JFK

I did it for the glory, bragging rights and ultimately the car sticker. You know what I am talking about, the $2 dollar football shaped custom vinyl sticker made by Maine Illustrated that say I did a 50 mile foot race just to get this sticker for my car because the rear left side looks a little empty without a sticker affixed to it. I am not sure whether having a running partner that’s just as crazy as I am if not more is a blessing or a curse but I mentioned this to her and after a few minutes of deliberation her response was “OK I am in“

Having never done any trail running or distance over 26.2 miles we had no idea what we were getting ourselves into. We got our first taste of the Appalachian Trail on the November 7th run organized by Cathy. Both of us made it out with a twisted ankle and deeper realization of the kind of pain and anguish that is to come.

We were both very nervous on race day and our plan was just to make it off the AT alive. Having said that, I am not sure what it was but we made pretty good time on the trail, there were a few missteps but we sucked it up and kept going. Next came the dreaded flat towpath. We started right off with the 10 minute run 2 minute walk strategy. We ran into Iva, another MCRRCer around mile 20 and she decided to join us. Things were going according to plans for a while but around mile 22 my hamstrings decided they had enough and locked up, I couldn’t keep pace with Iva and Amanda so I dropped back to run my own race.

This was the lowpoint for me, I shuffled best I could and made it to the aid station at mile 24, took water, gatorade and whatever food they had available. I made sure I took my salt pills to keep the cramps in check. This was when I realized I wasn’t mentally ready for the distance beyond 26.2 miles I panicked and my body responded by cramping up in places I never cramped before. I don’t know how but my glutes cramped up. Is that even possible ? At this point I didn’t know if finishing was even possible, but I had to try so I marched on, shuffling along the towpath looking for anything and everything to keep me distracted.

As I shuffled along the C&O canal towpath, there were a few runners that decided to veer off the path and inspect the trees for termites, one yelled out “this tree is good, I personnally checked it“ as he hurriedly zip up his pants. I was pleasantly distracted for a while but then around mile 27 ish I looked to my left and heard a barrage of gunshots going off one after another.  Growing up in a moderately rough neighborhood have taught me a thing or two on how to best deal with these kind of situations. Either run for cover or blend in with the surrounding. Obviously the first option wasn’t viable because at this point I couldn’t even outrun a tortoise let alone bullets. I thought about just dropping and blend in with the leaves on the ground but then I still have a race to finish. I am not sure what came over me but I instinctually turned on my gangster swagger and did my best impression of the matrix effect, weaving and dodging as I shuffled along at a lightning fast speed of almost 15 minutes per mile,  ad libbing sound effects as I imagined the bullets blazing past me in slow motion, “pchooo pchooo pchooo.”

After a few minutes of dodging, weaving and ad-libbing, I’ve come to realize how silly I must look to the oncoming runners, I confessed that I heard gunshots, I was then told that it were from a shooting range on the other side of the canal. Crisis averted, the embarassment was a great distraction as I shuffled on toward the next aid station. I took my time and do the needful but again I must pressed on. I saw a guy lying on the grass enjoying himself so I had to hurry on because I see myself doing just that in a few seconds if I don’t move. By this time I was pretty much out of it, my hamstrings were screaming and I cursed everything in sight for making this such a horrible experience. “FU trees, FU leaves, FU rocks, FU guy breathing heavily trying to pass me.”

It was then at mile 28 that I ran into Jeff, a fellow MCRRCer, actually he ran into me. He saw me suffering as I was leaving the aid station and accompanied me the rest of the way. He had a lot of interesting stories to share, he did mention that they might not all be true but he would tried to tell it best he could. There were stories of Johnny Appleseed, Leif Ericson and the origin of the Appalachian Trail, whether true or not, his stories were extremely entertaining and helped me forgot about the pain. We stuck to a 3/4 mile run and 1/4 mile walk plan. Jeff kept me entertained with his repertoire of stories, he had one after another and as we were talking and running we made it to mile 38 without much complaint from our sore legs.

