In awe

Tag: travel

  • [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.

  • [621] Trip to Taipei and Sydney

    I ran in both Taipei and Sydney but did feel out of place while running there because there were not a lot of runners around except on a weekend. Running in Sydney felt more at home, due to less chance of running into people. I usually run in early morning to avoid people. Taiwan though felt small and often time the sidewalk is narrow.

    The Sport arena in New Taipei where we picked up our runner’s package. It was about 30 minutes train ride. Notice, the signs are bilangual. Also, see the 7-eleven in the corner. They are everywhere. I felt they are better than ones we have here in the US. They serve (cheap but acceptable) food too. I was told that public bathroom requires squatting. I did not use one while out and about.
    While taking the bus to Wanli, we passed by Taipei 101. There was not enough time to stop  for sight-seeing around the area. My Taiwan friend gave me a list of suggestions of places to see and food to try.  I did several of them, especially the beef noodle dish, which Taiwan is famous for.  And yes bubble tea (at the airport). Not that we did not have enough time to do everything, I just did not want to rush to rush from place to place. I had about 12 hours of sleep each night! Usually, I sleep from 6 pm to early morning (due to jetlag).
    We did walk around the memorial square, was it freedom square? Quite a big area. I climbed the stairs to one of the palaces.  I think it is a concert hall
    Marathon location, Green Bay (Fei Cue Wan).  We ran past other wan (bays) too but I couldn’t remember their names. Green Bay the most famous one.
    Leaving Taipei, the city is so organized viewed from the air. Taiwanese people are well known for their organization skill. There are a lot of future developments
    Grace Point Church in Sydney. We stayed near there. Arrived in Sydney but did not take many photos on my own. Houses, churches, school almost look the same. Everything is very blocky/rectangular. They love round-abouts. These two roads are main roads but only have single lane. People don’t mind going slow.
    On my way out from Australia, the security guard tossed out my sealed and unopened bottle of Vegemite (yeast, for bread spread). Just a few moments later, I found the “taste like Australia” stuff in one of the airport stores, bigger than the bottle that was tossed out. I did not want to be scammed again (by our TSA once I reached SFO), so I didn’t purchase it. I still have no clue what Australia tastes like

    Hard to believe my trip of the decade/century is over. I don’t remember when I last went to Sydney. Some believed it was 2009. I was there for another cousin’s wedding previously and again this time. It was actually my third time. Was it really that long ago?

    We did a lot the previous times, all the tourist stuff, like visiting the Opera House, taking a train ride, the walking through the Botanical Garden, the Aquarium, the ferry ride, the monorail, Blue Mountain, and the beach.

    This time, I spent more time with my relatives and mostly just “partying”. We ate a lot.  It was too boring stuff to post. Food blogging is not my thing. Also, blogging about family or the wedding is not my thing either.

    I did try to remember what the wedding dress look like, since the last wedding I went to, a friend later asked me about the dress and all I said was I don’t know — to me all wedding dresses look like a wedding dress. Well, I tried, but I can’t recall the wedding dress this time either. Unless you have to pick one dress over another, I could not tell one from another. I could tell you about ram sticks and their clock cycle and latency, but dress, eh, they don’t capture my imagination as a piece of ram drive. Such is life.

    My Uncle who has to be over 80 was driving me home one night, my last night there. I was thinking the whole time, how did I get myself in this situation. He was a safe driver, but if anything were to happen on the ride, my cousins would be blaming me for not declining his ride. My cousins love their uncle/father a lot but no one wanted to speak up telling him he shouldn’t be driving late at night. I was thinking, I could have taken the Uber. He was still a strong man.

    He and his wife just wanted to spend more time with me. We went to his house and we looked at his plants (his pride possessions) and such and he also did not want his nephew to drive us home because they had kids and it was a school night (that was an excuse though because we could drop the kids off first). There are many of this kind of stories, I felt there was no point to share, but they were wonderful and weird memories for personal reasons, maybe too personal to share.

    Yes, such as we did laundry and then drying them on clothlines (this is quite normal thing to do). Houses typically do not have a clothes dryer. I am just not used to airing my laundry. I think it was funny. Everyone seems to use the clothline. We are spoiled here in US.

    Also, they do not have zoning laws like in the States or at least I think they don’t. I was running in a residental neighborhood, which seems to stretch forever, and occassionally, I would come across a business in someone front yard, a legit business like a cafe or a physical therapy or a hotel. It was just weird, but also good, I could stop any time to have a coffee in someone’s yard, and I did at the Swinging Monkey, which was just a small camper trailer parked in a front yard. It was just weird. Coffee was good. Aussies love their coffee.

    At least, in my area in the US, if I leave one neighborhood, there is a distinct difference of a boundary. We use dead-ends to our advantage here. We have neighborhood with just only townhouses, single houses, or apartments. We don’t put it all mangling together. Usually, one community here is semi walled/separated from another, usually by a road or park or some natural/man-made barrier (trees, ponds, even fences, gated community). In the US, if I go into a community, I would get lost, unless you know how to follow the main road out. Because, usually in the US, roads just get smaller and smaller as you get deeper in and you eventually reach a dead end no matter where you turn.

    Not so in Sydney. I ran like through 10-20 communities on just one street, and they seem no different from one before other than a change of name (street sign). There are no natural borders.

    I have to give it to them of the good signage — they are pretty good in tell you which town you are approaching in a certain direction. I was looking for Burwood during my run, and luckily there were signs pointing me there.

    In theory, I could wander around without a phone, without fear of getting lost and I tried exactly that. It was just a giant grid system.

    For us, at least according to my experience, we build our community in a hub-and-spoke system, like a tree, trunk, branches, stems and leaves (because, we don’t want cars to go through local secondary or smaller roads) if they don’t belong there. It is rare where houses would be facing the main road in where I live.

    Sydney is not like that. They do have interstates (Motorways), and main roads, but their secondary roads are their residential, and usually just one lane. There is no further subdivision. Houses are everywhere. There is no separation.

    Their schools also are small. Elementary is just a small building that one could almost mistakenly think an apartment or something. They love their fences. Most properties are fenced off with metal fences as tall as a person. They don’t have big sport fields like we do for schools. They also don’t have school buses, at least I didn’t see any. So there is no drop off zone at school. I think eveyone walk or take public transport. There are no big parking lots (they call it car park). They do have parking decks (but not at a metro stop like we do). Like what! everyone parks on the street. Just so weird to me. Learning to parallel park is a must.

    Most houses are built with concrete. Maybe wood is more expensive. We saw many rebuited homes. Some are two levels. They are quite beautiful and nice. Yes, their houses are smaller than in the States, but they were also nicer looking. They love their houses with long glass panels and concrete (modern architecture style). Almost all have a balcony of some kind. They love porches. And they were not obsesses with bathrooms as we do. The whole house usually only has one bathroom!  My uncle’s house is a bit better to have a separate water closet (just the toilet with no sinks!). I don’t get the rationale of having a room just for the toilet. Maybe because it is a less frequently used? My little place here in the US has four bathrooms! It was not typical for Australians to have a bathroom in the master bedroom and separate one for guests or other family members in the hallway or one for guests or a mud room. It is a reason their houses are smaller.

    I did some real running while in Sydney. I did not track how far, but probably between 30-40 miles. Could be even 50. I wish I did a night run. It was my best day in Sydney after the wedding day of course.

    Unfortunately, I was not able to find some dirt trails to run on. I ran on the Cooks River cycleway (paved), it was better than nothing. There were nights, I could not sleep and I wish I could go out and run, but I did not want to wake up the whole house with my nocturnal activities.

    There were not a lot of changes I noticed on this trip. It has been 15+ years since I have been there so I had expected something new or an evolution. Yes, they have more US brand stores like Costco or McDonalds than last time. They love Krispy Kreme like we do. They have Planet Fitness like we do.

