Looking back at my last pause, [Day600], about six months ago, I don’t have much to say today. This one won’t do justice compares to the previous one. Maybe because there is not much time separation. I know I had a great six months, but it is too much to dive in. The next six months will be even more critical how my plan will turn out. So, I don’t want to brag too much of the first half of the year, fearing the second half I won’t able to reach as high as I did already.
The year, or my training to be exact, started off slowly. The main goal was to train for the Western States 100. This race is in two weeks, depending when this post will be published. The end is in sight. I have no idea how it will turn out but I was not as nervous as 6 months ago. At least I am confident I have a good chance of finishing it. (Race report will be posted soon)
As for my other goals (races), I had done well. I ran many races. Almost in my opinion, since I haven’t counted up, I ran as many races as my entire 2023 in the first half of 2024. I am happy and as well as tired. More excited overall. I was not going to go for the grand slam six months ago but as things played out, I am going for it now. First of the four grand slam races is done. So, I am going for it. 3 more will take place over the summer.
My hardest race so far was the Massanutten 100 (MMT), not part of the slam. Well it was my personal slam (or triple crown, C&O, MMT, and OD). I trained for MMT last year and I did the same this year. The result was not as good as last year. It was unexpected. I had the race locked in to finish with a good time but it slipped out of me at the final moment. I still finished but it was tough physically. It took every ounce of me to reach the end. The race just wore me out. We could blame the wet weather but to me I don’t think that affected me much during the race. My feet were fine. I did not have blisters or anything, I was just out of energy. I even had a good crew helping me this year too. Anyway, I will leave the monday quarterbacking for another time. The full report of it already was written. I was grateful, I got it done and had a memorable time. And I was in good health.
Other major races were, OD100, C&O100, and the Taiwan WJS Marathon. I did very well in all of them. I ran a bunch of smaller races and training runs too. Unfortunately, many were forgotten at this point. They are written down somewhere, so I can always go back to read them, like Seneca, Bull Run Run, Naked Bavarian, and Mid-Maryland.
My trip to Taiwan was memorable. It was my second international marathon. I was pleased how it turned out compares to my first international marathon. I did not have a concrete plan six months ago (well I signed up the race in October), but glad everything fell into place.
Running has kept me busy through the spring. I have not had any time to pause for planning, like what I will be doing next year or even for the fall. As readers know, I paused my regular marathon race schedule, to make this year focusing on running 100 milers. So, I need to see how to line up my marathon races once again. It feels like a big task.
It is easy to pencil in races. But my way of making decisions is I only run a race if I really have a strong emotional tie to it. I need a strong draw from the race in order to sign up. Getting this strong feeling is harder when I am distracted with many other races. Yes, it is a weird way of making decisions. The past six months, I had nothing but constant motion. And it is so little time left for soul searching decision, jk. Yes, making the decision of which races to run is a serious business for me each summer.
Anyway, I have no further things to say. I hope to build up my savings again for future trips. I made a big travel over the spring to Taiwan (and Sydney). It is easy to spend money but took me a long time to save up. I still want to travel more, such as to do the trek in Napal when I am still physically fit. Grand Canyon, while I have been there couple times, I will want to go back there again, at least, to attempt the Rim to Rim (to Rim) hike/run in one day. Not sure if this is a near term of a long term plan. At first, I did not have anyone to do this with, but now, likely things are falling in place. Yes, I need to get my finance and time available to do this. The globe trekkers buddies were itching for a trip too. I went with them to most of my international trips. Not sure if I will join them, though likely not. I am nowaday prefer solo traveling.
Those are some longer terms challenges. My short term challenges are still the same: train and finish up the year races. It is like an iceberg. I did 3 big 100s but there were like 7 more. I lost count. My pacer at OD100, tried to help me count them, and came to about 7 races are left.
Heart. Passion. Motivation. I struggle with this in the past. When I am doing too much, I lost sight of the vision why I am doing them. Along with, I am losing the passion of doing things. I only do things because I like doing them. And if the passion is not there, I don’t want to do it. I think that is the biggest issue for the next six months and the next year is to keep my passion up.
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.
Wow these were news that hit home on the day I got back from Sydney. The Baltimore bridge is no longer there. I am not sentimentally attached to it, being on it maybe once or twice in my life but seeing it on the news the next day, was a OMG, what just happened. Those who watched the news knew all about it already. I won’t add more here.
A much bigger and personal news was my beloved mountain MMT is on fire. Not sure if it was accidental or part of a controled burn, but MMT (Massanuttan Mountain) has several wild fires raging from north to south. Before I went on my trip, I heard the forest service was trying to do a controlled burn on one of the peaks, maybe it went out of control. MMT training run No. 3 was rerouted due to it. Basically, we have to stay away the whole area for now. Meaning, the Chocolate Bunny run (Easter midnight/sunrise celebration, MMT training run) was canceled.
