Did the Sugarloaf fkt today down at Ohiopyle it's about 11. 6 miles. The weather was pretty good going in, roughly 58 degrees when I pulled it into the parking lot.
I did a little stretch went to the bathroom real quick then I headed out on the trail. You're supposed to start right in the middle of the parking lot by the train station which I did I parked my car there and used that for the start and finish. So the Sugarloaf Trail starts like .2 up on the Gap trail on the right hand side. You're going to see the Sugarloaf and Baughman sign along the trail and you make that right hand turn and then you have to make another quick right on the trail. The first 1.7 milesish was a wet mess there's a lot of standing water on the trail but you really couldn't avoid it. Then after that it got dry for the most part.
The one thing you do have to watch is for the couple wooden bridges that are old railroad tie type bridges. There were three or four that you do cross, two of them had gaps in it that you really cannot see until you actually pretty much stepped on them. So just be careful because there was leaf and mud covering them and you couldn't see them till you actually were on them either. Other than that, the first two miles were pretty runnable little rocky and rooty in spots but nothing too major. Then the climbs really started. You were climbing the whole time but this is when the climbs really started but you had to pay attention because sometimes the trail looped back on itself. So you might take a left hand turn and go out like a tenth and then it came right back 20 yards where you just went in at. Just had to be cognizant of that a little bit.
I forgot to mention the first two miles were pretty much double track as well for the most part there was some single track but it was mainly double. But once the climb started it was more single track for the next 2 miles but still to me, it was still runnable nothing too, to hard per se. There was one spot that I did stop to walk for four or five seconds just to stop my legs from burning and to recover and then I just kept going from there then after that. Roughly at like the four mile mark it started to flatten out a little bit but it was more fun single track than anything once it did level out.
You did go across the couple roads one was gravel one was asphalt. Then after you passed the asphalt road it became like a double track wide trail again but it got really sloppy again. Your running uphill in the much. I think I had like 300 ft to go of elevation gain I already had somewhere around a thousand in. So after a couple tents of this sloppy mess it did turn in the more of the grassy part leading up to the sled hill. It was a good, I would say mile or so of grass double track that you could run pretty good on not having to really worry about rocks or roots too much there was a few sticking out but not many. Once I did hit the sled hill I decided to walk it just because it was actually the steepest part of the whole fkt so I decided to just save my legs because I was ahead of my Pace pro at the time. Which looking back was definitely the smarter move. Once I reached the top I turned it back on and ran the last couple tenths I think maybe three or four tenths to the turnaround point.
At the turn around point, I took a couple pictures and clips but very quickly before turning back around. I noticed I was 52 minutes in so I was well ahead of the of the current fkt. So I knew if I doubled that 52 minutes on the way back I would crush the current fkt of 2 hours and 13 minutes. On the way back theoretically it's going to be easier and you're going to be able to run faster because it's more downhill on the way back. That 1600ish elevation gain you just had on way out now you're going to be running down instead of up as you did on the way out. Now while I was filming a clip after the turnaround I actually did fall real quick but I got right back up luckily I didn't get hurt I just got a little bit muddy because it was still in that grassy section, otherwise I probably would have been scraped up pretty good. At the turnaround my Pace Pro said I was over 17 minutes ahead of my projected pace. Going in knowing the current fkt was 2 hours and 13 minutes and some change I set my Garmin Pace Pro for 2 hours and 5 minutes. I thought this would give me a nice 8 Minute cushion to play with since I didn't know the trails, the conditions of the trails, and how my legs were going to feel. So being 17 minutes ahead at the turn I felt a little confident because my legs felt good, I was running pretty well, and now that the trail is going to be easier since I sort of knew what was in store I thought I could get it. Noting I might not have been as far ahead on my Pace Pro on the way back as I did on the way out but I still managed to come in 35 minutes ahead of the current fkt. On the way out my Pace Pro had me running up the hills and the inclines we will say at a 12 or 13 minute pace and I was doing we shall say like 9 minutes in some of those miles or less. But on the way back Pace Pro had me doing 9 minutes and I was only doing like seven or eight min pace I wasn't as under the pace Pro as much on the way back as I was on the way out. That's why I didn't fully double my Pace Pro time on the way back but I still doubled overall from the current fkt so I basically was I think 17 minutes on the way out and I gained like 10 minutes on the way back but again the time splits were a little bit tighter on the way back. Not that that's a big deal because I still got the fkt but it was one of those things I was a paying attention to. Once I saw I was 17 minutes ahead of my Pace Pro I decided to go for 20 minutes to see if I could do that, I didn't want to get greedy and go for any more than that.
Since my legs more specifically my calves were soaked and muddy from the trip up on the way out I didn't try to like skirt around the mud or water and I just ran down the middle of the puddles and the mud on the way back trying to save some time for the bank. Plus, it also made it a little bit more fun. It was hot enough out that I didn't have to worry about being cold which was nice for a change over the last couple fkts that I've done. I also didn't have to use the navigation on my watch as much on the way back as I did on the way out it seemed to be a little bit easier to read on the way back, not that I recognized the trail on the way back I just felt heading back it was just easier to read for some reason I don't know if it was the way the trail gets used or what but it just seemed a little bit more worn and easier to read.
I know that last mile and a half to two mile range on the way back music started playing some really good tunes on my mp3 player and got me more excited those last couple miles and I was really starting to fly where I was expecting to slow down a little bit on the way back in that mud but it just kept me motivated to run faster. I mean I guess you could say it was fun on the way back just because I was going through the water in the mud without a care obviously though I had to watch that I didn't twist an ankle on a rock or rude or anything like that or do something stupid. The way I was feeling I thought I could handle it. And then that last like half mile where I could see Ohiopyle coming into view on the left hand side just got me more excited as I ran to the Finish. Then once I hit the Gap trail I started filming again to show proof as I was finishing the fkt. I stopped right behind my vehicle which is where I started and stopped my watch and then after I did the math I think my watch actually said I was 25 or 27 minutes had to be 27 minutes ahead of my Pace Pro, but when I did the math just standing there I was 35 minutes ahead of the fkt and I was really happy with my performance and how I did. I wasn't actually expecting to do that well today or feel that good but it was just one of those days where things just seem to click. It was probably because of the weather since it was nice out and I didn't have to worry as much about clothes as I have been in the last couple weeks so my body and my mind just sort of took over and I really didn't have to do any more work to push myself.
Overall though I would say this fkt is pretty fun it's a nice little challenge I mean 11. 6 miles is a very solid distance to push hard at. I think I got 11.7 but with close to 1700 ft of gain and decent it's a nice out and back. Also you can connect a couple different Trails up there like the Baughman and Mcclune trails which can make a nice little route where you don't have to go out and back you could actually loop around some stuff so can actually have a nice day at Ohiopyle if you connect some of those trails up there if anybody's ever interested.