In awe

Tag: races

  • [649] observation/race signups

    When I have too much time on my hands, I start to think of existential questions.  Why am I running? Maybe that stems from my recent question what (races) am I running?

    I like the why part.  I think of it a lot, like every year at about this time. Because I don’t feel like running. I lost my mojo. Signup season is upon us, and it especially hard to find why I choose one race over another or why I run again. 

    The thing is, if I don’t want to do it. Then don’t. Bit if I signed up, then I must put in the work to get to the end.  There’s no half measure.

    I seem to have a harder time in picking a race this year.  Generally I want to run all the races.  But time and money constraints do exist. Last year, I have 10 times the budget. I could go wild. Not this year. I am already 1.5k deep in the hole after a day of signing up (1st world problem). Then how do I choose to pick one race over another is an interesting question to me.

    The answer is I don’t know.  I go by ‘feel’.  I hate it because, sometimes I feel very strongly about doing a race but another time I feel strongly not doing a race.

    It might be some ethical issue.  Some say a race organization is ‘bad’ such as they brought out smaller local races.  They say the corporal world is here to take away the mom-and-pop ones (name unsaid, because I am running some big corps races).  You won’t get the same experiences, some say. Indeed.  But I still begrudgingly take part in the Big Corporation races next year. Its inevitable.

    This post is not about corporate races over smaller races.

    Going to go into note taking form. I write because I am trying to find solution to a problem. I seem to lost sight of the big picture of why I run each year and I need some. It happens every year during the “slow” season.

    My identity is tied to the things I do.  The things I do also bring a lot of satisfaction. This year has been very busy.  I tried to achieve something I thought was not possible. It  was a shooting the moon thing (Western States race and the whole grand slam thing, plus many races I did).  In the end I did reach my goal. All fine and happy.

    However, I can’t do that in every race or every season. There are things that only happen once. I can’t repeat the same next year.

    By definition, trying very best is the very best. It hard to believe I will even exceed the very best the following year. Well maybe.  We only dream we can reach an even greater height.

    Yesterday, I look at my race plan. It seems scattered all over the place.  What the story I am trying to accomplish? In a sense trying to “run every race, every where, whenever” no limit.  That has been my motto since I started running.  It has been my guiding light in how I signed up races.  I was over joy last few years, I made several friends who share the similar take, of taking running to the extreme. We eat, sleep, dream and walk with running. There is never an end. Even the day we die, we will die running is our hope. On a side note, My first

    This year, one of my running friends past away. Our running club wrote/posted a very nice article of his impact to those who ran with him!

    As I think of next year races, I want to reach something of value. We could run tons of race, but sometimes they ended up being hollow.  There should be a race I would want to remember. Occasionally, there are races that are like that, I do it and forget. But then there would be one race that change everything.  This year, Western States was like that for me, a race that set me on the path for a grand slam. One race that defines me and everything.

    I got a clearer sense now than a couple weeks ago.  At first I was trying to do another slam (the midwest slam. I think I can do it, because it should be easier than the slam I did this year.  So I was arranging my schedule to fit their races in. Then I asked myself do I really want to that those races all at once, in one go, just for a bragging right? Deep down is no. I don’t carw about the bragging right. I want something that is meaningful. Something that challenge me to the next level, but not something superficially hard for the hard sake.

    There is no desire for me to the slam, or even the every first race (The Mohican). I want a race that speaks to me (calling me to run it). I don’t sense it here for the midwest slam, maybe but two races. I would like to do the Burning River and the Indiana Trail 100. It is a weird way to sign up a race, but yes, that is my way. I need a deep down conviction to do it. Almost all races I do, kind of speak to me and they draw me to them. A weird way to make a decision.

    So, I was facing like 20+ races, and I could not hear their voices over one another and it was very chaotic.  Some races have a deadline pressure to sign up before they are filled (Eastern States almost is full, though only opened two weeks ago). Some have scheduling conflict. Some are too far away or too expensive to do.