There is a possibility the MMT race itself too might get canceled. We are standing by, once the fire is put out, and a call for trail maintenance put forth, we would fix up the trail for the race. It might be a tall task. OD100 sent out their assessment that their race will still be held since the burn area doesn’t affect their course. OD100 and MMT100 do share a similar course. MMT100 though mostly is on the MMT trail and does go through the fire area. I will be running in both events.
Instead of the Chocolate Bunny Run, I was invited to join the CAT runners (Charlottesville Area Trail) for their weekend run. I always want to run on the Priest and Three Ridges, having hiked and backpacked there many years ago (when I was 18) long before I was into trail running. It was be good to go back and see how things have changed.
Initially, I wanted to write about it, but there was very little to share. My heart about the run was not in it. I got off work, packed, then went to the trailhead. It was a three hour drive. I got there around 2:30 am, which was perfect for me since I was still suffering insomnia from jetlag. Morning was night and night was morning to my body.
I was not sure where to park my car. The lot seemed small and full. I pulled into a space I found. Everything was quiet. I walked and hiked up a bit on the trail and then found a place to pee. I decided not to wander too far in case I might get lost, so I headed back to the car. I set alarm to wake me up later. About 5:30 other people arrived. Somehow everyone managed to fit their cars into the small lot. We ran. We finished pretty early. It was only 20-ish miles. I wanted a 30 mile day but I needed to use the restroom again, so I did not continue for climbing the Priest a second time as some of them did (it was a hill repeat day, 7000 ft) but went into town for food and to rest.
Afterward, I felt the Wild Oak Course would be a good follow up to the Priest since I didn’t want to do another loop at the Priest. The Wild Oak Trail was only an hour away and my favorite place to be. I celebrated Easter there (by tuning in to a church in Sydney). The night passed quietly, with a storm came at midnight but I slept through it. The morning came. I wanted to start early so I could finish the run early, however, my legs were more tired than I anticipated.
After hiking up for a mile, I decided to trust my instinct to go back to my car. Wild Oak course would be a 20-mile loop (I was thinking of skipping Big Bald, and using the road to Camp Todd; this was Grindstone 100 training loop). I had a nagging feeling that it might not be a good idea to hike Wild Oak at this time. The good feeling was not there. Usually my gut feeling is right, and I told myself to trust it. Nothing bad happened to me but I met a fisherman who said a tree has fallen over the main road and blocking access into deeper in the park. I felt better when I decided turn back. I was able to leave since I parked outside of it.
I am writing this because, normally, I like doing a big run. The day before, while the run was hard, I felt it was not enough. The next day, the run on Grindstone was supposed to be hard, but I did not have the mental prepareness to handle it. So, I canceled it. So I felt the trip was unfulfilling as I was leaving.
While driving back home, I stopped at Ashby Gap near Sky Meadow State Park, which was much closer to home and finished my 10 mile hike/run on the AT, by visited the Wiskey Hollow shelter. Someone wrote in the Logbook there “Happy Easter.” I doubted they stayed there for the night. The hike on the AT felt very good. I guess I wanted to see people on the trail and Sky Meadow area was a better choice compares to the Wild Oak Trail. I still got a significant hill workout. The AT is never easy.
I have been trying to get back into my normal routine now I am back home. The marathon I did in Taiwan was such a high point, now everything else seems so normal. I have been asking myself what to do next. I do know what I wanted to do. I have a huge to-do bucket list, but none of the items seems inspiring at the moment. They were when I made them.
I want to feel goals with urgency. I want to do everything. Feed the fire.
Seven years ago, running in all 50 states seemed like a good goal, maybe because it was eternal or impossible to me at the time. Now, it is just tedious. Should I continue? I concluded, yes, as long as I still enjoy running marathons. And I do enjoy.
I am reading Into the Wild, and that kind of life excites me, it was a short one, but it fully embraced the ethos of pursuing ones ideal, and not many people live like that — walking the walk to the point of foolhardy — he chose to go to Alaska during a winter with insufficient provisions and so ended being trapped and dying there, which might be too simplistic an explanation; surely he must have known the consequences and I am sure he did not want to die. My running is like that. I want something that I feel worth living for and worth the pursuit.
I need to do some soulsearching to find out what I really want. (Hint, a podcast I am listening, said try to ask yourself the 5 Why deep question, like why do I like running?, If my response is I feel good while doing it, then the next level, why does it makes it feel good. So usually by 5th level, you get to the motivation)
Blackbeard’s Revenge already seemed so far away. Tonight RD had a virtual meeting with a few of us who were willing to give feedbacks.
