NYC marathon 2019

History with the NYC marathon
Six years ago, I volunteered for the marathon at a water station mile 21.  I was slightly over a year into running, I had done my first three half marathons.  The jump to the marathon distance was still pretty intimidating.  As I handed water cups out, I could see the pain in many athletes eyes.  At the same time however, I saw strength, I saw people pushing through the pain and continuing on.  It inspired me and left me thinking a marathon is possible.

My goal was to just run a marathon to see if I could do it.  With that as my primary goal, I viewed the NYC marathon was just another marathon, one of many and I wasn’t about to wait for a lottery or do 9+1 to try the distance.  When I eventually did NYC back in 2016, it was my 13th marathon (and 7th one that year).  While I enjoyed the crowds, my coworkers and friends coming out to cheer, I didn’t like the long wait time leading up to the race (I done marathons where I had parked at the start minutes before the race started where here I waited over 4 hours to start) and it’s huge fee (I done marathons for as little as $50).  I had no plans to race it again.  I didn’t even do any another NYRR race till 2018.

My perspective changed when I joined running clubs in 2017 (WSR and QDR).  It was watching how important the race was to teammates who became friends and watching them train their butts off that got me to change my opinion about NYC.  The magic wasn’t in the distance itself, it was in inspiring people to do something they thought was impossible but had the heart to try and then spending 1-2 years getting to achieve it.  I wish I had seen this earlier.  I had a friend that ran his first marathon back in college when I was a junior but I didn’t see what the big deal was until pretty recently.  Maybe if I went out to watch it, my running journey would have also had started earlier.  I decided that I would rotate years between running it, volunteering, and cheering.

Pre race week:
Wednesday:  I did a dress rehearsal of the last 8 miles of the race course with 2 miles at marathon pace.  Upon Shirley’s suggestion,  I went to lululemon and got my free shirt.  I also got some snacks, water, and tonics.  I also decided to also go for the recovery boots.  Despite using them often during the Ironman weekend and using them after a few half marathon and marathon races, I still don’t really know if they work.  They do feel nice though.

Thursday:  To my luck, I woke up a few before the marathon feeling symptoms of a cold.  I started taking more zinc but continued along my way, determined not to let it change my tapering or training (I ran in drizzy rain that morning).  Later in the day, I met Kevin by chance in Flushing as I was heading to Sacs for the first QDR marathon dinner in Astoria.  Kevin gave me some advice on the marathon and the idea that if I lose the 3:20 pace group, I could wait till another group comes and I could then latch on to them.  Then keep repeating instead of falling apart to 9:30 miles.  Dinner with the team was fun, I dressed as Green Arrow.  It was surprisingly warm night.

Friday:  I went for breakfast pizza at the New Balance popup with some QDR folks.  I ate two slices, a bottle of gatorade, and I got some coffee.  I don’t normally drink coffee but I thought something hot would help against my cold.  Next we walked to the Jacob Javis convention center.  I separated from the group in the line to get in but found David and Scott.  Getting the bib was super quick and we walked around the convention in search of freebies.  To which, there really wasn’t much (you want freebies? Do smaller races!).  We went back for more free pizza but found that the store was closed for an hour or so.  We next went to Soho for the lululemon repair lab.  I got a few more snacks and water.  I wanted to do another boots session but the other two didn’t seem for it and I was hungry so we went for lunch at LuAnne’s Wild Ginger.  I actually wanted to go for vegan Dim Sum but it was another 10 minute walk which was too much time on feet leading to the marathon.  We visited the Tracksmith popup a block away.  I was amazed to see someone buy a $57 shirt after using a 20% of coupon.  Later in the day I met Kevin and gave him a ride to the marathon shuttle bus company in Astoria.  Then I picked up some delineators to transport to mile 14 the next day.  I next made my way to the QDR marathon dinner #2 in Portofino.  Some Democrats party organization was having some sort of function there and they rented out like 70% of the restaurant space and had speeches and a lip sync musical performance that took over the entire restaurant.  It wasn’t the best time to eat in the restaurant but I still had fun with the team.

Saturday:  I woke up to find that my cold had spread to my throat.  Now I was sure I won’t recover before the race.  I also had some upper back pains which seem to come out of nowhere as well (is this what my 30s are going to be like?).  I was still determined not to let it influence me and I didn’t want to back down from race goals.  I did a shakeout run with WSR and some drills with Corey, Nate, Max and Shirley afterwards.  Then we went to Aubergine Cafe where I tried to drink away the cold with a pot of tea.  The pot must have had 7 cups so I drank quite a lot.  Afterwards, I transported the delinears that I picked up the night before.  Interestly, I was told I looked stressed about the race.  I went home and ate a late lunch before taking a short nap.  Then I got a haircut and I was off to Flushing for QDR marathon dinner #3 at HK Food court.  Now, I definitely think that eating out the days before the marathon is introducing new variables to and possibly negatively influence performance but I feel like the NYC marathon if anything is about the community and I definitely wanted to spend time with the community.  I did have a time goal but I also knew that I should have fun with it.  That’s why I also didn’t stress about the taper, I didn’t do medium long runs or speed work the week of the race but I continued to run.  I was sort of reminded of coach David Roach who often questions “perfect” taper.  To me, races are about celebrating your training.  A cherry on top if you achieve your ambitious race goals but if not successful, always eager to try again soon.

“We don’t rise to the occasion, we fall to our level of training”
--Archilochus
My goal for the NYC marathon was 3:20.  It’s pretty ambitious when you consider that my PR in the half marathon is 1:39:00.  To do 3:20, I would need to do two 1:40s in a row.  Pretty impossible.  NYC was originally supposed to be a fun run, coming off a recovery marathon in Berlin and then enjoy NYC giving high fives to friends cheering with CIM being my real speed attempt at the distance.  Things changed when I DNF at UTMB and after a lackluster performance year I was hoping for a breakthrough race before turning 30.  I’m very familiar with parts of the course, I have been up and down the Queensboro bridge hundreds of times in the last three years and I have worked closeby in the last few miles of the course, where it hits central park for the last six years.  I have done dozens of short lunch runs up and down cathill.  I figured the ability to visualize points to reach instead of trying to hang on for x amount of distance would be an advantage.  Plus I had friends and teammates cheering along Brooklyn, Queens, and Manhattan so I had that boost.  Henry was pacing the 3:20 group, Dave and Victor were also running with him so I had a solid, strong group to run with.  If there was ever a race to set crazy goals for, this would be the one.  Weather ended up being perfect as well.

Race Morning
I woke at 4:30, ate a banana for breakfast and set up my race kit.  I met Slavic who I offer a ride to the Queens Center Mall, the latest QDR shuttle bus to Staten Island.  I found parking right by the mall in seconds (as expected on an early Sunday morning).  Met Lily who offer to meet us at the finish line with a bags we gave her.  I was relieved to have a change of clothes afterwards.  The shuttle bus went pretty smooth and it was nice to be surrounded by friends during the ride.  I ate my Spring Energy Wolf pack which was a 300 calorie oatmeal and fruit mix.  It worked well on a practice long run before and this was the main purpose of me getting a pack of it.  Most races I would be able to eat 3 hours before at home or at a hotel but for NYC, I had to be able to eat something on the go.  I ate another banana two hours before the race as well, a total of 500 calories.  We ended up by the start village around 7:50 am.  We had to walk about 5 blocks to get to the village.  Then security which went by fast.  I wore throw away clothes for the first time in any race, I never liked the waste.  Sure it might get donated but there are definitely more effective ways to donate old clothes.  This morning was a bit cold so I decided to bring a dress shirt and a sweatpant that was way too big for me (pre vegan Vik).

In the village I pretty much lost everyone else except Slavic.  We went for the Dunkin Donut hats, got tea, honey stinger waffles.  Slavic also got a banana and bagels (he started an hour after me though he was hesitant about having enough time to digest).  I ate 3/4s of the honey stinger waffle an hour before which gave another 100ish calories.  We next just sat down for a while to kill time.  I drank a beet juice mix about 30 minutes before racetime and I consumed a spring energy long haul gel about 5 minutes before the race.  I saw Henry heading to the corrals and I was able to meet up.  He and the other pacer moved to the end of corral E and our pace group quickly formed.  Quite a few people had questions about pace and Henry said he would go by pace effort.  A bit slower on the bridges but then faster on downhills which made sense.  It was great to see Dave and Victor (who I didn’t recognize at first with his hat on).

The corrals collapse and we moved to the bridge.  From the village you get warnings about the start line starting and to not be alarmed by the sounds.  From the bridge, the cannons were pretty loud.  There was a DJ and it was a nice party to the start of the race.  Not as scenic as fireworks for each corral during my first marathon (Disney World) but definitely one of the more lively starts.  I immediately covered my watch, I silenced it as well.  I would not use it at all to give me feedback.  If I fell behind the pace group, I resolved to simply not give up and just run with my heart.

