My JFK50 Story

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.

Filed under: Running , 2009 JFK50, 2009 jfk50 race report, ask not which rocks you can run but which runs you can rock, MCRRc, stupid reasons for running

Pike’s Peek 10k 2009 race report

 Preliminary 2009 Men’s Results
Preliminary 2009 Women’s Results

So there I was lying in my bed, tossing an turning. All I could hear was the incessant chirping of birds outside my window. chirp chirp chirp …  Why the heck did I leave my window open ? It wasn’t that hot and I know those damn birds would wake me up. Then it hit me, omg I actually planned this  and intentionally left my window open so the birds would wake me up early enough for the Pike’s Peek 10k today. I have an instantaneous reaction to the sound of my alarm where I spring upward, extend my left arm and index finger just enough to hit the snooze button and roll right back into bed. The plan worked out beautifully, it was 5:30 AM and sure enough, the birds were there.

I had been training all winter the for Frederick Marathon on 5/3/2009, Pike’s Peek was a little preview to see if my training paid off. Last year I ran it in 57:09 at a pace of 9:12 minute per mile. My goal for this year was to make it under 50 minutes.  For the first 2 miles I was cruising along at 7:30 minute pace. I kept checking my garmin to see if it was malfunctioning, to my surprise I really ran at that pace. This is huge for me, I was training at an 11:00 minute pace.  I’ll never figure out how I did it but just felt really good that it happened.  

In order to make my goal time I needed to keep a pace of 8:03 minute per mile. The first 2 mile felt easy but knowing that I need to conserve energy for the last half, Islowed down to an exactly 8:00 minute pace and went along merrily in my own little world thinking to myself “OMG I AM FREAKING AWESOME 7:30 PACE RAWRRRRRR!!!!” I might have let out the RAWRRR!!! a few times, if I remembered correctly there were a lot of awkward vibes as the runners around me were giving me that “SHUT UR TRAP” look. IT was hot and they were tired so I hold no ill feeling towards them.

The main strategy I wanted to try today was to not stop at any of the water stop. I made sure I was well hydrated enough before the race so I would be able to push the pace the whole distance. Its extremely hard for me to stop for water and start back up again. I always walk more than I want to and that end up costing me a lot of time.

I didn’t have to run the race by myself this year, I was able to con…vinced 2 of my friends to do it also. My training partner is just as crazy as I am so she was definitely in, we both had different time goals, it was a little weird not running along side her but its just something every runner have to do. Run at your own pace.  We BOTH made our time goal. I finished in 49:24 at a   7:57  pace and she made her’s with over 2 minutes to spare. This is a huge confidence booster, we’ll be heading off to Frederick next Sunday ready to take it on. John & Amy just wanted to finish and they seemed to really enjoyed it. Still trying to talk them into a marathon

One complaint I have about the race was that they failed to let us know that only the first 250 people can get the beanie hat. I really wanted a beanie, I signed up before the February deadline. But I was denied the hat when I came to packet pickup Other than that the race was well coordinated, I really like the beach towel, I have enough shirts, don’t really need anymore.

 

The four of us after the race.

Frederick HERE WE COME!!!

Filed under: Running , MCRRc, pike's peek 10k, pike's peek 10k 2009 results

College Park Cares 5k

Results: Check Your time here
I wanted to set a new PR for this race, my stretch goal was 20 minutes or under. Although I set a new PR, I didn’t meet my stretch goal. I overexerted myself in the last half marathon and was recovering from shin splints. I couldn’t put in the extra mileage to build up my endurance. No excuses though, I gotta train harder for the next one.

The course started at the Ellen Linson swimming pool at 9:00AM. 

College Park Cares 5k map

 

Artemesia Lake

What drew me to this 5k was the fact that it loop  through Lake Artemesia. When I was living in Greenbelt I used to love going here for a jog and fishing. The lake is just as how I remember it, however it was a different experience having to run as fast as I could away from it to get to the finish line. The weather was more humid than usual, but that didn’t really bother the 102 runners that were ready to take it on. 

