After an in-progress Tough Trail Completion that has since been swapped, Pete Kresock has finished our first 100K Ultra Challenge completion of the year within the first week. Congrats, Pete!
He went for a trails-first approach, detouring only briefly for a Sweet 1600 in the middle before moving on to the roads to finish it off in the dark.
Amazing running!
@Challengers Congrats to Inger Aaberg for only the second FLRC 100K Ultra Challenge completion of the year! The weather hasnât been conducive to such efforts, and Inger said that it got pretty hot during her afternoon North Country Half, but she still bested Pete Kresockâs running time from his April completion by over 30 minutes and took just 16:24:10 for her total time.
Inger started at 5:30 AM with Black Diamond Cass to Gorge and the nearby Lakefront Loops before knocking off Town & Gown Up & Down and heading out to Lansing for Cayuga Cliffs. Back in Ithaca, she did a quick Mulholland Waterfalls before collecting her husband, Audun Dahl, for company on Abbott Ascent and North Country Half. Once into the evening, Rebecca Lambert and Verity Platt joined her for Fall Creek Trails and Triple Hump, and she saved a quick Sweet 1600 to finish just before 10:00 PM.
Despite doing all ten courses in one day, Inger ran them fast enough to take sixth place overall for Most Points!
After being sidelined for much of the summer with some health issues (keep doing those tick checks, folksâLyme is no fun) Dennis Stadelman was able to do one of his favorite things: come down from Syracuse to run the FLRC 100K Ultra Challenge. It was a leisurely effort with 17:02:27 running time but still well under the 24-hour limit with 21:07:57 total time.
He started with Cayuga Cliffs in the dark, came into Ithaca for Town & Gown Up & Down and a Sweet 1600 on the Cornell track, followed by Fall Creek Trails and Triple Hump before swinging back into Ithaca for Mulholland Waterfalls. Then he headed out to Danby for Abbott Ascent and back in toward town for North Country Half before finishing off with a Black Diamond Cass to Gorge and Lakefront Loops 5K, again in the dark.
Great running, Dennis, and be sure to read his posts for the poetry and photos. 
I initially intended to do the Ultra Challenge a day earlier on Saturday but I was not in the right place mentally on Friday night. I became much more relaxed with my preparation of food, hydration, lighting, clothing, and other planning when I pushed the attempt to Sunday. One thing lost during the Stop, Stop, Stop, Go, Stop, Stop, Stop, Go running experience of my spring and summer was the comfort and ease of such preparation that comes from consistency and continuity. There would be no second chance before the end of the Challenge.
I made short posts after each course completion during the Ultra Challenge. Here are a few other âhighlightsâ from my Ultra Challenge, plus some stats at the end.
Hearing coyotes noisily howling in the direction of the meadow loop at Cayuga Cliffs was cool but also a bit unsettling. I could hear them from everywhere except at the bottom of the loop down to the lake. They stopped shortly before I got to the meadow.
Finding quiet solitude on the early dawn Sunday run across the Cornell campus and through Cayuga Heights.
Enjoying a little swing time at Pigletâs Corner.
Meeting Gill and Kris running on the Cornell track. They were very encouraging of my Ultra attempt and provided a nice mental boost. I rarely talk to anyone during the entirety of an Ultra Challenge, other than to say hi to passersby⌠or order an ice cream. 
On Triple Hump, when I was hiking the second half of Hump Two (the observatory), I heard footsteps coming up behind me. I turned around just in time to see a young woman flying past me. She was running the steep hill at a faster pace than I run on flat road. By the time I reached the top of the hump, she was already out of sight over Hump Three! From my look at the Activity Log, she was the amazing Inger Aaberg @Inger - Way to Go, Inger!
One of my goals was to make the turnaround on North Country Half before sunset, which I managed by about 9 minutes. Shortly after exiting Bock Harvey Preserve on the return, and still in daylight, I took a really hard fall on a rocky stretch of trail. Iâm usually running slow enough that I catch my balance before falling when I trip. Not this time. I almost saved it but instead ended up propelling myself forward to the ground. Turned my head to avoid a full face plant but ended up with a bump and abrasions on my left arm, two bumps and abrasions on my left cheek after it smacked a rock, and fortunately no bumps on my head from when it hit the ground (or maybe a rock).
Found this rather hilarious in the wee hours along the Lakefront Loops:
I planned my order of courses on Saturday, and since I had run all the courses at least once this year, I estimated when I thought/hoped I would finish each course. Hit most of them extremely close!
