my hotel and elected to start at 1 am. We could choose to start either at 1 am or 2 am.  Last year I needed 6:20 to finish the first marathon.  1 am start would give me that 6 and half hour needed. Spoiler, I finished the first run in 5:30 hours, so I had about an hour rest before starting the second marathon.

    I ran into a friend, Chrissy, at the parking lot. She remembered me from the Lake Claytor event last year. We talked and got ready.  She said she would rather choose the 2 am start.  I said, she must be fast.  Indeed, she finished almost 45 minutes ahead of me.  My fastest time was in 2019, when I ran it in 4:45.  So to do it in that time is fast. Her second loop is almost as fast.

    As I remembered not many people picked the 2 am start. There were about 75 finishers.  I think might be 80-90 runners.  About 10 did not start, but they might have swapped to the 2 am. Chrissy could have done the 2 am and be fine.  She told me she actually preferred the 2 am start so that after she finishes she could start the second marathon immediately.

    As for me, I like a little buffer in between the two marathons instead of feeling under pressure to finish the first under a certain time (6:30 max). Note, if we could not get back to the start of the second marathon in time, we would be disqualified. It is not like a 52 mile run where you could take your time early and catch up later at the end.

    It was quite fun to see such a big group of runners who were just as crazy as I was as we ran on this middle in the night marathon to “preview” the course and then run it again in the morning with the general crowd. I missed all this last year. I felt it was very boisterous.

    This year, running with a bunch of people, I didn’t have the fear of getting lost going up to the Roanoke Mountain.  In fact, I felt like a pro.

    Later though, when the race was spreadout, I did rely on my turnsheet to get me through.  By mile 20 or so, the three guys I was running with took off ahead and I did not see them again (They finished like 20 mins ahead of me). Overall, there were a lot of people around me in the beginning. Finding the way around the course was not an issue. The course was well marked. Some navigation skills though also required. The course was not marked like an ultra with ribbons, so there is a chance of missing a turn. It was an urban adventure.

    Last year, because of my late start, I had to chase up to the last runner, which was hard and lonely time.

    This year, I started in the rear as the last guy to leave the start line.  “Cooper Emily” dropped her bib.  An older gentleman picked it up for her and chased her down.  I chased with him.  We caught up to Emily and handed her the bib.  By then she and I were the last two runners.  I told her there was no need to rush, we still had plenty of time. 

    She was getting out of breath.  In my mind, I know the pace needed to do a 6.5 hr marathon, you could do walk and run and make it to the finish.  After talking to her a bit, found out why she did not pin her bib on her shirt was because she did not have the safety pins.  I gave her two of mine.  Usually I only pin the top two corners of the bib and leave the bottom corners unpinned, so I had extra pins to spare.

    She also said due to her mom’s passing away in the winter, she has not trained since.  It seemed this was her first marathon. I had no clue why she wanted to run a double marathon.  She seemed to be not ready for this extremely hard marathon. I wished her the best because her pace was too slow for me.

    After that I ran my own race.  I was surprised I could catch up to many earlier (faster) runners once we reached the climbing section to the Roanoke Mountain. I was kind of in the mid pack.  There maybe 20 or so runners in front. Probably were more, but front runner pack were just too fast.

    People around me were pretty strong runners themselves.  We ran and hiked to the top. This year, I am more familar with the distance between various point on the course. I knew the top of the mountain was 7 miles. 

    Once we reached the top, we ran back down.  I love the downhill.  Many people were way stronger than me. Many passed me by on the downhill stretches.

    I mostly stayed with the three guys. I called them the three brothers. They seemed to be friends and they kept a steady pace. I usually don’t pass anyone unless they were super slow.

    We reached Mill Mountain.  It was still downhill. We had a good view of the city from here. This year the weather was good. we could see way into the distance. Supposing you could see Tinker Cliff, Dragon Tooth and Mc Afee Knob – the triple crown of the Appalachian Trail from here.

