Shin Splints / anterior tibialis soreness

 Writing this up just in case it might be useful to others in a similar circumstance.  Last May I had a fairly good race at Rock The Ridge in Upstate New York.  The race has some nice scenic sections and it is basically 100% well-packed dirt roads. That makes it fairly fast, but it did deliver more pounding than usual to my legs, and I started feeling some shin pain towards the end, especially in the right shin. It did not get better at all in the next three days and I started freaking out a bit since I almost never have shin issues. It was painful to walk and so I even suspected a stress fracture. Thankfully I do have a great PT Joe Rigby in my town who already helped me deal with some Achilles tendon issues in the past.

When Joe did a bit of probing and testing, he thankfully concluded this wasn't a stress fracture, but most likely the muscle being very tense and refusing to relax. The treatment consistent of some massage and Graston technique release, as well as the instructions to work on this myself at home, as follows:

• Lacrosse ball (or a similar massage ball) rolling along the affected muscles. The technique is demonstrated pretty well by this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBU2-_YFPJo
  
• Self massage and release along the Anterior Tibialis muscle: https://youtube.com/shorts/xdd77lN1RVk
• My calves tend to be fairly tight as well, and as it turned out that can be a huge contributing factor to the shin muscle tightness, so all the usual calf stretching, rolling, massaging to get them less tight should help the shins too.
• Eccentric work on the anterior tibialis -- something along these lines: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfD-kdYD2N4, except the focus is on the slow release from the 90 degree position to the stretch out position -- one there, scoot up, bring the foot back up to 90 degrees, scoot back stretching the band, release again.
  

These took a while and the ball rolling was particularly painful at first, but after a while this worked, and I was back to running again. This was a good wake-up call in terms of doing more preventive maintenance, which I started doing (basically the same stretches/exercises), which helped me get through the rest of the "racing season" injury-free.

Hope this is helpful as some background information and some things to try, but every runner is different and the best advice I can give is work with a good PT who knows runners. Proper diagnosis is very important, and often the root causes of issues are not where the pain is.

Ultra Trail Harricana - 80km

 

View of the Malbaie River valley from the course

Disclaimer: I write these reports mainly for myself, so that I can over time remember the lessons learned.  I am decidedly back-of-the-pack runner, and am out there to challenge myself, to enjoy the journey as well as the awesome community that is trail runners everywhere.

Goals

When I didn't get into UTMB on my first attempt in 2022, I had assumed that I will need to"top off" my ITRA points with another more recent 5-pointer race in order to apply again.  So looked for an interesting race in a place I've not yet been and not too far from home.  Harricana came up as a good option, in particular because it takes places on the shores of mightly St. Lawrence, in a beautiful setting roughly in the areas that Louise Penny covers in her "Inspector Gamache" series that I happened to be a huge fan of.  I registered for a 125km option that would be worth the points I needed.

Then came UTMB qualification revamp which forced me to change my plans complete and to chase the so-called "running stones" in Canyons 100k and Speedgoat 50k.  Once those were done, I was faced with the decision about Harricana since technically I didn't _need_ to run it.  It wasn't refundable and the prospect of a Quebec vacation sounded good, so I dropped down to a still "respectable" 😅 80k, which is just a smidge under 50 miles.  The goal in my mind was to have fun and try to run a "faster" (for my abilities) 50 miles given that the course promised not to pack too much elevation.

Preparation 

For the preparation, I focused less on climbing and among other things completed the so-called Boroughs Loop that covers ~30 miles stringing together trail systems of Marlborough, Southborough, Westborough and Northborough.  That effort went pretty well, even resulting in what Strava thought to be my 50k PR.  So I was going into this race pretty confident.

The course - the region

The course starts along the La Malbaie river and stays flat and pleasant for at least 10 miles, then meanders through a typical Quebec forests and meadows, finishing at the Mont Grand-Fonds ski resort.  Point-to-point courses are always more fun for me compared to any sort of repeats or out-and-back, so I was looking forward to the experience.

