I know it's been several months since I last wrote a blog post. But it wasn't until after I typed "blogger" into my search bar on Google Chrome and nothing popped up in my history, that it dawned on me how long its been since I've visited this website and written a piece. So, here I am! Hey, world. It's been a while and it's good to be back. The last time I wrote anything on here was when I told the story of my experience running the Great Shasta Rail Trail 50K in July of last year, when it was 103 degrees Fahrenheit up in McCloud. That was an incredible day, and I loved it. But I suck at running in heat. And on that day, I was forced to face my demons point blank. Fortunately, I won the fight, and I crossed the finish line without dying, although it took a while.
The last nine months have been pretty exciting. Shortly after publishing my last post about the Great Shasta Rail Trail 50K, I went to work on writing a book. It was something that I had wanted to do for quite a while, and it seemed like a great time to knock it out. I didn't go into it with a lot of expectations, and I just started writing. I took various stories from these blogs, re-wrote them to make them fit into the narrative of the story, and wrote a bunch of new material as well. Keeping in mind that I also had to be a husband, a dad, and devote adequate time to my career, I tried my best to block off certain times of each day to write. It would write for roughly an hour to an hour and a half each day. The book came together over a period of about three and a half months. After I edited it and created the front and back covers, I was ready to put it out there. The only remaining issue was how I was going to put it out there. The traditional path that most people would follow is to write a manuscript and submit it to several publishers. Some people even hire an agent to submit their manuscript to publishers on their behalf. If a publisher likes it, they'll decide that they want to market it and put it out, and they'll throw together a contract for the writer to sign. This usually results in an advance payment to the writer, and if the book doesn't sell the agreed upon number of copies, or if the writer doesn't fulfill their obligation, the advance payment needs to be returned, and the deal is off. It all sounds good on paper, but that wasn't the route I wanted to take. I knew I had something special. I knew I had a good story to tell. Why should I wait around for some big shot publisher to decide they like it and they want to put it out? Why should I have them tell me "well, it'll be easier to market this book if you change this or take out that". The hell with that. There was nothing stopping me from becoming a business man and jumping in there by putting it out myself. And that's exactly what I did. I wrote the whole thing out on a massive Microsoft Word document, uploaded it to Barnes and Noble press, and added my artwork for the cover and back cover. The first copies were delivered in December of 2023, but the formatting was a little misaligned, so I wasn't ready to start promoting it yet. I fixed the formatting issues, and by January of 2024, my book, Running Rebel, was ready to make it's debut. I started promoting on social media and before I knew it, boxes of books were arriving at our apartment, and I was selling them and shipping them out. I had all kinds of people reaching out to me who wanted to read my story. My current friends, old friends, family members, co-workers, former co-workers, even people from high school that I hadn't heard from in twenty years.
Getting my book out there and into the hands of people was a really cool feeling. The feedback I received from readers was a powerful tonic. I wanted to inspire runners, and non-runners alike. I didn't want to convey the message that people should run and that will make their lives more vibrant. I wanted to inspire people to follow their dreams and do things that brought them joy and peace. My book isn't a guide on how to become an untouchable endurance athlete. It doesn't tell people what to eat, how they should train, or what kind of gear they should use. It's a story about my childhood, the difficulties I had to overcome, how skiing and snowboarding brought me a better quality of life as a teenager, and how running did the same for me in my adult life. The book has been out for almost four months now, and it's been an exciting journey. At some point I'll likely record an audio book, get written copies for sale on Amazon, and market the book in other ways than just through social media stories. Maybe at some point it will catch the attention of a publisher, but I certainly don't plan on giving up my accounting career. I don't want to be a full time writer, so I don't plan on that ever happening. My book sales are technically a business that generates a small profit, but it's a very grass roots operation, at least for now. The profit that I made from the first batch of books I sold was spent on a nice Valentine's Day dinner with Samantha. Who knows what kind of adventures this book will take me on, but for now, it's a fun side project that brings me a small passive income.
Since my last blog post was written, Aidan has evolved from a crawling infant to a full on toddler whose greatest joys in life are running around our apartment, climbing on things he shouldn't, playing on the playground, being read to, eating, and sleeping. He loves to laugh and smile, and it seems like he has a genuine appreciation for the outdoors. We've taken him on a few trips to the mountains over the last several months, and he's always curious and wanting to explore when he's out in nature. He's a great eater and will generally eat anything we put in front of him, including chicken tikka masala, Thai curry, and a wide variety of fruit. We're trying to work on vegetables, but that's been more of a challenge. Being a dad continues to be a big part of my identity and one of the coolest experiences of my life. I took a quick trip back home to Michigan in mid-February. It was fun to catch up with family and hang out in my hometown for a few days, and my role at work has continued to evolve, which is always exciting.
