I met up with Chris, Ralph and Jim for a 24.3 mile trail run/hike in Lock Haven PA. Race morning was cool and overcast with 345 starters. The first 3.5 miles or so is on a paved road before we hit the trail. Greeting us at the entrance into the woods was the snake warning sign. The first "hill" is an old logging sluice- straight up- no switchbacks. I had a hard time with breathing, nerves, low blood sugar and stopped several times to let faster runners pass me. I couldn't believe how many passed me on that hill! At Chris' urging I took a gel and a lot of water with a salt tab and was feeling much better in 15 minutes. We had lost a lot of ground and remained in the back of the pack for the rest of the race. Much of the trail was loose rock and footing was precarious. In addition it was my first time using trekking poles and I'm used to packed dirt trails. Other places were soft dirt and sand and still others were just plain imbedded rock. After the initial climb we encountered a lot of runnable areas with gentle inclines and declines as we headed further into the forest and steady elevation gain.
The next climb was brutal- my first time in a boulder field. Chris went on up and I took my time as footing was extremely tricky. I made better time on the way down which put us at around the 8 mile point with the speedy runners nearby at their 16-mile checkpoint. There was a runner taken off the course at this point with a lower leg injury. We had more good terrain with several hills as we headed upward to the summit.
The view from the summit was gorgeous- we started the downhill approach around the mountain before reachng the last major climb. As difficult as the course had been so far we knew the most difficult 3 miles were still ahead of us.
Our final climb was in 3 parts- the first uphill had a rope- I'd guess it was between 45 and 60 degree grade. A local Boy Scout troop offered to carry backpacks and gear so we could use both hands to negotiate the cable. I respectfully declined their kind offer since my Camelbak has been very comfortable so far. It was a dry surface and rocks fell constantly during the one-at-a-time ascent and we made it to the top. The next part was just as steep, only without a cable. As we crested the top of this hill we had our first look at the massive boulder field ahead. We could not see the top from where we stood at the bottom.
I never looked up- just concentrated on placing one foot in front of the other and got to the top. There was another snake warning here, too. Next we had a very long and steep downhill out of the woods and onto the paved road to the finish area. My downhill technique has improved with practice and a small knee strap.
This was one tough trail challenge and I look forward to running this again in 2006.