    We continued the descent and reached back to the city. By then there were directional signs and stickers on the road for us to follow. It is easier to navigate. We headed to Peak Mont. This is not as high as Roanoke mountain but by then mile 15-18, it was a hard climb.  The top was mile 18. To me the toughest climb of the night.

    This year, I reached it around 5 am.  I was hoping to get down before sunrise.  I headed back to the start. The three brothers already left me.  I was mostly by myself. I was hoping some of the faster runners would be out of breath soon and I could catch up.  There might be one or two runners I passed. There were more than a few that passed me. They were probably the 2 am starters.  I reached back at the hospital and I knew I had about 5 miles left.  It was still dark. It distinctively remembered running this section in  the morning light last year, so to be still dark made me feel quite good.

    I did not remember when the sun rose. Probably at my mile 24 at the last aid station. It felt good knowing this year I was ahead of my pace. Soon I reached the finish coming in under 5:30 (actual time of day was 6:30 am). I then had 1.0 hr before the next marathon start.

    I felt good. My legs were tired but they were not too tired.  I went to my car, had breakfast and tried to keep myself fresh. I stretched a bit. Others who finished aheaded of me were there too in the parking lot.  Supposedly, they had a conference room at the host hotel for us to rest while waiting for the second start. It felt better to just stay at our cars. I did not got to the host hotel.

    The second start was great. I met many people. Many were surprised that we already did a marathon during the night and ready for a second go.

    My goal on the second marathon was if I could keep the 6 hour pace. Initially, it was hard to run again.  I could not keep up with the pacer during the first mile. Gradually, my legs warmed up and the fatigue faded away.  I was able to move with my usual ultra pace around 12 min mile. I felt my legs were as strong as the first lap during the hard climb up to Roanoke Mountain.

    I knew I would not able to run nearly as fast as I did in my first marathon.  I tried. I passed the 6 hour pacer, then the 5:45, then 5:30.  I was joking with the guys who were doing the double marathon that we should aim for a negative split. I was hoping to catch the 5 hour pacer but they seem to be too fast.  Secretly, I hoped to stay in front of the 5:30 pacer. I knew deep down though eventually, they would catch up to me.

    The rest of the race was uneventful.  I saw a lot of same people on the out and back sections.  We cheered the double marathon runners. I almost recognized everyone. A lot of them were much slower on this second half. I felt so good to be ahead unlike in other ultras where I was normally in the sweep position. Some were in way back even behind the slowest marathon runners near the sweeper.  Our Sweeper was on a bike. I know as long as they keep moving the would finish. I gave them words of encouragement.

    I knew my pace was decaying as is normal. Even running down hills was hard for me. Harder still was going up. Peak Mount was even harder still. I was struggling with all the marathoners.  I encouraged them. This is where we face our wall I said.

    I pulled through setting up goal of a mile at a time.  Many marathoners were passing me at the last 5 miles.  I again was hoping there got to be some who went out too fast and would slow down so I could pass them. There were a few but not as many as those who passed me. I just had to struggle the last three miles. There was no way I would not finish.  I had about 1.5 hours to do 2 miles.  Having been on the course just 6-8 hours beforehand, I knew the turns and upcoming hills.

    At the final miles, those around me picked up their pace and so did I.  I was able to follow a lady who pulled me in to run fast. I finished the second marathon to my surprised in a time of 5:30. I was only a minute behind the 5:30 pacer. So my total combined time was just under 11:00.   I was pretty pleased.

    Afterward, I stayed and watched the finish until the last runner came in. End up, the last runner is my friend I met at Rock n the Knob in PA two years ago, Sean. We had a happy reunion.

    I had a good run.  It is a good preparation of some harder races I will be doing. I just enjoyed my day out there with some runners.  My soul had its fill. The race had it shenagans, like jello shots, “Moo-mosa”, and likes.  I took part in all those. That what makes running fun. 

