Day 4,245—It was a Triple Chubb Birthday 40-Mile Run Through the Night—

        The Chubb Trail is my favorite trail in the area. It isn’t an easy trail, but it is a little over 6.5 miles each way, and you get to see the river and do some more technical hills with rocks on the West Tyson side. I have never seen what it looks like after it snows, so I debated doing a lot of different types of runs on my birthday, but with the recent snow. I just figured, why not? It was the perfect weather to train for the Shippey 100 and it was the absolute perfect conditions to get an incredibly tough winter trail run in.

        It usually takes me between 2 and a half hours and 2 hours and 45 minutes to complete one there and back on the trail, which is usually around 13.5x miles, but that is when it is during the day, after I get a night of sleep, and when there is no snow or ice to deal with. It is a little shorter if you don’t take the low water route. I thought about mixing up the route a little, but I liked the idea of doing a full three complete there and backs on the trail, even though I knew it would likely take me between 3 and a half to 4 hours to complete each one.

        The first 13.5 miles were the toughest. My hands were so cold! I had two pairs of gloves, but they weren’t enough. Everything else was warm except for my nose. My nose was also freezing. Also, my ears, now that I think about it, but I remember being mostly happy with my warm clothes I was wearing and my system.

I was super thirsty that first lap, too, and I was just kicking myself for not wearing a heavier pair of gloves. I had some of those disposable hand warmers in my car. When I got back to my car, I decided that I would stay in my car until my hands were warm, which ended up taking half an hour. I opened the hand warmers up, put on another pair of gloves, and drank some coffee I brought in a thermos. I also switched batteries for my headlamp and refilled my water bottles. So much to remember!

I was also afraid the whole time that suddenly someone would show up and tell me I had to leave, but I figured, with how bad the weather was, it was unlikely that the park rangers would be around.

        On the second lap, I felt better. My hands were warmer, but they still kept getting cold when I would use my hiking poles, so it wasn’t an ideal system, but I was better off than I was during the first lap. I was also fully hydrated now, so I wouldn’t have to stress about running out of water like I did the first lap.

        It was mostly too dark for pictures, but I turned off my headlamp in the clearings and was in awe at how many stars I could see, and I didn’t really need my headlamp for those short sections.

        By the end of the second lap, I was over 27 miles, which I knew meant I would finish around 41 miles. I took just as long in my car getting warm. I changed my hat, but I didn’t change any other clothes. I could have changed my socks! My feet were always so cold when I got out of my car, but I would try to hold off on freaking out about the cold until I had been running for at least 20 minutes. I grabbed a different type of hand warmer this time because the one I had been using just stopped feeling warm. It was supposed to last for 8 hours, but I think it only stayed warm for generously 3 hours. The new one I opened felt warmer, and for the first time, my hands weren’t in pain during most of the lap. The third lap was the best because I got to see the sun come out, and suddenly, I wanted to take pictures of everything.  

Some highlights of the night were seeing all the deer. There were so many of them, and they all looked kind of young, none with antlers. I wondered if they were a different type of deer than the ones I usually see. They do look like they could be some sort of mountain lion, the way they sit on the ground, and all you can see is their eyes, but I always remind myself that deer eyes are green, so nothing to worry about. Cat eyes are yellow.

I already ordered some more gloves to try, but besides my hands, the other major concern was how cold my face got. I will usually wear something over my face, but I don’t like how that will often contribute to my head covering freezing and being more miserable. I wonder if there is anything else I can try or if I should just plan on changing them routinely. It is such a long time between making it back to my car, which is good training, I think, but not easy mentally. I was safe, and I carried an extra headlamp in my vest. When I finally finished, I saw a truck parked there, which was the first time I had seen anyone else all morning. I wondered where the person driving could have gone because I hadn’t seen anyone going the other way on the trail. Just then, my worst nightmare, a park ranger, appeared out of nowhere. I was luckily in my car at the time, so I left as soon as I could. I didn’t know how much trouble I would likely be in for being there at night, but I figured it had been worth the risk for this run, and it is not like I do this all the time. I still cannot believe I am 40! I tried to reflect on each year I was alive as I ran.