Report
I would like to thank David Shinabarger and Nick Insley for their work on establishing this route.
Weather:
I selected the day since it was supposed to be cloudy and low 20's which are conditions pretty similar to what I have training in the past few months. Instead there were on and off snow flurries for the first 5 hours. Luckily the snow did not end up accumulating much, if at all, throughout the day.
Pre-run:
I decided to attempt this route west-to-east since there are a few fast food/gas station places at the east end in Rawsonville which made it easier for my wife to hang out while waiting to pick me up. The west end of the trail is in a fairly rural area.
I packed a bag with 1,500 calories of Tailwind and 5 Clif bars. I had 4 Solomon soft flasks (2 liters in total) that I filled before the run and a Katadyn BeFree in case I needed to collect water from the Huron River, which the trail runs along in the Dexter/Ann Arbor area. I was shooting to finish the run in slightly under 7 hours.
Start to Dexter:
I started right around the pace I was hoping for in this part. The parts of the B2B path that have been completed are very nice, but there is a section between Chelsea and Dexter where the path has not been completed and there is not much of a shoulder. I felt a little nervous running through this part.
Dexter to Ann Arbor:
I hit the bathroom in the Dexter-Huron Metropark to refill my water bottles and mix in some new Tailwind just as I was starting to get low. This was during mile 20, so I was able to get by with this being my sole water fill up.
I did slightly deviate from the course during this section (right around mile 25). It looks like the B2B team plans to construct part of the trail along a section of train tracks, but it its current state it is just a narrow set of train tracks over the river that you would have to go down for around 1/2 a mile. I ended up going around this section of train tracks by taking Huron River Drive around the river. This added about 1/2 a mile to my route over the B2B route, but seemed like the right choice since a train went down the track while I was on my detour.
Ann Arbor to Ypsilanti:
I hit a bit of a low point during which I was having a tough time taking in food and drinking as I entered the north part of Ann Arbor. I started feeling quite a bit stronger once I hit Gallup Park since that is an area I run frequently and I was able to put my phone away, which I was using for navigation, for a few miles and just run. I was able to take in more Clif Bars during this section and was hoping to fill up enough on solid food before I reached Ypsilanti, so I could get by with just Tailwind/water through the end to make a strong push to the finish.
Ypsilanti to End:
Even though my legs were feeling pretty sore at this point, they were not cramping, so I was able to keep my ideal pace. I was pushing hard to sneak in under 7 hours, but was unable to make it happen. I got caught at a couple of longer lights in Ypsilanti and I already had a razor thin margin to finish under 7, so I ended up just missing my goal. Overall though, I was extremely happy with the results and felt strong throughout almost all of the effort.
Post-run:
I have not done a flat paved ultra length event in a while, but I trained a lot more speed work this year than I had done in previous years. Back in 2021 I ran an unsupported FKT on the 62 mile North Central State Trail, which had similar terrain to this course, at 13'12" pace. For this effort, I was at 9'38" pace. Granted it was a bit shorter, but I am glad to see the improvements to training and hydration are paying off.