In awe

Tag: review

  • [Day600] Re2023/Xmas

    My last review (day550) was almost a year ago. Not much has changed since but definitely I am expecting something new going forward (wispering Western States, more on this).

    Every 50 posts I do a review of what has happened to serve as a stopping point for myself to reflect and take note. Those who follow my weekly blog, there is nothing new, because this is just a summary. For those who pop in once every six months or a year, this serves as a quick catching up. Indeed. A year has passed. Soon a new year. As for myself, it serves more as a bookmark, or a bookend. To be honest, I don’t remember much of the last few years if I hadn’t written things down.

    Life is hectic for me, always, because usually I tried to do too much. Even if life being dull and slow, a review helps to zero in a few instances of the good times. As they say, there is or should be never a dull moment.

    I don’t remember much this past year either way. I ran a lot of races, almost as many if not even more than last year (stats, in 2022, I ran 21 races, in 2023, I ran 26, almost a race every other week). According to my memory, 2021 was awesome, when I truly finished my first 100 mile race. 2022 was a year of setbacks. I guess I reached my limit. This year, was a reversal of it, I ran five 100 milers and finished 3 of them. Maybe I trained harder but more likely my body adapted to the longer form and I also am more experience to avoid past mistakes and improved. This year I doubled the total 100 milers I did in 2021 and 2022 combined. I also ran 5 marathons. Traveled to 5 different states, with Idaho being the farest.

    In my last update, I wrote that I finished my first Devil Dog 100 and then I ran Blackbeard Revenge 100 in the spring 2023. I was pretty hyped up to finish two incredible races when I wrote the post because compared to the year before, I could not finish any 100s. That was quite a feat to rebuilt my confident of being able to tackle this extremely long distance race.

    Since then, I also ran the Devil Dog again, which I did just a few weeks ago and I also finally finished my first Massanutten 100 this year. I am proud of this one accomplishment alone. It was the hardest race I ever attempted. I finished a total 3 one hundred mile races! We won’t mention Grindstone or Burning River, the other two 100s I attempted over the summer at this time but did not complete them. I will try them again next year.

    As for marathons, my main bread and butter, I ran the Toronto Marathon and many other races in 2023. Toronto was my goal race. It was a race of stepping out in faith because it was my first race outside of the US. It is though now seems less significant when compared to my bigger ones.

    I visited 5 states. In Fort Worth, Texas in January, I ran the Cowtown 50K, then ran a Lake Hayden Marathon in Idaho, ran Blimbler Bluff 50K in Connecticut, Ran in the Philadelphia Marathon in November in Pennsylvania, and finally, ran the Space Coast Marathon in Cocoa, Florida. Connecticut, Idaho, Florida were all new states! Technically if counting only marathons, then Idaho and Florida were the two new (marathon) states added this year. Regardless, I am quite please. My goal is to do about 5 states a year. I consider this was reached. They were so fulfilling. Each of them was amazing in their own right. If I have to pick, definitely Toronto, not so much the race itself but the city.

    Course of Philadelphia Marathon, which is mostly an out and back along the river. A random pic for my audience. I enjoyed my time in Philadelphia. I love maps. Most of races/runs are to explore a city

    I don’t have a plan for next year for which marathons to run because my head is still reeling from the WSER good news and also I will be traveling oversea, so there will be less fund and time available for marathons. I will try to squeeze a few in when I can. I signed up for Taiwan Marathon, which is pretty big I think. I am expecting a good time. My first race in 2024 will be the Clear Water Marathon, just outside of Tampa Florida.

    As for Ultras, I am redoing most of this year races next year: Massanutten, Burning River, and Grindstone. The new race is definitely Western States, and possibly Old Dominion too. OD100 is on the fence, but I am itching to try it now. Some asked why not go for the full Grand Slam? My question is are you crazy or am I crazy. I have a sort of my own grand slam of running 5 x 100 mile races over the summer.

    Yes, a year ago when I could not even finish a 100 mile race, because they seemed so tough, now we are talking as oh just another 100 mile race. Lets do five of them and maybe back to back such Vermont 100 and Burning River are on a back to back weekend.

    The most challenging race for me will probably the Western States since I could not train directly on the course and the race is a big unknown. Whereas, other local races, I have done it or that they were in my area and I could go out to train. Old Dominion, I haven’t done it but the course is much similar to Massanutten and Grindstone.

    People who know what Western States 100 is, I won’t say much more. For those who don’t Western States and Leadville 100 are two US 100 mile races where the best runners go to compete. Some compares them to the Boston Marathon. They are well known in the ultra marathon world. There are 100-ish 100 mile races in the US, but Western States being the oldest and having most fame, received tons of attention. I am setting my sight too do do most if not all the 100 mile races, plus maybe one day the grand slam, but not now.

    I will be blogging my week to week training until race day for WSER. I don’t want it to define me for 2024, but it is and will be. It is difficult to process everything around this race.

    I hope I haven’t lost my audience. I threw out a lot of names. To my audience they probably don’t mean much. Even to me, they might mean something for that week only when my focus is on just that one race, then a week later, a new race. I meet a guy, Paul, at a recent event, the Naked Nick 50k. He asked me if I really do a race every weekend. I guess so. It seems like it. I can’t tell you guys all about my 26+ races. If I have to pick one as a favorite, it would be hard! If I really have to,

    I leave you guys my very first race this year, Blackbeard Revenge. Why? Because I ran a point to point from one end of Outer Banks to the other end (a bunch islands on the coast of North Carolina), and as I near the finish, I saw the sun rising. It was my first time to finish a 100 mile race as the sun was coming up. I had that fresh burst of energy. It was the most exciting and amazing feeling at the end of a 100 mile. It was just me and the road and the finish line. It sums up my experience of 2023. It is something that can’t be explained.

    Of course not all my races are like that. A lot of them, it is really suffering and I don’t want to remember them. I still like to do them as a race. Back on topic, as for 2024, I know I again a lot of races. I will also difficulties. Nothing ever is smooth sailing.

    Some challenges I face this year and next year are same as before. I don’t feel I have trained enough. At least not to the level I deem is acceptable, if we are judging at finishing time. I am still putting very low effort toward my races. I think mostly it is hard to wake up in the morning to train! Western States led to a change to be more consistent in doing my training runs. I hope it will change my life around in term of habits and how I eat.

