In awe

Tag: training

  • [686] Grindstone 100 prerun

    I got a chance to go back to Grindstone 100 course for a preview run a week before my big race.  I am nervous about the race, but we won’t talk about it.  It is likely the race would already be done by the time this is posted.  The race report for that will be posted eventually.

      Last year I did not finish it.  I arrived to the last aid station with only 4-5 miles remaining when the game clocked expired, which left a sour taste in my mouth. Feeling very unsatisfied, I have to go back to do it again.  The What, How and Why of that race are found in my previous race report (2024RaceReport).  Yet, every time, the memory of the race comes up, I was still confused and wondered why I did not finish it.

    I wanted to go back on the course not for the bitter parts but to see it in a new light, literally.  Most of the race where I struggled was in night time, so to able to go over the same part in day time indeed gave a different perspective.

    I was able to go back to the course several times since last year race. 

    My first trip back was in the middle of winter (Nov2024) after Richmond marathon.  At that time, I hiked/ran up Lookout Mountain and ran all the way to Hankey.  The camping there too was a good experience that time.  It was my first camping trip in a long time.  I don’t remember if I blog about it.  I think a couple week after that, I went up a second time by myself in the middle of the night.  I might have blog about it (WinterTwotHike).

    Then the third time back was maybe a couple months ago, I think it was the July 4 weekend.  Three nights and 2 and half days, exploring the course, minus, Lick Run section and Mt Crawford section, doing just the twot loop (TwotJuly4Camping).

    I hiked the whole circuit around the TWOT (about 25 miles) visited some hard part, such as Lookout Mountain, and Hankey, Dowells Draft and Magic Moss Trail and climbed to Little Bald and descended to North River. My whole goal was to know the course.

    Last weekend, I wanted to experience what it was like to start from Natural Chimneys Campground, the official starting point and ran both the Grindstone 13 mile course and the 50k course.

    In all three trips, I covered 75% of the course. Only Crawford Mnt, Dry Branch, Cold Spring, and Elliot Knob we did not visit.

    Compared to last year preparation course prerun, I covered most of it. The part I did not get to last year, I went and did it this year.

    Last year, I kicked myself for not going over the part at the start and finish loop (Lick Run and Reddish Knob) in my preparation. My intention last year was to save some mysteries of the course for race day.  Looking back, that might was a bad idea.

    This time, when my friend suggested to climb Signal Knob to see the sunset, I was thinking let make that into a camping trip.  And then a better idea  came to me to why not go to Natural Chimneys to explore the campground and do a pre-race run.  I want to follow the exact course like on race day. Of course, I had to modify it a bit to make it fit the distance and turn part of it as  a loop instead of an out and back.  Any out and back course/run is boring in my opinion.

    So Friday after work, we packed our bags and drove to Mt Solon, Natural Chimneys Campground.  It was a relaxing trip.  We did not rush.  I wanted to arrive before 7 pm to get the camping pass but it was nearly impossible leaving from northern Virgnia on  Friday afternoon traffic and expect to get anywhere.

    We arrived by 8 pm.  Set the camp up and we were able to get to bed by 10 pm.  The next day feeling a little tired since the night was cold and I only slept maybe 2 hours, decided to sleep in till 8.  Then we packed up everything because I did not want my tent to blow away while on my run.  We decided to go to town (Bridgewater) first for a little breakfast and coffee before starting.  And we did not get back to the camp until 10:30 am for the start of the run.  I don’t remember if we started at 10:30 or 11 or 11:30, but it started to get hot.  The run would take 8-9 hours and so, it was likely we did not expect to get back until dark.

    We started out from our campsite, and  ran onto the road, Natural Chimney Ln.  From there, we turned left to North River, After one block we turned right onto Lick Run.  We passed the sign I AM (the way the truth and the life) sign on someone’s lawn.  I like looking at things that are out of the ordinary.  As we ran across the bridge, I saw the North River stream was dry.  The midday sun beat down on us. Lick Run is slightly uphill and curves left and right through various farmhouses.  It was about 3 miles and eventually we made a right turn onto a trail with a gate.  The trail probably has a name.

    It was a jeep trail. We entered and ran about a mile and found a single track trail on the left.  We were unsure if that was where the aid station for Lick Run on race day. Things look unfamiliar in the day time compared to our memory from last year race.  Indeed that was the location.  We actually gone passed it, then I checked my gps  and map and realized we missed the turn.  We doubled back and turned onto the trail.  Also I put a water jug for later on the return trip to pick up, when we would loop back to there.  Note, there were a lot of gnats hovering over us all the time on Lick Run and beyond.

    From Lick Run aid station, we would climb up to a Signal tower, not sure if it is for radio, TV or cellphone. I think the climb was maybe about a mile.  It was our biggest climb that day.  Once we reached the crest, we made a right turn on the trail there.  It was about maybe half mile we were out onto another jeep trail where we could see the radio (or TV) tower.  Once reached the Tower, there is the Tilman West Tr.  We went past it, noting that was where we would return from.  The rest of the run was mostly on the ridge.  We then descended or followed the Tower Tr. We got to a four way intersection and I was lost of which way to take.  Luckily there was three people on their bikes resting there.  We started up a conversation and asked for direction. They were 68 year old man and woman riding mountain bike.  We each exchanged our amazement.  They impressed we were running on the trail and we were impressed that they biking were biking on it. 

    I think we took the trail in the middle (kind of left and through the intersection).  It was maybe a mile or so before we reached trailhead.  We crossed a bridge and came to a road (Tilman Rd, FS101).  There the bike couple caught up to us and they gave us all their water since they finished their biking for the day.  We talked about life and everything before departing.  We were glad they gave us water because there were very little water in the creek for us to filter from. I had carried a filter on me, thinking to do filtering midrun.

    That day, we skipped climbing up to Reddish Knob and saved it for next day.  This was at the Wolf Ridge Parking Lot. We followed Tilman Road (turning left), heading toward Tilman West Tr to do our return loop back to our camp.  It was about 4 miles on the rough gravel road.  While talking, the time seemed to fly by quickly.

    Last year, my struggle during the race was climbing the Tilman Trail West back to the Signal Tower.  The ordeal seemed to take hours.  Today though, it took us about an hour to reached the Tower.  We could have done it faster, but I preferred to check the flowers and some birds (a dead bird) and dry river beds and such. We saw a lot.  Butterflies and such. and gnats too.

    Once reaching the Signal Tower, I thought it was just the Jeep Trail descending would take us back to Lick Run.  While it could, but that was not part of the race course.  We got off course for about half mile so, we had to turn around and found the proper trail to descend.  It was short but steep, maybe half a mile or so (15 mins.).  Once we reached the correct Jeep Trail, it was just a long walk back to Lick Run.  I think maybe 2 miles or so, It was not bad, there were like 4-5 hills to climb.  My memory of this section from the race last year was like 20-30 hills and it took hours to do, but with relatively fresh legs we had today, it did not take that long, maybe 30 mins.  Then and so we saw where I placed my water jug.  We refilled everything and finished the run on the road back to camp.