    Runners arriving at Mill Mountain – the Star (our second big climb of the night). We stop here every time to take a picture
    Lining up for a second start – I lined up with the run/walk group, 6 hour target finishers. The last corral. Pacers are to my right (not shown). She was kind. We were just here lining up earlier at 1 am. It was supposed to start at 7:20, but was delayed (no reason given) until closer to 8 am. I did not mind.
    finishers
    Roanoke City view, day vs night. See various mountains in the distance
    The Star of Roanoke on Mill Mountain

    There was something I wanted to write but forgot what it is. I did a lot of marathons. They are usually the same. I went there, accepted the challenge, completed it. Sometimes I asked if there is any deeper meaning. Yes, there is.  For this marathon, I had to climb some mountains (on the Appalachian Trail — I did almost the triple crown, hiked over 16 miles) on the following day. I got my answer I was seeking. I did not come down from the mountain until after 10 pm, but that is a whole different trip and I don’t have time to tell. Mostly, it was being at peace with myself and nature. It was part of a bigger journey. For those who know, yes, I have many bigger races coming up, kind of a secret but not a secret. I hope to lead everyone through my experience. Roanoke Marathon is only the first.

  • [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.

  • [605] Redeye 50k

    Last year I had a faster finish (around 3:19 pm, and I mistakenly thought I finished at 4:45pm). I only remembered being chased by the sweeper. I did it in 7:19h, which at the time was disappointingly slow, but this year was an hour slower (8:17h). It was a fatass, meaning free race.

    Most fatasses in my mind are not real races and so usually I don’t run at my best. This year, I had both Boyers and Redeye 50k fatass with only two days apart, I did not even bother to run fast on either one.

    My goal was the same for Redeye as for Boyers, that is to maximize my time being on my feet as a training for Western States.

    I could have finish around 3 pm but I forgot how fast people normally run at Redeye. Most people managed to finish by 3 pm.

    And when I did not show up after 4 pm, the race director started to worry for me. I had assumed like last year to have until sunset (5 pm), and thus I did not push myself to go faster. Also I was with another person.

    I also missed the sweep because it was a loop course. When I finished the second loop, fhe sweeper already went out ahead of me.

    Trail ribbons were already pulled by third lap and generally, it was not an issue, but I was not completely attentive to the trail on my second loop, so I got lost on my third loop. In my mind, I thought I knew the way, but I in fact missed one of the turns at mile7. I would still have found my way even if I were completely lost, but I had to find the correct trail to be on the course and that probably costed 30 minutes or more. It was on me. However, now I am more familiar with the trails at that section.

    Last year the course was almost completely new to me. The way the race set up is we learn the course during the first two loops and on the final loop after the flagging were cleared, we would be on our own to find our way out, and many people don’t run the third loop. As an ultra runner, I took this as a welcome challenge. Welcome to the tough love of trail running for the uninitiated.

    The day was festive. Several runners who did Boyer’s 40 mile couple days before also came out for Redeye 50k. Boyers is a tougher course with 6500-7000 ft of elevation gain. Redeye only has 1000 ft per loop. So making it 3000 ft total. To us who has done Boyers, this run was super easy.

    Still we started with tired feet. I need the double day long run for my training. I had to go easy on the pace so as not to injure myself.

    Indeed, my legs were happier to tread on the hills of Redeye 50k than at Boyers. The technical section that previously caused me issues suddenly seem so much easier to handle.

    A lot of my running friends came out. I was almost the first to arrive. Tony T. was already there. Tony did Boyers too. Then there is Nick (I don’t know him but everyone seems to know the guy, and he joked of going by the name of Bartholomew). RD said he was definite that there was no such name on his list. It must have been an inside joke. The Bartholomew I heard of was Ash Bartholomew from Lucy’s Dad, YouTube video, of 2023 last runner of 2023 Western States. That story is my motivation to attempt Western States.

    Then there was Justin. He met me before, but I forgot his face. He brought his daughter out. It was a good chance for an reintroduction. They knew me from Massanutten. I was the guy who carried a bunch of hoggies (italian subway sanwiches) on my run and everyone still remembered me because of that.

    Wayne, my pacer from the devil dog, showed up not long after. Wayne also did the Boyers couple days ago. I model my training for Western States and or races after him.

