The Zen of Ultra Running

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...

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 bu...

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 ...