Sunny, one of the coaches from the 10 minute First Time Marathoners pace group had said that she would pace Amanda and I to the finish at mile 38. As I was running with Jeff I convinced myself that I just need to get myself to mile 38 and Sunny would bring me to the finish line like she promised. But then I realized that Amanda was way ahead of me and she would see Sunny first. She was running with Iva, would she be so heartless as to take away my last chance of redemption ? Luckily she knew how much I needed Sunny and told her to wait for me.

When I got to mile 38 and saw Sunny there I knew then that I can do it, and finishing IS possible. There’s nothing like seeing a familiar face in such a gruesome race. I was down to my last trick, ready to give up. All that changed, if I give up now, not only would I let myself down, I would also let down my coach. She believed in me and I found the confidence to believe that I can see this through. Sunny’s gentle guidance and encouragement slowly got me out of my slumps as I regain my spirit and head to mile 50 for a strong finish.

At mile 49  Sunny mentioned that due to the rules she wouldn’t be able to finish with me, I should be able to finish on my own and she’d see me afterward. I knew the finish was close so I nod my head and pushed on, when I saw the finish line I was so tired that I didn’t have anything left in me for a strong finish. I planned to accept defeat and just walk it in, get my medal, and go home. With about 200 meters to go I saw, Khoa and Quin, 2 of my friends who came to support me at the finish. They held up their end and came to see me, I couldn’t let them down so I had to muster every last ounce of strength I had in me and sprint toward the finish line. They were running along side me yelling words of encouragements and or profanities. I was too tired to know any difference. Later I found out that they were telling me to slow down so they could take a picture of me finishing. @%@$%@ I felt stupid, but I am glad that I sprinted, I didn’t accept defeat.

I finished in 11:22:52, got my medal, hugged Sunny, shook Cathy’s hands, met up with Amanda, Mo and Jenny, my 2 other friend who came out to support us, then I had to borrow $2 to buy the effing sticker which I thought we would get for free. The verdict is still out wether I would do another ultramarathon, but for now I am content with my medal.

Then this very morning as I was talking to Amanda on Gmail she sent me a link to an article about the race by the Herald Mail and the very first paragraph I read was
(http://www.herald-mail.com/?cmd=displaystory&story_id=234584&format=html)

“The two most prestigious ultramarathons in the United States are the JFK 50 Mile and the Western States 100-Mile Endurance Run.”

I hate myself, what’s sad is that I will mention this to Amanda and she would agree within minutes.

Why is it that when there is an accident in the opposite direction, traffic seems to come to a complete stop on BOTH sides ? Well I’ll tell you why. People are effing nosy, not the ones that can’t help it because the accident happened in their direction. There’s nothing they can do but wait it out and allow the local emergency response team to promptly do their job.

Its not them I have a problem with. Its the people on the opposite direction, the same freaking direction that I am travelling toward.

“Oh hey what’s going on ? why are people on the other side slowing down ? OMFG someone got in an accident, well shooooo I’ll slow down a bit to see if I can see anything good ? yea I think that’s exactly what I’ll do. Never mind the people driving behind me, its not like they got anything important to do.”

What do they expect to see anyway ? do they expect the person on the stretcher to get up and wave, thanking them for their concern and its ok for them to keep on driving

“no really I am fine, gosh thank you, you can go on with your business”

I swear the next time I see people slowing down and there are NO accident in front but rather in the opposite direction. I would get out of the car, walk up to them … omfg so did you guys see anything good ?

daaaaaaaaaayummm

What ? I didn’t say I wasn’t nosy. Its human nature, get over it!

I went for a trial run on the Appalachian Trail this morning with a few MCRRC members. I had no idea what I was in for so I rested and slept early Friday night to prepare myself for this run. Let me just say that this was the HARDEST run I had ever did ever since I started running. That’s right I had to bold and underline that so you can see how serious I am.

Trailrunning is NOTHING like road running.  There are rocks, branches, roots, leaves,  and everything else that are around to make your run as memorable as possible. One misstep and you’re in for a hurting, your race might even be over.  I tend to zone out in most of my races but today I was completely focused on the trail. Even so I must’ve twisted my ankles at least 6 times.  It is extremely hard to run with all the rocks and leaves on the trails, especially when you have to run downhill. The leaves make it very slippery to traverse the trail. We went out for 13 miles and 3 hours 17 minutes later we made it out of the trail.

