Matt cut the engine of his F150. We got out, stripped off our layers and figured out what bare essentials we needed to bring. The plan was to yo-yo the Briarcliff Peekskill Trailway, starting at Watch Hill Road. We would run the subscribed 12 miles down to Ryder Road, and then repeat the process in reverse order back to the truck. The trail wasn’t too tough to find so we synced our watches and set off. Following green diamond blazes, we quickly realized how poorly marked the trail was, and how the fallen leaves had obscured any semblance of a worn-in footpath. Tripping on roots and rocks were a necessity we accepted as our heads and eyes were always up and alert, looking for the next blaze. The trail goes through an old rural section of New York east of the Hudson River, and crosses winding back roads many times. These intersections with dirt and asphalt were where navigation proved difficult. Few roads were blazed, so many times we had to guess if we were on the right road or not. Using the small map I brought, we guessed right most of the time, but the brief moments of deliberation and occasional wrong guesses lost us time and momentum. Perhaps the most scenic section of the trail was the crossing of a large dam. The reservoir was half-lit by the cloudy sky and provided us some inspiration after some frustrating road crossings. The rest of the way to Ryder Road went without trouble, expect for a 0.25 section that was extremely overgrown with briar. Forced to a walk, we slowly navigated through the thorns and popped out at Ryder Road 1hr35min32sec from start time. To our surprise however, both watches read that we had had covered only 10 miles, rather than the 12 that every website and pamphlet I read had stated. Our knees and calves were cut up, but physically we felt fine at the halfway point.
The return trip to the truck was mentally exhausting. Somehow we got off the trail and ended having to take a road back to an intersection we remembered. Thank God I had signal on my iPhone. Dehydrated and tired we made several wrong turns on the return trip. Blazes and intersections that were obvious to us on the way South, became vague and blurry in our depleted state heading North. We reached the truck with a return split of 1hr45min; 10 minutes slower but we added at least of mile of mistakes. Total running time worked out to be 3hr21min21sec, but mistakes and all we were on our feet for 4hr6min4sec and reached the truck right before it got dark. The last couple miles had taken a lot out of us. There were no cheers or high fives at the end. We stripped our vests and sat in the bed of Matt’s truck, silent, wondering why we do this to ourselves. After five minutes of silence Matt asked me, “You ready?” I said, “Yea.” And that was it. We took the winding road back to school.
Fastest Known Time (FKT) is what it sounds like; a way of keeping track of the quickest times on various trails around the country that do not have races associated with them. This is mostly due to national park regulations that limit the impact of large groups on their trails. In a world of paying $120 to run a marathon, Spartan Races, and other hyper-commercialized events, FKT’s distill running to its purest form. No aid stations, no sponsors, no medals, no stickers to put on your car. Just you and your watch.
I found the trail on the FKT ProBoards website. There was no FKT for the trail so I guess we now have it with our Southern split of 1hr35min32sec. I’ m sure someone with more experience in this area can beat this and I hope they do. My Strava data is below for anyone interested in planning a run or looking at the mistakes we made.
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