It seems like this was the place to be this morning! I did two laps to make up my long training run for the weekend, and it was absolutely gorgeous out in the forest. I also bumped into @caitlin-loehr hiking the course with friends!
I saw lots of lovely butterflies, and birds, including a heron (who flew away before I could take a photo), and was serenaded by green frogs and an American bullfrog in the ponds. I also saw 21 (!) efts, which made me Very Happy Indeed.
It’s great to see so many runners enjoying the Finger Lakes Forest on Gayogo̱hó꞉nǫ’ lands. It has been a muddy summer on the trails and the insects were swarming yesterday. Better not to stop running!! But beautiful, as always.
Tom
Today Erin and I embarked upon what will be her last Challenge course (despite her ongoing push back because she is a bit stubborn like her mama and really wants to do the last two courses) and there was so much to see (birds, toads, frogs, and yes there were flies) that we never did play our game of “I spy.” The Deet handled the bugs for us reasonably well though I went light with it. Some sections of the course now are quite overgrown and some plants reaching out to the trails to say hello have thorns (ouch).
And there was so much mud! I’m used to running right through it and have found that you sink in less than when you walk through it. But for Erin this was a crash course in “It’s okay to ruin your white socks” and “it’s okay that your light gray sneakers are in ankle-deep mud.” It’s all okay (and yes, I’ll be cleaning shoes tomorrow ha!).
In the later miles I recognized the trails and was overjoyed to pop out of the woods to cross the road to where the cow gates lead to the pasture with that lone tree…and all the views…straight from the FL50s just last month. It spoke to my soul and it felt good to be back here.
Guess this means she’s done and I have one more to go!
New flash: still muddy!
Very glad to have saved my last pair of running shoes to use as beaters. This was the perfect opportunity. Lot’s of mushrooms of all kinds out along the trail. Bugs provide good motivation to keep moving.
Just finished up the Blueberry Patch Run with Bob Congdon. Nice morning. The story of the run coincides with other’s’ adventures.
Hit the course early this morning with reluctant trail runner @KimJ A tad bit muddy 
but the humidity and bugs weren’t bad! Ended up being a really enjoyable run and Kim did great! Although she did get her white socks dirty as I predicted….
Congrats Kim. Another one down.
Starting out at 9 we met at the trailhead with Courtney, for Matt’s last course and Courtney’s 3rd to last. (I don’t know how to tag her in this 
)
(she ran the trail while Matt and I hiked 
)
Trail was great, weather was amazing.
So many mushrooms!!! 
I took like a bagillion pictures 
but here is a few.
Found fresh ripe blueberries 
Love me some trail snacks!! 
Came across another challenge runner who recognized me 
Hello again! You were so quick didn’t catch your name 
Victory pizza 
for Matt’s completion!
@mplank I realized a few minutes later that you would have no idea who I was, but yes, I recognized you from your posts here. Glad you guys had such a great time. I would love to know at about what mile mark you were able to find the blueberries. I have kept my eyes open for them but haven’t found them yet. One of the things that I miss out on in my hurry to run these is that I miss a lot of the little details and things you don’t notice unless you are paying more attention to your surroundings. I think it’s great that you are taking the time to take pictures and enjoy the time out there. I need to start doing that more myself.
Completed the blueberry challenge course thanks to Stephanie Mulinos who led the walk and another friend who came along for the fun. No running involved on this course. We took our time, it was muddy but it didn’t rain! Not my favorite course but got er done 
challenge is completed as well.
Another technical trail course today after yesterday’s Lime Hollow, which meant my legs were a bit tired 
.
My A goal: finish without getting hurt. B goal: run hard. C goal: find blueberries!
Well, read on to see how I did.
This was my ninth course and I had the most trepidation heading in because I heard it was a doozy.
The mud was consistently 4-6” thick, there were literally thousands of rocks, roots, and divots along the path, and by late summer, the trails were at times so overgrown they were near impossible to spot or push through (read: waist-high grasses and brambles).
However, it was perfectly meditative to concentrate on one step after the next. And the wildlife did not disappoint!
These cow friends were nearly blocking the path, and as I ran past, one led a stampede down the hill. Exciting and terrifying!
