Maybe it was the last snow this winter. Nothing sticked but was still exciting. It snowed in the middle of the night.
Some snow dusting at Sky Meadow where I hiked the following day / it really has nothing to do with the race, just a pic for the blog. Cold day
I was afraid the next day our 50K run would be canceled. Last year, in similar condition, the race was canceled for fear our runners would ruin the trail.
Every year since the pandemic I have been running this 50k trail race, the Seneca Creek Greenway. I probably could find old reports and maybe I should. I love to reread the old race write-ups and see how they differed from this year.
It was an ‘easy’ 50k, similar to Holiday Lake I ran couple weeks ago. We have some hills maybe like couple hundred feet ups and downs. Most of them are small hills. It was fun to run on them.
Yet it is quite tiring too. This year I started slow. I took my time through the Seneca State Park, to Riffleford, for about first couple miles. I remembered the first time I ran this, I went out full blast and gave everything before even getting to the Riffleford road crossing.
Once we were on the Greenway Tr, I stayed with my pack of about 4-5. After couple miles, the pack kind of disolved. The fast people ran ahead and the slower people dropped back one by one, I was left with with just a runner in front and he was walking.
Interesting, this runner was not slow. He walked from time to time but just by the look, I knew he was a fast runner. He was just humoring us by walking. Actually I have no idea why he even walked. For the next hour, I was following sometimes far back, other times within arm length.
We passed a mill. And finally the guy took off. I had a hard time trailing him. The trail by now cleared up. I still trailed him all the way to mile 7 or 8 at Rt 28 aid station. We crossed over to the otherside of the road to enter onto Seneca Bluff trail.
It was uneventful all the way to mile 15 ish where we headed back north using the Greenway trail again. We crossed a creek about halfway. I remembered in former races, this was a choke point where everyone would stop and we would cross it one by one. This year, there was no one around. The creek was kind of flooded. I couldn’t hop across rocks there but waded through the stream.
By mile 15, I came across Sergio, whom I stayed with him maybe for a mile or so. Sergio said he has a bad knee. He ran this race before but today he was not feeling well. He hadn’t been eating or drinking much. Not long after he was saying that, his hamstring cramped up and he felt over on the trail.
I helped him up and hoped that by walking it off he would be fine. A runner came by and offered him salt tablets. Together, we walked to the aid station. Once there, I knew he should be fine. We separated. I knew if Sergio chooses to continue, it would be a long day for him.
We were about 3 hours in. I expected the second half would be a bit longer. I was hoping I could finish earlier than former races. Though I felt like more a straggler this year. Former years, I usually see a lot of people walking in the second half. This year, I rarely saw anyone.
I caught up a few people who had gone out a bit too fast. The second half, my pace degraded a bit and several runners passed me. That is the natural of racing. Even at the last mile, I thought I was in a comfortable position, then someone passed me running quite strong and it was impossible for me to keep up.
Anyway, I finished at 7:39:00. It was much longer than I thought. Sergio said he recorded 33 miles on his watch. The trail is maybe a bit long but it is the same distance every year. We know it is trail racing neither our watch is accurate nor the ‘official distance’ is accurate. Trail racing always is measured with an estimated-ish distance.
I was much slower this year. time of 7h and 40 mins, so it seems about 30 mins to an hour slower than former years, depending which year or race to compare to. And wow I ran 6:30 the first year. Not sure why I am so much slower. I think probably doing three 50K back to back, kind of took away time for me to recover.
Anyway, time was not too important to me. I want to run faster of course, but not meeting a prior year’s time was fine to me. My goal this year was to have some the time on the trail. Because it would build me up for a bigger race that will take place in May (the MMT 100).
Weather-wise, the day was cold around 40F but with strong winds making the wind chill at time feels like 30F. I wore double layer and a windbreaker over. Gloves and cap were a must to keep fingers and ears from freezing. The race opened for 9:30 hours. I stayed there pretty much until closing.
Food was adaquate. They had warm food for us. I drank a cup of warm coffee and that was the best thing that warmed me up. There were plenty of volunteers. I think the race was well supported, which is a reason for me to go back year after year.
My memorable moment after getting all the food I needed, was when I went back to my car to put on warmer clothes so I could stay out to watch runners finishing. A family there was waiting for Sergio. I did not know Sergio’s name at the time. I started talking to the family and they said, that is probably Sergio. I was curious to see if indeed they were waiting for the runner I met on the trail. Sergio came in a bit after 9 hours. He did the full 50K. After having the cramp in his leg, he had to walk. I knew it would be a slow race for him. He said it was very tempting to quit halfway but he found a fellow companion and they walked all the way and did the full 50k.
The heroic thing for Sergio about this race is near the finish at mile 27.5, you could make a decision to cut ‘short’ the race by finish as a marathon or you could add 5 more miles to get the 50K finish. Sergio could have finished a bit earlier (maybe couple hours earlier) as a marathon (and many people did). We were tracking Sergio on the phone and saw he took the other path and we knew he was aiming for 50K. So we waited. It was worth it to get 50K distance.
As for me, it was a decent race. I havr another race next week (and I will report on that when I did it). The week after will be my 100 miler (OBX, or Blackbeard’s Revenge). And so forth. This week, I did some planning for my Toronto trip (and I am excited). I will write more when the time comes. There are races stacked up until end of May.
Seneca Park’s Clopper Lake maybe only two miles from the finish. We had to run around this lake. It is bigger than what is shown.
There’s a saying you can’t step into the same river twice. This becomes more likely as I repeat many of my past races or events. My weekend at the Worlds End Ultra (WEU) was my attempt this year to step into the same river twice (2021) and ended mildly disappointed. Disappointed might be a bit harsh but being unexpectedly disatisfied is more like it when compared to last year. What did they say about jealousy? Comparison is the thief of joy?
