Decided to celebrate what felt like the first legit day of spring here in Central OR by going after the SMURPL fkt. I had scouted out the course once a few weeks prior, although I'd done some parts of it many times before that. I really like how this route takes you through seldom visited parts of the park while linking up the high points - it feels like a true adventure in what can sometimes feel like a pretty busy place. Also the run/scramble component is obviously rad. Kudos to the route pioneers!
Felt great during this effort and am happy with my time, but this can definitely go faster. For starters, the more direct, steeper trail down into the park was closed for trail maintenance (unbeknownst to me) which forced me to take the longer, slower dirt road down. That's a minute or to at least. Next, I did this during a pretty busy time of year/week (Sunday late morning during prime smith season) which cost me some time, particularly during a little traffic jam getting over asterisk pass at the beginning. Maybe a minute or so there. Lastly, I had a little meltdown going up the scar where my legs stopped cooperating for a bit and I considered pulling the plug. At least another minute there.
I think a more legit runner could bring this down to 1:30 and likely beyond, especially on a less crowded weekday. Looking forward to seeing where others can take this!