In awe

Tag: stone mill

  • [692] Stone Mill 50

    It was my 6th time running Stone Mill. I believe you can’t step into the same river twice.  Indeed.  I can’t repeat the same race and have the same experience each time, but I still try.  Stone Mill 50 miler is such a race.  Usually, I try not to do a race again since there are so many races out there and I want to do as many as I can before getting too old.  However, some races you just love it so much you want to go back for more and with each time I ran, I am adding more to the experience I had.

    I have not reread last  report [2024].    It is probably more the same. Each year new memories overlap the previous. I got to say, they all have been good.

    Last couple times I ran it, I have gotten slower.  This time was probably my slowest still.  But a race is not just about having a finishing time but whether I enjoyed it.  I knew I could have done in a faster time and maybe to finish together with some of my fast friends.  Indeed, I ran with the same people each year, Wayne, David, and Jeremy.  I didn’t know Jeremy last year but he has been my favorite running buddy. We just have great time out on the trail.  This year too, Caroline joined us, and she is elevated above all my friends.  It was an honor to able to share the course with her.

    I finished 14:22:56. In the end, in any race it is about having a finishing time.  Thank you for volunteers and race director of keeping it open long enough for me to finish. It could have been other way, uff-da. More below.

    I elected the 1 hour early start, starting at 5 AM instead of 6 AM, like last year.  Not because I did not think I would not finish in time, but it did come close. 13.5 hours would have been a struggle for me, for I run like an old man.

      I got several of my friends to start early with me, that is, Caroline, David and Jeremy. Not that they are slow like me.  I just need my buddies around me. David and I have done this race together the last three years. David got it down under 13.5 hours. Jeremy, maybe 12 or 11.  Wayne around 10. Caroline, well, it was a good run for her.

    This was David’s fourth Stone Mill, in keeping with the tradition, he did it. And I hope he will do the fifth time next year for a special award.  Last year was my fifth and I got a jacket.  David is a new ultra runner, he does not run as many ultras like me.  This might be his 7 or 8th ultra. He has done the JFK, Stone Mill, Bull Run and Highland Sky, which seem to be a lot.  But mine are uncountable…, well about a 100 for me in the same time frame. And every year since he has joined me running the Stone Mill.  I felt special.

    I was expecting to finish between 13.5-14.5 hours.  I could run faster according to my prior year’s finishing times.  However, this year, I have not trained to run as hard or fast as before and I was recovering from several recent hard 100 races.  13.5 hour finishing was the race’s (target/required) finishing time.  The finish line doesn’t have a strict cutoff. They do want to go home around 8:30 pm and it was not good to make volunteers waiting around. People coming in after 13.5 would still be considered finishers. So that was good (unlike JFK another of our local area race).  Stone Mill as I heard was started in counter to to the JFK50, with lower registration cost ($65 without shirt), generous cut offs (with an early start option), a return to the fun low key trail community event (many of my trail friends were there — it was a whole day saying hi as they passed me by). 

    The early start gave me a buffer so I would not have to worry about  chasing cutoffs. In the end, I did kind of have to chase it, I came close to not making the 5:15 cutoff at Riffleford (mile 41/42).  I believe the course for that section was maybe a mile longer than reported (or as planned in my pace chart) so I had to put effort in running to make the cutoff.  I think the over all miles were closer to 51 or 52 miles.  However, I did not wear a tracking watch so, all these extra miles are hearsay, to be taken with gain of salt.  I know every year I felt that the section from Rt 28 to Riffleford is a bit longer but I’ve always forgotten to take that into account when planning my pacing strategy.  So putting it here for next year, if I happen to reread this race report to allow myself plenty of time to get to Riffleford!

    The weather was mild this year.  I could have worn a T shirt and shorts.  It was probably the warmest Stone Mill.  Earlier morning hours were a bit chilly because it is fall, but could have done it in a Tee. Temperature warmed up quite quickly.  I had a long sleeves on.  I am not worry about being too hot.  I think I had the long sleeve off around my waist as it got warm. I ran in shorts (I think, could not remember now).

    I started with 20-30 other runners.  David stayed with me for a while.  I think Caroline ran at her own pace.  For a while we lost her because she went ahead.  I got slightly lost after missing a turn.   David was with me at the time and said he thinks we should gone the other way.  He was right.  I was a bit embarrass because I was proud of myself to be able to do the race with my eyes close.  Here I was lost.

    God gives grace to the humble.  Amen. We backtracked and found the turn we missed.  I was not paying attention to turns since I have done this race so many times and never had gotten lost.  There’s always something new every year.

    I kept a steady pace. We reached the first aid station at mile 4, joking unofficial aid station since they were just setting it up.  I did not need to stop.  They had water ready for us.

    Eventually, I caught with Caroline and stayed with her.  David then went off ahead.  Caroline veered off at the Clopper Lake when the regular people, those started later at 6 AM caught up.  We did not know where she went, possibly to a rest room but later we saw her again at the Long Draught aid station. My plan was to start chasing David later in the afternoon as I have done in previous years and usually would catch up to him. That was my plan anyway.  Eventually, Caroline caught up to me on Riffleford outbound and I ran with her.

    Caroline and I arrived at near halfway point Pennyfield (mile 24) at 11:40 (we arrived maybe at 11:30, 11:40 was when I recorded leaving Pennifield).  Timewise was slightly behind pace I set (10 mins or so) but I believe was within acceptable range to pull off a finish.  Note, I’ve forgotten that the later section to Riffleford would be quite long and we should have been quick about getting through all aid stations. Uff-dah big time. We did tarry a bit maybe another 10-15 minutes, which is too much time to spend at an aid station since this is not a 100 miler.  I was overconfident my handy-dandy pace chart that it couldn’t be wrong.  I used the same procedure for setting a pace chart for all my races this year and always, they have been accurate. Well, garbage in-garbage out, is all I got to say.  I got bad mileage data for Stone Mill, and hence the pace was a bit off.

    Then we got on the C&O towpath.  My legs were tired and like every year, I did not feel like running on the towpath.  We walked first couple miles there and later broke into a jog to the Stone Mill Aid Station with was maybe about 4 miles away. It was beautiful and sunny.  I was enjoying the views along the river.

    This year, the Stone Mill (race’s namesake) aid station was set up inside the Stone Mill’s Ruins.  In the past, the aid station was in the parking lot.  It took more effort to move into the ruin building.  I thought that was a very nice touch though.  I also stayed very long at Stone Mill, maybe another 10-15 minutes than needed.  I was sitting on a rock to rest my feet, since my legs were killing me.  They were tired. Again, way too long.  We were about 40 mins ahead on our pace chart plan of the hard cutoff there and I thought we had the luxury to rest a bit, which came back to bite us at the end.