    Along with him was a band of chinese runners. They were mostly from Maryland and I have seen them in the past, but usually in shorter races. We reintroduced each other again. Cheryl told me she met me at the Old Dominion while crewing for Wayne.

    Charlie, Wayne’s friend was there. We ran and trained together for the MMT (Massanutten 100) in 2023, a very hard race. Wayne and Charlie were discussing how to improve the core and bowel muscles so as not to get stomach issues during a run. They also talked about speed training. In fact, Wayne started his speed training since September. I noticed how much faster Wayne has gotten. He said, we got to mixup the training so that the body/training would not stagnate. He was talking about the mix of various things. He recommended me to do at least one session of hill training a week. Weight training as well and a speed work. He swore by MAF, something about keeping heart rate low during a run. However, but now he said that is improving too slowly, and we have to have some higher intensity on occassion. Speed work is new to me. As I said, I model my training after his because I have seen how he conquered some tough races I thought would be impossible to do.

    With all these tips, I felt my time at Redeye was well worth it. I need both knowledge and application. I got both that day.

    Loop one, I was mostly with Wayne and heard him talked on various things.

    Loop 2, Wayne took off ahead and we never caught up again. I was with his “pacer” Cheryl, at least that what most people on the course (I knew) called her or known her by during the MGM 50K, another recent race.

    Wayne had originally planned to stay with her, but even in loop 1, I realized Cheryl’s pace was too slow for Wayne but it was about right for me. So I stayed with her.

    Now Cheryl just got a brand new navigation watch but did not know how to use it. At the very first turn after leaving the aid station to start the second loop, she already made the “wrong” turn. It is a loop course so in reality it does not matter. However, I called out to her to let her know, we should be turning right instead of left. It should be a red flag that I should not stay with her.

    I knew my way around the park, especially after doing a 100 mile there twice. I was pretty sure which way was the correct way.

    Soon, there were some other runners caught up so as to confirm we were indeed going to the right way. I know some runners like Q, like to go in the reverse direction, which might have created some confussion. I think he did so to check on runners and also helped them with navigation.

    However, as long as one follows the course markings, it should be fine in going either direction except the final loop when the ribbons would be removed.

    We finished the second loop in two hours. Our first loop took us three hours (8:00-11:00). Our second loop, we were climbing up to the parking lot at 1:05. I was pretty sure, we (I) could do the next loop in 2.5 ish hours, so putting us at 3:30-4:00 pm finish.

    I got to the station, talked to people, since I was not pressed for time, there was no incentive for me to leave the station in a hurry. In hindsight, I should have left. Mike E was there. He told me the sweeper already had gone out to remove ribbons, but if we hurry, we could catch up. Cheryl said, she would not do the third loop without a guide. Since, I was generally with Cheryl on the second loop, I was willing to be a guide on the third. This was a bad idea, looking back.

    I felt we stayed at the aid station for a bit too long. Having done enough ultras, I had an internal clock to tell me when I should be leaving. Basically, if I were to stand around with nothing to do, then I have stayed too long.

    We checked the time on the way out, it was already 1:25 pm. On the third loop, My runner was much slower than earlier loop which was expected, since 22 miles ish, is the “wall” for many marathon runners. Cheryl is an excellent marathoner, but was not immuned to it. I was not hit with the same fatique because I was not going fast that day, also I have a higher tolerant for distances.

    I had expected my runner to be able to keep up with me. While I am a slow runner, my purpose that day was for my own training. By going slower than my normal pace, pretty much made my training less effective. Though, I was aiming for time on my feet.

    Her speed almost matched my walking pace. I did not mind, as long as she was still strong and moving. All the flaggings were indeed gone. There were like two to three runners behind us (They were Cheryl’s friends) but they were like 5 mins apart. In hindsight, I should have left her with them.

    By one hour mark, I checked on Cheryl, if she wanted to head back, we could still turn around before the halfway. At the time it seemed like a joke to turn around. We chose to keep going forward because distance wise is the same in either direction. Now looking back, turning around might have been a better choice because the directions to get back were still fresh but going forward we had more unknowns such as the chances of getting lost.

