I started at 3:00am from the northern trailhead going clockwise. There was a bit of snow but I was staying mostly on top in spikes. Just 1.5 miles in, the ground gave way and I ended up taking an unintentional dip up to my waist in freezing bog water. I almost called the run right there. Every piece of clothing I was wearing was soaked, and the air temp was about 10 degrees. I was ready for this though, and after putting on a full new change of clothes, decided to keep pushing on. I dealt with wet feet for the next 49 miles, although I was able to keep them warm (enough) with various tactics.
Soon after I decided to put on snowshoes, which stayed on for the rest of the day. The trail breaking was not physically too bad, but required a ton of careful thinking to not fall through thin ice again. Unstable ground over water was a major hazard all day and I was extra careful after that first incident. In the summer, it’s not a problem, but this time it was. Nothing was frozen enough to be able to walk over without thinking about every step. When the sun came up, my morale boosted a ton.
I made it to Chair Rock flow and turned off Airplane mode on my phone to check in. This is one spot that I have found has consistent service for Verizon. ~17 miles in, 6 hours 30 mins
Kept on trudging and took a long lunch break at the Olmstead Pond lean to ~22 miles in. I ended up bushwhacking in this area a bit as the trail was completely under water, which I remember from the last time I did this. The next 18 ish miles to Wanakena were a blur and nothing too eventful happened. Lots of careful stepping across beaver dams and streams!
I made it to Wanakena ~40 miles in 14 hours 40 mins and was really starting to hurt. Lots of inspirational messages kept me going and I headed off into the Peavine Swamp area. The last 10 miles were mind numbing, and I started to fall apart a bit when the sun went down. I was going super slow and was dealing with a little bit of nausea. Making it to the boat launch was a huge success.
Trudged the last 2ish road miles in pain back to the car. I always thought I would run those but I physically could not, lol. Made it to the finish in 18 hours 42 minutes and 58 seconds.
What a day!