random thoughts

Day 191 On my way to OGU

I got my wish and now am heading out to Glen Lyn for the Old Glory 50K (OGU). I orignally thought I would have to skip it due to conflicting with a long backpacking trip this weekend. Through much toils and tribulations, here I am. Lot of unnecessary tears.

I could have revealed my feeling earlier. I if I like running and had a race booked, choose it. Trying to leave both options opened let me to this miserable state.

I don’t know how I will do. The night will be cold. I brought a truck load of clothes with me. I haven’t planned for any of the in race food yet. No water on me. I will need to buy some and then, cold temperature might cause it to turn to ice.

Last night I had my club run. Not many showed up because of the rain and cold. Something was going on downtown around Trump Hotel, they blocked roads and even we as runners were blocked off from going where we wanted to go. We detoured from our set route. We were originally running on 13th st from Constitution to P. They had us turned on Pennsylvania to 12th? My memory is a bit hazy.

At end of my run, I met an Orange Theory fitness instructor in my building. We never met before, but she saw my Marine Corps Marathon shirt and we talked about the race. She did it too this year. She has done several 50 milers. I said I was training for the JFK. She is also familar with it. It was like meeting an old friend.

I got home quite late, passed midnight. Spent an hour hauling stuffs I will need for my OGU race to my car before going to bed. I really packed a truck load of clothes. Because tonight gonna be cold.

past few days

Day 179

I got over my little depression (post marathon blue) the other day. I don’t know what might cause it or helped it go away. Thursday, though was not feeling great, I went out and did 5 miles. I found out I was not totally recovered from my last week marathon. Muscles were still sore. The run was great because we had couple younger guys showed up and they ran fast, at least faster than me. There was a lady too. She was also quite fast. It had been a long time since I found someone who could keep up and out run me. I had a good time to go an all out sprint at the end.

Friday, emotionally I was much better than Wednesday or Thursday. The blue totally went away. I went for a supposingly 20 miles long run but ended up doing 13. The funny thing was about couple miles into the run, I met a guy (Jack) who used to come to our Tuesday and Thursday run. So we greeted each other and continued on. He is a bit faster than me. We were apparently going down the same way on Rock Creek Park, in DC. This trail is long. We continued down same way and he was leading and I was just pacing from behind. I told him no need to wait for me because I will be running slow (to put in the mileage for the long run). After couple more miles we went our separate way. I continued down toward Lincoln Memorial, while he took a right (he said to East Potomac). Long story short, he was out of my mind as I continue to put in the next six/seven miles. I missed having him for company. Well in hour later, he sent me a text with the image of map of his run. He did 21 km (I thought was miles), and I said I only did 13.1 (miles). We then realized both of us have done a half marathon. I did not expect him to run this much.

If I knew he was going to run 13 miles, I would have joined him. However, it seemed he is not a social runner (run and chat with someone).

This post is long enough. Today, Saturday I was supposed to run another marathon, but I didn’t run it. I think I could have, but I am really over with running marathons. I went up on a mountain (called the Peak) instead and hiked 18 miles with a friend. I will write in a separate post some days.

Looking ahead

Day 178

Summer is over and Fall is here. I want to say it is good time for running. I have stacked every weekend with races from here on out until November.

My body is in good shape, but I am feeling the post marathon blue today. I did a small run of 5 miles. I could have done another 4 or 5, yet I don’t have the motivation to do it.

In fact, I went ahead to cancel this weekend race and the next weekend race. I tried to canceled the fourth weekend race too but I missed the deadline for doing that, so I probably will run it.

I probably will still run them on my own but without supports and race timed.

Suddenly, I am no longer interested chasing the bling bling of marathons.

Looking ahead, I have two ultras in November. The biggest one, the 50 Miler, is still to come.

more filler

day 170

What with the fillers? I have nothing to write so I am posting random stuffs that come to mind. I know, if I have nothing worth to say, don’t say it. I usually do abide by it. I only blog when I run, because that is what I like to talk about. Running kind of bring out so many other thoughts too.

I originally started blogging writing a narative of my life, mostly focusing on my running and backpacking trips. How great they are! I know. It is my love and my passion. And all the world should know it too.

I feel proud of my progress or even the lack there of. Every week is a new adventure and a new race. In the grand scheme though, who care, right? Who care if I run another marathon?

Why tell the world? I don’t know. But thank you for reading. Writing is a medicine to me, just like running to get my mind off things, writing does too. I don’t have a lot of followers and I don’t aim to gather a lot. I do appreciate those who read/comment on my blog. You are like a friend, a real friend. I certainly treat you guys that way and maybe some day get to meet in real life. Deep down I guess I do want attention! You by reading make me feel good, somehow.

But life is messy. I wish my life is a narative with clear beginning, a good plot in middle, climax, and good ending. I have been blogging for about a year now (started last October or November).

