2:42:02. Started and finished by touching the Pine Lake Shelter House.
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That was brutally challenging. I’ve been wanting to run this historic backpack trail that was built in the 1960’s by Columbus Boy Scout Troop #195 for many years, and finally had a chance to drive over to check it out.
Jared Hites obtained the FKT in 2020, with a time of 2:43:32, after the route was established on the FKT website by Chase Smith, and I thought that I would run the loop today with that number in mind, despite never reconning the trail. That’s sort of bad etiquette to not at least check the trail out first, but I was able to follow the route nearly perfectly with only a couple pauses to make sure I was on the correct trail. I figured the trail would be laid out similarly to the Zaleski and Shawnee backpack trails, and indeed it was. I think it was harder than Zaleski Forest (at least for me today it was).
I never felt good today - I don’t know if that was more of me being fatigued from recent training or if the trail was just that hard… probably a little, or a lot, of both, but I was feeling pretty zonkered out by the end. The second half (South Loop) was much more runnable than the first half, due to one fewer climb and some open ridge top running, but by that time I had burned through too much energy and was unable to run much of the uphills. In fact, I had to sort of suck it up and blast the final downhill just to squeak under Jared’s FKT time! Since I didn’t know the trail very well, I didn’t know how much I had left and if I’d be under the time or not! Jared’s time is very stout and I certainly had to work hard to be under.
The trail surface conditions were pretty good considering the recent rains, but there were a lot of trees down. I have heard via other runners that is a common thread at Tar Hollow and it’s one of the reasons I wanted to run it in April rather than when the late spring and summer growth season hits. It’s interesting to see how different state forests prioritize trail maintenance! I don’t know if that’s a testament to the local Forest managers prerogatives or simply an unfortunate byproduct of low funding by the state. I’m thankful for Zaleski and Shawnee Forest staff for doing a pretty decent job in advance of IFTR and Shawnee races!
A 17 mile backpack trail isn’t a super long trail in comparison to others in the area, but this one had me leaving the forest bloody and muddy, and a little sick to my stomach. I guess it was a good day!