Staten Island - The Verrazano Bridge
Right off the bat, the task at hand seemed to be moving along the crowd of runners while not zig zagging like crazy but still steady passing people.  Many people stopped at the middle of the bridge to take pics and then there were people definitely not able to run at a level near the corral groups.  At times on the uphill of the Verrazano bridge I fell behind the pace group but I caught up to them on the downhill.  I was surprised to see mile 2 marker and we were still on the bridge.

Brooklyn - the crowd effect
Immediately hitting Brooklyn, you feel the crowd’s energy and it definitely pumps you up.  I asked people cheering to tell me where they would be by mile marker but I completely forgot where everyone said they would be, I should have written it down on me.  I think I heard my name a bit before 65 street but I didn’t recognize anyone from the direction it came from.

Running with the pace group was interesting.  After a bit, you know all the members of the group and it’s nice to work together to achieve a common goal.  Henry was pretty encouraging to everyone in the group.  Here and there he would tell how we were doing target goal wise which was good to hear.  Like at a certain point we had a 20 second cushion, another point it was closer to 30 seconds.

My nose kept getting stuffed and on the rolling downhills I found myself having to clear the nose often before focusing on taking in deeper breaths (I use downhills as a chance to take longer breaths).

Around mile 10 I started losing the pace group.  The corrals merged and the Brooklyn streets were just too narrow for the amount of people there.  I wanted to speed up to get back in the group but it was just too crowded.  I kept my eye of some people from the group that were part of the pack and stuck with them.  By the time I hit the pulaski bridge, I lost sight of them and was feeling pretty low for losing them so early in the race.  I reached 13.1 at about  1:41, a minute slower than the 3:20 pace.  In the last 5k, I fell behind over a minute, not including the little cushion we had.

There are no tangents in Queens
As we started descending the pulaski bridge Senior Guzman caught up and called out my name.  It woke me up a bit and I then headed right to where I knew Woodside Sunnyside cheer station would be.  It was a bit hard to find them at first but I saw Jason and a few face after some scanning and went in to give high fives.  I probably added like 20 steps but I felt so much better seeing the cheer station.  A little after I saw the QDR cheer station before the mile 14 water station and similarly, went for the high fives.  Then I focused on catching up to Senior Guzman who I could still see up ahead.  The race was a lot less crowded at this point.  I saw Cindy and Mike as course marshalls before heading up to the bridge.  My hammies were feeling it at this point.  I was happy to see the mile 15 marker on the bridge and thought I had already gone so far, that I could hang on for quite a bit more.  Mile 16 on the bridge however felt like forever.

“You feel pain but you chose whether you suffer”
--Science of Ultra (?)
Now I was a state of hurt going into Manhattan but at the same time I was content.  Looking back at it now, I wish I could have moved faster but at the moment I was happy with whatever my body was able to put out.  Here and there I would focus on my cadence, keeping my steps short and quick before pain would set in the mind again.  Still I wasn’t upset.  I also tried focusing on being grateful as I practiced in the last few runs but that mindset didn’t last too long before I went back to feeling tired and in pain.  I definitely need more practice on this mental side of running.

Lily and Hong were waiting for me at mile 17 but didn’t know what side at the time so I stayed in the middle keeping an eye out for them.  I ended up passing by not seeing them, later on I would find out that they missed me by a few seconds.  Soon Ali caught up to me and I said hi.  I would have tried to run with her but I knew I was in bad shape so I went my own way.  Maybe a  quarter mile later I saw her running strong ahead of me.  Around 86th street where I started my last dress rehearsal just the Wednesday before,  I tried visualizing the rest of the course.  I knew the bridge to the Bronx was close and then we would quickly be in Harlem.  A little later and then Central Park, I just need to make it to CP.

The Bronx was short and don’t remember anything remarkable about the quick pass through the borough.  In Harlem towards Marcus Garvey Park, I got pushed by an Achilles athlete.  The guide gently push me on the side to make space for the athlete.  I remember how lifeless the body felt during the encounter.  I felt immediate relief and happiness seeing Central Park.  I tried rallying myself by saying I could at least get a sub 3:40 marathon.  I passed by the conservatory gardens where I would often go for a lunch walk back when I was an intern at City Parks Foundation.  The happiness feeling faded after about a half mile and I really felt the hill towards 96st street.  I knew I was close to entering the park but at the moment, it felt far away.  Kaithlyn passed by and encouraged me.  I finally entered CP but it didn’t have the magically effect I thought it would.  I felt too weak at that point.  I tried tapping into my emotions, I made a list of 19 things I was grateful the day before but I couldn’t focus on it.  I wasn’t able to tap into anything deeper for a stronger finish like I hoped I would.

Around mile 24, I started feeling a side stitch around my liver area.  It felt like when I use to run in recess after lunch back in elementary school.  I haven’t been clearing out my nose since Queensboro so maybe I wasn’t breathing effectively.  Anyway, it felt like it was slowing me down.  In Central Park I saw Christine’s yellow QDR and saw her cheering for me.  I weakly replied.  Sanjaya caught up and asked if I want him to carry me to the finish.  I passed by senior Guzman and tried to encourage him like he encourage me back at Pulaski.  Near the east drive, Stephanie caught up to me and tried to get me to run the last bit with her.  I wanted to keep up but wasn’t able to.  I started struggling to keep my head up.  It just felt really heavy.  I didn’t make a comeback in the last bit of the race at all.

The After Party
Upon finish I still felt pretty weak and I needed to take a break to rest.  However the race forces you to walk it out.  I met Raymond and got my medal from him.  Next I met Bobby and got my goodie bag.  I made it only a bit farther before feeling dizzy and stumbling a bit.  Someone on the race management side saw and I ended up in the medical tent.  I have been in a medical tent 3x in my life, my first marathon back in 2014 via wheelchair, my first half ironman finish last year via two ladies carrying me, and this race via golf cart.  There I moved to the hornet team.  I got three cups of a clear Gatorade looking thing and a PT, Ali, stretched out my legs.  It was similar to the stretches my sister learned in medical school.  Dave said hi, I remember him saying that not getting to the medical tent was his goal but I guess things happen.  I got a blanket with a warm bottle to keep warm.  My blood pressure was checked and the reading was good.  After a while, I got out and started walking again.  I was told to stretch out or I would get more sore, advice that I was pretty sure I was going to ignore.   The medical tent was farther back and I had to redo some of the walk.  I got my poncho and remembered looking at the crowd of slow moving ponchos people.  At that moment, no matter our time, speed, journey there, we all looked the same.  It took me about an hour from finishing to reach Lily and Hong.  That’s about how long it took me to reach my friends after my first marathon.  I originally wanted to go cheer for the remaining runners, all the way till the last finisher but I also felt that I should hangout with my friends that came out to support me.  After catching up with Slavic we got some life saving tea and I chose the latter, making my way to hotpot in flushing to eat with the gang.

My trajectory into long distance running part 4 - Getting back to the love of the process vs chasing results

During year 6, I got a lot faster in a fairly short amount of time.  The base was probably already there from my many years of slow running, I just needed to start working on the faster gears.  One side effect of my successes was the growing importance of PRing.  Before I only kept track of my marathon times.  I didn’t have any idea of what my best times were, 5ks or 50 miles.  I also didn’t even keep track of how many marathons and ultras I ran till this year.  I always ran for fun and love of exploring so the numbers never mattered.  I challenged myself by going farther - if you love something, why would you want it to end sooner?  Then I started running frequently with others, started getting faster and people started praising my progress.  It got into my head.  One example of the change - for the 9+1 I did for the 2016 NYC marathon, I did not attempt to race any of the 9 NYRR races.  The halves were practice long runs, the shorter distances I simply ran with friends going at whatever pace they were.  Compared that against the NYRR races in 2018 and 2019 where I went for a PR for each one.  I considered not PRing a big failure. 
I also started reading books about training and all my solo car rides were full of ultra running podcasts.  My head was full of how to get faster and train better and that became more important than the adventures that running brought me in the past.