    One change I noticed was probably at the airport where almost everything was checked by biometric. Taipei even required finger printing of both my index fingers at custom. Hong Kong required facial recognition for even boarding, no need a passport or boarding passes (they trust their system). Sydney is still like the US, they still manually check our ID cards at the boarding gate with our boarding pass (which we scanned), but facial recognition is used at border entry and departing at security checkpoint. Note, in the US, we as passengers could pay for the biometric scan (just weird, to look at the machine and it determines if we could enter the country – Global Entry program). There were only 10 or so people using the Global Entry while there were several hundred people (maybe even a thousand), lining up for the normal border check. I was pretty sure, the normal line was also using biometric. I arrived early around 8 am. So what the difference? Not many people were willing to pay for the Global Entry for the shorter line.

    I glad I went. I like Taipei more but Sydney was not bad. I would have gone any way, just for the wedding. I wanted to run and I did run. I reached my objectives. I was there for a wedding and it went well. I met my relatives. checked. I don’t know anything more I wanted to do, other than if I could go for camping in the desert or mountain. Also, I wish I could run on some mountains. Maybe that something for the future. Also, New Zealand is still a goal and it was not too far from Sydney.

  • [Day599] Celtic Soltice + Naked Nick

    Naked Nick 50k is a race I wanted to do for maybe the past four years (actually, not this race but a related race by the same organization, which now no longer available, long story of how come I ended up as Naked Nick), and I finally ran it last year.

    Of course, last year, I just finished the Devil Dog 100 and I was not ready to run it. I thought I haven’t truly tested the course. So this year, I at least had two weeks of break after running the Devil Dog.

    The day before Naked Nick, my friend urged me to run the Celtic Soltice 5 miler on Saturday. It was a race she was enthusiastic about because of the wolfhounds and about visiting Bethlehem and how we would then carpool together to PA. It would be all so good.

    For me running a 5 mile and having to travel hundred miles to Baltimore was not that appealing, petting wolfhounds or not. It was also a winter race, plus, it is a day before the big race. Its entry fee was a bit steep (but I didn’t have to pay for it). Woohoo, my first “sponsored” race! I asked them if I could get sponsored for all my 2024 races as well. Anyway, we had good swag and a lot better finisher food (unlimited wine, beer, soup, celtic cookies, plus the usual snacks and water). There also a few local clubs and if you were able to convince them that you are part of their club, you get free food from them too! I think it was worth the high price.

    We had a warm sunny day. The temperature started around 40s F and rose to 60s F (15C). It was quite a warm day for a run. We still wore a jacket before the start. I dressed in layers and got rid one by one, but then it got cold because the long wait because we got there early by six and we had to go back to the car for more layers. I loved the dumpter fires they had going on. The fire flakes burned holes in my new puffy jacket 😦

    I haven’t done shorter distance in a while, so it took me a bit of time to adjust to the higher tempo pace. I put up a little over 9 min pace (9:12 – ish), which is slow for my standard, but for that day considered fast because of all the ultras I have been running. My legs had not done such fast pace recently. I finished in about 47 minutes.

    It felt good to run fast and a 5 mile is a good distance of not too short and not too long. The course too was a bit hilly and that worked in my favor because I like hills to train on. My lung was strong. My legs though, should have moved faster. They were not tired but they just could not pump out the energy fast enough. I just was not trained for the faster turn over. They were strong but slow. They were perfect for hilly course.

    Then the very next day was Naked Nike 50k in Leesport, PA. It was about three hours away. We were blessed with warmer temperature and the rain held off until 4 pm, so I was dry during my run.

    It was two loops. I thought I did better than last year. My feet were stronger and healthy. My lung was good, being tested to the max at Celtic Solstice and survived. I felt I could have finished a bit faster. Last year, I felt I ran too fast on the first loop and had to struggle on the second.

    This year, I finished the first loop in 3:30 and the second loop in 3:15. It was the golden reverse split most runners chased after. However, last year I had a faster overall time of 6:39. The official result has not been posted, but I felt I came in a few minutes after 6:39, maybe at 6:42, I forgot to look at my watch when I came in but by the time I checked, it was 6:45 (2:45 pm). I was puzzled why I was slower this year. I might have ran the flat section a bit too slow, since I haven’t done speed training lately, and it showed.

    The course was hilly as well, but I ran all the uphills except one that was very steep. This wass right in my alley. I have strong feet. I just did the Devil Dog, so my legs were still strong. Climbing was not an issue. Downhills though, I was a bit afraid. Maybe I did not attack the downhill as agressively as before. My time was a few minutes slower. I can’t wait for the official result to be posted (6:45:01). Anyway, I was hoping for a significant improvement like 15 minutes or more, but it came down to be about the same.

    As for the race itself, the atmosphere was festive. I met a few new friends and reconnected with some older ones. I met Jana halfway through the course. She was first to spot me at the first aid station. This year, I did not wait for her, though she caught up and stayed behind me for the remaining first loop. I helped her retying her shoes.

    I had fun out on the course. I ran at my own pace, chasing a few runners from tine to time. Generally I was by myself. I saw the midpack came in (5 hours people) as I was still outbounding. I was no where near them. There were times I was wondering if I was too slow because I was alone fot a long time on my second loop. I passed some of the people who started me. Halfway through the second loop, I started catching up to a few more runners. It was pretty uneventful. There was a 28 year old lady, who gained on me the last few miles after I passed her, but each time she dropped back for being out of breath. I thought she would stay with her husband/boyfriend. She left her friends and kept my pace. We finished almost neck to neck. I did offer to pace her, but she did not seem interested, but instead tried to overtake me. Many times, I thought she would succeed and begone, but our pace ended up being even. I don’t think she likes me much after we finished together.

    Because I finished couple hours before my friend Caroline, I could enjoy the food and all the hot dogs and soup. I talked with runners, whom many I passed during the race. Time flew by. Soon it was near closing. I saw many slower finishers, 7 hours, and 8 hours. By 4:20 pm, I decided to walk out a bit to check for Caroline. I saw her not too far away around 4:30 pm, maybe about half a mile out. Just a bit from the park entrance. She made it in by 4:45 as the last runner.

    For me the benefit of returning to this was the familarity of the course. Another reason, I thought I could run it faster. I thought I did not put effort into it last year and this year, I truly was gunning for it this time. In all phases of the race, I thought I was ahead of the game. I passed Jana earlier than expected. I passed Caroline too earlier than I was expected. All the markers I used to judge my pace, I felt I was good. It came as a surprise when I did not finish any faster than last year. I kept asking myself, what did I do last year to make me gained 6 minutes faster! Maybe my memory was faulty. I would need to check back on my last year report (I just checked, I didn’t write one for some reason). So I guess my memory of last year event was faulty.

    Conclusion, Naked Nick 50 was well worth the cost. For $39, it truly lives up to its name of being low frill and high enjoyment. The aid stations were actually quite good. There is no medals or shirts though, and for some this is a deal breaker.

    Just before the start, we listened to final instructions. I liked to stay in the back and tried to see how many people I could pass. The first couple miles self sorted out the pack.

  • [Day572]

    More training. This week I will “run” it back. Between last entry and now had been two weeks. I have been lazy in posting. I am repeating what I did in last post. Almost exactly. I drove down to Damascus (VA), going to run on Saturday (course marking day), and then immediately, going to Mt Solon tonight, and then tomorrow, will run on the Grindstone course.

    Labor Day is next weekend, which means IMTR – the Iron Mountain Trail Race.

    I have been looking toward it since last year. It was going to be a redemption since I did not “finish” the run last year. If you look for my name on the ultrasignup list, I was not listed, because I came in after 12 hours, though I think my name was on the excel results sheet at the IMTR website.

    Anyway, the past Tuesday, a friend reached out asking if I am free on Labor Day, whether I am up for some backpacking they were planning. I said I have IMTR coming up in a week. They were not a runner. So I said I plan to run 50 miles that weekend (actually just one day, Saturday). Of course they are impressed. They might be planning to hike about 50 miles over 3-4 days.

    I said, if the backpacking trip is near Damascus, I would like to join them after my run. Now in my head, I am planning, like during the race, I will be running in the woods. Nearby (maybe about 50 miles away) is Grayson Highlands. If their trip is around Grayson Highlands, then during the run, I just run there, of course, I would be DNF/DQ. IMTR is an out and back route, so I will just run out and not come back to the finish. I will let the last aid station know when I pass by that I will drop, so they don’t have to look for me.

    Yes anyway, that only if the trip is around Grayson Highlands. Iron Mountain is kind of connected to Graysons Highlands. I have “done” this route vaguely couple times. My friends said Grayson Highlands is 6 hours away for them and they don’t want to drive that far.

    When I told this plan to my other friends who were going to do IMTR too, they said how sad that I would not finish. True. I don’t think I will finish even if not for the backpacking trip. This summer, I was going to work on speed, but I have been too lazy and did not spend a lot of time training. So, I don’t think I am capable of running 50 miles under 12 hours, especially on the Iron Mountain Trail.

    I have been driving long distances these past few weeks. Last weekend, I went to Fayetteville, WV to do some trail work with the River Gorge park service people (nps). I intended to afterward run on the trails there, since that was part of the course for the River Rim 100, which I ran few years ago as my second 100 race. There were a lot of fond memories.

    The section I worked on the mountain bike trail. It finally dawned on me why during my race there there were so many turns and small hills. During that race, I broke my glasses so I could not see much. I kept getting lost on the trail because every couple steps the trail would turn off to a different direction and I kept on bumping into trees. Later on in that race, I found a buddy, who would kind of leading me, so I was no longer getting lost and bumping into trees. That was a wild night for me for sure. I might have mentioned that in the race report.

    All these memories came to me as I stepped back on the same trails, but this time I could see clearly and in the day time! After my service work, I was too tired to actually run. I went to my camp and slept for 15-16 hours till almost noon the next day. That goes my running for the weekend. I did do some light running around the ACE Resort campground, then headed home. It was a long drive that night, and I did not get home till midnight.

    My weekend last week was the service project and long driving. This weekend is pretty much the same. I drove about 6 hours Friday. Probably another 5-6 hours today. Maybe run for a few hours. Will do the same on Sunday. The bulk of the run will be Sunday if I am not too lazy. Then will drive home.

    I was thinking to myself, why do I drive so much. Why can I just drive 30 mins to somewhere nearby and run instead of driving 300+ miles away? Because I am usually lazy. Whole summer I have been thinking to do that but if the place is too close to my house, I ended up staying home every weekend and ended up not running. Going somewhere really far forces me to run after arriving.

    Anyway IMTR is next weekend. I will be meeting a lot of my running friends. I might or might not do backpacking on top. I already booked the hotrl for all four days.

    Wrapping up, I had nothing to post so I went of on some tangent. The sci-fi series I was reading turned out be boring and frustrating. I am on book 9. Yep, my week has been like that. I spent time reading. I started this since 5-6 weeks ago, since Burning River. As you know, I have not been training much for my races since that one. However, fall season races will start soon. Some even say now is fall. We had some really nice fall weather this week. I think I have lined up myself with a race every weekend from now until Thanksgiving!

  • Day499 Ann Arbor

    I am on my way to Michigan for the Ann Arbor Marathon.

    This will be my 10th state.

    I am excited. This is not one of the races that has been in planning for a long time. I only wanted to go to Ann Arbor recently maybe a couple months ago. I made it happened. Here I am.

    For Michigan, if I did not know better, I would probably pick the Detroit Free Press Marathon, because I knew a friend who did it before the Pandemic.  Not anything against that race, it’s just the timing was not right. I would certainly like to run across to Canada and back.

    Ann Arbor Marathon is nothing like that. It is a two loop kind of run in  Ann Arbor. It looks quite a small place on the map. I know I will have a lot of fun running it. I think the reason I picked this race was because it is cheap.

    Gosh I am afraid of the cold. I think this weekend the temperature will drop to 36F in the morning. Brrr.

    I have never been to Detroit before. This will be my first time. Minneapolis, where I went last time is quite big and bland. I wonder if Detroit is the same.