    In the end, I asked myself, what do I really want. I wanted something simple and easy. I like doing marathons. So I should go back to my root of running marathons and running just for “fun”.

    I asked a friend if they have trouble deciding which races to run. They said no. They just do it, easy. There is no agonizing over months and weeks of should I do this over that.

    I think for me, since I reached kind of stage where I was in the spotlight of becoming a runner people admire. There is a certain expectation of the next level I have to reach, to keep up with my wow factor.  I think I was caught up to it just a bit when I ran Wasatch.  I glad I finished but it was not fun to be under the pressure for pressure sake. So when I do the slam for next year, there is no need to go through the insanity. Once was enough.

    I was thinking of trying couple harder races like the Bear or the Big Horn, or The Utimate Ultra Mountain Trail Run in Europe, everyone is taking about. It seems to be a natural progression pf doing harder and harder thing. Then I said, wait a minute. I don’t have to give into the pressure. I don’t have to be an over achiever! 

    One of the best moment I had was at the Burning River this year, when I ran with a 75 year old (Mr Randy). He teased me of being a show off of wearing the 100 mile shirt I got from the weekend before. We both finished the race together.  The achievement really belonged to the man who still is doing such a big run, and not me. I had a blast to have been able to finish with him and to share in his spotlight. I think a good race is like that, where my finishing time and ranking doesn’t matter, but that I made good friends along the way.

    I am still an overachiever, no doubt about that.  Recently, I tried very hard in finishing a race that ended up back fire. I was stressed about it and temper flew. Then I asked myself, did I really enjoy such behavior of flying off my handlebar. It was just a race. So what if I did not finish it. There’s always next year! Indeed, I am doing it again.

    A beautiful day on the trail

  • Day523 2022 race recap

    I wrote up a list of all my races this year after running Naked Nick 50K, though I felt that entry did not do the justice. Here goes a 2nd round.

    100 mile:

    Massanutten 100 – May 14. Reached mile 95 but couldn’t finish it, mainly due to time management issue in the mid/late stage for aid station stops. Also I pressed too hard between mile 50-60 and bonked the rest of the way.

    Devil Dog 100 – December 3-4. Redeemption arc. I finished it this time. It was a huge relief. A bunch of new friends I met this year came and supported me including Iris and David.

    50 mile:

    Iron Mountain 50 – Sep 3. DNF. finished over 12 hours. It was a goal race and it hurt when I did not reach my goal. My fitness level was not where I wanted. I glad I ran and finished it with a friend, Eileen, who was more fit than me (we both DNF’d together). Also, got to meet Caroline.

    Stone Mill 50 – Nov 12. Finished it under 12 hours. Ran with two good friends, David and Alex.

    JFK 50 – Nov 19. Also ran with two friends, (another) David and Robert. Improved my 50 mile time by running under 11 though that was not my goal. Truly believe it set me for Devil Dog.

    50K:

    Catoctin 50k – July 9. One of hardest 50K I did. Almost took me 9 hours.

    Naked Nick 50k. Dec 18. Ran with Coraline as a recovery run. It was one of most calm races I did.

    Other weird distances trail races:

    Pemberton 24. Ran a 5k every hour for 24 hours I did 20 5k’s. Was an odd race but it was kind of fun.

    Lake Ridge 12h. Sep 10-11. Run for 12 hours. 2pm to 2am. My second time doing it but was a relaxing weekend with a small group of runners.

    Adventure Trail – I ran 8 hours or something. Also fun to run through the night. Didn’t know I was pacing a top female runner (who were at the end of her 24 hour run).

    Rock -n- the Knob – Sep 17. Hardest trail marathon. Took me about 7 hours. This is one of my favorites.

    River Rock – trail festival in Richmond. Kind of relaxing. 13 mile. Fun. My third or 4th time there.