Brief re-cap of the race

As expected, the first 10 or so miles flew by very quickly, except for being stung by a wasp fairly early on.  It hurt like heck for a few minutes but then subsided and luckily I am not allergic to these stings, so it wasn't a big deal for the rest of the race.  But funny enough something similar happened at Speedgoat just a few weeks earlier.  Best I could tell, I was the only lucky one and other runners around me were spared :-).

In the following few miles after that, the course seemed to weer off from what I earlier explored in the provided GPX track and instead of an easy dirt road we were on a fairly new single track trail that was still very soft from the trail work and full of small stumps from the smaller cuttings.  This definitely slowed me down from the original plan, but those things never hold anyway in a race.

Before starting, I struck up a conversation with a few of local runners that spoke English and we had nice occasional chats in the first few miles before we separated.

In the second half of the race, the going got tougher with a few muddy and technical sections. Banged my big toe a few times and stepped into deep mud a few times. Before the race, I debated whether to take my poles, but did not regret having them and used them heavily in the second half.  I also had spare socks and the Trail Toes cream so I took the opportunity to change the socks a couple of times in the aids.  

As is customary with me, as the effort got harder, the stomach stopped working so I tried to ease off a bit to avoid redlining and somewhat towards the end, especially as the temps cooled off, I was able to feel better and to eat more.

The last few miles were a bit of a slog, especially an ATV/jeep section that was downhill.  I just could not find enough to run over the shifty uneven rocks.  The finish was a bit of an uphill to the ski resort.  

A big bonus was the post-race meal that was a legit nice dinner with salad and a couple of great dish options capped by a delicious pastry.

In the end the race was a lot more technical and challenging than what I had imagined.  So this wasn't quite a fast 50 miler, but it was still a decently paced once for me.

What worked

Changing socks and reapplying "trail toes".  

Managed effort to avoid redlining.

Good call to take the poles.  Hydration was on point.  Nutrition worked ok when the stomach was able to accept food.

What to improve on in the future

Maybe packing even more socks would have been good, but it was hard to predict the amount of mud on the course.

Packing self adhesive bandage? There was a guy with a gash on his leg and I tried as best I could to attach a large band-aid patch there, but it just would not hold.

I should be careful when navigating mud / branches to make sure

Canyons 100k -- a tour through the Western States course!

 

Deadwood Cemetery loop -- on the horizon you can see white-capped mountains up towards Tahoe.

 

 

 

Disclaimer: I write these reports mainly for myself, so that I can over time remember the lessons learned.  I am decidedly back-of-the-pack runner, I am out there to challenge myself, to enjoy the journey as well as awesome community that is trail runners.

 

Goals

My main motivation for running Canyons 100k was getting the three UTMB "running stones" that would allow me to apply for the UTMB lottery in 2023.  My previous attempt at that lottery with just one ticket based on 10 "points" did not result in a selection, and UTMB completely revamped the application system, requiring the "running stones", which, in 2022, could only be earned in two specific races in the USA -- one being Canyons in CA and the other Speedgoat in UT.  

In addition to the qualifiers, the goals were, as always, to finish without injuries and to be fully immersed and to appreciate the experience.  This race is, for the large part, Western States (WSER 100) course being run backwards, so it provides a unique opportunity to preview that course short of running it in the actual famed race (someday, someday!).  Note that being run in the direction of Tahoe, this race is net uphill by a good 4000ft or so.

Preparation

My buildup to the race involved a fair amount of climbing, including simple stairs in my work office building in Boston, as well as some local trails.  Up until 2 weeks or so before the race, having read past runners' guide, I had assumed no poles would be allowed.  Actually messaged the race on FB and they confirmed it, and so I trained without my trusty Leki trekking poles.  I mentioned this to one of my ultrarunning friends Jason, and he was curious enough that he read the newest website info before I did and informed me that in fact the poles are now allowed.  Checked in with my coach Greg and he correctly encouraged me to have the poles from the start.  

Got into Auburn a couple of days before and explored the area a bit, joined a run with a local running group from the Aid Station running store on some local trails.  Seeing the famous High School track which is the finishing point of the WSER 100, gave me chills.  Someday I hope to get into the lottery, though I am still early in my ticket-doubling journey :-).