    I only will be here for the weekend, just a little bit over 24 hours. Friday night, whole Saturday, and leave shortly after my marathon on Sunday afternoon.

    I hope to spend some time exploring if I could. I kind of want to go to Toronto too but that is 4 hours away. We will see if I can squeeze it in my schedule.

    Why I go here? I think things just worked out. As readers know, I tried to get to Tulsa, OK, but I ended up here in Ann Arbor. I might as well cross off Michigan.

    My race won’t be until Sunday morning. I hope to keep safe until then.

    PS, this morning I woke up and read about someone doing a race last weekend in Oakland University, and I thought that was Oakland, CA. It is instead here in Detroit. Go check out the blog MilesFlyBy on WordPress. She will be running in the Ann Arbor Half Marathon this weekend.

  • Day403 update

    I’m still here. Just have been goofing off on twitch. I wish I can tell you all the weird stuffs I found there. I mostly watch music streams though, but a lot of IRL chats (in real life) are quite entertaining. I watched like 8 hours of a guy biking in Japan (Robcdee). If you want to waste time go on stream. It is not just for gamers. anyway…

    Just want to let my readers/followers (twitch uses followers) know that in about 30 hours I will be going to Texas. I am excited and pumped.

    Yes it is for a race/run. A 100 miler. The race will last around 30-32 hours. If I run it under 30 hours I can have my name entered in a drawing for the Western States, which is like the crown race for Ultras.

    I have semi packed my suitcase. It is a bummer because I hate packing. I want to bring everything and half of my stuffs do not fit. I will have to repack it tomorrow night. Now I just chill and go to bed.

    I booked my hotel and car rental today. Yes the trip is on unless for any last minute change, which I don’t expect any. I handed off the stuff needed to do at work. Anything should be taken care of. As I know this trip is a go.

    One last thing is food. I will figure that part out once I land. Orignally I wanted to shop here and bring what I need there so I don’t have to go to the supermarket to reduce the risk of exposure of the coronavirus. It cant’t be help.

    Also I will be staying Houston instead at the race location, figuring first it is cheaper and second, everything is more readily available in Houston. The airport is nearer and some good restaurants too.

    The race site though is an hour away, so I will probably get up at 3 in the morning. Race is at 7 but check in is at 5. Then it is 30 hours.

    I hope there will be phone signal so I can update the world my progress during the race. If it is not available, then people just have to wait until next week when I am back.

  • traveling time

    Day 214

    OK OK. I flew to Boston to pick up a milkshake and then finally got to San Diego. It was a lay-over because of the cheap ticket.

    I love Jet Blue. I have been flying American, United and Delta. Recently the last few trips have been with Delta, but Jet Blue is above them all.

    I got a free check luggage, well probably included in the price of the ticket and had also prority boarding. It doesn’t matter to me much since I was not using the overhead bin. Our flight was full and some people was forced to check their luggage too. They were not trilled.

    I flew Jet Blue many many years ago when I went to Boston. I haven’t been back since then. Might have been 15+ years. The airport has changed. At least I couldn’t find McDonalds or maybe it was Burger King. Any way the food court was not how I remembered it. A lot changed in 15 years. There used to be a big food court and now it is a TSA security check. I got my Oreo Milk Shake and happily reboarded the plane to my destination. (and you know why I was hungry later on? no solid food for dinner).

    The lady at a seat over was having her plate of Walburger on the plane with cup of fries and here I was thinking, why I didn’t think of that.

    O why I love Jet Blue? Free WiFi!!! And electrical outlet at every seat. Thank you Amazon for partnering with JetBlue. They give air mileage points for shopping on Amazon and free Prime Video.

    I had plenty of leg room. It is not business class but every seat feels like one. I flew Delta on my Chile trip and Jet Blue felt like it has way more leg room. It doesn’t matter for me, since I am ‘short’ any way. I am like an inch or two shorter than my peers, though I am a tall guy in my family.

