Brian, Adam and I made the close to 2 hr. drive yesterday to Hyner Pennsylvania to tackle the Hyner Challenge. Hyner is about 20 miles north of Lock Haven on Rt. 120, and the challenge is a 16.3 mile run/hike through the area around Hyner. We decided we wanted to leave early so we could get there and pick up our packets and racing numbers, so a little before 5 AM we left from Brian's House. We got there and had our stuff by a little after 7:00 and it was just starting to spit rain but the race didn't start till 8:30 . We sat in the car for a while because it was so cold and windy we didn't want to leave the warmth. I was just going to wear shorts but decided to wear my tights under my shorts. (Good choice) About 7:45 we decided to go to the start/finish line and the line for people getting their numbers was so long we knew the race wasn't going to start on time so there was a shed with the doors open and we took shelter there till the start. When everyone got their numbers and they were ready to start it was getting close to 9:00 and I was freezing my butt off.
We all counted down the start of the race and bang we were off. The 1st mile is flat across the bridge and that's where the group started to thin out, I was told by somebody that ran it before to go pretty hard to be towards the front where it goes to singletrak so I did and it worked out good. The course goes into a narrow single track that takes you along the mountain with the river down below you on your right side. (Great view of the river) We ran along the river for maybe a mile and then a BIG sign said "Humble Hill" with an arrow pointing straight up this mountain. So I'm following a group of about 6-8 runners and we start up humble hill and some started to walk and I'm thinking why are they walking? After I passed a couple of them and got up the mountain a little bit I realized I was going to hard and was never going to be able to run up the mountain so I decided I would just do what the more experienced runners were doing, walking on the steep parts when they walked, and Running when they ran. Since this was my 1st trail run I really didn't know what to expect so it was a quick learning experience. The climb seem to go on and on and on and my calves were screaming by the time I got to the top, I think that climb is about 2 miles long. At this point I was still with 3 other runners and we started our decent to Reickert Hollow, they were much better descenders than I was but I hung on till we got to the water station at the bottom and then we started up again. I was going to hard again and had to back off cause I couldn't keep their pace so I just settled in to a pace that I was comfortable with. I thought the next section was really tough, (Johnson Run Hollow/climb) We were climbing up a hollow but we had to keep crossing back and forth over a fairly large creek, so when you ran through the water your shoes felt like they were 10 lbs. each and made that section very difficult. I struggled to the top following a guy that I caught up to earlier but he got away from me towards the top. I made up some time on the decent back into the hollow before the SOB climb, so now I was with 3 other guys to start the assent of the SOB by the time we got to the steep part of the climb there was only 3 of us left. We got to the top and at the water station the guy said its all down hill from here and I'm thinking thank goodness cause I was about done and still had along way to go. That definitely wasn't a true statement there is a false flat that seemed like went on forever. It was probably close to 2 miles and the trail was just a muddy mess with the rain coming down hard at times, made it more difficult. I finally got to the downhill and I started to recover a bit, at one point the trail hits a paved road for about 50 yrds and the guy there said 2 miles left so I continued to push on the downhill and I caught one of the guys that got away from me on the false flat about half way down. He let me around and I thought I better go as fast as I can down cause I know he is really strong on the flat and the last mile is flat across the bridge and a small kicker climb back to the start/finish line. I pushed as hard as I could and when I got on the bridge there was such a head wind and I was really struggling I thought I'm going to have to stop and walk a little bit but I turned around and I could see the guy behind gaining ground and I just dug deep and gutted it out. It was a very painful but exhilarating experience and you can bet I'll be back next year, Hopefully in better shape and more prepared. I was really happy with my time though, my goal was sub 3 hrs and I ran a 2:54:16. Hope this wasn't to long and boring but that was my race! If you like pain then you definitely do the Hyner cause it will kick you in the hyner. It kicked me in the Hyner!!!!
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