    Once we reached camp, I wanted to stay on a small trail that goes around the camp to run to the real finish line to get a sense how long it would take (10 mins) from outside the camp to the finish line. So in the actual race if we have to be back by 6 am, meaning I need to get to the outside of the camp by 5:45 to be safe.  Yes, every minute counts.

     That night, the Augusta County hosted an outdoor movie night at the Natural Chimneys. They also had food trucks onsite.  So our dinner was taken care of.  We brought tacos and cheese cake from the trucks.

    Good thing of having a campsite is we could shower before going to bed.  I was exhausted and walked like I ran a 100 mile already.  The shower was good and I had a good night sleep from 10 pm to 8 am the next day. 

    On Sunday, we started earlier.  After breakfast and all, we stopped by a local gas station just outside the camp for water and ice. Today, we would ascend to Reddish Knob from Wolf Ridge Parking Lot. The drive to Wolf Ridge took about 45 minutes.  I wanted to drive slowly on the forest road.  I think we finally started our run at 10 am.

    This was just a 9 mile climb.  There were on occassion some flat runnable sections but mostly it was just up.  Before we got to the Knob, there was a rocky section my friend compared it to Bird Knob of the Massanutten Trail.  We reached Reddish Knob by 2 pm greeted with an expansive pararoma view. It was worth the hard effort.  We met a married couple on motorcycle at the top and had a good conversation about politics.  Eventually, we had to part way and we ran back down, except when we got to a turn at Sand Spring, we took trail to the Sand Spring Mountain down. It was also where we had our water drop. This was the 100k and 50k course but not the 100 miler.  I wanted to check out what the trail is like for the 100k people too.  It was just 4 miles of descent.  Once we reached the road, we had a mile of hike back to our car.  We got back by 6 pm, I think it was 8 hours total for the day.  We were smart enough to leave some water (1 L) at Sand Spring but I wish I had left more.

    I saw some bear bogs. Not so stinky.  I did not go near it to smell. The weather was nice.  It might be a bit hotter than the day before. I was happy for two days of long run.

    Little did we know, we were on the other end of Tilman Road and it was like a mile from Hone Quarry where we ran a 40 mile earlier in the year.  Seeing Hone Quarry and road to its finishing line brought back memories.  I saw the church with a big cross where the finish was for that race.  I remembered running in and urging a runner next to me to run his hardest, who then bested me to the finish line. It was also close to Dayton, where we previously stayed and to Harrisonburg, where we ate and stayed plenty of time. 

    Seeing familiar places brought back wonderful memories.  We decided to stop and have a good dinner at Quacker Barrel before driving back home.  Our runs are just that of one memory overlapping another, and I love the new memories we made and left behind at the place for next time.

  • [672] MMT Chocolate Bunny Run

    (2022 and 2023 report)

    Chocolate Bunny is the 4th and last official training run for the Massanutten mountain 100 race (MMT).  I am not sure how many times I have done this training run, probably twice.  It is always take place at night on the Saturday before Easter, so it is known as the Chocolate Bunny Run. 

    It covers the hardest section and final section of the race (about 25/26 miles). Most runners would be going through this section at night. It makes sense to train this at night.

    Night run has an spooky feeling and beautiful at the same time. We were blessed that all my Chocolate Bunny runs happened on a clear night with moon rising. 2022 year we had a full moon, but this year though was the final quarter. I didn’t notice it because I was already passed the Waterfall Trail.

    Last year, the Chocolate Bunny was canceled due to a mountain fire in the area.

    I have come to love the Chocolate Bunny run.  It is very cool to run at night with some of best people, whom I call friends.  I believe it is only one night run we do as a club other than the MMT race itself.  Rumors had it the club used to do a no-light night run and Bull Run night run. Probably, local law enforcement did not appreciate a bunch of runners running around somewhere in their parks, and we no longer do it except the Chocolate Bunny.

    Indeed, as fate would have it, someone (not one of our people) broke their foot on the Big Run Trail and called the police for help at 4 am.  No one was pleased to try to locate the missing injured hiker somewhere up on the mountain. We denied, it was not us. I hope the club was not implicated in it and we will continue to have Chocolate Bunny Run next year.

    This year I am not running in the race and so I have skipped the first 3 training runs (also it was because of scheduling conflict).  I was debating whether to sign up for the last training run since it happens over Easter, and there was church event (Good Friday) and then Saturday Scripture reading through the night, and then Sunrise Worship on Easter morning). I tried to do them all, but in the end, it has to be one or the other, run or church.

    My friend Jeremy will be running in the MMT this year.  So I had a private training run with him in the day time. 

    We also did a made-up MMT 3 training run a week before, which is almost like the Chocolate Bunny run but in the day time and the course was 10 miles longer.  We covered it in 12 hours.  We were proud of our ability to pull off a training run on our own without support, but placing couple water drop.

    On the day of the the Chocolate Bunny, we again went out to the course early, waking up at 5, and starting our run at 7:30. We ran part of the MMT 1 training run, since Jeremy hasn’t done that section before, mostly we wanted to cover the Short Mountain Section, which was about 10 miles.  Then we hiked up Edinburg Gap, for an out and back of maybe 4 miles, so ended up having a total of 18 miles for the day so far.  We knew we have to conserve our energy for the night time run.  So we finished our morning run around 2 pm and went into town (Woodstock) to get rested, food, and be refreshed.  In truth, we were almost spent all our energy.

    The afternoon was hot, so there was nothing much to do but to head to the Chocolate Bunny meeting point and hoping to catch some sleep in thr shades before the run.

    We drove separately and I arrived later at around 5:30 pm. I thought I was being there early to get a parking spot but many other runners were already there.  Fellow runners and friends: Bob, Jeff and Laura  were about to set out early.  When I found out, I asked if I too could go with them.  They said yes. There really no need to ask.  It was a training run, everyone could start whenever they want but it is good to have accountability. 

    I wanted an early start because I am usually the last runner to finish.  By starting early, volunteers would not have to wait at the end for too long for me to finish.  I quickly looked for Jeremy to see if he was interested in the early start.  He was. So the five of us, start at six.  Robert P. too started out early after we have left.

    We had to be careful of not to run too fast to pass the first aid station at Gap Creek ahead of volunteers showing up. Generally, it takes me about two hours to cover the Big Run section to Gap Creek. By 7:30, we already got to Crisman Hollow Road.  Larry (Rusty) our RD (race director) and his wife drove by as we came off the trail.  It was a good sign we would have aids at the aid station.  About a mile later, we arrived at Gap Creek and we were greeted by cheerful volunteers. They were my favorite people, Ram, who paced me last year and Amanda who I ran with a few times in other events.  Kevin, our trail boss was also there (he and his people are in charge of marking the course for the MMT 100 each year).