    The trip was long and by the time I landed it was 7:30 local but actually 10:30 back home and I was hungry and sleepy. I have been on the go since 8 in the morning, that was like 5 AM local. Cheap ticket I tell you. I was too tired to explore the city.

    I ate at an authentic ‘Cantonese’ cuisine at the airport while waiting for my baggage at the baggage claim. Yes it has some Cantonese flavor – steam/boiled carots – tasted authentic alright. Everything was bland except for the mogolian beef with scallion. I love carrots but somehow I had no appetize. They just don’t look good when they are not cut right. It was a bit too thick and there were lot of them, whole plateful. Truly I finally realized the different between Cantonese vs the normal chinese carry-out that I eat every day in the East Coast. But chinese was probably cheapest meal I can afford at this time. I used to not mind paying $14-15 for a meal, but now that seems to be the minimum. My chinese dinner was $12. They did say expect the food to cost more here in San Diego.

    I was still hungry after picking up my luggage and got a rental car. In no time I was zipping down Interstate-5. Didn’t know at the time but I had no clue where I was going. Just zipping down the highway toward Los Angeles. North was where I wanted to go.

    I almost did not bring my phone on the trip. I would have been so lost and would not make it to the hotel. Another thing I almost forgot on the plane was my passport. The air attendant stopped me from going back into the plane to retrieve it, but luckily they found my passport and brought it to me.

    I missed having a traveling companion like back in Chile, because I didn’t need to figure out where to go. I was now on auto pilot mode just following the flow. I had to tell myself, well wake up and find some direction otherwise I would be in big trouble. Um, where I am going again?

    Luckily I booked everything on Orbitz and it had the direction to the hotel. With a few taps I got the map and navigation going.

    I checked in at my hotel, staying in Best Western in Encinitas. I butchered the word many times over – to me it is a food. The hotel room was more beautiful than any other I have been in. I usually stayed in places like Days Inn. This was heavenly and all by myself! This race would costing me arm-and-leg at any other time but fortunately the price I paid for the stay is like any of my other previous trips.

    Of course I am here for a Wedding. The marathon was something a bonus on top. Danged, my suit is ruined because I did not fold it properly. I thought I followed the directions as shown on YouTube of how to fold a suit. Anyhow, yup Wedding and then a race the next day.

    I love my rental car too! Nissan Altima has plenty of zoom-zoom as a friend told me. It is my first time driving one. The guy at the counter was offering Nissan or Kia and I couldn’t say it fast enough give me the Nissan… like a race car or something. I know I wouldn’t take a race car if he hands me one. It has about the same horse power as my truck but in a much lighter and smaller body. I love it. Of course I was also thinking I am blowing away a month worth of food while driving the car (I have been very cheap with my meal lately – like $2 a day limit), and it pained me to pay that much for a rental. I love the car though. You paid for the feel.

    That’s Day 1 of my trip. Best remembered by oreo milkshake from Boston and fast driving on the I-5.

    Flying over Boston. I was trying to find the Gillette Stadium and didn’t know it wasn’t even in Boston. Duh.

  • Time

    Day 206

    Time is something we don’t have enough. There are so many things I needed to do before the trip but you can only do so much.

    I was trying to finish the stuffs at my workplace but I did less than I wanted to be done. What can you do when you are short handed. I feel bad for the person who is covering for me.

    I also wanted to do some work while I am away to lessen the burden of my helper. I know I am stressing her quite a bit. Feeling bad for her just not enough. I am feeling sick about it and feeling guilty of going. Still I will be going…with a heavy heart.

    Unfortunately, I am currently not able to pack the laptop into my travel bag. I am doing backpacking and almost everything in my backpack is essential. A laptop just won’t cut it. Also, how will I get internet access? I will be in the wilderness most of the time. I looked into satellite linkup but that cost almost as much as my trip.

    I have been quite stress out ladt couple days. I have less than 36 hours till point of no return. The trip is a go.

    It will be a good trip, if only…!

    I know for god’s sake, I am going on a trip of a life time and I should just relax. Many people make this trip possible.

  • random thoughts

    Day 191 On my way to OGU

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

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

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

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

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

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