The Zen of Ultra Running

 I love when someone does any race distance for the first time. It's so much fun seeing them accomplish their goal. P. started running during the pandemic before we went to the Galapagos Islands because I told him he had to be physically fit to scuba dive in the Galapagos as it could be pretty dangerous due to the strong current. So, he started running 1-3 miles regularly. Then, after we returned from the trip, he continued to run pretty regularly (except during the winter. He is a fair-weather runner who only runs outside and refuses to go to a gym).  Earlier this year he came home from his Saturday run and he said he ran 10K. I said if he could run a 10K, he could run a half marathon. Then, I started looking at a fall race so that would give him enough time to train (and be mentally prepared LOL). September races were out because I had an Ironman. October is pretty busy as I also have my own races to run and volunteer at. Then, I found the Columbus half marathon in October, which

About the 3rd week of April, I had a pretty bad travel itch. I think it's because the Spring semester was extremely busy (and unproductive) for me. I felt like I was constantly behind and no matter how hard I worked, I'd never been able to catch up. So, on Saturday morning (before my morning run), I went online and looked for a plane ticket to anywhere outside the US and found cheap tickets to Ireland in May. By Sunday night, tickets were booked. We looked at each other and we were like "well, guess we are going to Ireland in 3 weeks?". Then, we had to think about where we were going to go in Ireland because we never thought about this country before.  After watching a couple YouTube videos and reading about each city, we decided to go to Cork and Kilkenny. There is an Ironman race in Cork and I would like to see if I wanted to race there (assuming that I like the distance and want to do another Ironman). Turned out that the water was choppy and cold! (Yike. That'

Towpath half marathon is in the books. After our 5-miler race on St Patrick's day in St Louis, P. wanted to run another 5 miler. I found that the Towpath Half had 2 distances - 5 miles and a half marathon. So, I signed him up for the 5 miler and I did the half marathon (of course).  The morning of the race was reallyyyyy cold. We got there about 1 hour before the race to get the parking spot and use the porta potty. Then, we stayed in our EV until 5 minutes before the start because it was too cold to stand outside.  The first half of the race was nice. I saw a couple of friends at the start and ran with them for a couple of miles. The half marathon started about 10 minutes before the 5 miler. We ran north to the turn-around point (about 2.5 miles) then turned around and ran south where the 5 miler finished but the half marathoners kept going.  The second part of the race was very windy as we were out in the open area. I had to slow down and walk up the bridges but I was able to kee

It's been a while (again) since my last blog. Things were c-r-a-z-y at work and I also felt lost after the Akron marathon where I had no big race or short-term career goal to look forward to. As a goal-oriented freak, that put me in the deepest sh*thole I had ever been (besides the time during my PhD program but that's another story).  Here is the recap of what happened while I was not blogging.  September was a pretty busy month. I submitted the tenure packet one day before my A race (Half IM). Two weeks later I did a 100-mile bike ride and the last weekend of September was the Akron marathon.  Update on the Akron marathon - I had cramps from Mile 20 to the finish and ended up having to walk a lot. Things were not pretty but it was good to see friends along the course. Akron marathon #4 - check! I also ran Regal Beagle in November but decided to cut back to the 25K coz I felt like I did not train enough and honestly my head was not there. I started to treat racing like a chore

Happy New Year 2020! As usual, we spent our Christmas and New Year in Asia. We went to Sri Lanka during Christmas and came back to Bangkok, Thailand around New Year. Sri Lanka trip was really fun and it's a beautiful country to visit (especially if you are Buddhist). We spent 4 days in the mountain visiting different UNESCO World Heritage sites and 2 days surfing in the South. It was the first time that we'd been to South Asia and we totally fell in love with that part of the world. We will definitely go back. Maybe we will visit India next time. Picture: We took a beginner surfing course at Weligama Beach in Sri Lanka. Great way to spend Christmas. Then, we came back to Thailand 2 days before New Year and I went to a beach town with my family and spent the New Year with my family. In November, I found an ultramarathon in Bangkok called "Ultra Park Run Thailand 100" on January 5. For some reason, I thought it was a good idea to run an ultramarathon in Bang

It's another hot race this year! (After Hamburg half marathon and Vermont 100) I started the race injured and undertrained (as usual). The week leading to the race day I was really anxious about the race as my ankle was still not 100% and I had not been running much since YUTC 50K. Work was also overwhelming and running was not my first priority. The weekend before the race day I went out to check the back half of the course with A. (10 miles) so I knew what to expect. Worst case scenario I would just walk the back half of the course. Race morning I woke up early and drove to the finish line to catch the shuttle at 6am. Some people were skeptical about the new course and the new start line. This year the Akron marathon moved the start line to be at Stan Hywet hall. So, most people have to park at the finish (Canal Park) and take the shuttle to the start line. The process was easier and faster than I expected. Once I got to Stan Hywet I used the restroom and checked my gear

We were on a 2-week vacation in Germany and Portugal and it's been really really really busy since we got back from the trip. Overall, we had fun and it was good to spend time with my family. We started our trip in Hamburg, Germany where we stayed at my brother-in-law house. His parents have a house in Hamburg. My family was already there. They flew in two days before us. Then, the whole group went to Berlin for a couple of days (2 hours train ride) and came back to Hamburg to rest and relax. When I planned the trip, I was also looking for a race to run at the same time. I found that Hamburg had a half marathon that weekend. It was perfect timing. I, then, signed up for the race. They also had a half marathon skating race at the same time. I'd never seen a skating race before. Quite interesting. The skaters started before the runners as it took them less time to finish the half marathon. On the race day, it was EXTREMELY hot (95 degrees) and the race sent out a couple of

Freezing rain, strong wind, numb hands/fingers. These pretty much sum my race experience at the 20 Mile Drop in Fairport Harbour today. This race was part of the Lake health running series. I was looking for a marathon on this weekend (April 13/14) but I could not find one close to home. So, I signed up for this race as it's at least a 20 miler, which I wanted to do as part of my long run. The day before the race I went out and ran 19 miles on the trail with D. (aimed for 4 hours and we ended up doing 4.5 hours). My legs felt fine but tired. I thought this would be a good back-to-back long run weekend after missing 2 weekends in a row due to work. The race started at 7:15am. It's a point-to-point race where the runners got shuttled to another town and ran back to the finish line where we parked. The buses left the finish line at 6:30. We had to wait at the start line about 30 minutes. Some waited in line for the porta potty. Luckily, someone opened a building in the mid