    Sunrise at Signal Knob during a training run for Western States (week 1). Just a random pic to fill the blog. Actually a lot of my training runs are in beautiful places. I just don’t have the energy to post them

    -Managing time, money, resources, energy is a challenge. I am a bit better. I have a group of friends that kind of help me at races. This is the logistical stuff I always wanted a manager to oversee. I am also considering of hiring coach. The bottom line is I have to work smarter also harder.

    -Scheduling. One of my goals is to go to Napal for trekking the Annapurna. It was supposed to be this year, 2024. This would have to be deferred for a few more years. Next year I am going to Taiwan and Sydney, plus Western States do requires a ton of resources, time, and energy, that there is nothing left for another trips. I want to remind myself, there are other things besides running.

    -The challenging of keep trying harder stuff is reaching the Peak. After doing almost the same thing over 7 years, I come to a point of plateau-ing. It is harder and harder to go a bit more above what I just did. I know I am not at the peak yet, but I am asking myself, how much farther I can go. Maybe it is the law of diminishing return.

    Another challenge I have from time to time is finding a Reason to do what I do. I struggle with defining myself. I don’t want things to define me. Yet I want the achievement. They seem to be opposite. I don’t want to underachieve either. These 7 years, I have pushed the envelop. I keep wondering where is the boundary. At times I thought I reached it, but now looking back, they were just a baby step. Part of defining myself is Looking forward, which is hard for me. I lack imagination. What’s next!

    I came to a bit of understanding while writing this. It is not so much of pushing more boundary, but to see the freedom already available to me. Now, I could do so much more than before and having done some harder races, like 100 miler, I gained the confident in my body of being able to sustain me on some of tougher and longer runs.

    Western States was a total surprise to me. But then after that what’s next? Anyway, we will know once we get there. I don’t have an answer.

    Until next time, I think will be either summer or earlier fall (Day650). By then a lot of my goals will either have reached or else and I will get to write about them. I hope this report has been a good read to you and to me.

    Yes, it is Christmas and New Year! I am not ready. Happy holidays!

    Most proud and most recent medal from the Devil Dog 100 Edurance Run. I notice long races are called endurance runs

  • [Day584] Hello 6

    I reached another year on WP. End of the fifth year and beginning of the 6th. See last year entry (here).

    This time I don’t have much to write. I have been busy doing so many things. Last year I wrote about mission creep (plan2023), indeed, I was drinking from the fire hydrant in term of running. I run in any races I could get my hand on. Each year, it seems I say the same thing, but each year I add on more and more races.

    I am a bit tired at the moment. I need to refocus of what I want to do.

    The idea I don’t need to do this has not occurred in my mind. Indeed, I don’t need to do it.

    I am happy though. 2023 brought me up on another level. At the start of the year, I did not know where I was headed. Somehow I managed. I can run some hard races and it was not a 1-off.

    I wanted to meet some awesome people and I did. This was one of the goal. I partly succeeded. People such as Greg, Wayne, Tek, Lynn and Caroline have made my running much more multi-dimensional. It has been an interesting year.

    I want to step out and be bold. I did. I traveled to Toronto and ran their marathon. I ran Blackbeard’s Revenge 100. I finished MMT 100 for the first time. I tried the UTMB Grindstone 100, which was one of the harder race. I did not finish but it was a leap of faith to try. Same for Burning River 100. Try something hard and even when I don’t succeed, I am still happy.

    Something new I did was pacing a friend in her 100 mile race and the emotion of seeing her crossing the finish line was exceptional, probably something I will remember for a long time.

    The question of what’s next is always on my mind.

    I want to do more. I want to do something unique and memorable. I want the next year to be new and different from before.

    Next year, I want to be radically different, yet still reaching my goals.

    I am imagining myself playing chess and then sweep all the pieces off the board and still play. I want to approach like that with my planning. Things currently are too messy. Let sweep everything aside and start fresh.

    End of a year and beginning of a new year is a good time to reimagine what and how I want to be.

    Simple is good. I need to simplify things. I don’t need to run gazillion races. Maybe one or two races is good.

    I think I got a bit race envy this year. I met some high power runners this year. Four or five people who are running (like me) every weekend in various places. It becomes like a friendly competition to see who can out do who. Not really, but our races were like our street creds.

    There is also kind of pressure I put on myself to do races so I could write about them. It is kind of silly. I am sure my readers what me to be healthy and enjoy the runs I do. It does not matter though if I don’t have fun. It has been hard for the last several weeks as I tried to set my schedule for next year. I know what races I want to do, but I was reluctant to sign up any.

    I am still looking for a race/run or an event that will define 2024.

    Less is more. What’s next. Soon. I don’t really know yet. To be determined. Hello Year #6

  • Re(view) 23:14 [Day575]

    Midterm review / Summer-Fall 2023

    Summer has gone by too fast for me. The last review was around April (Re 23:13). The goal back then was to train to run faster for the Iron Mountain 50, especially Grindstone 100.

    Let just say, it has not been easy. I have gotten slower instead of faster. I blame my left foot, which still gives me problem. I DNF’d in couple races. And Grindstone is about two weeks away.

    I started the summer full of confident from having conquered the MMT100 (finished under 35 hours), and I finished the Blackbeard 100 (OBX) last march in 28 hours. I felt I could now tackle any 100 miler. I felt I have matured in tge sport.

    I went and signed up for Burning River 100 thinking it is comparable easy like Blackbeard and I should not have trouble of finish it.

    As superstition has it, I took the finishing photo before runing the race, and I was thinking, it would be an embarassment if I don’t finish, and so it turned out to be a self-fulfilling prophesy. I stopped after 28-ish hours at mile 86-ish (I ran 89). It was a mess of a race. It rained heavily as the race got underway. I was soaked thrpugh and through. I was not prepared for the rain, and did not pack as many sets of dry clothes as I should. I had shirts but no extra shorts and underpants or socks. It was a struggle throughout the day. I was severely chafed by mile 26. I felt several times. The trail was muddy and slicked. I did not wear proper trail running shoes. It was like skiing downhill. During one fall, I might have rolled my ankle and it was swollen by midnight. And I could no longer run. It was as bad as could be.