    Marathons:

    1. Newport News – first marathon of the year and finally was able to run this one
    2. Salisbury Marathon – Ran with David and his friends. The best was having brunch after
    3. Grandma’s Marathon – out of state. stressful experience in getting pre race stuff working out, but was a memorable race. Adventurous with only couple hours of sleep
    4. Probility Ann Arbor Marathon – a surprise (unplanned) marathon to see a friend and also cross off one of the states.
    5. Atlantic City Marathon – Unplanned, but got it done because I was itching for a run and got a discount. Met a new friend (Sanjay)
    6. NCR Marathon – also unplanned because I was itching for a run. Had a good time to rerun this
    7. Rock -n- Knob – technically a marathon, but it felt more like a 50k.
    8. Richmond Marathon. Virtually done. It stressed me out for the whole month of November of how to get it done, and I finally ran it during the JFK 50. Only listed it here for completeness.

    Half marathon distances or less

    Bishop Half – June 12. It is a race I ran it once before and I relived the experience of last time when I ran it with Brian and the other David

    Richmond’s Bust the Banks Half. May 21. Same race as the river rock. River Rock was the name for the whole weekend. Bust the Banks was the name for the half marathon. Of course, I was there for the whole festival.

    Army 10 – Oct 9. Redoing this race after 20 years passed. Interesting feeling now I am a runner to look back when I first did it as a nobody

    Bobcats Trail 11. Nov 5. A hard short race

    Got Your Back 5k – I did a 5K. Probably only 5k I ran this year

    I feel better now that this list is more organized. My main races were MMT, Iron Mountain, and the Devil Dog. I put considerable time training for them.

    Other races kind of appeared and I ran them. Some I got to run with friends, which was pretty cool. Some I did to remember what they were like when I did them years ago and that was interesting to relive the experiences. A few were out of states where I get to cross them off my to-do list. They were also interesting in that I got to travel and experience running in new places. This sums up my 2022.

    Conclusion, (2022 original plan) How do I feel? I am proud my races. Originally my scope was much smaller and mostly for first half of the year. After MMT in May, I tried to change it, yes redeem it or redo however you call it. My second half of 2022 blossomed and was many times more exciting than my first half, and of course all thank to being able to finishing the Devil Dog 100. Looking back, it seemed easy and was a sure thing, but at the time nothing was set in stone. It could have turned out ugly. I felt lucky.

    What does it mean for next year? I don’t know yet. I had some races planned. At this point I don’t feel I have any sharp focus of what I want 2023 to be. I wrote about this a couple posts back, I am still seeking how I want to define 2023 to be. I have plans but they are just not that exciting. They feel more like chores to be done. We’ll see.

  • Day521 I’m ok / 2022 race recap

    I have been recovering well the last two weeks. I just have nothing to blog about. I was thinking of doing some kind of highlight reel of my 2022, so here it is.

    It is also a time to pause, meaning what am I doing next. I know I have a bunch of races for next year. Nothing truly is challenging me except for the MMT 100 and possibly Teach’s Revenge 100 (OBX), though what I am excited about is the Toronto Marathon! Yes, I am thinking about racing all the time. I guess more to be revealed in future posts. Plus, I have a few vanity races such as Lake Tahoe, and maybe will do the CIM (California International Marathon).

    So much have happened in 2022. I had a great fall season! Nothing new here for those who kept up on my blog.

    I started up the year slowly, with a bunch of baggages. I was injured after last year Devil Dog, and I believe it sidelined me for at least 8 weeks. My mom was sick during November-December time frame that created ton of pressure in my family, resulted in a big dispute between me and my sister. I had hard time focusing as much as I tried to ignore the distractions. I tried to focus on the issue and not so much the emotional turmoils. Less talk/cry more work should be my motto. All in all, my spring training was delayed.

    Then I did manage a couple marathons in the spring, Newport News and Salibury. I was happy with my results though they were not my best time. I love those two races and they were on my list for a long time and finally was able to run them. I linked to their reports. Then I ran the Massanutten 100 (MMT) as I was returning to a good running shape. Though I did not finish the race, but it was the high point because it was a hard race and I gave it my best shot. It helped later in the year. MMT was supposed my A+ race.

