I had been planning on a long run this weekend, since it fit into my training schedule for WY Range 100. I originally considered Mohican 50 miler, but with the current situation, it was cancelled. Then, unfortunately, one of my A races that had originally been scheduled for April, but moved to November was cancelled, I found myself in a hole. I now had only one race left on my calendar, and its status is still in the air. So instead of sitting back and doing nothing, I planned an adventure run out at Shawnee State Forest, near Portsmouth OH. I had run the loop a few times, but never solo. I then realized that there were no female FKT (Fastest Known Time) on the trail. So I decided to go for it. I needed something to push myself, other than my weekly speed workouts. Another local runner had just set the FKT for the men on Shawnee, so I reached out to him on water locations, as I’ve never needed water when I’ve run the loop in the past, since it was either a race, or we stashed water at Camp OYO (approx. mile 16). I didn't want to deal with the logistics of stashing food or water, so unsupported it became.
The forecast was calling to be in the low 80's with a chance of thunderstorms, actual weather was mid-high 80's, with very few clouds. Humidity was high and the sun relentless despite the canopy of trees. Morning started out foggy, but by 9:30 the sun broke through and the heat was on. Literally…
I started about 20 minutes later than I wanted due to a detour on my drive that ultimately got me lost for a bit (I was in the forest, but nowhere near the trail, otherwise, I would have started at the first trailhead I found…). My pack was heavy, since this was unsupported, I carried 2 liters of water, plus 2 500ml flasks with Fluid electrolyte drink. I had bacon/egg rice balls as well as Fuel 100 bites, ProBar chews and Picky Bars. Since I was solo and there is no cell connection out on this trail, I also had an emergency kit, space blanket, water filter and headlamp. I wanted to be prepared if I had to spend the night out there. I rounded out the pack with my poles, which I didn’t know if I would want or not. I ended up pulling them out around mile 13 and used them throughout.
As I headed into the north loop, it looked like someone had mowed the grasses recently, so I was happy to see that I wouldn't be spending the entire day in high grasses for fear of ticks. When I got to approximately mile 2.7, the trail was closed and had a re-route up the forest road (on map, this is the first forest road crossing). Looking at previous run on this trail, it looks like the forest road was about the same distance, but obviously not as much fun as the single track. I found the first water spigot easily, but only splashed my face with the water. By now, I was dripping with sweat. At the second campground, I refilled my handheld as well as my bladder, since I knew I was not going to refill at camp 3 (Camp OYO). I was eating regularly and feeling good.
Crossing OH-125 and starting the south loop was more of the same. The first bit of this section seems to be a different biosphere that the north loop, with more humidity and ferns, as well as creek crossings. I took advantage of the creeks to put cool water over my head as often as I could. I hit mile 19 around 4.5 hours and was moving well and feeling good. This section had not been mowed, so the grasses were higher in places which kept my concern for ticks a bit higher. Luckily, I never found any. There was also some trail damage as well as more downed trees to scramble over.
I had heard that the water spigot at camp 4 was hard to find, so I had programmed my watch with an approximate location as a waypoint. Unfortunately, I was never able to find it. I wasted time looking for it and in hindsight, should have just filtered water from the creek immediately. However, since I thought I had enough to make it to camp 5 (about 4 miles later), I pressed. About 2 miles later I ran out of electrolytes in my handheld and needed to stop to filter water to replenish. Which was a good thing, since by time I got to camp 5, my 2-liter bladder was almost empty. In my desire to keep moving, I made another critical mistake and stuffed the bladder back into my pack, which meant all the gear slid to the bottom and irritated my back. I had to stop a shortly after to fix that. By now I could tell I was slowing down and was frustrated that I had started losing time. I started getting down on myself for the critical mistakes that were costing me time. However, as I repacked my gear, I found the baggie of cheez-its that I had stashed in the pack. They were a blessing.
Around mile 30, the heat really hit me and I started to get nauseous and unable to eat more than a few bites. I kept running, but my pace was slowed. I fell at one point, opening up a wound on my hand from a fall the week prior. Since it was bleeding pretty badly, I stopped and pulled out the first aid kit and put a bandage on it.
I kept waiting for the smooth single track that I love as it brings you down to the lake and was relieved when I finally hit it. While I didn't make my goal of sub-10 hours, I did what I could in the heat. I will try this again for a faster time once the weather cools down.
My original goal was to be sub-10 hours for the 38 miles, but given the heat, I'm extremely happy with 10:11. I'm going to have to try again when it gets cooler to see if I can better this. Until then, I'm happy that I had the chance to get this done. I'm sore, but in a good way. It feels like I ran a 100 miler, but that also tells me I pushed it to my limits. This is so cool to see:
