A subtle reminder why Endurance Trail Running is #doinghardthings

Near Hale Farm & Village around miles 17 & 60

The Ramp Up
The ramp-up for this trail run would start the week following the Marji Gesick 100(ish) ... errr ... more like 108. #blametodd and #blamedanny I did not have a ton of miles the first week but I only had 3-weeks to ramp-up as I had selected a weekend where my daughter and wife would not be around so that I did not completely toast a day that would take me away from them had they been home.



The ramp-up went something like this and was right out of the playbook from what I did for the Burning River Back-50 Mile Race over the summer:

• Week One - (31.2 miles and 109 cycling miles)
• 9/26 - 1:10-hours just to see where the legs are (8 miles)
• 9/28 - 2+ hours with a Trail 1/2 marathon distance (13.1 miles)
• 9/29 - 1:22 hours with 5-minute hard hill repeats x4 (9 miles)
• Week Two - (56.1 miles and 127 cycling miles)
• 9/30 - 1:04-hours (7.5 miles)
• 10/1 - 2+ hours (12 miles) (this was four days of running in a row ... a first for me)
• 10/3 - 1:22-hours (9.90 miles)
• 10/5 - 4:48-hours (28-29 miles in the Mohican State Park)
• Week Three - (58.8 miles and 129 cycling miles)
• 10/8 - 1:22-hours (10-morning miles) 5x1-mile intervals, 1:04-hours (7.5-noon miles)
• 10/10 - 1:22-hours (10-morning miles) high-tempo, 1:04-hours (7.5-noon miles)
• 10/11 - 1:40-hours (10.1 evening miles on the course trails)
• 10/13 - 2:08-hours (13.2 miles on the start of the planned course)

Needless to say, and as I was gently reminded by both my wife and a great friend, Jeff Rupnow, this was in no way any sort of "off-season" which is where I usually am after the Marji Gesick race since I have been racing since January starting with the Snake Creek Gap MTB series. There was structure to the workouts, there were planned workouts, and frankly, there was some solid volume and intensity being baked in. This was all necessary for me to ensure I was ready for the 100k but yes ... this was definitely NOT an off-season. Truth be told, my off-season is more like a time for me to beat myself into a pulp with zero ramifications from a race perspective because there are no races.

Now, ever since the 28-mile run at Mohican on 10/5 I have been having a "tinge" of discomfort with my IT Bands. This continued on all of my runs but never manifested to anything that required me to slow down. It was a constant and gentle reminder that I MUST judiciously foam-roll and stretch in order to keep my body loose. If I do not do this, then running will quickly take me out of commission and that wasn't an option. This meant that I could not be lazy and had to make sure I was consistently foam-rolling and stretching every day.

The Route - 100k on the 2019 Burning River 100 Race Course (sans maybe 5-miles)

The sort of stuff that I do to put my mind at ease and figure out nutrition and breaking down a route for every big event.

Logistics Outside of the Trail Run

• BFF / Wife - She'll be in Wisconsin having a great time visiting family (check)
• In hindsight, I should have told her what I was planning on doing. I owe her at least that. It's a long story of why I did not and has a lot to do with how I have to mentally prepare to put my body through these types of events. Something I need to work on without a doubt but I am owning up to the mistake and poor judgment on my part.
• Jess / Best Daughter In The World - She'll be at practice and hanging out with friends (check)
• Maggie / MagPie / Lil'Snot - She'll be ... crap ... home alone and needs to be taken out
• Bestest Daughter Evah - agreed to take MagPie out twice (gonna owe someone fur sure)
• Back-up Plan - friends, friends, and more friends
• I had several friends on-call in case "bad things happened" and by that, I mean things would have needed to get very bad for me to reach out. I can push through a lot but you just never know and I am always prepared to deal with the unknown.