    After Stone Mill, there was some more road section before entering back onto the trail.  We kept pace with another couple, Nathan and his wife, people I met at the MMT couple years ago.  I believed we were moving at a decent pace.  Nathan was holding his wife’s hand.  People were commenting how romantic that was.  I’d held Caroline’s too but she wants to run on her own.  This was a 6-7 miles section on the Seneca Ridge Trail.  It might not seem long on paper but actually was quite long.  I think it was a section with the most climbs.  We went up and down on hills and eventually arrived at mile 34-35, RT 28.  Again, I overstayed a bit resting at the aid station.  My friend Mike was there.  So chatted a bit before leaving.  We were ahead of the cutoff by maybe 40 minutes.  I felt confident that according to my pace chart we should arrive at the next aid station by 4:50, well ahead of the next cutoff of 5:15.

    On paper, we had about 8 miles to get there and we had 2.5 hours to do it. If only we had 3 hours to do this, I was thinking. It was not a lot of time but also not impossible to make it.  I felt if we kept the pace we had been doing, we should be able to make it.  However, I forgot that this section was a bit longer in real life than on paper.  Likely it was 9.5 miles instead of 8 or 8.5.  We would need to move at 15.8 min pace instead of 17 min pace we have been doing. That two mins over 9 miles equates to 18-20 minutes eating into our buffer. We needed that 20 minutes we had earlier.

    The friend Nathan and his wife started running and passed us.  I felt it might be too early to panic like they did.  I would start running if it were 4 PM, an hour away from the cut.  My pace chart projected of reaching the midpoint (water only) aid station about 3 miles out at 3:30. We could re-evaluate the pace then. 3:30 passed and we were not there yet.  I started to get antsy.  Caroline was dropping further back. I knew I would not pressure her to run faster.  She would tell me to go on ahead anyway. She has to go at her pace. I knew at this point it was everyone is for themselves.  I could sense the atmosphere from other runners we passed or those that passed us, a sense of urgency and desperation — meaning we likely the last ones on the course at the time.  It is my special super power to sense when I might get sweep by the sweepers because I was usually near the last one on the course.  So I started to walking faster hoping the aid station would be around the corner.  I only arrive it after 3:45.  There were several other runners around. 

    Now there is another 4 miles to go and about an hour to do so.  I told myself I have to pick up my pace or else I wound be hard press to make the hard cutoff at Riffleford.  If we did not tarry long at earlier aid stations, we would not have to rush to get to Riffleford.  Always there are some tradeoffs.

    So I started running, maybe at around a 12-15 min pace.  I think it was more than 4 miles but I got to Riffleford by 4:55. 20 min ahead of the cutoff, and I was relatively back on pace according to my chart.  I think every year, I hustled to get here to be on pace with my pace chart.

      By now I knew I was safe, that is, plenty time to make the following cutoff at RT 355, which was at 7:20/7:40 and about 4-5 miles away. With two hours plus to do it, the next four miles was a luxury.

    I ran the whole way from then, since there was no reason for me to walk or hold back.  Just an itsy 4 miles.  It is a race for me and I was guessing all my friends would soon be done and now be waiting for me.   By pressing hard I reached the finish at 7:20, well ahead of my expected time of 7:45-8 pm, if I had walked.

    At the time, I was not sure if Caroline was able to make the Riffleford’s cutoff or not.  I last saw her about 4 miles before Riffleford and estimated she was 10 minutes behind of me (She was on one ridge while I was on the other at the time).  I was guessing she could be 20 minutes behind me by the time I reached Riffleford, and so it would be down to the wire for her to get there by 5:10-5:15, right at the cutoff.  Later, I found she missed it, maybe by a hair.  My friend Nathan too, was only 5 minutes behind me, they made the cutoff but elected not to continue, for they legs gave out. Nathan could have finished it, but I believe he elected to stay with his runner to drop out.

    As I arrived at the finish. Caroline was there already. The truth revealed, she arrived to the finish before me.  I was trying to catch up to my friend David too but he bested me by an hour.  At the time I did not realize it but was hoping to finish as early as by 7 pm and possibly a chance to catch him from behind.  It was a long shot but it kept me motivated to run as fast as I could.

    I was happy to reach the end.  Finishing was not too hard, rather it was how soon.  This concluded another year at Stone Mill.  As for next year, I might or might not run it.  If my friends are doing it, I likely would.  And I have been on a streak 6 years in a row, and it would be good to keep the streak going.  However, I would not want to run it base on that alone.  I want to run it to challenge myself on the trail and being out there with friends, doing what I like.  Stone Mill was a good run for me.

    Until next race…

  • Day514 Wrapping it up / Stone Mill 50 RP

    Stone Mill 50 mile race brings a close to my fall training season. It has been fun and a lot of grinding the past 10 weeks to get here. I know there are still four more weeks of fall, but weather is getter too cold for me to see that as fall. The fun of fall running is over after this race.

    Recap, after my attempted of the Iron Monutain 50 mile run on Labor Day weekend, I had a bunch of training runs and couple races to prepare me for the Stone Mill 50. Readers have been bearing with me from one training run after another. This year, I avoided the dreaded slump of doing too much.

    Stone Mill 50 was not a hard race in itself, due to it being held in the city (meaning lack of real technical trails and also closer to home) and a generous cut off time given (14-15 hours, 15 for those who started at 5:00 AM). I think it is doable and accessible to many first time ultra runners.

    This race attracts both the seasoned and new runners. For a repeated runner like me, this race was like a reunion. I started to recognize faces of runners from other races such as my friend Ram was there, also, Coach Phil who hosted the Stone Mill training runs recognized me, and Dan who refilled up my water pack. I met a couple runners on the course who have done this 4-5 times. One person, this was his 13th time.

    Iron Mountain, the race I did before this one, on the otherhand was much harder. As I wrote previously, I did not officially finished that race because I came in after 12 hours. That race challenged me to run Stone Mill 50 under 12 hours. 12 hour became a new bar for me to reach. You would think if I could run a marathon in 5 hours, doing in 12 hours should be easy for a 50 mile run. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work like that. Doubling the distance doesn’t mean doubling the time. Previous years, my times at Stone Mill were all over 12 hours. I really did not know how doable for me to aim for it.