I finished in 24:25 at a pace of 7:52 per mile.  This put me at 36/102 place. I am happy with the results but a bit dissappointed because I know that I could do better had I pushed harder. I was 4 minutes and 26 seconds too slow. Getting up at 7am to drive 30 minutes to put in 10+ miles was taking a toll on my tolerance. Laziness got the better of me and the results speak for itself

I was humbled by my performance and will train harder to reach my sub 20 minutes goal. Ultimately I hope to qualify for Boston working up from qualifying time for 5k, 10k, 10 miles, half marathon, 20 miles and 26.2  

Filed under: Running , 5k, Boston, college park cares result, college parks cares, lake artemesia, MCRRc, qualifying

The Parks Half Marathon 2008

Montgomery County Road Runner’s Club website : http://www.mcrrc.org
Join the club and enroll in their First Time Marathon program, you’ll be amaze by the results

2008 Results http://www.mcrrc.org/racing/2008/20080914ParksHalfMarathon.htm

Coverage of the race by RunWashington.com http://www.runwashington.com/news/sep08parkshmrpt.html

Pictures of almost all runners are available at Edward Johnson’s site http://edwardjohnson.com/running/parks/index.html

Runners traversing the narrow path through the Parks

Starting mile, Veirs Mill Road

The Parks Half Marathon (http://www.parkshalfmarathon.com), a premier race held by Montgomery County Road Runners Club to showcase the county’s parks system had its 3rd debut today at 7:00AM. I’ve been looking forward to September 14 for a while now. Ever since the Annapolis 10 miler I’ve been training diligently to find a comfortable pace to run the Marines Corps Marathon this coming October 26. I am starting to take training a bit more seriously now, I want to know what my best is. On Saturday, I  did everything I was suppose to to get ready for the race, I loaded up on carbs, minimized my walking distances and slept at 10PM so I can get at 5:30AM to get ready. I even bought Frank Shorter’s running gears shorts and tank top to see if it make a difference

The shorts were well, really short. My pasty white quads were publicly exhibited to about 2000+ runners this morning. There might have been a wardrobe malfunction incident, I knew something was wrong when a girl, running beside me was giggling. Her giggling suddenly made me self conscious so I looked down to see if any body parts was making any unplanned appearances. NOPE, everything was where it should be, but just to play it safe I sped up passed her to avoid any awkward conversations. We would argue about exactly what she saw and made her giggle, I would then make awkward jokes telling her that it get even smaller in water. She would laugh but deep down I’d know she’s not laughing with me but rather at me. Its best just to avoid the drama and heartache.

Just last Sunday I ran on the very same course as part of a training run with the FTMers (First Time Marathoners) For once I know what the course would be like before the actual run. This turn out to be more of a nuisance then a blessing. Confident that I know the course I took off blazing through it. Around mile marker 4 I knew I started out way too fast and needed to slow it down. I sweat profusely and by mile 5 I was completely drenched. I made casual remarks to other runners that the shower was nice and they should try it also. I get the occasional laugh but I know they’re thinking to themselves “man this dude sweat A LOT”. I decided to take it easy from mile 4-7 so I would have some reserve for the negative split. I felt uneasy as people were passing me but I stuck to the plan and ran a slower pace until mile 7. I was pumped when I saw the mile 8 marker. I had plenty of reserve left so I decided to go a bit faster. I caught up with the 9:00 minute pacer and stayed with her until mile 12. I am not sure what her name was but she did a great job pacing us, if it weren’t for her friend egging me on to keep going after the last water stop I would’ve slowed down tremendously. At mile marker 12 I decided to sprint like a bat out of hell. My goal for this race is 2 hours, my watch showed 1:55 with 3/4 mile to go, I hauled ass and managed to pass the finish line with a gun time of 2:00:05

I MADE IT. 2 hours, I started in the 3rd wave so I was about 3 minutes behind the gun time. I realized that I had ran a sub 2 hours half marathon. I discretely pumped my fist in celebration of a race well ran. The official result showed that I ranked 769/2037. Not too shabby My next races are a 5k and another half marathon. I hope to get a PR for each event.

Course Map

Course Map - Satellite View

Street View

Street View

Me almost at the finish line.

Almost there

FINISH!!!

 I smell foooood, so I sprinted like a fat kid on a cake run.

Filed under: Running , 13.1, half marathon, MCRRc, parks half marathon, shorts shorts

Riley’s Rumble 7/27/2008

MCRRC Riley’s Rumble Half Marathon club race was meant as a tune up for the First Time Marathon program participants. Not really knowing what to expect save for a few horrid recounts of the agonizing hills along the course I decided to test out my training so far to see how much I’ve improved. As expected I completed within 2 hours and 10 mins. The exact time was 2:08:55, I ran the whole race at a comfortable pace, didn’t really feel the need to push hard until the last mile or so. Even with the last mile push I still had enough energy to go a few more miles. My training paid off and if I keep it up, the actual marines corp marathon will be an enjoyable experience. I met a few people along the way and chatted them up as we head toward the finish line. That was the best part of the race, getting to know other people who share the same interest as me and have them to open up sharing their personal stories on how they got into running and why they keep at it years after years. I am truly inspired after talking with them, this is but the beginning of a lifetime affair with the roads. I hope to be doing what i do now long into my 70s.

Me and Jeff a little bit after the half way point

Filed under: Uncategorized , half marathon, MCRRc, Riley's Rumble