The Zen of Ultra Running

First trail race of the year. The first time I ran trail was in 2014 at Surly loppet trail run. It was 7 miles (same distance) but at that time I did not even know what trail running was. I felt weird and enjoyed the race at the same time. After that race, I did not run any trail again until late of last year.  The starting point of everything was when I volunteered at the Fall back blast. I was motivated by all runners to start trail running. I joined CVTR on their regular runs. This year I signed up for the big trail race - Superior Spring Trail 25K in May. The Chippewa 10K trail race was the perfect practice race for Superior Spring Trail.  The race was in New Auburn, WI only 45 minutes from Eau Claire. Drove there with Ann and Cate in the morning. Both of them were faster than me and I'd been sick for a past week. I decided to take it slow and enjoy the race. Ended up running with Sharyn and Jessica whom I met through different occasions in Eau Claire. We had fun an...

Spring Fever 5K and 10K is usually a good race if one is doing a half or a full marathon. It's a race that you can do the speed workout (because you are 'racing'). I did this race last year (10K) to prepare myself of the EC half marathon. This year, because I got more involved with the track club, I both volunteered and ran at this race (both 10K and 5K). They were looking for someone to work at the registration area so I signed up for that. Arrived at the race location at 7am and helped at the day-off registration counter. Then, the 10K race started at 8.30am. My goal was to run 'faster' than the last one and try to get in under 1 hour. Turned out that it went better than I thought so I came in around 56 mins (fast for me). The weather was kinda chilly and windy this morning (c'mon Spring, please give us warmer weather). The 5K race did not start until 10am (I guess that's because they needed to give enough time for people to finish their 10K). So, ...