Why did I go in the first place? It was a race I wanted to do myself. It’s a very hard race and with a lot of friendly people. It has beautiful views. I only knew about it last year when a friend promoted volunteering for it on his social media. I joined him there. To me it was like a retreat and a runner paradise. I never run in the official Worlds End Ultra but being a volunteer there was like brush with celebrities.
Like in Psalm, the psalmist wrote a day in your court (temple) is better than a thousand elsewhere.
Going to a race is like going on a pilgrimage for me.
I signed up to volunteer maybe back in January. I booked my camp in March. As the race day approached, I was a bit concern after not receiving any confirmation/instructional email of what I will be doing and who’s my boss. Maybe I did receive but I couldn’t find it or maybe the email might have gone into the spam folder.
So I went and signed up again. I signed up to help clean up on Sunday too. This time I received an email both from the signup site and from the volunteer director. I got things settled. Basically, I was asked if proofing the course would be fine with me. I’d rather to do sweeping as I have done that last year, but if that is not available, proofing would be fine too. Best of all, I could run on the official course before anyone.
So I prepared for the weekend. Here I have a bit of complaint. Mostly it was my fault too of not asking for the pertinent info: who, what, when, where, and how. I had only the location and what I would be doing. I was not told where to meet and when to meet or more details on what I will be doing. I guess most volunteers would get there on Friday night and received their briefing. I live about 5 hours drive away and though I wanted to be there as early as I can, but realistically I could not arrive until Saturday.
The coordinator understood this and assigned me a post where I don’t have to start until noon.
Like last year, I plan on driving to PA on Saturday morning instead of Friday due to work. It is a 5 hour drive for me (4:30 according to Google map) but Google Map assumed I will be driving 55 mph or more on mountain roads where sometimes they posted a very high limit higher than what I am comfortable driving and driving it in the dark. Their time estimation is usually wrong for me. Never trust google when going to a remote place.
After thinking a bit I’d rather drive there late at night than early in the morning since I rarely was able to sleep early enough to wake up before the crack of dawn unless it is for my own race. This race starts at 5 AM, so if I want to make it to the start I would have to leave my house at the latest by midnight, meaning I have to be in bed by 6 pm. I do plan to depart way before then. I hate late night driving too, but I felt I could at least make some miles before I was tired.
What I wanted to do rarely goes according to plan. I had a dental appointment that afternoon. It was partly unexpected, and forgotten. When I thought I went in for a filling, I came out with a deep below the gum cleaning. My mouth was bleeding during it because they had to cut into my gum. It was not painful but it was uncomfortable. I compared that to running with blisters on my foot, which I had done quite a few times in my ultra marathon runs. I could stand the pain and the uncomfortableness and the bleeding. I was advised to rinse my mouth with salt water but I told my dentist I was going camping immediately that night. Salt would be hard to come by. There wouldn’t be salt etc out in the woods. I would deal with the pain was what I told myself. It couldn’t get it infected over the weekend. F*
The Friday afternoon traffic was as bad as usual and by the time I got home it was 6 pm. I wanted to eat and pack — it was my fault for not packing the night before. I got those taking care of by 7 ish. Then I still had some work left from my day job to be taken care of. Theoretically, I could do them on Monday but I try never move things planned for that day to the next day. My home computer acted up and needed an update. I couldn’t get to my work without the update since it fixes the two factor authentication that I needed for the company login. Long story short, I spent another hour getting the computer ready for work and by the time I finished everything it was 9 o clock, much later than I wanted, but at least now I could get on the road. The pressure I was put under to try get as much done as possible and also my own internal deadline dealing with the trip, because my mind kept saying, I got to leave now every five minutes.
I loaded up everything and went to a gas station to get myself a tall cup coffee. I needed it and I knew it would be a long night. I’m not a coffee drinker but I found it helps for long trips. I could run while being half awake but driving in that condition is not something I want to stake my life or any other people’s life. It’s dangerous. I can tell first hand, having been through an accident due to lack of sleep.
The drive that evening was peaceful because it was past rush hour. It was finally a release from all the stresses I faced that day/week. I used a local road to get to PA (hwy 15) instead of the Interstates. Once in PA, I went passed Gettysburg and passed a lot of familar places where I raced before. I continued on to Harrisburg. The drive brought back memories of various trips I took the past few years. I usually use the same roads. From there, I headed toward Williamsport, the nearest city near the race site. I booked hotel there and I knew I probably be tired by then. Midnight came. Then 1 AM, I was started to get drowsy, but luckily I got to the hotel just as it started becoming hard to stay awake.
The hotel staff was cheerful and checked me in. They had expected me and left the light on in my room and also cooled my room. Probably I was the last guest to show up that night. This was a low end inn but I was greeted by name. The place was a bit dated but room was good and comfortable. I only planned to stay for a couple hours to get rested enough to drive again, for I still planned to get to race by 4 ish in the morning. I have an hour more to go. It means I would have an hour and at max two hours of sleep. By now I was no longer sleepy but I knew I was also in no condition to drive. I was still full of adrenaline (probably from the coffee), like I was in a race, but I knew I must sleep. I set my alarm for 4 am as a compromise, but waking up at 3 AM was originally the plan. Now it was near 2 AM. I did not have a lot of time left. I didn’t even change my clothes but laid across the bed. Alarm went off not long after as if I didn’t sleep. Still I did not feel ready to drive. Since I promised to arrive before noon, I decided to at least sleep at least till 7:00 before continuing the trip. The sun came up at 5, and with the curtains opened and I couldn’t sleep any longer so I decided to check out and be on my way. I felt much refresh by now. Initially, I planned to sleep by the side of the road to save money, but having a hotel room was a wise decision.
They had breakfast at the hotel so I made myself a waffle and grabbed an apple and some cake. I went then to a nearby gas station to refill my car. I was too early that the pumps there did not work yet. Small town gas stations do not operate 24 hours. The staff was there but they had to set up their registers and computers first, which also control the pump. I think they did not close the book the previous night, so they had to print their sale records first before the pump could be operated. The clerk was having trouble doing that. Another person was there training the person. So I waited, and one of the staff smoked by the door. When everything was ready, they apologized to me for the wait. I got my tank filled and drove out of the town. The sun has fully risen by then.