    Then, I met a fellow Devil Dog’s runner, Vladamir. We roomed together before the race at the Devil Dog. He was the second place finisher. I was glad he still remembered me. He was taking his family on a hike. I knew we were near the exit to Burma Road, maybe a mile or two and then we would be nearing the finish, because usually people with families would not be far from the trailhead.

    We took a left on the Burma Road and crossed a road to get to Taylor’s Farm Rd. From there, we should be within 3-4 miles to the finish.

    This section gets hilly. We continued on Taylor’s Farm passing Blacktop road (I don’t know the name at the time but I knew where it would lead). Note, we will meet it again later at Old Blacktop Rd.

    There was doubt whether we should be turning at the road. Cheryl doubted and stopped to check her navigational watch. I was pretty sure here we had to go straight, because making a right there would bring us to Camp Gunny on the Devil Dog course. I am 100% familar with the Devil Dog course and camp Gunny was not where we wanted to be headed toward.

    I was not following the gps course, but my memory from the previous loops. The course was marked a little differently this year at that section.

    I knew we would pass a foot bridge soon, which we did. We came to the foot bridge and made the climb uphill.

    My mistake was I forgot I needed to make a left turn after the bridge but continue onward for maybe a mile. Last year, I think we made the turn further down at the yellow blazed trail. There were two trails crossing our path we were on. At the time, my mind was drawing blank. When I passed the orange blazed trail I made a mental note, but I didn’t slow down to check the trail’s sign post there. In my mind, we still had further to go. As for how far, I did not remember and I was hoping to see something to jog my memory. I know in hindsight that was not the best thing to do. A better way is to check the map, which I did have with me.

    I believe, I might have gone about a mile. Cheryl caught up to me and said the trail was unfamilar to her. Actually, she had been complaining the whole Taylor’s Farm section, because her watch went off.

    She was absolutely right, my mind was still drawing blank of where we needed to turn. The trail did not seem to be the same. So I checked my phone. I did not download the gpx track before the start and my phone would not download it anyway because it always strips off the .gpx extension and my mapping program would not load the file without the extension.

    I had Google map in offline mode, which had saved me many times in other trail runs. From the Google map, I determined we were off course. Her watch showed as much, however, she did not know how to get us back on course. Cheryl insisted we to go back to the previous road crossing or use the google map directions, which as readers know do not work for trails.

    I presented her the options. I do vaguely knew where I was even though she doubted my directions. We had three choices at the time. One, to continue forward, I knew it would intersect a road where cars drive on. and we could either walk back to camp ot get picked up 2, to do Cheryl’s plan by going back to the previous gravel road, to make the turn she was insisting of turning, 3rd, was for me to find the correct trail of the course and finish the race

    Note, in either option 1 and 2nd option, I only would lead her to the road and she would be on her own. 1st option would be the safest and fastest for Cheryl. 2nd option I knew was a definitely the wrong way and we would only get deeper into the woods, but Cheryl did not believe me and she wanted me to go that way with her. I would not.

    For me, I could do either 1 or 3. I prefer 3 because I knew we were not that lost. 2 miles were easy for me to make up. We still had time since it was 3:30 pm then. I know, we supposed to be back by then, but things like this happened.

    I could get out quicker, but we could only moving as fast as she could manage.

    I was not too tired. I knew if I run it, I could be out in 30 mins to an hour by covering 2-4 miles distance. I could make it by 4 pm, but I was not so sure about Cheryl could keep up. At this time, she was not able to run but walk. It was 20-25 min pace. We had about 3 miles left.

    It was her first time being lost in the woods. She later described it as being “devastated.”

    I led her onto the Turkey Ridge Trail and she said, this looked like the trail at the beginning of the loop and was checking if that was the right way. She was trying to convince me to turn around again. However, I was sure where I was heading and stopped talking to her. She only expressed more doubts and confussion.

