Running Adventures

West Seattle Fat Ass 50K

2012-02-05T21:10:00.004-08:00

Another wonderful little run on Super Bowl Sunday. I guess it was the best weather in the last 3 years. Awesome race director, Nic Plemel, and great volunteers made it happen. Thank you all.

Doppler 50K

2011-11-20T21:05:00.003-08:00

Nice weather and near-perfect trail condition in Green Mountain near Bremerton, WA.

It was first long trail run getting off my injury in hamstring and ankle. Took an easy pace and had some moments for snap shot.

Transcendence 12 Hour Ultra

2011-08-14T21:54:00.001-07:00

It turned out to be my 6-hr race instead of 12-hr thanks to the family schedule. I had fun to run 22 laps around Capital Lake for 6:04:15 covering 33.526 miles.

Call of the Summer Marathon

2011-08-06T23:16:00.000-07:00

Again, a wonderful race was organized by RD Adrian Call and his family in Sammamish River Trail in Bothell, WA. I ran a nice and easy first half (2:08) and a little bit tough second half (2:30) in one of the easiest nicely paved course in the planet. Probably, I paid for my lazy summer. My marathon finish time is 4:37:50 and it's even 2 minutes slower than previous 50K run last year here in the same course. Oh, well, I have 12 hours endurance run in Olympia next weekend. So, I hope I can make up some running mileage there.

Taylor Mountain 50K

2011-06-18T22:34:00.000-07:00

Taylor Mountain 50K

Green River Marathon

2011-06-04T21:32:00.000-07:00

Green River Marathon

Solo Marathon in Bainbridge Island

2011-05-06T16:02:00.000-07:00

A solo run for 26.4 miles around Bainbridge Island for 4.5 hours. It was the first long (marathon distance and beyond) run after Lumberjack in April.

Lumberjack Endurance Run

2011-04-17T15:59:00.000-07:00

First attempt for 100 miler ended up in 76 milers after running 22 hours.

Redmond Watershed Preserve Marathon

2011-03-27T22:28:00.000-07:00

Redmond Watershed Preserve Marathon changed its course this year. The original 8.74 mi loop (x3 laps) was cut short to 6.55 mi (x4 laps). It's same as 5 mi course but a couple of out-and-back sections were added. I am not sure if this new course is harder or easier than old one. Well... one thing for sure is that it is a great trail to run around.

I was a little bit concerned about the trail condition because of the steady rain from the night before not to mention to western Washington's record breaking rainfall in March. I arrived at Redmond Watershed Preserve just after 8am and geared up for a warm-up lap of 6.55 mi before the official marathon event. I met Eric Bone, the race director, at the trail head by chance. He kindly explained the course changes and the turn signs for my warm-up run. The rain continued during my run, but the trail condition was surprisingly good. I mean it was wet and muddy of course but very much runnable with no sucking mud-traps.

After finishing my warm-up lap, I picked up my running bib (#807) and refilled my water bottle. It was about the right time for the race briefing. There were over 100 people getting ready for the event, but most of them were running either 5 mi or 10 mi. Only 20~30 were headed to the start line for a marathon.

I happened to be in the front line and started to run much faster than I planned. After the turnaround of the 2nd out-and-back section of the first lap (mile 3), I decided to slow down. Roger Michel caught me up there and we ran the rest of the first lap together. It was nice time to learn about his race organization and some of his long races including 100 milers.

After the 1st lap, I came back to the car and changed my hand-help bottle since it was sort of leaking, ate some snack, and returned to the trail for more laps. My 2nd, 3rd, and 4th lap became slower and slower. Actually I didn't want to push myself because I would also add at least one extra lap after the official race. During my 3rd lap, I met Takao Suzuki, a running friend of mine, who ran a marathon at Dizzy Daze one day before and came out to take some pictures. On my returning bound of 4th lap, I caught up Monte Pascual in his 3rd lap and had some good conversation. Always there are good things to learn from 10-star Maniacs. My official marathon finish time was 4:43:30 and it was 19th place out of 26 finishers.

