Viet’s Blog

  (Photo Credit: the wonderful photographers they have at  Go Beyond Racing )   The Mt. Hood 50 Miler is done and dusted, and I’m here with the real talk—what went well, what didn’t, and what I’m taking into my next ultra adventure. Course Description The course itself its kind of like a double out-and-back. You run north 14 miles along the Pacific Crest Trail, 14 miles back to the start. Then you run 11 miles south along the Pacific Crest Trail, then back to the start again to total approximately 50 miles. Lets breakdown my race     The First Half — Miles 0 to 28 The race kicked off at 6 AM near Timothy Lake, with a cool mountain breeze and fresh legs. The first half surprised me by being less steep than expected, so I didn’t need the trekking poles much early on—lesson learned, those babies are for the back half. Its hard to know when to need them because if you look at the elevation profile, it doesn't look particularly obvious that I'd need them or not ne...

Whenever someone finds out I run marathons or ultras, the first question is almost always: "Wait—why??  All that pain? And you sign up for it?? I usually smirk and say, “So I can feel alive again.” The funny thing is… I used to think I was joking.  But I’m not. Numb is Safe. But It’s Also... Numb. For a long time, I kept everything at arm’s length—emotionally, mentally, physically. That distance helped protect me from painful or overwhelming feelings. But it also dulled the good ones. The joy. The pride. The wonder. The awe.   Even those became muted. Growing up, I learned—like a lot of people do—that my emotional needs came second. Or third. Or not at all. There was always something bigger, scarier, more important going on. So I made myself small. I stopped asking for space, attention, or care. And eventually, I stopped expecting it altogether. I got really good at surviving. And somewhere along the way, I forgot I had a voice. The Run That Changed No...

It’s go time. The Mt. Hood 50 Miler is coming up, and I wanted to drop a pre-race post to share a little about my training block, my gear, my fueling strategy, and the chaotic stack of snacks I’ll be hauling through the woods.  Also—just to set the tone— "Roads? Where we’re going, we don’t need... roads."  50 Miles. All on trails, baby!   Training Block Summary I kept things pretty simple. I'm slightly allergic to structure and my brain doesn't like thinking too much when I run, so I went by these general guidelines:   Tons of easy miles. I needed to build my aerobic base, along with communicating to my muscles that we'll be doing this for a long LONG time .  Tons of elevation gain. Fortunately I live in a relatively hilly neighborhood so I got a bit of practice going up and down hills. Still, I'm at the point where I typically just walk up anything that is more than slightly inconvenient.    Long runs every weekend.  Lets also talk about strides...