Parked my car at Ashby Gap Trailhead 04/02/2022 and walked down the AT to Route-50. I started my watch at 1:00pm on the dot while having a foot on Rt-50. The section back to up Ashby Gap and shortly thereafter was littered with downed trees and people, which were not there when I scouted the trail in January. This led me to a very slow start for my first half mile which made me accelerate when I realized my pace. I then began to fly and passed Eliot (my friend who just started at Ashby Gap) at around mile 1.2. It was smooth sailing and mostly descent until the Roller coaster sign at mile ~3.5. I was met with a rude awakening on the first climb of the rollercoaster; I had to walk for most of it. There was normal up and down on the roller coaster until mile ~6.3 where I seemed to have deviated maybe 20 feet west of the AT; multiple trails appeared to have diverged from the main trail on this climb. I quickly realized that small mistake and just walked straight East until I hit the trail once again. I came to the only parking lot along the trail around mile ~7 in 1 hour and 9 minutes and took a long water break there. Once again had to pass a number of people close to the parking lot, but soon found myself all alone and still chugging along. At Mile 10.0 exactly, I hit the sign telling me Bear's Den was 4 miles away. Continued on and made it to Bear's Den around at mile ~13.8. From there it was a lot more passing people very quickly as I knew the time would be close. I ended up hitting the trailhead with 2 hours 30 minutes and 17seconds on my watch (3:30pm). The Strava post says my moving time was 2 hours 28 minutes and 09 seconds, which is odd because I never touched my watch during the right, but I am assuming this difference in time comes from my water stops; nonetheless, 2 hours 30 minutes and 17 seconds is the time I am going with!
This was a very challenging run; I was really only able to run on the flats and the downhills, but a fun one nonetheless!