Mt. Tammany & Mt. Minsi

This weekend was disappointing.  Between work and football and shitty weather, I didn't run at all.  I only ran twice last week, in fact and had a light October overall.  It is time to get back into gear.

Over the weekend, I decided to email the DWG Fatt Ass race director and see if any spots were available for this coming weekend's 50k.  It was free and I looked at it for awhile.  However, I thought perhaps I'd try another marathon.  By the time I changed my mind, it was sold out.  I was thrilled when he said they did have spots and he'd add me to the list.

I ran and hiked the DWG several times in the last few weeks.  I knew it is a crazy, tough course.  I like the challenge.  It summits Mt. Tammany twice and Mt. Minsi once.  Plus, it goes out to Sunfish Pond, which is another climb.  If I had to guess, I'd say it is over 6,000 feet of elevation gain.  Plus, it is super rocky and technical.

I decided that I would run the parts of the course that I had not seen yet (at least most of them).  The plan was to park at the start in PA, run up Mt. Tammany and then come back and run up Mt. Minsi.  That is the start and end of the course and I figured that it would be about half of the course.

I didn't work, so I went out early in the afternoon.  I didn't eat breakfast until late, so I never had lunch.  I'm sure I was light on calories and that didn't exactly help during this run.  I found the parking area without too much trouble.  There is a limit of 50 people for the race.

I wasn't sure what to wear.  Without wind, it was nice.  I was going to go with short sleeves.  However, I decided on a light weight long sleeve orange shirt.  That was perfect for the windy parts at the top of the mountains.  I may wash that and wear it for the race.  I also had on a glove on my water bottle hand, since that hand got cold during last week's run. 

The course starts off by following the northbound Appalachian Trail.  It goes downhill.  Then, you run across the bridge next to Route 80.  It is still a ways to go yet until you hit the Mt. Tammany Trail.  It was nearly 2 miles of pavement up to that point.  While I don't like running on the pavement, it is my strength and I'll run that section relatively fast during the race.

I had hiked Mt. Tammany before, but never ran it.  I knew it was difficult, but I forgot how difficult.  It was mostly just a hike today.  I was able to run briefly early on.  However, it was just too steep of a climb to run much of.  With all the leaves on the ground, I lost the trail several times.  I was always only a few feet away.  I won't get too far off course during the race, if I do get off course.

The climb seemed to go up and up.  It was even a tough hike and I struggled with my breathing.  There are rocks everywhere and one super crazy boulder section.  Those are kind of tough to climb over.  It was slow, but eventually I made it to the top.  My quads and lower back were pretty sore though.  I had climbed over 1,000 feet in just over a mile.

At the top, I stopped and took some photos.  There was a couple hiking with their dogs.  The one barked at me like crazy.  I continued to walk around the top of the mountain for a bit.  Somehow I went down the wrong trail and had to backtrack to find the Blue Trail.  Now, it will be easier to find on Saturday.

The trail ran along the top for a bit and was still quite rocky.  Then, it was the long downhill mile back to the AT.  I passed the couple with the dog again.  I startled another hiker because I didn't say anything.  I was pretty much walking by this point.  He talked to me about some elk encounter he had.  Then, I ran on down the mountain.  I passed another guy hiking down and several more people hiking up. 

The descent was runnable, but still quite rocky and not super fast.  I had to be cautious.  I did cruise when I could.  It was much easier at the bottom.  Eventually, I came to the AT.  Rather than continue to Sunfish Pond or back up Mt. Tammany, I stayed on the AT south until the parking area and then back across the Route 80 Bridge.  Again, I didn't enjoy the bridge section, but at least I could run and put up a decent time. 

There is an uphill on pavement to the parking lot and my car.  I wanted to run up all of it, but I just didn't have it in me.  I stopped at the car and ate the other half of an energy bar.  I badly needed calories.  The brief rest was nice too.

I then headed back out to climb Mt. Minsi.  I have never run or hiked this at all.  The early part was climbing, but it was very gradual.  It was somewhat technical, but also very runnable.  I didn't waste too much energy either.  I cruised along.  I saw a few hikers coming down and different points.

There were a couple great overlooks.  After the first one, the trail became much more technically challenging and much less runnable.  It was very rocky and also a narrow and winding singletrack.  It was fun though.

After my back was hurting earlier, it felt good as I went up this more gradual incline.  This route did seem to go on forever.  Finally, I reached the summit and took some more pictures.

The race course goes out several more miles.  It does so on a fire road.  It was nice and wide and easy to run on.  It is pretty much flat too, as it runs on top of the mountain.  I decided to run out another mile, until after mile 11.  This added some faster running into my slow running up to that point.

I saw a deer at the top of the mountain.  I've never seen a deer up that high before (around 1,500 feet).  It was good to finally turn around and head back.  I was glad to get to the Mt. Minsi Vista.  Shortly after that, it was back downhill.  This descent seemed more technical than when I was climbing it.  It definitely threw me off.  I was clearly calorie depleted too.  Going from smooth, easy running to technical running was difficult.  I had to walk a lot.  I had anticipated running most of this.

It did get much more runnable around mile 13.  By that time, the sun was beginning to set behind the mountain.  Visibility was a bit of a challenge.  I managed to get by okay though.  Some sections have steep rocks and will be quite interesting when I'm tired at the end of the race, especially if I'm close to cramping up.

By the final mile, my quads, legs and back were hurting again.  I knew I climbed a lot, but it was only about half of the race course, both in distance and elevation.  It beat my body up like crazy anyway.  I knew this race would be quite the challenge, but perhaps I'm not prepared for how hard it is.  It was good to be back at the car after over 14 miles of running.

I can't do much more to prepare for the race.  I'll probably go to Lehigh Gap tomorrow anyway.  I think I'll just climb up the Winter Trail.  Maybe I'll add some running at the top too.  It won't be a big run and not the challenge of this weekend.

This was a great run to get a feel for the rest of the course.  It is super tough, but there are runnable parts too.  I guess it's largely a matter of whether my body can survive or if it crashes badly.  If it doesn't get any worse than today, I'll be alright.  It could be much worse though, with two more climbs.  I look forward to the race regardless.  I just have to survive.  I was hoping to run under 7 hours, but that will be tough to do.  It may be close though, if I run well.  I did stop a lot today and will do much less of that on Saturday.

14.34 miles - 3:24:05 (14:14 pace)