    This was my first time getting to Gap Creek while sun had not set yet. 

    After Gap Creek we climbed up to Jaw Bone and crossed Kerns Mountain. By now, the fast front runners caught up to us.  It would be a night where many runners would pass us while we were on Kerns. By 11 pm, we reached the Visitor Center, our second and final aid station, which is also about the halfway point. I estimated that it would take another 4 hours to finish the run.

    Jeremy by now had run on ahead. My other friend Wayne who started at the normal time caught up. I checked back my previous run, and it seemed tonight I was a bit slower.

    It could have been the food I ate that was not settling well, by the time I climbed up on Bird Knob, I felt I wanted vomit. Note, others also mentioned similar experience.  It could be a flu or something going on (looking back). We were spreading germs.  I was lightheaded and was feeling unwell.  Robert P. passed me and it was kind enough for him to stop to check on me.  I told him I was not feeling well and possibly due to lack of salt.  So he gave me some Salt-caps and tums.

    I slowed down my walk hoping my body would recover.  After about an hour or so, by midnight, I felt a bit better but by now, I still could not bring myself to run, but at least moving faster.  I am guessing there were 8 miles left.

    The climb up on the purple trail (Brown Hollow) was long and tough. More runners passed me.  I got to meet a new runner, Ian who had gone too far and missed a turn and he was backtracking. He helped me too so I was aware of not going too far.

    I gave him some tips that MMT 100 is doable as long as one keeps on pressing and not give up.

    He and I ran the next four miles together always staying ahead two runners who were trying to catch up to us.

    It so happened the two runners that kept chasing us were also our friends (Emily and Lance). It was good we finally learned who were behind us.

    Now there were only couple miles left. I haven’t gotten lost yet.  A volunteer joked with me earlier saying don’t get lost out there.  I tried not to.  The trail was more familar to me by now where I kind of know where to turn except the last hill up to the finish.  Somehow I got off the trail and for a brief time unable to locate it.  It took me 15 minutes trying to find it and then hiked out. I almost gave up and just bushwhacked out but ended up finding the trail again.

    My fellow friends were waiting for me at the finish.  We cheered, laughed and chatted till wee hours when the cops showed up to look for a missing hiker.  So the party ended for me.  I made a trip home.  The rest of the trip was uneventful.  I made a pitstop at a Sheetz gas station and slept till I was good enough to drive again.  Coffee helped. Days later, looking back, we were grateful to make it back home safely. 

    Lessons/thoughts:  None.  I just love to be out there whether alone or with a friend or in a group, it was a good run.  My weekend was all of the above.  We thank volunteers of sacrificing their sleep and time for us to be able to enjoy and train up on a race.  Actually, it is better to sleep at the trail after the run instead of making the long drive home. I would still be able to make it to the Easter Worship on Sunday.

  • [664] Holiday Lake 50k+++

    Holiday Lake.  I did this race couple years ago, in Feb 2023 (report), as part of a long President Day’s weekend fun.

    This year it was a Holiday Lake three-plus- plus-plus, because the trail/course was extra long.  I think it ended up like 33-34 miles for a 50k. And also, I did 3 events like last time. Triple crown.

    A friend recommended me to run this race back in 2019, when I was still new to trail running. 

    I was out training on my favorite course at the Signal Knob one afternoon.  It was the only course at the time where I knew I could get some decend hill runs.

    I ran into a trail runner G (an amazing dude).  I did not know who he was at the time. 

    As usual I started talking to people during the run. I asked what trail races he would recommend.  He rolled off his tongue, Highland Sky, Promise Land and Holiday Lake. So far I only have done Holiday Lake because it have been very hard in getting in them (I don’t sign up in time).

    He said, tell them his name and the RD would know him. 

    At the time I was scare of running in the winter.  Holiday Lake takes place in February.  So the race was not one I was going to run.

    Then of course in 2023, I forgot about it and signed up.  What exactly prompted me to sign up and run was lost in history.  I thought that was a once and done thing.  I admired people who done it year after year.

    There are too many things going on in February for me.  I have the MMT training and the BBR training every year for the last three years. It was almost every weekend full.  And there is the C&O training, or the O Dominion training.  I just did not want to add on a Holiday Lake too.  And TWOT too, but that is for the future.  All those events fighting for one precious weekend.

    Originally, I chose the MMT training run over the Holiday Lake because MMT course is free to run. A lot of my mighty trail friends too prepare for their MMT race would run in it.  I would not want to miss it because I love to be with them. This year though, I will be volunteering at the MMT 100 race, so missing the MMT training would not be too big a deal.

    But Holiday Lake seems to be important for my other friend.  I don’t have to be there but it would be nice if I go.  There’s a chance to camp too the night before the race and night after the race and as well as the third night.  It is a long holiday so in theory we could run on Monday as well to make it into a big weekend fun.

    This year, I took a half day off so I could get to the pre race briefing early.  As usual, Dr. H would be giving a talk on trail running. I did not know him in the past but he is a local legend.  He set the first FTK on some of very long trails around the nation in his younger days.  I wanted the free pizza dinner too offered before the talk. I kicked myself for missing the talk and pizza last time I race at the Holiday Lake.

    As it turned out, due to traffic and various reasons (I did not plan for stopping for dinner or gas), we missed the opening ceremony.  We should have left in the morning to avoid the afternoon rush hour traffic.

    Instead of camping out, we stayed at a hotel for all three nights. Uff-dah! The weather was cold, so it was a good call.  I could have still camped out if were alone, but did not want others to suffer with me.  It was raining heavily as well on Saturday, so a hotel would allow us to dry our stuff. 

    The race itself was good. It was a hard run but was not too hard (I barely finished, with a time of 07:45).

    It was good I  went for a prerace training run a couple weeks ago, so the course was still fresh in my mind. I did not get lost except for a small section, maybe losing 5 minutes.

    It was cold as usual for February here, being in the winter. By noon, rain came down. First was drizzling then it was a steady ‘light’ rain.  It didn’t seem light to me.  I was drenched head to toes. We were glad the race was not canceled, that being snow was originally in the forecast.  Some might have preferred snow but here, if it snows, it would also become icy.

    The first loop, I came in at 03:30, which was a bit slower than last time (I think I had 3:10-3:15 previously). The course was maybe a mile longer since a bridge was washed out.  So the slower time was expected and understandable.

    The second loop really hit me hard.  I knew I was totally out of shape and ran too hard in the beginning. I was breathing hard.  I was trudging through the muddy trail.  Rain came.  Some runners caught up to me. 

