2023 Unsupported Trail Race Unofficial Challenge #27

Winter Solstice 26.2 km (16.3-miles)

Back to Bear Hole with J Evil & K2 to celebrate the Winter Solstice.

It was cold at our 9:00 a.m. start, low twenties, but sunny.

Later on, around noon, the sun disappeared and despite it getting warmer, the dampness was very noticeable (especially after being out on our feet for over 3-hrs).

K2 led J on the 3.1-mile loop, then J switched to some mountain biking.  

K2 continued for two-full loops and pieces of a third.

I kept a steady pace throughout, with my best speed at 5.1 mph.  I held this amazingly well, and I managed to hit 14.9-miles still averaging 5.0 mph.  I didn't hit the wall totally until the last half-mile, where my gps showed me traveling at a mere 2.3 mph.  

I decided to call it a day a few minutes later at the parking lot.  We scheduled to be out as much as four-hours but my day was done at ~3:25:00.

The things that were highpoints for me were:

Managing 15 good miles and 16.2 total miles overall was pretty great.

The last time I had a better mileage day was October 9th, 2021 on the Burlington Trail Run.

I ran controlled but hard "enough".  5 mph average for 15 miles is very productive.  I can build on this.

Once I can comfortably run in the 13 - 18 mile range, even cutting the speed back to 4.5 mph, I believe I will be marathon ready once again.  It has been too long.

Only negative was going wrong a few times around Ashley Pond - I do not know the roads well enough and ended up having to do some backtracking there.  No big deal.