Story
My choice to save this one for last was based almost entirely on my desire to get back in the water after finishing. I arrived 5 minutes before my cut-off, and took 7 minutes to get ready, putting my parenting responsibilities at risk if I didn’t make it home efficiently.
I was so close to throwing in the towel at this point, feeling like I had pretty much nothing left in the tank, but still had almost 8 miles and f’ing Lick Brook to climb. I knew I just needed to maintain 15:00 pace, and gave myself the out of calling it quits if I wasn’t holding pace by the time I made it to where the FLT joins up with the new stair path before continuing up.
Well, I somehow held on all the way up, and once I hit the 2 mile mark, passed the point of no return and knew I’d be pushing through to finish. It was then that I drank everything in my hydration belt, the first time I’d ever worn it running. You know it’s going to be rough if I’m purposely choosing to carry extra weight!
By the time I made it up to Yaple, my legs were completely shot. I was expecting ahead of time for that road stretch to feel like hell on Earth, and my quads seizing up half-way through meant I needed to walk most of the rest of it, even though it was slightly downhill, but once I got onto the Buttermilk trails, things started to ease up.
Similar to the brain scramblies, I know the hallucinations start for me around mile 25, so I freaked out a bit near the dam upon seeing the flash of an animal that I’m sure wasn’t actually there. I made it back to Yaple, cursed for the 100th time today, and struggled back to the orange blazes. I knew South Hill Cider was a turning point, in that it was all downhill from there.
Today had a lot of sections with good flow, and a lot that hurt, but I feel like once I hit the bottom of Lick Brook, I realized how close I was and couldn’t wait for the creek crossing, which helped carry me through the last mile. The water was only 18-24" deep, but for an instant I felt refreshed enough to kick the last bit.
I returned to the creek upon finishing, drank a bottle of Gatorade and watched the wildlife before staggering back to my car. Not chocolate bar this time, as it obviously would have melted, but I’m about to go get one right now!
I’m definitely proud to have completed this, partly because I didn’t think I was in ultra shape but this makes me think I’m not that far off, and especially around the perseverance required to push through and actually finish. I think if I had some more time, I could have slowed down at the “aid stations” which may have helped make the actual running part easier. I’m not sure given the location of the courses that there would be a better order to run them in on a hot day – I’d either need to wait for better weather, or pull an all-nighter to do it in the early morning.
But all in all, a fun day on the trails – thanks to everyone who helps put the Challenge together!
Part 4 - Lindsay-Parsons
5 - Treman Trailipop.gpx (233.3 KB)