After finishing the official marathon, I came back to my car, ate some more snack, refilled more hydration, and returned to the trail again for some more run. I notified Eric the race director that I would run some extra miles. I ran in a relaxing pace without iPod just to listen to the rain drops, my foot steps, and whatever was around in the trail (a true me-time).

Total mileage of the day was 6.55 mi + 26.2 mi + 6.55 mi = 39.3 mi, and the running time = 7 hrs and 3 mins. It was definitely a slow run but I wanted to take advantage of this race to get a long trail training for a preparation of my first 100 miler in April. I felt great and very satisfactory for this run.

Woolley 50K

2011-02-19T23:05:00.000-08:00

Woolley 50K at Sedro-Woolley, WA. Finish time 4:52.

Fishline 50K

2011-02-13T22:19:00.000-08:00

Back to Port Gamble forest. A couple of 25K loop with consistent pace. Finish time 5:20.

WSFA 50K

2011-02-06T21:53:00.000-08:00

West Seattle Fat Ass 50K in a classic Seattle weather in early Feb. I ran very consistently along double out-and-back course with the splits of 1:09-1:05-1:11-1:12. Finish time is 4:41 including 6 min of aid break at half-way point. Many thanks to Nic Plemel, the race director, and wonderful volunteers. Nice way to start Super Bowl Sunday. Overall 6th place out of 24 50K finishers.

Bridle Trails 50K

2011-01-08T22:02:00.000-08:00

A lot more people were running in this small trail located in Kirkland WA. More than 100 were running 5.2 miles (1 loop), another 100 were running 10.4 miles (2 loops), a little more than a dozen teams were running 50 Km relay, and about 50 people were running their 50 Km solo.

The race started with 5 milers at about 3:10 pm, followed by 10 milers a few minutes later. Finally all 50K relay teams and solo runners started at around 3:20 pm when sun was still hung over the horizon. Despite the wave start, the first lap was truly messy with the crowd of runners in the narrow muddy trail. Especially passing the tailing end of 1-loopers and 2-loopers was really tricky not to mention to the technical and muddy trail condition. I came around the aid station after the first lap for 43 minutes which was faster than my goal pace of 50 min per loop. I pulled out my head lamp from my drop bag and continued for the 2nd lap.

It was getting dark and my headlamp with fresh batteries made me feel comfortable in the beginning of 2nd lap with all 1 loopers were gone. I tried to slow down my pace slightly since I sped a little too much in the 1st lap. True night-time trail running started under dark sky. Even with head lamp, footing was very tricky so I gave up evading muddy puddles. My feet were all soaked and muddy from there. At the end of the 2nd lap, I got a hot spot on my left foot but kept going. After using potty, eating some food, and refilling water bottle at aid station, I went out for the 3rd lap.

About 1 mile into the 3rd lap, I got a blister issue on my left foot. I regretted not treating the blister in the previous aid station. I had fresh and dry socks in my drop bag there. Well, I had to slow down my pace a little more. Other than the blister on the left foot, I felt good. Several speedy runners passed me in the 3rd lap. I assumed they were relay teams or really competitive solo runners who were at their 4th lap. I arrived at the aid station, pulled off the wet socks, popped the blister, put a bandaid on it, and pulled up new socks on. I felt really good for the moment.

My 4th lap didn't go fast either. I needed to wait for my popped blister to settle in the bandaid and new socks. Probably, it wast the slowest lap out of all 6. At the aid station, Tony warned me that Shawn was very close to finish her 5th lap and might catch me up pretty soon.

I decided to put together and make a good run on my 5th lap. I felt pretty good with increased pace. No one had passed me in my 5th lap which took me 45 minutes. It happened to be my 2nd fastest lap. I grabbed a few things at aid station and went out for the last lap.

Knowing that I was almost done, my legs were getting heavier. So, I just slowed down and enjoyed the last lap of the race. My batteries were getting low since the light was getting dimmer. I needed to carry some extra batteries or run really fast. But it was just good enough to finish.

I came back to the parking lot and got changed. My shoes (Brooks Cascadia 4) looked horrible after running through muddy Bridle Trails. Without comprehending how to make them look like shoes again, I just pounded them on the ground repeatedly and threw them in the trunk. Another lesson that I learned in this race was to bing some gallons of water to wash after the run.