    One of the lessons learned was I “over”-trained before the race and did not taper and so during my big race, I was out of reserve. By midnight, I was pretty much done. There was no reaching deep in my heart to draw out that energy to push me through. I slogged through the night only moving another 20 miles. It was too little too late. I DNF (did not finish/cut) when I failed to reach the last few aid stations in time. My pacer was pleading, it is just half a marathon left, which on a typical day, would be a morning run. Shout out to an amazing pacer, Amanda.

    Burning river 100 left a big impression in me (full report here). I will definitely will do it again. This was one example of how my whole summer was.

    The other race I DNF’d was the Iron Mountain 50. (report can be found here). My summer was supposed to run faster so I could do this race. Somehow, maybe the time required to recover from the Burning River and also from an earlier 100 mile race (MMT), I was not able to train as much on speed as I should. Iron Mountain was a bloodshed. I was destroyed. I finished an hour later than my goal. Good thing was I was not injured from the race.

    As for other races, I ran the Catherine’s Furnace 50K more as a training run. It took me 10 hours to do it. Normally, I should/could run it in 6-ish hours. I did not really write a report. This is as close as it get.

    An highlight of my summer was I went to Toronto and ran the Toronto Marathon. It was not a fast time, but I was pleased. The report can be found here. Note, my report was mostly negative, but due to other reasons.

    As for other races, MMT100, OSS/CIA50, Catoctin 50K, readers can read their reports. I am tired so not going to write much on those. They were all good race.

    So what is ahead? Fall season is about to start. I have plenty of races, both big and small ones. Grindstone 100 is ahead. Devil Dog 100 is in December. I have been reluctant to commit to 2024 so I have not signed up too many races for next year especially the 100 mile races. I promised to help my friend at what to be her last 100 mile race, Cowboy 100 in Nebraska. More on this as the date approach.

    Red Dirt 100 is in February. Burning River 100 is in July. I plan to run MMT 100 again in May. Iron Mountain 50 in September. Cowboy 100 is in September too, but I won’t be competing, so won’t be stressed out about it.

    As for marathons, I will run a few of those. My goal is always the same – to run faster so that I could finish some harder races, and not be embarrassed. I don’t mind the DNF, but it is a like a mosquito bite of plain annoyance of not being able to finish when I feel I could do it.

    I have an international trip planned. Likely will be a marathon in Taiwan.

    Conclusion if any, I am a bit jaded after this summer. I kind of see it coming. I am still in love to run and run far, but I am a bit at lost of which race to run. I know which race I want to run, but I am not as aggressive as before. I don’t want to run because I have to; I want to run because I am passionate about doing it. My nightmare is might fall out of love with my running and next year might be my last year.

    My next review will be 6 months from now (early January or February). I will likely do and end of the year thing, new year resolutions, and an anniversary post.

  • Day500 Yay! 500

    TL;DR – A regular title Review 22.12 would be enough for my highlighted events since last year (Day450). No I did not run 500 races.

    When I reread the last 50-day report of Day450, my two 100 mile races stood out. Honestly, I couldn’t top it this year. I have two 100 mile races this year too, but one of them, I already DNF’d (did not finish) it and the other I have not yet run, and it is not out of this world exciting nor do I have the confident that I will finish it! They are hard.

    In 2022, I faced with one setback after another. I don’t mean injuries, but that too. It was bad early in the year when I had to limp around and running was out of the question. I mean when I was all healed up, my performance was more than desired. I was struggling with my weight issue notwithstanding. Nothing seemed to go right. Slowly, I rebuilt my strength and speed. It was not enough for my two A-races. No, they were more S-tier races. I am not sad or mad about it. If you know, I wanted to challenge myself by stepping it up. Indeed I did.

    I have been saying that I have been doing goals that were relatively easy, achievable and 100% risk-free. There was almost no risk of failures. I started to dream up goals by adding 25% beyond what I think is reasonable and tried them. I stretched myself to goals that are a bit beyond me. This season, these two races truly tested me. For this reason, the races were tantalizing close within my grasp. I got what I asked for.

    I am happy with my progress. It is hard to show “no result” and call that good. But it is. I guess in the end it is the process that matters more. Got to remind myself that.

    Which races I am talking about? The MMT – Massanutten Mountain 100. I trained very hard for this at the beginning of the year. I was on the borderline of making it happened (like actual finishing it). In the end, I was just within 15 minutes behind the final cutoff and five mile away from getting the buckle. Again, I am not mad. I wrote many posts on it. My full report of the race can be found here.

    Second one was the Iron Mountain. I was also so close of getting this race under 12 hours. I know it can be done. I was also within the 15-20 minute window. I just need to be a bit of a stronger runner. I trained for this race over the summer. There is nothing much to say. My Report of the race can be found here.

    I am so thankful I had the chance to run both races. Awesome experience and the friends I made. Regardless their outcomes, I did what I set out to do. Just fell short that’s all. It was all part of the plan. I don’t plan to fail but it was also expected. I had fun and enjoyed doing them. I sometimes feel salty about them, but it will all pass. I got to move on. This is something I learned recently. Everything is temporary. Victories or defeats, they all pass.

    Many of my events for this year were very similar to last year. I did Rock n the Knob again for the third time (report). I did the Richmond’s Dominion Power River Rock trail fest for the third time too (no reports written for any of the years). I mentioned these because I had a lot of fun there. Also I am still pursuing my 50 states marathon goal. This is a multi year adventure. I went to Minnesota (for Grandma’s in Duluth) this summer. And I went Ann Arbor (the report not yet published). In a couple weeks, I will add another state (keeping it quiet for now, but I hope to get New Jersey, fingers crossed). Slowly but surely, I am getting my 50 states done, whether it will be in the next 5 or 10 years. I wrote about a bunch of them in my last (semi-official) quarterly report (Day490), which was a long post.

    The quarterly report of Day 490 got me back on track and gave me a new impetus for the fall season.

    meta: I was glad for doing some soul searching on Day490. As going forth, I plan to write a report around every 10-15 days or so, to be more in line with the timing. I figured I need that quarterly reminder.

    Many things have happened since. I ran the Iron Mountain as mentioned. My August month was mostly training for that race (I made several trips down to Iron Mountain). In July, I ran the Catoctin. What did I do in June? I went to Minnesota, and ran the Grandma’s.

