FKT: Kim Levinsky - Hudson Highlands (Hell No Hell Hole) Hundo (NY) - 2021-09-25

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Female
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Total time
1d 16h 24m 0s
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How do you recap 40 hours and 24 minutes of climbing up and down 21,600 ft of technical mountains for 96 miles in the Hudson Highlands?? I’ll start by sharing the new name for the traverse: “Hudson Highlands Hell No Hell Hole Hundo.” The name-change took place around mile 60 on Storm King Mountain when I realized that the original name of “Hudson Valley Traverse” just didn’t capture the soul-crushing-beat-down that I was receiving out there!

Hopefully the new name sets the stage for this race-recap! Well, first of all—it wasn’t a race. It was a self-created (self-inflicted) runventure. After the Tahoe 200 race was canceled, there was some soul-searching to figure out what I wanted to do, or not do, instead of Tahoe. After scouring UltraSignUp and not finding a race that got me excited, I started exploring runventure ideas and thought back to a particularly crazy one that I had come up with almost 2 years ago. Way back when, I had out all of my NYNJTC maps and thought it would be “fun” to make a huge loop in the Hudson Valley to connect all of my favorite spots. I made a rough draft and when it came out to almost 100 miles and 23,000 ft of climbing, I rolled my eyes and said it was impossible. Fast-forward to September 2021. I was sitting out on the deck of my friend Dina’s house out in Colorado (Dina and her family graciously hosted me for a week-long retreat at their mountain home so I could get some time away after Tahoe was canceled). I pulled up that original route and looked at it with a new perspective. I had just spent the last year training my body and my mind to cover 200 miles, and many of those training miles were spent in the Hudson Highlands. I had grown to love and respect those mountains through the countless hours of running and hiking up and down those trails. It all seemed to make sense: I had the fitness to cover the distance and the experience to cover the terrain from the year I had just spent training on those trails. Those mountains felt like “home”. I wanted to do something hard. Really hard. And I wanted to share the experience with my friends. The traverse checked off all of those boxes.

The route: Start/Finish at Bear Mountain Inn. Cross the Bear Mountain Bridge to summit Anthony’s Nose and then follow the Appalachian Trail north up to Fahenstock State Park. Head west to Cold Spring. Up to Bull Hill, back down to the Cornish Estate Ruins and then a never-ending climb up Breakneck Ridge, Mt Beacon and Fishkill Ridge before plummeting back down to Beacon Park. 12 miles of road would bring me over the Newburgh-Beacon Bridge and through (sketchy) Newburgh and Cornwall on the Hudson to arrive at the Storm King Mountain trailhead. Next would be every single trail at Storm King before heading over to Black Rock Forest. Then the West Point Military Reservation would connect Black Rock Forest to Harriman State Park. And then returning back to Bear Mountain State Park to summit Popolopen-Tourne and finally the last summit of Bear Mountain followed by downhill finish through (the rather creepy) Doodletown to get back to the Inn. In summary, the course summit-ed EVERY-SINGLE-MOUNTAIN in the 96 mile loop (I counted 18 mountains) and went out of its way to hit a few of them. With the exception of the 12 miles of road and the 4ish miles through the West Point Reservation, every other mile of trail was singletrack and technical.

After reaching out to my Tahoe-Crew, the idea was met with enthusiasm and excitement! So, we found a weekend that worked with everyone’s schedule and I began planning the Traverse. As a full-time race director, I approached the runventure from an RD’s perspective and created a “runner’s manual”. Excessive? Maybe. But the process was fun, and detailed organization fuels my confidence. The manual quickly turned into a 5 page document complete with gpx tracks, maps, turn-by-turn directions, gps coordinates, gear lists, nutrition plans etc... Dina (Sports Dietitian aka The Nutrition Mechanic… nutritionmechanic.com) helped me with a nutrition/hydration plan and assisted me with organizing the various drop-bags that my crew would meet me with along the course. The loop had 5 easily-accessible trailheads that were between 15-30 miles apart. Mileage-wise that isn’t too terrible (well, 30 miles is rather far), but the duration of each leg would be pretty long because of the amount of climbing and technical terrain. Each leg ended up taking 8-12 hours! After putting out the proposed route and plan on social media, I had several amazing friends reach out to me, asking how they could help and if they could join me for some miles.