Anyway, I arrived at the race site exactly 7:00 as the 50K runners went out. I saw them took off up the road as I walked up to the start. It has been 10 hours since I first left the house for this trip. Finally I arrived.
For the next couple hours I had nothing to do but walking around. I couldn’t find my contact person or any of race staff at the start. Again that was on my part of not communicate better beforehand. I thought I was going surprise them by arriving earlier than my scheduled time. There were other volunteers there cleaning up the breakfast table but they had their jobs and from experience I know the one in charge was probably busy since the race had just started and I didn’t mind waiting around a bit. I thought soon someone would be back at the start since that was the traditional headquarter for the race. No one came. A few other volunteers showed up too looking for the same person I was looking for, so it was good, at least I had someone to talk to and follow. Someone directed us to look for the Aid Station 4 across the street, likely the coordinator would be there. They were short on staff, it seemed.
A little while later a runner got lost and came back to the starting line. I think he was one of the 50K runners. He said he has run this race 7 times and had usually gotten lost in the same place. Another volunteer offered to lead the runner back onto the trail saying she knew the way, and so I later decided followed them. I wanted to explore the course. We came to one of the stations (picnic shelter) where the RD (race director) was. By the way, the runner should have been DQ or pulled from the race since it was impossible for the runner to make the next cut off, but we didn’t know. It was not our fault there was no race marshall at the start. The race director told us that the sweeper already went out and so the runner would likely be behind the sweeper if he got back on the trail. We did not know that and we shouldn’t have guided the runner back onto the trail. Oops, but what done was done. The RD was not happy of what we told him of what we just did since now he would have to contact subsequent aid stations to keep a lookout for this particular runner and we had no idea of what the runner’s bib was. I offered to chase down the runner, but the race director did not want that, because it would have ended up with two unknown runners now they have to track. Also we were not a race official that has the power to pull a runner from the race.
I asked about my volunteering. Fortunately the person I needed to talk to was also there. I did not recognize him at all but he recognized me from last year. He was the volunteer coordinator and he gave me my briefing and basically said I could start my shift any time. He had to bring water to another station so he could not drop me at where I needed to be.
I was given a race phone and the RD gave me the direction to the part of the course I had to proof. The phone was important because it was specifically set up for our location and would allow me to be in contact with the race management team. I believed AT&T set up a special cell network wih a temporary mobile cell tower(s) for the race and the phone only worked on this network. We each have a preset phone list of various volunteers (such as head of each aid stations/radio operators/my team/etc). They also had traditional ham radio at each station and they used it to track runners and report them back to headquarter because cellular signal is not always the best.
Proofing in traditional sense is to make sure the course is set up correctly. However, I had no clue how my section of the course is supposed to be like, so no way to confirm if the course was according to the intended course. It is my first time running on it. My section was from Brunnerdale to the Finish, about 14 miles. I drove to Brunnerdale, which I believe was the farest point on the course (took about 30 minutes drive). Finding the trail was easy. The runner handbook had everything I needed, plus I had the verbal directions from the RD. I had the gps offline map on my phone, but I didn’t get lost and didn’t have to use it. I got there before the Aid Station was even set up.
I enjoyed my run. Basically I was the course’s test bunny. I won’t go into details. 100K course is much harder than the 50K, especially near the finishing. We had maybe 2000 ft climb. The section was muddy. My duty was to add markings to the course if I think they were needed. If I was confused about some part of the course so would the runners. My job was to make those confusing parts clearer. I was given a roll of ribbons to mark the course if needed. I could hang as much tape as I wanted to direct runners to the right way. This was not the first time the race was held, and the course was marked by one of the race directors or his friends so it was well marked and guaranteed to be correct. My only confusion was when I came to a tall maybe 8 ft fence across the trail. The fence extends in both direction indefinitely and it seems we either climb across or go around. I tried going around first but had to back track when the trail disappeared. I was not sure if I was to climb the fence. I haven’t been to any races where we had to trespass into private property. Luckily later, I found a “hole” / a window gate to climb through. The window is normally locked but was unlocked for us on race weekend. After getting through it was obvious that was the way. As for the rest of the trail, I only had minimal work to do, basically, just run it was what I needed. My coordinator was surprised how little tape I used when I got back. Was I supposed to use all of it?
I thought also I had whole day to run it since I started a little after 9:30 and I had only 14 miles to cover. I should be back by 12:30, well before 100k runners get there. For the 100K runners, there race didn’t end until midnight. Unexpected to me, the course final couple miles were shared with the 50k people. It always has been for this race but it slipped my mind. The first 50k already finished by noon. So I was really racing against time when it dawned on me to try to beat the 50K people and I ran against the faster runners from the 50k event. It was kind of embarrassing as I came into the Coal Mine Aid Station (last aid station for the 50K) and they asked me what was I doing there. Noted, it was my fault too to come into the station from the wrong way where they didn’t expect. I was not aware I had gotten off course at the time because I missed an earlier turn near the station. Looking back, I failed my proofing duty there, because if I missed a directional sign or ribbon, it means others might miss it too, and I should have gone back to mark it. I said I am a volunteer, proofing the course. They didn’t laugh at me, but they kind of took a double-take because, since both the first 50k and 100k people already passed by and were on their way out (to High Knob), there was nothing left of the course to be proofed. They told me the 100k proofer already came through too earlier as if they didn’t believe my story. I did not argue with them, since that section was done by two 100k proofers, one to proof the way going out from Coal Mine to Brunnerdale passing through High Knob and mine was from Brunnerdale coming back to Coal Mine and to the Finish on a different trail. It was a small loop. I know I did my part but it got on my nerve when people didn’t believe me. It was not particularly from staffers I was being irritated at, but because of the situation I was put in. All this spoke of the lack of foresight in arranging the proofers in proofing the course. I know, I just need to do my part.
Later I found that front runners of the 100k actually over took some of proofers in the earlier sections. Luckily I had the last stretch and the 100k guy did not catch up to me. I was like still a couple hours ahead of him. However, I felt I failed them by not proofing the last couple miles of the course before the 50k runners got there. Not sure if the 50k proofer covered the last section to the Finish or whether they relied on me since both trails are joined there. I found it was generally well marked, so I was not worried or blaming myself for not covering the last couple miles. If I had known, I would have started out a bit earlier to avoid such incident.
One critique on my section where most runners would reach it at nightfall is we should also proof it by running it at night to be in similar condition as the runners. There was only little value for me to proof that section in the daytime, except for me not to get lost. The reason being is it was so much easier during the day to find my way and what might have seemed fine to me in daytime might not be when the course is completely dark. So even though the markings might be adequate during the day time, it might not be at night. Hopefully not many runners got lost in my section that night.
For the rest of my weekend, it was uneventful. I got back to the Finish around 1 pm. I had food from the finish line and reconnected with my volunteer coordinator and turned in my phone. He drove me to get my car back from Brunnerdale. The Aid Station captain there said the 1st and 2nd place 100k runner already came through. It was around 3 pm and likely the first place would finish by 4 pm. I and the captain talked about last year event. I was there last year with her because I was the sweeper for that section. They were waiting for me that time to come through. She asked if I wanted to hangout there again with them this year. I said I have to figure out my campsite and get some rest to enjoy the late evening hours. I was sleep deprived and I started to feel the effect in the afternoon sun. So next up for me was to set up my camp and have some rest first.
For the rest of the day, I was driving around looking for cell signal because I found out when I got to the campground, I did not know which campsite I made reservation. Due to budget cut, the campground was unstaffed. This year, might be due to privacy reason, the camper names were redacted on their posted master list of who occupying where. So there was no way for me to find out my site number from the list. I needed the cell signal to access my email reservation for my site number. I remembered reading that the highest point on the course, High Knob, has signal, so I drove up to High Knob. I got signal and what I needed from my phone. I stayed longer afterward at High Knob since the aid station there was about to close in an hour, at 5 pm. I actually waited there until 7:30 when everyone left because we were waiting for the sweeper to come through and I was trying to relive my last year experience too as being a sweeper. Last year, I was the sweeper from High Knob to Brunnerdale. Sweeper was supposed to be a designated person on the trail to accompany the last runner. But the sweeper never came through at High Knob or I somehow missed the person. We were all waiting. By 7:30, we all left. I don’t know if they finally figured out where the sweeper was or whether there was even one for that section. I know they tried to call the person on the phone.
View from High Knob
It was evening by the time I descended from High Knob. Having very little sleep and hadn’t eaten much for whole day except some aid station food and candies, I was exhausted. This year, the Aid Station staff only fed me a little (like couple spoonful of mac and cheese). I wasn’t complaining, food was for runners and since I didn’t have a runner bib, they were not supposed to feed me. They had to make sure their food would last for a whole day until midnight.
I headed to my campsite, hoping to cook my dinner, setting up a base before heading to the finish to watch the race. Most 100k people would be coming into the finish around 9 pm to 12 am. I wanted to go watch them. However, after dinner, it got dark and cold fast and only thing I wanted was sleep. We had an unusual cold weekend where temperature was down low 45 F at night where the previous weekend was around 90+. I crawled into my tent and felt asleep not long after. The race could have their own fun for all I care.
Sunday, I volunteered to clean up the course. About 10 of us met back at the volunteer shelter around 8:30. I chose to cover the first 20 miles of pulling the course ribbons and other race markings. Many of them paired up. Mine would be a looped segment and would take me back to the start where left my car, so I didn’t need to arrange for ride.
I did this loop last year too. Last year, I went out just for the fun of it. I wasn’t volunteering then. I was hoping I could make better time this year. I think I ran the course better than last year except I had only a 2L water on me this time. I had a filter but I forgot to bring a pressure bag (for reverse osmosis) to filter the water. So I had to conserve my water on my 20 mile run. As an aside, I could connect the filter to the hose of my pak but it requires some DIY of cutting the tube, and I had been reluctant to cut my pak. Last year, I had to filter water twice during my run, meaning I drank 6L that time. This time I only could take a sip when I was very thirsty. I finished the run by 4 pm still with some water remained. I dropped off the reflective ribbons I took down before heading home. They reuse the ribbons for other races. I was told those ribbons cost over $300, they would avoid spending this much every year.
Actually since the ribbons were bucky to carry when there were a lot, I was advised to hide them halfway during the run and to drive back to pick them up. I did exactly that and hid them at the Iron Bridge and later I went back to pick them up. Note, I was at the Iron Bridge at 1 pm and it took me 3 more hours to get back to the finish. But after I got back, I got into my car and drove back to the Iron Bridge to pick up the ribbons, it only took me 17 minutes to drive. The time and effort to cover the same distance by car always surprised me.
Iron Bridge. Ribbons well hidden in the bushes not shown
Anyway, there was not much happened after. I had my runs. Both runs were fairly long and decent workouts. I enjoyed the challenging course. It has becoming less challenging this year due to my improvement at trail/hill running.
One of my regrets was I wished I had rested well and so would have enjoy the race more on Saturday. I was hoping to hang out and meet runners at the finish and to basically revamp my running passion. I was pretty much beaten down from the MMT race. However, because of the rush to get to the race site on Friday, plus my volunteering duties, I ended up spent little to no time with runners.
Not all was lost, I was able to talk to and listened from other volunteers of their running stories. I learned about one volunteer is going to Laz races, the Barkley Fall Classic and the Last Annual Vol State. Someone was saying their race in France they had helicopters to transport things to the aid stations (I think they were referring to UTMB, a famous race). I think that was so amazing.
