I volunteered at the Water Gap 50K yesterday with Ryan. That was a new experience. It was fun and a pretty course and good event. Thankfully, everything went smoothly.
Today, I need to run. I wanted to get to Tammany to see the fall colors. They were quite awesome. Unfortunately, I wasn't alone. I arrived after 10 AM and the parking lot was already full. I turned around and drove to the river lot.
Temperature made it tough. Earlier, it was freezing. By start time, it was probably around 40. I went with a short sleeve shirt and light jacket over that. I knew that might be a bit much and it was. I was soaked at the end. However, hiking up some of the windy parts were still chilly.
I began by running on the road. I came across this massive group on the early steps. Running by them was frustrating. I ran to the first steep and rocky part.
There were so many hikers there. All I seemed to be doing was passing hikers, hikers and more hikers. Lots of families and lots of slow hikers. The one good thing was when I'd pass them, I'd often run a little after.
I was flying up the ascent. I was running more than usual and hiking fast. I took some video of the first overlook. I took a few videos, but my camera wouldn't work.
I cruised on up over the technical stuff. People were going slowly up that. Luckily, I'm so experienced heading up that part. I felt pretty strong.
At times, my breathing would get heavy. I pushed on. I got to the top in no time. Even with the road running added on, I made it to the top at just over 27 minutes. That's about how long it takes me without being on the road.
I took some video at the top. I didn't waste much time. I continued on. I was feeling good, so I ran a lot of the Blue Trail along the ridge. Even though I was breathing heavy at times, the cooler weather was a blessing for sure. I could run much more than usual.
I had to pause before the descent. The low bushes along the trail were all red. It was gorgeous. What an amazing place to run. I hiked a few of the rocks at the top.
Then, it was time to cruise down. There were less hikers here, but still plenty of them. Near the top, it was windy and my eyes were watering. That made it hard on the rocky terrain. Still I went down at a good pace.
It wasn't my fastest downhill here and I didn't feel awesome, but I was steady and ran. As usual, people were amazed at my running. I ran along the waterfall and back to the AT. I flew down that and back to the parking lot.
Even with the road running, I came in at 52 minutes. That's a good loop. Since my car was a bit of a run away and I had enough Tailwind, I went straight back up.
I was a little tired as I headed up. Still, I moved quite well. Again, I was running some more than usual and hiking a lot. I passed more dogs and families and such.
A few of the hikers recognized me again. They realized I was doing two loops. There were too many of them for me to remember them. Surprisingly, I was the only runner there.
I got to top fast again. I think it was around 1:20 when I made it up there. This time, I really didn't stop. Again, I ran most of the ridge.
I felt good, so I flew down the descent this time. Again, the wind bothered my eyes. I was really booking downhill this time. I almost tripped once, but mostly I was good.
More hikers were commenting on my running. There are few things more fun than blasting down a technical section like that. I had so much fun jumping and hopping around. It wasn't my best running down here I'm sure, but it was good.
When I got back to the AT, I really began to push it. I saw my time and tried to get under 1:45. I knew I had some pavement to finish. I ran hard on this and finished up under 1:45.
I was exhausted when done. This wasn't supposed to be hard, but it ended up being quite the impressive run. The cooler weather made a big difference. I think the only time I've run faster there was in the winter when the trail was snow covered and the rocks were gone.
7.95 miles - 1:43:37 (13:02 pace) 2266 feet of gain Not Accurate Data
Mt. Tammany 37th and 38th summit of 2015
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