There’s a lot to this and I had posted daily updates on my social media but I’m happy to answer any questions and provide any feedback on the route. I did this route at the recommendation of Greg.
I started on the levee road at the gate of the private property. The official start pin is in a field of a working farm and we did not want to trespass.
The route is pretty tough. Traffic and shoulder conditions really do dictate how fast you can move through some sections. I found the easiest sections to be the divided 4 lane highways. They are hot in the middle of the day and do not have any shade.
I had multiple 90 degree days so we used cooling strategies from 11 am until 5 pm. My main crew is my fiancé Jon. We had multiple other crew members coming out for 2-3 days at a time. My downtime was a lot more than I planned on but the goal was to just complete the route.
Some sections were completely shoulder-less highway which made things interesting and pretty stressful but the route is beautiful. It actually ran practically by our house which made for 3 nights in my own bed.
The end is also on private property but seems to be a farm that’s open to the public and there is a trail that leads to the offset.
I’m sure this could be done faster but I will say this route looks easy on paper but again traffic and road conditions really dictate how fast you can move. I also did not run at night. I aimed for 12-14 hours a day. I had two lower mileage days one due to stomach issues and the the was just for a mental reset.There’s plenty of aid along the route and places for crew to grab supplies and restock.
I do think it would be easy to underestimate the route but a seasoned journey runner or road runner could easily take a couple of days off. The two lane highways added to the challenge and do take more time. While one could try to avoid the rural roads I do believe it would lose something in ways of the challenges.
Good luck to any future runners looking to take this on.