I plan to volunteer again and maybe one day soon I will run in this race as well.
In review, I spent 10 hours in the car. 3 hours at a hotel and ran about 8 hours. I had a few hours at an aid station and a few more hours in my own tent. I did not get back home until 10 pm Sunday, with a couple hours for a side trip to Harrisburg. What I used to do in other events is compared how much driving time to my running time, like whether it is worth 10 hour drive for an 8 hour run. If the driving time is longer than the running time, then it is not worth the effort. I know sometimes this is just a tease. I had signed up to run in a 10k where I had to fly across the country before. Just saying.
I don’t mean to rant but only to show logistical part often plays a big role in a race or a trip. It is like 99% of the iceberg. Most people only see the top of the iceberg. I wish I focus more on my two runs I did there that weekend. But this was my second year running them, so there was not much more to say except I enjoyed them tremendously. I actually ran fast enough that I cramped up in the end because I was racing against time, but that also had to do with me not drinking enough water. Who can brag that they almost ran with the front runners at least for couple minutes in the last couple miles in a race? They actually thought I was one of their competitors. Then the passed me and wonder what’s wrong with this guy being so slow.
In conclusion, I came into the event expecting being more involved with it. I did more this year but I was also a lot more detached from the race itself. It was not a bad thing. I felt I could have gone there any weekend to run on my own if running was what I after. Overall, I knew my purpose there was to help make the event successful. My part was small. Though I didn’t see the result directly, I knew a lot of runners enjoyed it. Later, after I reached home, I actually found out one of my friends ran in it. It was a surprise to me. I was there all weekend and did not know. That pretty much sum it all up, I felt I missed a bigger picture. If I was given a chance, I would have spent more time with my friend but then knowing the things I did to help with the race was important too.
I really don’t know how I pulled off this one to run and finish the Rocky Raccoon 100. But yay, I did finish.
It was the coolest race I did. Long but top of the line race support and community. People of Texas put up an amazing race.
1. The race is noobish friendly. I picked it for this reason since I had two previous failed attempts in running the 100 and I wanted to finish this time.
a. what made it new comers friendly? The course is looped, 5 twenty mile loops, so it is a “relatively” short course, the course though has the ability to lengthen itself with each passing lap. There are three on course Aid Stations, and four if counting the start/finish. They allowed plenty places for a drop bag (each aid station is a drop bag point).
b. plenty of Aid Stations. AS is what can make or break a run. We have one about every 4-5 miles. They were superb full service aid stations. Aid stations for an ultra usually mean full supply of everything you can ask. What saved my race was a cup of coffee during the early morning and as well a hot salty cup of I don’t even know what it is, but I think it was ramen extract package mix in a cup of hot water. I drank that down thinking it was hot coco, that got me running at 3 AM in the morning. And I ran when many others were walking.
c. Drop bag. At rocky raccoon you can leave a drop bag at any aid station. So you can bring along your favorite food/drink or stuff you need at almost anywhere on the course. Or drop off stuff in the middle of a run was really helpful! My strategy was to run light! I saw some crazy people carry a huge hydration bag on their run and they could hardly move, but I decided to ditch my hydration pack and only carry a hand bottle. I ditched my bag and jacket at an aid station during the last lap, that made a difference in finishing or not finishing the race.
Dropped off that extra five pounds. I don’t know why people were still lugging around theirs on their final lap. Maybe for toilet paper — gosh the lady in front of me just pulled off her pants and pee – I turned away pretending not to see, meh. Good thing though she wasn’t carry her pack. I didn’t ask if she needed some toilet paper. Afterward she let me pass on in front. I think it was her lady friend (a pacer) needed her turn. I think her friend was a bit squirmish to drop her pants. When you gotta go, you gotta go. (I had a similar experience at the wee hours when the girls kept following doggedly behind me and I couldn’t shake them off – I waited until they passed, of course.)
d. crowd support. You never expect to have a crowd support at an ultra, at least not in a traditional sense like at a marathon since normally the course is so spread out. But this race course is small enough (like at most is 5 miles out from anywhere), there is campground in couple places. We have the huge park to ourselves – they reserved it for us this year. I tried to get a camping spot, but unfortunately unable to… due to my procastination – early bird gets the worm as they say. Anyway, you see people from time to time.
The interesting thing about this race is they allow people to set up tents, not the camping tents but those picnic three side tents along the starting/finish line on either side. So at every lap you run through this village of people/tent city and they cheered you. Runners brought their kids and family along and they set in their chairs waving and cheering even when you are half dead. I love it. Things were a bit subdue at 3 AM but there were still people there. One or two had their camping tent there though they were not allowed according to the park rules.
e. plenty of time to finish. We were giving 30 hours, plus an extra 2 for those who wanted an earlier start time. I started at 7 in the morning so I had 31 hours total. It was just about enough time for me. I finished at 28.5 hrs. I almost thought I wouldn’t make it to the finish line. Silly me – strange ideas flew through my head during a night of sleeplessness.
f. terrain and elevation. I think it has a total around 2000 ft. That seemed to be a lot for a marathon, but with ultra, it was almost flat. All of the hills were runnable. The terrain was rough in couple places – this race is known for ‘rocky’ but it was mostly due to roots and not rocks. I tripped over them a few times, but none of them were a fatal race terminating event. My friend unfortunately had to end hers at mile 40 and this was her 3rd attempt.
A 100 mile race is hard no matter how friendly and easy they made it to be. It was mostly on trail and few miles were on a dirt road (the gate portion). My experience from this race was sleep deprivation is terrible.
I was walking with my eyes opened but I could hardly counted as being awake. A few times I almost walked into a bush. I saw weird stuffs – like a bush suddenly turned into a deer and I startled myself and then it turned back into a bush. A few times I thought someone was standing in a shadow watching me. Maybe it was hallucination or maybe it was real.
