Story
Postscript
Before turning in on Sunday night, I started thinking about my slim one run lead over Pete @Petorius for Hoctathon total runs, which was acquired with a late Sunday afternoon effort to break the tie. As I thought about it, I began to wonder if this was an insult to Pete. After all, he can knock off a couple of Hoctathons in nearly the time it takes me to run one - and most certainly would do so. Who was I to think I could sit on a one run lead with a day to go!
I’d also learned I didn’t have to re-join the non-running population until 4 PM today, but that was a hard deadline to be home to prepare for other Labor Day activities. That provided the opportunity to pad my whisper of a lead, but would I be able to? want to? I had logged 73 miles of trail running activity since work ended on Friday afternoon. To show Pete the proper respect, I had to make the effort.
I considered two options: 1) grab a few hours sleep, head right back to Hammond Hill, and hold out as long as possible (only an old, SLOW ultrarunner would list this option, and it derives from a saying I saw during the 2020 GVRAT, “The old wolf hunts with the teeth he’s got.”); or option 2) get some normal rest and settle for 2 or 3 Hoctathon circuits, hoping that would be enough. Option 2 seemed riskier but that was my final choice.
I had another dilemma. I did not know the number of Hoctathons Pete would run on the last day of the Challenge. Since my day was ending in early afternoon, if I posted my times immediately, he’d know how much time he’d need to target just one more circuit. (Of course, I can never get a cell signal at the Hammond Hill parking lot, anyway.) It seemed only fair for me to keep him guessing about the number of loops I’d run on the last day too - level competition as I see it.
So, loop 1 started a little before 7 AM. The legs were fatigued but moving without pain. It was a nice cool 50s morning, bits of sun, occasional stiff breeze. Got back to the start in 2:33, about the same time as my circuit late the previous afternoon. Loop 2 was a bit slower as the newts were now out on the trail (counted 8). Gotta slip in one more gratuitous newt photo:
I started Loop 3 around 12:08 PM. I hadn’t seen Pete yet but I had this gut feeling he might pass me on the trail before I finished this loop. ALMOST! I finished at 2:42 PM. I took a few minutes to ditch my running gear in the back and grab an ice cold Mountain Dew from the cooler. I spent a few more minutes in the car in the parking lot, trying to get a cell signal. Finally gave up and headed out at 2:52 PM. I noticed Pete on the other side of the lot by his car after coming in from a finish. I wasn’t sure if he saw me, though I had on the bright purple Challenge shirt. When I got into Dryden, I checked and saw he’d finished that loop only 9 minutes after me! I had no choice but to head home and keep an eye on Challenge activity the rest of the day and evening.
Seems like Pete stopped after a double, so maybe I’ve wrapped up the Hoctathon course sign. This was one of my silent Challenge goals this year. I like the coinage of ‘Hoctathon’, but some years ago, Evan Kurtz “coerced” a bunch of his trail running co-workers in the Syracuse area to run the Thom B at Hammond Hill on some real forest trails. (Evan may have even been an RD for the event that year). I swear he sent us on a deer path for one leg, but there are some sweet flowing trails there! Always a pleasure and where I had my first red newt sighting, of course!
Adam @adamengst, I had 3 Hoctathons today, starting at 6:42 AM, 9:18 AM, and 12:08 PM. I posted the first one this evening. Then I posted the second one. Then after I posted the third one, it deleted the first one from the activity list. When I re-posted the first one, it deleted the 3rd one from the list. I closed the Webscorer app on my phone and restarted it - still the same behavior. I edited the time by one second on the 3rd one and tried posting it - it posted but the first one was deleted. So, I just added a manual timed entry with the correct elapsed time (but wrong start time) late this evening. My total Hoctathon runs (18) and my Total Miles (291.4) are correct now.