What worked

Legs felt great after the race. No injuries, cramps or even that much calf swelling (which is common for me).  Did active recovery hiking with my wife every day for a few miles the following three days.  This tells me the training was enough for the speed I ended up going at.  I was able to run some flats and downhills even later in the race here and there.  If I ended up going faster, I suspect more muscle fatigue and damage would have resulted -- that's the usual trade-off with these things, but as I describe below, the stomach was the limiting factor.

Xoskin socks with trail toes continue to do the job really well.  I had my feet wet for about 80% of the race if not more.  Altras drain well enough, but that's far from getting to completely dry state.  I took time to change socks twice and shoes once, and I think that helped.  But I feel like I could have skipped the changes and only paid with fairly minor blisters.  Still, as it went, no blisters at all, so I think that was the time well invested.

The night before the race I realized that I left my ginger chews at home and decided to go visit CVS to buy something comparable.  They were out of chews (perhaps scooped up by the other runners?), but they had a ginger chewing gum designed to help with motion-sickness, so I gave that a try.  It worked pretty much as well as the ginger chews did for me in the past races.  I think I will be sticking to this from now on since the gum is easier to manage/chew.

The poles were a huge help, including a couple of the stream crossings later in the race when having changed my socks and shoes I really wanted to stay dry.  The poles allowed that!  I had them folded and neatly attached to the pack until the first big ascent of the race, and sort of thought that I would fold them again at least a couple of times, but decided not to bother, the time and mental effort involved was not worth it.

This was the first time I went substantial distance (about 45 miles) in the new Altra Timps.  They did their job well.  Traction was great, water drainage was as good as one could expect after all the stream crossings.   I felt like there was enough support all around without too much weight, and I was able to lace them fairly snugly and felt little movement of the foot inside.  For the last 15, I had one of my trusty Olympus pairs with only a couple hundred miles in them and they also did the job in terms of providing a bit more cushion compared to Timps, but did feel a bit more loose on my feet (though no blisters, after all).

Nutrition: borrowing an idea from another running friend Julia, I had Babybrezza packets filled with home-made mashed potatoes and mashed carrots, this did work for a bit mid-race until the stomach went south.  Otherwise, I had a few Spring gels, Honey Stinger chews, Honey Stinger waffles, Tailwind early on and then Rocktane offered by the aids.  Rocktane turned out to be a good option, I might try it on my own at some point.  Fruit smoothie pouches also worked for a bit. Later in the race, I had chex mix in my drop bag as a more savory option and it also worked moderately well.  Most of the aid stations did not have ginger ale, but my wife provided a couple at the aids where crewing was allowed.  I also had coke mixed with water in one of my flasks and that worked sort of ok for a while, until it didn't.  Veggie broth worked a lot better than chicken soup, which was surprising, but maybe that chicken flavor wasn't the usual ramen flavor that I am used to.

What could have gone better

At some point after the first half, especially on the longer climbs, the stomach stopped cooperating and for several hours until the evening fell I felt nauseous.  I knew I had to slow down and let it settle a bit, because the alternative was risking a blowout -- one you start vomiting, it is hard to recover.  I slowed down and reduced calorie intake during that time.  Ginger gum that I mentioned earlier did seem to work, but as expected it wasn't a perfect remedy.  I feel like I did not try enough alternatives at the aids during this time.  There were oranges and pickles and a few options for chips that I did not explore.  I heard that pickle juice does wonders for some people, so this was the chance to test it, but I didn't.

Guessing that more intensity in climbing during training might have helped in delaying the onset of nausea. It'll be even more important at higher altitude or hotter conditions.  I should research other means of dealing with this and be ready to experiment more during the actual events.

Thinking back to how much time and effort I spent avoiding the icy puddles in the last 5-6 miles, that was just not necessary.  I should have just plowed straight through, I've been through a lot worse conditions after all, and this was the last stretch before the finish.

Results

Got this done in 18h 28m, which was enough for a WSER qualifier and the 3 running stones that I was after.