    After MMT, I tried to reset quickly. During the summer, I trained and ran the Iron Mountain 50 (IMTR). It was also another high point to see if I could beat the course 12 hour time limit. I did not succeed but it was also a valuable lesson that I need to be better. And it propeled me into a strong fall season. I also ran Grandmas in Minnesota for fun. I had fun.

    There was no time to be upset about Iron Mountain. I was not much upset by it. A failed attempt is a failed attempt. Do better next time. Yes, I waited four years to run it, but there is always a next year. Iron Mountain was not an A race, but it was very close there, like a consolation prize. (I don’t really plan for B races).

    Things picked up fast in the fall. It was like I got an extra boost. I did a race almost every weekend. They were not hard per se but many were adventurous. I traveled to places like Ann Arbor and Atlantic City. They were places I have never been to. It is one of the reasons I like doing the 50 states marathons, to visit different places. There were many other races I did and they were all great, but they are just too many for me to remember and name them here. (I will try to find links to my spring plan, summer plan, and fall review and plan, where I mentioned some of them).

    A few of the races that stood out were the Stone Mill 50 and then JFK 50 and of course the Devil Dog 100. They were my biggest races. I could not imagine of even doing one, even last year much less all three together. I trained a whole season just for one event in the past.

    Devil Dog was the best because it was last and is in a league of its own. I can’t say enough. It was the most intense and most gratifying. My mind is blown away by it. I did finish and that probably made it a great year. It was as if I came back with vengence to redeem my last year failed attempt and the two earlier races of this year. I want to prove I can do it. It was a risky plan because the implication if I have failed again is huge and that was a reason I did not say anything about either the JFK or the Devil Dog, but I made a lot of noise about Stone Mill as a diversion.

    I still wish though to give a list of marathons I ran this year. Originally, this post was going to do it, but I got bored when I was about to get started. Maybe will leave this for another time. I ran maybe 5 or 6 of them. The list of all my races is somewhere on here or the internet, but I like to make some comments and reflection on them.

    Marathons do get easier now (this year). I did feel nervous when I ran Newport News, and other marathons but by the time I did the NCR (last one of this year), I was completely confident that I could finish. Even running a 50 mile is easier for me now at the end of the year than at the beginning of the year. My perspective shifted after completing the Devil Dog. I guess with trainings, the body can be conditioned to make the run seems easy.

    I still remember not long ago, I was thinking how could people run a two marathon distance in one day and I was amazed by that at the Roanoke Marathon where some runners signed up to do just that. I get exhausted just doing one. I know it is all about pacing, but still to my early days, it was impossible. I want to say 100 miles too is the same but I think, a 100 mile is a different beast. Spoiler: I will finally attempt doing a double marathon in Roanoke next Spring (already registered).

    Anyway, this weekend, if weather holds up, I will be doing a 50k “recovery” run (Naked Nick) in Pennsylvania. Should be an easy run. A race report will be available later. Question is can I do it? I don’t know. I only had two “runs” since my 100 mile race. When I said runs, they were more like a walk. OK we’ll see. Don’t ask why I signed up a race so close following my one hundred. I agree I am out of my mind sometimes.

    ps. or fyi. Seneca Greenway 50K registration opened two days ago. This is my favorite. Also I am thinking of fitting Shamrock Yuengling Marathon in my schedule. Yes, time for signing up more races when I have nothing to do.

  • Day496 Schedule

    It’s that time again, to pick what races will I be doing for next year. Scheduling is so hard. Since when I started running, I always wish I have an event coordinator because I hate making plans. I like planning (or having one), I just don’t like choices I need to make. I usually end up doing all! Have the cake and eat it too they say! I wish someone just give me a list of places of where to go next. Then I just wake up and go run.

    It is not because there are no races to run, but I want to run races that fit my goal and mean something to me (yes, kind of hard to define). Last few years, my goal was to “step it up” to the next level of running. Each year has been “better” in some way. Going into trail running was definitely satisfying.

    I am still searching for my goal for next year. A defining moment to make 2023 special, like MMT is for 2022.

