FKT: Nigel Bates - Blue Mountain Trail (NJ) - 2020-11-27

I ran the Blue Mountain Loop clockwise in 2:17:08 on Friday 11/29/20. It was just a training run, but while exploring the FKT website I saw that it had been recently submitted as a route. A little digging revealed that my time was a few minutes faster than the winner of the (semi-virtual) race held on the route this summer, so I decided to submit for the FKT. GPS was a little weird toward the end, but the total time is correct. This is a pleasant loop, much flatter than I’m used to in Vermont! The major challenge is long stretches of rocky, uneven footing, often buried in piles of oak leaves. I felt pretty rough in the second half, as the previous evening’s Thanksgiving dinner didn’t fuel me as well as I had hoped it would. Lots of time to be had out there — maybe I’ll give it another go next year. Counterclockwise is probably a better choice for going fast.