Nutrition & Gear Plan

• Start - 0-miles @ Home around ~7am-7:30am (first daylight is at 7:06am)
• Nathan VaporAir vest w/ 50oz bladder filled with Infint Custom Mix (cranberry)
• Shoes / Socks - Brooks Caldera 2 (2019) / Injini toed wool ankle length
• Shorts / Shirt - Saloman / UA tank + thin long sleeve + Trail-T + thin arm warmers
• Two Gels - one per hour starting at the 45-minute mark.
• IP Profin / Tylenol - as an added precaution though I do not like taking it anytime
• Salt Tablets - I have taken a salt tablet one time, ever, @ the Burning River Back 50
• iPhone w/ Ankler back-up battery + cable for charging + headphones
• Garmin Forerunner 630 + charge cable (in case it starts to die on me and it did)
• Stryd Power Meter - cuz I love data
• Cash - $60 for food or if I get into any sort of trouble that I need to pay someone for help

Hidden oasis #1

• Bag Drop #1 - ~16-miles in the woods near the Buckeye TH (est. 2.5 hours @ 16.8-miles))
• Estimated Arrival Time - Worse Case @ ~9:30am, Best Case @ 9:15am
• Two water bottles; one plain and one pre-loaded with Infinit (cranberry)
• Solid food options - sea salt & vinegar chips, mixed nuts, banana, gels, cookies
• Possibly drop off headlamp if I started with one.
• Original plan was to have this drop 11-miles in, but I changed my mind Friday afternoon knowing that I would likely not have gone thru the food or fluids in 11-miles. Also, this drop was logistically easier to drop up and pick up.

• Bag Drop #2 - ~20.5 miles hidden in the woods near

  

  Hidden oasis #2

  TH (est. 1.5-2-hours @ 9-miles)
• Estimated Arrival Time - Worse Case @ ~11:30pm, Best Case @ ~10:45
• Four water bottles (two out and two back); two plain water and two Infinit (watermelon)
• Baggy of Infini, thinking JetFuel for the caffeine boost, to pack in a vest pocket
• Solid food options - sea salt & vinegar chips, bananas, fig bars, gels, chews
• Chamois Butter for blisters, socks (just in case), bandaids, back-up battery #2
• A spare headlamp in case I need it for the return trip

• Water / Food Stop - ~26.5 miles @ Szalay's Farmers Market (est. 1-1.5 hours @ 7-miles)
• Estimated Arrival Time - Worse Case @ ~12:30pm, Best Case @ 11:45am
• Bathroom and filtered water
• Pretty much any food option that I would want/need; may need to grab solid food
• At this point make sure I have at least 4-hours worth of food
• Need enough food to make it to Kendal Lake Shelter ~12-miles from Szalay's
• Need to consider the ~12-mile trek back to Szalay's as well, i.e. more food 
• Four gels or a couple gels and 2-4 figs bars eating one item every hour + Infint
• Baggy of Infint Powder (maybe grab that at Oak Hill and use at Kendal Lake)
• Water Stop - ~32.5 miles @ Pine Hollow (est. 1-hours @ 6-miles)
• Estimated Arrival Time - Worse Case @ ~1:30pm, Best Case @ 12:45pm
• Bathrooms and filtered water
• Water Stop - ~38.5 miles @ Kendall Lake (est 1-hour @ 6-miles and the turn-around point)
• Estimated Arrival Time - Worse Case @ ~2:30pm, Best Case @ 1:45pm
• Bathrooms and water open all year long (spoke with a ranger a few days before this run)
• Stopping to top off water reserves and put down some food that I will be carrying
• Water Stop - ~44 miles @ Pine Hollow (est. 1-1.5-hours @ 6-miles)
• Estimated Arrival Time - Worse Case @ ~4pm, Best Case @ 2:45pm
• Bathrooms and filtered water
• Grab a bite to eat from what I am carrying in the vest
• Water / Food Stop - ~50-miles @ Szalay's Farmers Market (est. 1-1.5 hours @ 6-miles)
• Estimated Arrival Time - Worse Case @ ~5:30pm, Best Case @ 3:45pm
• While I will likely smell like roadkill at this point, I plan to stop and buy some food
• 12-miles left in the journey - time to toughen buttercup
• Bag Drop #2 - ~57-miles and hidden in the woods near TH (est. 1.5-hours @ 7-miles)
• Estimated Arrival Time - Worse Case @ ~7:00pm, Best Case @ 5:15pm
• Bag should have everything I could need at this point except sanity
• Grab spare headlamp in case I am going to be heading into the dark soon
• Food options - grab anything that looks good but only have ~6-miles remaining
• Water fill-up if necessary
• Bathroom Stop - ~59-miles @ the covered bridge (est. 20-30 minutes @ 2-miles)
• Estimated Arrival Time - Worse Case @ ~7:30pm, Best Case @ 5:45pm
• Good spot to take a break if need be or just keep motoring on up the road
• Final road stretch to head home from this point
• Should be down to 3-4 miles left at most as long as the Garmin is tracking correctly
• Home - ~62-miles @ Towpath Village (est 30-45 minutes @ 3-4-miles)
• Estimated Arrival Time - Worst-Case @ ~8:15pm (dark), Best Case @ 6:15pm (light)
• Don't care where the mileage is at this point but will walk the neighborhood if need be
• I hope my mileage is close and possibly over 62-miles which is the goal, 100k

The Main Event

Only so much light in the day.

I decided to take a 1/2 day of PTO so as to relax and have plenty of time to drop off my two self-support oasis bags. With a 100k planned run, one needs water and food and while there are many water locations and even some food stops in and around the CVNP, it's a smart idea to make sure that I have the nutrition when I need it and not take any chances. I woke up around my usual time of 5:30am so I had to process my slice of homemade bread + banana + PBFit + coffee. My plan was to hit the road by 7am to give myself 12-hours of daylight, well, apparently daylight in the fall starts around 7:15, so I did my usual warm-up on the SupidMill (8-minutes with an easy ramp up from 4.2 mph to 5.6 mph), got dressed, and headed out for a day in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park (CVNP). The surprise that I had to deal with were the morning temperatures @ 35*. Buurrr. I am actually fine running in cold temps, more so than cycling, however, the issue is dressing for temperatures that would shift from 35* to lower 70* and not being frozen in the morning or way overheated in the afternoon. Layers man ... layers, layers, layers. I chose my clothes selection spot on for the entire day. Used my drop bags to peel layers off as the temps rose and while I did get a little warm in the afternoon, it was nothing that got to unbearably uncomfortable.

Heading onto the Parcours Trail from the Towpath.

The run starts off with roughly 3.5 miles of paved road and I really do not enjoy running on the road but this was a nice flat warm-up before hitting the trails. Within 4.5 miles I was on the Towpath and the Burning River 100 course. Heading quickly up onto the Parcours Trail, no I won't be partaking in the pull-up, chin-up, and push-up bars this time around, after passing over the Cuyahoga Valley National Railway tracks. The climbs start right away and honestly while there are no long climbs in Ohio to speak of, a day of power climbing is worse. Constantly going up and going is absolute murder on the body whether running or cycling. Certainly running, at least in this guy's opinion, is much worse than cycling. The descents are so hard on the quads and glutes (dem'butt muscles) that they breakdown quickly and then you begin to compensate on other muscles that are not used to being called to action and that's when stuff starts to ache. Heading out of the Parcours Trail and continuing in the Summit Metro Park trails I made quick work of the Deer Trail, Sandrun Parkway, and headed onto Mingo, Fern, Cherry, and Seneca trails that tie into the Nature Realm. These trails have lots of small tributary trails where one can easily get lost. Knowing this I had pre-run this part of the course the previous weekend however I still using my phone and the RunGo app to ensure I stayed on-course. The last thing I wanted was to earn some "free extra miles" on a run that would be my longest ever. Checking the phone certainly slowed me up a bit but I tried to keep moving in the direction that I felt was correct while verifying it with the RunGo app. Only a few times did I get off course, but that was short-lived. I mostly knew the entire course since this is all basically in my backyard.

Mingo trail ... quite pitchy.

It took me 2-hours to head out of the Summit Metro Park trails before hitting the Towpath on my way to the bottom of the O'Neil Woods trails (and area that I run nearly every week). I knew that 2-hours was longer than I wanted but I kept my wits about me and continued to motor on. The Towpath section went quickly, along with a short road section before being back on the trail. Man, I love trails. Knowing these trails like the back of my hand made them go by quickly and at the bottom of this section, I had planted a small OASIS in a zip-lock bagged and marked in case it was discovered to place not move it or take it (ya just never know).  I was about 15-minutes off my estimated pace @ 2:45-hours, but that was fine. The temps were warming up and I was still feeling really good. At this point I was 16.8(ish) miles into the run, so I threw down a Nature Bakery fig bar (both bars), a gel, refilled my water bladder, covered the drop with leaves, and headed my way to onto the road through the Hale Farm and Village and onto the Furnace Run Trails just over the covered bridge. It was cool because by now it was around 10:15am and as I ran over the bridge there was a painter with an easel on the bridge and lots of folks out hiking and taking in the beautiful fall foliage. The colors on the trees were at their peak this weekend and it was such a gorgeous day. I trucked on through keeping my mind and eyes on the end goal and headed into the woods again, still feeling good.

Along the Sylvan Lake on the Plateau Trail.

 After reaching the top of Furnace Run there is a short road section, 2-miles, that leads into the Plateau and Oak Hill trails. These are another set of trails where one can easily mistakingly go down the wrong path as the Oak Hill trail is a smaller loop inside of the more outer Plateau trail loop and they intersect in quite a few places. Pulled out the phone each time I got to a connecting trail to make sure I was heading in the right direction and once I got through most to of the spider web of trail intersections and past the two small lakes (or are they really ponds?) that are tucked away along the way, I put the phone away and continued on and reached my second oasis drop bag.

Hidden underneath an old fallen tree and tucked under the root system I grabbed the bag, went to town on a small handful of Sea Salt & Vinegar chips (these things are heavenly during events that are long and painful), grabbed a mini bag of trail mix (cuz ... peanuts, raisins, and M&Ms ... nuff'said), refilled my pack bladder, ensured that my battery back-up was still showing green (I packed a back-up battery for the back-up battery), dropped my headlamp (cuz I knew I may need it on the trip back home), repacked the drop bag, and after tucking it away headed across the train tracks and the 2-miles of Towpath that lands me at the Szalay's Farmers Market. I did bring $60 of cash for buying food at the market but this being so early in the run I decided to just blow past it. I also took note that I was at 27-miles in at this point and still feeling pretty good, so ... rock and roll baby and time to head onto the Valley Bridle Trails across the Szalay's Corn Fields.

Once I ran through the land-mines, aka Valley "Bridal" Trail, I headed thru Robinson field and onto Langes Run. A trail that I have become very familiar with while training for the  Burning River Back 50-mile Race. More steep ups, a few flat-ish sections, steep downs, and a healthy dose of roots and some stream crossings. Along the way a couple out hiking the trail kindly moved aside as I was passing through. The awesome part about this is that it happened to be a friend and colleague I used to work for, Jon Kelly (and his wife). I have not seen John in a few years since he left the company so it's funny that the way I meet him years later is out in the woods. Small world for sure. He yelled out my name and I turned and saw who it was. Such a great surprise. I took a moment to shake his hand, say something like I had to keep going but it was great to see him and motored on. That seriously made for a great memory on this all-day adventure. As Langes winds its way up the hillside, it turns into Wetmore trail (which continues to be awesomely not wet), and lands me at the Pine Hollow TH where there are more bathrooms and good water supply. 

Somewhere along the Salt Run Trail.

About 6-miles left to my turn around point but not willing to take any chances, I topped off my water (or so I thought) and headed across a field to the Salt Run trail. Salt Run is a really fun trail but with this trail, you are either going straight up or straight down with a couple of short flat sections to recoup a bit. Salt Run dumps off near Kendall Lake and if I wanted to I could have been at the shelter in less than 1-mile but alas I still needed to tackle the Cross Country trail. In total, from Pine Hollow to the Kendall Lake shelter it was a total of 6-miles. This felt like the longest 6-miles because about 2-miles out I had exhausted my water supply. Not good as the temps were rising and I was really thirsty. I finally made it to the Kendall Lake shelter and wouldn't ya know it there was a family having a birthday celebration right by water fountains. No worries, they were not going to stop me from getting my much-needed fill of good ole'H2O. Funny thing is that I overheard one of the ladies say that she had 3-sandwiches left and wanted to know if anyone wanted anything else to eat. I thought to myself ... damn ... I'll take one. LOL, but of course I didn't say anything, loaded up my water bladder, repacked it, grabbed a Gel to eat, and headed out. It was at this time that I noticed my Garmin watch battery was getting low and my battery back-up was showing yellow status. I had a spare back-up battery however it was back at the second oasis drop and at this point a solid 14-miles away from me. Fortunately, I packed the charging cable for the watch so I switched off the iPhone music (SiriusXM), threw the charging cable onto the back-up battery and watch, and proceeded to just carry the battery in the hand that I had the watch on. Even though there was not much charge left to the battery with a few miles the watch was fully charged but the battery was dead. Yet again, I was prepared because I also packed my iPod shuffle for just such a situation so to prevent me from killing my iPhone battery I plugged the headphones into the iPod and viola ... music to my ears. Quite literally. 

See that building? quarter-mile away (if you cut the course)

At this point, I was over 38-miles into the adventure and while 38-miles is over halfway done, my mind was already wandering with thoughts of bagging this whole thing after reaching Szalay's Farmers Market which would be 50-ish miles. This would be my second 50-miler this year and I think I would have been ok with that ... I think. I still had 24-miles left and that's just shy of a full marathon distance. Then my mind started thinking of all the sub-distances I was doing in one day. I was running 2.37 marathon distances, 4.7 1/2 marathon distances, 10 10k distances, and of course 20 5k distances. As Angie's grandfather used to say all the time ... CRIPES!! As I made my way back through what I had already run I knew that my pace was slowing. Perhaps some of this was mental, but I was definitely feeling the IT Bands begin to remind me that I am 47-years old and the body, while resilient, was beginning to break down. Descents were slower, climbs were slower, and the flats, what there were of them, were my friend as that is where I could run and try to keep some sense of a pace. I was s bit surprised that while it took me 1:10-hours from Pine Hollow TH to Kendall Lake shelter, it took my 1:15-hours to make my way back. Not bad since I felt like it took more like two years.

After topping off the water again, I headed onto the Wetmore trails and was starting to get a little more positive with my attitude because I knew that Szalays was within 7-miles which puts me at my second 50-mile distance for the year. During the Wetmore and Langes Run trails, the emotions were also running quite high. Angie figured out what I was up to and I did plan on telling her during the run I kept putting it off because I just wanted to focus on the task at hand. She texted me and asked how the run was going. She mentioned that she had our good friend Jodi on stand-by in case I needed anything, that she loved me, and supported me. Well, that's all it took because I just broke down into tears. It's crazy how I get way more emotional during runs that long cycling events. Maybe its because I feel like these long runs are just brutal on the body and mind. Not to take anything away from cycling, but for me, the long trail runs are just more difficult. I am glad I didn't come along any other hikers or runners at that moment because I was a hot mess. I quickly pulled myself back together as I climbed one of the many steep pitches along Langes Run trail and looked forward to crossing Robinson trail and onto the Valley Bridal trail. The Vallet Bridal trail is quite pitted so you have to watch your footing to prevent a quick ankle roll but it was a welcome sight because it's flat. I made quick work of the trail and made my way over to Szalay's Farmers Market.

Packed Szalay's Farmers Market ... but ... I wanted a Coke!!

Now, it's a Saturday, a beautiful day, and temps were perfect so naturally, this place was hoppin!! Cars lined the road up and down so I knew it was going to be busy. All I wanted to do was fill my water bladder at the filtered water station (so awesome this is available) and grab a coke and something tasty to eat. My first thought was a turkey burger cuz that sounded damn good right about now (I was 50.5 miles in at this point). After filling my water bladder I walked over to the market and the lines were just terrible. I really wanted a Coke ... like REALLY wanted a coke. I decided that it would be better to wait a few minutes than just blast thru this stop even though my second oasis drop was 3-miles from here. Fortunately, and only slightly planned, a nice lady let me in front of her when she noticed (I may have dropped a subtle hint) which put me third in line. The lady was really nice, so I began to tell her what I was going like a blabbering idiot. A few of the people dropped their jaws, literally, when I told them I was running 100k, called me nuts, but still didn't let me just the line. Oh well, I tried. While in line the Carmel Apple homemade cookies looked awesome, so I grabbed two to add to my crack-head can of coke. I thanked the lady quite a few times and headed out. Damn the coke and cookies really hit the spot and were exactly what I needed. The turkey burger would have been even more awesome, but I wasn't going to wait in line for another 10-minutes. I wanted to get moving, the legs just hate stopping for more than a few minutes, and I had easily spent 10+ minutes at Szalay's. 

Sugar Bomb

Heading back onto the Towpath for 2-ish miles to the bottom of the Plateau trail where my drop bag was hidden away, I tore into the two Carmel Apple cookies. Ate those things like a friggin cookie sandwich while downing the coke like nobody's business. Of course, once I finished the coke I had to find a place to put it while I started to run. The Nathan Vaporair pack has two large front pockets for bottles so I crushed the can, no not on my head, and stuffed it into the right front pocket. I am glad that it was only a 2-mile trek to my drop bag because every stride I took was met with the sound of the can compressing and uncompressing. No way I could have tolerated that for very long. I made good time on the Towpath trail and after crossing over the railroad tracks, I got to the Plateau trail and hastily uncovered my drop bag as the light was slowly disappearing and I knew my time w/o needing a headlamp would soon be over. 

Just jaw-dropping scenic views throughout the CVNP.

 I grabbed the headlamp, grabbed my second small bag of chips and trail mix (still hungry), a few swigs off the water bottle, and then repacked the bag under the tree roots and headed up the Plateau trail climb. This trail was going to be a real battle for me. On any normal trail run day, I don't find this trail difficult and I would call it flat. Today, at 53-miles, it was going to be torture. Not only did every small climb and every small descent remind me of the stressed-out IT Bands, but I also needed to make sure I did not lose the planned route through the labyrinth of trails. Being quite fatigued I pulled out my phone every so often to ensure I was headed in the right direction. Once I made my way past the second pond I knew I had about 1-mile left before popping out into the trailhead parking lot. Finally popped out into the parking and just kept trucking for the 1-mile or so road section that connects back to the Furnace Run trail. By this time the light was all but gone so I lit up my trusty Petzl headlamp and slowly made my way down the steep descent. My eyes took a while to adjust to the light changes so I really took my good ole'time making my way through this section and my body was torched so moving slow was in my best interest.

After reaching the Covered Bridge, from this point, I was at 59-miles and had 3-ish miles left. Thank goodness. It was all road and while most of it was off the beaten path, I knew that the last 1.5 miles I would have to deal with the cars and the blasting of bright headlights damn near blinding me half the time. I seriously walked probably 3 of the four last miles only to hasten my pace to reduce the chances of cars taking me out. I threw the headlamp into full-on brightness mode but it didn't seem to make a difference to the drivers. They all seemed surprised at the last second that there was a human being headed right towards them. Giving the benefit of the doubt I totally get that. What nutjob would be out running on a Saturday night and on the road nonetheless? The final blind corner, which I hate running even during the daylight, was not too terrible as only 1-2 cars came around the corner and I made darn sure I was stopped and well off the road. I was too tired to think that I could jump out of the way at the last second so as soon as I saw any hint of a headlight I was off the road. 

Then ... it happened, at the bottom of the development where I turned to walk up "The Final Insult" (its what I call the climb into the development where I live), the Garmin flipped over to 62-miles. That final little walk up the climb would easily put me over 62.13, my 100k goal. I breathed a massive sigh of relief, trekked up the hill, took the right onto my street, headed up the driveway, and opened the garage door to get my arse inside. What's the first thing I did when I got home? I fed the pup. ;-)

#doneanddusted

Didn't polish it all, but gave it a healthy attempt.

The After-Math

• After texting a bit with Angie (she noticed I finally got home), I got cleaned up, ordered some pick-up Mexican (Chicken Fajitas sounded damn tasty), and headed out to get my food (and ice cream from a local shop cuz damn it I earned the ice cream!!)
• Judicious use of my compression boots. While I do not usually get into the boots after really long events (just too tired and lazy), I used them for about an hour before shutting the light off at midnight.
• Seeing as how I don't sleep after big events, I plan to pick up my drop bags early morning after I figure out how to walk down the stairs and make some coffee. Yes, I am definitely sore and it's mostly the inside of both knees.
• Coffee if my friend today but if I can spin the legs and not feel any pain (fatigue is a whole other story), then I will. I live in Ohio and the nice days will soon be replaced with Old Man Winter.

Top of Brandywine Falls.

• After 600mg of Ibuprofen, I am happy to report that I can walk up and downstairs with zero pain, so ... that's something I suppose. Still feeling really fatigued of course.
• I started writing this blog post, washed the jeep, washed my Pivot MTB, and did a bit of cleaning around the house of all my crap from the run.
• What sounded good for breakfast? Pancakes and pancakes from a small local cafe near home. Got there, ordered one of their plate-sized pancakes, the veggie skillet w/ potatoes and an over-easy egg on top, and of course more COFFEE!! Damn near finished it all but not quite.
• I rode my bike, believe it or not, for 35-miles. Right IT Band was crying a little bit, but after a while it was all good and I got a really nice ride in with a few of the members of the Run/Bike/Swim group the Commandos (don't ask ... LOL), made my way past Szalay's (looking a bit cleaner compared to yesterday), grabbed a bunch of veggies, and headed home.
• And now ... my arse is on the couch ... I'm beat.

How did I do against my time estimates?

• Bag Drop #1 - ~16-miles in the woods near the Buckeye TH (est. 2.5 hours @ 16.8-miles))
• Estimated Arrival Time - Worse Case @ ~9:30am, Best Case @ 9:15am
• Actual Arrival Time - ~2:48 (total hours) @ 
• Bag Drop #2 - ~24.5 miles hidden in the woods near TH (est. 1.5-2-hours @ 9-miles)
• Estimated Arrival Time - Worse Case @ ~11:30pm, Best Case @ ~10:45
• Actual Arrival Time - ~4:16 (total hours) @ 
• Water / Food Stop - ~26.5 miles @ Szalay's Farmers Market (est. 20-30 minutes @ 2-miles)
• Estimated Arrival Time - Worse Case @ ~12:00pm, Best Case @ 11:05am
• Actual Arrival Time - ~4:42 (total hours) @ (including refueling)
• Water Stop - ~32.5 miles @ Pine Hollow (est. 1-hours @ 6-miles)
• Estimated Arrival Time - Worse Case @ ~1:30pm, Best Case @ 12:45pm
• Actual Arrival Time - ~5:43 (total hours) @ 
• Water Stop - ~38.5 miles @ Kendall Lake (est 1-hour @ 6-miles and the turn-around point)
• Estimated Arrival Time - Worse Case @ ~2:30pm, Best Case @ 1:45pm
• Actual Arrival Time - 
• Water Stop - ~44 miles @ Pine Hollow (est. 1-1.5-hours @ 6-miles)
• Estimated Arrival Time - Worse Case @ ~4pm, Best Case @ 2:45pm
• Actual Arrival Time - 
• Water / Food Stop - ~50-miles @ Szalay's Farmers Market (est. 1-1.5 hours @ 6-miles)
• Estimated Arrival Time - Worse Case @ ~5:30pm, Best Case @ 3:45pm
• Actual Arrival Time - 
• Bag Drop #2 - ~57-miles and hidden in the woods near TH (est. 1.5-hours @ 7-miles)
• Estimated Arrival Time - Worse Case @ ~7:00pm, Best Case @ 5:15pm
• Actual Arrival Time - 
• Bathroom Stop - ~59-miles @ the covered bridge (est. 20-30 minutes @ 2-miles)
• Estimated Arrival Time - Worse Case @ ~7:30pm, Best Case @ 5:45pm
• Actual Arrival Time- 
• Home - ~62-miles @ Towpath Village (est 30-45 minutes @ 3-4-miles)
• Estimated Arrival Time - Worst-Case @ ~8:15pm (dark), Best Case @ 6:15pm (light)
• Actual Arrival Time - 

The next question is ... how long until I register for the Burning River 100? Pretty sure I need to think through that decision a bit or wait until I forget about the pain I put my body through and mindlessly sign up after being poked and prodded by my friends. 

#happytrails