I am glad that I made it out for this practice run, at least now I know what to expect on November 21st. There were 2 very big hills that would’ve broken me  if it was my first time seeing it. I think I am now better prepared, come race day I will walk it up those hills and take it relatively easy on the trail, run what I can and walk the treacherous part. There are still 35 more miles to go after we get off the trail. What the heck have I gotten myself into ?

As with most challenges in life, the only real obstacle in your way is yourself.  Get over it and you’ll be amaze at the possibilities.

Here’s a little inspiration to help put it all into perspectives.

Lately it had come to my attention that I’ve taken this running thing a little too seriously. I was no longer enjoying it, and it became another source of stress.

I used to be very lively during races,  I’d strike up conversation with other runners and listen as they share their stories of how they got involve in running.  Each and every individual story’s was unique.  Their reason for running may vary from runner to runner but everyone find it a welcomed change of pace and would like to keep at it.

Of course qualifying for Boston is on every serious runner’s mind. But its also important not to let it take over your whole reason for running, be realistic, set goals to get there. Don’t let it seem like a chore, have a little fun, talk to other runners, it will make the experience much more enriching.

With that being said I will run my next race with a different mindset. I will not run it for time but for the stories and enriching experience. 50 mile is a LONG way to go without talking to anyone.

Being the competitive douche that I am, I came to the starting line with 2 plans in mind. Plan A was to run the best race I could and try to break 4 hours. If that fail, plan B was to trip Amanda with about 100 meters left at the finish line and take the WIN.

The first 3 miles were an incline of roughly 365 feet. Normally my instinct would be to charge it and deal with the consequences later. But today, I went against my instinct and decided to listen to Sunny, our supercoach. We shuffled through the first 3 miles at a 9:53 pace. Mile 4 through 16 is downhill and flat so we picked up our pace to around 9:05 and 9:07

We got through the half way point at 1:59:53, that gave us enough motivation to realize that maybe we could do this. But alas, mile 20 came and all that motivations were gone, I felt like crying at 21 and seriously doubt that I could finish within 4 hours. It was at this very moment that I looked within myself to find something that would help me pull through. The first thing that came to mind was “omg just trip her now and get it over with” That didn’t seem right so I had to dig deeper and finally it came to me. “What would Sunny do ?”

First she would probably tell me to quit whining like a little girl and follow it up with a swift smack to the head telling me to man up and just DO IT. (btw. Sunny isn’t violent, but I needed to make it dramatic to help me pull through) The hills kept coming and I swore that if I see another hill I would curse the next person that pass me. Of course Amanda then decided to breeze by right beside me and goes “What hills ?” I raised my eyebrows and gave her the dirtiest look I could muster. She got the hint that I was tired, grumpy and am in no mood for friendly banter. (I am sowwie Amanda, forgive me ?)

My aggression was caused in part by the half marathoners that joined us half way. They were making it so hard for us to keep our pace, our only choice was to weave through them one by one. At mile 23 there was this lady that decided to give us her rendition of “freefalling” over and over again. I didn’t have the heart to tell her that her singing wasn’t helping anybody at all and maybe it would help if she knew more of the lyrics, you can only take so much freefalling. That was enough motivation for me to run away from her to keep my eardrum from bursting.

At mile 25 I was in so much pain that the only way to make it stop and make my time was to sprint like I had to pee and make my way to the finish line asap. I made the final surged and crossed the finish line with the clock showing 4:00:10 I smiled and realize that I had broken 4 hours and didn’t need to trip Amanda after all.