I wish I had flew in a day earlier to able to sleep better before the race day. I arrived on Friday afternoon. Getting a rental, and race day supplies, and hotel, by the time I settled in it was pretty late. I was too excited to sleep until around past 2 am. I had set my alarm for 3, thinking I would head out at 4, since it is an hour drive to the race site, and I wanted to be there by 5. I had only a moment of eye close before the alarm went off. I snoozed it, then my second alarm went off. By golly it was 4 am now. I was lucky to get an extra hour in. I woke up and was fine. There was a bit of that hazy-head but I sat around a bit for the body to warm up, then I felt good enough for a shower. I ate some and was ready to head out. I arrived at 6 and the parking lot was full by then. But lucky someone pulled out and I got a spot. There were still many arriving after me. They would have to park at a remote lot that is like 3 miles away. I’m thankful I didn’t need to do so. I tell you, it still took me an hour to walk to my car after I finish the race because I was basically limping – one step and rest for five minutes and another step and rest before I made it to the car. I can’t imagine what I would do, if I had to go another 3 miles to my car.
The morning went well. Personally I prefer to have started with the 6 o’ clock crowd, but things just worked out for a 7 o’ clock start. I didn’t have to use a head lamp. Less weight, and less stumbling in the dark. Sunrise was just around 7, so the trail was visible.
My first lap was strong. I tried not to go out too fast but it was hard to control myself. I found couple great people to follow. I called the guy a bionic man because he ran like a robot at a steady mechanical pace. The three other guys behind me were just party people. They were loud and talked the whole way. Luckily I parted way with them a little after. I was with them for maybe 10 miles. The course was more gentle than I imagined (I did study the elevation profile). The terrible infamous rocky roots were not that bad. I ran on more challenging trail than this. The trails were wide and most of them were double trail. Yes it is a fast course as the organizer previously informed us.
My original intention was to bypass all the aid stations since I had my dropbag at the starting line, which is my private aid station. I figured I would be looping every few hours to allow me to get water/food/and change of clothes.
Not sure when that plan started to fall apart, whether it was the second or by the third lap, the official aid stations were pretty tempting not to bypass.
LAP 1 – I finished the first lap around 11 am. A decent time. Each subsequent laps took much longer.
LAP 2 – My goal for my second lap was to arrive back before sunset since I didn’t have the head lamp on me. I made it my goal of not carrying my hydration pack, which mean none of the basic stuffs were on me. Why carry one when everything you need is five or six miles away.
The ideal pace would be 6 hrs per lap with 30 hours for the whole 100 mile. I hope to arrive back at the starting point before 6 when it gets dark. I arrived around 4-4:30. I was two hours ahead by then.
LAP 3 – Going out for the third lap, now the sun has set. I hoped to finish it by 11. They warned us that it would be cold and we should carry a jacket. I don’t remember much after that but I did make it back before midnight. I think it was around 10 pm. Word about this is once the sun had set, the whole environment changed. You could no longer see where you are running even with a flashlight. The place was no longer recognizable. Weird isn’t it, but you get night blindness from the headlamp. The best ones for me were the dimly lit one, then you can see some shadow of trees and bushes to serve as a guide to the trail and can see a almost like in the morning. For me though, the night run became mostly stumbling in the dark. Oh you see all kinds of lighting devices people have. The most popular kind was a waist belt with a row of light. Very interesting. They lighted the whole path. I also saw a guy with christmas light wrapped on him.
What I think people were carrying so much silly stuffs were because this race had the 100km crowded. They are noobies compare to us. Of course they walked. The pro already finished theirs in the afternoon, so you only had the weird crowd at between 10 – 2 am at night trying to finish their 100km.
Lap 4. When did I start lap 4? This was probably the longest lap. I think I went out around 10 pm and hoping for 4am/5am start for my final lap. I took some food before starting. Was it a can of chicken noodle? I started feeling nausate at the time, which is normal, since the body started to shut down the digestive system on a long run — at least from what I read.
I don’t remember much of my fourth lap except yes it was cold. The whole night is cold. 40F. I knew it beforehand but I had no idea where I packed my gloves. Couldn’t find them. Luckily I had those runner jackets that have the extra long sleeves, where you can poke your thumb through on the side.
This was also the most lonely lap because by then the 100km people had left. Also the pros for the 100 miler are finishing or would be finishing. They were on their last lap and you still had two more to go. It was just depressing.
The last two laps were mostly just stumbling through. My body mostly refused to run. Did I say it was cold! I like put on everything I had on and still I was cold. I came in for my final lap an hour before sunrise. Was it at 4:30 am? It didn’t get warmer with the sun rising, I can tell you that.
Aid station was great though. They worked energetically through the night. A fellow runner I was with during the deep of the night stopped at the dam (they nicknamed the place damnation) and she told me to turn off my lamp. I was WTF, who you telling me what to do. I was like at the point of exhaustion. F* the sky. Then she kept on insisting, pointing to the sky. I was moved to tears, because it was the most spectacular night sky I saw. She remained just maybe a mile or two before running off. The moon was there too. It did give me a burst of energy to run for the next 10 miles and she also told me to ask for coffee at the Aid Station. I also didn’t know ramen and mash potato was a thing. She said it easier to slurp that way and it packs plenty of calories. This sweet angel probably saved my race because it was very tempting to quit during these late hours of the night. I didn’t bring along a pacer, but her suddenly appear and stay till I got my groove back somehow served as my needed pacer.
Lap 5. I finished the 100 miler around 11:35 the next day. It was 28.5 hours since I started. Even though when I started the last lap, it was guaranteed I would finish, like hell I had 8.5 hours to do it, no way I wouldn’t. Still there were doubts near hysteria – I was repeating in my head I can’t make it in time. Not sure why, but that was my mentality… I felt like I needed 10 hours. I was walking and unable to run. I was jealous of those who still could run. Majority though was walking and walking very slowly. Every bench I saw I wanted to sit and close my eyes, even if it was just for a few minutes would be heavenly, except it was too cold to be sitting. I know if I did, there is no way for me to get back up.
