In March of 2022 I ran every single trail at Eno River State Park: 35 miles in 5 hours and 23 minutes. I opted for three miles of road to link Fews Ford to Pleasant Green. But the more aesthetic route in my opinion is to follow the river and future MST route. So why didn't I do this last year?
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The answer is because I'd just been called out for venturing off the beaten path at Umstead. Fast forward to now: embracing Eno's tolerance for off-trail exploration, I've since linked Fews Ford to Pleasant Green this way several times. Time to do this route right...
On a chilly Feb. 4th Saturday morn, I drove to Fews Ford. My plan was to just run the first 14+ miles for training and to relearn turns. Once loosened up, I felt good and wanted to continue on despite being under-equipped on calories and fluids (I didn't leave a cache at Cole Mill).
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I was right on pace as I began the link-up to Pleasant Green. But as the animated map above shows, the shorter bushwhack is slower. By Laurel Bluffs, I was a few minutes behind and knew I didn't have a kick to catch up, so I ran home and stopped at 24 miles.
An overuse injury sidelined me for about six weeks. The Hot Springs Infinity Loop was my first time back to such distance, but not quite up to such speed. Nonetheless, I felt more or less ready to race my Eno ghost again. It was go time on Sunday, March 26th.
I started at 7:03 am, it was humid but cool and I got busy trying to build a buffer through Fews Ford. A beautiful morning light illuminated countless spring beauties, a blue heron glided up river ahead of me, a pileated wood pecker watched me on Cox Mountain.
There's a power line cut on Cox Mountain that overlooks the river link-up. When I got there, I paused to look southward to where I was headed. I guess I was also trying to look into the future. Not even halfway yet, did I feel like I had it in me today? I wasn't sure.
One thing was for sure, I wasn't skimping on the calories: protein recovery drink in my bottle, leaded and unleaded gels, nut bar. Plus I'd cached a protein shake and coconut water at Cole Mill. I just had to keep on keeping on, hopefully a bit faster than last time.
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Amazingly I was ahead of pace at Pleasant Green, but my lead was dropping. Thunder rumbled and it started to drizzle around Cabelands. By the time I took the powerline back to the bridge at Cole Mill (Pea Creek was temporarily closed), I was right on pace.
With five miles to go, I was going to have to run harder than I wanted to for the PR/FKT! It was going to hurt and I didn't know I had it until I could actually see the bridge at Guess! It was that close, 1 min and 39 secs to be exact. I finished in 5:21:51.
This new route is shorter than the original, but I would say it's every bit as hard due to the added navigation and slow going on the off-trail river link-up. But like I said, it is the more aesthetic choice and I'm thankful to have gotten a chance to do it!
2022 NC state park postal runs:
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