    This year was my third time running. Here is a Report from 2021. It’s gotten easier, I admit. And third time the charm as they say. Fast-forward, I did get it under 12 hours, finished it at 11:16:48. It was a PR (personal record or personal best), beating my previous fastest 50 mile run by 15 minutes set at JFK50.

    This race is significant to me because the first year I ran this my grandmother passed away. Whenever I run this again, I remember her.

    In a marathon, especially in our area, often there are runners who run their race for a fallen soldier. It could be quite sober moment when I come across them. During Stone Mill, I passed one runner who had a photo of a soldier on the back of his hydration pack. It dawned on me, I was also running for someone.

    This year, I was excited to do again. Amazingly, two of my friends from my running club decided to join me. This always get me so excited.

    The first year (SM2020) when I ran Stone Mill, the race was like a Mt Everlast for me. It was tough. I have not done a 50 mile on the trail before then. I still don’t remember how I got through.

    Contrasting the first year, this year was much easier. A series of training run I did helped and so too were my prior years’ experiences. The number one thing was I did not get lost. My two other friends did like I did on my first year. They said the flagging was bad. I believe they were not used to the flagging system. Many Other races I did, the course usually flagged with streamers hanging from trees. The turns on this course were indicated by small rectagular flags on the ground. Two or more flags placed together means to turn. If they are on the left side of the trail it means to turn left and if they are placed on the right, to the right. However, flags could be easily missed if they are bended (or trampled) down or covered by leaves. I think that was a reason people got lost. I was used to seeing ribbons too but now I learned about flags, I began to like it too. I believe they are more predictable and you could run with your eyes down on the ground instead of constantly scanning the trees.

    Another factor standing out was I was quick in my passing through at the aid stations. Drawing from my MMT experience (a race I did not finish), I learned to be as quick at the aid stations as possible. This stems from a change of philosophy that I have to keep moving. I skipped some aid stations when I didn’t need to stop. My longest stop was at near the midway at mile 24, I stopped there for 7 minutes to change socks and shirt. It was a bit too long I know, but I was almost a magnitude faster than last year. I might have used about 3 minutes at the food table and 4 minutes for changing my shirt and socks. Wet socks were hard to remove. The overall result was still a quick in-and-out, much quicker than previous years.

    Now about the race, we arrived early at the race site at around 5 am, an hour before the race start. My friend David had just gotten back from his vacation in India a couple days before and so probably was suffering from a bit of jetlag. He almost couldn’t make it due to some complication with his travel. My other friend Alex hasn’t run for over a whole month and likely has not done any long training runs. Alex has done a 100K before, so this 50 mile distance was not much to fear. But I was worried for these two being out there and doing a 50 miler with me, having very little preparation, especially toward the end, as the time approaching cutoff.

    About 200 runners starting and 150 volunteers supporting us. We were waiting for the go signal

    The first few miles were uneventful. The sun was about to rise when we started at 6 am. I was surprised how early the sunrise was. I had expected that we would be running an hour in the dark but it was like 10-15 minutes after the start it got lighted. I had just entered the woods. We held a steady pace. We had 14 hours to finish (by 8 pm). The first mile was on the road. We ran down Watkins Mill Road to the Seneca Creek Trail. By 6:30, the sun was completely up. We had a beautiful sunrise. The temperature was unusually warm. I think the temp in the morning was around 60 degrees (15 C). And it would continue to climb to 70s. I like it hot but many other runners prefer it to be a bit cooler. For me it was perfect. I got a feeling I would do well on this run.

    The trail was a bit muddy since much weakened Tropical storm Nicole that caused major devastation in Florida passed through our area just the day before.

    My two friends were trying to keep their shoes clean and dry and they tried to go around mud puddles and such. For me, I ran through them. Mud is part of ultra runner life. I expected to have a lot of it. Fortunately, only a brief portion of the trail was muddy. Most of the trail in the later portion was on a ridge, so the trail drains well.

    I stayed with my friends for the first 9 miles or so. We all skipped the first Aid Station at Rt 355 (mile 4), but they stopped at the second one at mile 9. I did not stop but went on ahead. They were quick though, by the time I left the third Station (mile 11), they had caught back up. I only grabbed a cup of soda at the third aid station, so I was out less than a minute. After that, I did not see them again until at the finish. I was hoping they could catch back up by the time I reached mile 24, but I was probably going too fast for them. Normally, they would be much stronger runners than me.

    My goal always had been to get to mile 24 in 5 hours. This year I arrived at 5:03 elapsed time (11:03 am in real time). Compare to two other years, I was here around 11:45 am. So I was already 40 mins ahead the game. In a previous year, I stayed between 20 to 30 minutes at this aid station. This time I only stayed for about 7 minutes.

    As I arrived, a volunteer found my dropbag where I have clean clothes and other things I want, such as an energy drink. I then instead of changing out stuff, took care of my fluid needs first. I might have grabbed some sodas and fruits and various of sweets and crackers on the aid table, just stuffing myself. Another volunteer was so kind to take my hydration bag and refilling the water for me while I ate. I also grabbed a cup of chicken broth. The salty soup was refreshing.

    The ordering how I did is something I learned from MMT. Basically Water, food, then your feet, and everything else. It is the order of importance. At MMT, I did this in reverse, and so ended up did not drink or eat enough before leaving the stations and later low energy derailed my race. Stone Mill is a much smaller scale than MMT, and I know I could skip food if needed, but I still tried to perfect it, by taking care of my body. Water is the most important. I don’t need to drink it at the aid station, but I need to make sure my bag is full.

    Lastly, I then went to change. I couldn’t let my body cool down too much. In my mind, I still have a marathon distance to run (26 mile), I couldn’t afford bonking now so I got to get moving as fast as I could. A volunteer I knew called out “Antin, you have stayed too long, get back out there!” I left the station in full agreement, first by walking and then started to do a slow jog, then slowly got back into my pace in a mile or so. The key to ultra running is don’t stop (this is my current philosophy). The moment you stop, you don’t want to start back up again.

    In a previous year, this section was when I passed a lot of people because most people usually have hard time getting over the 26 mile hump because we usually trained to run a marathon and many runners, this is there first 50 mile run. They don’t have the ability to push much beyond their low moments yet at this point in time.

    This section to me was always the most boring section. We were on the C&O canal towpath. The view is nice but because everything is far away, you don’t like you are moving at all. It was 4.5 miles to the next station. This year I did great by focusing and kept a good pace through the canal portion. I had help.

