Story
**What else is there to do between volunteer shifts at FL 50s?
(Note to editors: I was falling asleep last night trying to post this so finishing now)
When I completed this course as part of the 2023 Challenge, I was recovering from Lyme disease, and was limited to “fast” hiking. So I had always wanted to come back and truly run it, but this course has proven to be logistically one of the toughest to fit into my schedule. So I vowed to make it part of my FL50s experience this year…but… I would have tried during Thursday course marking, but I was assigned a different section (that no one got lost one, yay!). No problem, there is the Friday course check - but the afternoon thunderstorm delayed my arrival. So on Saturday, during the race, I seized a break in the aid station support I was doing to squeeze this in. And I was glad I did! I didn’t have easy access to my phone/camera during the run, and there were lots of other runners out, so I didn’t add to the collection, but basically, the trail looked like prior posters photos showed.
I chose to run over from Potomac campground (home of the FL50s) to the start - and it was a good thing, as I encountered a wayward (way wayward) FL50 racer who had somehow missed the turn up the Backbone trail. I set him straight and got myself going. This time I remembered to hit the lap button on my watch when I started, which was good because the RunGo lady was well, off in her timing, giving me a 1 mile time shortly after I started (?!?) - but at least her directions were good. That, and the pink flags for the race course when I was on it…
I found the trails much less muddy than expected, given that every FL50 runner had been there at least once - but there was still plenty of mud to work around. I was passing the occasional racer so was very careful when my course veered off theirs; even though all were on their second lap, I didn’t want to lead them astray. And there was that brief section where I was running into traffic - calling out “wrong way runner” each time.
I got to the South Beach aid station and greeted @stephen-jesch who let me grab some water, chips and fig bars before I headed out on the loop. I benefited here from the markings - last time I struggled a bit on the first little stretch of the FLT but it was easy to follow the flags (thanks @Dave_K!) I also benefited from 2 racers who passed me, which woke me up from a semi-stupor and got me back on pace, quickly overtaking them and getting out of ahead of them because I was about to veer off their course briefly
Except I didn’t. The one anomoly of the run…I couldn’t find the South Slope trail on the other side of Burnt Hill Road. I had noted that the junction on the other side with the Interloken Trail was well marked, so I had assumed… Anyhow, given the circumstances, I did just stay on Burnt Hill Road and waited for the RunGo lady to catch up to me. Which she did, just in time for another stop by the Aid Station for a final refuel.
The next leg passed quickly - as I was now running in the same direction as the racers, there were only a couple that I passed. I was sad that the cows were no longer crowding the gate at the Matthew Smith road crossing - and more sad that the trough on the other side was as muddy and deep as always. I pushed hard on the forested stretch that followed, trying to make sure I was well away from other runners. I stopped briefly out of site after the Ravine Trail intersection to make sure I wasn’t followed - and discovered that was a big mistake. I couldn’t get started running again, so I hiked the last half-mile or so back to the finish of the course, and ultimately back to the campground. And it was there I discovered just how humid it was - my gear was soaked through with sweat.
All in all, a great run…a couple of quick closing notes:
- I took my time from the lap times on my watch- ; the RunGo time was weirdly high, but seemed to reflect the odd “1 mile” statement way to early in the run..
- As I was taking down the South Beach aid station, Chris Petroff raced by, working on building his points lead in the FLRC Challenge. I noted that he came off of the Interloken Trail, so perhaps he found the South Shore trailhead that I couldn’t