Tough Trail Challenge 2024

Lindsay-Parsons

I’d made very tentative plans to have a July 4th go at the Tough Trail Challenge. My body felt pretty awful running a Lakefront Loop yesterday afternoon, so I wasn’t sure I’d even feel like running at all today despite having the day off for July 4th. I packed my gear and clothes the night before anyhow, just to be ready.

Turns out I woke up wired at 3 a.m. chomping at the bit to get running. I made it down to the Lindsay Parsons Preserve to scan the sign at 4:01. Dry trails made the headlamp run a lot easier this time compared to my run here for the Ultra Challenge 100k in April the same time of day.

I’ve run the route enough to navigate it without RunGo but didn’t trust myself to spot all those sneaky turns in the dark. Everything was smooth sailing and I finished the 4.5 miles in a reasonable time given the lack of sunlight. I don’t recall spotting any wildlife in the glow on this normally critter-dense course. The bullfrogs though were out in full force for an all night party in the pond.

Treman Trailipop

I started in the dark and finished in the light on course number 2 of the Tough Trail Challenge. It was already 70° and humid at 5:00 a.m. making it a sweaty, soggy, good time. I considered hopping in the creek at the end in let of a morning shower to cool down and rinse off but was short on time. One more course before stopping home.

FH Fox

Each year one of the most fun Challenge course runs through Cornell’s land. This year, FH Fox is among my favorite of the 37 courses since the Challenge’s inception. I enjoy the mix of gravel, singletrack, and miscellany on this, fast mid-distance route, especially bright and early before it gets too warm.

Run number 3 of 5 in the Tough Trail Challenge went smoothly enough. As I was preparing to leave Caitlin Loehr zipped on by the sign rockin’ the same 2024 Challenge shirt I had on (which was making it’s Challenge run debut).

Following the run I had to head home for breakfast with the kids and some family time. I’d finish the other two courses later with plenty of time on the 12-hour clock. Or so I hoped…

Duck Trails

If anyone was looking at the activity log they might have noticed I knocked out three of the trail courses early and in good time and then disappeared for six hours. After completing FH Fox I went home at 7:30 to do stuff with the wife and kids. Turns out the boys had been up since 6:00 rampaging around the house, which is unusual, and Hayley was already worn out. So much for finishing the last two courses before our planned family trip to the revamped Stewart Park splash pad. I couldn’t ditch them just to finish the runs.

Fast forward to about 1:15 p.m. After an hour in the splash pad toddler melee, playground time, several carousel rides, and lunch at home, both 4-year-olds surprisingly were ready to crash but yet good tempered. At 1:20 p.m. they were out like headlamps, which meant I maybe had time to finish Duck Trails and HHH before the 4:01 p.m. cutoff while my wife got a chill afternoon.

I grabbed my gear and hightailed it to Sapsucker. By now it was 90° and some of the loop is without tree cover. My legs felt like lead from the start. I slogged through what felt like a much slower pace, tore off my drenched shirt, and quickly took off for Hammond Hill at 2:10. Finishing the last course on time was sure gonna be close.

Hammond Hill Hoctathon

Following a quick Duck Trails session I made it up to the Hammond parking lot without much time left to finish the Tough Trail Challenge within 12 hours elapsed. By the time I scanned the Hoctothon sign I had to finish in no more than 1 hour 33 minutes to make the 4:01 p.m. deadline. I knew this would be a stretch in the heat, with 20 miles on my legs already since 4:01 a.m. I honestly didn’t know if I’d make it, but figured I’d at least record the completion to hopefully win the HHH sign for logging the most runs.

Higher up in the hills and under tree cover the heat wasn’t too bad. Both lower appendages were cooked though. I quickly found myself hiking the uphills and making up lost time on the downs. One of the funnest local trail sections to run is the gate-to-gate segment from Hammond Hill Road down B1 and the snowmobile trail to Canaan Road.

The Y8 climb always wears on me, and on the hike up I was continuously checking my watch to make sure I was ahead of 10-minute pace. After the turn onto Y5 the course is pretty easy the rest of the way (except for the technical B3 loop). I’d just have to limit the walking and I’d make it.

Thankfully RunGo had no issues today, so no need to think about any of the turns. I walked some on B3 because I was paranoid that I’d faceplant on a root and derail the day’s effort. Perhaps it was PTSD from when I wiped out on B3 two days earlier and tore up my lower leg.

It wasn’t until two miles to go and 23 minutes to do it that I truly knew the TTC completion was in the bag. When I scanned the finish sign it was 11 hours 55 minutes elapsed, with a sub-5-hour cumulative run time. I was sure glad to only be running 5 courses today instead of all 10. Now I gotta find a day for the Tough Tarmac.

I forgot to take a finish line pic so here’s one with Joel after I got home.

Post script

The next morning I felt total trash, with symptoms similar to the one time I had COVID. I then tested positive and quarantined for another six days. I most likely had COVID and some of its symptoms while running the Tough Trail Challenge, leading to extra fatigue compounded by the heat.