I am not a fast runner, and knew I would have no chance of breaking the current course record for a single loop, so I decided to do the double loop. Even though I used body glide, my taint was chafing like a son-of-a-gun the last few miles. It was rainy the night before which caused all the smoke from the nearby wildfire to decrease, and I was actually able to breath without too much difficulty. I went in the counter-clockwise direction for both loops. The trail has had a lot of overgrowth the past couple years, especially from mile 1 to mile 4, and there was still a lot of water on the bushes from the rain, which got me completely drenched early in the day. If felt really nice in that moment, but all that moisture over time is what caused me to chafe up real bad. Anyway, the day was progressing really nicely, I got back to my car after the first loop and still felt great. As I resupplied at my car and prepared for the second loop, I was thinking that I should also put some more body glide on, but ended up forgetting and set off for the second loop (note to self, weed affects your short-term memory). As I was heading up the mountain for the 2nd loop, the sun was out and it was getting quite warm. I was hoping there would still be a lot of rain water on the bushes to cool me down, but most of it dried up by that point and I couldn't cool down as much as I would have liked. That being said, the second loop still went really well. I was eating a lot and had no stomach issues. The heat of the day started to wear on me towards the end, but was still able to finish strong, despite the chafing.
I have done this trail dozens of times over the past 10 years and is one of my favorite trails in the area. It is highly technical. It has steep climbs on the 1st half, and a long, gradual descent on the second half when done in the counter clock-wise direction. There are a few large granite rock outcroppings (or tors) along the way that are impressive to look at. Once up at the high point you get a good view over the Chena River Valley. There is very little water along the trail, so I only refilled at my car. I had a few gels and trail mix with me in my pack and had some kimchi fried rice at my car after the first loop to refuel. I ran by myself the whole way and didn't see any other people on the trail the whole day. There are a lot of bears in this area so I carried bear spray, trekking poles, a knife, 1st aid kit, and garmin inreach for safety.