FKT: Peter Bonito - Lake Sunapee Circumnavigation (NH) - 2023-06-15

I started this run at 8:29 am on Thursday, June 15. I had intended to start at Tilton Park in Sunapee, which is what I saw as a starting point for the previous FKT holder. Unfortunately, they were redoing the parking lot, so I had to find another place to go. I do not know this area well so I opened up Google Maps and looked for a parking lot somewhere nearby. I ended up parking at Dewey park (about a mile away) and taking a short trail down to Dewey Beach, which is a point on the route. This ended up being a blessing as the whole time I was out there it was extremely humid, so it was nice to cool off in the lake afterwards. I had raced a 50K 5 days prior to this, so I knew my legs weren't ready for another race effort, but I thought that I could give an even and controlled effort and still come in under 5 hours. I lost the majority of my time to navigation and despite only having 200 calories and 48 ounces of water I was still able to comfortably come in under 5 hours. I think with fresh legs, proper fueling and hydration and knowledge of the route that under 4:15 is possible, but I would have to go all out race effort. All in all a fun day on a unique loop.