RD was surprised by the amount of negative feedbacks he was getting from some comments runners were leaving on the interweb (though not by us). For a few of us, we could run this race uncrewed and with minimal supports from the aid stations, no improvement is needed. We think everything was perfect.
However, I think a lot of people dropped from the race due to lack of nutrition (food) being received or lack of drop bags locations. And that left a lot frustrated runners.
I think they went out too fast too soon. I walked with many between mile 30 to 40 where many were about to tab out.
A lot of the changes next year would be toward the aid stations, consolidating them and making them bigger with more food and more volunteers. Currently there were 17 aid stations and 4 drop bag locations. Some had only one volunteer. Funny, RD was saying a lot decided to sign up to volunteer for the graveyard shifts and they lack volunteers during the day time. RD was thinking of reducing to 10-12 manned stations and adding one more on course dropbag (making 5). Made some of them water only.
A good point brought up, and I resonate with this. Most of the food was “hidden” away due to sand and wind. I am a visual person. When I didn’t see stuff on the table, I thought the station had no more food left. I thought the 100k’ers came by and cleared everything. .
For next year, RD said they will provide poster/pictures/labels on the tables even thought food is packed away, so runners would know what is available at the particular station. Some said their sandwiches had sand in them 😄
Also the shuttling after the race was not ideal. I signed up but didn’t use it because my mom picked me up at the finish. They were thinking of shuttling runners to the start from the finish before the race, so they don’t have to run the shuttling every 4 hours during the race. Shuttling took volunteers away from the aid stations. RD said we signed up for a point-to-point course, so it was one of the challenges we should expect and overcome, true. I went into the race, the hardeat part was deciding where to stay so as to make going to from hotel to race and back to hotel easy. In the end I picked to stay closer to the start. I would do the same if I rerun this. I prefer to be closer to civilization 👍
Start time. They might tweak the start times. I like the 5 am start, though shifting it two hours later probably would not make much a difference for me.
It was a great race. I have no plan to run it again. I think it was an easy race and did not present me any new challenges. If I live nearby, I would not mind running it annually. But I feel there are too much hand-holding in this race, and I would be annoyed by it if I face the same again. However, I would be open to going back to volunteer.
Other comments were on the point too. Hot food being cold (it didn’t bother me), but true, I had expected hot meals coming into a station but instead got cold food. The volunteer said she would hit up the cup of noodle for me, I declined. I was ok with cold food. Time was at the essense.
Highbeam. Cars driving toward us in highbeam on was bothersome.
Also I felt course marshalls checking on us in middle of the night too was disruptive, but I appreciated the thoughts for our safety. I felt there were too much handholding from the RD for this 100 mile race. RD checking on us from time to time did bring me out of my running flow.
Food I really like, I think having the slice of American cheese at an aid station maybe at mile 40 really saved me. They asked if I wanted grilled cheese, but at the time my stomach was turning, so I think I only grabbed the cheese only to go. Later, when I could eat, I swallowed the whole cheese in one go. It is good to note toward my next hundred mile race to carry some cheese.
I think what saved me in this race was to bring my own food. Certainly I could have used the aid station food, but carrying my own was such a game changer. A runner, Lucas, did just that. He only used the food from the Aid Stations and he said it was enough. Many athletes did not get enough though, so I think, and ran into calorie deficiency during the race. There was only so much time you could eat at an aid station. The portion usually so tiny that it wouldn’t meet the needs. Carrying my own food and munching along the way helps.
That’s that. I probably mentioned all those in my race report, but here they are again. Maybe someone will find them useful.
What I have been doing this week? I have been looking what 100 mile races I should sign up for next year.
C&O 100 seems very tempting. I have been wanting to run that race since 2019/2020 when I was exploring for my first “ultra”. Things has not been working out. I have been too chicken to try. The last two years, my race schedule has not been letting me. I could technically do it this year. Sign up is still open. Next year though seems to be better. I was asking myself can I do three 100 races in one season? The answer is do I need to ask? I know I could do it, but let not push the envelop.
I finished filling out my 50 states for the 100 milers, of potential races to do. I have not made a plan yet. Umstead though, I might try that.
I might want to do T’rer (Lake Tahoe Rim Trail Endurance Race). It has been on my radar for couple years. Still chicken about it. I could do races here in the east coast, but west coast is like a tier higher.
Cloud Spitter tickling my fancy of it being hard.
Pinhoti too, but I think I am not ready to travel down to Alabama to try this. Sometimes I feel I am ready to tackle this, but also feeling cold feet.