October 2018
Suffolk County marathon - From ultra running podcasts I had been hearing about how fat is the more important energy source so I decide to skip breakfast for this marathon.  I did all of my morning runs without breakfasts so it made sense to me.  Despite starting over conservative and easing into marathon pace over a couple of miles, I end up hitting the wall early on and stopped at a medical tent for a few minutes, wondering what was wrong with my body.  It ended up being a disaster of a marathon but despite temptations to try again almost immediately, I decide to hold off till Houston marathon in the following January.  If I thought about it carefully, I would have realized this happened before during the 18 mile tuneup a month before where once again I blew up after not eating breakfast.  I considered the race an utter failure, I was so sure I could PR massively.
December 2018
I ran the NYC Runs Cocoa Classic 10k.  It rained heavily and the start of the race was a mess.  I quickly entered a negative head-space that didn’t leave.  I didn’t get the PR.  I really wanted one more PR of the year and the sole point of doing the race was to get it.
January 2019
I once again ran the Houston marathon.  This is my 24th marathon and first marathon that I went back to.  It breaks my tradition of always doing new marathons.  There are so many marathons out there and I enjoyed the new places that a new marathons takes me to so I never felt like I needed to go back to one.  The Houston marathon was at a good time of the year and flat so it was a chance for redemption after the Suffolk marathon.  I ended up falling in a trail run the day before, bruising my face and was recovering from a virus so I lowered my goals for the race.  I managed to get a small two minute PR. 
I also found out that I won the UTMB lottery and got a spot in the largest trail race in the world.  A result that would change the rest of the year for me.
March 2019
I ran the NYC half and fail to PR once again. 
I ran the Sleepy Hollow half the next week, at PR pace but the course ends up being a half mile short.  The next day I pace 9:15 for 15.8 miles at the QDR 30k.  I’m a bit more prouder of running these two events in the same weekend.
April 2019
Lake Sonoma 50 - I decided to do this race mostly because it was a competitive 50 miler and I wanted to see the stars of ultra running.  For training I experimented by focusing more on doing 10-14 mile races as tempo runs instead of the classic double long runs.  I ran it in a pace similar to the easy 9:15 effort I paced earlier in March but I felt awful by mile 15 and after my second wind ended at mile 35, the rest of the race felt more like a crawl.  I wrote a pretty detailed race report here - https://www.strava.com/athletes/6702485/posts/4957163
Leatherman loop - a muddy (spring in NYC) 10k trail race.  I find the cross country style start to and the fast pace of the race to be a lot of fun.  It’s definitely a style of running I want to get more into in the future.
June 2019
After minimal training I do the Eagleman half ironman.  I was pretty scared of doing the swim and to my relief, rough waves ended up canceling that portion of the triathlon.  I did pretty poorly on the bike, going out way too fast and then discouraged, ran the half marathon portion in an easy pace.  I was debating if I should attempt a full Ironman in July and then UTMB in August.  It’s definitely a doable feat to experienced athletics, someone that has done Ironmans before and has done difficult 100 milers would be able to do them in a short period together.  I wasn’t in that position, I had no full Ironman finishes and barely finished what would probably be classified as an easy to medium level 100 miler (can you really call any 100 milers easy?).  I decided that I could do it by pouring a ton of time into training.  I was already behind in the Ironman and I quickly started training 3 hours daily on weekdays and another 6-7 on weekends.  I went to mostly training on my own, I was already sacrificing sleep to get what I thought was the best training I could do (though in my mind, it wasn’t enough) so I didn’t try much to coordinate with others.  I found success initially, I got a decent PR in the Queens 10k, then a massive PR at the Vegan Power 50k. 
July 2019
Finger Lakes 50 - my body simply breaks down after my IT band flares up.  Lucky I am able to switch from the 50 miler down to the 50k but I end up walking a good chunk of the race.  I pretty much over-trained and I would not be able to recover during the rest of the summer.  I do the Whiteface Sky Race which sounds like on paper to be a good last long run before my Ironman but I ended up getting super sore on the quads.  I don’t recover in time for the Ironman and my quads burning in the shakeout bike ride the day before the race.  I DNF Ironman Lake Placid after not making the loop one cutoff of the bike course.  I still take the accomplishment of getting through the swim - 2.4 miles in open water as a big win.  I was kicked out of the slow lane of Flushing Meadows Aquatics center only 3 years ago.  Even two days before the race, I was feeling nervous and not able to get myself to swim past the second buoy before turning back.  Somehow the swim went pretty smoothly, other than the few punches from pasting swimmers.
August 2019
Following the Ironman DNF, I started running with groups more.  To get use to the elevation gain that UTMB required, I started hiking more.  Overall, I started enjoying the process.  Before I felt like I was desperately trying to fit all the training in and still not being good enough.  The 4:30 wake ups were a dread while tri training.  Now I was waking up excited for the day.  I was still feeling burnout however and I thought of UTMB as my final, retirement ultra. 
UTMB - I wasn’t used to the long stretches of elevation gain and my weak hiking muscles slowed down and I didn’t make the 50k time cutoff.  I ended up DNFing UTMB but falling in love with the running community once again.  It also reignited the spark for exploring again.  I  enjoyed the race and would have happily continued whereas during the Ironman, I was sort of relieved to have been cut.  Figuring out how to get back to UTMB became an obsession for the next few days but I decided against doing an unplanned vacation to Oman for another 100 miler to attempt to bypass the lottery for next year.
September 2019
Berlin marathon - While I made attempts to work on speed, coming out of tri and ultra marathon training I decided to run the marathon as a celebration of 7 years.  After 17 miles I realized that I won’t be able to PR so I pulled back and just enjoyed the experience.

Like my track in archery, once I started improving in running, I started to become harsher on myself.  It’s like a mental double edge sword.  You feel better knowing you are improving but then small things start to bother you.  You don’t pay attention and those small things remove the joy out of the hobby.  Despite knowing that more training doesn’t always result in better performance (it about how your body absorbs adaptations), it still required burnout for me to get back to enjoying the process.  Despite hearing about this in so many podcasts, it seemed like more of an elite athlete problem to me and I didn’t realize that things might be going wrong till my IT band flared up during Finger Lakes 50. 
It took me this year to realize that my joy in running wasn’t due to some external validation, a finish line is just a moment in time but in the process of getting to the finish line.  Most runs should be fun and enjoyable and I should be excited that I get to do all these cool things rather than, say, dreading a long run.  Of course I'll be trying to get stronger and faster but I'll also be looking at things with a more long term approach.

