The Zen of Ultra Running

I admit that I'm not a good blogger. My posts are not very consistent and I tend to disappear from blogging when I am really busy (usually around the end of the semester). After the CLE trail 50K, I continued to train for Mohican 50 miler and the Canal Corridor 100. Have I mentioned that I finally signed up for the Canal Corridor 100? Two weeks after CLE trail 50K, my friends and I went to Mohican state park to run the course. We ran the short loop, which was around 23 miles. I love the trails at Mohican and always try to tag along with someone who go there to run. The run was fine. We started at 8am. The weather was kinda hot and humid. It also rained a bit around noon. We had a good time until I twisted my ankle and fell around Mile 22 (almost done with the run). It's the bad ankle and that I always had trouble with in the past. Ugh. I hobbled back to the car and put some ice on while driving back home. After taking 2 days off from running, I ran 5 miles on road on Tuesda...

Last week was very emotional in our family. Our dog, Tofu, who was 15 years old hadn't been drinking nor eating for a couple of days and she seemed "different" from her normal self. I decided to take her to the vet on Tuesday and we found out from her blood work that her kidney was failing. On Wednesday, the vet called and told me that she might only have 10 days or so left according to her blood results. We were heartbroken. We had 2 options 1) treat her with fluid right away, which might have prolonged her health for a couple of months to a year but we had to give her fluid daily with needle injection, etc. 2) put her to sleep. We researched the first option and talked to the vet. He said fluid treatment might also come with other complications such as high blood pressure, etc., which could result in more medication and pain. We went with the 2nd option and decided to spend as much time with her as possible. Tofu crossed Rainbow Bridge on Friday May 11 morning at 10.30a...

Yesterday I finished another 50K race. It's the Forget the PR 50K, which I signed up last year. I heard good things about the race and many of my friends have been running it since its inauguration. Last week when work got crazy and stressful (April and November are the worst months of the year for teachers) I had some thought about quitting ultramarathons and just sticking to the marathon or shorter races. Training for an ultra is time consuming and requires a certain level of commitment even when you just want to finish. Then, a couple of friends in academia told me that I inspired them to keep moving and reminded them of a work-life balance. The comments made me feel better and reminded me why I chose this kind of lifestyle. On the race day, I woke up at 4am to leave for Mohican. I got there a little bit before 7, picked up my packet, and chatted with friends. The weather was nice (50F) but we expected some rain in the afternoon. My goal for the race was 1) not to die 2) to ...

I just realized that the last time I updated this blog was after Thailand International Half Marathon!! Well, that's not totally true. I started another blog post after my birthday race (10K) in Bangkok but did not get a chance to finish it. It's been a busy semester and I felt like I had no time to take a break from work deadlines, running, and other life commitments since I came back to the US. After new year, R. started to run in Hinckley on the Buzzard Day course. I joined him and others on the Saturday after I came back from Thailand. The weather was UGLY on that day and I went from running in a 85F, humid park in Bangkok to -10F with a blizzard in just 6 days. I started my A race training plan a couple of weeks after I came back from Thailand but was able to loosely follow the plan since life got in the way (too many work deadlines and responsibilities). January and February flew by in the blink of an eye. At one point, I felt like I only had 2 things in life - workin...

Some of you may already know from the race report last year that I am from Bangkok, Thailand. Every winter I go back to visit family and friends for 3-4 weeks (and also to escape the “mild” Ohio winter). For the past two years that I was in Bangkok, I signed up for 10K races. I only wanted to keep to a shorter distance because of the weather. It’s usually 85 degrees in December in Bangkok and I am not sure about my ability to deal with the heat coming from a single-digit weather. This year I was more confident in my ability to run longer distance. So, I stepped up to a half marathon this time. I found Thailand International Half marathon on the weekend that I would be in Bangkok. Running has become such a popular sport in Thailand that you could find a race any distance on every weekend. Thailand International Half marathon is a race that starts under the bridge. First, you run up the Rama VIII bridge (about 0.5 miles) and the whole race was on the bridge. The race started...

When I first heard about this race months ago, I thought this would be a nice race close to home. I was not sure about the terrain and knew nothing about the race besides it was a new ultra race in NE Ohio and it's only 10 minutes from my house. I was also training for the double marathon so I completely focused on how I would finish the big race of the year and did not think much about what I would do after the big race. After the double marathon at RWS, I began to look for other races. First, I considered BBA as another 50K but the condition was too similar to RWS so I did not run it. Then, I thought about Buckeye woods 50K, which I ran last year but decided to run the 25K instead. The day before Buckeye Woods 25K, I came out and ran on the Regal Beagle Ultra course (there was a training run on the course) and ran one loop with them. The course is a 5-mile loop. There were 3 distances - 5 miles, 25K (3 loops), and 50K (6 loops). The course was described as fast and great for ...

Last year Buckeye Woods 50K was my first ultra. The race is free to all Medina County Road Runners members and the annual membership fee is only 20 dollars. The club does a lot of great things including multiple free races throughout the year, group runs, banquet, etc. I found the race on Facebook and it claimed that the race was flat and fast, and good for your first 50K. So, I paid the membership fee and signed up for the race. This year I just ran the double marathon at Run with Scissors last month and am still recovering from the race. There is also a new ultramarathon race near my house, which will take place next weekend. I was considering running that race if I decided to do another 50K. Therefore, I took it easy at Buckeye woods 50K by signing up to do only the 25K (3 loops). Since it's only 25K, I did not really prepare for the race. I drank a couple of glasses of red wine the night before and did not do the usual pre-race carb-loading routine. I showed up 10 minutes b...