Beautiful day in the Whites! Grateful for a body able to run this terrain and for seeing some friends along the way. Thank you to Ben Thompson and Patrick Caron for leading the way and pushing the boundary on this route.
Truth is, it was tough out there today. This was meant to be a scouting mission. Realized I was on pace at Bond, then I decided to go for it at that point. Proceeded to have the worst bonk of my life after realizing I was ill-prepared for a race effort: I had brought only one gel, one pack of shot blocks, a waffle and some PB&Js (which I couldn’t stomach after Galehead). Had to stop multiple times on the descent from Flume because I was just so depleted. Lay facedown in the creek at the bottom of Osseo Trail and filled up water there... that's with 1.3 miles to go, to put the bonk in perspective. Lucky to even finish today. Absolutely wrecked, went as deep as I ever have out there to push through. There is definitely time to be had on this route, and I hope to see others get after it. On a cool day in the fall, I think ~5:00hrs is possible.
Note: Ran with Luke Costley for the first ~2 hours, so considered "paced" = supported.