It was a great training course for night-time trail run. 5:27:17 finish time was 26th place out of 46 solo finishers.

Second Chance Marathon

2011-01-02T22:01:00.000-08:00

Picked up the first marathon of the year today in "2nd Chance Marathon".

The course was double out-and-back starting at Woodland Park parking lot across Green Lake, running along Burke-Gilman trail to Ballard, returning at ShilShole Bay marina. Cold winter air but uncharacteristic sunny day was good enough for a long run to start a new year.

Nice and easy run for 4:04:32. Had no chance to get lost thanks to the clear course marking. Got 4th place out of 30 finishers. Congrats for all Winter Triple finishers.

Pigtails Flat Ass 50K

2010-12-18T22:00:00.000-08:00

Pigtails Flat Ass 50K for 4:48:28. Ran most of the race with Ron Horton. Had a great time in Cedar River Trail. Weather held up for not-so-bad condition considering all the wind advisories/warnings. Huge thanks to Van Phan for putting on another great race.

Seattle Marathon

2010-11-28T23:14:00.000-08:00

I knew I had a Quadzilla (4 marathons in 4 days) opportunity in Thanksgiving holiday, but I could not trade my family trip to Great Wolf Lodge for my marathon adventure. However, we came back home just in time for Seattle Marathon.

Seattle Marathon2010 start line

Seeing a lot of running friends who had already run 3 races in the last 3 days and came out for Quadzilla in the morning at Memorial Stadium in Seattle Center gave me enough inspiration to run fast in my “just-one” race in the weekend. It's supposed to be my 2^nd serious attempt for BQ (3:20:59 for my age group). Weather wasn’t as bad as I anticipated considering the snow storm and power outage a few days ago. Temperature was about 38~40 deg F with no rain or wind.

I started in 3:10:00 pace group (7:15/mi) and kept it up for 3~4 miles and then slightly slowed down to BQ pace (7:30/mi). I saw Tony Phillippi and Steve Walter zoomed past me. I felt I was still a little faster than I could manage for the rest of the race but I decided to push, because BQ was not supposed to be easy anyway. Still in the first half, I noticed my pace was slowing down further and felt it would be a tough day.

Mile 4.5: Running on the ramp to I-90 floating bridge

Running around Seward Park and passing half way point took 1:44:58. I should have made it inside 1:40:00 to make BQ. There was no way to run hilly second half in 1:36:01. A little bit frustrated, but if I could even-split or run slightly slower in second half, PR seemed reachable. So, I kicked my butt and kept going in 3:30:00 pace group.

At a water station just before Mile 16, I had a minor collision with another runner in the pack of pace group while reaching out for a drink. It was a short moment having to stop, drink, and then go again, but standing and seeing the pace group run ahead fast was much more demoralizing than what was actually needed to keep up with them. BONK!!!

Mile 18: Just after making a major BONK.

Next 1 mile must have been slowest lap in the race. Thinking about BQ and PR flying away, I didn’t need any time goal from that point. Then, I felt much better all of a sudden. I did hi-five with many kids on the sidewalks and cheered every single runner with Maniac shirt that I saw as I passed or got passed by them along Lake Washington Blvd. At around mile 19, I visited Ginger Gruber, one of the speedy female Marathon Maniacs, who looked also slowing down her pace. We ran together for a while and then broke off after another water station. Just before turning to the hilly section (Galer and Madison), I got passed by two fellow Maniac friends, Guy Yogi and Kurt Lauer at mile 20.

Ginger caught me up at the hill on Madison as I was enjoying a short walk break, and I thought pacing with her would keep us going since I was tired and she seemed slower than she was used to. It worked out well and finishing inside 3:45:00 seemed feasible from around mile 22.

More surprises were waiting on the course by crazy Maniacs. Robert Lopez pursuing his second Quadzilla zoomed past us at mile 23 in Washington Arboretum, and Jessica Bienvenue who confirmed her BQ time on that race also zoomed past us at mile 26.

Finish line

Oh, boy. It wasn't my day. No BQ or PR for me in Seattle Marathon 2010. However, it was great to run with thousands of like-minded people. Especially, it was my honor to get passed by several Maniacs trying Quadzilla.

