The Zen of Ultra Running

Oh boy, what a busy (and lazy) Thanksgiving break! On Thursday (Thanksgiving), I signed up for the Home Run for the Homeless 4 miler (turkey trot) in Akron. I did this race last year with a colleague (and her family) and really liked the idea of running a turkey trot on Thanksgiving. So, this year I signed up to do it again. A couple of days before the race, I realized that a lot of my running friends would be there, too. That made me even more excited. On the race day, there were sooo many people making it very hard to find my friends. There was a group picture in front of Krispy Kreme at 8:45am. I did not know which group the picture was for and found out later that it was for another group that I have not even run with them (but heard of them). So, I felt bad that I appeared like I belonged to that group in the group picture. After the group picture, I slowly made my way to the front of the pack where I found E. and J. (and their friends). E. is a fast/badass ultra marathon runner...

In 2016, when I first moved to NE Ohio, someone told me about Bills' Badass 50K. I also got to run with the race director and became friends with him and the group. I was only training for my first marathon at that time and ran the marathon at Run with Scissors 2 weeks before BBA50K. After considering all the factors involved, I decided NOT to run BBA that year but volunteer at the race instead (to get the feeling/experience of the trail community in NE Ohio). I fell in love with the community on that day.  Bills' Badass 50K started 10 years ago. It's a free race because the RD wanted to make the race accessible to everyone. However, they encourage runners to make donations and each year the money goes to one of the non-profit organizations in NE Ohio.  In 2017, I ran the double marathon at Run with Scissors and had enough of the muddy, wet, cold rain condition that I did not want to run another 50K two weeks later in the same weather condition. So, I again volunte...

The first time I ran Autumn Leaves 5 miler was in 2016. I did not run it last year because I just finished the double marathon at Run with Scissors. This year I signed up with a couple of friends again. We also know the race director and wanted to give her the support. The week leading to the race was kinda...blah... It was raining everyday for a week, which made everything so dull. I managed to get some run in everyday even though I did not feel like it. On Friday, I had a curriculum summit on campus in the morning and in the evening I ran with H. on her birthday run. She turned 40 this year and wanted to run 40 miles on her birthday (pretty cool, eh?). She invited a couple of friends to run with her during different sections and I ran 5 miles with her on the Bills' Badass loop. Saturday there was a training run for Bills' Badass 50K. Many people showed up to the group run. We ran about 1.5 loops at BBA before some of us went to grab coffee at the coffee shop in Richfield....

Yep, it's that time of the year again. This past weekend was the 2018 Run with Scissors race. I ran this race as my first marathon in 2016 (4 months after I moved to NE Ohio) and first 50ish miler in 2017 in the worst condition one could have asked for (rainy and muddy). This year I was "voluntold" to be the aid station captain at Pine Hollow. This aid station was the first aid station that the runners will run through (4 miles from the start/finish). Originally, I thought about running the double marathon again this year but because my ankle was still in the not-yet-100% condition and I wanted to help my friends, I agreed to be the aid station captain. About one week before the race day, the RD (S.) emailed me the information and turned out that my aid station had to be opened from 5:30am to 8pm! I was freaking out about the duration of the aid station hours. Not because I did not want to be there but because I did not know anyone who would show up in the wee hours o...

The weather had changed dramatically in one week. Last week I was still biking in a humid 70 degree weather on Sunday and stopped by the Towpath marathon to cheer on the runners. This weekend I ran two races (5K and a half marathon) in a 40-50 degree weather. My colleague signed me up to run Komen Race for the Cure 5K on Saturday. I thought "why not?". The race was at the Rubber Duck stadium and we ran as a part of a team that her friend created. The race was to raise money for and awareness to breast cancer, and to celebrate breast cancer survivors. We arrived at the race about an hour prior to the start. It was cold and rainy in the morning. The race was fun and we went to a post-race brunch party at her friend's house. and of course, after the brunch, I came home to shower and went to Brewnuts (as usual). My husband wanted to go somewhere to study for his upcoming test. Where would be better than a donut and beer shop? I was supposed to work while he was st...

After the Canal Corridor 100, I was in a boot for 3 weeks. I admit that I kinda lost my running mojo after being in the boot and being away from the trails. My left ankle still hurt every time I ran on trails especially bridle trails. I also shifted my focus to triathlon training. In other words, I was all over the place. A good friend who is also a triathlon coach kindly sent me a brief training program after seeing me freaking out about the Akron marathon. After getting out of the boot, my longest run was still at 12 miles 3 weeks prior to the marathon. Two weeks before the marathon I ran 20 slow miles on uneven trails and that made my injured ankle worse (Yes, I admit that it was a stupid decision to train for my road marathon on trail but I missed trail running and my running friends). Then, we traveled across the world to attend my sister's wedding and were super busy while we were in Bangkok. However, I got a chance to squeeze in 12 miles on Saturday (a week before the mara...

Portage lake triathlon was the first and last triathlon race for me in 2018. Because my main focus since the beginning of the year was on the Canal Corridor 100, I did not allocate much time for swimming and biking (let along Brick workouts). Originally, I signed up for Vermillion triathlon (sprint) but I felt that I was not ready before Vermillion so I emailed the race organizer and asked to defer the race to Portage Lake. They were very understanding and switched my registration to Portage Lake sprint tri. A couple of weeks leading to the race day, I'd been biking with B. and K. on Sundays but did not seriously "train" for the race. I was glad to clip in and out of the bike shoes without too much ankle pain. Wednesday before the race I did Brick (bike and run) for the first and last time before the race. I did not have any expectation with this race at all. On the race day, it rained really hard and the temperature dropped to 50+ degrees that morning. Many people ...