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My original plan was to get out of work at 5:00 to start the Tough Tarmac Challenge in T-Burg. But after the global IT nuclear meltdown thing, there was no reason to come in to work this morning. The plan changed to run two or three courses in the morning, work in the afternoon, then run the remaining ones to finish before dark.
It started off rough, before I even got to the market. I dropped the kids at daycare in Dryden and followed Google maps for the most direct route to Brookton’s Market. It turns out Irish Settlement road is closed for a stretch just south of Hammond Hill Road (where you turn left for the HH State Forest main parking lot.) After taking a roundabout driving route, driving through a construction zone, and trying to find the best spot to park, I finally got scanned the sign and started running at 9:33. The first two miles took me through three work zones where the road was partially closed for teams to trim trees around the powerlines.
My original plan was to save this course for last, finishing well after dark. A perk of the earlier start is that I was actually rewarded with Valley View’s valley views. (The only other time I ran this one was the middle of the night during the 100k.) Plus the mercury was only in the mid-60s, so baking into the asphalt without tree cover was not in the cards today. After a casual effort I finished feeling good.