Yeti on the Virginia Creeper has it charms.
Oil Creek is a possibility. It seems to have the right level of difficulty for me.
I looked at various other races but haven’t committed. This is one reason to sign up the next 100 race before doing the present one so I don’t have this reluctancy.
I am still reeling from all the things that happened after Blackbeard’s. I am also having post race blue, though I should be back running soon.
This was supposed to be posted for last week before the race and its race report, but things got busy with packing during writing of it and it never saw daylight. Actually, for once, I actually packed and got race stuff 3 days ahead of time.
I was going to procastinate by writing this blog, but during the middle of it, it got some sense in me to get ready for the race…so this entry did what it was suppose to do.
Final inspection of the dropbags and stuff for the trip before being loaded onto the car. 4 dropbags, plus one for the finish line. Funny thing was I had no clues where I put everything after I packed (and worried on the whole run, like do I have batteries, do I have spare light? where was my sun lotion?), but luckily they were there in the exact dropbags when I needed them
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As my first big race of the year is about to get underway (in maybe 48 hours), I have some time to reflect and write out this post.
This will hopefully be my fourth buckle (100 mile race). I have great expectation that I should finish.
It has gotten easier. I can’t boast much though. 100 mile race is still a beast and unpredictable. However, if the weather works out, it should be an easy race.
Currently the biggest foreseeable challenge would be the winds and possibly some rain on Saturday. About the wind, last week, I ran the Virginia Beach Marathon, I felt it. It was crazy to run with such strong winds. We are expecting between 25 -50 mph. However, now it seems to calm down a bit and maybe at most 25 mph.
I am prepared. I packed my drop bags already. There are a few items I might want to to get. Masking tape (optional), sunscreen lotion (maybe), lipbalm (maybe), vaseline (maybe), some AAA bateries (maybe). Futureself: I got everything but the spare batteries.
I haven’t planned for my nutrition. I reread my Devil Dog’s race report. And I glad I came across the tip I gave myself, of having your own food at the dropbag’s location. This totally escaped my mind when I was packing.
I reread some 2021 race reports of why I didn’t finish the Devil Dog and other races. That was helpful as well. Basically don’t push too hard in the beginning. Since this (Blackbeard’s Revenge) course is flat, it is easy to go too fast in the first half. In theory, I could aim for a sub-24 finishing.
I guess I am having some pre race jitter.
There is not much I can do. I was reviewing course materials. Some regrets I had was I didn’t book my hotel closer to the start or the finish. Anyway, nothing can be done by now. I could cancel my booking and rebook closer, but I don’t want to make changes this late. Anyway, my present location is not bad. It is about at 20 mile on the course, so I could stop by during the race.
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In the last post I had so much I wanted to write but didn’t get to everything. It was about my MMT third training run but thr Shamrock Marathon overshadowed it.
I reviewed my first and second MMT training run. Time flew by so quickly. In the first training, we were running in the snow.
I was not ready for the run back then because my left ankle was still hurting. I got the run done.
On the second training run, I was in a much better shape. I felt fast. The hill climbs were not that hard. I ran with Tony, and a few others.
On third training run, I was the last four to finish. We started early, so we finished early. It took me 11 hours. 5 am to 4 pm. To me it was a fast time. My ankle was mostly healed. About that, usually the first step I took, it has some discomfort. By second and subsequent steps, I don’t feel it any more.
My ankle hinders me on the downhills. It was a reason why my TWOT time was so slow. It took me 12.5 hours to get around that course. I bet I could do it an hour or two faster with a fully healed ankle.
Funny thing is the last few weeks, even with an ankle that is not 100%, I ran two 50k and 1 marathon. I finished them.
I was hoping the ankle would be fully healed by the time I am running this 100 mile race. There isn’t any hill, so technically it should be fine. My ankle just doesn’t like uneven surfaces or downhills.
One last thing, those people I did not get along that well on the first training run, are now very cordial. I knew it. They ran at my pace and we see each other at every training runs and will be together during the race. It would be quite awkward if we didn’t get along.
The big picture. Finally what all these trainings and running in the Blackbeard’s Revenge have to do with anything? I have been training hard to do the MMT again and hopefully this time will be more successful.
I have not focused much on training for Blackbeard’s Revenge. Blackbeard’s would have been a challenge for me to run two years ago, but currently should not be. The current challenge is to do two one-hundred races in the same season, note, MMT is just a month or so away after Blackbeard’s. My concern was that this 100-race would derail my next one. Future self: I came out the race stronger.