    What else did I do? I don’t remember other than running. Spring came fast. Then summer and now fall. I traveled a lot but mostly for running. Places that were far last year, no longer seem that far. I had mostly peace in my family since my mom has recovered (it was a year since she had her stroke).

    I finished the Gvrat (The Tennessee Rat Race) for the third time, running across Tennesee virtually. Note, it is actual running but not at the actual location. The excitement was not the same as the first or second year when I did it. I only did the bare minimum to get my 640 miles in over the summer for the award (a medal). In comparison, the first year, I did over 1000 miles. The second year, I did two crossings (that is 1300 miles). I was hoping to do more this year. Surprisingly, I did less this year. 640 miles is still whole lot of miles to many people.

    I am also part of the Craw Race (running around the world, virtually). After three years, we are about to finish. Similar to the Gvrat, the fervor has gone down quite a bit since we started. My original team is intached but one. Some other teams had disbanded or became too slow to finish. We are still trucking. We have only 2000 ish miles left (a month or two away). I confess we are struggling with our miles. Half of the team are injured or recovering. Some are sick, Covid too hampered our team. Plus, I bet the general life struggles is taking a toll. There are a few old guards who trudge on–that is the ultra running spirit. We likely will finish it by the end of this year. Currently our team is near the Canadian border, and we will cross into the US and then run to the Mexico border, where we all started. Winter is coming. Last year, we were bogged down by the cold.

    The last few weeks, I have been running in one event after event. I am overjoyed with so many runs, such as LakeRidge 12 hr., Rock n the Knob, and Pemberton 24. Their reports are somewhere here: 1, 2, 3.

    I still have many more races to come before the year ends. Maybe 4-5 more. I met a 62 y.o. woman (Caroline) who got me into a race in December (Naked Nick). She is an amazing avid runner. She races ever weekend just like me. I met another lady (Tek) who runs 100 miles like I run marathons. She doesn’t get tired. I have to suck it up.

    Normally, I don’t run when it is cold. It is getting cold. Now, oh a race, sign me up. There is Stone Mill 50 in November (a yearly tradition for me so far, my 3rd time) and lastly the fearsome Devil Dog 100. I won’t talk about this now.

    What about next year? I will publish it soon before the end of the year. But most important one is, I have OBX (Black Beard’s Revenge) as my biggest race. Then I’ll try to go to Canada to have my “international debut!” at the Toronto Marathon (I haven’t decided which one, May or October; October’s TCS Waterfront is more preferred). I wish to get a couple new states in but traveling is becoming costly. I have no plan yet which state to go to, maybe Georgia or North Carolina. Personally, I still want to go to Tulsa, OK except the airfare is so expensive (and I want a direct flight).

    One important thing recently I have asked myself is why am I doing this? To others it seems I have lost my mind with so many races. The answer I came up is because I love it. I actually wrote up a blog entry but haven’t published it.

    Looking even longer down the road, maybe for 2024, I want to do some big crossings, such as the 4 deserts race – Atacama Crossing. I am also thinking of crossing TN, Tennessee for real, as in the Last annual Vol State or Heart of the South if I get in that is. I also have the Nepal trip on the backburner, which was supposed to be for 2023. Plus maybe a Sydney Trip for the Sydney Marathon. There are so many races I want to do. Any one of these is a bucket list item for me. Not likely if I get any of these done but I can certainly dream.

    This past week, a similar idea came up while I was listening to classical music on my way to work. Haydn wrote 104 of symphonies, and he definitely is a prolific muscian. That is a mind bloggling number. Why? Because he was good at it and loved doing what he was doing. I don’t see myself as Haydn, but my running is like an opus. It is my work of art. I can’t get tired of running in another race. I want more of them. Maybe 104 more.

    Sorry, I digress. 2022 is not like 2021, I reached my highs and my lows. I don’t have regrets even for races that seemed to be a failure. I accepted them. Some might say, I reached my limit. I think they are just minor setbacks, bumps along the road. They are part of the journey.

    The post is long enough, I know some is wondering what about the Ann Arbor Marathon race report I just ran the past weekend! We want to know how it went, some would say. It is coming soon ™ I promise.

  • Day490 Q review, Tw4

    TLDR – a review of last quarter of my races and a reminder to myself that of some resolutions made at the beginning of the year

    Briefly, this week training went well. We are still experiencing the heat wave but it is getting cooler. I finally got myself outside during day time. I started to adapt to the heat. I had a big long run (30 miles) on Sunday. I had a lot of joy, in just running and not care for time or where I was going. My training started to fall into a regular schedule, which is good. This coming weekend, I will be going on for another training run on the Iron Mountain Trail. Hopefully, I will give a report. I had a lot of fun last month when I went there for my training. This will be my last training for the IMTR.

    As promised over the last few post, I said I need to pause to do a “quarterly” review. Yes, it has been more than a quarter, but a review is in order.

    While pondering what to write for my review, a couple previous posts got my attention because someone recently read them and I got a notification from their likes. I usually don’t pay attention to WP notifications because likely they are bots that are scanning my posts, but I was wondering what those posts were about, and interestingly they kind of what on the topic of what I am seeking to do at this moment. They spoke to and reminded me of my purpose. I will reference them below.

    I mentioned I need a time to review where I am heading or if I am achieving my start of the year resolutions. To be honest, I don’t remember what they were. And indeed, if I don’t know, it is a perfect time to pause to readjust my direction. Here from Day457, I resolved

    1. run more. Run first thing in the morning
    2. run faster. 4:15 marathon…is that faster than last year?
    3. run farther
    4. run longer
    5. be more organized (strategic) on my runs

    Personally, I feel I am headed in a right way. Maybe it a stronghead trait of me, to never admit that I am lost. To be honest, I have not earnestly try to accomplish any of my resolves. I intentionally made them less precise at the beginning of the year. As to why, maybe for another day.

