Skip to main content

Salem Lake 30K

Pictures say it all.
Here are our pre-race clean and sparkling shoes:

Here are our battered post-race shoes:


I'll admit that the mud did add to the fun even though I wasn't very fond of it, especially when it's on my body. Rain started pouring down when we were waiting around at race start. Turned out other than getting soaked, the rain kept the temperature down and was perfect for running. The original course included a greenway section that was flooded, so they changed the course to doing a loop around the lake, and then an out-and-back on part of the loop.  The trail condition deteriorated quite a bit for the second half of the race after all the rain and beatings. I found myself dancing around mud holes while trying to stay balanced and plant my feet properly. Although that probably slowed me down a bit, at least I was never bored.

Going into the race as a training run, my friend Brian Boyle from Gaston Rehab Associates suggested me to try negative-split the last part of the race. I went out really easy for the first 6 miles, and then slowly picked up the pace.  I felt really good during the last couple miles, and finished the race feeling like I still had something left in the tank. Overall, it was a good training / experimenting run. I averaged at 8:37 for the course.

I really can't ask for much more as far as race experience goes. In a race, we share a communal experience. At this point in time, we all came together to do something we love. We were all being rained on, covered in mud, running to the best of our ability, having a great time, and in good company. I might eventually forget what pace and time I did the race in, but I'd never forget seeing Chuck, Rob, and Josh flew by me on the out-and-back, the laughter in the car, and of course, our muddy, battered shoes experience.


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

New Year's resolution

Nine days into 2012 and a day before entering into a new age group is an opportune time to nail down some New Year's resolutions. 2011 was a good year, one that filled with transitions and norming --  be it moving from California to Charlotte, from being a student back to an architect, or starting fresh in a new territory to establishing roots and relationships. My new running and swimming communities had made the transition easy and welcoming, and partly because of that, much of my attention in the past year was on either sports, like running my first 50k and participating in my first swim meet. Having just graduated from seminary was probably the other half of the reason why I had been keeping a distance from structured studies / reading in 2011. With that said, my 2012 focus will be on balanced growth. While I still have a long list of goals in swimming and running, I need to make sure I allocate enough time and attention to spiritual and intellectual grow...

WV Trilogy - Part 2

(If you haven't read Part 1, it's here .) (Sat) Oct 13 -  Sunrise at Spruce Knob 6 a.m. start in the dark. My legs surprised me by being happier than yesterday. My heart is in better place as well. The first 6.7 mile goes up to Spruce Knob, the highest point in West Virginia. Part of this section was on fire road and I welcomed the faster miles. Steady progress was made in the first 20 miles or so until the long, long descent into Aid Station 3. As I have decided yesterday, I'd start the race, go from aid station to aid station, and re-evaluate my condition at each. I left Aid station 2 feeling good but then the long descent once again put doubts in my mind. Running reduced to little steps on jello-legs. Compression socks helped to contain the injury and pain, but the strength to support the pounding was still lacking. Soon, my knees started to hurt as well. At aid station 3, they told me I had 2:45 to make it to the next aid station before the cut-off. At the pace I...

Eastern Divide 50K

“The secret of man is the secret of his responsibility.” -Václav Havel This weekend, I’ve learned that you can be both undertrained and overtrained. A few week ago, I signed up for the Eastern Divide 50k because I wanted a longer race in June as training. My last one was the Leatherwood 50k in April and I haven’t run longer than 20 miles since. I did, however, start training with the TriYon team again, which means adding back a bit of strength and speed work into my running. Hence, undertrained with less than ideal miles on my legs, but overtrained with tired muscles from workouts. That didn’t dampen the excitement of a weekend getaway at Mountain Lake in Pembroke, VA, though. A group of Salisbury runners rented a house at the Mountain Lake Lodge, where “Dirty Dancing” was filmed , and they welcomed me as a late add-on. Eastern Divide 50k is a point-to-point race that starts from the Cascade Falls in the Jefferson National Forest, up and down Butt Mountain, through for...