My trajectory into long distance running part 3

Year 5 starts with me having to deal with my DNF at Mountain Lakes 100.  It’s my second DNF in a row, in a relatively short time (within 2 months).  The biggest thing that haunts me is that I chose to give up in the 100 miler and the aftermath of that decision leaves me with a reduced motivation to run.
November 2016 
I run the NYC marathon and get over 5 hours due to not training.  I start to relearn how to swim and sign up for my first triathlon - Lake Placid half ironman.
December 2016 - I DNF my third ultra in a row - TARC Fells ultra winter, a 40 hour - 4 x 10 mile loop race.  I missed the time cutoff by quite a lot, I didn’t really try.
January 2017
After reading Finding Ultra by Rich Roll and then Whole by Dr. Campbell, I slowly adopt a vegan diet.  My mom being vegetarian, I grew up not eating meat.  Even as I started eating meat in late high school and the years after, I never really developed a taste for it.  So giving up meat was easily, it wasn’t really in my diet anyway (I only ate it when going out).  Giving up diary was much harder.  I have a blog post on this if anyone wants to know more.  The biggest effect of going vegan, which was really more of simply cutting dairy out - was the tremendous weight loss.
February 2017
I do the Sean O’Brien 50k as my first ultra to get back to trying Mountain Lakes 100 again.  I use heart rate to slow me down in the first half and then force myself to speed up in the second half.  During a recovery run in Alley Pond park, I ran with Michael who slows down to run with me.  He encourages me to join a running club and tells me about Queens Distance runners, that they are a group of young and fast runners.  I heard of QDR beforehand when a friend - Jianli ran with them.  She also said they were fast runners and didn’t continue since she didn’t want to slow them down.  I knew about running groups by this point - Alley Pond Park had the Alley Pond Striders but I was turned off by their yearly membership fees.  My other hesitation to join a running group/club/team was that I felt I was too slow and that the desire to run faster would get me injured.  I actually didn’t know many people that have gotten injured from running until I joined a running club.  I signed up to join QDR that night.  I couldn’t find any team runs however till springtime so it didn’t immediately change anything.
April 2017
I move to Sunnyside!  The day after moving I find Woodside Sunnyside Runners on meetup and join them on their long run (back when their long runs were official).  I do the Gorges 100k where I get to the halfway point completely exhausted.  I use mediation and focus on my breath to beat the cutoffs and finish the race.  I ran more with WSR!
May 2017
I take part in my first international marathon - the Vancouver marathon.  I get 4:13 which makes the 4 hour mark within sight.  I do my first run with QDR at Astoria track.  The directions were to meet at the track which is pretty broad.  I eventually, awkwardly made my way to Edwin and asked if it was QDR.  It was my first track workout and I missed the drills.  I didn’t care, I was ready to do the workout but Edwin encouraged me to warm up first.    One thing that surprised me was that after this first event with QDR, I got quite a lot of friend requests on facebook, even with people I didn’t talk with. 
I also finished the Devil’s Path this month, completing the DNF hike from 2014. 
June 2017
I do the PA ragnar relay with some of my original Disney marathon gang.  Then next day I DNF my first triathlon.  Like everything else, I went into the race by trial by fire.  It was my first time in a wetsuit, first time in open water, two weeks prior was the first time I was able to swim an entire pool length without stopping and the week prior was the first time I was able to two pool lengths.  I had to get rescued 4 minutes into the swim.
July 2017
I take part in the Finger Lakes 50.  I signed up for the 50 miler but hard rainfall caused me to drop down to the 50k.  I do the SF marathon and finish the hilly course with a 4:04.  I’m confident I could break 4 hours in the marathon now.
August 2017
Edwin asks me what my training plan for Mountain Lakes 100 is.  I don’t have one but I decided to look into Hal Koerner's Field Guide to Ultrarunning, which has plans in the back of the book, and start from whatever week out I am in.  I mostly focus on the double long runs on the weekend.  My other runs at this point were mostly with WSR and QDR.  I do the Volcanic 50k which I still think is the coolest race ever (you go around Mount Helens, exploring 4 different types of environment).  In the race I meet a woman named Martha who would be volunteering in the Mountain Lakes 100.
September 2017
I DNF my Ironman 70.3 race.  I immediately paniced in the open water but got guidance by a man on a kayak and was able to swim for an hour and 25 minutes before getting cut for not making the time cutoff.  The next week I did the Spartan Beast in Killington and placed well (top 10% for my first Spartan race).  I returned to Mountain Lakes 100 and after 29 hours and 43 minutes I finished 100 miles.  Despite the training, the race did not go well.  My stomach gave out before mile 30 forcing to depend on liquid calories, I struggled with running alone in the dark after from miles 55 to 70.  My quads then gave out from there and I limp walked miles 88 to 97.  I had no hope to finish within the 30 hours cutoff till a volunteer told me that Martha, who I met earlier volunteering in the race, wanted me to finish.  I probably had recovered a bit physically in my long walk but coming back mentally was something I wouldn’t have been able to do alone.  With that simple reason, the fire relighten in my body and I ran the last miles hard.  I was the final finisher of the race and I cried hard after crossing the finish line.  I have a very detailed account of my 100 mile journey in my blog.
Reflection:
My 5th year of running had me dealing with failure and finding the motivation to come back into running.  Joining a QDR and WSR benefitted me quite a lot.  After I moved out of my parent’s place, I lost a bit of my social life and was able to quickly find it again with the running community.  Running wise, I learned about speed workouts and strength workouts which would get me a bit faster.  I also think answering questions about ultras and my training plans when I didn’t give them any thoughts before forced me to start thinking of how I was progressing into races.  I ran more consistent thanks to the two running groups as well.  That combined with my huge weight lost got me to become a faster runner.  I won’t really know it till the following year when I returned to running shorter distances.  I also got to interact with running without running - I volunteered for QDR long runs, took photos and weakly cheered at races, and would volunteer at races.
Year Six October 2017 - September 2018 - The Year of PRs
October 2017
I ran the Chicago marathon only two weeks after Mountain Lakes and attempt to break 4 hours.  Had I been there alone, I probably would have ran it easy but being there with QDR and hearing everyone talk about their goals got me to want to try.  I hit the wall at mile 8 and walk ran my first road marathon from the 13 mile mark.  Despite it not going well, I felt like it worked as a recovery run.  The next week I ran the Brooklyn half and broke the two hour mark for the first time. 
November 2017
I learn that I have earned 11/15 points to qualify for the UTMB lottery.  I heard of UTMB and knew it to be the biggest trail race.  I look for a race to get the remaining points before the January 2018 lottery - a 50 miler in December.  I do the NCR marathon in an easy 4:23 as my longest run to the race.
December 2017
I do the McDowell Mountain Frenzy.  A highlight was running a section with Jeff who taught me a bunch of the local plants (race was just outside of Phoenix) and how he trains in Phoenix.  Also around this time I get into bouldering and especially use their bootcamp and yoga classes.  This comes at a cost though and I start reducing my group runs with WSR (QDR didn’t have weekly neighbor runs at this point).  Triathlon training also contributed to this. 
January 2018
In a very controlled marathon, I sub 4 hours in the Houston marathon.  Passing the 4 hour pace group (after losing them early in the race) in the last 400 meters is still my proudest moment in running.
March 2018
A storm delays my flight to New Orleans for the Rock and Roll New Orleans marathon to the next day so I decided to do my shakeout run in Alley Pond Park.  Looking at how to climb over a fallen tree blocking the path, a man calling himself Fast Eddie tells me to follow him to a path around.  We talk for a bunch and are later joined by a woman.  Both are Alley Pond Striders and look old to me.  I was pretty surprised that the woman talked about PR and training.  Anyway, I probably shared too many details of my life with her.  At the NOLA marathon the next day I got 3:54 in the marathon, PRing in about 5 minutes.  The major difference this time around was that I didn’t want Julie who was going for 3:40 to wait too long for me so I went out at a faster pace.  To my surprise I was able to hold it.  Two weeks later I ran the Georgia marathon with a 3:47 in a hilly course.  Same strategy as before. 
April 2018
I do the NJ marathon after a long 5 week taper where I was afraid I was borderline on injury.  I get a 3:35, cramping right before the finish line (first time cramping during a run ever).
June 2018
I finish the Ridgefield tri - the same tri I DNF the year before.  I do my first ultra with a friend - the North Face Endurance Challenge 50 miler in MA with Rene.  Rene being a much faster runner than me performs well.  Two weeks later I do Maintou’s Revenge - a 54 miler in the catskills.  Despite being in the last wave, I spend the entire day passing people and perform well.  The next week I do the Pemi loop, a difficult but beautiful 30 miler in the white mountains with Michael.  Looking back at this month, I was probably the most trained for UTMB. 
July 2018
I do the Cayuga trails 50 miler with Rinchen.  I catch up to Rinchen during the race and run with her till the last 47 miles.  I think running with her helped me push the pace and I got a massive PR in the 50 mile distance. 
September 2018
I complete the Lake Placid 70.3 half ironman.  I also do the Bronx 10 miler at a 7:21 pace which is crazy to consider the year before. 
Reflections:
Year 6 was a very successful year.  Before this year, a sub 9 minute pace was considered fast and this year, 8 minute pace became my marathon pace.  My 100 miler of the year - Eastern States got cancelled but I still got to challenge myself in both speed and with a crazy ultra season.  Returning to shorter distances I PRed like crazy.  This success had a downside to it however.  I started racing for PRers and started letting results define what was a good or bad race.  Before I didn’t have that need for that external validation.  Year 7 would be about finding my way back, back to the love of running but it would require a bunch of lessons learned the hard way.