I have always said that pacing and crewing is one of the most selfless things that a person can do on this earth. Voluntarily helping a friend stumble up and down mountains in the middle of the night…It’s an insane concept when you really think about it. A pacer helps keep the runner safe, eating, drinking, peeing and hopefully not slipping too far into delirium. Speaking from experience, I can say that crewing/pacing is one of the most rewarding things that you can do. I am forever indebted to my friends who came out during the hundo and to the countless friends who supported me from afar!

With a stellar roster of crew and pacers, I outlined the plan: I would cover the first 22ish miles alone, miles 22-40ish would be with Robin Chase. Miles 40-52 (on the road) would be with Becca Konstandt, Janna Chernetz, Mason Crow and Joe Brandine. Miles 52-82 would be with Keilynn Hopkins, Ryan Thorpe and Lena Peterson. Janna Chernetz, Grace Dipaolo and Laura Saborio would bring me home from mile 82 to the finish.

(Naively) I estimated a total time of 3 miles per hour which held up for the first 22 miles. Once I picked up Robin and we began tackling some pretty insane climbs on some extremely technical trails, I quickly realized that the 3 mph estimation needed to be thrown out the window! It took us about 8.5 hours to cover the 18 miles that climbed 6,000 ft. Breakneck Ridge alone was a 0.7 mi – 1,100 ft scramble on sheer rockface. This was followed by more steep/technical climbs up to Mt Beacon and Fishkill Ridge. I know, I know… I’m not sure why I was convinced that we would maintain a 3 mph pace; I guess I’ll forever be a dying optimist! But the amazing thing about these trails is that every climb rewards you with breath-taking, sweeping views. That was one of my favorite parts about the entire experience – from start to finish, the views were absolutely incredible.

To make this segment with Robin even more challenging, I was experiencing some pretty painful ITB issues. I could feel my ITB starting to flare up after only 5 hours which resulted in a mental downward spiral. I started doubting my ability to finish the hundo. And as the pain got worse, I started questioning the entire year of training. “If my ITB is hurting after only 5 hours, what did I do wrong during all of the training? Why is it hurting so much now when it hasn’t hurt like this during training? What would I have done if I had ITB issues 5 hours into the Tahoe 200?” After internalizing these thoughts for a few hours, I shared them with Robin when we started our leg together. Both of us have struggled on and off with ITB issues, so if anyone would understand, Robin would. We talked through all of it and Robin calmly helped me refocus and make adjustments: we would continue hiking the climbs at a good pace, but would slow down all of the descents to keep the ITB pain under control. 8.5 hours later, we had shared a life-altering experience traversing those mountains. If you have done any amount of trail running or hiking with a good friend, you know that some experiences bond you for life; those 18 miles were exactly that, and I am so thankful that we got to share that unforgettable experience.

After descending Fishkill Ridge, we—I mean, I arrived (Robin seemed to be in one piece) war-torn around 9pm at the Beacon trailhead to meet Becca, Janna and Joe. I told them that I was actually hoping that there would be a police officer at the trailhead ready to arrest us for trespassing, or something, so the whole run would be shut-down. Clearly, I was in a very poor mental/emotional state at this point and was shouting that it was going to take me over 50 hours to finish!! Janna, Becca and Joe wouldn’t hear any of it and quickly redirected my focus to eating the 5 pound burrito that they had brought me. Janna cleaned my feet (remember how I said that crewing/pacing is the most selfless thing you can do?) and Becca and Joe cleaned-out and restocked my pack for the next leg. I changed into my road shoes (they were in the dropbag) and put on the Nox-Vest (also in the dropbag) to get ready for the 12 miles of road. Becca and Janna would run with me while Joe followed in his car to ensure safe passage to the next trailhead on the other side of the Hudson.

The best way to describe those 12 miles of road would be…. C-I-R-C-U-S! Janna, Becca and Joe can always make me laugh and this was truly their moment to shine, because I reallllly needed to laugh! They quickly boosted my mood (the 5 pound burrito helped, too) and kept me moving forward as we made our way towards the Newburgh-Beacon Bridge. Joe is a friend who can alwaaayys make me laugh, I am so thankful that he was there and so thankful that he followed us in his car because that road section was pretty sketchy.

