FLRC Group Run at Kennedy State Forest Saturday 8/19 @ 8:30am - Two Hollows Monster Marathon and Half Marathon Preview!

[heathercobb3 (Heather Cobb)]

The next FLRC group run will be this Saturday August 19th, at Kennedy State Forest, and will act as a preview for the Two Hollows Monster Marathon and Half Marathon race coming up on September 3rd. This is the perfect opportunity to get a feel for the course.

We’ll meet at the corner of Adams Road and Owego Hill Road in the town of Harford, NY (do NOT attempt to approach via Owego Hill Road from the north) at 8:30 AM and start running at 8:45 AM. Race directors Nancy Kleinrock and Steve Vanek will lead groups looking to complete the full 13.1-mile course, while race director Steve Shaum will lead a 6.5-mile tour of the first three-quarters of the course (and, yes, those numbers actually make sense). Longer distance runners will pass the start/finish where the cars are parked at 9.8 miles for anyone wishing to resupply or call it a day at that point. There will be post-run snacks available so please stick around after for socializing and a delicious breakfast.

RunGo directions are available so if you’re not running with someone who is 100% familiar with the trails, please use them. You can view them online and download them to the RunGo app on your smartphone or Apple Watch. Search for Two Hollows Monster.

Register for Two Hollows Monster Marathon and Half Marathon! Please do so before August 23rd to avoid a price hike ($45 to $75), and so the race directors have the proper amount of food, finisher awards, and so forth on hand on race day.

We can always use volunteers, so check out the Helper Helper opportunities and sign up today.

Please vote in the poll below by indicating your anticipated road-running pace so others can get a sense of who else will be running their pace. We always have a wide range of runners, so you’ll generally find someone to run with.

Pace Poll

• Sub-8:00-minute pace
• 8:00-9:00-minute pace
• 9:00-10:00-minute pace
• 10:00-11:00-minute pace
• 11:00-12:00-minute pace
• 12:00-13:00-minute pace
• 13:00-minute+ pace
• I’m unsure of my pace but I will be there!
• I plan on hiking

Everyone is welcome, regardless of age, ability, pace, or anything else. This is a free activity and club membership is not required, but please sign the waiver before your first run this year. You only need to sign the waiver once for all 2023 group runs, so if you’ve already signed it, you’re all set! (Check Webscorer to verify that you signed.)

If you have questions or are interested in volunteering as a greeter/host for similar group runs, contact FLRC Group Run director Heather Cobb (cobb.heather.m@gmail.com). See you this weekend!

Subscribe to FLRC’s Google Calendar so race dates, group runs, and other club events flow into your calendar. Import this ICS file for most calendar apps; subscribe to fingerlakesrunners@gmail.com if you use Google Calendar.

[tonya (Tonya Engst)]

Here is a question for @nkleinrock or @SteveShaum
or @Steven_Vanek: @gumbywhale has suggested a slightly madcap scheme for how she and I might preview the course at the group run, and we are looking for advice.

@gumbywhale plans to race the half-marathon, so she wants to preview the entire course. However, she does not want to run (or walk) an entire half-marathon this weekend. And I can cover 8-11 trail miles one way or the other, but I’m not in shape for the full deal. The idea is that we could start the group run with everyone else and run with a group on one of the “outs” (not sure which one - advice?). We would have previously left a car at the end of this leg (or if we do the “out” with the loop, probably on Owego Hill Road where it intersects the trail (if a car can reasonably drive there). At the end of the “out,” we would not go back with the group. Instead, we would get in the car and drive to the end of the other “out.” We would leave the car there and run back to the start. This would allow us to traverse the entire course, but with no doubling up, so a shorter distance.

Possibly a more efficient approach would be to start at the point on the course map where the orange arrows turn purple (by Daisy Hollow Road) and then to run the entire “stick” and “loop” (more or less) of the lollipop, and then to arrive at a second car close to the end of the loop, avoiding having to run the “stick” twice. This approach has the disadvantage of having to get up extra early to place the car and run on the stick to the start before the group run begins (neither of us are early risers, so might be impossible) and it’s hard to predict how long it would take us or if we would get lost. Also, not sure if there is appropriate parking.

Do you have any thoughts or guidance on parking and feasibility? Is there another way to do it that would work better? I have possibly run the orange/purple part of the course map twice - it might have been my triennial leg a few years back. Otherwise, neither of us have been out here.

[nkleinrock (Nancy Kleinrock)]

Here’s a good solution: Run the 6.5-mile version of the group run (from start line, head northeast on the Spanish Loop (orange blazes), right on FLT (white), left at Hilsinger Road onto the Swedish Loop (blue), sharp left onto FLT (white) to the turnaround (you’ll now be at 4.8 miles). Instead of turning around, turn right onto Spanish (orange) and take it back to the cars on Owego Hill Road (you’ll now be at ~6.5). Now start the second out-and-back, which is ~3.4 miles total. If you wanted to do less, you could park one car at the FLT sign on the west side of Daisy Hollow Road maybe a of a mile north of the Daisy Hollow/Adams Rd intersection and, when you’ve finished the “out” continue down the orange blazes to the road and you’ll see the car off to your right. If that’s confusing at all, get to the start of the group run at 8:30 and there will be time for me to show you on the map and shuttle a car before we start at 8:45. Or stop over at our house today or tomorrow to review the map.
Lots of options.

[tonya (Tonya Engst)]

Nancy, Thank you. This is very helpful! I’m confabbing with @gumbywhale to finalize our plan. It sounds like we can start with Steve Shaum’s group (and RunGo and whatever other directions/map we can gather) but when we get back to the start/finish, we’ll set out for Daisy Hollow Road, either to end up at a car or to just run the out-and-back - it’s not that much more distance to run the whole thing, but the topo map suggests quite a bit of effort to return by foot!

[nkleinrock (Nancy Kleinrock)]

If significant effort weren’t involved, it wouldn’t qualify as a “monster”!