Thru Run

Slept in hammock, horrible sleep, clothes were wet so I shivered all night. Got going, legs felt about 30% but I was moving, that's what mattered. Once I got to 4k I started to pick up the pace and sped along at around a 8min/km pace, I was happy with that. At 16km I started to really slow down. The stiffness, heat, and lack of sleep caught up to me. (Not to mention chaffing) By 26 I was done, and okay with being done. It's not often that I DNF but today I felt that I'd do damage to chaffed areas if I didn't stop.

I was dropped off by the BV BT club "Trail Angel" at the top of Blue Mountain, at the beginning of the Beaver Valley section at 8:30am I started out on the trail feeling good, the sun felt hot right from the start. There are a few open areas that were significantly hotter than the canopied zones. I'd put my Tilley on each time I entered an open area and soaked it in every cold creek I came across. The most difficult part of the day came at 8k when I hit sideroad 21 and didn't see any blazes. When I looked to the west I noticed a small white blaze on the back of a road sign... but then those soon stopped, and then I saw an other, but when I looked closer it was actually a work order sticker for the road crews who install the road signs... so where is the trail? I took out my map and got back on track. There was no turning blazes and no blaze on the entrance of the trail up the road. This error caused me to spend 2.5 km in the hot sun and really beat me