    Wilbur, the guy who ran it 23 times was running with me. His friend Marshall caught up.  Marshall and I ran the Old Dominion last year and shared 35 miles of trail.  I think it was closer to 50 miles. Anyway, we chatted and I listened to him chatted away with Wilbur and Alyson.

    They finished maybe 5 minutes ahead of me.  At one point on the power line trail (Tailor trail), someone put ribbons leading to an unknown trail. I think it is likely course vandalism to purposefully confused runners.

    Marshall called out to me as I was going the wrong way but I saw other runners going down the wrong trail and I followed them. Few minutes later, they turned back around.  I did too.  Marshall and Wilbur were on the correct path.  I lost a precious time here.

    My legs were tired.  Trails were muddy, slick and wet.  I managed to finish.  My friend brought me two hamburger and I gladly ate them and I changed into dry clothes at the same time.  I was shivering for a long time.

    It was the end of the day. I was glad to be back at the hotel for a good night sleep.  We ate the left-overs from the day before, but I was still hungry, so we went across to a gas station, Sheetz or Wawa for ramen but we could only find the instant mac-and-cheese.  I had spicy Buffalo Mac & Cheese. Not recommended. So I ate my friend’s portion too.

    ****

    Farmville.  The next day was also raining.  We planned to run 10 miles on the High Bridge Trail nearby (in Farmville, VA).

    High Bridge, mile 0.0. I ran (walked) with an umbrella

    I love this bridge.  I did another 50k race here back in who knows when (report).  The High Bridge 50k race is no long being held.

    Why it is called High Bridge? I think it was Virginia highest bridge back when people still used railroad.  Now it is just a rail-to-trail path. We think it is about 50k in length.

    We ran 5 miles out and 5 miles back to Farmville.  Some notable events were a tree fell on the path while we were running back to town. It was very windy. There was a high wind advisory. We also saw a group of Longwood’s college students running in the rain too.  We initially thought we were the only ones out there.

    ****

    MMT. The weekend could not be complete without a time on the MMT (Massanutten Mountain Trail).  Initially, we planned to go to Dragon Tooth on the Appalachian Trail near Roanoke, but the drive there and back would take significant time.  I didn’t think we have the time.

    I’d rather want to do the MMT3 training loop, but in the end we settled for MMT 1 training run.  We did a out-and back from Woodstock to Edinburg Gap. This would allow us to be back at home before nighfall.

    It was still a cold day but I enjoyed being on my favorite course any time of the year.

    Sunday, we made our way to Woodstock.  At the time, we had not finalized our plan yet.  We passed Harrisonburg, then New Market and Edinburg.  We then continued to Woodstock. There we had coffee while waiting to check in to our room.  It was too cold to camp out that night.  Earlier, we had the best meal of the weekend at Cracker Barrel. So we did not need to eat that night. I was still drained from the run the day before. 

    In theory, there was still plenty of day light left to do some hiking around but wind really picked up in the afternoon and it was too cold to be outside. Hotel it was.

    Woodstock Tower.  The following day, we had a choice to run up on Woodstock on foot or drive up.  To prepare for my race for Old Dominion, running up on the road is preferred. However, I really did not want to wake up that early to try.

    We ended driving up.  I kind of expect the gate to be closed. Indeed it was.  So we drove back down and went the other way by going around to Strasburg and passed the Signal Knob on Fort Valley Road.  I drove based on memory of having crewed someone back in 2023 for the Old Dominion race. Luckily, I found the Woodstock Tower Road from the other side and we drove on up.  It took us a good chunk of the morning, so we started around 8:30 (late).  The temperature was still very cold. It was good the sun was up and was sunny.

    We did 14 miles that day.  7 miles out and 7 miles back.  The ground was frozen, but overall it was a very nice day.

    Normally during training run, we rarely wanted to leave the trail to check out the Tower.  Today was the day we had time.  Actually, it was too cold and I just wanted to go home, but my friend wanted to climb up.  Some ruffians who came before us back in January drew some PG-13 images on the floor. 

    Woodstock Tower, East and West.  Bottom is the hand glider launch point. 
    [unsensored] We assumed it is a still life painting of pears, banana and apples or oranges.

      Night. We ended the final day for a nice bowl of tofu soup amd some ginger tea to close the day.  I preferred rice tea.

  • [656] Hone Quarry Trail Preview

    A friend suggested to go out to check on a race course, the Hone Quarry 40, which we will eventually do in March, God willing.

    I wanted to run the race this year but my trip to Sydney prevented it.

    Its trail was a mystery for me and I was curious about the level of difficulty. 

    I can read about it on other people’s race reports but to truly give a sense of how the trail is but being on it yourself.

    Going out in the winter required me to do some research and preparation.  Luckily a lot of the course information was readily available on the race’s website, including the gps track and the trail description.  Note, most races only provide one or the other and not both.  Descriptions were well written.

    Next off was to find some trail maps.  I used the site HikingUpward and found some small 5 mile-ish hikes.  They were part of my bigger loop.  I needed more and I stared at google topographic map to do my planning.  Luckily, I realized I do have a paper map at home of the area.  With that I was more confident in planning my route.

    We arrived at the trailhead I guess a typical time of 9:00 in the morning, maybe kind of late for ultra runners, but standard for normal hikers. 

    The day was forecasted to be cold with a high of 30s and low of 14F, without factoring in the windchill.  I expected teens and might be single digits temperature after dark.  It is no fun to play around in such weather. We had to get it down before nightfall.

    The previous day and night was windy but wind died off in the morning.  We had the whole day of calm condition, not a breeze.  The day warmed up a bit as expected as we started our ascend. Soon a mile in we shreded our outer layers.  Both of us we were double layering everything, headcaps, shirts, pants, jackets, and socks. So those layers had to come off.

    The full route was 40 miles but because time constraint and some of the course was just not too appealing, such as the out and back of first three miles on the Hone Quarry Road, to me is BS. 

    We wanted to hike on the trail not the forest roads to the trailhead.  I believe I trimmed our hike down to about 25 miles. The exact distance is unknown because I did not turn on my Strava to conserve my phone battery.  I normally don’t care about my tracking to be posted on social media afterward.

    We did the normal (race route) of counterclockwise (CCW) direction.  The hiked up to the first ridge was amazing.  I enjoyed the steady 3 mile climb.  Then we skipped the out and back to what would be the first aid station (forgot the name already) and decided to descend to Hone Quarry Road.  We had a chance to turn around here and end the day if needed but it was still early in the day. 

    We saw snow on the ground.  In fact most of our hike up was covered with snow until there was enough snow to get my shoes wet.  I think maybe half and inch to an inch.  I had considered wearing my boots but decided to be a true trail runner to go with my Altra trail. So there were a lot of sliding on the slippery snow as we descended down.  I love a sense of near falling. This was the best time to run with just a thin layer of snow where rocks roots and everything was invisible. Indeed, not lying.