Becca and Janna enjoyed their tacos on the bridge and we met another Sassquader Mason Crow along the way. About halfway across the 1.5 mile long bridge, we saw two lights and dark figures sitting on the ground. I started to feel a little uneasy and told Mason (recently retired from the US Army), “Mason, this is the reason you are here – get up there and keep us safe!” As we got closer, we heard two men shouting, which made me more uneasy. It wasn’t until we were just a few yards away that I recognized the voices—it was Matt Klein and Dougie Wilson! I was absolutely shocked and overcome with joy! They had completely surprised me and I later learned that Becca had helped them plan the whole thing. Our small army now grew to 7 as we continued on through the streets of Newburgh.

Matty and Dougie followed us in their car and Joe in his. Can you picture this scene? It’s midnight and we are running through the sketchy-mcsketch-sketch streets of Newburgh with two cars leap-frogging us, cheering and shouting the entire time! Mack-trucks are zooming past us as we hug the small (non-existent) shoulder, people are stumbling in and out of the bars on Water Street and at one point, we ran by a dance rave party with blaring techno music. C-I-R-C-U-S. The road was a major mental-break for me as I could finally let my mind relax from the required laser-focus on the technical mountain trails during the first 17 hours of the traverse. Although, actually, it wasn’t super relaxing as it felt like we were constantly dodging trucks and potholes. My good friend Michelle Rice Face-Timed us and I got to talk with her for a few minutes. This mental boost was huge.

But my ITB was still aching and now my hamstring was starting to get tight. I reached a breaking point and told the crew we had to stop and try to do something with the ITB. Becca (PT) said she would take care of it and grabbed my lateral quad with both thumbs. She dug in as hard as she could and dragged both thumbs down the ITB towards my knee. I was howling in pain, but after the 10th or 12th time that Becca massaged it, I felt a huge release. The pain was GONE. No joke. It was totally GONE. We started running again and just couldn’t believe that the pain was GONE. I really didn’t believe that I would be able to finish the hundo because of the ITB pain; I knew how tough the rest of the climbs/descents were. But now that the pain was gone, I knew there was no reason why I couldn’t finish. Becca had single-handedly saved the whole run!

It took us 3 hours to cover the 12 miles of road and we arrived at the Storm King Mountain trailhead around 1am. This moment was absolutely one of my favorite memories from the entire experience. We arrived with our crew: Janna, Becca, Joe, Mason, Matty and Dougie and were met with the next crew: Keilynn, Ryan and Lena. So in total, there were 10 of us there at 1am, sharing this incredibly special moment. I was overcome with emotion as it all sunk in: these friends were all out there to support me; to make sure I was safe and to help me accomplish this huge (insane) goal. Every single one of them has families and busy lives and yet they made the time to drive out to New York, in the middle of the night, to help me.

At this point, I was also starting to float away from planet earth because I had been wake for almost 24 hours (I woke up at 2:30am on Saturday for the 4:30am start), had covered over 50 miles of technical mountain trails and accumulated about 11,000 ft of gain. I asked my crew to help me decide if I should lie down or continue on. We decided that I should take advantage of a sleep-setup at the trailhead because it would be 30 miles before I reached the next trailhead with the set of pacers. So at this point, I did a “complete reset”: I changed my clothes, cleaned my feet and left my socks off so my feet could air out, put on some warm layers, drank a protein shake and climbed into the sleeping bag and cot in Lena’s pickup truck. My crew said to take 30 minutes to lie down and try to sleep, and then we would start the next leg.

Going into this thing, I wasn’t sure if/when I would sleep. But with an estimated finishing time of 35-40 hours, I was really hoping that I would be able to sleep at least once. No such luck—my brain was WIRED and I didn’t even get close to falling asleep. (Caffeine was not a factor as I did not have any up to this point) BUT, lying down for 30 minutes and getting off of my feet and closing my eyes was a game-changer. It was a huge mental and physical boost and absolutely refreshed my body for the next leg.

Ryan, Keilynn and Lena came over to the pickup truck with “Eye of the Tiger” blasting and a cup of hot ramen noodles! This was the perfect start to the next leg, which I knew would be the toughest miles of the entire traverse. They let me whine for a minute and then got me out of the sleeping bag and back into my trail shoes. I was incredibly relieved and thankful that these three would be with me for Storm King Mountain. Ryan, Keilynn and Lena have an insane amount of mountain experiences between the three of them, they are older and wiser than me (just like the rest of the crew!) and I knew that the dynamics of each of our personalities would be an awesome combo.