    Day422 (Moonlight rambling) interestingly was on looking back and looking ahead in 2021. Nothing much have changed this year. I still am doing virtual races, the same ones such as running across Tennessee for the third year in a row and also I’m at the end of the second year of running around the world (CRAW), with two out twelve regions remain. I am still very busy. We will finish it by the end of thos year. In fact, I am busier because full blown in-person races are happening again and I signed up as many as I can afford. Last year was kind of a wait-and-see mode, this year, we are back in business boyz. The pandemic restriction is over. The issue noted in that entry of me not keeping a short note of each day/week/month of events, is still true. I haven’t started back logging my daily day to day journal. There were not enough time each day to do what I want. I know it never will. I still miss keeping those type of journaling. They are like mini prayers, and often show how I have changed over time. Journal for me kind of serve like a prayer book. They are my goals and wishes of things I wish to change or get done. (more on this at a later post, about city map, how people change). By not writing, I haven’t made much plans of the future either, other than my race schedule. In general, I know what I will be doing. I have spreadsheets, a bucket list, to-do lists and such, for long term planning. I shared many of my dreams here already, and they are no secret. Readers can read my previous two posts (e.g. Day488, Day489 and Day479). I am seeking thrills and sonething big enough to shake my world. Ever since I started blogging, I am on this mission of changing myself to do better and run farther. This is pretty much my resolution this year. I think, I was being less precise is to step back and see where things will lead. Basically if taken to the n-th degree, I am hoping running around the world…(a dream, but likely a reality maybe). I want to be in Awe.

    In the post, I mentioned how easy to get distracted and wander away from the initial goal. In a way, I am getting sidetracked this year with social media especially with twitch.tv. I spent way too much time and money on it than being outside running. I spent in total so far about $3000 on running but I spent twice that amount on Twitch. It is insane, where $5 here and there goes. Their subscription fee is $5, per channel, but often time, I got pulled into giving other people a subscription in what they called subathon — marathon is my thing, and so I was into giving out subs. Bottom line is a lot money. Yep, follow the money and you know where my priority lies.

    It is not that I have a problem with twitch.tv. It is interesting and all. Twitch does well in providing a sense of community and give me causes to rally around. I started out following a gamer and then couple musicians and now artists. Two illustrators, whose channels I am active in are lunariaa and wakalaka4eva. Shouting out to them. Please do give them a follow on Twitch and any their other social media platforms. They are indeed worthy of the support. As for me, I need to learn to “balanc” (waka’s community word), leaning back toward my objective, that is to run more, and devote more my time toward it. (seesaw analogy). Everything in moderation.

    Day439, (Interlude) is another interesting post at a time when everything was about to go crazy around me because fall season were about to start and my mom’s illness at the time but me in a bind. That was almost my last review of the year (note, Day450 was the last review) and came quite timely, because I am definitely about to head back into that period this year, because I signed up similar races all over again. I am in an interlude at this moment. I can identify I am in similar position with all the races happened last spring and with many races to come in the fall. Now I am at a time when I don’t have any races until Fall.

    Looking back, stuff (races) I did in 2021 were unique. It was a pop-off year for my running. I reached a level I couldn’t repeat this year. I tried, but this year was not the same. They were new, exciting, and creative! (artist word). This year, I am less creative. Maybe more about this in a future post, of how I see my running as art.

    My races this year, though were hard but were not anything new except for MMT, which we don’t talk about it. First off, my very first race, the Seneca Greenway 50k race was canceled due to weather (rain). Oh ya, the WTF race was also canceled due to ice and snow. It kind of dampened the mood. This came after the Devil Dog, which we won’t talk about that either. I did not run the Grayson Highland this year. Last year, that was my first scary race. I felt I reached another level after finishing it. Nothing like that this year. Also, this year I did not run Laurel Highland race, another fearsome race I successfully ran last year. This year though, I ran the Catoctin 50k the full race, and this was a race I am proud of. Yet a 50k is nothing compare to a 50 mile or 70 mile run. Last year, I only did the short version of the Catoctin Run and this year I got to do the real thing and so I am proud.

    The race that tested my mettle this year was the MMT (Massanutten 100). Indeed, it was hard and I did not finish it. I went in knowing it was hard, but as I ran, I was confident I could finish. Then a twist of fate, and I hit my limit near the very end. Definitely a story to tell. The report is available (MMT report, Day477).

    Forward looking, I signed up for many same races for the fall as last year. Iron Mountain and Lake Ridge 12 hr run, both were races I did last year. Iron Mountain is my next project and then Devil Dog, both are hard. Plus many other smaller races, e.g., Moonlight marathon, which I haven’t signed up yet, but I might, and it also was a race I did last year. I had more fun out of it than expected.

    Plus, I signed up the Devil Dog again, a redo because I did not get to finish it last year. This time I am running a longer distance. I will enter the fall and winter season in full speed. It might not be like last year when everything was new to me, this year, while challenging, they are things I have done before.

    What were my resolutions again? I don’t know, but I have many races to do. (Kick myself, stop being lazy and go look up my resolutions, OK, I did). It is my fault to make my resolutions too vague, that I can’t remember them. Not knowing them means I am not actively working toward reaching them.

    Note to self: Moonlight Marathon signup, Blue Ridge Marathon sign up, Tulsa Route 66 Marathon, maybe, and Ann Arbor Marathon, maybe.

  • Day446 4th Hello World

    Can’t believe once again, I reached the end of another year on WP. Yes, this is the fourth. 1st, 2nd, and 3rd are somewhere. Readers can search for them.

    In similar vein, it is the close of my fifth year of running and beginning of the sixth. I am not always a runner before. It used to be a big deal for me to note the season because each season I had some sort of goal I tried to reach. Now it is just, run and keep up with things. I am probably in my 12th or 13th season by now … I have lost count, assuming two seasons a year (fall and spring). summer and winter are usually too short to do anything, so I don’t count those.

    These few years have gone by so fast. The first year was fall 2016 – I ran my first 10K, and then a half marathon. I trained through winter and till spring, (season 2) when I had my first and second marathon within a month apart. My marathon was on April 1, easy to remember. My family thought I was playing a joke on them. They did however went and cheered me in Charlottesville. There wasn’t any marathon like that since. It was also one of the hardest marathons I did.

    Fall 2017, Season 3, I ran the Marine Corps Marathon. I trained all summer. The result was not as I expected. I did not improve on my time. Reality set in, that this won’t be a quick thing to be able to qualify for the Boston Marathon.

    Correction: I think I ran NCR marathon in fall 2017 and I ran Marine Corps Marathon in Fall 2018. The story is the same. At NCR I met a lady who did like 22 marathons. And at MCM I came to understand that I couldn’t reach my goal in a year or two.