The mud was so deep there were literally pools within it containing frogs!
Farther down, it housed a toad:
Not pictured: a small garter snake that slithered under a bush when I got close.
The trail names were entertaining (especially hearing the RunGo voice lady say them). I used to live in the “South Slope” neighborhood in Brooklyn, so seeing this trail sign brought me back.
As for the C goal, I found wild blackberries in the first couple of miles.
It wasn’t until halfway that I found an area with low bushes and some (unripe) blueberries. Does it count if I didn’t get to eat them?
I also saw these nuts (?) strewn around the forest floor and would love it if some Challenger helped ID them!
The views were epic, especially in the long field near the end (mile 7 I think?)
As for my B goal: I ran as hard as my tired legs could carry me, and felt good about the effort.
And my C goal….I anticipated mud, so I took a “before” shot of my legs and shoes.
By mile 8.25, with a quarter of a mile to go, my legs weren’t looking too bad, but my shoes were definitely caked in many layers of mud. However, my poor tired legs couldn’t clear another root, and I went flying face first into some fantastic mud.
So the “after” shot does not even capture the full scope of mud (I.e. the entire front of my body, including arms and hands).
However, I don’t think any major damage was done aside from a little scrape to one knee.
Gonna call that a win!
The best part, however, was running into @tonya-engst and @adamengst at Cinemapolis and recapping the whole adventure before the Barbie movie started! (And Everyone must see this film).
Great report!! Way to crush your goals!
It sounds like an epic run, and it was indeed a treat to have running friends with which to share the movie.
I’m pretty sure the nuts you found were hickory nuts. Says the guy who lives on Hickory Road, and named that for a reason.
I almost didn’t recognize @Iris in the theater. All the mud had come off and she was wearing nice clothes like a grown up going out on a Saturday night. Neither of us chose to wear pink. There is a lot to like about the Barbie movie, but if there was ever a Runner Barbie, she didn’t get featured in the movie.
I’ve been out of commission with a stress fracture since the first week of summer, so no completing the Challenge for me this year, but now that I’m mostly recovered I wasn’t going to turn down an opportunity (one morning last week) to at least tackle the best trail course that’s part of it!
The temperature was decent, the air not too humid, and the ground (given the stories I’ve heard) relatively dry, so all things considered probably perfect weather. Some issues with unleashed dogs and redneck campers shouting racist slurs, reminding me that we are indeed still surrounded by reality, but I tried not to let that spoil an otherwise mostly pleasant morning.
This morning I found this course enjoyable to run bright and early by headlamp, starting around 4:15. I followed the RunGo prompts to make sure I didn’t get lost, but I’ve run here so many times I probably could’ve done without. Tons of mud following the recent rain, but nothing too terrible. The weather was great and I didn’t see anyone else out there. The sun was high enough for the last mile when I finished around 6:00 but I wasn’t in position to get a decent sunrise pic. 1 down, 9 more to go today 
I’d been delaying this run after hearing many tales of the Mud in the first half of the challenge period, planning to try for a day following several dry days. Cut to end of summer following my foot-injury-enforced pause for all of July, and I had to stick this run in my mileage- & difficulty-based challenge-finish schedule and hope for the best.
The odds were not in my favor. It rained earlier in the day.
I decided to make the best of it, and plan to get muddy. I wore a pair of older, technically retired shoes I keep around for just such purposes, and set off determined to stick with my plan.
I had a blast the first half. I skirted the mud as best I could but gave in pretty quickly to the inevitable, and embraced my inner kid-splashing-through-the-mud-puddles.
I loved running along the pond and watching frogs leap out of my path into the water every few feet, as well as all the bridges and streams.
In the second half, the mud started to become more tiresome. I’d underestimated how much time navigating the mud & vegetation would add to my time, and my light was disappearing at a pace much quicker than I’d have preferred. I was VERY happy I’d thought to bring my headlamp, just in case, as I carefully navigated that last mile through the mud & trees.
This run was definitely the hardest one so far, but I finished it, despite having to literally hose my shoes off when I got home! And it’s left me with just 2 runs left to go, the shortest & the longest. 14 miles away from finishing the challenge!
