Egads and I planned to meet at Kennesaw Mountain at the parking area on Burnt Hickory Road at 8:30am. The plan is to get in a few miles of hiking and some trail running. No specific agenda - simply some time in the woods. Another buddy of mine plans to meet up with us a couple of miles into our hike, at the parking area near the Illinois Monument, so we headed off in his direction. We took it our time for the first mile or so, letting our bodies warm up before we would increase our speed and knock out some miles.

We met up with a Kevin a little after 9am. He had a couple of hours to hike with us, so we started with the Blue Loop, so we would be near his vehicle when it was time for him to leave. We set out on the trail and picked up the pace. We were averaging approximately 3.5 miles per hour for the first two hours. It was soon time for Kevin to leave, so he would backtrack to his vehicle and Egads and I would continue on the Yellow Loop. It wasn't long and we were working our way up Pigeon Hill, then Little Kennesaw Mountain and the final push over Kennesaw Mountain. Once we crested the last climb, I decided to run the remaining distance to the Visitors Center and wait for Egads there. I refilled my water bottle and ate a Power Bar. We were at 12 miles and I had only eaten two 'snack size' Snickers bars.

Egads arrived a short time later and we took a 10 minute break. He wasn't his usualy energetic self, and the last couple of climbs really took the wind out of his sails. We grabbed our packs and continued on our trip. Egads had decided he would continue with me over the next 4 miles, which would bring us out at his vehicle, and he would call it a day and I would continue on my own. Not much to say during this stretch, we ran all the descents and most of the flats, and hiked the ascents. We soon arrived at the Burnt Hickory Road trailhead, where I continued on to do another lap around the Yellow Loop. I didn't have a set itinerary today, but I was feeling good, and thought 32 miles would be a good target. We did the first 16 miles in 3.5 hours, so I had all day to do this next loop.

I put my head down and focused on my breathing and pace, not really taking in too much of the scenary around me. I was startled out of my 'zone' by several groups of deer on the trail. They were around every corner for what seemed like several miles. I finally stopped, dug out my camera, and snapped off some photos of the deer. As I was approaching 27 miles, I called my wife to see if she would bring me over a caffeine fix - a one liter of Mt. Dew. We live less than 4 miles from the park, so she said she'd meet me at the next trailhead in about 30 minutes, which is how long it would take me to get there. I ran this next section with happy thoughts of an ice cold Mt Dew waiting for me. It was only mid-afternoon, and I told my wife that I would be hiking/running for at least another 4-5 hours, so it would be after dark before I called her to come pick me up.

A short time later I reached 32 miles for the day and still had several hours of day light left. I'm feeling good and so I thought I'd shoot for 40 miles. I chugged some Mt Dew, ate my second Power Bar and headed down the trail. I ran most of the next hour and a half and quickly realized I was at 40 miles. So I thought to myself... hmmm... how 'bout 50 miles. So I topped off my water bottle and planned another lap around the Yellow Loop. As the miles flew by, the evening brought out a lot of wildlife. I must've passed 40-50 deer in the past couple of hours. It was getting dark, so I dug out my headlamp. I was approaching Pigeon Hill/Little Kennesaw Mtn and I knew it'd be dark before I completed that section. I flipped on the headlamp and was enjoying the night. The snakes were out-and-about this evening. I nearly stepped on several and was able to stop and snap off a couple photos of a little one laying in the middle of the trail. It wasn't long and I was working my way back down Pigeon Hill towards Burnt Hickory Road. It was approximately 8:20pm when I reached the trailhead. I called my wife and contemplated walking the few miles to the house. My wife had other ideas. She said to sit tight and she'd be there in less than 10 minutes.

It felt good to knock out a high mileage day, tho I wish I had packed more calories. I figure I consumed approximately 900 calories of food and Lord only knows how many calories in the Mt Dew and Gatorade. But definitely not enough for a 54 mile day.