    Spring 2018, Season 4, I ran the Delaware Coastal Marathon, as the first or one of early out of state marathons. I guess the idea was forming that I wanted to do all 50 states. As I ran more races, I got to meet people who were on similar quest. I met someone who was halfway to the 50 states.

    Fall 2018, Season 5, history is a bit hazy here. I think I got accepted to the marathon maniacs club. At the time, I thought the standard was pretty tough, because one had to run 3 marathons within 90 days. Somehow I did it and qualified. I was thrilled. It led me down a path of endless marathons – yes I became a true maniac!

    A lot happening then. I might have started blogging then. And marathons were not as challenging as the next level – “Ultra Marathon!”

    No idea how I got introduced to the Ultra world. It just happened.

    Spring 2019, Season 6. The rest is history so to speak. Everything now is documented here on WP, of how I became an ultra runner. I ran so many races in 2019, I can’t recall them. We did many hikes too. Because this was the year, we would go to Patagonia. Plans were made in the spring. Ah I remembered how I came to the ultra world — I volunteered at an ultra event (Seneca Greenway 50K) that spring and then everything fell into places. Spring 2019 was very important in what led to me today — both as a distance runner and an outdoor man.

    Fall 2019, Season 7. I did one of the best ultra races – Old Glory and from then I fell in love with trail running. A week after, I ran the JFK 50 mile. That was one of the longest races – mind boggling long and epic. We finished the season by traveling to Chile and backpacked Patagonia. I think that always will be a high point of my life.

    Spring 2020, Season 8. Bad thing happened – Covid-19 came and all my plans and races crumbled. But I was able to do a race in California – Carlsbad Marathon. It was one of most scenic marathons I did.

    Fall 2020, Season 9. I was willing to up my game. Due to Covid-19, many races became “virtual” – basically you ran at your home of the distance the race required. One of the virtual events I did was to run the distance across Tennessee – about 630 miles over 4 months. That was the most miles I ever ran. I surpassed the requirement and finished with 1000 miles that summer. Also, I made two attempts to run a 100 mile in Atlanta and both ended in failure but it led to greater boldness in doing runs in all locations, any time, and any weather. There was the passion to be out on the street running day and night. I ran across my city for the first time doing 50 miles. My whole city became my playground/training arena. No place is too far to go on foot. I did a lot of miles alone, and self-supported. And that helped me in doing ultra races the following year.

    Spring 2021, Season 10. Finally I succeeded in my first 100 mile run. I traveled down to Houston, Texas, to do it. Not only did I run the 100 mile, I ran couple 50 miles, and a 70 mile. It was an ultra pop off year. races: Rocky Raccoon, Grayson Highlands, Laurel Highlands, Stone Mill 50, and Seneca Greenway 50k, oh I forgot about Iron Mountain. Each race was epic and an adventure in itself. The significance of this is I got tested on the trails. Sure I could run on roads, but what about trails? Doing those races gave the confident, yes and on trails too.

    Fall 2021, Season 11. As season comes to the close, I have another 100 mile lined up and several maybe-maybe ultras. I am committed to the Devil Dog, and very tempted to run either the Stone Mill or the JFK again. I know I got to be out of my mind to do them because I am sure the 100 mile race would drain all of me – the question is: will there strength left to do any other races afterward? We will see!

    What next year gonna be? It has not arrived yet. God willing, I will be running some more. My goal as always is to do all fifty states. And to be a better marathon runner – yes run faster and stronger. Also I am still part of a virtual race with a team of runners – and we are running around the world. This winter, we would be two-third way through (20,000 miles). Wow! we ran a lot. 2000 miles per person on average. I think I reached 3000 miles – maybe. Who is keeping count? More on this in future posts.

    Something to discuss on future posts, how has running changed me? Time is devoted to being on the road. I virtually disappeared the last year or so. The body adapted. What I thought was impossible, now seems easy. I am boasting I could do a marathon any weekend. Want to run 20-30 miles this weekend? Sure lets do it. While that is true, I want to be the person who can run 26 miles every day! This is a minimum for those who want to cross the country on foot. I have that bigger dream to cross the continent one summer on foot. Ya.

    There you have it. Thank you all for your supports. Once a year, I got to thank my fans.

  • Day300 review 20.8

    A last minute change of plan, I do have a post for today, which I have written back in March but decided to keep it a little longer until I reach Day 365, because it makes more sense that way, since it is a yearly summary. For this quarter though, it will just a normal summary.

    So bear with me. A review is usually take me more time to write because I have to go back the last fifty posts and glean some insights or find something interesting to retell again. I am doing this for myself as well as for some people (my real life friends) who only stop by every so often and they want to know what the scope with my life. This will give them everything. I bookmark (under bookmarks) this page so they can easily find it as well as other monthly/quarterly summaries there. The last quarter summary is given here.

    This quarter was relatively quiet since we were all sheltered at home due to the coronavirus pandemic. All my races were canceled, including the one coming this Saturday, which I have been training crazy since returning from Chile in December. I didn’t take any trip since. I was working from home and each day was like the next, very alone, and always the same. There was no different between weekend and weekdays – except during the week I worked. We all put in long hours. In the beginning it was hard adjusting to working from home. The normal coworkers/manager interaction was gone. Now I have to manage my own projects and tasks and usually couldn’t finish them within the 8-5 time frame. Everyone hours were all over the place. The day starts at 7 for some and finishes around 8-9 at night, with meals in between. There were very little communication among us except for work. My assistant started out sending me daily hello and then she totally went silent after two weeks. I guess I am not very popular person. The truth comes out – or they too were experiencing the same, ready to kill their annoying family. I am not offended. So be it. We have Zoom, but everyone is exhausted from that. I do it for church and my running group, so it was really fatigue.

    My work manager called me from time to time though and usually it is not about my work — he treats me like his friend – we talked about investment and everything. Mostly he does the talking. I love phone calls. Millenials hate it, hence the ‘silent treatment’ from them. Those are who I work with. I got into investing because of him. We were playing the market like crazy during this pandemic – he said so himself, it was very risky and he admitted that it was no longer sound investing but gambling. We lost big time after the first week, he stayed out of it now but I gambled on the airlines, and burned by that. Not blaming him on that, he usually gives good tips, airline was totally on me. I did it after reading the millenials were betting on cruises to make a killing when they are bellying up, so I went for the airlines. anyway… my sadness 🙂

    One good thing / bad thing came out from this period, depending on the perspective, was I had to cook my own meals because all the restaurants were closed/ and I was too afraid to go get food from them when they reopened up. I ate healthier.

