I spent 10-15 minutes searching all the Strava segments on this route to make sure the previous time really was the FKT. A lot of fast dudes run this trail but I couldn't find anyone who'd run the entire trail out and back (although a few guys did 20 miles, turning around a half mile before the end but ran blazing times. So 3:30 appears to be correct.
Due to Covid-19 I'm projecting a 80% loss in my small business revenue, so I've taken up day-trading to try and make some extra income. Invested all my stimulus money and EIDL funds. I'm also now primary childcare for my 2 little boys. SO, the only way to make this run work with childcare obligations was to run between 9:30-12 which is exactly when I needed to be trading. So I ran with my phone and had my trading app open. Made 5 trades with a trade at mile 8 being most profitable to date. The volatility settled down about the time I hit the 1/2 way mark, so I was able to put the phone away and pick it up a bit.
Knew if I could run a 3 minute negative split, I could go sub-2:30 and chop an hour off the existing time. My phone alert dinged and I made one trade on the return leg but other than that was able to keep my phone away and take 20-30 seconds per mile off my splits now that I was focused on running. While this was still a fairly pedestrian time for an FKT on this trail, it's more competitive now and hopefully faster guys with go after it now. May not have been my fastest FKT but definitely my most profitable!
First long run back from my 77 mile run 14 days ago and felt decent but didn't really push it. This trail is really beautiful for a rail trail and I was pleasantly surprised. Super glad I did my long here today. Come out and beat this time dudes!