2009 Baltimore Marathon

Some of the mile splits didn’t record time because I screwed up my D-tag like an idiot

Our GB Support Team

This was us after the race and meeting up with our GB suppor team

Official results available at http://www.charmcityrun.com/eventResults.cfm?eventid=881

The pace is completely off. I used the pace calculator provided by CoolRunning.com @ http://www.coolrunning.com/engine/4/4_1/96.shtml

I signed up for this race with the hope of breaking 22 minutes, putting me at a 7:05 pace, which is ultimately the pace I need to qualify for the Boston marathon. Its nice to have goals

I’ve been putting in 2 weeks of hills workout to help improve my time and as a way to prepare for the Baltimore marathon. I was confident that I can make this happen and 22 minutes was within grasp. This false sense of confidence was made under the assumption that the 5k course is flat. I was WRONG!

By the first mile I realized that 22 minutes was not gonna happen. I hit mile 1 at a 7:30 pace. Most of mile 1 was uphill with a max elevation of 559 feet. With 2 more miles to go I resolved to do the best I can and at least beat my last 5k time of 24:44

Mile 2 came and go and the rolling hills took its toll on my legs. The hills from mile 1 to 2 was in the range of 500 feet. I tried my hardest to stay under 8 minute pace.

Mile 2 to 3 was a devastating climb from 308 to 501 feet. I sprinted when I saw the finish line but because of the walkers I had to come to a complete stop, avoid them and start sprinting again. I finish with a net time of 24:04 which is a good 40 seconds off my previous time.

I came in 61st overall, out of 394 runners. I placed 20/61 in my age group. All in all it was a good race. I will have to train harder next time to break 22 minutes. Note to self: sign up for a flat 5k!

My run is also available via Garmin @
http://connect.garmin.com/player/14398408

One thing I must mention about this race is that the premiums are AWESOME, everything from the long sleeve running shirt and hat to the random items in each of the goodies bag. I will definitely consider doing it again next year.

Our Running Crew 6 strong

Flipsyde!

I really dig this song from Flipsyde.
Have a listen

Topless Douche!

That’s me at the 2009 Annapolis 10 miler It took me a while to find it too, turns out it was in the Douche folder aka Lost & Found cause my bib wasn’t visible.  I am sorta glad I found but also a bit surprise that there are countless others topless douche beside me Doucheness ftw!!!

See what had happened was, I was coming off a badly sprained left foot and after a 2 weeks hiatus I decided again’st my better judgement to just run it anyway.

I realized this was yet another bad decision around mile 4 when the pain I had been experiencing on my left foot showed itself.  I went out hard hoping to get it over with before the pain can set in, yet again another bad decision I tried to ignore it as best I could and shuffled to the finish line.

Needless to say I did not beat my time for last year.

not happy

I’ll take it for what it is.

Since not much was going my way I figured I might as well run it comfortably and took off my shirt around mile 5. But did you notice what I did there ? I carefully tied my shirt around my waist to conceal the muffin top that developed when I didn’t do much running and ate myself to happiness.  With the MF carefully tucked away under my shirt I merrily shuffled my way to the finish line looking for the Brightroom camera guys so I can give them my best cheesy running pose.

After that Sunday I a week off and iced my foot everyday. I started running again this week and it seem that the pain is gone.

Next on the schedule is the Baltimore running festival on 10/10/2009 which give me about 30 days to get in as much hills work as I can to prepare for the heartbreaking hills of Charm City.

Will Smith has it right. The keys to life are truly Running and Reading.

According to Will, “When you’re running … there’s a little person that talks to you, and that little person says, “Oh, I’m tired,” or “My lungs are about to pop,” or “I’m so hurt, I’m so tired there is no way I could possibly continue.” And you want to quit. If you learn how to defeat that person when you’re running, you will learn how to not quit when things get hard in your life.”

This is the one thing that every runners know well. We constantly fight with this little voice, at times we give in but when we do manage to tell it to SHUT UP miracles can happen. Especially when its only the first mile in a marathon and you’re asking yourself why the little voice came out so early.

As for reading,  Will said that “there have been millions and billions and gazillions of people that have lived before all of us, there is no new problem you could have with your life, parents, school, jobs, bullies that someone hasn’t already solved and wrote about it in a book”

So  get out there and run like you mean it, tell that little voice inside your head to SHUT UP and make it a great run. Once you’re done running, head home and open up a book. Well eat first then open the book. Gotta listen to that little voice that keep telling you to feed it.