The Zen of Ultra Running

My first multi-day ride - Roscoe Ramble. This ride was organized by the Akron Bike Club. The riders can choose between 1) 55 miles per day or 2) 75 miles per day. I had always wanted to do this ride but since it's always in September, either between my big races or before a big race, I had not had a chance to do the ride.  This year, after finishing IM Ottawa, I was debating whether I should do another race (Portage Lake Triathlon) or do a fun two-day ride at Roscoe Ramble. After considering how much stress I was under before a race, I chose to do the long ride for fun.  Roscoe Ramble long ride started in Canal Fulton, OH. I was lucky that many people in the Saturday ride group were going to do this ride anyway, and I was able to tag along with them. We kicked off from Canal Fulton around 7:30am. The weather was perfect at the beginning of the ride. Around 10am, we arrived at the first rest stop (around mile 33) for snacks and hydration. I did not check the weather forecast be...

Originally, I was going to go to Cassadaga, NY, to cheer on my friends who were going to do the race. I just wanted a quick girls' getaway weekend as it's a long weekend in the US (Labor Day weekend). I did not feel like I had had a break since I got back from France (bike accident -> summer teaching -> Ironman -> volunteering, etc -> Fall semester started). August just flew by in the blink of an eye O_o.  Two weeks ago, my friend (T.) texted the group saying that this would be the last year that they would hold the Cassadagaman race because of low participation. I did this race as my first 70.3 distance in 2020. Then, I did another one in 2021 before I stepped up to the Ironman distance. Because this race was always on Labor Day weekend, it did not work well with my Ironman training schedule. However, I decided to sign up for the intermediate distance as it's going to be the final year. So, I went from "having a fun non-racing + knitting weekend" to ...