    I vaguely remembered being on blue, then orange and then yellow and white (blazes). Since missing the Turkey Ridge Trail earlier, I stopped at every sign post and read all their arrows and directions and distances. I was glad they gave ample information and I knew in general, I was back on course, though I had about 5-10% reservation. I mostly checking the post to know how many miles to the finish.

    Mike, a friend, who was volunteering that day, called me to check since it was already past 4 pm. Later, he told me that the runners who were behind us had came in and so he knew something had happened when we didn’t show up.

    I gave them my location saying we were on Turkey Ridge heading toward the campground.

    Once we reached the campground, I saw two parked forest ranger vehicles. I presented Cheryl another option, if she does not want to hike out, and believes we are still lost, she could ask one of the rangers for a ride back. Two miles probably would take only a few minutes in a car instead of having to run out.

    She said she recognized the place now.

    We got on the white blaze trail (I think was the South Valley trail). To me, this trail for sure would lead us to the finish. I still was being extra careful. Every turn, I would look and read all the signs. I made all the correct turns and got us back to the swinging bridge. I gave Mike another call saying we reached the Bridge (the Bridge was where we entered/exited the loop, a key location). Mike understood we were only half mile out and should arriving within 10 minutes. There was only one last hill to climb to the parking lot. I got us out.

    Lessons learned. I regretted taking a new person with me. I don’t mind being lost, because it was part of the training, but because I had to slow down my pace for another person, my training was not as productive.

    For Cheryl or anyone new to trail running, be always prepare when going into the woods, always carry enough water, food (calories), expect to be weak and tired and getting lost, expect being longer than planned, carry a map, dress warm, know the directions even when the course is marked, have a contingency plan, and carry a phone. Absolutely, be selfsufficient. I carried all those, but my runner did not, and it hampered our pace and could have ended much worse.

    We eventually got out of the woods. We have gone for 8+ hours (one hour longer than planned). We managed to finish before sundown. Cheryl’s friends were still there. Mike and Caroline joined in a brief celebration of a friend’s birthday. It all ended well. They did not have to send out rescuers for us.

    Epilogue: Cheryl though was shaken, but her spirit is not broken. She plans to do more trail running and has already signed up for the first MMT training (coming in a week), which takes some serious high level of ultra trail skills.

  • [604] Boyers Furnace Fatass 40

    They say it is better to finish than to start. I started the year with the Redeye Fatass 50 and finished the year with a fatass at Boyers Furnace (BFF), a 40 miler that loops around the Massanutten Mountain. It is part of the course of the Massanutten Mountain Trail 100 mile and Old Dominion 100.

    It is a wicked trail. Massanutten course has monster climbs and descents and Old Dominion course has roads full of rolling hills. Lucky we did this in the winter instead of summer.

    My goal was to have a good training run, basically to fill time. I need 13 hours on my feet. I like to run hard too, but today was not one of them. It was pretty obvious early on I could not mantain a high tempo run.

    We started a few minutes earlier than 7:30 after taking a group photo. The sun was coming up. We made the steep climb up to Kennedy Peak. I walked up and ended up walking most of the course.

    In the beginning, I was with Kevin J and he just finished Western States this year. I was able to bounced off some ideas from him. This year’s heat was not an issue. He loves the crossing at Rucky Chucky because the river was so clear and he could see the bottom.

    Charles S was with him and he talked a bit about Leadsville (because he did Leadville). He said if you are a Lifetime (some exclusive level, gold level or something) member you can get in without going through the lottery. It is a reason why 1000+ people enter but only 200-ish finished. Too many were overconfident of their ability.

    I was teasing him to sign up for Massanutten 100 and Old Dominion. I said when you get home, you have to sign up and I will sign up too. I checked when I got home (the next day) and indeed Charles signed up! Now I have to keep my promise too!

    Soon both Charles and Kevin ran far ahead and I was behind with the slower people. I was with Kyle, Tom, and Angie. I was told ahead before the run from my friend to keep pace with Angie. I met Angie last year at the Redeye. To me she was a slower runner and I had no plan to stay with her.

