Blue Red Run Half 2019/03/23—unrecovered

The legs felt dead at the start of Trinity River Levee Half 3 weeks ago.  Today I anticipated a better 13.1-mile result given I had 7 instead of 6 days rest after 4+ hour foot race.  I acquired a Hypervolt massager to promote recovery and alleviate upper body pain.  Wishful thinking didn’t translate to reality.

_plan
Start at mid to high 7’s pace.  Accelerate at mile 8.  21-minute final 3 miles.

[Irving cops and I left the event at the same time.  This caused me having to drive at their speed on George Bush Tollway]

_race
The legs turned into jello around mile 9.  I lost ground to the dozen in front of me.  No one behind me presented a threat.

I stopped holding the pace at mile 11 to save the legs for 20.6-mile A2A in 8 days.  I watched my split went from sub- to mid 8’s. 

_#’s
GPS: Garmin Forerunner 630
Distance: 13.0 mi
Time: 1:44:23 (forgot to stop the timer)
Avg pace: 8:02

Official chip time: 1:43:19
Avg Pace:7:53/M

Ranking 13/160

_Post-race

Got lucky with weather: rain didn’t start ‘til 10 minutes into award.  A few Airbus employee let me take cover in their large vehicle.

Grasslands Trail Marathon 2019/3/16—plantar fasciitis

_short version
Plantar fascia acted up.  Jacket too thin for outdoor BBQ lunch.  Everything else felt pretty perfect.

Race postponed 30 minutes so racers had sunlight.
Made 2 wrong turns but recovered quickly.  Socks were wet by mile 13; no blister.
Kicked a rock: lost very little toe nail.
Weather was gorgeous.

_TLDR version
[photos by Catherine Chen]

I signed up for marathon despite of my drop foot.  This wasn’t a technical trail course.  I could ask a volunteer to save me.

It was weird coming to this event without Raluca.  Enabling her to participate was something she appreciated.

_logistics
7am start time meant 4:15am wake time before 80 minute drive.  I was afraid to oversleep at 3:30a.  I needed to learn to relax.

Event was chip-timed.  I debated whether to start 20 min after the gun to avoid darkness.  The decision was made for me.  The organizer postponed start 30 minutes.

_goal
I had no time or placement goal.  5-hour felt doable.  4.5-hr was possible.  It all depended on surface condition and how much I got off course.

_loop 1: white trail: slow start
I started mid-pack, not wanting to impede anyone.  The race quickly came to standing still to queue up for 2 flooded sections.  A real trail runner would’ve just skip over the water.

_negative progress
I was directionally challenged and decided to follow others.  Confusion developed the first couple miles.  Runners U-turned.  Twice.  It was funny watching how people reacted differently.  I followed a well-equipped guy—in worst case, his GPS will find the parking lot.

[end of loop 1]

Air temperature went from 37 to 50 the first 2 hours.  I left T-shirt, arm warmers, and gloves at the tree by the start.  The sunshine was gorgeous.


_loop 2: blue trail
The blue trail marks were very visible under 9 o’clock sun.  I came to a water crossing.  My brain couldn’t decide what to do; legs just stepped into the muddy water.  Both socks got wet.  That was my only dipping and permit me to step into mud.

Left heel hurt.  I sensed the limp and chose to ignore it.  There were limited numbers of these events left in this body; I hoped the knee damage I incurred wouldn’t be permanent.

I thought about Kelly Catlin’s suicide.  I remember my setbacks when I was a 23-year-old California grad student.  That was 2 lifetimes ago.

I stopped following others and went at my own pace.  I caught the first half marathoners.  Everyone seemed happy.

A girl caught me from behind with a lot of liquid in her Camelbak.  I kept up for a few minutes then decided I didn’t need to increase foot pain to hasten returning to the world of New Zealand mosque shooting and other disappointments.

[heel strike to set up air]

_#’s
Garmin 630:
Distance = 24.7 mi
Time = 4:34:31
Pace = 11:07 min/mile

7 water breaks: 3 input + 2 output +2 in queue to cross
2 wardrobe changes

Chip time: 4:38:00
Distance = 26.2 mi
Place: 15th/73 finishers

John wasn’t happy with his performance.  Even more disappointed was Valerie; she quietly ate BBQ next to me.  I didn’t know she DNF’ed and wish I inquired about it.  I wished I wore the thick jacket.  I wished I had larger comfort zone.

