This is a route that I'm extremely familiar with. Having run the five loops that make up this single loop countless times. Earlier in the year I rode the entire loop on my bicycle with the hopes of some day doing it on foot. Once Jessica found out i'd like to do it all on foot she said how about we do it twice!!!
No one has ever done it on foot once. Why do it twice? Why not?
I mentioned our intention of doing the two 61 mile loops to my local running group to try to get some folks interested in coming out to support us. I set up Garmin Live Tracking so folks would know where we are and where to meet us and gave them a list of accessible spots where they can provide support.
We started at 5:18pm on Wednesday in Yardley, PA. We were surprised to see a few folks from the group actually at the start. After a quick picture we took off. Paul left us quickly and Nick and Michelle joined us for the first 3.5 miles. Even though the temps weren't as high as they have been the humidity remained high. We ran out of water within the first 13 miles. No one showed up to provide aid. And as the sun was setting we were in luck that the restrooms at a park at mile 15 were still open so I filled up all the bottles I had. At this point it was pitch black out there and nothing but a towpath trail, a few houses here and there to break up the monotony and a restaurant that was still open. We were soaked in sweat and hoping a friend would come out and have ice cold sodas for us. Instead, we see a light running toward us in the darkness "It's me! Nick!" he shouts. Nick who joined us for the first 3 miles happen to be in the area and checked our tracker and decided to meet us for a mile. This was at mile 18.5. Unfortunately he didn't have any drinks or food for us.
Coming up was such a tough portion of the run. There was nothing out there except the same flat trail for ever and ever and ever. We did come across a restaurant (mile 24) that had closed and to our delight they had dumped a bunch of ice in the grass next to our path. We scooped up all the ice we could. Put it in towels, hats, pockets, everywhere we could carry it we did. We sucked on it to keep us cool and give us some hydration. We really cherished this ice. It would be 4 more miles of the endless trail in the dark until we finally crossed into NJ at Frenchtown. At this point we were starting to get really desperate. Having no food or water and we didn't know what to do. What ice we scooped up off the grass was melting and we were in trouble. I got a message saying support was ahead. My friend Jan traveled over an hour to meet us at well past 1am. Unfortunately, it would be another 7 miles of this endless path within a tunnel of trees until will we would get there. It was a cellular dead zone. The tracker stopped updating. We couldn't reach anyone and nobody could reach us. We knew where our support would be so only that hope is keeping us going. We finally see the faint lights of her car way off in the distance. As we get closer we realize that she's about to leave. We start running hard to get to her. "JAN!!!! Don't leave! We're still here!" She was about to pull away until she saw the faint glow of our headlamps in the darkness. Because of the dead zone she had thought she might have missed us and was about to head to the next stop. Seeing Jan was such a relief. If she wasn't there we really don't know what we would have done. There was no where to go. Jan may have literally saved our lives.
After taking a break and filling up on everything that Jan offered we went back on our way. More of the monotonous trail in the darkness. Stopped in the town of Stockton, NJ and laid down outside of a closed restaurant for a few minutes. Continued onto more of the same trail. Went through the usual tourist heavy river town of Lambertville, NJ, not a soul in sight. We continued on. The sun was starting to rise. Finally.
As we go further down the path we see our friend Frank running towards us. Even though we stocked up with Jan we were already beginning to run out of aid. Luckily Frank came prepared. His truck was at mile 48 where we took a break. Laid down a bit. Stocked up on water and sports drinks. Ate his snacks and started feeling good. Then we hear two voices coming from behind looking for us, its Keilynn and Chris Ann! We thanked Frank and continued on.
A mile or so down from that point is where Keilynn and Chris Ann were parked in Washington's Crossing, they brought us breakfast sandwiches and other treats. There's Frank again, made a quick stop to take some pictures. Keilynn made sure we kept our pace up and didn't want us to stop so they went to their car to get everything for us. We kept on going. But because Keilynn got our pace up again we ended up out running them. It would take another 5 miles till they caught us. At that point we ran into our friend Aimee at the Trenton Country Club (mile 54.3), is that Frank again too? Oh wow, he made us a sign to cheer us on! We once again filled up our bottles and bladders with what Aimee offered, water, sports drinks, she had a big medical kit with all kinds of things that we ended up using later. Keilynn and Chris Ann caught up and put the sandwiches in our packs. Chris Ann gave us pickle shots and other items we stowed away in what pockets we could find. The big thing was the iced coffees that Aimee brought for us. We've been craving an iced drink for over 30 miles up to this point and we finally got one! This was great help. Aimee went back to work, Frank went back to work and the four of us continued on into Trenton. I eat my sandwich while on the go. Jess finishes up her iced coffee. We're tired and exhausted but moving on. Remember, we're doing two laps!
As we're crossing the Calhoun Street Bridge to go into Morrisville, PA we see Paul again on the bridge (mile 57.7). Paul brought us pretzels from WaWa and the 5 of us are having a great time as we do that final 5k to finish off the loop. Paul went ahead earlier to make another WaWa run to get us some ice cold sodas. As we start our second loop we see Paul with the sodas. The 5 of us take a quick picture and then they all head their own ways.
Now it's just Jessica and I on our way on the second loop. The soda made us forget how we were tired, sleep deprived and in pain. Unfortunately that didn't last. Meanwhile my phone keeps getting extreme weather alerts and I'm getting constant texts from my friends about the weather we were heading directly into. We kept on moving. Slowly. We were taking more breaks and longer breaks while carrying these empty soda bottles until we found the proper receptacles. We just wanted to lay down. We stopped and changed socks. We found a bridge we laid down on and put our legs up. Our paces were decreasing. The next person who promised support wouldn't be there until well over an hour later. More and more weather alerts were coming in. Now it's tornado warnings. But we kept on moving with our hands and pockets filled with trash. As we were moving we were thinking about how awful those long endless sections on the top portion of the loop was and how soul sucking it was, having to do that in the rain made it even more discouraging. Then we knew we would be running through sections in the dark that we wanted to avoid in the dark. Morale was getting lower and lower as the weather alerts were coming in more and more.
We decided to call it quits.
We finished the loop. Something nobody has ever done before. Doing it twice might be insane but we made it 11 miles into the second loop. We called the closest person to our position and they picked us up.
What took us over 5 hours to travel on foot took only an 8 minute car ride to get back.
We both haven't slept at all during the run or leading up to it. We said our brief congratulations and a quick good bye. The 20 minute ride home took an hour and a half having to stop to take a nap.
After seeing all the reports of confirmed tornados directly on the path we were heading we realize we made the correct call in ending our run. The damage was so extensive that the trail was impassable and cleanup is expected to take half a week.
Even though it was absolutely the correct call Jessica is bummed we had to call it quits and after she heals up she will be attempting two loops again. I won't be slowing her down next time.
- John Beck