The Zen of Ultra Running

After I ran the marathon at Run with scissors last month, I was considering doing BBA 50K as my first ultra because friends told me that I could take the marathon as the last long run. However, BBA 50K was full so I volunteered at the race instead. I found a "free" 50K race in Medina put together by Medina County Road Runners (MCRR), a running club in Medina, OH. The race was "Buckeye woods 50K" and it's free for all members. The membership fee is only 20 dollars so I just paid 20 dollars for the annual membership fee. This race is a good strategy to get more new members. Buckeye woods 50K was advertised as a flat 50K (that's why I wanted to do it). Runners began with a 1-mile loop and then traversed the 5-mile loop around lakes and through woods six times, which made it 31 miles. The route had 2 sections - limestone and trail. Runners who ran 3 loops or more (25K) but not as far as 50K (6 loops) were considered 25K finishers. There was only one aid stat

I have to admit I'm still in shock after the election result came out on Tuesday night. Donald Trump was elected the President of the United States. Most people I know felt the same way and people posted all kinds of emotional messages on social media. My day started with several back-to-back meetings, which did not go very well. In fact, the messages that I received at the meetings made my day even worse. After the afternoon class, I was mentally and physically exhausted. I was drained. Luckily, I organized a trail run with MRTT ladies that evening. So I had something to distract my negative thoughts. My bad day ended with good conversation and nice run with friends. What I realized from the news (about the election and my work) is that I can only control what I can control. I can control my teaching and research but I cannot control the policies and people around me. #peace

One week after my first marathon so many things happened. The Cleveland Indians played in the World Series against the Cubs but they lost in Game 7 (final game). The whole town went crazy. This year Cleveland has been a non stop party beginning with the Cavs became the NBA champion. Then, RNC in July and last week was the World Series. I signed up for this race because friends in the MRTT group who also ran the marathon last week were doing it. It's a 5 mile race on cross country trail in a farm. Supposed to be fun and beautiful. The weather this morning was gorgeous. 50F and sunny. I could not have asked for anything better. I arrived at the race quite late so they ran out of t-shirt and cap. They said they would mail them to me later. Joined other MRTT runners for pre-race photo. 5 miler is not my favorite distance as I don't really know if I should aim for speed (like 5K) or endurance (10K). I decided to do a 50K race at the end of this month. So, I went out and ran

No, I did not really START running for the first time in my life on this day. I'd been running at the gym since I was 20 for fitness and health purpose. I always preferred running to other activities at the gym since I started going to the gym. Aerobic dancing was too loud and full of screaming old ladies (back then). I almost had heart attack the last time I went to a class. Running (on a treadmill), on the other hand, gave me peace and focus. I listened to the music that I LIKED and zoned out from everything around me. It calmed me down. One thing I know is I like exercises. Any kind of exercise that makes me sweat - running and tennis in particular. Recently, I started getting into triathlons and, to date, it's my most recent addiction. I stopped exercise here and there. The longest I ever stopped exercising completely was during the first 3 years of graduate school. Life was not very pleasant then. I was under a lot of stress and was lonely. I gained 10 pounds. When

In my life, I never imagined I would run a marathon. NEVER. As a matter of fact, a year ago I was still skeptical of the marathon distance. Who would have time to train for a marathon? Not a tenure-track assistant professor for sure. Then, I began to run more and more. Started with a half marathon, 25K, and more half marathons. The idea of weekend long run is not an alien to me any more. 12-15 miles have become pretty normal. I would not get home until 11am or 12pm on Saturday when I go out for a long run. The mileage has increase and so does the running duration. After I finished the Muddy Paws 10 miles in July (3 weeks after I moved to OH), I wanted to do another trail race and was thinking between keeping at the half marathon or move up to a marathon. Talked to Stacie and she told me about the Run with Scissors marathon. I was not sure if I could do it as I just started my new job and was afraid that the training would be too demanding. After discussed with Steve and Jen (trail

