Escarpment Trail Run

 

Sunday morning, Ed and I roll out in the wee hours for North Lake, in the upper Catskills of NY.  The Escarpment Trail run is 18.6 miles, or 30 K, or however long it really is.  Given Ben Nephew's times, and my Grand Tree scoring, I'll shoot for 4 - 4:15.  There is a massive elevation claim for this course, 10,000' total.  If I subtract 4 miles from my Wapack time, I get about 4 hours, then add a bit more for an extra couple thousand feet climbing and descending ... yeah.  If I'm feeling good coming down from Stoppel Point, I could make a dash at breaking 4, however there is litttle likely-hood that I can anticipate the terrain well enough to know what my time means when I'm at Stoppel Point.  It has been weeks since a great race like this and I'm psyched.

 

If you follow this  blog, maybe you're noticing I have no concern for my recent injury.  Last night, at the Elks, I ran a darn good 5k with a steady tempo+ effort followed by a fast-paced summit cool-down.  The cool down was with Billy Rowe, who doesn't seem to run slow.  Some left leg soreness compensating for the right, which isn't 100%, but I'm confident in my overall fitness.  The 5k was so easy, I feel my fitness is improved a great deal from the time off and enforced core-strengthening I've gotten during my new job, at FedEx.  Ed just called and the plans are set!