    As the result, I saved ton of money. There were no races to sign up, no eating out, and no trip to go. I didn’t order things online because there were no trips to go. I only buy stuff for my running or backpacking. No trip means no shopping. Money only comes in and no where to spend it on except the normal “fixed” expenses like housing and car payment. Oh, my transportation cost dropped to near zero. Is not life great!

    It was sucks though. I was going crazy really and experiencing depression, lack of motivation, and a bit maniac side too – can be seen in my running, since I live myself. It was like being in prison, yet knowing I have the key to the cell. There was nothing to do! I have two other roommates but they left the during this period. My running was not going anywhere. There was very little motivation to run since there was no race to train for — for me it is like why study if there won’t be a test?

    I did couple virtual races. The results were not good. The course around my neighborhood sucks – since it is not a real race – cars don’t stop for you. I just not running my heart out. There was no aid station, so I had to either bring my own snacks or buy them on the way, which eat (pun) into my time.

    Some people ask me what are virtual races. They are canceled races but like a consolation prize given. The race director usually do not give refund since most of the money from race registration are usually spent way ahead before the actual race (such as paying insurance, staff salary, shirts, medals, sometimes race food, site reservation, price money sometimes in term of gift certificates, and usually very little is left over by race day). So the reason they put up so call virtual races where you run on your own at a place you choose, and you report the time and they will record it and send you a shirt and a medal. There won’t be first/second/third place award for this kind of races since it is nearly impossible to certify the course/truthfullness of the timekeeper. Virtual race is just a fun event for us runners, yay.

    However, some people recognize the truth and think it is a scam and raise hell to the race director (my Shipyard Marathon was like that, 9/10 of people were unhappy about doing a virtual). They were such a whinner. True, with one complaint was that the RD was slow in communicate until very late whereas all other races were already canceling way ahead of time. The Roanoke RD were almost at tears explaining why the race had to be canceled. I got my shirts for these races, and I should take a picture of them! They were memorable moments of 2020.

    Though I have lived at my place (about 10 years) for a long time, this coronas virus, forced me for the first time to run around my neighborhood. Over the three months I got to know the area better. Not just my immediate neighborhood but the whole region as well. For the locals who know the geography, I went all the way north to Reston, and all the way south to Springfield, and all the way East…to Fairfax Circle (exaggerated, halfway only, but last night I ran all the way to Arlington, but the run report has not been written yet). I explored the nearby places, going into all the trails such as Cub Run, Chantilly along Walney Road, and to Fairfax County Government Center. Only direction I have not done is running to the west.

    I did couple marathons, a 50k, 50 miler, and a 100k. Here are reports: Maine Coast Marathon, Roanoke Marathon, DC Rock n Roll Marathon (I didn’t report it though, so no medal and shirt), 50k run, and a 100k run.

    Finally in May I was reenergized after invited to run the great virtual race across Tennessee (GVRAT). It is 1000k and we have until August 31 to finish. It seems to be a challenge because I don’t even know if I could do it. 1000k seems too big a number to comprehend. Yet I signed up and each morning or night I would be out on the road running. I never run this much even if I were training for a race. This Virtual Tennessee race brought me to a new level in my training and understanding (this will go into another post), “so this is what the big boys do”. I will write a race report once I am done.

    I had a lot of time on my hand during this period and wrote up this little bit of post, freshing out what I really want in life. It is not a resolution or a mission statement, or a vision, but it is a step closer, a dream. It is what is in my heart.

    That is it. No idea how to bring it to a close. Can you imagine, half a year is gone? I am still chasing my resolution. I know I have to do better the second half to bring this year to a good conclusion. So much have happened in our nation (protesting, and the virus), many want this year to be done already. I need to focus. What is my goal and how to achieve it.

  • Review 20.7.250* (Quarterly)

    Day 250 / Spring

    It is finally day 250. Thought it couldn’t come soon enough.

    I do a report or review for myself and those who only come read my stuff ever now and then. If you only want to catch up on what I have been doing in the last 3 or 4 months, this should be the entry to read. This page will be bookmarked on the bookmark page.

    If you want to see what going on 5-6 months ago, you can read my previous entry (19.6).

    I am debating between two different approaches, whether to do a strict review of what occurred between now day 200 and now, or do a snapshot of what life is currently like for me of this very moment. I am leaning toward the snapshot and like to digress into free-write. Here we go.

    The reason for doing any of this is to allow me to take a step back and see a bigger picture what my life is like. Sometimes we are focused on the much day to day, that we miss a bigger narative – or the interesting thing that is happening in our life. I hope and want my life to be meaningful. I hope by doing this I am a bit closer to reaching my ideal. I believe life has meaning and we are building on it day by day.

    As I was running tonight (last night now), the covid virus was heavily on my heart, since one of the pastors I know is infected (a good friend too). This stuff is serious. There is a chance the person might day. How that affect me? I might die from the pandemic too. We don’t want to think about that but it is a reality. Am I ready? Am I satisfied with the direction of my life?

    It is easy to say, I am not worry. I have been living out in full. But am I really?

    I can die happy because…of Chile.

    My high point this quarter was trip Chile with my best friend and did the things I only dreamed of twenty years ago (yes, that long). The trip though truly was horrible. I could have gone with a better companion, but it had to be her. She was mad at me the whole time – she had been mad at me for three months beforehand and it all culminated on this trip, where things boiled over – the tipping point as you would call it. Why couldn’t we resolve our differences? Life is strange. People are strange. That was the back current to what was the most unique experience I had. Do I know why she was mad? She told me much later after the trip but to this day, 6 months later, I still don’t get it. Some things are just too hard for me. Sometimes, there is just no solution.

    Yet the trip was also the highest point in my life for many reasons. It was such an unbelievable trip – it was like climbing Mt Everest for me. I didn’t write enough about it. (Patagonia). It is not so much what we did but what we experienced together. Traveling with friends indeed is so different from traveling alone. I am not exaggerating. I hope to do more of it and if the same person if fate allows. It is a hard call if I know what was going to happen beforehand, would I still go? I don’t know.

