Water Gap 50K Recon

I felt good after the WV Trilogy.  I probably could've even run on Monday.  I recover very well now.  I'm so happy for that.

Today was my first day back to running though.  I was busy making a video for Trilogy and also had a doctor's appointment yesterday.  I didn't work, so I headed to the northern end of the Delaware Water Gap.  Ryan and I are working an aid station at the first ever Water Gap 50K on Saturday.  It is a point to point along the McDade Trail (31 miles).  Our aid station is around mile 20.

I haven't run that part of the trail.  I wanted to give runners leaving our aid station some idea of what was ahead.  Therefore, I decided I'd head north from there and run a few miles.

I almost wore a lightweight long sleeve shirt.  It was orange and would've been good in case anyone was hunting.  I didn't see anyone though.  Luckily, I went with a sleeveless shirt.  It wasn't warm, but for this time of year, I was sweating a bit.

The leaves look like they are perhaps a little past their peak.  There's still plenty of color though and the surrounding mountains are gorgeous.  Our section and aid station will be setup among a field.

Right at the start is a short uphill.  It was easy though and there was more field sections.  The trail is wide and smooth.  It is all stone covered.  It is kind of like a rail trail through the woods.  Not my cup of tea and it would probably destroy my legs after half the race.  However, it is relatively flat and probably a good beginner ultra.

The trail went past Dingman's Campground early on.  That is now closed for the season.  After that, about .75 miles in, it started to climb.  This section was beautiful, as I was now running back amongst the trees.  There was some pine and plenty of leaves on the ground, but lots of shade too.

Around 1.5 miles out, there was a nice downhill.  I was running easy and clicking off sub 9 minute miles.  This could be a PR course if you don't blow up.  Still, there are some challenging little hills that made me work.

At 2 miles, the trail crosses the road.  The bridge there would lead to New Jersey.  I continued along, pretty quickly.  Other than the stone surface, I was enjoying the run.  It was a nice day to run.

After some ups and downs, somewhere around mile 3, the trail flattened out.  There was nearly a mile of almost flat, easy and runnable trail.  I enjoyed it.  Coming into the day, I was thinking I'd probably run 3 miles out and then head back.  Since the miles were going by so quickly, I decided to make it to mile 4.

There was another little climb right before mile 4.  I climbed that and it looked to be flat along the road again.  I headed back though.  It was time to turn around.

Going back was pretty uneventful.  I moved a few sticks from the trail.  I watched the miles click by.  It did seem like a little more uphill in this direction.  Still, nothing was too hard and I ran all of it.  I did tire slightly toward the end.

I pushed a little bit in the last half mile or so.  It was good to be done.  I ran the whole thing at a sub 9 minute pace.  This is definitely a fast course.  I would love it if it was true nature trail and not covered with stone.  Oh well, I look forward to volunteering anyway.  I probably won't run the whole thing ever though.

This was a nice workout.  There were a lot of parts that I'd walk in an ultra.  I need to learn how to run more of the easier hills during a longer race.  I'll practice that more down the road.

Tomorrow, I'm racing.  Runner's World has a nearby trail race where I often run.  I think 250 people on singletrack will be a disaster, but oh well.  I'm going out hard and I'll see what happens.  It is only 3.8 miles.

8 miles - 1:10:07 (8:46 pace) 217 feet of elevation gain