This morning (11/1/20) at approximately 8:15a, Kim Horner and I took off from Pine Point heading SW on the Gateway State Trail for the FKT attempt. The winds were gusting from the NW pretty strongly (10-20mph sustained, gusts 20+) and the temperature was around 28 degrees. We were both dressed for the weather, though, not willing to let it discourage us. I had my handheld water bottle full of water, a caramel GU gel, and then salt tabs to take in throughout the 18 miles.
My friends Kyleen Harstedt and Sheila Konz surprised me at the start to cheer as we got ready to set off, and they chalked encouraging messages on the trail to support us.
My goal was to run around 7'20 pace in order to beat the current female FKT. The cold weather had us cruising from the start and going much faster than 7'20 pace just to warm up! The first mile I felt chilled by the cross wind coming through the trees, but then the trees provided great protection from the wind for the next miles and I felt warm. Around mile 4 or 5 I was so warm that I took my gloves off and ran with them. Thankfully, though, I didn't toss them because we lost our protection from the wind around mile 9 and the cross wind made it sufficiently chilly!
My friend Patrick Keyes and Collin Killey hopped in to run around mile 10 to keep us company until the finish. A little over mile 10 my friend Matt Andrews served as an aid station and handed me my bottle of Gatorade of which I took one sip and tossed it back to him. I was feeling the wheels coming off a little bit at this point, so I was really glad for the boost of seeing my friends and getting a little Gatorade fuel!
I was feeling the fatigue of the run over the final 5 miles and was glad to have friends keep me distracted and moving. Thankfully we didn't have to stop at any of the road crossings because traffic was light, and we kept clicking off the miles. We finished in the sunshine with a tailwind that was very welcomed! My legs were pretty cashed after we pushed it into the finish, and I had a big smile on my face after realizing that we had beaten the former female FKT with our time of 2:11'07.