 

Strava link

Gratitude

As always, hugely thankful for the opportunity to challenge myself in a beautiful and history-filled setting.  Immensely grateful to my wife for traveling with me and crewing, that was a huge morale boost.  Thanks to my coach Greg (AtYourPaceCoaching) who clearly had me dialed in pretty well for the race.  Thanks to the organizers, and of course to the runners with whom I shared some miles and conversations here and there.  Kudos to everyone who toed the line in this race.

Bryce Canyon 100: Brutiful

 

Hoodoos on the Thunder Mountain Trail

Bryce Canyon 100 on May 29-30, 2021 was my second 100-mile race, following Midstate Massive in October of the previous year.  I had some degree of confidence though compared to MM, Bryce promised about 30-40% more climbing, no pavement at all, altitude of between 7500 and 9500 feet, and warmer daytime temps with less tree cover.  My build-up to the race included a 100k out-and-back on the Warner trail, after which I recovered fairly quickly, so that was an additional confidence booster.

Given lingering COVID concerns, there was no mass start, and due to somewhat unexpected traffic, I started at the very tail end of the 100-mile wave window.  Almost forgot my trekking poles and ended up running to the car and back for a quarter mile or so, which I guess took care of the warmup.  The race start/finish/staging area was in a fairly sandy/dusty field, accessed by a dirt road, which meant a lot of dust in the air with all the activity going on.  Here and in plenty of other race sections, the dust made its presence felt, so I was glad to have practiced nasal breathing in the last year or so, which served me well to both filter the dust as well as preserve my lungs from getting too dry in the high desert conditions.

Mountain outhouse...

The first third of the course is a nice loop that included plenty of runnable stretches and I was moving much faster than planned, but I felt good and did not seem like I was overdoing it, so I figured I'd move while I can and bank some time.  My wife met me at the 19-mile aid station and that was a nice morale booster.  She also brought a fresh t-shirt for me, so that allowed me to get rid of the long sleeve.  The iColor hat with removable flaps worked well as expected as the sun came up.  The trails were quite busy with a mix of runners from different distances.  As always, chatting with others made the time pass faster than moving in solitude.

Mounted excursion on the same trails

Thunder Mountain Trail was definitely one of the highlights of the course as we went by a few hoodoos that were right there on the trail.  We also saw a few horse-mounted excursions, and plenty of horse manure as a result.  Reminded me of VT100 where runners share the course with those racing on horses.

As the temps rose, I started overheating a bit, and thankfully the aids offered some ice that I gladly stuck into my bandanna on the back of my neck, that typically helps me in these situations and I think it worked this time, though I definitely slowed down as I wanted to avoid getting anywhere close to the red zone -- anything like vomiting is hard to recover from while keeping even a minimum necessary pace.  With the heat, I felt that I wasn't able to eat as much either, but again that beat the alternative of forcing it and risking increased nausea.  Ginger ale and ginger chews did help a bit, and I shared an extra ginger chew with another runner whose stomach went to hell.

First third somewhere...

Getting to the end of the loop meant more than a third of the race done, though not quite a third of all the climbing, the remaining out and back to Crawford Pass was definitely the hard part.  I spent way too long at that aid station as it was hot and I felt like I needed to cool off, but thinking back it was probably unnecessary and I should have kept moving, as even slower pace beats sitting around.

As I reached the next aid station, I found quite a few people dropping there and waiting to be picked up.  It was well before cutoffs, but they were done for various reasons.  This was a bit demoralizing for me as their sight definitely raised some doubts in my mind, as I was closer to my "plan C".  Still, the finish seemed achievable.  The night was coming, with much cooler temps, and as per plan C, I had some warm things in my drop-bag, as well as the headlamp and a waist-lamp I was planning to use.  I downed a whole cup of ramen noodle soup, which in previous races worked wonders for me, but pretty quickly realized that I overdid it.  It was a lot of food to take in and my stomach didn't appreciate that as it was still settling from the day's heat.