There was no clear beginning. Beginning was when I started the blog. You guys though kind of came in the middle of it. I already have been running for couple years before then. I am about entering my fourth year now. Middle/plot: It was really up and down. I don’t see any progress with my running… yes, I ran more races, I ran for longer distances. I attempted bigger races whic were unimaginably tough (or even impossible) to me several years back. I wish the blog kind of show how I got from there to here. I don’t know. Sorry. The details were kind of messy. You readers bear through it. In between you get fillers like this post. Climax/Ending. I don’t know where this will end. My dream is certainly to run all fifty states and also to run in the BAA (Boston Maraton). I hope that would be the climax. I don’t know if I ever get there. As for fifty states, a rough estimate is it will take me 25 years to run all fifty states. I will be like 65 by then.

Life is messy in another way. I don’t write much about my personal life – the real life, though, they probably are seen or can be inferred. Unfortunately, I don’t write about the messy stuffs of my life… like my cat died (j/k). Yup, it is just only about running. True, I am running away from my real world problems, which you guys won’t get to see.

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I did 3.5 or 4 miles last night and was about to do more but various issues popped up (real world). Not really my concern but they were a distraction anyhow. Couple people were let go from my work place today and it kind of shock me. I was told about at the beginning of my run. How unreal. You just couldn’t keep quiet right? You would think!

This messed up my run concentration. Who knew running takes concentration. My friend called/texted me. Before I knew it, my run isn’t happening. I am happy to even get 4 miles in.

Not sure if I will be posting in the next couple days as I will be busy training…weekend’s coming!!

Sacrifice

Day 160

It is only a couple days into my training, and I already encountered trade-offs and sacrifices. Yesterday I went to a birthday party and with that I couldn’t made the run. I was supposed to do 8 miles but it was 9 pm by the time I was free. I could have made the run but in the end it didn’t happen. The body won. I was too tired and lazy to go back out to do it. I needed the rest though. My shin were hurting at the time.

With the needed rest, I had fresh legs today. The shin splint seemed gone from both legs. I put in 10 miles. I kind of wanted to do 12 – 14 to partially made up for yesterday missed miles, but by the end of my 10 miles today, I didn’t have the will to do it. I stopped for bubble tea and rest was history. I now am sleepy and have no strength to run another two or four miles.

I am going to call it a day. I know I should run more when I am tired since I will have to do that for my race. I can’t imagine how to push for 20 more miles after running 30. That got to be running when I don’t want to run any more. That is why now most of my daily run is 10 or more miles. And i Should run them even when I am tired and don’t feel like doing it. It is a real race condition.

This weekend is going to be tough. Not just the run but personal life issues. I committed to help my cousin’s moving. I don’t know yet how my long run fit in. Then on Sunday too, I have several events related with my best friend. Time time time is what I need.

It is only technically my 2nd week of training and I am facing with choices and sacrifices. Should I go do such and such or should I run? Tough choices. I need to be more efficient too. I am still a beginner and haven’t had my schedule down, that is why I am facing such dilemma.

(I missed my mom’s birthday due to my run tonight)

4th of July weekend

Day 140

Good news. I ran today. It felt good. It was a slow run and I couldn’t get my heart rate above 110 beats. I ran for 4 miles, actually 3 mile and walked for 1. This was my long run for the week! But I’m very happy because I wasn’t out of breath!

My body is really weak. I am still happy to run because for last three weeks, it has been on a downward fall. I was wondering when I would reach the bottom. I actually couldn’t run at all. And today I felt I could finally find a pace and keep it. It felt great.

I felt now this what I can work with. I can rebuild and I will take it step by step. I will need to work up my mileage all over again. It is like I have a three year set back. It is hard to believe in three weeks time it got me down to like I haven’t ever run before. I still have five months to prepare for the 50 mile race. So it is not too late.

I have a bunch of marathons in between and the few of those will probably be scratched (meaning I will run very slow or not finish). The one in couple weeks, my target time will probably be 6 or 6.5 hrs. I will have to see what the cut off is. It might really be a scratched for me (DNF – did not finish).

Exhausted

Day 137

People are saying I am exhausted. I don’t feel tired but I can’t no longer run fast.

I have been trying to do couple of short runs, just under four miles but they have been very hard.

I would be out of breath after couple minutes and I never was able to get into my pace. I run slower than the slowest person in our running group. It is almost to the point of walking. It is not like I am not trying.

I felt my heart was up on my throat. Garmin thought differently. It said I haven’t broken a sweat. My heart rate stayed in zone 1 (resting) below 90 with on occasion entered zone 2, 93-120 beats, but I felt like dying at the time.

I am taking this Saturday off training.

I also measured my blood pressure. It is low but I am not sure if that is normal. They say runners tend to have low pulse and pressure. Mine is 90 over 65 and a pulse of 50-55.