Use this topic for posts that will collect community stars for the Abbott Ascent course. You can also ask questions or make comments about this course.
Here’s how it works.
Click the “Post Using This Template” button below to create a new post with a Story heading and boilerplate text.
Replace the boilerplate text with your report for one or both sections. The Story header is key for distinguishing between posts and replies—don’t change it.
Your post must be on the same calendar day as your run as entered in the leaderboard.
Story
To pick up a community star, replace this text with a write-up of what your run was like, a photo you took on the run, a link to your Strava track, or something similar. Don’t delete the Story heading above.
This Was a Trail Run!
The sun was out and it felt like Spring! You will get your feet very wet on this course right now. Trail along the stream on the first part of the Abbott Loop and the trail through the stream prior to the climb to The Pinnacle make it unavoidable. There are also many trees down across the trail but only one requires a bit of a scramble. One part of the trail is close to being washed out but looks good for now. It is near the bottom of the descent to Michigan Hollow Road about mile 3.4 or so, here:
And also lots of big downed trees blocking the trail - some required some clambering or diversion. I’d forgotten that aside from the humongous hills, this course has some wonderful long downhills which I thoroughly enjoyed.
I scouted the Abbott in preparation for the Down & Dirty next weekend. Some mud but overall pretty dry given the time of year. Sadly, the hills have gotten steeper and longer than what I recall from previous runs. Either that, or I’m getting older and slower. We’ll have a few very brief detours around two downed trees and a bees nest on the east side (23k only) if the trail steward or I can’t get them removed in time. Otherwise the loop is in great shape.
Ah! The sound of crunchy leaves underfoot…it is both a blessing - dry trail! - and a curse - hidden roots and rocks and stumps and other things waiting to trip you up - but frankly for me the former outweighs the latter. Add in the fact that it was a marvelous sunny day with a perfect running temperature and that there were additional trail markings in advance of the race the next day - and, well, to heck with all the warnings about rapid large increases in running mileage…
Well, not really - I knew I was pushing it physically, and that I was unlikely to encounter anyone else out there, so I really dialed back on the pace, and focused on completing, not competing. And while the reduced pace made some sections like the hill climbs, which I hiked, and the various sections running along and through streams seem endless, it also made the good stretches - the downhills with widened tracks and few roots; the leaf-carpeted flat stretches with few roots - that much more enjoyable. And while I did eventually encounter some people - first a couple hiking together, then a solo hiker - on my way up to the Pinnacles (requisite selfie attached!) - that was about the only sign of fauna. Well, okay, there were a couple of bugs that managed to fly into my mouth (ugh) but there were none landing and biting.
All in all, an excellent - if measured - day on the trail!
The Abbott is well marked and broken in for tomorrow’s race, with alot of help from @AdamMoody The only thing we forgot was a leaf blower to clear the trail. I’m glad to here that @bobtalda made use of the flags today during his Challenge run.