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Afterword, One reason this blog didn’t get posted was I got bored toward the end. I felt I needed something. As said, some I was too busy with the race. Now looking back, everything went well.
I had some thoughts about the race. It was refreshing. It was short. And it was one of those things you do only once in your lifetime. I felt so blessed to have done it. One regret was I did not stay there longer. As with anything, I felt like I came in at night and leave during the day time. The enjoyment was too brief.
This happened at many of my other races, where I had daja vu from previous experience while running. I think I did not mention this in the race report. I came away feeling lacking because I couldn’t exactly create the same happiness and feeling of the first time being at that place. It is not anything bad. It is just me feeling sentimental. Anyway, to finish on a brighter note, The race added newer experience to the old ones. All the preparation that went into it was worth it. Who knows when I can get to do it again!
Nothing big happened this week following the Cowtown Marathon.
I am a bit bored as usual and feeling a bit unproductive and negative.
My legs are still sore even a week after. I have not run much to save them. I did try running 7 miles on Thursday. It got the blood flowing. Theorectically, I should be good to run again.
I spent some time to update my race schedule. Everything seems pretty good. Most decisions and races are set and good to go. There were no major changes to them. It was more like me polishing them.
I did sign up a couple “small” races. This Sunday, I will run the Reston 10 miler. It is a local race. I did this one once or twice before. I couldn’t remember when was the last time I ran it. It might have been 2018. Ancient history.
Second race I signed up was Lake Ridge (Lake Claytor) 12-hr run. I ran this the last two years and enjoyed the low – layback vibe of the race. Usually it is about dozen or so runners, and we meet at the lake and run until we drop dead and then run some more. This year will be in May, the week before my MMT – run of doom 100. heehee. Good day to chill before doing a 100 mile.
The third race is Eastern Divide 50k. This was pretty much the ultra that got me into trail running in 2019. I have meant to go back to run it again. It was an ultra that beat my butt, finished in 7 hours and I thought that was hard. Now a day a 7 hour run is pretty tame. This race is beautiful point to point run. You climbed up the side of the waterfall ran through some country roads, and then through a field with an overlook. Boy, I ran this in the summer and it was hot. I remembered eating watermellon with salt at an aid station. I would love to relive that again. This year, the race will be in the fall, in November. It will be a bit different. I look forward to it nonetheless.
I reviewed some of the conflicts in the schedule. Nothing much can be done. I can’t be in two places at once unless I have a clone or two. Some races would have to be deferred to next year.
Now I want to run Stone Mill again. The race registration will not be open until May 15. Stone Mill though is in conflict with the Richmond Marathon. Also there is a race in Georgia also on that weekend. I am also eyeing Philadelphia Marathon, and it conflicts with Route 66 Marathon. All these would have to be sorted out later. So I would have pick one or the other. I also received an email informing me the race for the ALQ 50k registration will be open on April 22. The RD wrote that last year, it sold out after 45 minutes.
*Sigh*
I am happy even getting one race done this year. Here I am juggling with a dozen of races.
There are two decisions I am afraid to face. One is April 29. It’s the GSER 100k. I know I can do it. I know my mission/vision is to be bold and not turn down a race. Yet I feel I have turn this race down this year. Because the following week, I will be running the Toronto Marathon, and I want to do well in that because it will be my international debut. My family is accompanied me on that trip. I don’t want to disappoint them with an average finishing time.
The second decision is Lake Tahoe Marathon series. To run three marathons and a 70 mile race around Lake Tahoe. I want to do it. Yet this one actually puts some fear in me. Can I do it? I will have Grindstone 100 in Sept. Lake Tahoe is in October. I think I should be recovered by then. Yet, there is the sense of fear in me. If Lake Tahoe is the only race I will be doing, I would do it. I have other races lined up already. I felt I won’t be able to give it the due respect. According to my mission statement, I should do it. Fear is good.
Coming back from Fort Worth Marathon, you know I met some people who share my passion. One of the pacers I was with, discovered marathons couple years ago. While running with him, he was so full of energy and that child like eagerness. You know what make a runner happy is asking the person what one race you like the most. I could go on and on. We went on for too long even other runners around us got annoyed. Yes, please don’t ask me about my races.
Anyway, I am thankful I got to run some really cool race. Not sure what I will do this weekend. I will write more when I am ready.
It’s day 450, by design I have to be introspective. Last review Day400, was at the beginning of the year. I already wrote all I did couple weeks (hello4) ago of all the cool races I ran this year, so I won’t repeat. Two 100 mile races, Rocky Raccoon and Rim to River, bookended the year. They were the reason I called this year a pop-off year for running. In between I also did some ultras I thought I did not have the ability to run.