Course ---------------- Estimate ----- Actual
Cayuga Cliffs ---------- 5:30 AM ------ 5:37 AM
Town & Gown --------- 7:35 AM ------ 7:32 AM
Sweet 1600 Cornell - 8:05 AM ------ 8:05 AM
Fall Creek Trails ------10:00 AM ----- 9:37 AM
Triple Hump ----------- 12:45 PM -----12:13 PM
Mulholland Falls ------ 2:00 PM ------ 1:32 PM
Abbott Ascent --------- 4:45 PM ------ 4:40 PM
North Country Half â 9:15 PM ------ 9:33 PM
Black Diamond --------12:15 AM ---- 12:23 AM
Lakefront Loops -------1:30 AM ------ 1:30 AM
TOTAL ELAPSED ---- 21:15 Hrs ---- 21:07 Hrs
Got ahead in the early afternoon, so took some extra time before starting Abbott Ascent to change from road shoes to trail shoes, re-lube my feet, change socks, and binge on more fruit.
Hydration and Nutrition during the 21+ hours:
6.5 liters of water
2 liters of Mountain Dew
0.5 liter of Coke
12 ounces of Gatorade
1 bagel with peanut butter and honey
2 oranges - sliced
1/4 of a watermelon - sliced
1/4 of a cantaloupe - sliced
1 banana
1/2 a large bag of potato chips
1 Bobâs peanut butter bar
2 Snickers bars
5 GU gels
1 Huma gel
4 SiS gels
2 SiS Beta Fuel gels
1 large ice cream cone from Dennisâ Homemade Ice Cream
Probably should have done a few more gels while on trail, but I was hitting the fruits hard on drives between courses, which seemed sufficient for the shorter runs. The day only reached 70s hot, but it was sunny most of the day, and it was humid in the early morning and again at night. All in all, Iâm happy with how I felt at the finish.
Also, I tried a SiS nootropic beta fuel gel for the first time, which has some ingredients intended to boost your mental state when you are tired - or some such marketing. I took one around 9 PM. I think it did help, as I wasnât feeling sleepy tired while running Black Diamond and Lakefront Loops into the early morning hours. I am curious how it will go with the rest of the box, but I usually just do a handful of chocolate covered coffee beans a couple times for a good buzz when running overnight.
Thank you Adam @adamengst and everyone else who supported running of another fun FLRC Challenge! Great job!
Well oops⌠I typed this in April and apparently never hit send. Itâs been saved as a draft for the past 4+ months. Better late than never.
The first day of the 2025 Challenge was a no go for the 100k. We had too much going on at home and I couldnât dedicate a whole Saturday to it. Instead I went with my backup plan â attempting the Tough Trail Challenge starting at midnight and finishing not long after sunrise. To make a short story long, I slogged through the two longer trail courses in the dark, finished one of the shorter ones, and felt like Iâd either fall asleep at the wheel or pass out on the trail if I continued. I abandoned the attempt, went home, and felt like utter roadkill for the rest of the weekend. I might have been sick with something but who knows? It was the worst Iâd ever felt after running at night.
Fast forward a week, and I had Friday off from work to give it another try, this time starting in the morning to make the trail running so much easier. The 100k was seemingly out of the cards due to the aforementioned blow up. I didnât think my body could handle another late night so soon.
I wasnât concerned much with speed for the Tough Trail. The important thing was finishing early enough to make it to my kidsâ spelling bee at GIAC at 5:00. My boys practiced hard for it and were so excited â there was no way Iâd miss it because of running. My plan was to start around 5:00 a.m., take a break to get the kids to school, and then finish by 4:00 p.m. I had the notion that if I was really feeling good after the kids went to bed I could then head back out with about 10 hours left to run the road courses at night for an Ultra Challenge 100k finish.
Fall Creek Trails
The arboretum gates were open before dawn so I drove right up to the sign. I had a scare when a cop car came in immediately after. I was worried about having to explain myself and the whole plan being derailed before it commenced. Thankfully the cop cruiser turned to exit on Forest Home Drive and I didnât see it again.
I scanned the first sign at 5:32 a.m. and set off at an all day pace. Fall Creek Trails is my favorite course this year, and I appreciate that the trails are dry and smooth enough that road shoes handle perfectly well. Also kudos to Adam for routing the course around the perpetually muddy section on the red connector trail atop the first hill. I usually go straight through the mud pit but this route goes around using the orange trail.
At the horse track I considered running a 1600 and clocking my split while using the whole elapsed time between start/finish scans as my Fall Creek Trails Time and entering the 1600 manually. I passed on that idea though because I donât know if it violates the Ultra Challenge rules.
Sweet 1600
The plan was to just drive home and get the kids ready for school. On the way home I was driving straight past the Cornell outdoor track and noticed the gate open so I pulled in, jogged through four laps, and continued home. This way if I did make it out at night for the full 100k I wouldnât have to go out of the way to find a track and risk drawing attention to myself while running circles in the dark.
Mullholland Waterfalls
I walked my kids two blocks to school as if my daily step count wouldnât turn out high enough. Then it was a quick trip to the âgorgesâ short trail course to get this one done early before the trails started to get busy given the beautiful weather. Team Ruth and Anne were gearing up to run just as I started. I reluctantly followed RunGoâs suggestion to avoid anything that may require first responder wilderness extraction. The damn dam view was A+.
