FKT: Peter Bonito - Sunapee Ragged Kearsarge Greenway (NH) - 2023-09-15

I started this route at 4:30 am on Friday, September 15th, from the SRKG Trail 5 parking area off of Route 114 in Springfield. My goal was to beat the overall FKT time , which was supported, but do it unsupported. I chose to run the route clockwise, which I knew would leave me with arguably the most runnable section of the loop for the last 11 miles. My stomach felt off right from the start, but not to the point where I felt that it wasn't worth still going for it. Other than stomach discomfort, the first 21 miles went very smoothly. At mile 22 there was a large bog on the Ragged Mountain Ridgeline that I wasn't able to avoid due to heavy rainfalls the previous week. The moment I stepped into it I was thigh deep in mud. I had to grab some trees on the other side of the bog in order to pull myself out. Although this was fun, it left my feet absolutely soaked, and they stayed fairly wet for the rest of the run. There was a mile+ logged section just after the parking area for the Mount Kearsarge Lincoln Trail, around mile 38, that was an absolute mess. I ended up walking this whole section to reduce my chances of rolling an ankle. I was about 15 minutes ahead of my desired pace when I hit the base of Mount Sunapee at mile 52. By the time I came off of Sunapee (about 5 1/2 miles later) I was 15 minutes behind pace. When I hit the Sunapee Middle School (mile 64.5) I was essentially at a break even with my desired pace. Saving the most runnable section for the last 11 miles paid off and I was able to gain back about 18 minutes, leaving me with a total time of 17:25:19. I consumed about 2,800 calories but, in retrospect, could have used about 1,000 more. Due to all the rain, filtering spots were as abundant as they could be, though I was only able to find one water source for the last 20 miles. Overall, I was very happy with how this went, and was really pumped to take the overall time unsupported. This was the farthest I have ever run by about 23 miles, so I was happy to still be feeling really strong (though happy to be done) at the end.