Use this topic for posts that will collect community stars for the Dryden Lake Lollipop course. You can also ask questions or make comments about this course.
Here’s how it works.
Click the “Post Using This Template” button below to create a new post with a Story heading and boilerplate text.
Replace the boilerplate text with your report for one or both sections. The Story header is key for distinguishing between posts and replies—don’t change it.
Your post must be on the same calendar day as your run as entered in the leaderboard.
Story
To pick up a community star, replace this text with a write-up of what your run was like, a photo you took on the run, a link to your Strava track, or something similar. Don’t delete the Story heading above.
I had run an 8.5-mile speed workout yesterday, so I didn’t have high expectations for my time today. I’ve been training for both Seneca 7 (next weekend) and the Toronto Half Marathon (next, next weekend), so what with various scheduling factors, today was my last long run day before those two events. The Dryden Lake Lollipop course is scenic and easy on the feet, and of course I wanted to do a Challenge course today, so it was the obvious choice.
I parked near the Dryden Creamery and snapped a photo of a new peace post that’s been installed there before running to Freeville and then back to the peace post. It’s too early in the year for the annoying cloud of gnats that often infests that stretch of trail. Back at the car, I changed my sneakers to give my feet a change, ate a handful of “magic maple” pumpkin seeds, and drank some electrolyte charged water. The second half of the course was tough going for a few miles, but when I got out to the road, the pavement felt bouncier than the trail had and once I got to the top of the hill out there, I felt pretty good. I picked up my pace quite a bit and made it back to the peace post feeling strong.
I kicked off the long anticipated ‘26 Challenge with the longest course in the canonical ten. The first of likely many Challenge efforts for the year will hopefully also be the most painful.
My legs were trashed after a long run at Kennedy State Forest yesterday, so this was slower and steadier than those tortoises we’ll see on this course in the coming weeks. That much was expected. The big surprise was the abrupt change in weather while running west on Lake Road just after the halfway point. Within one minute, the brisk, sunny afternoon morphed into a 30 mph headwind with stinging hail. I was underdressed for it in shorts and my 2021 Challenge quarter-zip. No joke, the hail stung my eyes so badly I had to half cover my face and look off to the side just to keep them open. I thought about seeking shelter behind a tree to wait it out, but figured I’d stand there freezing cold for who knows how long. Instead I covered my face with my gloved hands just enough to watch for oncoming traffic and shuffled along in dirt next to the shoulder, putting in extra effort to overcome the wind’s opposing force. I just had to make it 1.5 miles back tot the trail where the trees would shield me from the wind.
After 10-15 minutes the wind died down some, the hail turned to snow, and the road curved a little so I wasn’t slogging straight into the wind. Not long after I turned back into the rail trail, the snow ceased and the sun reappeared. The rest was smooth and soggy sailing. I have a good feeling the rest of the Challenge will be a lot more fun that the middle miles on today’s run!
The weekend brought new meaning to the joke addendum to the Cornell motto of “I would found an institution where any person can find instruction in any study…in any weather.”
The Run-Stroll Method
Maybe you’ve heard of the run-walk method? I used the run-stroll method for this course on Thursday. I started at the village hall in Freeville. Highlight of the run was passing Dryden Creamery and seeing a very chipper Anne Leonard in the parking lot and stopping for a quick chat! Next began the Jim Schug portion of the trail. This is always a difficult section to run for me. Once I get to this first big pond, I just want to slowly stroll for the next couple of miles, looking for birds, turtles, or whatever.
Another beautiful morning just in time for me to try out my new racing clothes and shoes before my marathon next weekend. It felt really hot in the sun even though it was in the low 60s. I’m not acclimated for the heat of Africa but hopefully this run helped a bit.
FLRC Challenge Dryden Lake Lollipop ..A memorial - once a runner
(with a nod to John Parker) Frankly, I had no idea I could do this; there was little or no preparation, and I only decided to do this last night when it became clear it was going to be too wet to do the yardwork I had planned. I had low expectations because of the physical beating I took Saturday during Commencement (lots of standing and walking in miserable weather) - one that my body reminded me of when riding a bike on Sunday. I waited for the rain to pass (having had enough of that on Saturday) and then headed out. There was only 1 other car in the parking lot but I wondered if that was a fellow Challenge course runner. I had done an hour out and back for an Easter-bunny themed group run a few weeks back, so I figured I would just start running at a somewhat slower pace and see how far I got before I started walking. Well, I got all 13.38 miles in before I had to walk.. And this after missing the only turn on the course a mile or so in, and losing a couple of minutes figuring out what I had done (because I couldn’t believe I had done that after properly doing it every other time). But I kept chugging along - chugging being the operative word - focusing on taking a drink every 8 minutes and focusing on form when my knee twinged. The weather was appropriately cool and wet - but also grey, so there wasn’t much scenery. Was surprised that there weren’t more flowers in bloom along the way. Wasn’t surprised that I didn’t see many people on the way out - most notable a pair of vaguely familiar runners (other challengers?) coming back at the 4 mile mark - but began to see lots of walkers after making the turn..starting with a couple out walking along Lake Rd. Many of those walkers had dogs with them, but all were well behaved. And by the time I got to Dryden, the trail was getting busy with families - good to see, but at this point, I just wanted to finish, so I was fine with relative quiet of the last 3 or so miles after town. Every mile, my watch would tell me that I was holding a pretty consistent pace, and by the end, I was running in a kind of wonderment, half-expecting to blow up any second, but my legs kept churning on.
It has been years since I’ve had a run like this - just running - and I won’t expect another one anytime soon. But it was welcome today. I was once a runner…
I didn’t take any pictures, in part because of where I was mentally, and in part because for much of the run I had a water bottle in each hand - and frankly, in part, because there just wasn’t much to photograph.
Running out of days before I move to finish the challenge, I headed out this morning to complete my final course. I immediately forgot to grab my handheld getting out of the car so had to restart after about 100 meters. I also was very undertrained for a 13 mile run so I quickly realized that I should take some strategic walk breaks to fuel and keep myself from getting too hot. I detoured at Dryden Lake to use the bathroom and the second half was better than the start. Eventually, I made it back to my car as I ran out of water. This was not particularly fast for me but I got it done to wrap up the challenge before I move even farther north.
I’m about to head out of town for three weeks so I wanted to get this course done, and I got really lucky with near perfect conditions on a Saturday. I counted baby bunnies until I lost track, and saw a kingfisher, some kind of perched hawk too far to ID, and some other friendly runners, including at least one FLRCer (didn’t catch his name.) forgot to take a selfie again but I did get some pics of this cool tree covered in spiderwebs, backlit by morning sun. Too early for Toad’s ice cream so I celebrated with brunch at East Shore Roadhouse. Now for a nap…
