Use this topic for posts that will collect community stars for the Black Diamond Cass to Gorge course. You can also ask questions or make comments about this course.
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The weather was too nice not to take the afternoon off for a lovely long run
My 3rd course done for FLRC CHALLENGE
I went up the black diamond, and turned around at the halfway certainly not used to this heat yet, but thankfully the sun went in and there was a slight breeze on my way back. I would have slowed down more but I was on a bit of a time crunch though as I had to jump on a zoom meeting at 2:30 and needed to find a spot to steal WiFi (thank you Ithaca Bakery) made it just in time
Thankfully also had plenty more water in the car.
I do always love BDT even if I rarely get to enjoy it point to point.
Christie and I did this last Saturday after run/hiking the Abbott Ascent course. We did the out and back from the children’s garden. Why do I find the BDT so difficult to run? It is mentally challenging for me. Something about the grade being slightly up and then slightly down. I love trees but it’s all the same trees. Is this the same as my post from last year? Hatin on rail trails, there is something wrong with me! Glad to get it done! Ha.
6th course.
It must be Black Diamond day today. Between Tonya’s informal group run and a few solo Challengers like me, there have been 11 runs on the course so far today.
I got my wife to drop me off on Gorge Road so I could do the all-downhill version of the course while she took our son to the Children’s Garden. My goal was to run sub 6:00/mile pace all the way. I did a 2-mile warm up with some strides to make sure that my body was ready to run a that pace from the start.
After warming up I set off and tried to settle into the right pace. Mile 1 (5:53) felt effortless, as it should for an 8-mile effort. I was hoping it would be that easy for a little while longer but by mile 2 (5:56) it started to feel like a workout.
Miles 3 and 4 went by uneventfully in 5:54 and 5:57. I glanced at my watch at the turnaround sign and saw 24:01. Seeing that I was making good time and knowing that I was halfway done briefly reinvigorated me. Mile 5 (5:57) felt a little easier.
The respite was soon over and for the first time I had to focus to make sure I wasn’t slowing down. Miles 6 and 7 (5:50, 5:53) were tough. I pushed a little harder on mile 8 (5:48). My legs were quite tired in that final mile so I was mentally just trying to make it to each subsequent 1/4 mile marker. Once my watch hit 8 miles I kicked the rest of the way at 5:04 pace to finish in 48:09.
@lahelmerick, @Marie_Donnelly, and I had planned to run the Cayuga Cliffs Challenge course, but we decided to save that one for a drier time. Instead, we picked the Black Diamond trail for today’s effort. I posted the run in the Group Runs category on the Forum in case anyone else wanted to join, and we had a nice group of people and one dog, with sunshine and cheerful chitchat that settled into some real conversations.
I have to say, the BDT is never my favourite course (sorry!!!). It’s just so… straight. That first section from the Children’s garden to the trees is always sooooo much longer than I think it is, in both directions! Heading back, I get to it and think “yay, nearly there, I’ll speed up!” and 10 minutes later I’m dying.
Today I completely missed the turnaround sign. No idea how. Maybe it blended into the greenery?? Eventually found it after adding 0.2 miles to my run:
On a positive note, there was an abundance of wildlife keeping me company this morning, from birds to squirrels to snakes. But glad to have this one done
I ventured back to Cass Park on a second rainy evening today and ran the out-and-back version of the course from the Children’s Garden. While the rain wasn’t too bad, it was incredibly quiet again - I saw no one but rabbits, deer and one cyclist until 7.3 miles in, when I crossed paths with @patrickmilano (hi!).
I ran (well walked and jogged) from Cass Park up to the halfway sign and back. Not long after I turned to head back, I ran into @ruth-sproul who had biked out to support me! She was great company and chatting with her almost made me forget my aching legs. @krishainessharp and Dior met us closer to the park and we all finished together.
Photo credit to Ruth!
Just to give myself one more thing to worry about this morning, or, to re-frame, as a positive distraction, I timed myself from Gorge to Cass as I made my way down the trail as part of the Gorges Half Marathon this morning.
