Ice Age 50K (5:50:07)

This was a warm day. I think my shoe was not good enough for pounding on sharp-edged rocks that my feet got bitten up. The warm weather made me feel nauseate that also made me vomit a bit and sit down for a while. It was a toughest 50k race so far!

strava data here

Earth day 50k (5:59:22)

It's been almost two weeks, but I am still struggling to find time to write about the race due to my work. So I thought I'd just put something as a place holder (although I'd doubt that I will update later...)

This was my second time running the course (with a bit of course change) and I was very pleased to go back. It is such a beautiful trail and I will sign up again for next year. My next is IAT50 which I dropped from 50miles to 50k as I have been undertrained.

Paleozoic 50k (5:12:05)

What a day!  It was raining and thus the terrain was muddy with maybe 6-inch deep water. It was uneasy, but fun enough to forget the pain I had to carry to finish the race.

It was nice to see some old friends from past races.  My next one is Earth Day 50k (04/22).

Unfortunately, I didn't get a single picture of me from this race, but here are a few that gives some idea about the race.

Indianapolis Monumental Marathon (03:36:28)

This was my last marathon (6th) in 2016.  It's always nice to participate somewhere I can drive for a ew hours and get there. After packet pickup, we visited the beautiful white river state park.  Overall, we enjoyed the city and the event.  It's quite flat and the energy you get along the course is quite a bit. I liked it!

Expo at the Convention Center

Expo at the Convention Center (Minjun likes cars)

Rented this bike at the White River State Park and then rode along the 3-mile long canal

Crate & Barrel (lunch in downtown was disappointing, but this visit was worth the money).

Right before the race start.

Right before the race finish. :)

DPRT 50 (08:51:15)

Des Plaines River Trail 50 is a out-and-back 50 mile race in the north side of Chicago.  Since it's a local race, my driving to the location was under an hour.  The weather was overall pretty nice. 

Pretty flat and overall, I enjoyed the beautiful autumn and would highly recommend this event especially for an inexperienced ultra runner.  

    

These guys looked hilarious and knew how to enjoy the event.

Met Frank and ran quite a bit along the course.

Finally I got to the finish line and wanted to be memorable.

So I prepared to fly...

And jumped...

Feeling good...yay

And then big sigh..

Evergreen Lake Ultras (6:24:31; 9/36)

A heavy rain made the trail very muddy and slippery and I fell down 4-5 times in mud. Luckily, there was a knee high water crossing along the course that I could wash off most of the mud for each 16 mile loop.

My old garmin watch does not get all details that I saw only 15miles (missing 1 mile) when finishing the first loop. 

I've signed up this already for 2017. ;-)

DWD Devils Lake 50K (5:59:09; 62/204)

It was a bit humid, but a great day to run. The course was great; the back-to-back single track was not my favorite that you keep bumping into other runners. Maybe I was getting tired...

On Friday morning (July 8th), we drove to wheeler's campground, WI. The reviews of the camp site were quite split with good and bad, but we had no choice since devil's lake state park had no camping spot for us. In fact, we enjoyed our stay at wheeler's and my personal opinion is this is a place for a family.

On Saturday morning, I got up at 4 am while my family was asleep. It must be too much for them to come with me so I sneaked out. At 5:30 am, 50k/50mi events began while I was still preparing my gears to get started meaning I was getting late. As a result, I was stuck with a pack of people who preferred to walk. :-(

The course was very challenging. As a flatlander, I was under prepared for this, but felt I was lucky to be out there and enjoyed the mountain.

Elevation gain: 3174 ft

I might come back with better plans next year!

strava data: https://www.strava.com/activities/637036223

My next race is evergreen lake ultras (34miles) on Setp 10th.