My trajectory into long distance running part 2

Year three October 2014 to 2015
October 2014
I ran the wineglass marathon in minimalist trail running shoes which were size 13 (a size smaller than the Pureflows).  I brought both my Pureflows and the Merrells with me I thought my form would be better in the minimalist Merrells  shoes so I decided to wear them for the race.  I aimed for a 4:20 marathon.  With 10 miles as my longest run and no longer in these shoes, my feet swelled and the pain was great.  I finished the marathon 11 minutes slower than Disney.  I was so upset that I signed up for my third marathon - the Brooklyn marathon shortly after returning.  I would jump back into training and get injured again - this time on the foot.  One note on the return trip was that I was talking to a more experienced runner and he mentioned tempo run.  I had no idea what he was talking about and he advised me to look at a beginner training plan.  I still didn’t, I had my excuse on why I did bad - the shoes were too small.
November 2014
I ran the Brooklyn marathon with super cushioned shoes.  Cautious about my foot I finished even slower - another 22 minutes slower than the second marathon.  Frustrated, I decided that speed was not for me and that I will chase distance.  I signed up for the North Face 50 Bear mountain.
March 2015
I finished my 4th marathon - continuing my trend of running marathons slower.  I was now 50 minutes slower than my first marathon.  I didn’t really train for this marathon like the others.  It was an excuse to check out Virginia Beach.
May 2015
I finished the North Face Bear Mountain 50 miler in 13:55:17, less than 5 minutes from the 14 hour time limit.  I quickly found myself towards the back of the pack by mile 18.  I got a bit of a pickup at mile 21 and made the first cutoff at 29 minutes with 10 minutes to spare.  I didn’t believe I could finish and told it to the volunteer who immediately tried to encourage me.  It didn’t really stick and I struggled through the next few miles.  Now I was alone, anyone I passed was already destroyed.  I remember volunteering for the NYC marathon back in 2013 and being inspired by seeing how people pushed through pain.  Here I saw the opposite.  The back of the pack of ultras showed me people that tried and gave up.  At mile 35ish I made it to an aid station that had ran out of water.  A man had water in his car and he rushed to get some.  A woman filled my bottles with ice while I waited.  I was advised to not drink too much water.  The volunteers took me I had to book the next 10k to make it to the cutoff at mile 41.  Their encouragement got me and I started running hard and I entered a mode where I felt like I could sprint forever.  I kept replaying their encouragements.  I made it to another aid station and was advised by a lady to run what’s runnable.  I ended up making it to that cutoff with 2 minutes to spare.  Around mile 45 I made it to another aid station where I was stuffing my face with candy.  The man told me to not linger too long.  I wasn’t sure why till I started moving again and my legs felt like bricks.  After a little bit I was able to run again and made it to the finish.  Hugged some strangers who also were struggling since mile 41.  I think this race showed me more than anything how important the mental game is - and how much the right words at the right time could make all the difference.  (I wrote more about this race in my blog).
The rest of the year has me running 9+1 events.  I don’t really race them, choosing to run with friends instead.  At this point I made a handful of running - hiking friends that I got to do weekly weekend adventures with.  I didn’t care about PRing but racing became a sort of an adventure.
Year 4
October 2015
Portland marathon - I finally beat my first marathon time and got a decent PR - 4:17:30.  Still no training plan or anything that resembles training but the 9+1 helped with being more constant with running.  The next week I did the Mount Desert marathon in a much slower 5:01:34.  The race had a meal at the end which I enjoyed more so because of the chance to talk with other runners.  Doing two marathons within 15 days got me into the marathon maniacs - my first running club.  I never really got involved with the club, despite buying lifetime membership, but I looked at their challenges and their Facebook group with interest.
November 2015
I run my first trail marathon on my birthday weekend.  The marathon is still one of my favorites due to how scenic Moab is.
January 2016
I ran the Mississippi Blues and First Light Marathons in the same weekend.  I was a bit sad to miss the Blues crawl Saturday night since I had to drive immediately from Jackson to Mobile.  Every running step of First Light hurt and I had to tell myself jokes 10k in to take my mind of the pain.  This back to back - 2 marathon in one weekend only puts me mid rank on the marathon maniacs.
April 2016
I ran the Breakneck marathon in 10 hours and 15 minutes - my slowest marathon ever.  The elevation gain with a crazy 10,000 feet but I mostly underestimated it.  I have hiked breakneck so many times so I really should have known.
May 2016
I ran my second 50k once again in Bear Mountain.  I finished strong this time around and finished with quite a bit crowd at the finish line (at least for trail running).  This was my second race to buildup to the Ice Age 50.  It was also the first time I started doing racing as buildups.  However i didn’t really factor anything other than distances (Ice Age was a flat 50 miler so a moderately hilly 50k is a bit different).  My second 50 miler was in Wisconsin, much less technical and flatter than Bear Mountain but the x-factor was a 12 hour cutoff.  I finished in 11:13:35, I did not have to chase cutoffs this time around which was a big surprise to me.  What I loved about the race was how chatty the people of  Wisconsin were.  I made some quick friends talking with people as they warmed up in the first 10 miles.  I also started experimenting with hiking form for uphills and found ways to move quicker.
June 2016
To recover from my 50 miler I did the Cayuga trail marathon.  I went into the race with no sleep whatsoever, I hung out with friends that night and then had to drive 4ish hours to arrive 5 minutes late and grab my bib.  I also started off running the wrong way.  The rest of the race wasn’t too fun but Itacha is gorgeous and I was able to do future trips there with friends thanks to learning about it’s beauty from the race.
August 2016
I traveled to Montana for a hard 50 miler - The Elkhorn endurance challenge near Helena, the capital of the state.  It’s a beautiful area but I struggled with altitude during the race.  I felt like I couldn’t run the easy uphills and missed the time cutoff for the 50k mark.  I blame the altitude but it’s probably just not being fit.  This was my first DNF.
September 2016
I took part of the Erie marathon as a final buildup to Mountain Lakes 100, my first attempt at the 100 mile distance.  Here I DNFed as well.  My quads burnt out around 30 miles in and I couldn’t run.  It turned dark and I wasn’t able to keep warm.  The sweepers caught up and kept me company.  At mile 55 I had a choice, the hard cutoff was at mile 70 so I could keep going.  It was a 15 mile loop but time wise I knew I couldn’t do it.  My mind already gave up.  Still I wanted someone- a volunteer or race official to tell me to quit.  No one did, they left the choice to me.  The sweepers even offered to run with me, saying it would be good company.  I was tired and cold, I chose to quit.  It was a choice that haunts me once in a while.  You sort of have an image of yourself - that you’re not a quitter.  That no matter how hard things get, it’s just one foot in front of the other - that you’re a fighter.  After I quit, I went into the warming tent, put a sleeping bag type around me and I sat in front of a heating fan thing.  I shivered every few minutes or so and wasn’t able to get warm.  Eventually, after a few hours, a volunteer drive me back to the start, the heated seats finally got me warm.  I still have a bit of aversion of running in cold nights.
Reflections:  Years 3 and 4 had me go full in towards running races as an adventure.  I think the foundation was sort of there from the beginning.  While I made friends that were running for more than a bucket list item, I still wasn’t surrounded by people trying to run faster so I didn’t think about getting faster.  I didn’t know anyone getting coaching or following training plans so I didn’t consider it either.  I think my first two marathons ending up being destination races got me in the mindset that  races could be adventures.  An excuse to travel.  Since I wasn’t really into speed, I sought to challenge myself in different ways - marathons and ultras in close approximation to each other, increasing my distances.  However, as I started getting into harder 50 milers and 100 miles I found that winging it didn’t work and got my first DNFs.  These DNF would hurt my motivation to run in the upcoming months.

My trajectory into long distance running part 1

October 5th marks my 7th year anniversary of starting to run.  To celebrate, I’ll slowly write about my trajectory into long distance running.  From someone who couldn’t run a mile to someone who would attempt some of the hardest ultra marathons in the world.

Year One October 2012 - September 2013
I tried multiple times to get into running via treadmill beforehand but it never stuck.  It was too hard.  I think I always liked the idea of running but I was struggling doing 2 miles in 30 minutes on the treadmill.  Then, on my sister’s birthday I decided that jogging the 2 mile stretch of the Vanderbilt parkway in Alley Pond park and back (totaling 4 miles) without stopping would be a good sign of fitness. I couldn’t run a mile at that point without stopping so I started off doing a half mile - then walking a quarter mile - intervals till I reach 4 miles.
October 2012
I start off run-walking 4 miles but I reach my goal in a week (at a pace slower than 12 minutes a mile).  I decided to continue along the greenway to see where it goes and  got to 6 miles.  For the most part, I stuck to 4 miles 3x a week.
March 2013
 I learn that a half marathon is 13.1 miles.  It seems doable.  A distance worth paying for...why would I pay for a 5k or 10k?  I could already do those distances.
April 2013
I find the cheapest half marathon I could - Suffolk County Half marathon.  For $25, there was only gun time and a cotton shirt (which surprised me - never expected to get a t-shirt).  I did my second longest run - 9 miles two days before the half which was a good confidence booster.  I ran the half carrying a ziplock bag of white sugar, which I attempted to eat at mile 8 (a good chunk of it missed and went over my beard).  I ran two 5ks shortly after but more so because friends were doing it.
May 2013
I do the LIC half marathon because I thought a friend would do it (he ended up not being able to go).  My first big race, I found out that you can’t just drive to race site 15 minutes before the start and that there are big lines for porter potties.  This time I used a gel and broke 2:10, 7ish minute improvement from just a month ago.
A few of my dragon boat friends were doing the Disney World marathon and invited me to join.  Kelvin tells me that he is doing the Goofy challenge - a half marathon on Saturday and a full marathon on Sunday.  He says he will take the half easy and it sounds doable to so I signed up as well.
June 2013
I do my second hike.  Where the 4 mile bear mountain hike wiped me out on Labor Day 2012, I was easily able to complete this 6 mile hike in Harriman.  This showed me my improved fitness and from here, I started hiking frequently as my love for being outdoors grows.  Like running however, I didn’t have any mentors and the road to knowing what I was doing in hiking was fairly long, full of lots of mistakes but that’s a different story.
September 2013
I finish the Yonkers half marathon, my third half and talking to an officer afterwards, I declare that marathoners are crazy.  I also bought my first running shoes.  I been using nike trainers - designed to be gym training shoes as running shoes.  I got Brooks pureflow and went up a size to size 14 upon the recommendations of the salesperson.
Reflection:
I started running alone.  With no school team sport experience, running friends or running club/team, I didn’t have any expectations of what running should look like.  Running gave me a space to think and meditate on the current events of my life.  I was content with my 11-12 minute miles and had no desire to run faster, no desire to do races.  Running helped me mentally feel better, it was not a means to test myself.  With my background in archery and dragon boat - I knew how important form was.  Looking at google for running form in 2013 and you would see the minimalist movement and born to run come up so that’s the way I leaned towards.  I started recording my runs on map my run a week into starting so I have a good record of these early times (which to be honest surprises me - to see how dedicated I was right away).

