~13 miles @ ~20 min/mi

As Bernie (aka Lisa) and I trek along the Appalachian Trail an older gentleman passes us. His name is Paul Betker and he tells us that this year will be his 25th consecutive running of the JFK 50 Miler. We are impressed; we're preparing for our first JFK attempt. Judging by the icicles on my beard the temperatures are in the mid-20's (°F) this morning. The sun is mostly up and the leaves are mostly down when we set off from the Old South Mountain Inn , a 250-year-old establishment at Turner's Gap in the hills of western Maryland. Earlier this morning I pick up Gina (aka Mrs. T-Bone) and give her a lift to Weverton Cliffs where we leave my car, meet Carol, and ride with her and Bernie to Boonsboro. We do a quick drive-by reconnaissance of the first ~2.5 miles of the JFK course, then park and commence jogging.

The trail is pleasant though steep in places. Autumn leaves conceal many treacherous rocks and crevices. Gina and Carol trot ahead; Bernie and I chat as we progress carefully and relentlessly southward along the ridge called South Mountain. We know each other from our first JFK prep run on 10 Sep. Today, as the slowest members of the group, we keep each other company. After an hour or so we reach terra cognita, the Appalachian Trail's junction with Bear Spring Cabin Trail . Then it's onward and downward to Gathland State Park , mile 9.3 of the JFK. We arrive after 2h09m and spend eleven minutes eating, stretching, and enjoying the facilities. Then we continue, arriving 2h07m later at Weverton, the 15.5 mile point of the race. During the actual 50 miler we had better go a bit faster to make the time cutoffs comfortably. We rejoin Gina, eat, drink, pile into my car, take Bernie back to hers, then head for home.