Finish time 3:40:01

First Call 50K

2010-11-13T22:49:00.000-08:00

First Call 50K - Veteran's Day Edition - is one of the nicest free races around Seattle area. It starts at Bothell Landing Park and repeats 6.55 mi out-and-back laps.

After making my first DFL with 50K PW finish last weekend, recovering some confidence was the main goal of this race.

I started with an easy pace in the beginning and slowly raised the pace. Seeing lots of familiar faces really made me feel comfortable. I happened to run at 8:45/mi pace for a while and thought I could keep it up for the the rest of the run.

The first turnaround point was at 6.55mi but I missed the white flour marking on the paved trail while my mind's floating somewhere in the universe. Luckily enough there was Matt Hagen not too far behind who gave me a howler and saved my day. I really have to learn how to stay on course even in the easiest out-and-back course that I have run two times before. The rest of the run went very well with a lot of cheering and smiles to oncoming runners.

Entering finish line at Bothell Landing Park in Bothell, WA

First 13.1 mi lap time was 1:56, second 13.1 mi was 1:56, and the last 4.8 mi short out-and-back was 0:43. So I ran the entire 50K very consistently. 4:35 finish time is new PR for 50K. I also got 2nd place overall. Finish line spread was awesome again.

Ron Herzog 50K

2010-11-06T23:13:00.000-07:00

The morning weather in Granite Falls, WA, was rainy but was not as cold as I expected. Checking in 40 min before the 8am start allowed a little bit of comfort getting ready for a long day of running. 5 early starters were just heading out through the darkness. After a short race briefing by Tony Covarrubias, 40-ish brave ultra runners started breaking dawn.

My race plan was to take easy in the first half (mostly uphill) and then to pass at least a few runners in the second half. I started somewhere in the middle of the pack but I was soon passed by several runners until the mile 7 where the trail started to top off and flattened out a little bit. I began to raise my pace to pass about 4~5 runners next 1.5 miles.

At about mile 8.5, there was a split of trail where I took straight direction while the other was bending to the right. I kept going around a corner and met a couple of runners wondering if they were in the right course. Since I didn’t see any other course marking (pink ribbon) at the previous split, I told them we were on the right route. Shortly, two more runners appeared to join us, so I was pretty sure that we were okay and I continued down the hill quickly while the rest still talking about the course. It went down pretty steeply for 1 mile and I saw a couple of pink ribbons although they looked a little bit faded. About 1 more mile later, there was another gate with more pink ribbons hanging next to the gate. Again they didn’t look like fresh pink, but I kept running down the steep hill for about 1 more mile. There I saw a facility far down the hill. I didn't know what it was, but one thing for sure was that the trail was winding down straight to the facility. So I was wrong.

Okay, I had to climb 3 miles steep uphill to the place that trail spitted. After about half mile slow run on the hill, I decided to walk for a GU break when I heard a vehicle driving fast up the hill behind me. Suddenly a loud voice stopped me. “Please stop immediately right there! You have trespassed on a federally owned property!” I turned around to see what it was. Although the bright headlight blinded my eyes, the military police definitely saw me clearly, a guy licking a GU packet with runny nose, bib number on his shorts, hydration line dangling over the shoulder, soaked in the rain. I must not have looked like a dangerous guy (or a threat in military term). He said I entered a military area. OMG! He asked me a lot of questions including who I was, why I was there, how I entered the gate, what I did there. I explained everything. Literally everything about myself and everything I know about this race and everyone involved in this race. There was supposedly a sign at the gate 1 mile uphill reading like “Restricted area. Authorized Personnel Only” that I might have missed due to the joy of finding the faded pink ribbons. The most difficult part of discussion with this military police officer was to have him understand why I was running that long distance for fun in rainy weather in the forest. It wouldn't even be a question to the long distance trail runners who were sweating in the very same forest, but this Muggle needed an answer. Anyway, after all the verbal communication, he said he needed to report it in a written form. So he pulled out a notepad and then started to write down all about what we already talked. We had to repeat same questions and answers over and over again slowly this time. About 30 minutes of investigation, his attitude changed from interrogation mode to ultra marathon supporter’s mode. He asked me if I was okay with hydration and food. He even offered to follow me for the 2.5 miles uphill to the point I described I made a wrong turn.