    Note, the descending was not truly a one long downhill.  We had to climb up maybe couple more ridges before finally went down.  I was started to wonder where is this road we were supposed to meet.  It was around noon by now, 3 hours since we started.  We took a bathroom break and I looked around a bit and saw the road maybe few hubdred feet below and rejoiced, we did it. I did not know we were literally on top of the road.

    After the road, we made a right turn.  We probably only had to run maybe 50 ft or so to cross a bridge then the trail would be on the right.  However, it felt so good running on solid ground we continue down the road for quarter mile more before I realized that it did not seem right.  Minor mistake.  Gps track showed I missed the turn off and we back track back up.  Later in the hike, I did miss turn offs too and most critical one came in late afternoon, when we were pressed for time to finish.  I remembered the trail incorrectly during my trail planning, thinking I had to cross a road (but in fact not needed), so confidently went off trail – this kind of unforced error is the worst. I really hated it.

    The second time hiking back up to the ridgeline was hard.  It took maybe an hour and half.  The views were stunning.  People scrawled on posts writing this was the worst trail ever.  I disagreed.  I felt the trail was well maintained.  Rocky in part but that is typical.  The trail is a bit steep but not eroded. I feel it is in excellent condition.  It is a multi used trail, horse, bike, and people, so I do expect it wouldn’t be smooth at typical trail like the AT or in the Shennandoah NP.

    We entered back into snow country up top. The forest road was layered in hard packed snow.  I slipped on ice a few times usually while I was doing something like looking at my map or taking off my jacket while running that I fell. No major injury, just hurt my bum bum and such.

    We entered back on the trail late in the afternoon.  Sun was setting.  We had to make better effort to reach back our car before sunset.  Bring headlamps always a must on a hike even if you think you can get out before sundown. I brought them.  Temperature was cold up on the ridge but as we were descending, it warmed back up.  Though every time I stood still, I quickly needed to put back on my jacket.

    We took a shorter way down.  The trail was blazed yellow the whole way so it was not hard to follow.  We arrived back at the car the moment last light was gone, just a bit after 5:30, maybe at 5:45. It was a good day.  

    I liked it.  It is just next to the grindstone course (maybe 10-20 miles away).  I did not know of this trail before and now I do.  It can be worked into my training.  The twot, grindstone and now Hone Quarry.  Throughout the day, we did not encounter any other hikers or runners out there.  We saw fresh tracks and prints on the snow, likely the person and their pet should not be too far ahead but we never caught up to them. I think it was a peaceful hike.

    By the way, it is near Harrisonburg. 20-30 mins away.  We used Harrisonburg as our base, for food, our stay and the resupply. I recommend Quacker Barrel for meals. There are of course tons of choices at Harrisonburg.  Great food and good wind down or for pre run meal.  We did both for our adventure, going to Quacker Barrel twice (my friend humored me).

  • [639] MMB / Grindstone training

    Last year, I did this training run for Grindstone (here).

    So much happened since last year.  They say you could never step into the same river twice.

    I planned my schedule like last year. There were so much going on this weekend. There was a training run down at Damascus (VA) for the Iron Mountain.  I have been going there every year, but not this year.  I will be there on race day to volunteer.  I missed being there for the training runs. I have redeemed so many of my races, Devil Dog, GSER, MMT, and finally Burning River.  The only race I have not been able to “finish” is this Iron Mountain.  So ever since 2019, I have been trying to run it.  I have showed up at the training run years after years, but it is not happening this year.

    Instead, this year, I hope to do better at Grindstone, a race I DNF’ed (did not finish) last year.  It hurts a bit but it was also a very hard race.  Last year, I started training for it since February.  This year, this weekend was my first training run.

    I am familiar with the Grindstone course by now. Still, every year I learned something new.  This year, I explored the road portion a bit more than I needed.  So, I know can tell my crew how to get to each aid station because I hiked all those roads. 

    I booked two nights at Camp Stokesville. This is different from last year, when I only showed up on Saturday night for a Sunday run.

    The run is still on Sunday. Most people did trail work on Saturday. 8 hours of trail work is required to run in this race. I fulfilled my trail work with the PATC (our regional Appalachian Trail club), so my Saturday was free.

    For me this year, instead of heading down to Damascus for Iron Mountian training run on Saturday, I joined the vhtrc people to do the MMB (Martha Moats Baker) Memorial Run. It is a 50k/60k.  The story goes, Martha (I don’t think was a member of the club, yep, about 100 years before our club was founded) died one winter while hiking the trail here (the Wild Oak Trail – Twot), so our club made a run in her memory. Twot is a wicked hard run.  Sorry for so many acronyms, but Twot, etc, is one of my favorite trails.  It is probably the very first trail that I know besides the Shenadoah, and Blue Ridge.

    The Martha Moats Baker’s course is almost identical to the new Grindstone Course and has almost 40 miles of it.  I found out about this event from last year when some people who showed up for the Grindstone training and said they did the MMB the day before.  I said what? How come I did not know about the MMB. So this year I was prepared.  MMB run is the best training you can have for Grindstone and will mention below, way better than the official/unofficial training run (why unofficial? UTMB Grindstone training run no longer wants to be officially recognized or being affiliated with its training run — the run was still managed by the two race directors but Grinstone did not provide money for the weekend; I still called it the Grindstone training run).

    So, I did this other run, MMB, which is not part of Grindstone, but it really helped me to get ready for it, because it runs on the same course, just a day before the official/unofficial training run. Hope I did not confuse anyone.

    My whole purpose was going down to Twot to do the Grindstone training run, but instead, I ran the MMB.  I would recommend future Grindstond runners to do likewise.  MMB gives far greater value.

    MMB though a 50k is one of the hardest 50k you can do.  There is actually a 60k option. The mileage might be 30-32, but the climbs total to 8000 ft.

    I was planning to run the full 60k route but after the first 6 miles, my thighs started felt cramping up. I knew it was not my day, so I took the shorter route.

    I ran with Costi and Robert.  Soon Robert felt behind and Costi disappeared ahead. He was fast and strong climber.

    I then ran with Claudia. She is a fast lady.  She did Grindstone 100k last year (and finished). She also ran the Iron Mountain too. I was impressed.  Two races that I could not finish but she did. She also when down to Copper Canyons to run with the Tarahumara. Ureka, Chihuahua, Mexico, which was a race on my bucket list. So she was telling me about that.  It was a race (and a place) I always wanted to visit but was fearful of security concerns.  They say don’t let that be your last bucket list item, or you never will come back alive. Claudia said it was not that bad. Security has gotten better over the year, and there was heavy police force present when she did it.

    After we reached the first aid station at Reddish Knob, she raced down ahead. She is a fast at going downhill and there was no way for me to keep up.  We had the next 15-20 miles of downhills.