    I am sure I will still run plenty of trails next year. There are certainly many interesting (and hard) races to do. I am seeking something different.

    I did Laurel Highland, Grayson Highland, MMT, Iron Mountain, Catoctin. Those were all my dream races. They are done and completed.

    I am still progressing my 50 states plan/goal. My usual approach is pick couple states I haven’t done and plan around those. Yesterday, I looked at the airfare. By golly, a couple races I want to go, the price has doubled or nearly so. No way am I paying $700 when in the past I could fly across the country for much cheaper. What is wrong with the inflation! 9 and 10% every month!? Or is this an annual rate? I don’t know econ but it is hurting my pocket. Anyway, traveling to races has become too costly.

    Air travel has gone up a lot. Maybe it is to a certain city at a certain time on a certain date.

    I am scraping my trip to Tulsa this fall and likely for next year as well. I will wait till things get cheaper again. Oklahoma City near there is a bit cheaper. Maybe that is the direction to go. I don’t like having to transfer, but I think I might have to suck it up. Not many people want to go to Tulsa.

    I am thinking not to run anywhere too far next year. There are plenty of local races or races I can drive myself to.

    Over the weekend, someone asked if I ran the Tunnel Hill before. Hmm, that’s an idea I need to look into.

    I have been thinking, instead of me picking races, I think they pick me. There are certain races, I just cannot get into, maybe it is my bad luck or something. And there were races that were not on my radar and then they popped in.

    Tulsa has been one of my early targets maybe even back in 2017, but somehow I am unable to get there to do it for one reason or another. The invisible hand seems to steer me toward OKC or some other place.

    Earlier in the year (summer) I tried to get into the race The Wild Oak Trail. I did not get accepted. I ran there on my own before, so no biggie that I did not get in. It is a race by invitation only. I could and might plan to do it on my own time.

    Similarly, I couldn’t get time off for the midstate trail (PA) 100k fatass this summer, so that is something I really want to do next summer.

    More bad lucks, Today, I received an email from a race I signed up just couple days ago. The race is canceled due to low demand. There were only 80 people signed up when they expected more than 400. It was also a race I have been wanting to do since the pandemic. It is rare to have a race canceled on me and it was not covid related. I am sad. I was so excited originally because it was going to fall on my blog anniversary weekend.

    Unfortunately, it is just not meant to be. I was so close to going there last year too, I remembered I sat in my car that evening (maybe just couple weeks after my mom had her stroke, read my last Halloween), at the last minute, I canceled it, but I was really worn and burnt out. Just not meant to be.

    Last night while at a bar after a happy hour run with my group, my friend David was telling me how he wanted to run the Las Vagas’ Rock n Roll. Me too! Please do it. Unfortunately, I can’t join him because I will have a race that weekend (Feb 25-26).

    He was deciding between it and Austin. I told him, I looked into Austin and wanted to run a marathon there. If he is going to go to Austin, let me know, I will sign up and join him. I have Cowtown at Dallas-Fortworth the following weekend but that is fine too, I can do both races and go to Texas twice. I want to do a race with someone!

    Another person, a work associate wrote me in reply to a work email, and in the signature block, the person snucked in a line about about the Army Ten Miler. Almost like psst, Army 10-Miler is coming up! He knows I run. I asked is he trying to get me to sign up! He said no, but he will be running it! I ran this when I was 18, eons ago. I want to go there to relive it now maybe 18 years later. Registration is still open! I really want to do it again. Psst, I signed up.

    So where will I go next year? I have some ideas. For now I just sit tight. I will let the next few months to shake my schedule around, and hopefully, by or near the start of 2023, I will officially reveal my schedule.

    My live schedule is always available in one of the pages here. For those who can’t wait, they can always visit the page. I think the page is race-schedule, but I am too lazy to look up the link.

