Monday, May 17, 2010

Pinhoti Trail Adventure Run - Pacer's Perspective

A few weeks ago, a couple friends of mine, Rob Youngren and Eric Charette embarked upon an epic task: attempting to set the speed record for the entire 335 mile Pinhoti Trail. Having run both editions of the Pinihoti 100 Trail Run and the Mt. Cheaha 50k for the past two years, both of which cover portions of the Pinhoti Trail, I was somewhat interested in their journey, and whereas logistics precluded my attempting the full trail with them, I could certainly help in whatever capacity they might need for a day or so, and I was lucky enough to be utilized as a pacer for day two.

So bright and early on May 2, I met them, along with their capable crew chief Josh Kennedy, and after shuttling vehicles around, we met Rob and Eric at Chandler Springs, and I set out with them along the trail. Long story short, I ran a hair over 40 miles, and rather than steal Rob and Eric's thunder, I'll simply refer any readers to their blogs at http://munisano.blogspot.com/ (Rob's) and http://siriusultrarunner.blogspot.com/ (Eric's), or the site for the run itself http://pinhotitrailadventurerun.blogspot.com/ .

In an effort to help document the run (and just for kicks and giggles...), Eric was snapping pictures throughout the run, so here are some from day 2. Enjoy...









Refueling and swapping out water bottles for packs


Somewhere on Mt. Cheaha after the so-called "Stairway to Heaven"

I'll let you figure this one out...






At one of several road crossings with Rob


It's a train!








Many more pictures and much more thorough play-by-plays of the full adventure on the aforementioned websites and blogs. (I was only a small part of a much larger journey)

1 comment:

Eric Charette said...

Thanks a ton for being there John. Rob and I might have killed each other by the time we reached the top of Stairway to Heaven without you!