Because my FIRST marathon is at the end of this month, I was obliged to do another 20 miler. I wanted to run on the trail and, if possible, on the marathon course. My friend, S., has been involved with the race for quite a while and she agreed to lead me on the run. Another friend who is also training for her first full at Run with scissors joined us for the 20 miler. We had fun and chatted along the way.  By the time we reached Towpath, it was 10 miles. We were supposed to turn back but our race director appeared to run the full marathon at the Towpath marathon. So, we waited to cheer on him.  After we saw R. passed Szalay's, we turned around and headed back to our car, which were parked at Ledges. Luckily the weather was nice and I had very good companies. 20 miles passed by really fast. We pretty much walked the last mile because we were all tired but it's OKAY to walk in trail running (that's why I love it!).  I think I am ready for the Run with s

Can't believe it's been 2 months after my last yoga class. After the unlimited pass ended at the end of July, it's been too warm for hot yoga (August/Sep). I bought a 5-class pass, which ends in August of 2017 so I am in no rush to use it. My right ankle has been bothering me lately and I think part of it because I did not do much cross-training even though my weekly mileage increased. Now I run about 30 miles a week. Some weeks I swim and some weeks I bike but it's not consistent. Last Thursday was the first time I did yoga in 2 months. Every part of my body hurt. I'd also been upset with things at work so much that it cluttered my thoughts making me unproductive. One session of yoga at home on Thursday helped a lot. Got the photos from the half marathon on Saturday. Too bad I did not have a free download like other people (that may be because I used a free code to sign up). This weekend I needed 14 miles for the long run. A friend of mine was suppo

It's the 3rd half marathon for me this year. I was lucky to get a free entry to either the half or the full marathon at Akron marathon. Registered for the half because I already signed up for the full at the end of October (Run with Scissors). Somehow my name also appeared on the UA news that I would be running at this event as a part of the Department of Marketing. Seemed like I represented the College of Business faculty at the Akron marathon. See the article here:  U of Akron News&Events Went to pick up the package at the John Knight center on Friday. Met Meb who was there as an honor recipient for this year Akron marathon. Got a chance to take a selfie with him at the Meet and Greet event. On the race day, I ran into other runners that I knew from the TORN club and MRTT. Missed the picture with TORN ladies but it was nice to see familiar faces at the start line.  I'd been feeling unwell for the past couple of days. Right ankle still kinda hurt but

Recently, I've been getting better at open water swimming. After we came back from the vacation, I did not go swimming at Lake Medina much. Been busy with work and running. Running took a lot of my free time as I increased distance every weekend.  However, last weekend I had to cut my long run short. Planned to do 18 miles on trail but ended up cutting off at 7 miles because my right ankle really hurt. I decided to take a few days break from running and have been doing cross training (biking and swimming). Today I went swimming with Lake Medina swim group and we swam to the house that was farther. I swam 1.3 miles today!!! woo!! 3 months ago, I could not swim 400 meters without stopping. Today, we went 1.3 miles with only 1 stop!  The weather was nice, water was cool but not to cold. Perfect for swimming!

There was an organized training run for the Akron marathon called "Blue line training run". You have to follow the blue line on the road as that's the Akron marathon course. I am not signed up for the Akron marathon because I already signed up for the Run with scissors marathon in October. Plus, I did not want to do any long road race. This is what the blue line looks like on the road. It's faded in some sections but some said they are going to re-paint it soon. Trail running is much more relaxing for me. I can go at my own pace, walk up the hills, and pay full attention to the trail. However, I do enjoy good company and don't mind running the road if I have friends to run with. Many people I know were running the Blue Line training run. Some did 12 and some did 20 miles. So, that's an incentive for me to do this training run even though I don't need 20 miles at this point. However, since I already did 16 last week and wanted to try the first 20 mi