    I ran with a runner (I think Jamie) and I recognized her from a few of previous races – such as at the MMT. She is a beast at ultras. She has done MMT like 4-5 times. And Stone Mill mutiple times. Same too for the Devil Dog. Plus she did Grindstone. She has seen it all. All these are races in my area and they are tough races. I wrote about these all the time. She is definitely my hero.

    With Jamie pacing me, I got to Stone Mill Aid Station without a problem (mile 28). She didn’t mean to pace me, but we were going at the same pace. It helped to pass away the boredom. The next Station Rt 28 was about 6.5 mile away. This was my toughest section this year. In the previous year, this was the section I became alive and passed a lot of people because I had someone who held me to a good pace. Not this time. I was bonking and people were passing me instead.

    I felt bloated from the food and drinks I had at mile 24. Those were not digested yet. In this section I could not find my pace. I had to walk a lot. My time was slipping. Runners from the rear were catching up. Then Jamie caught up again to me about two miles out, but I latched onto her, she and another runner got me back on pace. I also had to do a restroom break behind a tree and that relieved the pressure/bloatedness I was feeling. After that I was able to run again.

    Jamie paused at the RT 28. There were a lot people hovering at the RT 28 station, so I decided to skip it. It was a good chance to get ahead of them. I grabbed a piece of bread as I came through and headed out and I did not lose any time stopping. I was able to catch back up to people who passed me earlier. I remembered what Jamie said, that she normally finished Stone Mill in 11:30:00. It kind of giving me an idea of what my finishing time would be. I was definitely wanted to finish under 12 hours.

    sunrise over the lake (and my finger)

    We were on the Seneca Ridge Trail now, a part I was familiar with and liked it a lot. I was able to catch up with a few more runners. These (strong) runners were bonking here. They were big guys with long legs. They were walking and doing everything in slow motion. It was a common sight. It was a good opportunity to pass them. I swallowed some gummies and pressed ahead. Everyone was kind enough to let me pass. I said I tried to get it under 5 o clock and they cheered and encouraged me to go for it. I got to the next station where I refilled my water bag one last time. I might have used a minute or two off the clock. We had only 13 miles left to the end (in reality I think it was more like 15 miles). I wanted to be optimistic. I made good time to the next aid at Riffleford (9 miles left to the end. My goal was to pass Riffleford as quickly as possible since I already made a stop earlier.

    I was quick with my stop at the station here too. My goal was to reach here by 3:00 pm, but I arrived at Riffleford at 3:15. My goal now was to finish the race by 5:00 pm. With 8.5 miles left I believed it was possible. They offerred me broth, but it seemed they had to heat it first, so I did not stay for it. I chugged some cups of soda and off I went along with a few runners. Here I met a fast runner. He beated me up the hill I wouldn’t see him again (he was like spiderman, with a few strides he disappeared up the hill). I was able to catch other four or five other runners on the hill, until I got to Meg, who was leading the pack. She was too fast for me to overtake. I asked if she allowed me to follow her. She did not mind. It was her first time doing Stone Mill. I tacked onto her leaving the rest of the group as we ran up another hill.

    No others were in front of us. We had 8 remaining miles. This was long 8 miles. We were able to catch up to one more runner. In my mind it was like only 2 miles to Rt 355, however, Meg and I ran maybe another 4 miles before we got there. My goal was to get to Rt 355 by 4 pm so that I could have a good shot at finish by 5. 4 pm went by and were still not there yet. 4:15 passed. If I had any chance left, it would be now. We were still maybe half mile from the station.

    I don’t know when we arrived at Rt 355, maybe around 4:20-4:25 pm. Meg did not stop at the station and I praised her for that but I was pretty much drained. I stopped at the station and said goodbye to Meg. She seemed too strong and likely could finish by 5 pm. After maybe a minute or so breather at Rt 355, I left knowing only 4 more miles to finish the race. I knew I could finish and I had to finish before darkness because my headlamp was not bright enough and I don’t want to be on the trail in the dark (I forgot to check the batteries before the race and so they were about to die and at the time I did not know if I had any spares — I only know I did have spares later on after the race).

    Maybe about a mile later, I caught back up to Meg. She was walking. The two guys who left the station with her were nowhere in sight. So I was happy to pace with her again, hoping we might have a shot to catch up to them again. I assumed we might catch other runners when we reached the road. I could possibly pass her now and could finish with an earlier time (though 5 pm finish was no longer a realistic goal) but I like to remain with Meg. Meg’s goal was to finish by 5:30 pm. We had about an hour so I settled on 5:30 as well. I said to her we have only 3 miles left. We could run a 5K in normal condition under 30 minutes. So I told her, we don’t have to fast, we just have to keep going. She listened and responded. By 30 minutes later, (5 pm) we reached the wooden bridge where I knew we would be at the road junction soon, from there it was just a final hill climb up to Watkins Mill Rd. We got on the road by 5:06 pm. Meg was definitely tired. She was breathing heavily and walking from time to time even though the road portion was supposed to be easier.

    To me, we had to finish strong. Here I believed I could run all the way to the finish. I told her, it was just a mile left. For trail runners, running on the road is not fun. We just had to endure it for 10 minutes max, and we would be back at school (our starting/finish location). I walked with her whenever she paused to walk but I said if she sees the school, we got to run to the finish. What thrilling to me was whenever I spoke, Meg was able to draw strength and she was pressing harder. I felt I was fulfilling my job as a pacer. It couldn’t be more than quarter mile away. We did it. She ran up the hill. We finished at 5:16, way ahead of our 5:30 goal!

    It was a good finish. For me my goal was complete it under 12 hours. I was way ahead of that, coming in at 11:16. I still had what it takes to run fast. It gave me a boost of morale to attempt the Iron Mountain again next Labor Day where I will have to do that under 12 hours.

    Runners coming in straining toward the finishing mat

    My other friends finished too. One came 12:45 and the other about twenty minutes later. I was happy none were cut. I was happy for them. It was a tough run and they did it. They almost got me worry when we were near 13 hours.

    conclusion. I stayed till almost to the last runner. They say the sweeper is coming. There was a woman waiting for her husband. We watched him on the map on the phone and saw him going down the wrong road. He did realize and backtracked and made it to the finish. Unfortunately, the official time already expired so his time was not counted. He was happy nonetheless. I was happy to celebrate his finish. It made my day. I found out later, he was one of the people I talked to earlier on the course, Jared. It was so cool to make the connection.

