Use this topic for posts that will collect community stars for the Duck Trails course. You can also ask questions or make comments about this course.
Here’s how it works.
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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.
A goose, squirrels (red and gray), a chipmunk, skunk cabbages, mayapples, trillium, and an osprey were spotted on my jaunt through Sapsucker this evening.
I’m not quite sure why it seemed like a good idea to run Duck Trails in the middle of a long ElliptiGO ride since I was really sluggish and slow, but it went okay otherwise—just a little knee discomfort. The stump behind me is where the Challenge sign used to be!
For the Bird-ers!
Stopped by here on my way home around 3 PM. Numerous groups of birders ranging in size from 1 to 8, along with many other hikers. I walked whenever I was near them. I wasn’t in a hurry anyway and enjoyed the early spring scenery
woke up way too early, but it was light and pretty enough out that I decided to do this run and I was glad I did! It was just me and Woody and the geese for most of the way…startled one deer and passed one pedestrian near the end. Best part - no wind!
Part of the trail near the start was blocked this morning but you all could do the trail by the pond instead (prettier anyway )
Not sure how long this is up.
I picked the first steamy day to tick off this course. Dappled sunshine, bird song and frog calls made it a pleasure to be in the woods. The short section of trail that Melissa mentioned was closed is now reopened. Snapped an obligatory shot of Andy’s egg and a sweaty selfie at the end.
Theo and I checked off our third stroller run of the Challenge at Duck Trails. Part of the trail near the start was closed again so we took a left to detour by the pond. We stopped to look at the egg cairn. Theo mused, “maybe a big bird will come out of that big egg.”
Duck Trails Surprise!
This morning I completed the East Hill Rec Way course and, from there, was making the drive to Planet Fitness to put in a weight training workout. I got nearly as far as Tompkins Community Bank when I saw that traffic was backed way up and over the bridge between Triphammer Mall and the Cayuga Shopping Center. Uhhh… No…
I quickly made a right onto Sheraton Drive and decided then and there to tackle Duck Trails as well.
And what a morning it was for Duck Trails! A little warm, as the temp rose to 79 by the time I finished, but it was still relatively dry through the trail system and, happily, I didn’t run into pesky bugs trying to take a bite out of me.
Trillium is in bloom right now along the trail, and I passed a nice family of Mallards on my way out of the Sapsucker Woods area.
I forgot to write that the first Right on the Wilson Trail is currently closed due to Emerald Ash Borer mitigation. Thankfully the trail closer to the pond is only a little longer.
I decided to take advantage of a brief spell of cool weather to do a hard run on Duck Trails. I ran it easy once to warm up and to remind myself of the course. I made one wrong turn and was happy to get that out of system when time didn’t matter.
I did a few strides and a bit more easy jogging. Then I started the time trial. I wanted to break 16 and I thought I could do it by running a couple of 5:55ish miles and then closing the last .7 hard. I got through mile 1 in about 5:55 (I don’t have an exact split because I turned off auto lap). In mile 2 it really started to hurt and I slowed to about 6:05 pace. I was able to pick it up a little bit after that but not much.
I finished in 16:27, only 2 seconds behind Ryan’s leading time. Even though I was well short of my initial goal and agonizingly close to being #1, I was happy with my run. I was significantly faster than I was in 2024 when I ran 16:56 (and also faster than Mik’s 2024 course-winning time of 16:46). I cooled down by running the course one more time.
I was lucky enough to do a quick run after work.
The heat was a bit humbling Also has anyone else’s run-go Rachel forget the word “straight”? Mine the past few runs I’ve used it says “head ____ and continue” when it used to say head straight and continue it still thankfully says right & left
Today I ran the Duck Trails with my dear friend Marie Fitzsimmons and it was a glorious experience! Perfect company and perfect weather, again. Such a beautiful trail - the beauty and peacefulness blew me away!
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Also has anyone else’s run-go Rachel forget the word “straight”? 
Mine the past few runs I’ve used it says “head ____ and continue” when it used to say head straight and continue 
it still thankfully says right & left 
