FKT: Zachary Knutson - Ice Age Trail, Columbia County (WI) - 2020-09-30

Was planning to set out and establish the FKT (and currently OKT) for the Columbia County segment of the Ice Age Trail around 11 a.m. on 9/30/2020. Pouring rain pushed me back to starting just after 1 p.m. Started my watch/phone at the Highway F/Fox River Road intersection with my finger touching the Marquette County Line sign. Began as a pleasant run, temps in the mid-50s with some decent wind at my back that kept the mosquitoes (which have been terrible lately) at bay. Felt consistently strong despite waking up with a bit of a head cold. About 5 miles in I was hit with a light rain squall, nothing particularly remarkable. Weather and pace was great the rest of the way until the final three miles on Levee Road. I knew rain was supposedly coming in around 4 p.m. but it arrived a bit early and began downpouring, blowing directly into my face for about 10-15 minutes. This resulted in one slow mile and then two faster ones to finish out the route once the weather cleared. Wore a hydration vest with two small bottles of water, and one was still half full at the end of the run. Ate one Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Lara bar along the way. I had previously measured the route with a car odometer at exactly 17 miles. The goal I set out for myself was 2 hours and 30 minutes. I was able to meet that goal perfectly as I hit the 17-mile mark but there was an extra .15 miles to the Sauk County line. There is no clear marking for the endpoint, so I stopped my time when I reached the entrance to a gravel parking lot that rests on the county line. It's a fairly noticeable lot with many surrounding signs, just nothing that explicitly says "county line." As this route is very near to where I grew up, I tend to overlook the scenery of the area, but this route is a great representation of the historic nature of Portage, WI, connecting the Fox and Wisconsin Rivers and passing by the canal "Where the North Begins." Overall, a satisfying day accomplishing exactly what I had set out to do. I will likely be looking to better my time in the future, and I assume that any good marathon runner could blow it out of the water, as it is an almost entirely flat road running route.