Type F Athlete: Stinchfield Woods Trail Marathon

Friday off work! Perfect opportunity to run long at Stinchfield Woods, my favorite hilly single track trails. Stinch features no hunting, no bikes, and (somehow) no mud this time of year. There was some ice, but the trails were overall so firm that I ditched my Salomon Fellcross at the car at mile 11 for my Montrail Rogue Fly shoes, which are much lighter. Maybe spring has finally arrived in the SE corner of the mitten state.

At the start, I topped up my Ultimate Direction Wasp hydration pack with GUs and water, and I loaded the iPhone with podcasts from NPR All Songs Considered, KEXP, and Sound Opinions for company. Good thing too, since I saw only one other person out there all run. I did get to see a barred owl up close, as it flew right across the stretch of trail I was running, not ten feet from me. I tried to sneak up on Owl through the brush, but I was loud and clunky and Owl flew off before I could snap a picture. But I stopped plenty to take other pictures of this strange UM owned piece of land that reminds me so much of the Dharma Initiative from TV's Lost.

After two hours of running I wasn't sure I could make it up and down these hills for 3-4 hours, for the 35F temps and cloudy skies were pressing in on me, but after clicking off some faster miles, I could smell marathon distance and went for it. I ran much stronger from 18-23, and continued dropping pace throughout the whole run, finishing very strong. I'm really happy that my fitness is at the point where I can knock out a trail marathon without it totally crushing me and even negative split.

Run stats: 2,200 feet of vert gain over 26.42 miles with 3 hours 32 minutes of tough trail running.