On my way to the next aid, I shared some miles with a couple of other runners, which was a welcome distraction from the fatigue and queasiness in my stomach.  As the temps dropped into the 40s and probably a bit below, I felt much much better and started moving faster on the climbs as well as running downs and some flat sections.  I gave one of my trekking poles to one of the runners in our small group who left his with his crew a bit too early in the game.  Still, I felt like I could up my pace a bit and so I left the group and went forward.  They caught up as I was refueling at the next aid, I got my second pole back and went ahead.  As it turned out the other two eventually had to drop due to missing cutoffs :-(.

I kept downing a cup of ramen at each of the aids and that definitely worked much better in cooler air.  The night fell and the stars came out, it was a sight to behold.  At the altitude without light pollution, a lot more stars can be seen, but of course, I couldn't afford to stare for long. During the climb to the highest point on the course the near-full-moon was positioned right at the top of the hill, making for an unforgettable feeling of walking to the moon.  Of course, my feeble phone camera had no chance of capturing that, but that magic moment will always be in my mind.

Course markings were very well done.  The only time I went off was when I missed a clearly indicated turn off a dirt road during the night when I was only too glad to just run downhill on that road without thinking and looking.  The person in charge of marking was Michael Versteeg, a bit of an ultra-running legend himself, among other things the recent winner of Cocodona 250.  I saw him a couple of times on the course, and recall him encouraging us in the heat of the mid-first day, saying that we will rally when the night falls, which indeed is what happened with me.  Saw him the next morning again and thanked him for the nice course markings, he was super chill and humble.

All throughout the race, I've been using the RaceJoy app that transmitted my progress to people who were following, as well as allowing them to send me cheers.  At first, it was just the family but turns out my coach Greg posted about my fun run on the Facebook page of Trail Animals Running Club, and so in the end I received quite a few cheers from my family and I suspect some of the TARC people.  The phone played them without saying who they were from.  I wanted to see that later and thank the senders, but alas once the race ended, all that info was gone.  The other "fun" feature of RaceJoy turned out to be some narration about the geology/history of Bryce Canyon.  At first, it was annoying, but after a while I guess I didn't mind having a bit of a distraction.

Pink Cliffs, the morning of the 2nd day

At the turnaround point for the out and back (2/3 of the course being done), I had some time before the cutoff, so I felt fairly good about my chances of finishing, despite the fatigue.  Made the best of the cool night air.  In the morning, the heat returned before too long and I went back to the ice-on-the-neck routine, though after a couple of hours of that, my neck rebelled against so much icing, and I had to give that up.  As the stomach decided to get queasy again, I started to rely more on liquid calories in the "Gnarly" mix that was being offered in the aids.  I experimented with it a bit in training, though what they had for the race was a different version with more calories and according to the claims, aminoacids.  It went down alright, not the tastiest option, but it kept me going for the last few hours when not much else seemed to work well in the heat.

The weather turned cloudy for a bit and we actually got a bit of rain.  I made one mistake of leaving my light shell in one of my drop bags earlier, but luckily it wasn't a huge downpour, though winds picked up a bit.  In the end, this was more welcome for cooling than any sort of hindrance, but my tired mind was worried for a while.

Some of the late miles I shared with an older runner who turned out to be 72-years young.  I want to be like him when I grow up! :-).  His wife came out from the finish to pace the last few miles.  Despite wanting company, the mantra of "run your own race" stuck with me, and I went ahead of them running some downhills and flats.  The last section to the finish of course was never-ending (half a mile longer than what the race description said), but I smelled the barn and kept moving.

Seeing my wife at the finish was awesome, as was the opportunity to hit the traditional "finisher gong" and to get a unique belt buckle embedded with local vegetation.

Hitting the gong

The buckle...

I recovered much faster than expected, going on a couple of hikes the next day.  Partly I wanted to keep moving to facilitate recovery, and partly I wanted to keep exploring the unbelievable scenery around Bryce.

Great race by Vacation Races, I highly recommend them based on the experience.  Huge thanks and love to my wife for sharing my travels, moral support in training and during the race.  Immense gratitude to my coach Greg from AYP - Coaching Services (atyourpacecoaching.com), the training plan leading to the race was excellent as it allowed me to finish and to recover quickly.  Thanks to all the family, friends, and TARC people who gave me cheers during the race.

