I went home to visit my parents and this route is about 15 min off the 401, so I wanted to take advantage. I completed the loop as recon on Wednesday. I ran the loop and followed all the blue blazes as I thought was correct. There were a few discrepancies between my gpx and the one on the site. There has been no FKT since 2020 though. The trail could have changed some or was possibly incorrect in the first place. My motto is, when in doubt, always follow the blazes and do what is right! Either way, I uploaded the gpx on my watch and planned to FKT the route on Sunday while on my trip back home.
I woke up early and said goodbye to the folks. Made it to Fanshawe Lake in a couple hours a little before the sun came up. My plan was to start at first light, even though it was going to be pretty chilly out. I got started at 7:50 after a little warm up. I went clockwise and went over the dam and road section first before entering the trail. There were definitely a lot of leaves down, so I really had to be careful. I pushed the best I could without a lot of specific training for this. My lungs felt fine, legs were being tested for sure. I completed the west side of the lake then ran over the big bridge to tackle the east side. I enjoyed some punchy climbs and did my best. I knew the route well because of my recon earlier in the week. I really didn't look at my watch much, except for some mile splits. I knew when I was getting close to closing up the loop so I kept my foot on the gas and was thinking I could break an hour and a half. I did! I ended up averaging 7:11 per mile and was happy with that.
I fueled up well before the run so I carried nothing during. Thanks to my mom for lending me her red mitts which kept my hands warm enough. They would have frozen otherwise as I didn't pack the best. This is a really nice loop and I'm very glad I gave it a go.