Javier finished 2nd in 50-mile under 8 hours.

Casey achieved his 10-hour goal.  Made me want to try the yellow loop.  He was an accomplish trail runner now.  Casey mentioned Salton Sea 2020.  I want to be on his team.

Trinity River Levee Half 2019/03/02—acceptance.

2014 I biked to this event to breakfast with Casey and Voon where we committed to enter Montreal 24-hour relay.  We played murderball.  It was a beautiful sunny day.

[event website featured Casey and me playing obscure sport]

2016 I skated with Mackowski then paced Raluca for 5k.  She just adopted Aiki.  Aiki is 3 now.

[the 2.17-month-old]

_unsure of state of the legs
Legs were unrecovered from 50k 6 days ago.  Hamstring aching.  I decided to start at 8:00 pace—felt like a good starting point.  I changed my mind at the start—I followed the 1:40 pacers.

[7:30 felt easy the first mile] (photo added to Facebook by Mark Olateju)

Side stitch started soon. 

[By mile 5, 7:30 pace was unrealistic.] (photo added to Facebook by Mark Olateju)

Middle half of the half involved dirt road.  I lost footing couple times—good practice for Grasslands in 2 weeks.  I let others go on short and steep climbs.  8:00 pace felt difficult by mile 9.  I felt lucky that ankle and hamstring were holding up.

[cadence changed when pavement ended at mile 6]

Inspirational Rob caught up to me.  He started late to maximize passing.  He eventually caught 1:40 pacer.

I didn’t struggle; I let legs do their thing.

Mile 12 intersection was a zoo.  I went the wrong way.  Served me right for not studying the course.  A very attractive Paige ran with me on the pedestrian bridge.  The forecasted rain never came, all body parts working.

[On Margret Hunt Hill Bridge.  I was in no rush.]  (photo added to Facebook by Mark Olateju)
I did not think about canines and humans entered and left my life.  I thought about Nataly Kogan’s book.  I let the moment last as long as it needed to.

_#’s
GPS: Garmin Forerunner 630
Distance: 13.18 mi
Time: 1:42:48
Avg pace: 7:48

[double 42; universe hints]

Official chip time: 1:42:42
Avg Pace:7:50/M

Ranking at splits:
5K: 49
10M: 47
13.1M: 47

Time takes to reach splits:
5K:23:24
10M:1:17:30
13.1M:1:42:48

Pace at splits:
5K:7:31/M
10M:7:45/M
13.1M:7:50/M

Cowtown 50k 2019/02/29; Fort Worth, Texas—rebuilding.

I skipped 2018 Cowtown because of family trip for Chinese New Year.

My run training diminished by 2018 summer.  I resumed running before Thanksgiving--3 months prior to Cowtown 2019.  I was unable to hold Oprah pace during weekly long runs—very humbling.  Plantar fasciitis came to left foot.  I learned to live with discomfort.

_Cowtown goal (as of Xmas)
10:00 pace.  Even split.  Couple pee stops.  Couple beer shot pauses.  5:15:00 finish.  5:25 if I stopped for mile-27 burger.  5 additional minutes if I drink entire can of beer with the burger.

_form
Fitness is a funny thing.  By mid January, my weekend long runs were slower than Thanksgiving.   Legs felt sluggish.  Plantar issue persisted.  I steadily ramping up mileage.  I barely biked and skated.

I approached fitness like 401k: it ain’t about faith in the method—I just lacked better alternative.

_3-week taper
2 weeks before Cowtown, legs show progress.  I became cautious optimistic.  I marveled at how my happiness was tied to fitness.

By race weekend, I decided to start with 5-hr pacer ‘til mile-9 climb.  I hung out with Casey and Voon the day before the race—vegan lunch and ice cream.  Casey was shooting for 4.5-hr finish the year after he finished Leadville 100.  It felt like full circle.

[Voon back from from Malaysia]

_race start
I had difficulty finding comfortable pace.  5-hr pacer Chelsea felt erratic; her partner Amy wasn’t within shouting distance.  My left hamstring hurt at mile 8; this was new to me.  I ran by feel.  Chelsea overtook me at every climb—at least one of us wasn’t running at smooth effort.