Year Two October 2013 to September 2014

December 2013
I buy my first garmin watch.  I do my first 15 mile run with the help of my Disney marathon friends.  This will be the longest run going into the marathon.  I get a bike and start riding after 14 or so years.  I pick up my balance in cycling almost immediately and do a few 20 mile rides.
January 2014
Goofy challenge - I walk miles 7 to 10 of the half marathon but can’t help myself and run the last 5k hard.  I get sore from the half marathon and despite my attempts to stretch, I go into the full marathon with sore legs.  With 3 songs in my playlist, I run with music for the first time and achieve what I wanted - I ran the marathon without stopping (4:53) and did not get passed by Debby (she did run faster than me but she started in the last corral due to not giving the race a half marathon time when registering while I was up ahead).  I slowed down around mile 20 and felt pain in my knee for the first time.  Upon finishing the marathon, I was put into a wheelchair and pushed into the medical tent.  I made sure to requested my two medals (one for finishing the marathon, the other for finishing the Goofy challenge).  With some fluids and a pain killer I started my crawl to my friends.  The next quarter mile would take an hour to walk, with every volunteer in sight asking if I was okay.  I would not be able to walk normally for two days.  I  got also injured me - IT band  and I was not able to run for a few months.
April 2014
TD bike tour!  Also my return to running.
May 2014
I do the Brooklyn half and get a major PR, getting close to the 2 hour mark.  Cathy asks if I’m considering doing another marathon this year, to which I wasn’t but  “Oh...it sounds interesting.  why not?  I'm going to sign up for it!” and thus I was in for the wineglass marathon.
June 2014
I do my first trail race which happens to be my first ultra.  I thought it was weird to see people stop at aid stations and walk on the uphills.  I charged up them.  My quads blew up by mile 20 and the older folks were passing me by the marathon mark.  For the first time, I was worried about not being able to make the time cut offs and DNFing but made it after 8+ hours.  The next week I would attempt the Devil’s Path.  Not understanding the concept of recovery, my quads blew up and I had to bail out at mile 16.  My friend Greg had to do the road walk to the car and come rescue me while I sat on the side of the road - trying not to fall gently into the good night.
September 2014
After two months of focusing more on hiking, my monthly mileage slows gets to 100 miles a month, I have a marathon to run!  My longest run towards my second marathon will be 10 miles but no worries, I ran the distance before.  Think I could still do a massive PR.  I mean, this time I don’t have a half marathon the day before...should be easy.
Reflections:
Year two had me starting to challenge myself in running.  However I never looked at any training plan.  The idea of looking up how to run a certain distance was still foreign to me.  I just ran what sounded logical.  I was quite ignorant of my abilities, of recovery and I was learning everything the hard way.  I just knew that when I got injured I wanted to get back into running - the thought of not running didn’t occur to me.

Schunnemunk Hill Training

I find that while there is plenty of resources for beginner hikes for around the NYC area, there is barely anything for trail runners or hikers looking to train.  I'll be starting to post some of the workouts I created.  This should help give ideas on what you could do.

Schunnemunk Hill Training
Free trail map at https://www.parks.ny.gov/parks/attachments/SchunnemunckTrailMap.pdf
From it's eastern side, there are 4 trails that go up the mountain.  Two in the north east meet at the top and the two at the south east meet at the bottom.
Parking:  Schunemunk Mountain Otterkill Road Trail Head (appears in google maps)
The route:  Lollipop
Distance from Queens - About 65 minutes from Astoria, 80 minutes back (increased traffic)
10.3 miles, about 3,3000 in elevation gain
Note:  The park has hunting here in the fall.  Make sure to wear bright colors!
There's a 10 mile and 20 mile trail race here in October - the Great Schunemunk Traverse!

From the parking lot, head left and look for a clearing on the right side to enter the trails.  It's a very short walk/jog .  Trail markers lead the way.

The workout:

1. Hope you are warmed up a bit from the car ride, the white trail (Trestle trail) immediately starts ascending and you want to red line it.  It's about 1.3 miles uphill so be prepared for some hard breathing.
2. The trestle trail ends and immediately joins the red on white (Barton Swamp).  You want to take it left, look for a clearing.  If you ended up taking it straight you would join orange, this is the wrong way.  Shortly the red on white trails joins the yellow (Jessup).  You want to descend it hard.  It's about a mile downhill
3. The yellow descends down and joins the red, just before some train tracks.  Follow the red (Otterkill trail) to the right.  This is you recovery phase.  It's about a mile to the next climb.
4. Take the white trail (Sweet Clover) on your right.  It's a gradual climb, about 1.2 miles.  Red line it as well.  There's a break on the top for a bit before you descend so don't be afraid to push a bit harder.  
5. The trail joins the yellow, Jessup again.  Take it to the left and use it for recovery.  Now is the time to whip your phone out as you will pass 2-3 viewpoints.
6. Take the black (Dark Hollow) on the left.  It's initially a bit bushy and then has a surprise uphill but then descends nicely downhill.  Push it!  You will pass some viewpoints again but you're training!  Focus!
7. Back on the red Ottercreek trail, take a left and start heading towards the yellow (Jessup) again.  Take this portion easy.  This last climb won't feel easy.
8. The red joins the yellow (Jessup) once again, make sure to follow the yellow and turn left with it.  When you first see the yellow, it may look like there is a trail to your left going back up.  The trail back up is marked!  This is your last climb so make it count!  Alternatively you could continue on the red which will lead back to the car to skip this last climb.
9. The yellow hits the red again, take the red on your right!  It shortly reaches the white.  You're almost done now.  Just smash the white as you make it back to the road where your car is parked.

UTMB reflections

UTMB was my 23rd ultra marathon and despite it going much shorter than expected (DNF due to not making the time cutoff at the 50k mark), it was a fairytale race.  I knew people called it a dream race but as I headed over to France to the start line, I was ready to call it my retirement from ultras race.  I burnout from training almost 8 weeks prior and while I was mentally prepared to go through the hell of a hundred miler, I really wanted to take a break from racing.  In early June I performed poorly in the Eagleman 70.3 half ironman.  At that point I had a choice of whether to defer my Ironman Lake Placid or attempt to train both for a hard 100 miler - UTMB and my first Ironman.  A bit beaten from the race, I accepted the challenge and knowing I was behind on training, I poured 2.5 to 3 hours a day into training.  I often sacrificed sleep and trained alone to fit everything into the day.  I ran the Vegan Power 50k on June 22nd in a strong PR in the 50k distance, I even beat some of my slower marathon times on the road.  However, just two weeks later on July 4th my IT band flared up on mile 40 of a what was supposed to be a 50 mile bike ride (that got reduced to 45).  Two days later was the Finger Lakes 50 where I intended to do the 50 mile distance as my longest run for UTMB.  I had to drop to the 50k and walked the last few miles due to IT band pain.

I recognized I was over training and backed up training the next few weeks.  I ended up DNFing Lake Placid Ironman, my quads being shot from the Whiteface Sky race the week before, my legs struggled on the bike portion of the race and I didn’t make the cutoff after the first loop.  It was tough, mostly because of how much the costs to do an Ironman but other than that, it was a relief.  The finish line of the Ironman was an amazing atmosphere but after some reflection, I really don’t like to spend that much time on the bike (I enjoy 30 to 50 miles bike rides with friends on scenic trips with plenty of breaks but training 50 miles is just not fun for me) and I am not going to further pursue that route of athletic endurance.  The time between Lake Placid and UTMB was pretty short, just a month.  I was happy to get back to hiking with friends and spend time outdoors in the mountains as part of training but I didn’t mentally feel inspired to do a hundred miles.

However, all that changed when I got to Chamonix and saw how beautiful the alps were.  Over the next few days the running community would help in reminding me of why I started running in the first place.  To explore and go on adventures!  It’s really as simple as that.  For most of my running history I didn’t really care about times and PRs or about being “smart” about training and I was able to do some crazy things.  In my quest to become a better runner, I have poured over training books and listened to all things running related podcasts.  However, I may have ignored the adventure aspect of running that fueled my love of the sport in the first place.  I started doing races more for their timing in my calendar than actually wanting to explore the place.  So despite my “A goal” of the year being what one could call an utter failure, I left France excited for my return to UTMB.  It may take a few years to get back on the start line due to the lottery but that’s okay, there’s plenty of adventures and places to explore on the way back to that infamous starting line.  I’m far from retiring from ultras!

The road to UTMB - Chapter 8 - The Fairy Tale race

With UTMB starting a 6 pm I decided to sleep in race morning, I ate breakfast at my apartment.  Strava had another event with just met and greet athletes after their run/hike event.  I didn't want to do any physical activity before the race on race day so I skipped their running event.  At the event I met Paul Leak who I have heard before in the runners of NYC podcast.  He recognized my Queens Distance running shirt and we talked briefly.  He works for marketing in Strava now but use to work for NYRR run center and knew Kevin Montalvo.  I got some strava socks and free coffee from the event.  Next was a nap and then I went to the pre race buffet.  I ate some plain pasta loaded with egg plants and mushrooms.  Got some water and french bread.  Next was dropping my gear bag.  I had my second pair of shoes, a size up Altra Lone Peaks, along with gels and a third headlamp (in case one of my two headlamps I had to carry went bad, I wanted to always have two headlamps with me).  Bag drop was where bib pickup was and noticed for the first time it was a rock climbing gym.  Took a final nap.

