10 miles on 10/10/10

As you may or may not know (that really doesn't make ANY sense, does it? I've never thought so) I entered Neil's race over at his blog. The rules seemed to fit me, including the distances.
Between now and including Oct 10th, 2010 (10.10.10.), run any of the following distance

• 10 km
• 10 miles
• 1.0 km
• 1.0 miles
• 100 km
• 100 miles

Which one did i pick? Have we met? Of course i picked 100 miles. Why not?
Well, if I had given it ANY thought, I would have realized that there was NO way that I could tally up 100 miles. But I plodded along, trying to get some miles here and there. Never really added up.
Once again, my wonderful wife Tracey came to the rescue. She gave me the 'ok' to skip a gathering so that I could have time to run today. Today, the final day to be able to get this run in, and then get it posted. I also volunteered to so dome chores around the house so that she wouldn't have to worry about getting them done when she got home tonight.

ANYWAY...... Here is where I ran. I ran along the Appalachian Trail from Norwich, Vermont. I headed south, which is to say I headed to Georgia. I didn't make it go Georgia. Besides, I've heard that the Devil went down to GA, and I'm still trying to give him the slip....
I've run on this trail many times, and the last time i went as far as i was planning to go today, I came home with pretty serious blisters on my feet that ended up getting infected. That time, however, I didn't have any socks on. I was only planning to do 5 miles that day, but was feeling good and decided to push it. Bad idea.
So what did I learn? Yes, to wear socks. Today I ran in my injinji socks. No blisters, I am happy to say!
Fall is in full effect in these parts. The trail was very obscure in several parts. More than once I had to stop and look for the white paint marks on the trees that show the way. Let's just agree right now that this accounts for the 14:21 pace. Ok? ok. moving on now.....
No one else showed up to race with me, so I don't have any start photos. The organizer wasn't very organized, so there were no port-o-lets. This was ok at the start, but I wish that I had one at the 5 mile turn around. Since i am male, however, every tree is a urinal. Thank goodness I was in the middle of the woods.
I think that I nailed my nutrition for the first half, but didn't quite have enough reserve in the tank to make it good for the second half. I was drinking from 3 bottles. One of NUUN, one of water, and one of ORBANA, from London, which I will review in the next few days. No GI trouble, and that's a good thing.
I tried to shoot a video as I ran, but I'm not sure how good it came out. Those of you prone to motionsickness might want to skip this part:

I saw several people on the course, which was fantastic. An older couple with full, large packs who i saw not long before the turn around. My goal on the way back was to beat them to the shelter mentioned on the sign at the trail head (photo above). I made it! I beat them with less than .25 miles to go, but I beat them! I also came across grand parents out in a field with their grandson and granddaughter. Grammie said, "they love to be out here, and what a perfect day!" I patted the grandson (maybe 10) on the shoulder and said that I was very happy that he was outside today. He smiled, and I ran on.

Due to fatigue, I wasn't lifting my feet as high as I should have, and my left toe caught a root. I went flying down onto the trail. Cell phone bounced around, and i used my handheld water bottle to brace my fall. All is well, the phone and I are fine. Good thing no one saw me!!!

Back at the truck, I grabbed some more water and walked around a bit to make 10.10 miles. Good times. I had a BLAST. Thank you, Neil, for the idea. I hope you had a great birthday!!!