I passed Chelsea for the final time after the big bridge climb.  I stayed with 4:05 marathon pacer.  Met pacer Rick, who promised I could stay at his place if I run Oslo Marathon in next 2 years.

Mile 15.  I let legs move by their natural rhythm.  Hamstring and plantar both happy.  This was too good to be true.

_heavy legs
The wall didn’t come at mile 20; a short fence did.  I lost focus when marathoners around me slowed.  My splits consisted of more high-9’s than low-9’s.  I ran with 2 fading marathoner at mile 23.  We encouraged each other to keep up the speed.

I pass a dozen runners during the ultra-only 8k.  I saw Casey 10 minutes later than anticipated.  He hit the wall near mile 25 and missed his goal.  Maybe 10th time would be a charm.

_mile 25
5-hour finish was in the bag
I stopped fighting the urge to slow.  My feet were hurting slapping against concrete: could've used more shoe cushion.  I focused on enjoying the beautiful weather and energy.  I was grateful to regain running fitness.

[final  corner]

Last mile took exactly 8 minutes.

Late lunch: Korean tofu bowl tasted really good.


_#’s
GPS: Garmin Forerunner 630
Distance: 30.95 mi
Time: 4:48:03
Avg pace: 9:18

Official chip time: 4:48:14 (11 seconds longer)
Avg Pace:9:16/M

Ranking at splits:
5K:75
10K:72
15K:77 (5 runner passed me on Main Street bridge)
13.1M:74
30K:61
23M:59
26.2M:51
50K:41

Time to reach:
5K:29:03.0
10K:57:44.0
15K:1:26:33.0
13.1M:2:01:29.0
30K:2:52:22.0
23M:3:33:22.0
26.2M:4:03:47.0
50K:4:48:14.0

Pace at splits:
5K:9:18/M
10K:9:15/M
15K:9:15/M
13.1M:9:14/M
30K:9:14/M
23M:9:15/M
26.2M:9:17/M
50K:9:16/M

Irving Running Club Javier Vilchis finished 2nd in 50k averaging 7:02 pace
Over all winner averaged 6:00 pace

A2A 87-mile 2018/10/14

Kent and Sonic finished under 5 hours.

My lack of fitness reflected training volume and spine health.  Less fun this way.  I didn't enjoy some red-light decisions during race.

Eric Edwards crashed and broke facial skin.
Michael Garcia had an intersection accident and broke an ankle.
Made me think about risks.

87 mi@15.2mph

time: 5:43:30

place: 16th of 40 finishers

[always great to see Herb]

Northshore Inline Marathon 2018/9/15--muscle spasm

My lower back acted up 2 days prior to the NSIM.

I promised everyone tailwind <=

1. Duane weren't there
2. I couldn't straighten my back

at 3am the storm was so bad, I thought the race would be canceled.  The race condition turn out the 2nd best in 2 decades.

I set PR but missed out on a chance to go under 70 minutes.

The new sub-57 "event record" doesn't count <= course was shortened by 0.2 miles <= construction at finish line.  Chad's course record survives for the 20th year.

distance: 26 mi
time 1:19:44.08

Hotter n Hell 100-mile bike ride 2018/08/25--unfit

I found ways not to stop for the 100-mile ride in previous couple years.  This time I stopped multiple times--fitting for my unfit year:

Couple riders went down in front of me.  I ended up squeezing the brakes and barely touched the fallen rider.  The rider next to me didn't react in time and ran over the crashed.  I very briefly thought about jumping over--watched too many Sagan videos 😊

I failed to beat the train at the track and waited for the entire train before 100M/100k split.  Half the guys but no girl took leaks.

Some volunteers came to the road to refill bottles.  I stopped for water for the first time in years.

_slow finish

South wind was brutal starting mile 77.

My legs were more fatigued than I felt at mile 91.  I stopped to resupply because the pack chose to.  I cramped after pickle juice.  Last 10 miles took almost an hour.

It was good to see Ann and her puppy.  I wandered how many more times I'd do this.

_#'s

Garmin GPS xt310

distance: 100.82 mi

moving time: 5:19:32

speed: 18.9 mph

average power: 126 w

official chip time
time:05:26:53.1
speed: 18.5 mph
placement: 341/3100

I used 6.5 bottles + 7 gels.  Could've used more electrolytes.