After saying good bye to the officer, I continued running uphill passing the gate. Guess what? There was a sign at the gate. I could read "Restricted Area. Keep Out" even from behind the sign clearly. How could I have missed it. Now the pink ribbons looked at least one year old. It was clear that only thing left was to go back on the course and finish the race.

When I reached the end of the steep hill, I could see the main trail bending to the right from where I originally came and obviously I went off to a smaller branch. There I met Shawn McTaggart who was sweeping the course as a race director and made sure that I finally got in the right course. I also noticed the SUV was still following me in a distance. I waved a hand to him and he drove by where Shawn and I were standing and turned around to go back.

From that point, I could resume no-pressure trail run with no police escort. Some more miles of rolling hills and one steep stretch led me to "tank trap" section of the course. A rough terrain with lots of obstacles to huddle over or crawl under continued for about 3 more miles. There was no chance to run there. The only focus was on staying balanced. I slipped several times, got flat on bush a couple times, and happened to fall to hug a big tree hard once, but there was no major issue to go through the obstacle course. I met Tony in the middle of tank trap. He heard that I go on a wrong way from other runners and came to find me. I explained what happened and let him know that I was okay. He decided to wait for Shawn there who was sweeping behind me.

Getting out of the tank trap, there was a river crossing. It wasn't a big river but a small creek. There was a safety rope but I noticed it after hopping over slippery rocks with splash. After about 2-3 miles of flat run I finally reached the aid station that was supposed to be at the half point of the course. Tony and Shawn were already there using their car. It was a great relief to see our kind of people cheering up. I refilled my hydration bag and grabbed something to bite. Since I was the last runner, they were taking down the aid station as I left.

The second half of the course was mostly downhill. I sped up to catch up some time or hopefully any slow runner if any. However, I had to take some walk breaks on some rolling hills as I was getting low in energy level physically and emotionally after putting unnecessarily hard 6 extra miles.

After about 13 easy miles from the aid station, I reached the main road (Mt Loop HWY). I ran down the shoulder of the road about a mile but the entrance of Masonic Park didn't show up. I began to worry about my possibly getting lost again. I started to walk since the hot spot on my right foot started to scream. When I was limping on the road, I saw a car with a couple of familiar faces slowed down on the other side of the road, Tony and Ray drove up to make sure that I was still okay. Knowing that I was about 1 mile away, I found some energy left in me and decided to burn it down. As I approached the finish line, I saw several people still waiting for the last runner of the race while cheering and chanting, and I finished a tough race in a happy ending. The finish time was 7 hours 25 minutes and some seconds including 6 miles extra credit and an interesting investigation.

Poulsbo Marathon

2010-10-17T23:30:00.000-07:00

The inaugural Poulsbo Marathon! A true hill lover's road course! Yes it was a really challenging one.

The first half was running along Liberty Bay, downtown Poulsbo, around Fish Park, on boardwalk section, and back to NK high school. It was mostly hilly but had some flat sections at least with beautiful scenery. The second half was going around Suquamish over hills over hills over hills over hills and back to NK high school. I was either climbing up or falling down with no noticeable flat sections. However I loved running around the high school track to finish the long run.

Poulsbo Marathon Finish at North Kitsap High School Track

Overall it was well organized event. Very well marked course and friendly aid stations with GU and shot blocks were plus, but the separation between aid stations was a little too far (~5 miles) to be a popular road event. It could have added more pain if I didn't carry a water bottle. Also, some sections along the traffic road seemed a little dangerous since the shoulders were narrow and some vehicles passed by very closely.

First half took 1:49 and the other half 1:59 to make my finish time 3:48 for the 10th place overall.

Roots Rock 50K

2010-09-05T17:10:00.000-07:00

I woke up at 7:30am, threw some stuffs in a bag, and drove off for Roots Rock 50K that was supposed to start at 8:30am. I arrived at the gate #6 of Port Gamble forest trail at 8:22am after making 2 hasty wrong turns.

