Holy Love of Elevation!
I ran the Tough Trail Challenge today (Tuesday) in beautiful sunny conditions. Some of my experiences on the courses are captured in separate course posts. This is just commentary on my overall Trail Challenge.
First, major kudos to @adamengst and all others responsible for this superb selection of scenic trails courses! I think the Ithaca area runners I’ve met really appreciate the quality, quantity, and variety of the trails there, that I continue to “discover” through the FLRC Challenges. Thank you!
I started late morning on Abbott Ascent, then followed a natural, mostly northern progression to North Country Half, Mulholland Falls, Fall Creek Trails, and Cayuga Cliffs. This has the advantage of knocking off the two longest and most difficult courses first, then allowing me to relax a little more on the remaining courses if I thought I had plenty of time. This strategy worked well, as I really took my time at Cayuga Cliffs knowing I had it under 12 hours. I think my total elapsed time was about 11h20m. This should provide encouragement to you all, as I think I had the slowest elapsed time for last year’s Tough Trail Challenge.
I don’t know the elevation numbers on the shirts, but my Garmin tallied over 5600 feet for the Trail Challenge.
Lastly, no Challenge Completion shall go unrewarded:
