Night AT Run with Scott Jurek

I've been following Scott Jurek's up to date progress of the Appalachian Trail run.  I figured that I had to run with him at some point.  I knew he'd be in my area today.  However, I planned to camp, so I wasn't going to run.  Then, I asked Janine if she was going to run with him and she said when he came through later.  I figured this would be around dark.

I had trouble following his tracker all day, so I wasn't going to go.  Then I talked to Janine again and she was heading out.  Scott was already at Smith Gap Road, so I figured that I had about an hour to meet him.  I quickly grabbed my gear and headed to the Katellen Trail.

It was raining when I started, so I opted for a short sleeve shirt, instead of a singlet.  It was still quite hot and muggy.  Even with an easy pace, I was soaked by the end of the run.

I mostly hiked the several hundred foot climb from the Katellen Trail.  I arrived a few minutes before Scott did.  I wasn't sure where Janine and Bob were, but then Janine came over to where I was.  A guy that was with Scott for most of the day came out ahead of him.  A short time later, Scott appeared.  He rested briefly on a fallen tree and took some photos.

Then we were off.  There was a group of three people from the Scranton area.  They ran with him from Smith Gap Road.  There was another guy, besides the guy I that was out ahead earlier.  Basically, even heading into the darkness on a fairly remote section, he had a crew.  I think this is the normal thing for Scott.

I took some photos at the powerline of the sunset.  That put me in the back of the train.  I was following the two women from Scranton and the guy they were with.  The last women, I never did get her name, chatted with me a lot.  She tried to do Eastern States last year and failed.  Now, she's going for Oil Creek and also is running Quadzilla.  I guess she ran 21 miles on roads earlier.

This rocky section at dusk was pretty much just a hike.  However, even with that, the women were kind of cautious.  They clearly aren't on trails that are this technical.  We actually lost ground to Scott and he wasn't really even running.  Janine was farther up ahead.

It was getting very close to dark now.  When we got to the next clearing, the sun was nearly set.  I took a couple pictures, but used that time to get ahead of the women.  I didn't want to lose contact with Scott and the front.  I also wanted to run when I could.  I haven't run all weekend and was ready to go.  Even though this section is technical, I'm used to it and don't find it that bad.  I could've run it in the dark.  Janine could have too.

I felt kind of bad for the Scranton crew.  They didn't have headlamps or water.  However, that was their own fault.  Always come prepared to a run around darkness.  Janine gave them some water and we both went back to check on them when we were done.  Plus, Bob gave them a ride back to their car at the start.

I ended up behind the guy that had been going all day.  At one point I asked him to pass because he was always hiking.  It was then just the other guy with Scott and Scott leading the way.  I told them about what was coming up next, since I've run this section a few times.  It did seem like it went on forever though.

I bashed the same part of the side of my foot on rocks at two different times.  Some of the super technical stuff was hard to even hike on.  It was super slippery too and I slipped good one time.  I continued on though, without a crash.

The end was downhill switchback.  They are very runnable.  That is during the daylight though and without over 40 miles on your legs on the day.  Scott did run down them, but it was still very slow.  I followed along and I told them where to turn when we came out to the road.

We came out to the road and a camera crew followed us.  It felt pretty cool, even if they weren't there for me.  There were quite a few people waiting at the small Wind Gap parking lot, including Scott's wife Jenny.  We didn't stay too long, as it was 10 PM.  I was amazed at how gracious Scott was.  I didn't even talk to him really and was sort of just going to leave, but he made sure to get my name, along with everyone else.

That was fun and a unique experience, especially at sunset.  Tomorrow, I may meet him again.  I do need some quality miles too though.  Perhaps I'll run out to him at a decent clip and then turn around and run back.  Then, at least I'll some faster running.  I'll probably run into him in New Jersey, if I go in the afternoon.  The ground he's covering day after day is amazing!

5.17 miles - 1:36:22 (18:38 pace) 319 feet of elevation gain