It was quite a scene there when you see a bunch of us as slow as we can get and still competing for a slight advantage because you would think everyone walks at the same pace, and I scratched my head why some could walk so fast effortlessly while at my pace I was unable to catch them. I did see a guy, he did finish, maybe an hour after me, but he was bending side way the whole time while leaning on his trekking pole. I was thinking how he could continue. He did it one step at a time. We were in various state of misery.
Any joy from the whole ordeal? Yes nothing happier than when we coming through the finishing chute. Cowbells clanking, music blasting, I attempted to run the last few steps awfully, but that was most satisfied moment. A silly fellow runner attempted to challenge me to sprint to the finish. I had nothing left in the tank. She won. It might be the same lady who asked me to look at the stars a few hours before.
I picked my buckle and did a few remaining things like locating my dropbag. I could hardly walk but I did limp to my car. Rolled down the window, wolfed down a few things I still had — F* the squirrels or raccoons for stealling all my remaining croissants that I forgot to put away. At first I was mad, thinking my fellow runners ate my food but then I saw the tell tell bite mark on the container lid. Humans don’t eat plastic. I was so straving but I was unable to keep awake much longer and soon felt into a deep sleep.
I did not know how I made it back to the hotel. When I woke up after everyone was gone. I slept maybe 3 hours in the parking lot. Somehow later, I managed that hour long drive back to Houston. I was in the dreamlike state during the whole ride, but that will be another story for another time. I should have stayed at the park for few more hours of sleep. However, I wanted that nice shower the hotel offers. I was going to go out and eat, but couldn’t will myself. Also the fear from my ride back to Houston hadn’t left me. I went to bed early and slept until the morning. I cooked myself a big meal at an god early hour at the hotel, then ate my own body weight, but still I was hungry afterward.
There is probably some feel good lesson to close this. The whole run has been pretty peaceful. I can probably point to the earlier experiences preparing me for this. I was not a complete noob to say the least. The last four years have prepared me. I know how hard it was to stay on my feet for 24+ hours. I had been through the tougher runs in Atlanta where the sun was burning hot – even at night and we had to climb a mountain at the end of the 60 mile. I had endured thirst and hungry and blisters on my foot and various runner related problems. This race in comparison is easy. You can say, if one set ones mind on it, you can accomplish anything. Hmm. Or good preparation is 90% of the work. Or if you don’t succeed, try again. For me, indeed third time the charm. Nope, those are good lessons, but I think what make this trip worth it, is just to be able to run and have the same shared experience with other runners. I feel happy about it. A runner gave me a pat on the shoulder and said nice work! That was enough, and I felt accepted into this rank — I’m now an ultra runner.
I did not get into Umstead. Looking for another race to attempt.
I am thinking of Rocky Raccoon or C&O Canal 100. Both races have about the same difficulty. Rocky Raccoon I can register now. Registering for C&O Canal has not opened yet.
C&O is near my house and easy to get crew or pacer support. Rocky is in Texas and hours away from the nearest airport! I have not traveled that far for a big race. Yes for Marathons but this is more than a marathon.
A quiet weekend this week. Woke up late typically. Want to train but many things needed my attention. Feeling guilty if I go out and run the whole weekend. Nice fall weather though. Maybe will go and run.
I don’t like counting my chickens before they hatch. But I am overjoyed that this weekend I will be running another ultra: Old Glory. It would be my fourth lifetime ultra. It really came at the last minute so I am scrambling to get my mind into running shape and line up my logistical support. Physically, meh, I haven’t trained as I should. But Ultra now starts to get easier. I am not as fearful about them as with my first and second one.
It was not a last minute sign up. I signed up for this race back in the summer after doing the Eastern Divide and before I got sick. It was part of the three race series: the Eastern Divide, the High Bridge and the Old Glory.
High Bridge race was last month but I couldn’t make it (I went to Wild Oak). Luckily, the race director allowed me to defer it until next year. I thought I would also have to defer for the Old Glory too due to overbooking with my hiking events.
It is not really overbooking – because I have a policy of first-come-first serve. I will do what ever first on my calendar. If it has been on the calendar longer, it must be important and anything that comes after it usually are less important. Do older things first! But then sometimes that isn’t the case, that is when hell breaks loose like this time. Then I have to evaluate what thing I value more.
For me it is hard to choose between running and hiking, which was what happened. If it is purely on the activity, I will always pick running first because that is my joy and passion. Nothing get between me and a race. How often do I go out to the woods by myself just to hike? Almost never. Unfortunately, this year, I gave up three races already (two of them were deferred) and Old Glory would have been my fourth. One of it though was really worth giving up on a race (Roan Mnt backpacking). When you add spending time with a friend to the equation, things get murky and that was what happened.
My hiking buddy also planned this weekend hiking/backpacking trip (we changed venues and dates couple times) for months and it landed on my race date. Actually, that was how I missed the High Bridge race too. I race every weekend almost so I told her not to worry about checking my race calendar. I will suck it up when that happens.
So I have been holding my breath with a hope maybe I still get to run the Old Glory. Finally, I got a message yesterday that the hiking/backpacking trip would be canceled and she won’t take me along. Well it was kind of my fault to suggest that the trip is too cold to do. I camped in colder weather before though.
With the hiking trip canceled, now all my race machinery starts humming again. I am wishing for warm weather. I checked the race director emails, got the last minute race instructions, got the race location and start time, cut off time and now I am studying the course. Basically I need to get my brain into racing mode. Yup, weather will be nice for running. Low 50s. Perfect.
This race would be the last long run before my dreaded 50 miler (JFK50) coming up in two weeks. I am still in denial about that.