Worst of all, I recognized that four 10 oz water flasks for my hydration belt were still in the refrigerator at home. I had only “belt” for 50K ultra where the separation of the aid stations was about 8.5 miles. Fortunately I found a Gatorade bottle rolling around in my car. I really appreciated my son, Eric, who didn’t dispose his finished drink bottle appropriately. With everything put together and a hand-held water bottle in my hand, I made the start of the race with no time to spare.

There was a nice 25Km loop with a good combination of single tracks, dirt roads, rolling hills, and moderate climbs/falls. The markings with white flours and pink/red tapes were very clear so that there was no chance to make wrong turns in the course.

My first 1~2 mi was for a warm up period with some stretches while running. The trail condition was really good and the weather was just perfect for a long run in the forest. It took several miles to get familiar with the trail running since I had not run a trail for a while. I tried not to push myself too hard in the first loop, since I was not in a good shape to set a time goal or to seek a PR. I was really happy to get back in the trail and run for a long shot after having a busy summer for several projects/travels for work and a family vacation to Korea. I finished the first loop at 2:42 with 4~5 25Kers right behind me.

After refilling my hand-held bottle and stuffing in some foods, I took off for the second loop. For about 2 miles into the second loop, I still felt very good and wanted to push myself for a couple more miles and see how I was going to feel. Amazingly I was able to manage 11:00/mi pace for the first 4 miles of up hills in the second loop and decided to keep pushing. I passed an elite runner, Matt Hagen, at about mile 20 and then Maniac #3, Tony Phillippi, at about mile 24. It is always nice to pass someone in the 2^nd half of the race, but passing those good runners was especially nicer. Sorry Matt and tp. The finish time was 5:36 and some seconds. Burger and beer were awesome (my favorite) combination of the finish line treat.

The Light at the End of the Tunnel Marathon

2010-07-25T23:09:00.000-07:00

The Light at the End of the ~~Tunnel~~ Marathon was held on Sunday 7/25/2010 again with no tunnel in the course due to the extended closure. It was an out-and-back course with consistent moderate uphills for the first half and the then same trail back downhills for the second half. There were 70 marathon finishers and 35 half marathon finishers overall. Since the weather was supposed to be hot on the race day, I elected an early start option to finish before noon. I had nice steady first half for 1:55-ish and then for some reason I wanted to take easy strides for the downhills resulting in 1:51 for the second half. It's great to go out in the trails and get soaked with sweats putting some 26-ish miles on the legs. I was 9th overall out of 70. I'm lovin it.

Rock 'n Roll Seattle Marathon

2010-06-26T22:38:00.000-07:00

2 years ago in this marathon (Seafair Marathon), I ran my first-ever full marathon with late start after missing the last shuttle going to the start line. Today's 28th endurance race was my first serious trial for BQ. Although it ended up 12 minutes too late, I shaved off my PR by 4 minutes. It was a perfect marathon weather. The aid stations were great. Free beer after the race was the supremeness.

Green River Marathon

2010-06-05T21:56:00.000-07:00

The 14th annual Green River Marathon from Kent to Alki was held on Saturday June 5th. It has been one of the best free low key marathons in Pacific Northwest (based on my limited marathon experience in WA & OR). Also it was my 2nd GRM appearance since last year.

I arrived at the finish line a little before 7am and waited for a ride to the start line. Thanks to fellow maniac Nic Plemel, we arrived at the start line around 8am with 30 min to spare. As I was waiting in potty line, the early starters began to pass the start line (Miles 0 and 4) after running down 2 mi and coming back 2 mi.There were a lot of people around the start line including about 200-ish solo marathoners, 50-ish half marathoners, and 25-ish relay runners.

Start Line

After a short announcement from the race director Steve Barrick, we started off another long run under the sunny sky with fresh early morning excitement. I tried to stay in the front group to avoid congestion with the other runners in narrow trail section at the start. The course started south bound of Interurban Trail in Kent for 2 miles and then turned around back to the start point (Mile 4). I continued to run slightly faster than my avg goal pace (8:00/mi) during the 4 miles out-and-back section in the beginning.