North Country Half
In my opinion the NCH and Abbott Ascent are the crux of the 100k Ultra Challenge. Slay these beasts and a 100k finish is imminent. Yes, thatâs an oversimplification, especially for those chasing cutoffs, but getting these two over with is like shoving a boulder off your chest.
The North Country Half is so much easier in the daylight but still quite difficult. My watch has consistently measured 1,500 feet of ascent and 500 descent on the outbound half and vice versa on the way back, making a negative split easy to manage. The short, punchy inclines and trail technicality make this route tricky to move quickly.
Jason Jenks (@J_J) met me part way to pace and preview some of the route. I enjoyed the company for the last 3-4 miles and finished a little quicker than I would have solo. The only other person I encountered out yonder was a trail maintenance volunteer who asked about any downed trees on the FLT.
Abbott Ascent
Jason went home for lunch before meeting me again on the next course. It was early afternoon by the time I scanned the Danby sign and the air had heated up quite a bit. Iâm no stranger to the Abbottâs three long hills, but the familiarity doesnât make it much easier. While not in any huge hurry, I really struggled on this course and barely finished under two hours. Like the NCH, the Abbott Ascent was a thousand times easier in daylight than at night, but the heat and cumulative fatigue were getting to me and I took 8 minutes longer than I did on my previous midnight start. The trails were mostly dry though, and I still love this loop with its climbs and viewpoint, despite the degree of difficulty.
Cayuga Lake Cliffs
Jason followed me up to Lansing for the Tough Trail Challenge victory lap. Iâd toyed with the idea of knocking off a quick Lakefront Loops 5k along the way but traffic slowed me down and I didnât want to be late for the all important spelling bee.
After my last two outings the Cliffsâ 4.3 miles of smooth trails felt like a breeze. It even cooled down a lot as light rain moved in along with that trademark west Lansing wind. I accidentally took the lower loop opposite Rebeccaâs preferred direction (per RunGo) and decided the counter-clockwise direction is a little easier.
We finished soaking wet. I split the Tough Trail Challenge in 10:25:07 elapsed and Jason notched his first Challenge course for this year. At this point I wasnât sure yet if I had it in me for another 27 miles after sundown.
Interlude
My 5-year-olds both did great at their bee and handled their stage fright with aplomb, which was quite impressive to my wife and me. After family time and dinner I was feeling good about running some more, relieved that I knew I could do it without staying out all night again. As long as I didnât walk the whole thing I could get some sleep in my own bed.
Lakefront Loops 5k
The easiest course came next so I could finish before dark in case authority figures are opposed to people running around Cass and Allan Treman in the dark. I jogged through and finished with just enough sunlight to keep my headlamp off. I could sort of see the daffodils in full bloom awaiting the Daffodil Dash 5k-ers that would swarm the pathway 12 hours later.
Black Diamond Cass to Gorge
By 8:30 p.m. it was pitch black on the Black Diamond. Fortunately itâs an easy course in the dark â no traffic, no roots, no possibility of getting lost. I jogged along feeling pretty good after my evening caffeine worked its magic.
The full Cass Park to Gorge Road was not an option so I settled for the out-and-back from Cass. I had a tough time finding the turnaround sign in the dark and went a little ways past it before doubling back. To note: when running north from Cass, the sign is on the right after the second road crossing (Perry City Road) immediately before the first wooden guardrail.
A few sets of eerie, glowing eyes spied on me from the sidelines throughout the run. I couldnât see much in the dark, but they looked too low to the ground to be deer. Probably coyotes.
Town & Gown Up & Down
In the homestretch now. I found prime parking in front of Joeâ house. Friday night in Collegetown was like one big party, with loads of undergrads in the streets and music blaring from all angles. I spent the first two miles dodging Ivy League pedestrians while wondering what theyâd think if they knew what I was up to.
It got easier as I moved west into Cayuga Heights. Those village roads are fun to run and thereâs never much traffic, even in the daytime. The Remington Downhill Mile was rough on the olâ quads. The Fall Creek neighborhood was eerily quiet and I sauntered back down Linn Street to the finish.
Triple Hump
While difficult by road running standards, Triple Hump is a breeze compared to trail runs of similar or longer distance. There wasnât much traffic â apparently Varna isnât a hoppinâ joint at midnight, even on a warm Friday. I walked most of the three uphill humps and ran the rest of the way. The forecasted rain finally got to me about half an hour before I finished but by then I barely noticed. I was getting tired enough that I donât remember much else about this run â only that I finished without feeling wrecked and thought that I couldâve kept going if necessary. Then I went home to shower and stuff my face before passing out in bed for a few hours.
Overall I think this is the easiest set of FLRC Challenge courses yet for the 100k. Two are about 20 minutes from downtown Ithaca and the rest are fairly close. At 60.9 miles, the total distance is a little shorter than in years past, plus the three shortest trail courses are easy to manage.
Whoâs next to tackle the 100k? Iâm happy to provide guidance and possibly pace anyone who plans to give it a shot.