  • Day509 TR4 – Halloween

    What a weekend! In a bad way. I worked over this weekend so i’m kind of dead (a zombie) now. There’s no partying for me tonight. Certainly absolutely there was no party over the weekend. I’m boring. My mom wanted to kipnap me to celebrate my birthday, but I escaped. Oh there was the MCM, Marine Corps Marathon, but I deferred it, so no, I won’t say anything about that, except lucky runners had such a beautiful race. MCM probably will be my tradition birthday run some day. Yes, next year.

    I also did my training run over weekend. It was the last run before the race. What race? The Stone Mill 50.

    This race originally was not too special. I did my first 50 miler at end of 2019. My first attempt of Stone Mill was in 2020, during the pararoma. My grandma passed away while I was running it. Last year, I did not plan to sign up but I believed after attending one of the training runs, I got hooked and did a quick sign up before the race, ah I remember, the friday of, they didn’t even have my bib ready (or at least the volunteer couldn’t find it)! Last year on this day my mom was in the urgent care (Kaiser) after suffering a stroke (she has completely recovered now). So this race now has a bit of personal history, both sadness and celebration!

    This year I am happened to recruit two of my friends to run this. It will be two weeks from now, so knock on wood nothing will happen to us. My friend David probably gave up (deferred) his NY Marathon entry to run this. I am touched. I truly believe he can do both (like on back to back weekends). This guy could finish a 50 mile under 10 (while I am trying to beat 12 hours). He seemed modest in his approach but if I were him, I run both.

    The other guy Alex also super athletic. He said he won the age group award in a race. He probably could run it under 10 hours too.

    I don’t really need to do a training run myself but I know if I don’t go to them, I am too lazy to train on my own.

    So it is the end of the month and our company needs to close its book, which means a lot of work for all as we try to get everything done and recorded for this month.

    I was stressed out. But on Saturday, I showed up bright and early at the trailhead with several other people. This week run was long but the number of people coming out was fewer than previous weeks since there were two 50K races happening this weekend in our area. Most of the guys (and gals) normally came out were in those races. I, in fact, contemplated running one of them (PB&J 50k and the Patapsco 50k).

    The weather was beautiful. We went from around 35F to 65F during the day. I really wanted to be back out the next day to do it again.

    I put in 20 miles plus 5 mile hiking around Cloper Lake (I renamed it as Seneca Lake). The run itself, I was not putting too much effort into it. I was kind of the last guy in the pack. Mostly because my mind was occupied by work.

    I so happened to roll my ankle, because my mind was else where. First the left, then the right, and then the left again. Finally, while hiking, I really put too much force and I rolled it the third time on my left and boy was that painful.

    First time, didn’t hurt. Second time, hurt a little. Third, it was ouchie ouchie limping pain. I walked it off. Now they are better, but still there is a bit of soreness.

    Sunday, I did not go back out. It was a beautiful day. Here are some pictures.

    On the Seneca Ridge/Greenway Trail and at the Seneca State Park, where I will run a 50 mile race in November

    We hope we will have such nice weather on race day. Enough with all the training runs. Happy Halloween!

  • Day505 Stone Mill TR2

    Stone Mill 2nd Training Run. For those who like to compare what it was like last year, I was able to find the last year entry (SM TR21, day445).

    I have nothing much to write about since I am grounded. No, I mean I have no where to go and it felt like being grounded. It was fun last couple months when I traveled everywhere to run. Now, I am back in my local area every single weekend.

    Training runs are as exciting as they get. I don’t actually need to train for Stone Mill. It is a race I’ve already done twice and I am familiar with it but it wouldn’t hurt to go for the training runs. It also gives me something to write about.

    Note, I just reread last year entry, and even with this close to the race day last year, the surprising thing was I at the time did not intend to run in the Stone Mill for a second time. I guess I must have sign up later after the training run.

    It has been my policy not to rerun a race. Apparantly that was no longer apply to this year plan. I knew very early on I was going to do Stone Mill the third time (and as well as the Devil Dog, and Iron Mountain).

    Last year, around this time in the season I was burnt out from running. I start to have that feeling again. I started to think do I really want to do this. I don’t remember how I got over it. Maybe it was a new season that got me out of my mood.

    I still run a lot. In fact, I just signed up a bunch of races. Nothing too earth shattering. I added the Bobcat Trail 11 Mile Run. A short one but I think it is technical – the stuff I like. It is from the famous director of the MMT and the Cat 50. I had ton of fun and heartache from his past races.

    I also added a 5K, this weekend, nothing to write about except that I can still run fast! This is probably my 2nd 5K this year. I almost thought I couldn’t be able to run it under 30 mins. I did it in like 25 minutes! I would like to have 24 or less, but I will take 25 mins any day.

    I added a marathon (NCR) for the Saturday after Thanksgiving. At first, I was going to do the VDM (Vicky’s Death March, a self run), but then I am probably too lazy to get myself to do it, so NCR it will be. I have done the NCR before. Usually, I don’t rerun a race unless it is very special. NCR doesn’t meet that standard. oh well. It is something to do on an empty weekend.

    Note, in last year entry, the focus was on the race following the training run, but this year, I didn’t want to talk about the race. Not that it was anything bad, but I felt my experience was so more exciting at the training run.

    Now about my training run, we met on an early Saturday morning. The meeting time was 7:30 but I wanted to be the first guy arriving, so around 5-ish I was up already. In fact, I did not sleep much after 2 AM.

    The run was 18 miles on easy rolling hills. This will be my third time running Stone Mill, so nothing in race really challenges me. I am aiming to get a faster time (maybe under 12 hours). The race will be in about 3 weeks.

    Was the training run necessary for me? No, but I like having a refresher of the course. It also motivates me to run, otherwise, I would be lazy and stay home.

    I wanted more miles so I added 10-12 miles. I did not know how many miles to add to it, but in my mind, I wanted to run until I bonked — that is couldn’t run any more. Later, while on the course, I settled to go around Lake Clopper which was about couple miles away and would take four miles to run around. This gave about 12 miles. Of course, I got lost a few times trying to find the trail and that added couple more miles. I finished with 32.5 miles for the day.

    One thing I like about the run was we had beautiful fall weather. I took a few photos.

    A deer blocking my way. I had to wait till it moved out the way

    There was one new thing I learned. The trail was blazed (color painted on trees to give direction) with a blue bar. Occasionally, the blazes changed to a slash. In previous years, I had no idea why they did that. On this run, it occured to me the slash indicates the trail is turning. Forward slash (slash to right) means the trail is shifting to the right. And the backward slash, (slashing to the left) means the trail is curving to the left. I just thought that was interesting. I have been hiking for 5-6 years, and only now I got it. Actually, I haven’t seen this convention being used on any other trails.

