parkersburg to home + 25mph gusts = death

[dan]

to all:

i decided to be brave today and do my 11 miles on the trail- since i have gone to the left (towards the tunnel/trestle/pittsburgh) probably 90% of my life, i decided to switch things up- easy enough, right?

well, it took me 5:40 to get from my house down to the bottom of the switchbacks...for 11 miles, i figured 77:00...i also figured an extra 1:20 to go home from the trailhead since it was very much an uphill and i would be zonked already anyway- so ~13:00 off of 77:00 leaves me with about 63-64 to run on the trail....i decided to go out 31:30 and then turn around- i conveniently forgot the warnings i had read on this excellent board about how difficult it was running back from parkersburg rd on....

actually- that is a lie- i did remember- except i only remembered after i had run my 31:30 out and had stopped to pee at the turn- i thought, well i am feeling okay, i just ran mile 12 to mile 11 in 6:31, and i am doing alright- i should be okay as long as i just relax and pretend i am carrying my batons-

i was wrong- not only did i think about the words of rob saying "i swear to you i ran those last 2.5 from parkersburg back in no less than 20:00" every single step, i was greeted with the mysterious emergence of the "breezy" adjective that had graced the morning's times-news weather forecast- it had been conveniently absent during the length of my run down towards savage and beyond, but now that i had turned around, it hit me in the face like one of the seemingly macho guys in this weekend's toughman contest-

anyway, i ran that timed mile again going the other direction, and i ran 6:49- not bad i thought- i knew, though, that i was not going to negative split the run, or even split it for that matter-

i just tucked in and told myself the demonic 25mph gusts that happened every 2 seconds would go away once i got back close to the depot where the trail broke from the railroad- i was wrong- not only did the winds not suppress once i was in between the cut of the mountains, it increased! i felt like a salmon swimming upstream in upstate Oregon....

the brightest spot of the run was when i saw the 15 mile mark out of nowhere on the way back.....i remembered back to when i saw the 11 after the turn- it had been 38:49 to 65:59 for those 4 miles, or 27:10, for an average of 6:47 a mile, i believe.....so even though i felt like i was about to be strung up like a kite the whole way home, i had actually even split all the way back to the trailhead....

now comes the fun part.....luckily i had remembered "hawkeye" telling me how the run up the switchbacks and depot st. was easy compared to those last 2.5 on the trail....well i have one word for him regarding that......LIAR.....i think that good old mr. wind knew i was within 5 minutes of home so he decided to see how far he could push me before i cracked.....next to the train car on the tracks right before going up depot st it felt like i was going to start running negative 4:30 per mile.....i couldnt believe what a wall i was running up against- i almost cried, and it probably looked like i was because the tears in my eyes were flowing like that river in northern OR where i was a salmon because it was so windy out-

ok- so to spare the melodrama and the bizarre references to my second favorite state, i made it home- i went out in 37:10 and came back in 37:25 for a very near even split in a total of 74:35 for the 11 miles-

there is no real point to the story other than that it is windy today and that rob and jaron were right about how ridiculously difficult it is to run from parkersburg rd home- next time i will fathom how it will feel to get to parkersburg having already run 13 miles from cumberland- yuck

see everyone on sunday morning!

DAN

[frojoe23]

Dan, great post!

I decided to run on the Rail/Trail as well today. I had a tough time the first three miles with my breathing (still have a slight cold), but after that I really settled in. I ran from the Trailhead in Frostburg to the Canal in Cumberland. It was one of the best runs that I have been on. Definitely the easiest 15.5 miler that I have ever run. I didn't run hard, but it was very enjoyable. I was able to talk Jackie into riding my bike beside me the entire time. It felt very good to be able to take her "on a run" with me. Also, it was a good decision because I had here carry a Gatorade with her and that really helped me in the later stages of the run.

I feel sorry for you Dan. I didn't feel any wind at all - so it must have been at my back the entire time. But what a great day. It was really great to finally be able to get outside after having been caged for two days. Hopefully, I feel good tomorrow as well.

[baldisbetter]

Dan,

That is a great recap... I honestly believe that when running from Canal to the Depot that the Parkersburg Road stretch it is part of the “Nether World”.