    Then there was one month (6 weeks) of no activities. I don’t think I wrote much about it. It was one of the worse depression in my life. I really did not train seriously until the end of January (week1). At the time too, my finance situation was near melt down. For the first time in my life, I was wondering if I have enough to pay my bill and where I can get food. I was worry that money wouldn’t come in for my rent and that the check would bounce! However, last three months I have been better at controling of my use of money and finally some breathing room before this coronavirus hit. There were several entries I wrote about no money to sign up for races! That’s big when I had to give up on running in a race.

    Luckily. I did run in one race in Carlsbad, California CarlsbadMarathon. It is a beautiful place. I went there for my cousin’s wedding and was able to do a race the next day. My outlook regarding life improved. During the trip, my friend who I went to Chile with, also called – we finally spoke to each other after 3 months (seriously I didn’t know).

    Most of the time after that was training and more training. I was supposedly to train for a series of ultras and marathons I would be doing starting next week to the beginning of summer (previous race plan). Many of these races won’t be happening any more. The DC Rock-n-Roll and the Blue Ridge Marathon are canceled. It was funny when I planned 5-6 months ou t, no one could imagine it would turn out like this. I did couple overnight training trips for the Laurel race (LH1, LH2, and LH3/4). Both times were in snow. Interesting learning experience.

    Ran my last utra before the corona COVID-19 thing got serious (SenecaCreek). I thought I wrote a report on the race, but didn’t. It was briefly referenced in my weekly run su mmary. I didn’t treat the ultra as a race but more like a weekend long run, hence no race report. Actually, the race was quite good. I should do a serious report on it.

    Finally, I did some planning here and there. Nothing too concrete. I did some ‘preaching’ to myself to motivate me. I think they are fun to read. I usually borrow my pastor’s material. I call them Faith-running, that is to turn my belief and apply them to running. (transformation, thoughts, vision/goals, and resolve )

    Am I on track with my goals? who knows. I wish I have a big master plan. I am more of living from day to day, month to month and year to year. Planning isn’t my strong suit.

    I do try to run a marathon in all fifty states (I have done 8 so far). I am only limited by time and money. I hope too in a few years to run across the US continent (I haven’t written about this). It is a bit ambitious and requires careful planning. I want to hike the whole Appalachian Trail too (thru-hike), and that will be in a few years. My progression into longer and longer races is going on well. I haven’t run a 100 miler yet, and looking to do one either at the end of this year or the next. I have a huge race calendar on a Google spreadsheet and have been ticking off a race here and there. My goal is to do what I can do when I still have strength. It is getting harder each year at my age (true!). Aging is a reality. So I hike, run, and push myself to the max, because someday, I won’t be able to do at the level I can do at the moment.

    What’s next? I hope the coronavirus won’t cause more cancelations of my races. Couple of my races in May an June are on the fence. Of course the Laurel race (70.5 mile race) in June will be my biggest race of the year. The next report will cover it if it ever take place plus some virtual runs I will be doing meanwhile.

    *meta: I changed my numbering system. 20.7.250 means 20 for 2020 the year, 7 is the 7th review since the beginning when I started writing a monthly/quarterly review, and 250 is my date numbering from day 1. It goes from the significant to less significant. The day numbering usually get lost because we are not that good at counting beyond 10. Soon too the number of reviews will get too big to be meaningful. But the year, that is something fun and our brain can zero in.

    Why adding in the date? It makes it looks mysterious. It is like a software version triplet.

  • Review 19.6

    Day 200 Fall Review

    My running season (7th) is finally over, with a cap of successfully completing the JFK. It has been an intense roller coaster ride. I went through the highest of high and lowest of low in my runs and in my personal life to get there.

    My last report from Day150, was from early August. Instead of a report of every 30 days, I lengthened to 50 days, so I don’t have to write too many reports. A monthly or bi-monthly report has become a seasonal report. My one year of blogging just passed and I reflected on that recenly.

    At the end of summer, I was ready for fall training for the JFK. I trained for about 9 weeks and then I don’t know what happen. I stopped. I still ran but I didn’t log my miles and basically went off the training schedule. Luckily I didn’t blew my JFK race. However, if I have kept to the schedule, I might have done better. I did well, but who knows how much better I could have done.

    I wrote a race report on the JFK. The ultras that helped me to train up to it were OldGlory and MCM50k. I also did the Baltimore Marathon and Morgantown. I had a good time in both. I did couple earlier marathons (C&O1 and Altis) in September, however, I did not enjoyed those as much as the ultras and Baltimore. I thought it was an intense season, but now looking back, it was just about right.

    When I was not running, I had several good backpacking trips. The whole season was a struggle between training and doing other things, which I also liked. Roan Mnt trip was pretty good. At Dolly Sods, our hiking group learned a good lesson. Our trips to Mt Pleasant (occurred in the summer) and to Wild Oaks were also memorable.

    This season, I struggled with many things: my diet was totally off. I struggled with staying on my training. I don’t have a record how many miles I ran (tracked only up to week 9). I don’t think it was that much, around maybe 300 miles. I was lucky, indeed, and did not DNF on my races. I was also struggled with schedule conflict between racing/training/and other commitments.

    There were always trade-offs and sacrifices. I had to cancel the High Bridge Ultra and plus a hiking trip to the Triple Crown — both had lasting effects that haunted me and I hate to have plan changed on me. One word on trade-offs, neither choice have the same value – say trading a race for a hike, or a hike for a race, may seem like doing the same thing, but is not. In life, I don’t think there is ever an equal/fair choice. I hurt those around me with my choices.

    I dealt with couple times of low spirit in this season and sometimes I skipped my runs, especially the short runs. In fact I am still in the thick of it; yelp, season is over, but I still think about running. I skipped some of my races – big ones too, first time ever. I had to dig deep to find and regain a motivation to run and to overcome the busyness to train; too many things happened, things at my job at work and my relationship with other people. And even my weight training program was stopped. Only constant theme though was pushing on. I finished the JFK at a great cost. The season was a longer version of the race itself, except there is no finish line to cross and no crowd there to celebrate and no medal to receive. However, I am satisfied that the goal was accomplished and that is a reward.

    Luckily I have been healthy throughout. I had short period of pain and shin splint and various ankle rolls and such, but over all was healthy. There was no injury serious enough to sideline me.

    Looking ahead, I scheduled quite a few races for next year. It will be just as intense season like this one. God is good!