Ouachita Trail

I walked and jogged 17.6 miles on the Ouachita Trail this morning and afternoon in 4:56:22, from the Pinnacle Mountain Visitors Center to the Scenic Overlook and back, with an out-and-back spur from Pinnacle's east parking lot to its west. I felt fine all the way, except for the final climb back to the Visitors Center. Breaking five hours became a goal maybe two hours in. Going out I jogged an average of one minute for every five, and also ran all the downhills.  Coming back, I did the same, but ran a lot of the flats as well. It's hard to explain how I only averaged 16:50/mile. That would be about an 8:42 50K pace. Obviously I won't be able complete 50 miles in time, four weeks from this Saturday. I kept splits on the segments measured for the Ouachita Trail 50 Website. I got the first 1.2 miles (to east parking lot) in 19:47; the next 1.4 (to west lot) in 25:03; 1.4 (to east lot) in 23:20; 1.3 (to where OT turns off Ark. 300) in 21:15; 4.9 (to Scenic Overlook) in 1:26:50; 4.9 (to Ark. 300) in 1:18:04; 1.3 (to east lot) in 21:57; 1.2 (to Visitors Center) in 20:06. My fastest segment was the downhill, 4.9-mile stretch from the Scenic Overlook to Ark. 300, when I averaged just under 15:56 a mile. Man, I'm slow.