Rocky and I pulled into the parking lot of the Rickenbaugh House (or however you spell it) and the sun still wasn't starting up but it was also cloudy. So I reluctantly grabbed my headlamp, started preparing myself, getting my hydration pack on while Rocky is roaming the parking lot sniffing. I see him over by the bathroom just 20 feet from me when I suddenly hear a low, low growl come from him......... yep I was a bit freaked out, I grabbed my smaller handheld tough duty flash light and shined it over there but saw nothing. I finished getting everything together and we headed to the bathroom, I needed to pee and to make sure nothing was there. There wasn't anything, so I am not sure if Rocky smelled something he didn't like or what as he normally doesn't growl like that. Then we hit the Two Lakes Loop trail head behind the Rickenbaugh House, and there was no turning back.
I am glad I took that handheld with me, my headlamp was dying. I only needed the lighting for 20 minutes, then stuck the flashlight in my hydration pack and soon strapped my headlamp to the back of the pack along with my headband as I was feeling warm. It was slow going, I was new to these trails and there was flooded sections or small creeks that I had to cross or find a way around and then of course the stones and roots, this was definitely a dangerous course if you even the tiniest bit clumsy.
There were some small hills with in the first 3 miles, averaging from 50-80 feet and then around mile 4 was a much larger hill with a climb of about 200 feet.......... I had to hike most of that one. Between mile 5 and 6 was a great descent of like 300 feet and even though I was enjoying the speed.... I knew I was going to pay for it later.
I can say without a doubt now, that I know why they call this the Indian-Celina Challenge.... this isn't for the faint of hearts who rarely run loads of hills and trails, I hiked a lot and I stopped a lot to catch my breath. I consumed 3 gels (my usual Energy GU Chocolate, and the Orange, the third one was the Hammer Gel Chocolate which I didn't exactly care for) and I drank almost all of my 10 oz of Gatorade throughout this run. I got my butt whooped in a way I could never imagine, and forced me to realize that my dream of participating in ultras was only going to become real if I got serious about running hills like at John James Audubon State Park. If I barely got this run done, how the heck am I going to finish even a 50 or 60k next year? Heck, I was even thinking of doing the 26.2 mile distance next June..... if that is even going to happen I've got to starting running more hills and getting conditioned for it.
Rocky and I finished 12.4 miles in 2:25:37, my garmin gives me 12.4 though the race site says 13.1 and the park website says 15.7.... not freaking possible, I stayed on the Two Lakes Loop Trail dang it. Here's the real butt kicker, according to my garmin the elevation gain was 1,498 feet and a loss of 1,504 feet. Temperature was 34 degrees with a feels like 28.
Laps/Splits were:
Mile 1 - 12:59
Mile 2 - 12:13
Mile 3 - 12:21
Mile 4 - 11:42
Mile 5 - 11:19
Mile 6 - 10:02
Mile 7 - 11:31
Mile 8 - 12:07
Mile 9 - 12:16
Mile 10 - 12:59
Mile 11 - 11:36
Mile 12 - 12:00
.4 - 12:32
There's no doubt I underestimated this trail, and I am hurting, heck even my lower back is hurting from the uphill hiking. I was so happy to be done with this run, I can't even describe the feeling I had when I saw my Tahoe. As to whether I will be going back to this course before before the race, I plan on taking another crack at it either in late April or early May. Here are some pics I took
Here is the elevation graph.
And here is my breakfast after the run.
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