Ran around Lake Washington!
Almost 50 mile run!
Well one of my goals in 2022 was to run around Lake Washington. Mostly cause it was hype and semi-doable. A big lake but not a super duper big lake (like the great lakes in the northeast). Around 48 miles total.
It was pretty intriguing but at the end, I didn’t find the time in 2022 to do so. End of November was the Seattle Marathon which I hoped to get a decent time in (I ended up doing faster than expected! 2:47). The week after was a Spartan Race in SF and the week after that was my last weekend in Seattle before going home for the holidays. So I got a bit lazy I guess.
Now fast forward to 2023, and this goal kinda disappeared from my view. My main goal for the year that I came up with on Jan 1 was to run every day of the year. A semi-quality run at least (like randomly running 5–10 min doesn’t count. Maybe like ~30 min or like >5km.)
I was not racing too much, just a couple here and there. Also pretty consistent with running overall averaging 9 miles per day. Some ‘injuries’ here and there but most of them ended up fading away (alhamdulillah) within days/weeks.
However, towards the end of the year, things ramped up a ton. 5 marathons in 8 weeks (including a nice few second PR at NYC). But during September this goal popped into my mind again. Was planning the marathons and other stuff, and I felt like after those marathons, given that I have been running every day, I would be ready for this 48 mile endeavor.
Ran 35 miles (Seattle to Tacoma) a few months ago and it felt solid overall. A warm and sunny day, with only 2 gels and 2 water bottle thingys in my vest was sufficient (though obvs super gassed at end). Though I did end up buying a nice big gatorade bottle 4/5 of the way through lol. Although this run would be basically a half-marathon distance extra, I was a bit more prepared.
Basically I had some gels left over that I purchased before, plus some stuff i got yesterday. The same 2 flask things (around 16 oz each) filled with the skratch mix that I got many many months ago — that stuff is pretty solid, flavor is not super dominating like gatorade, but provides lots of nice hydration and ye. And like 7 gels. Decided to get energy chews too for more energy that’s like candy and not slurpy.
Also had like a plastic water bottle for backup. And another like water flask thingy that fits ~14 oz water. Since today was gonna rain starting around 10am-ish (according to forecast; gets worse throughout the day) it didn’t seem like I will be too dehydrated? Also some pretzels if i get sick of gels/backup food/salty stuff.
I also ran in endorphin pros. Just wanted nice cushioning and not super heavy shoes. But carbon plate was ehhhh cause I wasn’t planning on going fast, just chill vibes for the run. Oh well.
Planned to start around 6am-ish and wake up at 5am. Anticipate around 8 hours to finish including bathroom break. But who knows.
So yeah the plan was solid, I packed everything up. And took the morning light rail to husky stadium station (10 min walk to light rail then 1 stop to ride northbound!)
So I was able to start pre-6am. Cool. Queued up hella taylor swift. The TVs with the vault tracks made albums long so there was basically enough for the whole run ;)
Yeah as soon as it started it was dark as I ran down to arboretum. Also lots of destruction construction so some parts of paths I was following was destruction mode. But still alternatives. Had to use phone flashlight a ton during the first 90 minutes ish.
Some sketch trails and tight stuff made me be pretty slow (10–11min/mile pace) since I don’t wanna destroy myself cause I know my legs trasheon.
Overall doing down along lake washington blvd was solid. Some flashlight needed but vibes were cool. Oh yeah forgot to mention took a couple of leaks at this point. I also started off with the chews since easiest to consume.
Also my butt (glutes) were super sore for first half of run lol.
Yeah overall things were fun and vibey after daylight appeared all the way through to Kirkland. Took a dump at this nice beach park thing in Bellevue. Only dump needed this run which was very nice (took one after waking up Ye). but I quickly found out that I obviously didn’t pack enough nutrition rip. finished basically my last gel in the latter part of kirkland.
Also started getting much more heavier in rain in the Juanita park in kirkland RIP. I was prepared though since I got the ziploc bag for the iphone (not really IP67 anymore since back glass cracked RIPPPPPPP). But still felt solid. Still had a bit of drink left.
When I hit burk-gilman in Kenmore, it kinda felt like home sweet home since I am familiar from that part on. I ran out of drink around mile 41ish. Though obviously still had the bottle+extra flask at the back. But too lazy to reach back.
Around mile 40 was when I started feeling it hella in my legs. The shin pain I have been feeling the last week was still there and didn’t go away. And just overall sore everywhere since the constant ingestion of calories that happened during first 30 miles wasn’t there anymore.
Things hurt a bit, but all in legs. Yes, upper body also sore since I had to haul my water/snacks the whole time and I’ve been running for 6+ hours. But I can still sing along to songs (though headphones died around 6 hour mark but up to that point it was super nice tswift vibes) and wasn’t breathing too hard.
I had to pee a bit, and like yeah I realized I needed some water/calories so I stopped at Matthews Beach Park (a bit familiar since I’ve been to this area sometimes during running) along the trail and used the restroom. Also opened the pretzel pack and munching on them + water from flask. Then held onto that flask and stuffed the remaining 2nd pack of pretzels on the vest pocket. For the next few miles I would munch the rest of the pretzels.
And then a bit after I would end up finishing the water there. But ever since taking the vest off in the restroom, I would feel a bit cold. As mentioned before, the rain was semi-heavy and a bit of wind here and there. But for the rest of the way things were solid. Like it was hard to pick things up to previous pace after the restroom break. But still sub 10 minute miles.
Reached the start/end point in sub 8 hours which was nice. Watch literally died as I was about to stop it lol.
I was super duper duper duper duper duper drenched in rain. and the wind is so trash. I had my rain shell in my backpack which I put on before going back to light rail station to home. But overall I was SUPER shivering!!!!! So cold so destruction.
At the end, things were nice. Though left shin hurts; hopefully won’t get super worse tomorrow/next week. Lateral part of left knee is a bit more sore than I’d like (a few weeks after the 35 mile run my right LCL was destruction… may be related?). But I could still walk. I wasn’t like super toast that my muscles won’t respond anymore.
Overall taylor swift songs super nice to vibe to throughout the run. The first 2/3 run weather was nice, barely any rain. Though starting earlier meant more dark parts which I didn’t like at all. Finally got this run done! yayyyyyyyy