10 NATRA runners and two pooches ran west on the 1931 Abandoned Route 66
alignment on Ash Fork Hill and returned uphill via the 1922 Old Trails
Highway. (The Kaibab National Forest listed this section on the National
Register of Historic Places in 1989 -
http://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/route66/arizona_road_segments.html)
As often as we have often done this adventure run, I was amazed that
8 of the 10 runners had never done so! As we trudged up the dirt road
parallelling I-40, we may have been faster than the uphill semis. We
wondered what the truckers thought as our group ran next to them in the
woods.
To learn more about Route 66 history, visit
http://flagstafftrailrunning.blogspot.com/2012/03/getting-our-butts-kicked-on-route-66.html
With 6 miles of the Mother Road in our pocket, we returned to
Williams where we packed good old Cafe 326. I'm pretty sure due to the
tiring hot run, everyone had Iced Coffee.
See David Blanchard's photos from 2012 for more info -
http://www.dblanchard.net/blog/2012/03/get-your-running-kicks-on-route-66/ and read
http://azdailysun.com/sports/running/get-your-butt-kicked-on-route/article_eeb6ae15-989b-51bf-9a0f-eae80dcc5834.html
