Green Monster 25K Trail Challenge - Wellsboro, Pennsylvania

Elevation Gain: ~4000'

October 13, 2019 - Another great Pennsylvania rocky trail run on a beautiful colorful fall day. RD Travis Twoey reminded me as I was leaving that I had told him before that I never run a race twice, to which I added... unless I really enjoyed it the first time. In my previous run of the 50K here in 2013, I had such a good time and a great run in 6:54. I liked the challenge of the course and the small-town feel with some of the best folks to be found anywhere. Yeah, I have thought a lot about coming back, and was really glad to be running in Wellsboro again.

The first part of the run was social. With a couple good climbs in the first few miles, there didn't seem to be much hurry in my step. I have backed off training completely to give my right foot time to heel from a ruptured plantar fascia and retrocalcaneal bursistis. The rest is working out well, but my legs were not ready to run hard. After a few miles of taking it easy, I found a quicker rhythm and decided to test my heel on the challenging rocky downhills. This course is a mix of dancing with rocks on the downs, long steep Pennsylvania climbs on the ups, and very runnable level sections that allowed one to enjoy the fall foliage while stretching it out. Classic anitcline and syncline topography. Not a course for a fast time, so I was satisfied with my 3:38 finish time. Good enough for a hobbled old man.

The beer at the finish was mighty fine as I hung around for awhile mixing it up with old friends and new. It was just a perfect day to run. While I overdressed, perhaps, with the 36-degree starting temp, I didn't get too warm when temps shot up above 60 degrees. It won't be long before I'll need those spandex every day.