    I also noticed on bike trails, the trail blazes and markers are painted near the ground (because) bikers keep their eyes glue to the ground, instead of higher up at eye level. I did not take a picture of this, but I thought it was interesting.

    I have two more training runs in the next two weeks. Another neat thing was I got to see how the Lake change from week to week. I didn’t take photos the first week, but trust me, the leaves were still green the first week, and last week, the leaves were turning. I wonder what the leaves going to be next week. By race day, I bet there won’t be any leaves left.

  • Day380 Stone Mill 50

    I ran the Stone Mill 50. There are reports out on the internet about this race, so I won’t go too much into it. Yes there were swamp pits and stream crossings. Most trails are dry and runable (smooth). It is enjoyable if you like trail. Not for clean road runner people though.

    This year is their 10 or 11 years. There are couple runners who did every single race. The race course at least has changed couple times. The rough year was 2016/17 when they added the lake segment. Due to lack of volunteers or lack of flags, some runners got lost or miss a turn. We this year, as I can tell, benefitted from prior years oopses, and it was near perfection. There is usually a volunteer or two at each major turn. I spent the last few weekends learning the trail, so almost everything went off without problem. I don’t think this is necessary to run this race but always good to know where to go beforehand.

    I had couple lucky breaks through even with ample of flags and volunteers. There is this hardly noticeable connector trail between Long Draught Trail and the road (about one to two miles ish) and I have wandered around few weeks before looking for it. I thought I got it when a local resident who had ran this race showed it to me. Unknown to me the trail splitted in half, and there is a place to cross to the other side of the stream. There is no path showing to cross at that section (because no one uses this connector trail). Luckily a runner behind me called out saying we have to run on the other side. That saved us from deviating from the course. We did not see a course flag or ribbon telling us to cross over. The runner behind us probably had done the race before and knew.

    I have done couple trail races out in the country side. I am good with trail finding trail and following the blazes and reading map since I have been hiking in the wild. I usually don’t get lost. You kind of develop that 6th sense. I have done hiking without light (not recommended) and your feet can tell where trail is by feeling. I ran at Signal Knob without flashlight couple weekend ago!

    I got to say though the blazes for this race was good but they could improve some more. I have seen RDs in other races have a system in flagging the course. This race though seemed to flag thing haphazardly (as mentioned in other’s people reports). The flag only was there to confirm you are on the right path and often times, it lacked indicator if you should turn or not. Here how I see other RDs have done it. They should only flag at one side, say on the right side. As long as you have the flag on the right, you are on course and heading in the right direction. Also They should use double ribbons to indicate a turn. There would be a third flag to indicate/confirm you have made the correct turn. Somehow this race they don’t make it obvious that a turn is coming and you should pay attention.

    This year Stone Mill 50 usually had sufficient flags/ribbons. However, their flags gave mixed-signal. They flagged everywhere and they mixed it all together. What I mean is sometimes their flags were on the left and sometimes they were on the right. You had to pay attention to both sides. They also had small flags on the ground and ribbons on trees but they all were used for the same thing. So sometimes you had to pay attention to trees or posts and sometimes the ground. Sometimes you see flags and sometimes you see ribbons, so you got to look out for both. It was just annoying. Flags are small but have reflectors, which is good for night time. Ribbons/streamers are good during the day time, because they are long and easy to spot. One thing that bothered me is there was no turn indicator. They just put a single ribbon and you never know if you should turn or go straight because it means the same thing! I found this super annoying. I was familar with the trail so even if they did not have any flag or ribbon I would know where to turn at most places. For example, there was a three way split (like a Y intersection) and our course ran one branch of the Y the first part of the day and the second branch on the later part when we looped back. I was familar with this intersection so I know where to go, but the two runners before me were from out of town and they were clueless since the course is flagged on all three sides, which is insane! I helped them of course. These kind of tricky intersections should be mentioned in the director’s briefing. How do you know which way to turn at such intersection? Lucky though usually there is a volunteer nearby or a runner nearby who knows the way. Usually there is another flag within a tenth of a mile so you can get a confirmation. Their flag system lack turn indicator.

    That was a mouthful. I did not get too lost in the race. The course had about 4 trails (Greenway, Seneca Clopper Lake area, Muddy Branch (not muddy at all), C&O, and Greenway again, and Seneca Ridge). They are all public trails and are blazed by the county so just follow them if needed if flags/ribbons are not available. My race prep helped. Another thing the race director could have done is give out a turn direction sheet and trail/mileage ahead of time (most races I did have a turn by turn sheet except for this race). They provided us a low resolution course map but that was not very helpful. They also provided a Strava link. Strava was good for most part except there were certain places I don’t think was correct because it was not actually real Strava data, but hand drawn in. Unless you are local residents, you might be in trouble (there was no trail there). The race is not friendly to out-of-area runners.

    In most races there would be a pre race briefing that the director would point out some gotchas and things like that. We did not have one due to Covid measures. I doubt in previous years RD would brief runners on problemtic sections of the trail (otherwise the RD would have some kind of announcement on the website for this). One Gothas was you have to run in through a building (Stone Mill ruins). I wish the RD would have pointed this out. It was just a cute thing to do to run through it. I missed it and went back for it when the volunteers mentioned. Not a big deal. I lost maybe a tenth of a mile to walk back and run through the ruins. Yes it was flagged but again I thought the flag was to indicate going straight instead of a turn… When you saw the flag and the aid station in a tenth of a mile, who thought it was a turn away from the Aid Station? Things like that are just annoying.

    I don’t mean to hammer the RD too much. Flags might not have been done by the same person, so you get all kind of crazy stuffs. They are probably done by volunteers. I still give it a 9/10. They were usually not an issue, just a few places I mis-interpreted the flag meaning and went farther than I should.

    The course is probably exactly 50 miles as measured by a GPS device. I added 2 extra miles to my pace chart before the race thinking the course will be long. It was good thing I did. The final miles from my Garmin was 51.5 miles (understand that my GPS might not be accurate either – none ever is). Those extra 1.5 miles were on me though. Some were from walking around at the Aid Stations. Some extra miles were from not making the right turns.