I felt thankful and fortunate and relieved to have done them. I was not fast. I saw some who did not finish. I ran with some of them at their pace. Most of the time I was at the cutoff and it could have been me being cut. I enjoyed all the races. If I did not run them, I would not have known I was capable to do them.
Originally, I wanted to look back at them in a holistic way, maybe to draw some lessons or something profound from all these races. There are probably some lessons hidden or a common theme ran through them. There were friendship made along the way and moments I did not want to forget. They are now past. I am okay with not to focus on them and let them pass. All honor and glory burried in the sand of time.
I want to say: Running was my life in 2021 and has been so for the past few years (more on this in a future blog; I wrote one up, but it was not ready to be published).
Some asked me, how many marathons did I run this year? I don’t know. There is a page somewhere that tracks this, but off the top of my head, I don’t. A lot I think. Though I don’t really chasing after races now. I enjoy as much or even more just a long weekend run around my neighborhood. The distance no longer scares me. Long runs are cool and always what I look toward to at the end of each week — that pretty much what quarantine of 2020 taught me. 2021 was pretty much the same but in hyper drive.
One word if I can sum up 2021, would be racing. I run races all the time but this year even though I ran so many races, the intensity of the schedule felt normal. I adapted to the intensity. Couple years ago, a schedule like now would be considered overloaded. Now, it seems there are not enough races to pack my weekends.
I tried to run an ultra back to back for the first time, doing what I did when I ran marathons back to back (and earned myself a spot in the marathon maniacs club, back in 2018). So last weekend, a week following finishing the Rim to River 100, I signed up and ran the Stone Mill 50 (I hope to write a report on it). I thought I would die in Stone Mill but in the end, I ran a faster time than last year and I felt great afterward. No cramping no exhaustion. The body felt normal. I wanted to run another 50 mile this weekend (JFK), but common sense prevailed and also I wanted to show respect to my two friends who were running it by cheering them. I really believe I could have done three ultras in a row.
The biggest struggle I had this year was trying to find balance between running and everything else. Work was nonnegotiable. Sleep/rest was also pretty much nonnegotiable – you could cheat one night or one week but it always comes back to bite you with unwanted down time. I rather stick to a regular schedule. You can’t cheat your body.
The flashpoint came when my mom was sick and needed 24 hr care. I was in the midst of my final training for the 100 mile race. There is always another race to run but I had invested so much in it. Downtime came when you are least expected. In this instance, I was not the one who got sick but my family. It was a forced downtime nonetheless. In the end, I did run it at the expense of being hated/frowned upon by those who did not undestand why I chose racing over family. I did not understand fully myself. I took the plunge and hope for the best. But that what it is. By the way, she is doing much better and can now live independently again.
I dodged a bullet that everything worked out in the end and I had a story to tell. But it could have been the other narative.
What for next year? I will run more races. Maybe even more than this year (schedule). My goal is to run in an even longer distance race. I am seeking (to reach) the next level, whatever that is.
Other than running, I spent lot of time on twitch (tv), and playing games. Yes this year, I got hook into gaming and twitch. Where did I find time for them right? or the money! I quit my gym membership (and dropped a phone plan) for twitch and gaming. Toward the end of the year, I also spent more time with investing in stocks and thinking/planning for retirement. I traded the money I set aside for a racing bike and a gaming computer to fund my retirement account! I think it was worth it but I had a bit of a regret too.
For readers, what this post is about? who’s know. Maybe it is a preview for my next blog. We all have our own life to live and choose our action with the choices presented. That is pretty much 2021 for me, I chose certain actions and those were the results. There were surely other stuffs happened except they didn’t leave as strong an impression as racing, especially the 100 mile race, which was the central focus for me.
Is that how I want 2022 to be? I will need to think more on this. Maybe it is a good post for the new year.
A future post will dive in depth on this subject, maybe the struggle, the balance, and the rationale. I wrote a lot already, but I felt I only scratch the surface. Happy Thanksgiving!
I read a good blog the other day from Isaac Takes a Hike, about his Badger Mountain 100. He shared of the time during the race when he came into an aid station and he was not feeling well at least well enough to continue. He determined not to leave the aid station until he solved his problem. Lucky for him, he managed. Go follow his blog, he is a great blogger.
I am currently like that. I need to solve my problem quick. I don’t have any motivation to run now. There are races and trainings but I can hardly drag myself out of the bed.
Don’t do it if I am not into it, is my philosophy. So here I am. I don’t know what is going on. I have been pretty much slacking off the last four months. I am not training as hard as I used to. This week I only run 6 miles. Last week maybe 12, something like that. Today is Saturday, normally it would be my long run. I should be doing 70-90 miles per week. I am not too much into the numbers, but they do show. I am not the same.