    My original goal was if I could stay with my Devil Dog’s (race) pacer, Wayne, however, Wayne was running too strong for me to keep up and very early on I knew keeping up with Wayne was out of reach. As being a more experience ultra runner, I learned to check my pride and run according to my ability. Today, my ability was at more a walking pace.

    Angie ended up being a resilient walker and set a strong pace for me. In fact, her walk pace required me to run to keep up. The initial 20 miles, I was leading in front, maybe about 20 yards or so, sometimes more and sometimes less, but she was always on me. Initially, Angie did not talk much after the brief first re-introduction. I told her where I met her before. She remembered me at the Chocolate Bunny run (a 50k night run around easter, part of MMT training). As she did not seem talkative, I did not bother her again, though knowing she was always behind me. Later, she explained she did not get enough sleep and was having a migrant. She later after feeling better was full of words and kept me company.

    Kyle too was around. We leapfrogged each other a lot early on. Kyle hasn’t done a 40 mile before other than in hiking. He hiked the whole Massanutten trail before for camping. So in theory, today run should be easier without the heavy 40 lb pack. However, he seemed to be much affected by a lot of uphills. I stopped to check on him a few times when he seemed to be out of breath after each climb, but each time he said he was okay.

    Tom, Charles and Kevin kept wandered off (to pee) and they kept ending up behind us from time to time. Even Charles, I think he got lost some point for staying on Orange at Veach, so we saw Charles over again.

    One constant was Angie. She was a powerful hiker. She was worried that she was in runners’ way but I told her, her pace was incredible. I believed she maintained a near 15 min pace. I told her with this pace she could finish a 100 miler. Indeed, this was the pace I set when I ran the Devil Dog 100 recently.

    After Woodstock aid station, Angie and a few others, Charles included, Melisa (birthday girl, she turned 40 and decided to do her first altra by running a 40 mile), took off and passed me. Note, Charles and Melissa and a few others passed us before but they got lost and made some bonus miles and so we met again at Woodstock. This time they passed us for good. I tried to catch up but could not until I got to Edinburg Gap before I saw them again. Sam another runner we met at Woodstock stayed with me.

    Woodstock was at a little after the halfway point. It was about 8 miles to Edinburg Gap. My aim was to get there before the cutoff. I wrongly believed it was at 5:00 pm, because I got my info from Angie, who said, we had to get to Veach by noon, Woodstock by 2 pm and Edinburg by 5 pm. I arrived by 4:57. It was my longest stretch. The downhill to Edinburg Gap was quite rocky. I thought I could have sped up, but I had to watch my footing the whole way.

    After Edinburg Gap, the course became easier. It was all on road. The climb was less steep. Then it was mostly downhill. I ran the whole way. It felt great to be able to finally run (stretching out my legs so to speak). I finished maybe around 7:30, 12 hours since I started (11:38:00 per time keeper(.

    We had a good after party. Many stayed or came out for it. We were teasing each other to come out again in two days for Redeye (on Jan 1) but many said no way. The sweeper Aaron (?) said this is the first time when he finished to see so many people still around. Usually there were only 2-3 left. This time, there were 10-20 plus people. Boyers is hard, but when treating it as a training run, it was not that bad.

    There were only three aid stations, Veach, Woodstock and Edinburg, but each was very good. I saw all my good friends. It was good seeing John and Charleen at Edinburg. I had a good time with all other runners.

    Sunrise after a mile up from Camp Roosevelt at an overlook on our way up to Kennedy Peak
    at Woodstock. I think I take this same picture every time I pass here because it is irresistable
    Boyer’s Ruins. I was glad to have Angie with me for most of the run, she shared with me all the waypoints that were coming up including here the Boyers Furnace
    We were running down on Moreland Gap Road (from Moreland Gap) and passed Caroline Furance. This is the start and end of the MMT 100 race. It brought back a lot of memories because that was my hardest race and I finished it. I ran this race twice and at the time running the final five miles were not fun. Today though, running 4-5 miles downhill gave a good feeling! I still had a mile to go to get to Camp Roosevelt, but when I passed Caroline Furnace, I knew the end was close.