With about 20 miles to the finish, as I was chatting with another runner, he told me the course was "brutiful", and that really stuck with me.  It is certainly not the hardest race out there, but the mix of beauty and toughness of the course justifies the label!

Accounting of what worked and lessons learned below.

What worked:

• "Trail toes" ointment + Xoskin socks.  Two pairs of socks were destroyed but no blisters despite all the dust and heat!
• Shared some miles with some people, but made the right decisions to go ahead when they slowed.
• Drop bag planning -- had a backup for night arrival at the early station in case pace slowed
• Early faster easy miles was the right call, I didn’t feel destroyed by that and banked time
• Moved forward fairly well in cooler temps
• Ramen noodles went down pretty well most of the time, except I think I ate too much of them the first time
• Spent less time on wasteful thinking about how much distance/climb left at any given time.
• Poles seemed to have worked fine for the most part.
• More liquid calories went down easier towards the end.
• Combo of Ultraspire waist light and a headlamp worked great, both lasted through the night, though being almost summer it was a short one.

What needs improvement:

• My subjective feeling is that I spent way too long at the aids.  I need to go back and calculate the time, and work on ways to improve:
• Drop bag organization was haphazard, need to make things more neatly separated and accessible.
• Sit less
• When approaching an aid, have a better plan in my head for what to grab/etc.
• My stomach went to hell in the heat the first day, and a little bit the second.  Not sure how to train for that.
• I did something with my vest cords such that I could no longer stash the poles properly in the last 3rd, but carrying them wasn't that big of a deal I guess.
• When switching from warmer layers the second morning, I did not take my light shell with me, and it rained later.  In harsher conditions that could have been a big problem.

Warner Trail out-and-back "First" Known Time

I am not likely to blog often, but since fastestknowntime.com guidelines suggest having a post of some sort with the details, here it is.

Bel Monte 50 miler was supposed to be my first race of 2021 (and a build-up run on the way to Bryce 100), but since COVID-19 is still not under control, and I am not eligible for a vaccine yet, I did not feel it would have been prudent to travel to VA for that race.  So I pulled out and looked around for some interesting other ideas.  Warner Trail appeared on my radar last year as a lesser-known yet still challenging and scenic New England route.  I also noticed that an "out and back" FKT has not yet been established, so I decided to give that a try. 

I am a back-of-the-pack runner and my typical goal is to finish in one piece first and foremost and to enjoy the journey.  Of course, what it means to enjoy an ultra-distance run or a race is a very individual thing and varies from runner to runner, and I won't get any deeper into it here.  With that in mind, I somehow came up with an "A" time goal of finishing in about 14 hours, thinking the whole out-and-back course is just over 6,000 feet of climbing over about 100K.  Rough math translated that to ~13-minute miles.  My "B" time goal was 16 hours (~15-minute miles) and anything beyond that was just going to be a grind to the finish but hopefully without injury.

Weather-wise, I've been hoping to get to the point where most of the snow and ice on the trails would be gone, but temps would still be "reasonable", and of course, no rain.  I've been going back and forth between March 13th and March 20th, and with a warm spell predicted for a couple of days before the 13th and possible rain on the horizon for the 20th, I decided to go for it on the 13th.  There were some strong winds blowing starting the night before, but I figured they won't be too much of a problem.  

I had my "aid" stops planned in North Foxborough, then Wampum Corner in Wrentham, and then at the Southern Terminus of Warner.  The two mid-stops had some gas stations and coffee shops that I was hoping to use for resupply.  I was fortunate to have a GPX of the entire trail from fastestknowntime.com, which I had assumed was created by the one-way FKT holder Steve Levandosky (thank you!).  That definitely saved me from most blunders, but I still managed to miss quite a few turns, both in the woods and off occasional roads/streets back into the woods.

I aimed to start at 4am to give myself a chance to finish during daylight with my "A" goal.  I banked a bit of sleep in the preceding days and predictably could not sleep much the night before.  Was only late by about 15 min and was off by around 4:16 am.

