I woke up at 6:00am, did yoga, shoved two bottles of water in the backpack,
ingested more food, made coffee, and hit the road. It was slightly rainy, not
what I had hoped, and with a hint of apprehension (for trudging through mud)
I arrived at the QuickSilver park at 7:20am.
With the Covid-19 situation worsening, officials had just taken further steps to
enforce social distancing by closing public parking lots. That was what I
thought when I saw the gate at the Hacienda entrance locked. I was later happy
to find out that I was wrong at least for this park.
Today, L and S joined me in exploring the first half of the QuickSilver 50k
Endurance Run, the ultra I planned to run this year. The anual event in early
May, however, was postponed till Oct. I couldn't complain given that many races
my friends signed up on along the west coast had either been put off or
outright canceled. In fact, I welcomed the six extra months. I would rather
over-prepare than to suffer the same misery as in my first 50k.
In 2019, I paced them for the last leg of their QuickSilver 100k race which
shared course with the 50k. So we were all veterans and a sense of ease came
with the runners from the start. This part of the race, however, consisted of
many trail crossings and we had to pay attention to stay on the course. I had
parepared by memorizing the turn-by-turn directions during my walks on Friday.
S told me about his 200 mi race last year. The mental challenge came on the 2nd
day, he said, when one realized that after 50+ miles of tough running, there was still
150 to go. The despair was crushing. Some people could just gnaw at the distance
one step at a time, however, without wasting energy worrying about the finish line.
It was an inborn personality trait, he said, but some said it could be acquired. This
reminded me of the book I had been reading, The Practicing Mind.
I read little lately as far as normal books go. All the running and dictionary reading
take time. When I have "free" time, I am most likely recovering from a run. This week
I have totaled 37 miles but still had a backlog of words to go through for a second
round for Feburary. The virus and dad's health situation have not helped.
Politics was part of the conversation during every run. We talked about the
conspiracy theories with regard to the origin of the virus, Clinton's recent
tweet about Trump's making American #1 (in Covid19 cases), and universal basic
income. Both stauch republicans, they were interested in where I stood. I told
them the story of the two models of light, the wave and the photon, which used
to confuse the hell out of me. If I had to make a tough decision, I would flip a
coin, I told them.
I was again briefed about words as they knew my hobby. I gave them
anal-expulsive and anal-retentive. The two extremely useful psychoanalysis terms
gave us a great time joking and laughing as we approached the 6-mile mark. The
boy liked me more for this, I think.
The rain did not get heavier and the trails were ideal for running. Only a few
hard-packed places became slippery. My micro-stepping skill tided me over the
Hacienda Trail where I took a tumble last year. The Deep Gulch Trail was hell of
a slope: long, narrow, steep, slippery, and littered with rocks. We ended up coming
down on it twice. I could feel my run stronger despite of the foot pain: I could
almost keep up with L at the end.
Throughout the run, I had two bottles of water (about 40oz) and ate nothing.
For hotter days, I would need to refill. Recovery was OK but not as good as the
last time. I must have exerted myself.