Now let's talk running. I haven't run any ultramarathons since the Great Shasta Rail Trail 50K last July, but I'm still getting ample miles in. On a Friday evening in mid-October, I left my home in Sunnyvale and drove seven hours down to Big Bear Lake. By the time I arrived in the middle of the night, the Kodiak Ultramarathons by UTMB were in full swing. I had been in contact with my good friends at Anytime Runners, a local running group in Los Angeles. A friend of theirs's, Jose, was running the 100-miler, and they offered me the role of pacing him the last thirty-three miles. I jumped at the opportunity, and I was beyond excited to spend some time in the mountains of Southern California with my old friends and meet new people. Jose and I had never met prior to my arrival in Big Bear, except for a thirty-minute video call earlier in the week to go over logistics. When I arrived in the wilderness in the dead of night, it was similar to my experience pacing JC at the same race in 2018. I parked near the Sugarloaf Mountain aid station at mile sixty-seven, met up with my friends Sheny and Cori, the leaders of Anytime Runners, and took a three-hour nap in the back of my car while I awaited Jose's arrival. He eventually made his way into the aid station, and we hit the trail together at around 2:00 AM and began the long climb up to the summit of Sugarloaf Mountain. We rallied through the night and into the next day, climbed and descended several prominent mountains in the area, and Jose crossed the finish line after thirty-four hours and thirty-three minutes on Saturday evening. We had plenty of time on the trail to get to know each other, and he turned out to be a great guy. He showcased impressive grit and determination, and nailed his first 100-mile race. Cori, Sheny, Lisa, Angelica, and several other members of Anytime Runners did a great job crewing for him and taking care of him at the aid stations. I was proud of him and it was a pleasure to be a part of his journey.
In January, I ran a half marathon with my good buddy Chris down in San Juan Bautista. When I arrived down there, I popped into a local bakery for some pre-race doughnuts and coffee. I found Chris at the race day registration area near the start line. Normally I enjoy running alone, but when he said he was shooting for a two-hour finish we decided to run together. Two hours sounded like a nice pace to me, and I felt like it would be fun to change things up by running with someone. We stayed together throughout the entire race, and even though we had hung out during the holidays at some gatherings, it was nice to chat and catch up. About five weeks later, I was supposed to run the Way Too Cool 50K, but it was cancelled last minute due to inclement weather that involved sixty mile-per-hour winds. In light of the cancelled race, I decided to run a homemade solo half marathon on the Stevens Creek and Bay Trails in Mountain View. On a Friday night in late March, I embarked on my traditional annual solo through-the-night 50K run through Lake Tahoe. I left the Bay Area at 9:00 PM, arrived in Tahoe City at 1:00 AM, and ran through the night along highway 89. As usual, I was lit up like a running Christmas tree to avoid getting hit by a car. It was a beautiful night, and although I was tired during those last few miles, I made it the whole fifty kilometers on my own. I took a nap in my car in a McDonald's parking lot in Truckee, and after ordering some hash brows, sausage burritos, and a piping hot cup of McD's coffee at the drive-thru, I headed home to be with Samantha and Aidan. I also ran a couple of local races in a dog costume to promote Samantha's pet care business, and most recently, I paced the two-hour group at the Run Rocklin Half Marathon, which is always a lot of fun. It's always cool to help runners achieve their goals.
All of this recent activity will lead up to a race that has become the de facto centerpiece of my annual running calendar for the last several years: The Canyons 100K. Just like every other year that I've done this race, I'm feeling cautiously optimistic. I've finished the race three times and dropped out three times, so anything can happen. The weather was brutal last year, and I had to drop out at mile forty after the intense heat took all the life out of me. The forecast is calling for much cooler temperatures this year, and I like to think that my training has been pretty adequate, so I'm looking forward to heading back to Auburn this coming weekend. Unlike last year when I had Samantha and Aidan with me, and I ran with my buddy Arjun for part of the race, I will be going at it alone this year. We'll also be running a different course, starting at China Wall in Foresthill, and finishing in downtown Auburn. A lot can happen in sixty-two miles. It's not a sprint, or even a marathon. It's a journey. It's a journey that involves lots of highs and lows, trips to the pain cave, pushing the body and mind to unthinkable limits, and sometimes moments where it almost feels like I'm talking to God. Not everything will go right on race day. That is to be expected. But I'm hoping that I will have the strength to push through the challenges and get to the finish line in once piece. Even if I have to drop out, it will still be a memorable experience. It always is. That race course has seen me at my best and at my worst, and regardless of the outcome, it's always an adventure. Let's see what the 2024 Canyons 100K has to offer. I'm looking forward to having a good story to tell afterwards.