    A little fact, I have been to Twot so many times and heard about the Reddish Knob but this was my first time ascended to there, because it is like 4-5 miles out of the way. The view was incredible.  Too bad I did not have time to grab a picture. At the Grindstone race, we would be here around 9-10 pm, so we won’t be seeing anything, even with a full moon or not.

    For the rest of the day I was mostly by myself. I was hoping to catch back up to Claudia. I caught up to Nick, who normally was fast. Then an older guy, Allen? (he was over 60, but is still going strong. He taught us how to use poles. Then Two older couples (Christiann and Andy, also over 60).  Lastly, a mile from the finish I caught up to Costi on Tillman Road.

    Costi too originally wanted to do the full route but due to time constraint, chose what was known as the party route for a 50k finish.  I already decided to go the party route, so he and I ran the last mile in instead of climbing Grooms Ridge for a quad buster 3+ hours up and then descending the Grindstone Mountain/chestnut hill — I could not tell which mountain is which.

    I think it was a great decision to finish early.  We got back before 4 pm.  It took us nearly 9 hours to do a 50k. The 50k course closed about then at 4:30. The sweeper (Charleen) came in.

    We stayed to watch the 60k runners finishing. Our in house chef Jeff cooked us an amazing meal. It was a free event but the food beated all other paid races including UTMB Grindstone or Western States. We had shrimp and chicken Tacos. They were all you can eat good food.  I love the watermellon salad the most.

    I stayed the next three hours eating. I was waiting for Claudia to finish, hearing that she and Nick were the final two people out on the 60k course.

    Then it was getting late. I was getting sleepy and also badly need to use the bathroom (not because of the food). I needed to clean up. My things and car was at the Stokesville campground about a mile away so I started walking back to the camp. As I left, I heard shouting of Claudia’s name and the claps.  I knew she made it in around 7:30. I wish I was there to see it but also I had my own needs to take care of. (I had a ride back to camp, from someone, I forgot his name, one of the older folks).

    The rest of the night was taking care of camping stuff. Showered, set up tent, cooked a second meal and prepared for bed.  By the time all said and done, it was already dark.

    I slept like a baby that night for almost 10 hours. We had to meet at 6:30 am for our Sunday run, so I had to be up when it was still dark. My body did not want to run. Getting up was hard. I dragged myself out the tent. Packed up everything.

    I came for this Sunday run and there was no way I would skip out. The whole weekend was planned around this one and only event.  MMB was a side thing that happened to be nearby.

    I was smarter this year to pick a campsite right across where we were going to meet. So I had a bit more time to get dress and had breakfast while watching everyone gathered.

    I did a last minute check on the route we would be running and was surprised that we were not doing the same route as last year.  Instead we were going to run the first 20-ish miles of the race course, which was the course I ran on Saturday. 

    I did not like it.  I felt I already knew the first 20-30 ish miles. I ran on those miles the day before.  I preferred doing the true Twot loop, which was a combination of mile 30-50, and 70-90.  I felt this was a bit better and longer.

    I understood the race directors’ reason for having a shorter training course this year (16/24 miles), because he wanted everyone to finish by noon, so we could all go home.  They had a long day on Saturday doing trail work, so no one wanted to stay too long on Sunday. Last year, I did not finish the run until 3 pm and we had a runner stuck on the mountain until 6 pm. So the RD was smarter this year to choose an easier and shorter route in opinion for the training run.

    There were 36 people signup but only about 13 people showed up for the run. I was kind of hoping the other half were doing their own run out on the trail, though that did not seem to be the case.

    They might had done it the day before.

    Instead of joining them, I went and did my own route, primary the Twot route.  My opinion is the Twot route is way tougher and better as a training run. 

    I ran with them from the camp to the park the while they took a right turn on Tillman, I went on and took a left to Twot and climbed the Lookout Mountain and did the Twot loop clockwise. I loved it.

    When I descended from Magic Moss (Dowell Draft, on Betsy trail) or Hankeye Mountain, I took a right on the road, ran to Lake Todd and from there used the road FR95 back to Stokesville Campground. I glad the map on my phone worked, otherwise, I could have gotten lost in the park. Hence, this training helped me understand all the roads in the park.

    This year, the trail was not busy. I did not encounter even one runner or mountain bikers. This was unlike the previous years where some runners started at night so in the morning we saw them  finishing while we started out.  No runners at all this year when I did the Twot loop.

    While on the road, there were a few cars, but usually they were far and between.  Probably at most 10 cars during my two hours while on the road. I saw couple fishermen at a creek.

    I got back to camp by 1:15. Most people had left.  I assumed maybe the RDs were still there. Camp felt empty. I heard and saw couple cars still at  camp spots up on the hill. The signup sheet was still at the pavillion.  I went by to check if my name was on there and to cross it off to indicate I was back. It was not necessary because my name was not on it.  I purposefully did not sign in during the morning briefing since I took a different route and I did not want people to look for me if I did not get back in time. It seemed all other names were checked off, meaning everyone was back. There were a bunch of left over food from people’s dropbags. I wanted to have some but was not sure if it was acceptable. I had food back at my car anyway. Note, last year when I got back, my friends and RDs were still waiting in the finish area, but this year was completely empty. It was just a different feel.

    I went home.  Conclusion, I mentioned it was not like last year. Reason being, last year, I came to this camp with a few friends and we ran together. This year, everything seemed different.  I came a day ahead. My friends did not come. Not that I expected them to come since they are not running in the race this year.  Everyone was new. It was one of those things, if a tree falls in the forest, does it make a sound if no one is around. I went to Grindstone trainimg, though mostly I wasn’t there.

    Claudia said she would be joining us but I did not see her.  I bet the MMB event from the previous day wore her out as it did to me. Her drive back home was longer than mine and I bet she left earlier, probably on Saturday night. I ended up doing the Sunday training by myself. It was fine.  I enjoyed being out on the trail on my own. 

    For the last two weeks after Burning River, I knew I needed to train for Grindstone.  It was hard to plan things on my own.  I planned them but usually I ended up not following them through.

    Why?  They say its the post Marathon Blue! It is real.  I ran a lot of marathons and at the end of each of them after you gave your all, you enter a period of exhausion, mental, and emotional emptiness.  A very dark place. It was very hard to get myself back out on the trail. I needed the group run to give me that extra motivation to do it even though I was mostly by myself while on the trail.

    This weekend was great that finally, I got to do something I enjoyed deep down on my favorite trails. There were so many memories and thoughts from previous years. I almost know every rocks by now.  The trail was not as hard as the first time I did it. It was a joy to be on it again.

    Looking ahead, September is coming.  Meaning Wasatch 100, then Grindstone. But before these, I have Iron Mountain (trail marking, plus the actual race I will be volunteering in, I hope to do some running there too). It is a lot of activities.  Then there is Rock and the Knob. And then Stone Mill. Yes. Fall is an amazing time, like Spring is.  And then we will do it all over again next year.