Just as I had anticipated, Storm King was TOUGH. I always describe the trails at Storm King as “aggressive”. The rocks are big, sharp and just gnarly and the trails are steep. I remember Ryan saying at one point, “Kim, we couldn’t run this even if we tried!” As we pressed on through the wee hours of the morning, Lena parted ways with us as we finished the lollipop segment. I am so thankful that Lena got to come with us for those miles. We all shared some fun and some very special conversations together.

At 4:20am (it’s funny what details I remember and don’t remember), I made an announcement that I would be taking caffeine. I’m not really sure why I felt the need to make that proclamation, but I guess it’s evidence that I was indeed, rather loopy. I don’t use any caffeine in everyday life, so the dosage is extremely low when I take it on trail. I actually only ended up taking the caffeine once during the entire 40 hours, and that cap only had about 33 mg of caffeine #lightweight

As we climbed to the top of Storm King Mountain, the sky began to catch fire with the sunrise. This was another favorite memory of the traverse; it was just so beautiful. We stopped for a few minutes to take in the trail beauty at the summit and then began our descent to Black Rock Forest.

Ryan let me know that we had about 8 more miles in Storm King to get to Black Rock. I knew that I was severely sleep-deprived, but I was absolutely convinced that we had less than a couple of miles to get out of Storm King. Ryan and Keilynn patiently and graciously said we would just have to wait and see (again, this is where their mountain experiences of pacing and racing was evident—they knew I was in a fragile mental state and didn’t try to argue with me!). Sure enough, it was less than 2 miles and we were off of Storm King Mountain and entering into Black Rock Forest. This was HUGE—I realized that this Gaia mapping error would remove 5 miles from the route which meant I had 5 less miles to cover. It was like I had won the lottery!

Ryan and Keilynn let the rest of the crew know the mileage update so everyone could make the appropriate adjustments in the timeline. We continued on through Black Rock Forest and climbed to the summits of “Mount Misery” (yes, that was literally the name of the mountain) and “Hill of Pines”. When we got to the top of Hill of Pines, I felt a huge wave of exhaustion that made me feel dizzy so I asked Ryan and Keilynn if we could stop for a few minutes. Ryan pulled out his puffy down jacket (again—that mountain experience coming in clutch) and I laid down with my feet elevated on a rock. After five minutes of my eyes closed and feet up, I felt like a new person. This was another huge mental boost--I learned that I could take 5 minutes to reset when I felt like I wanted to quit!

I wish I could remember all of our conversations the rest of the time because I know we shared a lot of fun convos together! I do remember Ryan singing every word to “Guns and Ships” from Hamilton and that absolutely made my day! And I also remember learning a new word: “Curmudgeon”! Can you guess who was being called a curmudgeon?! A couple of hours later as we were entering the West Point Military Reservation, I was hit with another wave of exhaustion and said I needed another 5 minute break. When I sat down, Keilynn said, “Ya know Kim, it’s okay to cry. You’ll actually feel better if you let out some of those emotions.” After I heard her say that, there was a release of tears and I instantly felt better. I got down on the trail, put my feet up and let the tears flow.

Time after time, Ryan and Keilynn said the right things at the right times and kept me moving forward. They also didn’t downplay the difficulty of the route, which I really appreciated. They called it how it was and said that the route was in fact, incredibly difficult and ambitious. Their honest assessment helped fuel my drive because of how much I respect both of them as trail runners (and of course, as individuals). Over and over again, they kept telling me how strong I was and how well I was moving. Words are powerful and they knew exactly which words to say to keep me moving forward. I also need to point out that for the entire 12 hours, Ryan kept his phone out with the gpx track to make sure we were staying on route. Let me say that again – for the ENTIRE 12 HOURS, Ryan kept us on course – looking down at his phone while traversing extremely technical trails, climbs and descents!! Amazing.

The 4-5 miles of carriage roads through the West Point Reservation were the only trail miles of the entire traverse that were not technical. This was a huge mental break as we could run side-by-side and didn’t have to look down the entire time, worrying about tripping on technical trails and plummeting over a cliff (I know that sounds dramatic, but it’s true). So after 12 hours, 30 miles and 7,800 ft of climbing, we finally arrived at the Turkey Hill Trailhead to meet Grace and Janna for the final 15 miles. This put me at about 80 miles and 19,500 ft of climbing. As I hugged Keilynn and Ryan I was met with another wave of emotion as I tried to say thank-you. But how do you say thank you for something like that?

As Keilynn and Ryan left the Turkey Hill Traihead, Grace and Janna quickly took over and started the process of doing another “hard reset”. I changed clothes, cleaned my feet, ate (THE MOST AMAZING) breakfast burrito, drank a lot of fluids and then laid down with my feet elevated for 30 minutes. I knew I was getting behind on calories and fluids so this reset was desperately needed! At this point I was convinced that I would be able to sleep, but again-no luck. But, just like the last time 30 miles earlier, the thirty minute break did wonders for my brain and body. At this point, my only physical complaints were aching feet and feeling exhausted from not sleeping. I was still in disbelief that the ITB pain was non-existent and my legs felt rock-solid. I told Janna and Grace that there was literally NO reason why I couldn’t finish this thing.

Janna and Grace told me before we left, “All you have left is just a fun Sunday afternoon run with the girls!” I know I said “ok” because it’s on video, but I don’t even remember that conversion, I just remember feeling like I was outside of my body watching everything unfold! Despite being on another planet I (foolishly) told Grace and Janna that I felt comfortable/confident leading and navigating the last section. Less than a mile after we started, I missed a turn and got us off-course! Janna and Grace promised that the detour was less than ¼ mile but I was convinced that it was more than that. Janna, again, I am sorry for arguing with you so much about this!! After we got back on-course, we ran through some incredibly beautiful trails as we made our way towards Popolopen-Tourne. Turkey Hill Pond and Queensboro Lake were gorgeous.

As we approached the bottom of Popolopen and crossed the bridge over Popolopen Creek, a huge wave of emotion came over me and I had to slow down to a hike to regroup. We were back on the trails that I had spent so much time on this past year while I was training for Tahoe 200. I had cried more than once on that foot bridge during the last year, so when we crossed it during the traverse, all of those emotions rose to the surface again. Have you ever noticed that certain trails can hold such strong memories and are attached to certain seasons of life? I also felt emotional because I knew we were getting close to the finish and all of this would be coming to an end.

We began the ascent up Popolopen and I told Grace that the scramble would be coming soon. We ALL have fears and things we don’t like (for me, it’s suspension bridges over water where you can see down below). Grace gets nervous with rock scrambles on cliffs. I mean honestly, who doesn’t get a little nervous with that?! I have to share that Grace was a ROCK STAR and Janna was an AMAZING coach! Gracie scrambled up Popolopen, successfully used the ropes and we got to the top in one piece. This was another really special moment for me, as we all got to share this really incredible experience. It was amazing.

At the summit of Popolopen, we passed a family of Orthodox Jews who were having a concert. I wondered if I was hallucinating because it was an incredibly strange sight to see on the top of the mountain. But Grace and Janna told me that it was, in fact, real. Shortly after that, we passed a hiker who yelled, “Sassquad!” He shared that he comes to our races. I hope I was friendly and said something intelligible, but I can’t remember!

After we made it off of Popolopen, I knew we were at the homestretch: less than 2 miles to Fort Montgomery and then Bear Mountain was the finale. Grace and Janna told me that my pace was “unreal” and they couldn’t believe how fast we were running. I was STILL in disbelief that my ITB was pain-free. (Seriously—I was in pain for almost 30 miles in the beginning of the run!! Thank you Becca!!) We quickly arrived at Fort Montgomery and met up with Laura Saborio who would join us for the last 7 miles. Laura brought me a turkey sub which tasted great, but was an endurance event to chew. Apparently I provided a pretty entertaining show for everyone with delirious banter back and forth with Janna (it was all captured on film)!

I remember Janna saying that it would take us about 4 hours to finish the last 7 miles and I remember thinking, “We are NOT going to take 4 hours to finish this.” As we made our way back into Bear Mountain to begin the 1,100 ft 1.5 mile ascent, it felt like a switch was flipped inside of me and we took off climbing. When we got to the top, Grace said, “I cannot believe how fast we were climbing. I couldn’t keep up with you. I kept thinking you were going to slow down, but you never did.”

