I had done this trail a couple years back and with my current fitness, I thought I should try and improve on my time. So here we go! This time around I chose to ascend first on the out and back, last time was the opposite. I got started at 7:20 AM after a 4 mile warm up doing most of the trail, except the final bit to the rock. I took the first mile out in 6:23 and was feeling good. Only a couple muddy spots but overall, great conditions. I took a left to do the short, uphill road section before taking a right up the unmaintained dirt road. I knew this was by far the hardest part. I grinded up the best I could, no hiking breaks this time. I made it to the top where the Ganaraska rock is and I quickly turned around and started descending. This unmaintained road is just that. There are some fairly rocky sections you have to navigate. I bombed down and got to the road where I kept bombing. I clocked a 6:12 mile here. A left turn got me back on the last double track trail section. This is slightly uphill, and I felt that. I still tried to push hard, eventually getting to the parking lot section for the final push. I finished at the T blaze in 35:16. The next paragraph I'll explain why I was not happy with this but then ended up being super happy haha.
So I had checked the FKT site to see my last time on this trail. For some reason I remembered 32 minutes and that's what I stuck with. I thought I should get to the halfway point in around 16/17 minutes. So when I got there in 18:33, I wondered what was going on. I felt ok but I figured I just wouldn't beat the time. I even almost pulled the plug at one point. I decided to stick with it and figured something good would happen. So when I finished in 35:16 I thought, oh well, you didn't get it this time. I wasn't really that bummed, it was a different experience and just looked at it as good training. I looked at the site just to see and the FKT current record was over 36 minutes. So I actually beat it by about 45 seconds. Phew. Super glad that I tried to stay positive and it worked out. And next time I should probably write the time I need to beat on my wrist or something. I am so blessed to be able to do these things and absolutely love the process! Perfect start to the day:)