My dad was diagnosed with glioblastoma (stage 4 brain cancer) at the beginning of the pandemic. Five months ago I broke my ankle skiing and then ended up in the emergency room with a massive bilateral pulmonary embolism the next month. My dad passed away before I was medically cleared to travel from Idaho, where I live, to Vermont to see him. This past weekend, we were able to have a wonderful celebration of life for him. He had been coming to Vermont since childhood in the summers and my parents retired to VT from NY in 2016. I've been healing and gaining fitness over the last few months and though I'm not as fit or fast as I was a year ago, I felt ready to take on a run in his honor while visiting. Despite being jetlagged and occupied by family events up until yesterday, I drove to the northern Terminus on Rte. 125/the Oak Ridge Trail for a 532am start on Monday, August 16th. After a humid week prior, the weather dried out and I knew I had to take advantage of a low of 48/high of 72 yesterday. I went solo and unsupported with four water bottles in my vest and a plan to filter/refill just after halfway/I turned around using Leicester Hollow Brook. I carried all my snacks, alternating salty/sweet on the hour as is my go-to. I started conservatively, since I hadn't run more than 25 trail miles since my injury. The day really could not have gone better. I'd run most of this route before in sections when visiting in the past, so much was familiar, and downloaded Rob Rives' gpx track just to be sure, thanks Rob! I started about half an hour before sunrise and the N-S portion passed quickly as the sun rose. I saw only one person on the way down and two piles of bear scat, but no bears. I touched the pavement on Rte. 73 and then stopped to filter shortly thereafter in the first mile of my return trip. On the way back I probably saw 15 or so people and easily retraced my steps. Legs, gut, and head felt pretty good the whole way. It was a beautiful day to honor by dad and put a female time on this route. Given the health messes I've dealt with in 2021, I was glad to be able to complete the route feeling good. If I'd had filter bottles vs. a separate filter with me or realized I was close to going sub-9 elapsed (I'd figured I'd be closer to 9 moving/9.5 elapsed,) I might have snuck under, but happy nonetheless. Though I've never lived in this area, I have a lot of connections here and and it made the run even that much more special.