I woke up the morning of the race at around 3 AM, having slept maybe 5 hours. Originally I set my alarm for 5 AM, but I felt I needed more time to prepare. The night before, I was too tired to pack my things after coming back from a hiking trip. It was the first time I woke up this early for a race. I know, with Ultras, there might be a day I will be at the course by 1 or 2AM in the morning.
I had my early breakfast. Cold breakfast because I was too lazy to cook. I had to have some food in me. Packed. We had to pack a second breakfast because by the time the race starts, I would be hungry again. I was out of the house by 5. I took the metro (light rail) to the starting line. Metro opens at 6 just for this event. I drove to a far away station in Springfield instead of taking a closer one, Vienna. The reason being, is to avoid making a transfer. I did this race back in 2017, and by the time waiting for transfer, I could barely made it to the race start, given that time, I missed the first train and had to wait for a second one that was like 15 minutes later. That 15 minutes was a big different. This time, no transferring and I made sure I was at the station 15 minutes prior the first train in order not to miss it. I barely made it on time for that due to not familiar with the station and the parking. The train moved out the station exactly on the dot. I got on my train. There were lot of runners like me. My race started at 7:30. I got to the race around 6:30. But there were a lot of people when I arrived, 30,000+ of them. It took us some time to leave the station and to get to the starting line. This time I came a little bit earlier and avoid the crowd like I did back in 2017. But there were still a lot of people. From the metro, we had to walk about a mile to the runners village. By the time I got to the village, and gone through security check, the starting time was near (only 30 minutes left). I walked up to the starting line and that was a long walk too (maybe quarter mile long). 50K has only 1700 runners and we felt many has dropped out due to the rain.
We had a tropical storm blowing from Texas. It hit us around 7-10 am. I have been watching this storm system since the beginning of the week. We were hoping it would skip us. There were a lot of water coming down from the sky. Bucketful of water. The race started on time. Luckily the storm did not last too long (maybe for couple hours). It came down early and then went out of the area, fast moving storm. We had sunshine for the rest of the race.
Having run the course before, this time I was well prepared. I did not go out too strong. Last time I tired myself out by mile 13. This time I am doing the Ultra 50k, which added about 4.8 miles more. The course still remained much the same. We did the extra 4.8 miles at mile 4.5, when we left the normal marathon race course and run a 2.4 miles out and back before rejoining the marathon course.
By mile 4, the elite runners already caught up with us. We ran about half a mile with them. Note we had a 25 minutes head start. We left the regular course at mile 4.5, and came back in. By the time we came back in the course many runners already ran passed. It was raining heavily at the time. Many runners were already walking. I assumed they were doing 16-18 mins per mile. We the 6:00 finishers were still going at 11:33 mins per mile. This was one of the greatest concern for the ultra runners. We would come in from behind and it would be a challenge to move pass the slower runners. While there were a lot of people, I was able to still pass them. Based on simulation, we would be passing 6000 people the first few miles. We passed a lot of people, but it was very hard to keep count. I was running between 10:30 a mile and 12:30 min a mile pace depending on the crowd. Experience definitely helped at this point. In the previous Marine Corps Marathon, I was expending too much energy weaving in and out of the crowds that by mile 13, I was completely exhausted. This time I was basically going with the flow and passing when I could. I know I would pass them, but I did not get frustrated if the person in front was a bit slow. I know they would a bit slow until the very end. Since they closed both sides of the street, I could run on the opposite side. Not many people did (they fear of being DQ I think for going off the course). I ran mostly on the opposite side (or on the median) to pass people. And it was great. I did not have to weave in and out the crowd too much.
Most people were respectful, they used hand signal to let people know they are stopping. There were not too many people running in big group this time. I could get by most of the time. There were just a lot of people. The course did not really spread out until their mile 13 as expected, our mile 18.
The rest of the race was mostly uneventful. Being an ultra runner, I brought my own water and food. I had more experience than the rest of the crowd. I did not slow down at many of the aid stations unless I ran out water. I got some oranges and gels from the aid stations later in the race, when I did not see that many people crowding there. I felt I was one of the few around me who could keep the energy up. I ate early in the race, before even the first official food station. I had real food (peanut butter sandwiches). I did not “hit-the-wall” until final two miles. Even then, the last minute gel got me through. One word about those gels, it almost turned my stomach inside out. I thought I was about to double over and throw up. Maybe I was drinking too much water by that time.
About pacing, I was with the 6:00 hour group. I was mostly in front of them. They were going maybe 30 seconds faster than the supposed pace in the beginning. We were running at 11 min pace until mile 5. Then the pacer decided to make a time correction by walking couple minutes. I had my 5:00 (hour) marathon pace band (I felt as long as I get to the 26.2 mile, I could finish the rest of the way). I arrived at the 26.2 mark exactly at 5:00 on the race clock. The last 4.8 miles took me an hour to get through.
I walked much more in the final few miles. I stopped for beer (from the crowd) and a picture. Bummer too the rain ruined my camera phone. A fellow marathon maniac ran up to me and we took a picture together with her phone at the final few miles. The final hill was hard. Having ran it before, I knew the hill was not long, so I pushed on. It was hard. Many other people flew by me. I crossed the finish line at 5:58:something on race clock time. I did not run a perfect even pace, but it was the first time, I arrived exactly at the time I wanted to arrive.
I think picking a 6:00 arrival time was arbitrary. I felt it was a bit too fast for me. I could have picked 6:15 or 6:20, then I would not have felt so rush. I did not want to push too hard, since I have one more race (a 50 miler) in three weeks, and that one I have been training on/off for over a year. I hope this race did not ruin my body for that one. I was not supposed to go all out on this race. I felt I was nearly there.
I might have mentioned before that my friend who I go hiking with many times is planning a backpacking trip in Chile at the end of this year and I am tagging along. (more…)
The race went well. I ran the tidewater Seashore 50k Marathon in First Landing State Park (VA Beach). I didn’t have a specific time to strive for. (more…)
In awe 