    A big oops for me was looking (or fail to look) for Seneca Greenway from the C&O portion. It was not hard. But a volunteer told me there would be someone there telling me where to turn. So I was not paying attention much to the flagging. They were flagged every quarter mile anyway. So I missed the last flag on the Rd. We were running on the road at that time. It was hard to pay attention to both sides of the road. I was running on the right side. The correct turn was on the left and they flagged the left side. I was only paying attention to the right because I saw the county trail blazes on the right. So I went probably quarter mile off course till reaching the end of the road and was wondering where were the flags. So I went back and saw the course ribbon and also other runners. I say that was my lucky break. I pulled up maps and stuffs and a passerby pointed to some other directions. My six sense was telling me something else too. Lucky, out of pure luck I ignored all those false leads, and decided to head back to look for the last flag. That was a lucky break. I only lost at most half an hour! That was the only place that could easily have gotten me 1 hr or two off course and I would have DNF. I take that 30 mins lost time happily.

    Now I got that off my chest. I knew always what can mess me up in a race is wayfinding after learning my hard lesson in Atlanta over the summer. For this race I paid unusual extra attention to map studying and when I couldn’t do it from the map, I went to the course in person (being tipped off from other people’s reports). The place where I got lost, was one I did not do a map study or have gone in person (It was the week, I went to Signal Knob instead of to the course, else I could have caught it). I also felt that section was a low priority since I probably has ran it during Spring when I did the Seneca Greekway 50K. Nope it was not the same section. So I made my mistake.

    Let start back from the top. I love this race. I first learned of it last year in 2019 when they made a call for volunteers for their spring 50k. I volunteered. I never done trail races before then. Well I did a 5K/10K the previous October (2018). I have fallen in love with it since. There was also my ultra at First Landing in December 2018, but that was not a serious trail race (not as challenging as this one). This one was a real in the woods trail and a long one. So This year, I ran the Seneca Greenway 50K in the spring just at the time Coronavirus broke out in our region. We got the race done before the shutdown. This time again for Stone Mill, we got the race done, just as a second wave is breaking out, and a possible shutdown in our area in near future.

    Earlier in the year, I did not intend to do the Fall edition of the MCRRC races, Stone Mill 50, reason being it is too cold to run in November. I read about the freezing stream crossing. No way for me. I hate being wet and cold. 50 miles are lot of miles. People said this year we had one of the best weather in the race history. I would run it anyway.

    So how come I ended up running it? Cabin fever I’m telling you. Being stuck inside since spring due to the corona and with all races canceled, when I first learned there is a live person racing (as oppose to virtual racing), I signed up. Remember about a month ago I snucked out to PA to run the Gettysburg Marathon, even though it was cold that day 32F. And before that in July/August I did Rocking the Knob in PA and Camp Anderson (was a virtual race but we ended up meeting unofficially in person with a bunch of people). It was also very cold for this weekend. The wooden bridges we crossed during the race were iced over.

    Yet I was all thrilled. In person racing! Yay! I signed up a month ago after they posted online that they got the permit from the county to host the race. Since then, they were fighting with the State Transportation department to get the road permit. They got it about couple weeks ago on an appeal! This week, just two days before the race, Governor Hogan went on a press conference – talking about measures due to the spike of corona cases in our region (a second shutdown is likely). We caught a lucky break that our permits were not revoke. So the race was on.

    I scrambled to buy my race day food. I needed a new watch. I wish I got a new pair of shoes but it was too near to the race to try new thing. I ordered socks from Amazon. I tried out those toes socks, ended up did not wear them. Got a new headlamp. Kind of OK. Not a big fan of the model I got, but it was functional, and helped me through the race.

    I packed on Thursday night. Repacked again on Friday …because I was debating whether to get a hotel near the race site to reduce the travel time on race morning, otherwise I would have to be up by 3 AM to get ready. I wanted to be on the course by 5 (first wave started at 5 – we had wave start, which was every 5 mins with 10-20 people would start). Looking back, I should have gotten the hotel.

    With all the planning, I ended sleeping at home. I got home late on Friday after going to MD to pick up my bib after work. I knew it too, to fight against traffic coming back to Virginia. It was 8pm by the time I reached home. I had to do some last minutes shopping for race day food. After that was done…still I have not really eaten dinner. It was 10. I knew I had to be in bed by 8 to have 8 hr of sleep. Couldn’t really fall asleep at all, maybe I was too excited and maybe was not used to going to bed this early. I overslept of course. I set alarm for 3:30 but I snoozed it till 4. Then o Sh*t I need to be out the house by 4. I knew but still wanted that extra mins of eye closed. Staying at the hotel might have been a wiser choice from racing perspective (but I was not willing to spend money, and also covid concern, and the hotel I wanted was sold out).

    I got up. Repacked again for the third time. We were given two dropbags. I hadn’t planned what to put in them. One would be returned to us and the other would not. By now I just tossed things into my car, what ever I saw I grabbed and tossed them in. My truck was full of clothes – it was like a closet. Three pairs of shoes. A pair of sandals. Probably 10 pairs of shirts – long sleeves, short sleeves, shirts for changing mid way, shirts for the end. couple jackets. A bunch of supplies, med/emergency kits. Bandaids and wraps. sissors. tapes. pens. Just tons of stuffs. Some are in their poaches some not. Two – three flashlights. Tons of food, water, drinks. I had my breakfast, left over from dinner the night before. I was not very efficient or organized. I got to the course around 5:15. It was cold. I had two layers on. a shorts and a long pants. I had two jackets (both were fleece). I spent maybe half hour at the course organizing, repacking for the fourth time. This time for real. The goal was to lighten my race bag.

    Funny story. I decided to take my phone charger with me to charge my watch midway through. My watch usually dies around 10 hours. So I need a charger if I want to keep my watch alive. This charger is big and heavy. I thought of getting those lipstick charger but forgot to order. So in order to carry the charger, I had leave behind my med kit. Guess what! The med kit was needed about an hour into the race. The guy in front of me rolled his ankle and it was a bad roll. We think he later dropped from the race. I really wished I had my kit with me. Later on, another runner came by, she had hers and so helped the dude out. She was probably worked in medical field. She asked the guy a series of questions, like a doctor. If he has taken this or that med, if he is allergic to this or that med. She was extremely careful. She mentioned a dozen of different medicines, some generic versions and she would say so. I think she is a pharmacist. Not that she wouldn’t share her meds but she really cares about the dude as a pharmacist or one of those health professionals. For me and friends when we go camping and hurt, we just say you want Aleve? Here take it and that would be all. It is up to the patient to know what to take or not. So a lesson learned – Don’t go into the woods without a first aid kit!

