honestly a weirdly grueling trail for only 10 miles. last minute i decided to leave the poles because i knew the trail was 25-50% slickrock and i didn’t think poles would make me a more economical runner. turns out that was a big mistake because there was so much sand that i lost energy on.
i started around 11:40 and finished at about 2:29. i reached the top at 1:33 which was faster then i expected, but the elevation wasn’t as bad as i thought. i came down slower then i hoped to but oh well. i still managed to bring down the men’s record by about 8 minutes. this trail can definitely go much much much faster, and a quick runner with the right gear could smash this, i think i even could not that i know what to expect. beta was really bad since i couldn’t find anything since last september. route finding was quirky and deceptively difficult, as well as route modifications had been made to accomadate fallen trees and runoff streams. The weather was a massive issue too, I think it was 15-20 mph winds and wind chill of 30? It wasn’t the best conditions but oh well haha.
i ran in hoka mach 5s which i was pleased with. i brought 1000 ml of water which i ran out of with about 3 miles to go. i took 430 mg of sodium and ate 47g of carbs on the run (fueling could’ve been much better, i should’ve been closer to 1k sodium and 100g of carbs).
anyways, i’m happy with how it went, and if it’s untouched between now and the next time i come down from home i may give it another go.