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| My future awaits |
With two weeks to go before the Escarpment Trail Run, it was time to get in the second to last training run. Today's run would include essentially what is the first half.
Like last week, a lot of fellow runners were out getting their last training in. Today I met Tony at the start. He would include the summit of Blackhead before turning around. He looked at me and noticed I didn't have any water, "you must be going for a short one." I told him I just camelled up and that I've done this plenty of times. He offered me water a couple times while out on the trail and I accepted each time.
It's middle July, but the humidity is thankfully low. At least it was in the beginning. With a nice combo of running and walking I made it to the first trail junction in just under 17 minutes and the summit of Windham in 53 minutes. Despite the effort, it's all irrelevant. The run starts from the summit of big bad Windham High Peak.
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| Blackhead Range |
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| Burnt Knob and WHP |
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| Black Dome Valley |
There are many moderate little climbs after the descent of Windham. Both Burnt Knob and Acra Point are among the Catskills 100 highest. But the real obstacles along this part of the trail (like any great Catskill Trail) are the rocks. It's hard to find a nice stride or any kind of rhythm here. Still I found a way to manage these 5 miles in 1 hr and 11 min. Not bad, but it needs to be under an hour.
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| Always time to stop for mushrooms |
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| A cool walk in the woods on a hot, humid afternoon |
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| This is where the monsters reside |
On the way back I mixed in a little running. It started to get hot and humid. I now regretted bringing my camelback. Still I managed as the descent down Windham was cooler and Tony hooked me up with some water for the final stretch. This no doubt happened to be one of my all time favorite training runs.
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| First casuality |
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