    The race started on time for me. Rumors were flying that not all showed up for the early waves. We had 250 signed up but only 119 finished. Not sure how many no-shows or DQ/DNF or dropped. 119 included many who went over the 13 hr limit. They were not DQ. I am proud that I ended with 12:37. That was my goal to finish under 13. I felt I needed 14 hours.

    The race started strong for me. We were in our group of 7 for the first few miles. Then they all left me except the dude who rolled his ankle. I had trouble of seeing. My glasses fogged up. They were bouncing around too much anyway. I had to take them off. I am literally blind without them. I got through the first four miles without problem though. Night training without flashlight helped but I don’t recommend this for everyone. The dude in front of me was kind enough to call out branches and stumps for me so I could avoid them. Ironically he was the one got hurt from a tree root not long later. I felt very sorry for him. It was his first time running a 50. He told me to leave him. I waited until another runner passed by who helped him. I probably lost 5-10 mins there.

    With the sun up, it was easier to wayfind. I had no more incident for the rest of the race. I was stronger than I anticipated. Even though people of my wavestart left me, they went out way too strong, and the later I was able to catch 5 out of 6 (I’m the 7th person). A few people in groups (only two groups) behind me caught up, I was not fazed. I do know I needed to get away from people in my group and those after me because by way we are seeded, it is not likely they would be able to finish based on last year stats. I checked the names, not many of the last group finished (three in my group and 3 in the last group – that is like 70% failure rate, note this included those who finished beyond 13 hr limit, if not including 13 hr limit I think the failure rate is at 90% or higher). I didn’t want to ended up with them, knowing they wouldn’t have much a chance in finishing. At the time, I did not know how strict the RD would in enforcing the 13 hr limit. The RD was all barks but no bite. We only know this after the fact. Still even if we know, we never would test and RD patience.

    So I need to run faster than my group to assure that I would finish within the time limit. Those who caught up to me were either seeded further up but arrived late and so started late or misseeded (some registered late). You can tell whether they are a strong runner or not. Strong runners don’t breathe heavily. They don’t get tired and they run efficiently and effortlessly – like a gazelle. And they are fast! But most slow runners are the opposite. Their form is ugly and graceless. They run like a wheel falling off. You know when you watch. When they passed me, I know, they don’t belong in our waves. They should be in two or three or more waves ahead.

    So a few passed me (one actually, the pharmacist) but I ran at my own pace. Because of the wave start, there were not a lot of exchanging place in the race since we were artificially spreaded out. Everyone were spreaded along the course. By the time I started, the first runner was probably 5-6 miles away and the distance only lengthened as race progressed. There were not much as hope of catching anyone unless they were mis-seeded by the RD (RD attempted to put the fast people to start first and slow people in the rear based on prior race results). So those few that passed me, I did not see them again. Of the 6 other people in my wave, one was injured so probably dropped. another slowed down after a mile – she did not want me to follow her and she never caught back up. I finished with two other army people. We had a good time. Of the leading two runners in my wave, I caught the lady about five miles in. Her pacer who started with her though was no where in sight. In all I think I did pretty well.

    About the two army guys, I did not catch them until near 20-ish miles. They were fast but not what you think as fast. They did weird 30 sec run and 30 sec walk. It was extremely annoying. But their 30 secs run was super fast. I couldn’t catch them. For me I needed a long time to ramp up speed. So they were always ‘blocking’ me. Most people would step away and let you pass. They seemed to oblivious to people behind. Usually by the time I caught up to them I am out of breath. Any way, I always ended up behind them. A few times they let me passed but at the aid station they caught back up and they were so quick at the aid station and off they went while I was still readjusting my pack and eating. They were super efficient. It took me like 10 mins to get my headlamp out but for them, they had them in their pockets and only took them a second to have them on. So I lost to them in efficiency. We finished together. My hiker buddy would say, Antin, you need to put essential things in easily accessible place.

    In the final 8 miles, I did not bother to pass them again. We were leapfrogging throughout the race. I was pretty tired by then. The lead guy was pacing. He has been doing so the whole race. They were just chitchating nonestop. Never had I seen a guy talk so much and they were not telling any story, they just went back and forth with nonconsequential stuffs — like women, sorry ladies. To me was meaningless chattering. I guess they are good friends. They were really into their conversation – and I was behind them for hours but I was ignored until near the end of the race. There was no break with their back and forth. It was like a slow jog around the neighborhood, and the two dudes just enjoying a nice walk. Yet I learned their pace was spot on at 15 min per mile with no diviation all while doing 20-30 sec walk/run. Amazing. They were not tired. I discovered it was like a pace for running a 100 mile and not 50 mile. The lead guy has done this race 7-8 times. I think this was his 9th. He was experienced. The other guy was his first 50. Last 8 miles, I learned to be patience with them and tried to immitate their pace (not mastered it, but at least I saw it in action and know it might help me with my 100 miler if I spend time to work on it). The pacer was a natural! He ran without a watch. He probably could run the course so much faster, but he was pacing his friend. From this dude, I learned about being efficient at aid station, and being efficient in pacing. Don’t rush but always swift (isn’t it opposite of each other?) Just amazing to watch. A few times I snoozed just a bit and fell so far beind them and it would take me 30 mins to an hour to catch back up – that is how fast they were moving. It is because they walked a lot, that I could catch them up. I can ramp up my speed but only over a long distance and I suck at stop and go.

    Me and these two army dudes, we did not run fast but we caught ‘a lot’ of those who started strong but faltered later. I think we passed about 20 people through out this race (noted we had wave start, so in theory, we should not able to catch anyone). We ended skipping 4 waves ahead (maybe caught up to the 5:30-5:35 starting wave group), we were the 5:50 wave group.

    That is pretty much the outtake. Be efficient. I enjoyed the race tremendously. Previous reports about this race were spot on. People were not that friendly. Most of them I think have defense backgroup – a lot grunts so they are not that welcoming to strangers. I think pretty much reflect the DC area. It was a no-nonsense approach to running. Everyone kept to themselves. There is not much of a runner community atmosphere. You only catch the running excitement at a large running events when a lot of out of towners mixed in. Or smaller races like 5k types then you can feel the energy. Still a race is a race.

    A final word, always Aid stations and volunteers are the best. We had good aid stations – even ones that were previously announced as water only, had full aid station things, meaning food and all kinds of drinks. I think volunteers supplied them on their own accord. I like fruits at many of the stations. I had a beer! Love the soups. I didn’t expect real food due to Covid measures. Best to have them on a cold day. My heart was warm.