  • Day442 races to come

    I can’t wait till the weekend to share! I just signed up for my races for next year and they are…

    1. One City Marathon (VA)

    2. Grandma’s Marathon, (MN)

    3. lastly as of now, Salisbury Marathon (MD)

    I am most hyped about the One City Marathon because I think I have been waiting for 4-5 years to do this one. Yes forever…

    The other ones are too. I just came back from a race in Minnesota so they recommended Grandma’s as a race to do…, so my hope is up.

    Salisbury, probably not as widely known as the first two, but local racers, at least a blogger I followed recommended it, and so I am doing it. Also, I have been to Salisbury a few times, so, kind of like the place. I ran there once for a half marathon long time ago, so feeling a bit of a nostalgia.

    Yup, I am poor now for the next few weeks

  • Day439 Interlude

    My head is swimming with races. I hope I have not bored my readers with so many race reports. Yes, this is not normal, but racing is back in full swing.

    Many of the races that were planned for 2020 finally are taking shape this year or I already did them. As I mentioned a lot already – I ran the Laurel Highlands Ultra. It was a race I was afraid of initially because it was so long. Ya, but I ran also a 100 miler in February that was even longer than that and that seemed like years ago already. Finally, there was the Grayson Highlands Race, a 50 miler that I felt I was not ready for, but finished it.

    Somehow I squeezed in so many other races too, the Catoctin Half 50K and the Iron Mountain 40 mile – it was only 40 miles and I felt it was not worthy to be mentioned here. I missed out Camp Anderson this year. Finally I ran the Rock N the Knob last weekend (a race report to follow soon; written but not yet published), and surely it ain’t Camp Anderson. Oh same for the Senecca Race – it seemed so long ago. I did it. I couldn’t even recall all the races I did – like the Moon on the Falls or Lake Ridge two weekends ago.

    Up ahead I have Eu Claire Marathon in Wiscousin followed by a 50K and will close the year with a 100 miler at the New River Gorge. There is also the Devil Dog 100k to really cap it off, but we will talk about it once that gets closer.

    My friend has been talking about it – whether he will be there at the New River Rim Ultra. He was originally going to pace his friend but his friend is injured and likely would not able to run it. My friend is too fast to for me – and so I am reluctant to ask him to pace me instead of pacing hsi other friend. As pacer you need to find the right temperance and pace – I fear I might be thrown off pace by this friend. Also I have been to the course, it was not technical enough to require pacing.

    Breath. I have been thinking what is next for next year, and that my friends, I will reveal them next month as it has been a tradition of mine.

    Conclusion – it has been an unbelievable year. I got in my goal races and there are just a couple more and we will be done for the year! I am healthy so far. Pray I will be that way till the very end.

  • Day397 Top 10

    I am a bit vain this year to do a top 10 of 2020 of my runs.

    2020 compares to 2019, let’s see. 2019 had tons of going on. I ran my first 50 miler plus going to Chile afterward for Patagonia and did many other stuffs. Thought can’t top that, can I?

    But 2020 was not a dud. Still I am kind of scratching my head trying to think of what did I do in 2020. What happened there. So here go boys and girls, the top 10 of 2020 Antin’s running report.

    10. I had Carlsbad Marathon (plus attending a wedding). Yes what was I thinking? It was a 007 operation

    9. Seneca Greenway 50K. This was pretty dope. We were on the edge of having that canceled due to Corona. We got through by the skin of our teeth. We ran it before masking was required. Yike!

    8. GVRAT. The rat race. Awesome in its own way. I ran 1000 miles. Never done anything like this. I ran across Tennessee virtually.

    7. GSER. I went to Atlanta-Georgia twice during the peak of the second wave of the pandemic to do this virtual run and both times DNF-ed (failed to finish). We could label it as GSER1 and GSER2. Unbelieverably hard and risky. There were BLM protests and all (I saw more police than protesters though). It was one of the epicenters of what 2020 is about (as you know still ongoing with the elections). I had the boots on the ground! I can say I was part of history. Hey, we take that — both the good and the bad.

    6. CRAW. A virtual race across the world and is still ongoing. We ran over 5,000 miles. The fun never stops. 31,000 miles is the end, so 26,000 miles to go. We will definitely be crawling. Are we an airplane though?

