Today was my first attempt of back to back 20+ mile trail
runs at Pine Grove Furnace State Park. I
explored some trails yesterday and it went pretty well, but I wanted to try
something different today. I wanted to
at least run 20 miles. I was hoping for
22 miles, to get to 80 total for the week.
If I felt great, I wanted to go to 25 or more.
I didn’t sleep well, so I started a little later than I had
planned to. It was around 10:30 in the
morning when I got going. I revised my
plan a little bit. I would take a
smaller trail from the campground to the Appalachian Trail and then that climbs
gradually to the Pole Steeple Outlook.
The outlook has a great view of the park and surrounding mountains. After that loop, I’d head out a different
way.
I wore my compression shorts and that was a big help. I’m happy to report no chafing issues. I also wore a short sleeve shirt. At times, it was cloudy and cool. Other times, it was sunny and warm. It made things a little tricky. The biggest issue was that my shoes were wet
from last night and had not totally dried out.
I wasn’t even a mile into the run when my socks must’ve got
wet from my shoes. I felt hot spots on
the inside of both of my feet. This was
very frustrating so early on and made me wonder if I might have to abandon
plans early on.
The AT was a flat stone path through the park for some
time. I actually went through a beach
briefly before I got to it. The AT then
split off and began climbing. The most
annoying thing was that the trail had running water coming down it in a lot of
spots. As if my shoes weren’t wet
enough.
I ran past a few hikers.
The trail was climbing gradually, so I did a combination of running and
hiking. If my breathing got too heavy, I
made sure to hike. It was tricky because
it was quite runnable, but I had to save myself for later on.
It seemed like awhile until I got to the Pole Steeple
Trail. At first, I went through what I
thought might be the trail, but it was just a camping area. Finally, I arrived at that trail and ran it
for short bit. I then got to the overlook. It was a great panoramic view. I took a few photos since I had my GoPro with
me. I added a video too. I was back on my way quickly.
I ran down the hill on the steeper side of the trail. This was steep and rocky. One part had an easier path down, but of
course I took the more challenging one.
I flew past a hiker and was alongside the lake.
I was now headed back to the camper. I had a couple miles to go. My feet were still sore and I was really thinking
that I would shorten the run. I didn’t
want to run on a boring trail, so I took Mountain Creek Trail. This was a nice, little nature trail along a
creek. I had to cross some small water
sections and I joked to myself that at least I didn’t have to cross the creek.
Not long after thinking about that, the trail went right
into the creek. I wasn’t up for a creek
crossing at this point and the creek was quite high. I was about .4 miles out on this trail, so I
had to head back. At least I added mileage.
I headed back the way I came and added the other small trail
around our campground. Because of all
the early climbing, this first part of the run took much longer than I thought
it would. My pace was well over 11
minutes. It was slow. I had 8.8 miles in the books.
I rested up. I
refilled my water bottle and grabbed some more GU Chomps. I ate a few pretzels and drank some Coke
too. Since my feet were hurting, I
figured that I needed to at least get to mile 12. Then, I’d have 70 total for the week. I decided to change socks. That ended up being a huge help.
The one thing that does suck about this park is that it is
hard to not run on roads before getting to the trail. I ran on the road for about a mile. I was then onto the Buck Ridge Trail. This trail goes 6 miles to the Kings Gap
Environmental Center. I had no plans of
running that far.
It has some early climbing and I felt better than I did at
the end of the last segment. There was
an awesome pine tree trail segment. The
trail was very soft and I decided to nickname it Bambi’s Pillows. It was like running on pillows.
This section was quite wet too. There was some sand on the trail as
well. The nearby mountain has a huge
sand quarry. I just kept running when I
could and hiking here and there. My back
had been killing me earlier, but I think that was because I had the GoPro. I left it back at the camper during this
trip.
I kept focusing on each half mile ahead or so. The farther I could get out, the more mileage
I would end up with. Even after
everything leveled off, the trail got very wet as it went through old
roads. This section seemed more open and
in a valley.
The legs were hurting and I was starting to tire, but I kept
plugging along. I told myself that I had
to get to 12.5 miles. Then, I’d be at 16
miles when I got back to the camper. It
was hard to do, especially with how wet every section was up until then. I tried running fast through those sections,
but my feet were still soaked.
Finally, I hit 12.5 miles and turned around. It was certainly easier terrain coming
back. It was a lot more downhill,
especially toward the end. However, my
body was also losing it and I was running low on water.
It was great to get back to Pine Grove Furnace State Park. I still had almost a mile to get the
camper. Plus, I was going to run on the
trail around our campground to add distance.
I finished up this part exhausted, but happy that I pushed through it. I ran briefly around the campground to hit
mile 17.
I knew another break would be huge. I figured that now I could at least get in 20
miles. I’d push myself for 22
miles. Running along the lake on the
flat trail sucks, but at least it would be easier on my body. I just enjoyed every little mile I made.
Early on, it was through the nature trails again. Quickly, I was on the stone AT section. I plugged along. When I AT split, I stayed on the other trail. I didn’t care for this surface, so I ran to
the other side of the Mountain Creek Trail.
I couldn’t run on this trail long, because it was
flooded. The recent rain is messing with
everything. I turned around about 2.25
miles out. I needed to make up a half
mile somewhere.
As I was passing the AT, someone yelled. I looked all around and didn’t see him. It turns out it was my dad coming down the
AT. I had run most of this segment, but
I was walking at that point. I walked
with him briefly. Although I was
struggling, my pace was still quite good.
It was under 11:30.
I started to run again and left him. I ran a short trail called the Swamp
Trail. That added about a quarter of a
mile. My quads were starting to get sore
when I hit mile 21. I sputtered along. I ran around the campground on the trail
again.
I had to add a short distance to get to mile 22. I ran to the end of the campground and
stopped. I was beat, but happy to be
done. Early on, it didn’t seem like I’d
get close to pulling this off, but I managed to do. It is amazing how you can just keep going.
22 miles – 4:10:41 (11:24 pace)
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