The wind was howling but that wasn't too bad once in the woods.  The first section went pretty well, and that was the only one where I had previously explored a couple of miles.  I think the pace was just right, though a couple of navigational mishaps made it longer by at least half a mile.  Did not help that I dropped a glove and had to backtrack to find it; the day was cold enough and I definitely needed it!  I was happy to see the daylight by the time I got to the first "aid".  Bought some additional snacks and ginger ale, but was unhappy to find the restrooms unavailable at both the Dunkin' and the gas station in North Foxborough.  Oh well. 

The second segment went just fine, with the pace drifting slower more or less as expected.  The wind subsided a bit, but the temps were still somewhere between 36-40F, so I wasn't getting rid of my top layer just yet.  I crossed quite a few streams and there were even officially marked "water holes" though I have no idea if those were for horses or humans.  None of these options looked safe enough to filter with just a regular filter flask, but perhaps with a higher-end filter, this can make the out-and-back a feasible unsupported possibility.  Carrying both food and water for the whole thing is also possible, I suppose, but that would make for a fairly heavy pack. 

Snow and ice were mostly gone with the exception of a few patches here and there, nothing bad enough to slow me down or cause me to slip, thank goodness.  Navigation continued to be a bit of a challenge in places, especially where trees came down, and also around some backyards where having lost sight of the blazes I was hoping I would not be spooking the residents too much.

Grabbed some instant ramen at Cumberland Farms and that was heaven.  I repeated that two more times on the way back -- an awesome way to get some calories, water and salt, as well as to keep myself warm.

The third segment went ok, though I've noted that the total climb being accumulated seemed significantly more than what I was expecting.  The last section around Diamond Hill had a few ups and downs, including some steep ones.  I did not regret leaving my poles at home since at the end of the day the climb was not as much compared to the extra weight, as well as the time it would have taken to switch between using the poles vs. fastening them to the pack when not in use.  The sun was shining and I had taken off my top layer, leaving just the Smartwool long sleeve, which was plenty. 

I reached the Southern Terminus in about 8.5 hours which wasn't too bad, but that's when I knew that I would be way over any of my goals.  No worries, I was careful not to allow too many negative thoughts in, and maintained a "neutral" observation mode, which seemed to work, except for the occasional loud swears when missing a turn yet again.  There is an ice cream shop just outside the Diamond Hill park, where I thought I would grab something before heading back, but I decided it wasn't worth the time and I still had enough water and food for at least a segment, so I headed back.  

No sooner than a mile on the way back, I realized I dropped my phone by accident when I slid on some old leaves.  Had to track back to find it, luckily it was just sitting in the middle of the trail.  More bonus distance and climb (facepalm).

The rest of the way was a grind and a blur though I tried to take a couple of photos.  Last 6 hours was back in the dark, and the headlight lasted just long enough that I didn't have to stop and fumble for the replacement batteries.

Overall time: 21:32:47, nothing special or anything but hey, I went the distance with some bonus. Total climb per my Coros APEX which seems fairly accurate in that department: 8,714ft. Total distance: 68.74 miles, well over the official 65, guessing it's my self-inflicted bonus distance plus maybe a little of the usual GPX drift especially on trails.

The route was fairly scenic and I came away tired but enriched by the experience and thankful we have this hidden gem of a trail, and glad that it's being maintained in a fairly good condition overall.  Bodies of water are always nice to see and there were plenty of streams, little ponds, and reservoirs, including a dam crossing.  It was interesting to go over an old ski hill that still had some lift equipment standing.  There were also a few old chimneys and foundations, and of course some views from hilltops here and there.

A week later, the legs are feeling fine.  The biggest issue is the left achilles tendon, but it's not a new issue for me, I definitely need to give it more strengthening and conditioning attention.  Fingers crossed that I can travel for Bryce 100, as this run and a fairly quick recovery definitely added some confidence that I am on track to be ready.

As always, thankful to finish in one piece, grateful for my health, moral support from my wife, guidance from my coach Greg from At Your Pace Coaching.

More photos:

The start

Tree eats sign

Mustang Farm

Eponymous

Blowdown carnage

Bluff Hill

One of a few chimneys along the way

old ski hill

One of many brooks crossed

The finish