I headed to the city center for the race.  Had to take a bit of a back entrance to get to the city center, there's arrows leading the way but the main area was already full of runners at 5 pm, one hour before race starts.  I wanted to be in the back anyway but if you want to be near the front, you would have to be there well before the 6 pm start time.  I started back near the church.  I was sort of hoping to see Jerry and start off with him but it was late already and I didn't want to shoot a text this late in the game.  No need to add any potential stress at this point.  I found it annoying that family members and loved one of the runners kept zigging in and out of the area where runners gather.  Some pushed their way through pretty aggressively without any apology.  

From the screens I could see a bit of the elite runners.  Music started playing and the runners seemed pretty hyped.  Did not seem like they were going for a 100 miles, most of them would be out there for 42ish hours, but instead a fun 5k run.  I ate a gel and then the race started.  It was jog walking getting out of the city.  It was too crowded for anything else.  The crowds were amazing, tons in the city and many were out as we left Chamonix on the road to the trails.  The first three miles are fairly straight road and then it climbs a tad bit here and there following the river till it reaches Les Houches.  I jogged my way through, probably near the back of the pack.  Then the route starts to climb on road.  People seem to start struggling right away and I pass a few with easy.  It turns from road to a wide trail, seems like a ski trail to me.  It is pretty steep but manageable and I feel like I make good progress.  Then the steep downhill where I hold back.  A few pass me and I pass a couple.  I didn't want to blow out the quads just yet.  Made it to Saint-Gervais in fairly comfortable and good shape.  My glutes did start feeling a tad sore which was unusual but I was sure it would pass.  I grabbed two pieces of French bread at the aid station and refilled water.  I started with only 500 mL of water, one bottle and it was good to fill up the second one here.  I continued jogging forward.  It was fairly easy terrain and we got to Les Contamies.  

There I found out there was only 10 minutes till the aid station closes.  I got some rice in soup and moved forward.  There seems to be an area where crew could access you.  I wasn't aware of course cutoff times at all to be honest and had I knew, I would have pushed more on these easier parts.  I started running more harder after this on the flats but the course got uphill soon.  I made good time on the uphill but made it to the aid station La Balmc with 4 minutes before closing.  Now I started panicking, I refilled water and was able to grab 3 pieces of oranges before I left.  If I paused a bit I should have stocked up on food as I only had two gels left but I didn't think it through.  I knew what items was the aid stations but didn't have a plan for them and how to restock with enough calories to keep going.  We were required to wear jackets from this point.  I was feeling warm but had to do it.  It got cold a bit farther up so grateful for this requirement.  I continued forward strong in my opinion upwards.  Saw some cows with cowbells on them.  The trail turned a bit rocky and less steep and I felt more at home here.  I started passing people but eventually the trail got steeper and smooth again.  Eventually my calf muscles, not being in this sort of activation for so long before started wearing out.  I slowed down and it got colder.  I took a break, put on my running tights and kept going.  Took a second break and then on my third I put on gloves.  Thankful to the mandatory gear as it kept me warm.  Altitude was probably affecting me as well.  Eventually I was moving alone.  I couldn't see anyone ahead.  I should have taken this as a warning of going too slow but it didn't register at the time.  I must have totaled 12 minutes at break.  I ran out of gels and soon got hungry.  Looking back now, I should have packed a lot more food.  I had the space for it in my running pack.  I should have also gotten more of those 250 calories speednut spring energy gels or the 200 calories Trail Nut butter if I was concerned about pack weight.  It kept looking like the uphill was going to head but every few minutes I would look up and there was still more to go.  The stars were out at full force though and it was beautiful.  Despite the dark I could also tell the terrain was nice.  I made it to a checkpoint where they scanned my bib.  The group seemed pretty quite, maybe they already knew that I would DNF soon.  

The downhill came and I wasn't really able to make up time.  From trail marker to trail marker I saw the different routes to move downhill and I sometimes took a 1-2 second pause to figure out the best one.  Maybe if I was following people it would have been easier to figure out.  I was comfortable being out in the dark with my headlamps to this point but now when figuring out downhill routes I was starting to feel inexperienced.  I hadn't practiced running at night at all for the race.  I passed 2-3 people on the downhill and made it the 50k mark at Les Chapiex.  There I found out I missed the 5:15 cutoff by almost 30 minutes.  I was definitely disappointed, despite not feeling strong in the last few miles I was no where near hitting the wall.  I just need some time to refuel in calories and I was sure I could continue strong.  My Garmin Fenix 3 in ultra tranc mode showed 36 miles and seeing the course profile showing that I was instead at 50k (31 miles) was a bit demoralizing and there was another good climb right after which more demoralizing.  I stuffed myself with three bowls of rice in soups, some French bread, and Overstims bars.  The bus to take us to Courmayeur was coming in a half hour so we had time to relax.  The others looked pretty beat.  I think I saw a few Taiwanese runners there with me, a stand with Hong Kong statement on their packs.  The bus ride to Courmayeur took a while and there I got my gear bag and took a short bus ride to Chamonix.  Courmayeur was beautiful and a bit of me wanted to check out the area, maybe take a gondola up to the mountain but I was sweaty and still ran a 50k.  I wanted to go back and recover as soon as possible.

It was seeing cool seeing runners from everywhere but I didn't talk to people like I normally do in American ultras.  Maybe farther down the line people would have been more talkive?  That aspect of the race felt weird.  The crowds however were super amazing and I enjoyed it more than any world major.  I hi fived 20 kids in the first few miles, by the third aid station got offered beer three times and my name was called out more times than any race before and I didn't even make it to the 1/3 mark.  Chamonix was stunningly beautiful.  I didn't try to get a crew to come with me, the thought of having people traveling all the way to Europe, take a bus for 1-2 hours to see me for three minutes for 40 plus hours seemed like a way too much ask.  Crew however would have been able to better supply me and probably knew what the time cutoffs were, could have pushed me to succeed.  The problem with the race is that with one drop bag, crew's ability to resupply you is a huge advantage.  When I got to Chamonix and realized how beautiful it is, I realized that crewing won't have been that bad of a ask.  It could be a mini vacation.  It was also difficult figuring out fun things to do when you are alone in a new country and all of a sudden have free time.

For something that went right in the race, I was happy with the Salomon Advance Skin 12 liter bag.  A lot of kangaroo like pockets - my water, gels, head lamps, and bowl - spoon were easily accessible while the layers were in the main pocket in the back.  I was happy with the pack weight, though I could have shaved off some weight with a long sleeve and wind jacket combo instead of a thick - fleece type of long sleeve but I thought the fleece be more useful if I actually needed it.  I was fairly comfortable running with the weight.

My trip to Chamonix, overall was pretty good price wise despite me doing everything last minute.  I flew to Paris roundtrip for $400ish, my apartment reserved via Airbnb was $330, the race was $280 , transportation from Paris to Chamonix would have totaled about $160ish.  I do think next time I would fly to Geneva and pay the extra to fly there to take off some stress of navigating the French public transportation systems.  Food was a tad cheaper than NYC prices and much cheaper than food I found in Geneva but that maybe because I went for vegan only places in Geneva.  I usually did two meals a day, a post run brunch from grocery stores and a lunch-dinner meal for Indian food.

I have new ideas for training and things to do next time.  I would either invest in a treadmill or find a gym that has 40% incline grades or so (not sure if gyms would have that so probably will have to buy).  I would also do more races focused on preping me for UTMB.  Maybe a 100ks in the spring to prep the legs a bit, and more sky races in the US (or Europe even if flights are cheaper).  I definitely think, as someone that lives in NYC and trains primarly on road, I could do it.  Some thoughts for races to help prepare near NYC are the breakneck marathons, it gets 10,000 gain in 26 miles, a higher ratio than UTMB, Maintou's Revenge which gets 15,000 gain in 54 miles (about the same ratio as UTMB) and the Whiteface Sky race which gets 8,000 gain in 15.5 miles (this one is a bit of a drive but doing the ascent one day which gains 3,300 feet in 2.3 miles and then doing the full skyrace the next day seems like good training).  