    My whole point is, sometimes when you plan for one thing, like the grindstone (un)official training run, then there are better options to do. Keep your eyes open. Also even when I tried to attend the same event, it did not turn out like in my memories.

    What else I did? I watched a lot of Asmongold TV reaction videos.  Yep, he has quite insightful on how to be a Twitch streamer/content creator. I do consider myself one, even a small one. His primary take is be yourself and don’t be big head.

  • [630] WS100 update / pre run

    It was almost six months ago, when I started the journey to the Western States 100. Early December while doing the Devil Dog 100, I was selected during lottery pick. [596]

    I did many races since, both big and small.  My training has not been consistent like the first few weeks in the winter or as focused as I would like.

    Originally, the biggest concern was finding a coach. By March, I got a coach through the Vermont 100 signup. A side story, starting with Western States 100, I signed up three additional 100 mile races, for a traditional ultra grand slam. My choice: Old Dominion, Western States, Vermont and Wasatch Front (minus Leadville). These are all heavy big races. Even too big for me to comprehend. So through Vermont 100 race, I found a coach for the journey. Coach assigned me running plan and warmup/cool down excercises and as well as body conditioning. But my hectic race schedule interferes much.

    The dates for the first two 100  (grand slam) are drawing near. Training period is over. WS is next month, so maybe couple more weeks of specific training (I will focus on heat!).

    Summary, I have not trained as much as I wanted specific for WS100 race.  Originally, I should be training for hills (especially for the downhill), second is heat, third is just volume training (run a lot of trails/mountain runs).  Of the three things, running a lot was what I had done.

    It is too early to say if my training is adaquate for a 22k descent and 18k ft of climbing at WS100.

    This past weekend, I was able to go onsite to run part of the actual course.  It was tremendously helpful.

    The course is generally downhill as all literature mentioned.  There are a couple big climbs (our training had only two). We ran from mile 30 to the finish over a three day span (about 70 miles).

    I enjoyed the run. I saw couple friends from our area. I made a few new friends who will be running in the race. Three people from NC. One from MO, and a father and daughter team from CA, Steve and Kate. Steve ran it two years ago. This year, he will be supporting his daughter.

    During my visit, I was able to finalize some race day concerns such as locking in my pacers and crew. My friend from Sacramento, Susan will be able to pace me from mile 62 to 78 (and beyond).  She recruited some from her running club friends, especially Karen to pace me the ‘beyond’ part. 

    Iconic Bridge to Foresthill
    Course is mostly like this, dusty, double track fills with small rocks and sand. It is pretty smooth for east coast runners, wide and gentle grade descents. Runnable.

    On Sunday, we were able to celebrate one of her friends finishing the Canyon Endurance 100 mile. He had like 10 people crewing him for the first time. I had a bit of down time after my training run. It was better than staying alone in a hotel.  Most of these running friends will be helping out at the WS100 race in some capacity.  One of their friends, Bruce, will also be running in it.

    At least two aid stations I will have a familiar face. Steve and Pam will be at Dusty Corner (I think around mile 34-ish?) Another will be at Green Gate from midnight to seven in the morning, that is mile 80.

    The most important thing for me is to lock in my second pacer (Christy) for mile 78 to the finish.  On our last day of training, I went out as usual.  I was running behind this woman, whom I have seen last three days.  Her pace was decent, and ideal for the last stretch. So I asked, if she would be willing to pace for me since she is not in the race and she was near the area (she lives few hours away, 5 maybe, but she said she does not mind since she could stay with a friend at Sacramento on the race weekend).  Everything seems to be working out.  She would be able to do the night run, I told her there is definitely couple hours running in the night. She is highly enthusiastic. She knew all my other friends I made from the past three days.  Her pace doesn’t degrade too much over the long stretch.  I told her, she does not need to run fast, but keep a constant steady pace like we were doing.  The last stretch does not have big climbs, which many people including her was struggling.  To me, everything seems working out.

    Personally, for me as an outake from the training run is take care of my feet.  The downhill has a lot of grit and they can get inside the shoes. Also the trail is sandy and dusty.  I might need to tape my feet to prevent blisters.

    Heat.  It was already hot during the training runs but it will be much hotter in a month from now. Nothing we can do about it.  They say run with ice. Keep cool.  Keep drinking.  I also got a good sense about the pace I should be running.

    Finally, the big question, can I do it?  After the training run, my confident increase a bit.  As of now, I think I can do it (at least over 50%). They say the first half is hard (at least the first 50k, which we were not able to run on during the training). So I can’t confidently say, I got it. Second half though wasn’t too bad.

    There always will be something pop up during race day. So we have to wait and see. The race is a month away.

    In the meantime, I need to get ready for my 3rd 100 this coming weekend. OD100, the first of the slam. It is a heavy race. Almost as big as WS or equally so.  I will report once is over. Also unfortunately, I was not able to devote more time in training up for this event.  I know I will have many friends there, especially one coming down from Vermont to do this. (did I mention, I locked in for Vermont, fulfiling all requirements?) Everything is tying together.

  • [616] MMT Training 2 (mile 35-65) Second winter storm

    We have a total of four training for MMT 100 mile race. The past weekend, we did the second run. Each run is about 30 ish mile and over four training, we would cover the entire course.  For me, the training runs are more fun the the race itself.

    Night before the run, we had a quick winter storm system swept through the area.  The initial forecast was that we would received up to 6 inches of snow. Note, we had not had snow in our area for about two years until couple weeks ago. Now we had another. The governor did not declare a state of emergency but everyone was getting ready to brace the storm.

    A friend asked if I would head to the training location ahead of time.  To me that is silly talk.  I love my sleep. I’d rather wake up early at 4 am to drive out than to camp out a night early. 

    As I was getting off work, the cars on the roads seemed getting nervous and maybe it was just me.  I changed my plan to go home as soon as I could and packed my things. Everyone I know too was skipping town ahead of the storm.

    I made it to the site by 8 pm. The night was cold. No snow yet.  Our RD also arrived ahead of time and he built me a fire that potentially could last the night. 

    By midnight, he left to check the course and various locations.  I let the fire died out and went to bed.  It started raining a bit.  By the time I woke up, the whole place was in a winter wonderland.

    Everyone showed up.  We left our cars at the finish and carpooled together to the start.  I had a good day.  My run was 30 minutes slower than last year.  I was being careful of not to fall.  And I was wearing my hiking boots instead of my trail shoes. 

    RD said, we need to carry headlamp in case some of us would be finishing at night.  I had mine but I was telling myself, I don’t want to finish in the dark.  I got back as the sun was setting and so were the last few of us.