It was not a fun run but reminding myself how much I love running on the Black Diamond trail, listening to the birds, and enjoying the shade, helped a lot.
I was really on the fence as to whether or not to run this morning due to the poor air quality hovering between AQI of 125 and 131. (Thanks @adamengst for your post on the matter of air quality, which I saw after I got home). Finally, I compromised between my dueling priorities (to run the race vs stay out of the smoke) and wore a mask for nearly the entire 13.1 miles. I had to take the mask down to drink and then allowed a few short mask-breaks.
It was rough and I do not recommended it but I made it through with a pretty respectable time. I am glad I did it. Not sure I would do it again, but knowing me I probably will.
I am so sad that worrying about air quality has become our new reality.
Also sorry I don’t have any photos of the BD trail, but here I am with my ridiculous mask at the end of the race.
I too ‘attempted’ to track my time for the BDT during the Gorges Half. Of course I ended up pausing my watch instead of hitting the lap timer.
It took me only a mile to figure it out. I may or may not have done some fuzzy math to calculate a time. But it wasn’t too difficult given I had a total race time and knew I missed a mile. Plus, the calculation gave me the longest mile split of the entire race which I highly doubt.
This race was my big “comeback” from injury in 2023 where I had to drop the race a week or two prior to the event and then deferring in 2024. I was also dealing with hip soreness just over a week prior.
So, goals were to 1. Finish the race 2. Run the whole thing if possible. Both were met.
I saw @Petorius and his boys at mile 4. The boys were picking up discarded water cups which I thought was awesome!
This was my first time running this particular course for the Gorges, and I really liked it! I enjoyed the quiet streets of Tburg early in the morning, and of course the gentle downhill of the BDT. My favorite part was coming off of the BDT with about a mile to go!! Much better than the slog (for me) to Stewart Park, through Fall Creek, and the finish at Dewitt Park.
I don’t know about others at Gorges, but I wore a mask riding my ElliptiGO on Sunday morning too. And I’ll note that the outside of it looked a little dirty after 90+ minutes of breathing through it.
A hop, skip and a jump brought me from the Lakefront Loop over to the turtle for the Tough Tarmac’s natural progression. I ran the course as an out-and-back from Cass like I usually do. On the outbound uphill it was obviously I’m not totally recovered from the Cayuga Trails 50 two weeks ago. Good thing I had plenty of time — for Father’s Day I could run as long as I felt like with no set obligations for dad duty. Of course I wanted to spend time with the fam, so I started early in order to finish early. Trail traffic was picking up during the inbound portion, with runners, walkers, and bikers getting out to enjoy to morning air.
Daylight!
Until today, I had not run a Black Diamond Challenge course in the daylight! Since this is a smooth, flat, rail trail, and farthest west, I usually run it as one of the last courses in an Ultra Challenge attempt. The course is very pretty through woods, past fields, and with a few waterfalls (of course!) I did an out and back from the Gorge Road end with the idea that I would check out the Taughannock Falls and then run a Sweet 1600 in Trumansburg (the latter did not work out). Also nice to see many hikers and bikers using the trail this evening!
It’s been a puzzle to fit in these longer runs with our packed summer schedule, so with an unusually open and unscheduled day, we decided to tackle either the Triple Hump or the Black Diamond. Figuring it would be cooler under the trees, we decided on the Black Diamond, running from the top to the turn-around and back.
It was very hot, but the breeze and trees kept it comfortable. Only two more courses to go!
certainly not used to this heat yet, but thankfully the sun went in and there was a slight breeze on my way back. I would have slowed down more but I was on a bit of a time crunch though as I had to jump on a zoom meeting at 2:30 and needed to find a spot to steal WiFi (thank you Ithaca Bakery)
made it just in time 
from injury in 2023 where I had to drop the race a week or two prior to the event and then deferring in 2024. I was also dealing with hip soreness just over a week prior.