    5. Camp Anderson. Another virtual event but WTF, everyone showed up in-person and we cumbaya at the camp… true, glad it was just 10-15 of us and not 150-200. It was still a WTH moment. I had a good 6-hr endurance run. Never was a run so hard. Great people though

    4. Gettysburg Marathon. Thought all in-person races were canceled? I was able to “sneak” across the state line to do this one early morning (I didn’t tell my family). At the time they were not strict about needing a rapid corona test. Love this race though

    3. Rock N the Knob. RTK. half marathon. Awesome trail race. Nuff said. Hardest of hard freaking race…”I need a sherpa”…who came up with a trail and a trail name like this? I will go back for a second. Yup, already registered it for 2021

    2. Stone Mill 50. SM50 stressed me out like no other race. We started in the dark and finished in the dark. Way finding wasn’t hard, but I was worried the whole time of getting lost since “those” trails were not on any maps and the RD kind of handwaved that they were there. We did it that I got to say

    1. Devil Dog the Lite version. 50K. Hmm. It was the last race I did. In December. Pog! Just a 50k but it has a “heritage” and I felt like I ran the 100. This means I need to do the real 100 miler version some day to earn it – a true devil dog

    (Meta: I’m too lazy to post the links to the journal post of the runs I did …maybe some day I will go back to add them. By the way, just go to my run history page, it has the same thing)

  • Day327 MCM canceled

    It is official. There won’t be a Marine Corps Marathon this year.

    Not disappointed at all since this has been the pattern of last four months. Kind of expecting it because MCM is a big event and there is no way to host any race over 500 people people in this period much less the MCM usually draws over 30,000 just runners alone, not counting volunteers, law enforcement officers, street performers, vendors, and spectators. You are probably looking at a crowd twice to three times that size.

    I still have couple more fixed (known) races, like the Richmond Marathon, Grayson highlands, Laurel Ultra, Highbridge Ultra. All those are really iffy now whether they will be held. All these have smaller crowd maybe 100-150 people except for the Richmond Marathon. Highbridge probably has even less (50 runners?) but Richmond likely is going be canceled (It has several thousand people).

    Other than this I was kind of optimistic on Old Glory (November) and another ultra – something Lake. I have not signed up but waiting till the last possible minute so as not to be disappointed.

    Just the other night, I was debating whether to run the JFK again, they accept 1200 runners! It is a big race, and I decided to sit it out this year. JFK is also very expensive ($300) and I didn’t want to sign up and get the email later saying it will not be taking place.

    I have high hope for a Fat Ass run (Philadelphia). I didn’t get to do it last year due to my trip to Chile, so I will try not to miss it this year.

  • Day319 Back to normal

    Things are back to normal for me. I am scratching my head what to write.

    I have not started back on my regular run. I should be able to run. I feel healthy. 100M /100K, did not sap me of my strength. At least, I don’t think it was that damaging to my body. I am much relieved.

    The reason I have not been outside is just out of concern of my fellow neighbors. Virginia as I know, unlike New York, does not have mandatory travel quarantine. But out of abundant caution, I am stayimg indoor and away of other people for at least two weeks since I came from a state that was considered one of restricted states (by New York). Don’t be selfish.

    I had a race this coming weekend. Cat50K. However, I already wrote to the RD saying I won’t able to make it, doing a self quarantine. It would have been the first race since the this Covid19. I will miss it a lot.

    We don’t have many races to the end of the year. Many races will continue to be canceled.

    I am thinking of signing up a virtual race in July once my quarentine period is over. It will be in Pennsylvania. Mountain running.

    In the Fall, I signed up the Marine Corps Marathon but it is very iffy if that it will take place.

    I am looking at JFK 50. I have not signed up.

    There is also the OGU, and Farmville 50K.

    As for normal marathon, I am thinking either Gettysburg, and Portland, ME Marathon.

    I have Richmond Marathon. But any big marathon is iffy.