I however would not qualify for the UTMB lottery next year.  I used my 2017 races to qualify for the lottery last year and this year.  I didn't do a 100 miler last year and was planning to use UTMB to qualify for American races and perhaps enter the lottery again for next year (with the intention of probably winning in 2021).  UTMB wasn't a dream race for me till I got to Chamonix and saw the beauty of the mountains and the amazing community.  Now I really want to try again but I try to calm myself.  I could run the Oman by UTMB race during Thanksgiving weekend which would kill both the North Face Endurance Challenge SF race and the California International marathon, in addition to a whole bunch of money, and bypass the lottery for UTMB next year.  I still think I would need the points and that I'm not sure about.  I'm still a bit confused about the new point system.  The points are reduced to 10 points instead of 15.  However, I believe that the point system is now by distance instead of distance plus elevation gain.  Previously races with elevation gain kind of got an extra point.  So a hilly 50 miler had 4 points while a less hilly one has 3 points (compare North Face NY vs SF, the NY has less than 7000 gain and SF has over 10,000 gain, while NY is much more technical and SF smooth trails, SF gets 4 points vs NY's 3 points).  Now it looks like all 50 milers would get 3 points so I would probably have to do two 100 milers to qualify.  That's a bit difficult to do in a year on my current fitness.  I would qualify for the CCC lottery (33% chance of getting in) so thinking of doing that and perhaps the Val d'Aran by UTMB (really want to explore the Pyrenees mountains) on July 4th weekend to start the process of qualifying for the lottery in 2021 and maybe getting in 2022?  Still easier than getting in Western States!  I'm also thinking of running the course over 4 days, with 19 villages the course going through, it should be easy enough to resupply food and find sleeping accommodations for.

Really excited to try again but going to focus on finishing off the rest of the year.  Next is the Berlin marathon, NYC marathon, North Face SF marathon and then CIM.  Next year I'm already signed up for Houston marathon and Altanta marathon.  I want to do Maintou's Revenge next year and will probably look to do Breakneck marathon in the spring to help prep for it.  Have to decide about Val d'Aran, registration opens 10/7/19, with 10,500 meters gain I would have to make sure I'm on top of my vert game.  Breakneck and Maintou seem like good build ups to it though.  A winter speed focus on marathons for speed, then shifting to vert focus for a few months sounds like a interesting year!

The road to UTMB - Chapter 7 - Pre Race

Chamonix Day One

After a day of airplane, train and bus from Paris, I made it to Chamonix!  I wanted to do a group run first thing this day and I had several choices.  I choose the latest run I could find on facebook at 9 am, mostly because I was too tired in the morning to do the 8 am ones.  This one was lead by Trail butter.  I have had trail butter on one or two races before in Oregon back in 2017.  Run the Alps also led the run and they host 4 day runs over the UTMB course (Tour du Mont Blanc), among others things I'm sure.

Getting in late last night and the tight time transfers between my methods of transport meant I really had nothing available for breakfast.  I ate a spring energy peanut butter gel and walked to the coffee shop where the run was going to head out of.  It was only 4 minutes from where I was staying.  I had some trouble finding the place on google maps however, there was a series of shops that went inwards from the middle of the block.  Google maps kept saying it was a separate block that showed I had to go through some private driveways to get to.  Lucky the group didn't leave right away, it actually leave some 15ish minutes after the meetup time.  I would find out in all the events I attended in Chamonix that starting on time was more of my NYC culture.  The coffee shop had some healthy desserts of which I ate two pieces of.  I talked a bit with one of the Run for Alps leader and took two Trail butter samples.

The run started, we jogged through the city and went up La Flora.  I could see some of the booths, still closed at the moment.  The point had some nice views.  I talked to the guy from Trail Butter, Jeff who is from Oregon.  Eleven out of the fifteen points I used to get into UTMB came from Oregon so we briefly talked about Oregon Ultra races.   I talked with Jacob from Czech.  He did UTMB last year and was just here this year to enjoy being in the Alps.  Definitively a little jealous and reminds me maybe next year I'll be more adventure focused instead of just getting my adventures through races.  I lost the group on the final uphill to La Flora.  Group pic and then run down where I was behind the group again.  I think I may have been the only one in the group doing UTMB so I didn't think twice of not being able to keep up with everyone's else easy pace.  Back at the coffee shop I met a woman from SF whose boyfriend was doing of the races.  She didn't know people ran beyond 26.2 before meeting him.  I was pretty relieved to find most of the people speaking English in the group.  In my commute to Chamonix from Paris, while everyone did speak a little English I wasn't always able to communicate effectively to figure out train and bus schedules.  I ate the Trail Butter IPA flavor which I found unique and delicious.

Afterwards I got groceries.  I must have butcher saying Bonjour cause the cash register immediately asked if I speak English or Spanish.  Ate a real breakfast back at the apartment and took a quick nap.  My next thing was to go to the expo and do some last minute mandatory gear shopping.  The expo is pretty similar looking to the holiday villages we have in NYC.  A lot more fancier than any expo I been to before in any race.  Particularly I was looking for a waterproof pant shell and an emergency blanket (sort of those post race blankets you get).  I got both easily enough.  I walked around the expo for quite a bit.

Next was meeting up with Jerrry, another Queens based runner doing UTMB!  We met at the finish line and got drinks.  Talked for 1.5 hours.  It was nice seeing how he got here, he did a 100 miler back in 2003 and then focused on marathons.  I think in his late thrities, he noticed he was slowing down and went back to ultras.  He did CCC, which is a sister race covering the last 100k of the UTMB race, last year.  I learned useful things from talking with Jerry and we talked for 1.5 hours.

Then was the quest for dinner.  I had to possible things for that night.  One was a North Face event titled meet your heroes where North Face athletes talked and took selfies and such.  The other, more interesting to me, was the Strava event about running stories from a vary of guest speakers.  The strava event started at 7 pm and was out of tickets (free event but had to register via event brite) so I was going to the North Face event.  The strava event mentioned that at 6:45 pm they would release some at the door tickets to people at standby so I thought of doing that but I decided to go to the North Face event at 6 pm since that was a sure thing.  It was 5 pm so that didn't leave much time for dinner.  I would have wanted to eat Indian since it would be pretty filling but went to a English pub place called Poco Loco.  I got the vegan falafel bowl.  The dish was pretty disappointing, it came with 4 small falafel pieces, some pieces of watermelon garnished with some delicious topping and a lot of cabbage.  So pretty much nothing.  Ate and went to the North Face event.  I saw one of two athletics talking pics and talking as I headed to the basement where the event was held.  They didn't check phone or anything for pre registered food.  They had a spread of French looking snacks, mostly cheese and dried meat.  I was able to eat some grapes and a mushroom tortilla wrap.  They also had beer and wine of which I took a glass of beer.  The event was in a tiny space in the basement of their stores.  No chairs, people had to sit on the floor.  It was packed, it felt really hot and by 6:30 pm they still didn't start so I left and decided to try for the strava event.

I got to the standby line for the strava event maybe around 6:35.  I was the first on line!  I talked to the second guy on line about qualifying for UTMB.  About 6:40 pm they let us in.  It was an amazing event.  Heard Sally and Lucy talk, both whom I have heard before on podcast.  Saw a barley's movie which probably scares me more of doing the race than anything.  After the event I saw a bunch of people running to the finish line area.  I headed over and saw a large crowd had gathered.  First and second place of TDS came in a few minutes of each other.  The crowd energy was amazing, maybe the best I ever seen in a race and this is coming from someone who taken part in two world majors races.  TDS started 4 pm the day before and it was 10 pm now.  The course changed this year, 20k was added to it, making it a 145k technical race.  I wanted to hang around and cheer longer but decided that sleeping would help the most for my race in two days.

Chamonix Day Two

I would have wanted to do another shakeout run with a group but the events I found didn't list their routes and I didn't want to risk it.  I decided to to do one of the strava routes that strava had created for people during the week.  Most of the routes ranged in the 10k distance and difficulty was based on elevation gain.  The strava hub was at Big horn which was a block from where I was staying.  I decided to do their route to the waterfalls and just ended a bit earlier in the city center to do some more window shopping.  Once I left the city however, I found it difficulty to navigate through the strava app route.  In the city, the map shows city blocks but once in the trails, you are just following a line.  I ended my run at 6.66 miles at the race booths of the expo which I hadn't checked out yet.  I picked up a few brochures and entered the lottery for three lotteries for free race entries.

I got my last piece of mandatory gear which was a 100 cm times 6 cm wrap.  I actually couldn't find one of that length, got a 90 cm x 6 cm wrap and hoped no one would notice.  Went through bib pickup and mandatory gear check which went pretty smoothly.  It was pretty much what you would expect.  You got your bib, showed ID to get it.  Then went through mandatory gear.  They checked about six things in the list - headlamps with spare batteries, waterproof jacket, running pants, whistle, warm hat, survival blanket, and phone.  I got Indian food which seems to have had the most vegetarian options for me.  I attended a runner's film festival, also a strava event that was hosted by Jaybird.  Event was great and really had me wanting to do a fast run.  They had some speakers afterwards, talking about women in ultra running and urban running experience trailing running for the first time.  I went to a Turkish place for a second dinner and got the vegetarian option.  This was also a big disappointment as it was just a wrap filled with cabbage (and cheese but no cheese for me so just a cabbage).  I stuck to Indian for my meals afterwards.