3hr 11min
Unsupported
Rolled left ankle in Kathan woods ~0.5miles in, but it was probably a good thing as it forced me to slow down a bit in section north of 68. Kathan woods section is tougher than you would expect (200-300ft /mile). Some parts of this section were wet/muddy (rest of trail was great conditions). Near top of High Rock took 1-2mins to stretch back and neck. Things went very smooth until SG as expected. Tried not to overdo it on downhills and road sections, used these to make up a little time on overall pace, but also regain my breathing and legs.
Was around 9-9:15pace going into sleeping giant. I knew SG was going to be very slow for me. Tried to save as much of my hydration as I could for SG, since that is why I failed my last attempt. Climbing the head was slow, but I knew pushing too hard on this was only going to hurt my time. Pain near Achilles when I got to the top of the head, came back on the next climb after crossing the tower path. Tried to just power hike on ups and jog on flats and downhills across SG. Had a few close calls on falling at SG. One trip and scraped right forearm. Slipped on a rock and almost did a split. Luckily damage from these was minimal.**Blue trail could use some better markings on SG section. Some of the intersections I had to stop and make sure I was going the right way. A lot of unmarked trails that split off blue and it was hard to tell at times which way was Blue.
Final ~1mile after Chestnut was quick and knew the end was near, but ended up going slower on some of the final uphills. Final downhill I gunned it cause I was ready to be done.
I was willing to quit if there was fear of being injured as my races this year are more important to me than this. Think I could have pushed a bit harder especially at SG, but really didn't want to end up hurt. I'm thinking on the right day I can bring this down to sub 3hr.
Osprey Vest
1x 500mL flask with water
1x 500mL flask with Gatorade ThirstQuench
Cell Phone for emergency
1x 200mL nuun with some caffeine in it (in handheld)
Brought some snacks but didn't end up eating anything
*Decided to not use reservoir for back of vest, in the past this extra weight was hurting my back on the uphill over time. Found myself hunching over more on uphills.