I am questioning why am I even running. Why am I so tilted? Why did I rage quit?
I need to fix whatever is wrong with my heart and get back out there.
This blog post was not about my whining. I originally wanted to write considering how lucky I am I haven’t injured myself all these years of running, while people left and right were saying they had this and that. My body has been strong and is very durable.
My most feared accident in a race is rolling my ankle. I ran myself into a pothole in a 5K race I think in 2018 and ever since, every couple months I would reinjure the same ankle. You say how does one run into a pothole. I don’t know. Cars run into potholes but we as runners should be able to avoid them.
It was during a race. I saw the pothole, still I ran in and I was like a car, bang, and my ankle turned sideway. I had about half mile to a mile to go, so instead of quiting, I continued running and got to the finish line. Not sure why I didn’t avoid it. And even if I ran into it, it should be big enough, that I could still find my balance. No, my ankle gave out that time. I felt really stupid. I was not an ultra runner at the time. I could only run on super flat surface. Anyway due to my carelessness, that how it all started.
I have never gone to physical therapy to have it properly fixed, but it is definitely a problem. I was thinking how lucky I was during the last six months and running two long races, never once was my ankle rolled.
But guess what, last week, I rolled my ankle while doing a local run around the neighborhood. Note it is not the terrain. When the ankle feels like rolling, it will roll (collapse) with no apparent reason and the pain will shoot up my leg and I will go ayaaah and limp around to walk it off. It does not matter how carefully I try to step. If it wants to roll, it will roll. I just have to deal with it. That is generally how it goes every couple months because I think it was never healed properly. Or even when it is healed, the ankle has lost its elasticity or flexibility, so every so often it needs to be pop like knuckles to make it feels great. Rolling is like popping the knuckles.
Anyway, here is another great blog from your truly. I was going to write that if I don’t do something, it is like the day doesn’t exist. I don’t want to fade away. You know, I write, therefore I am? The title makes no sense. Maybe that is for another day.
Being alive meaning having ambition and drive. I can do this and that. I have a trip this weekend and a race next week. I also have work to do before I leave. Work work. Company stuff. My mind immediately returned to reality after the burial of my grandmother. I took the day off but I could work too if I wanted to. That to me a different being alive and dead. We have our worries.
But for the last few days I have been lack of motivation to run. Not sure why. I am healthy and all. Just nothing there.
I was not there when grandmother’s passed on. I could have been there. I was only couple miles away. I had the feeling and prompting the night before. Anyway. What’s done is done. She has passed on. I have a kind of phobia for sickness and death.
We had a funeral yesterday. It was outdoor and we had two ministers with us. The rest who came were all family members. There were 25 of us. Plus a photographer/translator – a family’s friend. The service was conducted in chinese but translated to English for the youngers (us) who are not chinese proficient (plus a few of us or our spouses are not even chinese).
There is no profound truth about this whole death business as I spent the last week reflecting on it. We all will die one day. A good funeral is someone will remember you. My grandmother had a good and simple ceremony. There was not too emotional shown as we all know – she is indeed in a better place. She has been suffering with poor health for as long as I could remember 20+ years maybe? Death is a relief and she was shown mercy to have apparently a painless death.
We had the service. I am glad for Covid because we were restricted to only 25 people or else we would have the whole church there (200+). It was intimate. I hate crowd. But if I am dead, I won’t care what people say about me, whether good or bad. There was no eulogy given at my grandmother’s funeral — I think we were saving it for a memorial service that will take place at a later time due the covid pandemic happening now. Our service, everything included the burial was restricted to one hour. We stayed for two.
It was mainly for us who are living to reflect on the meaning of life and to go through the grieving process when the person you love is no more with you. It is an emptiness. My mom was saying even their dog senses grandma was no longer with them. The dog is moody.
2. It costs money. Our family through this had made arrangement on their own burial. It was a pratical decision and nothing morbid about it. I think we have like 6-8 burial plots. Those who are 60 and older did it. I don’t have my plot of land yet. They do not want to place much burden on their children.
3. I was thinking I have a lot of things and loose ends so to speak. If I die like suddenly or even if I have a week or two of advance notice like my grandmother did, still it is not enough time to get my crap together. No clue what it means to get ready for death. My grandmother did not have much but they have spent days going over her medications (now can be safely discarded) and her tons of papers and documents. They have been managing her affair but still, she has left behind tons of those.
Sad, when I heard of how my grandmother passed away. It was cheerful but sad. She was surrounded by family (night before and also at the moment of). Always someone was with her. However, the last two weeks, we could see she was growing weaker and her life was epping away. She slept and was not able to wake up. She was fully conscious probably to the moment of. Her breath became shallower and then stopped. We already arranged for hopice care so there wouldn’t be resusciatation. Her eyes were wet when family called her. We were almost certain she was gone. It could be just the brain auto-function when processing the sound. Yes, we did call the doctor who came and pronounced her dead. There was no struggle with her. They had everything ready though if need be – morphine and all kind of pain/muscle relaxant medications. She did not need any, except for one that clear the phlegm in her throat. She died peacefully. I wouldn’t able to stand watch the last moment struggle. Yet it was still sad to see that the life flowed out of a body.
4. Memorial. Death is laying down toils and suffering of this life and (hopefully) we go on to a better place. I guess this is the same message at all memorial services. We will be reunited with her there.
We sang traditional Amazing Grace. Not so much the words by the familar melody was comforting. I couldn’t even aware of what I was singing. I tried but the words did not register to brain. It was just blah, blah, blah. The next song In the Land By and By was more meaningful. There is a land where sorrow is no more when we wake up. Same the third song for closing was Because He Lives and empty grave is there to prove pretty much echoing the same message.
How to close this entry? We think of legacy. Will. Transfer of assets and heritage. Our family does not have much tangible items. What my grandmother left behind was her love, her strength, characters, and her faith. She has lived 87 years. It begs the question, what do we leave behind for others. Currently we (or me, really) don’t really care and do not think a lot about. The sad truth is I have nothing much. Maybe this blog. Sorry if this puts a damper to your day. Need content. clout. subscribe. 🙂
It should be my 2nd anniversary here on WordPress or the first day into my 3rd year of blogging. No special fan service today…other than Thank you fans always for your continue supports!
I remembered in the early days it used to a delight every night as I finished my run and I rushed on here to post how great that run was and usually talked about this and that of what I discovered during the run.
As my runs have been longer and longer recently, I don’t write so much about them any more. It is like oh another 5K, what to write about that.
No, I still think short runs are exciting. I have not done enough of those. Couple weeks ago, I finished a short run. I think I went out to do a three mile that night. Details now escape me, but at the time I was so excited. So that was how it use to be like I told myself. I was going to write a blog entry about it. I think I fell asleep not long after and the entry never made it out the press. I forgot now why I was so excited after that run that I was dying to share. Only thing was it was a great run.
These few days I have been reading on how to improve on my runs. I want to run fast. An article in the Runner World peaked my interest. It mentioned about form. You have to run more efficiently to run fast. A way to do that is build strength and also train your mobility (involve stretching). I hate doing either of them.
I see that is one of my weaknesses. I don’t pay too much attention to strength training and much less on stretching to improve my balance and mobility (range of motion).
When you look at fast runners, their strides are incredible! They are flying through the air. My strides compare to them are just baby tiny steps.
I have been doing more running on trails and I notice I wish I have better footwork. There are certain positions I can’t do well. Some steps are too far out of reach. There were a few times I almost fell. Mobility training will definitely improve my trail running.
I am kind of losing my focus this year. If you read the previous year anniversary, I was bubbling with excitement because I was on the verge of running the MCM 50K and I was just off the mountain the night of, which was kind of my first trail run.
Nothing crazy for this year anniversary. I did not go to the mountain over the weekend. The race I thought I am about to run, got one of their permits denied. Race won’t happen unless they have all the permits approved. Who knew there are so many of them. We thought having the Covid permit approved was the hardest thing and rest would be easy. We held our collective breath for that one. What frustrating is our race will be mostly done in the park. I think we got the park permit approved, but we got hung up on the road permit. We do have a short section being on roads and a few road crossings, so it is not that we can ignore that. The county denied our permit for the road portion. The whole race is up in the air at the moment. The race director is trying to appeal the county’s decision. I don’t know what to think. The race date is so close already and now this.
I know with Covid many races got canceled. We have come to expect no racing for the forseeable future. However, things were improving in our area and we got our Covid plan approved and it looked likely a race would be possible, but now this. It is like don’t get our hope up and then got dash by it.
Why all this mumbo jumbo I am writing? I hope next year will be better. I wish I have the exuberance like I did before. This is the third year, right? It should be better than the year before.
There are many different things I could write…I have a list of races I did for this year and a list of races I am ready to do for the next year. Don’t worry I will post it some day soon. I want to show, even with a crazy year, we got things done. That though is not what I am feeling at the moment. We are baking something but we are not there yet…not sure how it will turn out, since I am kind of doubting anything good will happen. A little pessimistic won’t you say?
I know there is always next year. How about that for 2nd anniversary?
In awe 