When we reached the summit, the final wave of emotions hit like a freight train. I knew the run was over at that point because all we had to do was descend off of the mountain to get to the finish. Bear Mountain is my favorite summit in the Hudson Highlands. I love it because it’s a killer climb, the views are incredible and I love that so many people can enjoy it. The summit is also accessible by car which means that people can drive to the top. I know that that bothers some people, but to me—I think it’s a beautiful thing because it makes the mountain accessible. People who would never be able to climb 1,100 ft due to physical limitations, can still enjoy the beauty at the top by driving there. Young kids can be exposed to the mountain at a very early age because their parents can drive to them to the top. All of those reasons combined with the reoccurring theme I’ve shared several times already—I spent so much time training on that mountain this last year. We arrived at the summit at the very end of the sunset which made the horizon glow orange and blue. I sat down on the bench and took in the moment. Time was standing still. I gazed back and forth between the sunset and my friends and let the tears come out. I was overcome with gratitude for what my friends had done for me, for what my body was able to accomplish and gratitude for the trails and mountains that have given me so much.

We sat there for a few minutes and then heard a woman yell in our direction, “Okay, time is up!” We all looked around in confusion and then realized that she was shouting to her kids who were playing behind us. We all burst out into a fit of laughter! I said, “Man, I thought that she was telling us I missed cutoff and the race was over!!”

The last 4 miles were on (yup, you guessed it) technical single-tracks all the way back to Bear Mountain Inn. Janna told me afterwards that we were running down the trails at the same pace we were running the roads the night before! I told the girls that my legs felt stronger than they ever have at any ultra. I know that sounds crazy, but it’s true. As we got closer to the end, we crossed over Seven Lakes Drive and stopped for a snack and pee break. As usual, I got down on the ground to take the weight off of my feet. Two police-officers drove by and asked if I was ok. I said yes, they drove away, and left me lying on the side of the road! We had a good laugh about that, too. I also want to mention that I left one song on repeat for this entire last leg, from Turkey Hill to the finish, which was littterallly 6 hours. Why? Not sure. The lyrics have no meaning to me, I think it was just the “forward-movement” feel of the song that I enjoyed. And also the fact that I was absolutely out of my mind! (“You Were” by The Fields… and yes, I have it on repeat as I’m writing this recap). Janna, Grace and Laura thank you for not breaking my phone in half while that song was on repeat for six hours.

We made our way through the (creepy) historic Doodletown and were now just 1.5 miles from the finish. Janna, Grace and Laura continued telling me how strong I was finishing and that they couldn’t believe that we were running. It was a rush of relief, disbelief, joy and yes, even some sadness, when we finished. 40 hours and 24 minutes, 96 miles, 21,600 feet of climbing and 18 mountains on rugged technical trails. My legs still felt good; the training worked. Although I definitely could have done better, nutrition and hydration was overall very successful; no gut-bombs or nausea (this is a testament to all that I learned from Dina). And to top it all off, my crew was still friends with me at the end of the race!!

There is nothing that I have done that comes even remotely close to the level of difficulty of this hundo. The only thing I could think of would be if you combined The Great Range Traverse, the Pemi Loop, Squam Range and the Wanaque Traverse. My friend Matt who has done Tahoe 200 (and two other 200’s) said that what I just did was much more challenging than completing 200 miles. I guess only time will tell on that one… I am so thankful for this experience. Of course I am still disappointed that Tahoe 200 was canceled, but I wouldn’t trade this incredible experience for anything. I really didn’t know if I would be able to finish the course because of how difficult it was. I know it sounds cheesy, but finishing this hundo feels like a whole new world has opened up.

Although I will NEVVVEERR do this traverse again, I think that finishing it has paved the way to tackle other really big, hairy, scary goals. I think my friend Dina perfectly summed up the whole thing by saying it was: GUTS + GRIT + DORKBALL! I want to say thank you again to my friends who came out to crew and pace: Robin, Janna, Becca, Joe, Mason, Matty, Dougie, Lena, Ryan, Keilynn, Grace and Laura. Thank you to Dina Griffin for supporting me the last few months with nutrition and hydration and for helping me prepare for this monster. Thank you to Kim Fong for giving me the best PT over the last few months. Thank you to my family for loving me and supporting me (despite not sharing the same passion for these crazy endurance events). Thank you to every single person who reached out to me before/during/after and especially for all of the support over the last few weeks. I have so much gratitude for this amazing trail and ultra community; it has truly changed my life.

Like I mentioned at the beginning of the recap-- I was looking for something HARD, for some serious trail beauty and for something that I could share with my friends. The Hudson Highlands Hell No Hell Hole Hundo was all of that and a bag of chips.