Last Saturday someone posted on the MRTT (Moms run this town) Akron group that she needed to do her first 10 miler on Saturday starting at 7am. Since I needed to run 15 miles on Saturday but I did not want to run alone and would prefer to finish the run early, I thought I would join her for the first 10. Then, run on my own the rest of the distance. Another person posted that some people would start earlier (coz they needed to go home to their kids) at 5.45am. That was perfect for me as I might be able to cover all the distance with the groups. So, I forced myself to wake up at 5am, prepared for the run, and went to meet with other ladies at 5.45. Luckily, another runner (B.) had to run 18 miles and be done by 8.30am. She ran a bit faster pace (9-10 min/mile). I haven't run that pace since I moved to OH and started more trail running but I thought I would try. B and I ran together for 6 miles before we came back and met with other ladies at 7am. On that day, I ran 16 miles (more

We were on a mid-year vacation last week in Napa Valley, California. The original plan was to take a weekend off and tasted as many red wines as possible. We also made a reservation at The French Laundry, which is a 3 michelin-star restaurant in Napa. So, our vacation was supposed to be the eating-and-drinking weekend. However, because I am training for the first marathon in October, I still needed to get the long run in. On the first day we checked in at the farm (booked through Air BnB), I looked for a place to run around the house but seemed like it would be too dangerous to run on the road due to a lot of traffic. I was desperate. Then, another idea came up. Why didn't I look for a race nearby? On Friday night, I found a race only 10 minutes away from where we stayed. It's " Water to Wine Half Marathon 10K ". The online registration had already been closed. So, we had to go to the pre-race packet pick up on Saturday afternoon to register on site. The packet

I don't really know when I can say my marathon training has begun. Seems like I've been running the same distance on Saturdays for the past couple weeks. This weekend I ran with a new trail running group at Hinckley park. It's the first time I ran the trails at Hinckley Reservation. A colleague who is also a runner told me that she likes to run there because it's close to our houses (she only lives 5 minutes from us). The trails were great. We ran a 12-mile loop, which had a lot of hills! I have a love hate relationship with hills but I know I need more hill workouts for the trail marathon in October. My trail runner friends showed me berry trees and we picked and ate berries along the way. It's a new experience. As someone who grew up in a big city and believes you can only get fruits and vegetables at a grocery store, this experience amazed me. One of us did not feel well so we cut the course short. Ended up with 12 miles. Next week I will be on vaca

After we moved to Northeast Ohio, I found a yoga studio in Fairlawn (only 10 minutes from my house). It's a hot yoga studio and, from my experience with hot yoga in Eau Claire, I was pretty terrified of hot yoga. I remember hot yoga being excessive sweating, too fast pace, no drinking water for clients (available for purchase), and crowded room (all I worried about was trying not to kick the next person's head in three-legged dog).  Yoga Bliss, the studio in Fairlawn, is a completely different experience. Though the room is heated, I never feel it's too hot that I cannot breathe. The classes are power yoga in the hot yoga room. They also have basic vinyasa in a non-heated room but I've never been in those classes. Their power yoga classes are MUCH SLOWER than the hot yoga classes in Eau Claire giving me time to hold poses and breathe. I still sweat a lot but never feel that I almost pass out in every downward dog. The class is 75 minutes. The good thing about this stu

Right after we moved to Ohio, I looked for a race that should be challenging enough to motivate me to train but not too challenging that I did not have time to train. I was looking at longer race but not more than a half marathon. Then, I found this race - the Muddy Paws 10 miles. I did my research by looking at the race organizer's website and saw that they had a dirty series trail race and the photos from previous years looked pretty good. There were 3 distances - a 2 mile, dog-friendly race, a 5 mile and a 10 mile race. After the Superior Spring 25K, I felt like I could do any trail race that was shorter than 25K (15 miles). So, I signed up for the 10 mile race. A good friend, S., whom I met through a running club took me out to the course. She and another friend, S., led me through the course once (on a super hot/humid day). One loop on the race course is 5 miles and for the 10 miles race you have to run it twice. After running the course with S. and S., I felt more confide