I was noodling on ideas for fun routes to do for my run streak reaching 1000 days, so, 5 days before setting out, I decided on the Badger State Trail.
I got to the trail at about 7:10am. My fiancé dropped me off and I set out a few minutes later. My pack contained 15 Huma Gels and 6 Skratch energy bars. I also carried about 2L of water in 4 bottles. The first 10 miles were smooth sailing, but I couldn't get my heart rate to come down because of the weight of the pack. 5 miles in I ended up moving a lot of the food I had in the pack into my short pockets and holding the extra bottle of water I had in my pack.
That seemed to do the trick with the heart rate thing. At mile 6 I hit the gravel trail, which is mostly double single track and double track. Conditions were a bit wet and slick in some spots, but no mud which was great.
The Steven's tunnel is still closed, so the detour took me onto pavement once again and really the only noticeable grade of the whole trail.
From Monticello to Monroe the barely noticeable uphill did a number on my legs. It's about 8-10 miles of continuous grade. That beat me down and by the time I got to Monroe I was pretty spent and barely able to eat much of the food I had left. I filled up two of my water bottles in Monroe at the Badger State Trail filling station and set off for the last 8 or so miles. This was the toughest part and I did a mix of about 90% run and 10% walk the rest of the way to the finish
Overall it was a great day to get outside and enjoy the trail. The bridges are pretty squishy and seem to be rotting so be careful when crossing.
Happy trails!