The course continued north bound of Interurban Trail until Mile 11 that entered Port Dent. It was not as scenic as last year's Green River Trail section but at least it was flat. (Due to the sand bags in Green River Trail, this year's course has been modified for the first 11 miles). However, I did not feel strong enough to keep fast pace (7:40~7:50/mi) for some reasons. I guessed it was one of the days that you don't get the best. So, I slowed down my pace slightly and tried to enjoy the run by itself not thinking about breaking PR.

After going around Port Dent Park passing underneath I-405, the course joined Green River Trail going North until Mile 16. The following route went along SR-99 and side walks of industrial areas until Mile 22 where it met West Seattle Bridge. Along 1/2 mile side walk section under W Seattle Bridge and ramps, finally Harbor Ave appeared indicating you were almost done (about 3 mi to go).

Running through a lot of people on feet, bikes, or roller blades was a fun especially with nice view of downtown Seattle and Alki beach. About 1 mi to go, I began to hear fast foot steps behind me and I felt someone was going to pass me. So, I tried to push myself hard not to be caught. After about 1/2 mi, I could not hear anything behind, but I kept that pace anyway. About 1/4 mi to go, I began to hear even faster foot steps. I started to run super fast as I could see the finish line up ahead. I could feel he was right behind me. Probably 1~2 steps behind. I kept running like Usain Bolt in 100m dash, but he passed me just before the finish line. Darn it~. In a disappointment, he was a relay runner. (He ran last 4 miles only). Anyway, it is always wonderful to get out and have a long run. Finish time is 3:46:23. No PR.

Tony Knowles Coastal Trail

2010-05-23T20:52:00.000-07:00

Thanks to the extended business trip, I had a chance to have 32 mi solo run along Tony Knowles Coastal Trail in Anchorage AK. Starting from the West end of downtown Anchorage, the trail followed the Alaskan coast line down to Earthquake Park, around the South side of Anchorage International Airport, and through wooded trail section with fairly flat elevation. There was a major 2 mi uphill section to Kincaid Park followed by 3 mi moderate decent along Raspberry Rd to the turn around at Minnesota Rd. I tried to keep a comfortable pace through out the run, so the time to run back to downtown Anchorage was almost same as the out-bound time (2:49 vs 2:50). It was very relaxing solo run enjoying beautiful scenery and a few moose encounters.

Tacoma City Marathon 2010

2010-05-02T20:48:00.000-07:00

Marathon Maniac Reunion Race was held at Tacoma City Marathon 2010. A lot of maniacs were running in yellow, red, black, or white maniac shirts through out the course. It was very well organized and well supported event.

The weather was not cooperating but it could not stop the fever of the running. The course was very challenging. There were a lot of hills especially in the 2nd half, although the last 2 miles were toe-jamming decent to the finish line.

My goal at TCM 2010 was to break my PR (3:36:42). Theoretically, 8:00 pace in the first half and then a little bit slow down in the second half could make it happen.

So, I started off strong with early morning excitement. I ran through the downtown Tacoma maintaining 7:40 pace until I entered Point Defiance Park where a series of uphills started. However, a stomach problem forced me to have an extended potty stop at Mile 13. Then, I passed the half way point at 1 hour and 45 minutes.

From the half point, I could enjoy the nice water view of Tacoma Narrows and beautiful suspended bridges. However, strong head wind started to pick up and it made the hill climbing even more difficult. The head wind continued for the most of the hilly section up to Mile 19. Of course, my pace got noticeably slowed down to 8:30~8:50-ish.

Getting out of the hilly and windy section, the course began to run a paved trail along the SR16 and wind effect was slightly improved, although the rolling hills still continued until the last aid station at Mile 24.

For the last 2 miles of downhill, I tried to push myself hard with 7:20 pace. I passed a lot of people for this section. About 0.1 mi to the finish, my right calf was cramping up. Maybe I pushed myself a little too much. I slowed down not to limp and finally made an easy finish.

The finish time was 3:37:02 which was 20 seconds too late for PR. Considering the tough course and weather (wind) condition, I am satisfied with my time. In fact, it's more than 1 hour faster than last year's time.

Now, I hope to break my PR at the next race (Green River Marathon). I will try to make it inside 3:30:00. Then, I will try my first serious attempt for BQ at Seattle Rock 'n' Roll in June. Backup BQ attempt race could be Skagit Flats in Sep.