    Signal Knob, the start of our training run

  • [615] BRR Training

    It has been a quiet week.  After the Icy-8, the next day I went out on the Bull Run trail to run.  This is the trail in my neighborhood.  We have a race called Bull Run Run (BRR) 50 (mile).  I ran it last year.  It is usually at the beginning of April and was a quite popular trail race, that usually sold out. Only last year was my first time getting in. They say, you have to be fast or lucky to sign up. I got in again this year, so I have to train for it. There used to be a lottery system because it was so popular.

    I want to run better than last year when  finished with only 15 minutes to spare. My secret goal (or not so secret) is to run it under 12 hours. This is hard.

    It has some good climbings. Nothing too serious but the first time I ran on it, it was a what-the-hell moment.  Now a year has past, and hills there are not too threatening.  I would still walk up on most of them instead of running. I am no longer get out of breath.  The goal is to be good enough to run on them even when I am tired.

    So the last few Sundays, I have been covering the Bull Run trail. Usually I put in 25-30 miles.  I call it my long run day.

    This past Saturday, we had an official Bull Run Run training run at one of the notorious sections called the Death by Do-Loop. I suspect whoever came up with the name is a computer programmer because there is something called the Do While Loop. The concept is the same, you keep doing until it expires and for computer, it means go on forever (in an infinite loop).  So our training was to run on the Do Loop until we can’t any more.

    The portion we ran was about 7-8 miles long.  There is a 1.5-2 mile loop at the end where many people usually get lost.  I got lost there last year during my BRR race, so this year, I said I must run it so much that it would be impossible for me to get lost again.

    I did get lost.  I ran only two loops that day.  My first loop was fine as I was following other runners.  By second loop I was by myself.  It was when the fun began.  I was mostly deep in thoughts.  And somehow I never exited the Do Loop but kept walking and running back and forth.  I was not really lost but the trail was still new to me and I was surprised how it looped me around at some portion when I was not paying attention.  So I went back and investigated how that happened. A friend, Ram came along and helped me and led me through the whole Do Loop again and I finished it.  I did a partial 3rd and 4th Loop with another friend until it was near sunset before quitting.  I had a good day.

    I had an admirer who was impressed because I got into the Western States 100.  We talked about Wasatch (another 100).  They laughed when they found out I signed up for about ten 100 mile races this year.  They said I must be rich! Not only is the race expensive, but flying there and the hotel cost would be through the roof.  I said, I haven’t told my boss yet for the days I would be off. I am counting all my PTO.

    My left ankle took some beating from the weekend training. I did not roll it.  It felt numb after spending a day on the Do Loop.  I have not been on trail that much the last couple months since the Devil Dog.  Now suddenly I am back on the trail my ankle is complaining.

    The very next day, I hit the Bull Run trail again. While it was raining a bit, a friend came and join misery. There was a lot of mud. We slipped and slided around. It was fun, satisfactory fun that we put a good training. I finished the day with a bowl of hot soup.

    I am proud that I have been consistently trained on the Bull Run. Definitely, I will run better this year.

  • [612] WS Training wk8 (1.4)

    Last week of January and my training had been through a rough patch.

    Snow came and gone. Temperature was warmer now (70F this weekend).

    No more excuses of not running.

    Why sign up for a race if I don’t intend to run it someone asked me? Many people would want to take my place! 🙂

    I guess I have to put more effort in it

    This week had some exciting news. I participated in the Vermont 100 lottery. I did not get in. But the whole time I was on the edge of my seat. Then I was hoping to get on the waitlist. I did not get placed in the top of the list but around middle at number 82. As of today, I was moved forward to places to #80. It is not likely I will be get in. I was offered to crew for a friend so I hope maybe at the last minute on the day of the race if somone drops out, I could take their place. Keep positive!

    Another lottery is coming up. Wasatch Front 100 lottery is taking place this weekend. I will be again on the edge of my seat. I hope to get in. There is a 30% chance. Vermont I had 50% chance. By the time this post goes live, I will know the result.

    Race related: I checked (map study) the Old Dominion course.

    I planned to sign up for Icy 8 (next weekend). It is also Twot 100. Holiday Lake is still open. I almost signed up for Red Dirt 100. I might still go. There is Mt Michel marathon. I didn’t think February would be so busy.

    I need to train for BRR 50. I hope to get a better score this year.

    Tuesday: double run day.

    Thursday: run

    Saturday: 5k race.

    Sunday: Clearwater 50k!

    MWF: slept in

  • [611] WS week7 & 8 (1.3)

    I don’t remember much. We had two snow storms. They shouldn’t interfere with my trainings much because most of the snow started or peaked during the day time after my normal morning runs. However, I chose to sleep in on both day.

    So nothing much to report.

    Monday. I believed I went out to the Bull Run trail and did 12-13 miles. Monday was a federal holiday, so I did not work. MLK.

    Tuesday, an excuse to sleep in. Snow did not start until later. I don’t know if I ran since I did not record

    Wednesday. I remembered I went out on one of the snow days and it probably was on Wednesday. Training on snow was hard. It was still soft on Tuesday but by Wednesday there were patches of ice. I stepped on couple of them and did some weird Michael Jackson dances but didn’t fall. After those couple close calls I decided to just walk the route instead of running it.

    Thursday and Friday, I don’t remember being out. We had a second storm system plowing through. I took the night off.

    Saturday, ran on fresh powdered snow for 10 miles. It was a good workout on muscles I rarely used. Running on snow is a different beast. Was moving slow. Downhills were especially fun. I tripped once and almost fell in face first on a creek but was able to regain my balance at the last moment and cleared the water. After that no more running for me.

    Got two new pairs trainers, both are trail shoes on discounted prices. Happy about them because they were discounted. I wore New Balance before (road shoes but ran them on trail) that did not work quite well at my last MMT (feet were hurting badly at the last 25 miles). I plan to test/use these for my MMT100.

    I still need some road shoes for my normal marathons. Personally I perfer wearing Altra Lone Peak but mine only last through a season. Devil Dog 100 totally trashed my favorite Altra. I have two other Altras for road but they seemed to fall apart too after a few marathons. I probably put over 100 miles on those as well.

    Funny story (or a stupid thing), I never considered wearing trail shoes for trail racing until after Burning River where I did not have much traction support from my worn out road shoes on a slick muddy downhill trail where I took a few tumbles. Now I swore by it thag trail shoes are really made for trail races!

    Health report. My left foot has completely recovered after a few days of resting. Now my right foot is acting up a bit after the Saturday run. Not really hurting but whenever I stretch it or curl up my toes, I felt some pain. Also, my weight has gone up a bit (4 lbs) maybe from a few days of resting.

    Week 8 (last week of January) is mostly like week 7. I missed couple days of training for some unknown or reasons I couldn’t remember. Anyway, I will try to do better, now I am over a third of my 25 week plan. 16 weeks left. It was a good time to refocus.