A great feature of this years Challenge evolution was the “5k anywhere” inclusion. This allowed me to log some Challenge miles in my home town, with a commute about the same length as the race itself. The Krauter is actually a 5k or 20k road race in the heart of Phelps (and Clifton Springs on the 20k path) that serves as one of the many activities during our Sauerkraut Festival weekend. Before I started running, I had no awareness that this race even took place, but in 2021 I signed up for the 5k and have intention now to participate in this event annually. It is billed as the “oldest race in the finger lakes”. I haven’t bothered fact checking this, but absent gorgeous waterfalls, incredible vista’s or anything else that doesn’t seem akin to a cabbage patch, that is really its only defining feature.
I was salivating a bit on this one thinking I had an opportunity to place well. Last year there were no sub 20 minute runners in the entire field, and the door seemed to be open to defend the home court so to speak. Those delusions quickly evaporated about a half mile in when I realized that the lead group was primarily composed of a bunch of high schooler track/cross country kids whom had little regard for crusty old men such as myself that are still trying to keep up. As such I contented myself with just doing the best I could and not worrying about what was going on around me.
Although i placed considerably worse than last year, I also ran a considerably faster time than last years that is now a new PR for me. I’m taking it as a personal win and looking forward to see if I can improve again next year before the age decline finally catches up with me.
I’m hoping the 2024 challenge will find some way of including non challenge course races again.
I’m glad to see these last two posts because there hadn’t been that much use of the remote 5K option so far, apart from FLRC races like Twilight. I’ll see what I can do next year to ensure there’s a remote 5K option again.
I can’t see how long the Krauter race has been going on, but it would have to be over 50 years old to best the Ithaca 5&10. I don’t have exact dates handy, but this year is the 48th running of the 5&10, and we missed 2020 and 2021 due to the pandemic.
@adamengst All I could find is this link from 2018 that stated it was the 52 annual run of the Krauter.
With 2020 getting canceled, that would suggest this years was the 56th? It also specifically calls out the 20k as the oldest, so it is unclear when the 5k originated. That puts it around 1967 which aligns with the origination of the Sauerkraut Festival itself. So it seems plausible. Honestly, I’m surprised there aren’t races in the area much older. I feel like if something is the oldest of something, it should be way more older than I am, right!?
I think it is hard to know really how much of the remote 5k option has actually been used, as it puts you at the mercy of people actually posting about it to know that it wasn’t just another swing around Cass. I did the Right2Run 5k, Shark In the Park 5k (including my wife), and Twilight 5k without posting about it. When I did Segahunda 72, one of the races was called Vale of three falls 5k. I ended up not counting it for the challenge because everyone clocked it on their GPS as significantly shorter than 3.1 miles. I also ran several trail races that were in the 3 to 4 mile range, but I didn’t count any of them because they didn’t explicitly call themselves a 5k. As a thought, maybe all outside races 3.1 miles or more could count as a single 5k challenge course? That would open up more races for people to catch remotely to post about here without significantly running up the mileage.
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My family joined me for a walk on the Lakefront Loops today. Along the way we learned about catalpa trees (look for their distinctive string-bean-shaped seed pods by the inlet on the southern leg of the course). Month-old Theo slept through the whole thing.
It’s nice to have a stroller-friendly course in the Challenge!
I agree! Like the Buffalo Turkey Trot, which started in 1896.
I did encourage everyone to post about their remote 5Ks, but there’s no requirement.
Hmm… but that might confuse things like the average times? And we wouldn’t want people submitting an unconfirmed split time.
I did forget to mention a couple important things about the Krauter.
At bib pickup, you get a reusable shopping bag that contains your shirt, a program of the festival, and a small can of “Silver Floss” sauerkraut.
The race is not quite a loop , but the finish is less than a half mile from the start, at the park. So it works out perfect to park your car in the shade under a tree at the park and jog to the start line for your warmup.
Once finished, after you have just poured your heart and soul out in an all out 3 miles effort exposed to the hot sun the entire way, the finishing meal is none other than hot dogs, with plenty of kraut to garnish them if you choose.
And to top it off, our local craft beer joint, Crafty Ales and Lagers, provides a free cup of beer to enjoy with your hot dog to all runners of age. The signature beer of choice … a sauerkraut beer, spawned from the kraut brine as a base. There is no actual kraut in it, but the taste is unmistakable, and not all together awful.
In my mind, unless you haven’t had the dog and drank the kraut beer, you haven’t really finished the race.
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I took the afternoon off on a slow day at work to knock out a few more Challenge miles before the series ends on Sunday. I was expecting a sweaty walk/slog for 4-5 Lakefront Loops and was surprised that I actually felt good enough to run a 9:30 - 10:00 per mile pace indefinitely. I’ve found I always recover quickly from the Ultra Challenge 100k, probably due to the inactivity breaks driving between courses instead of continuous forward movement like an in-person race. Still, I felt better than expected and managed 6 5k circuits of steady slow running with brief breaks to the car between each to guzzle Gatorade, before having to pick up the kids in Dryden. I passed about a bajillion people on the path but spotted no obvious Challengers.
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just as I finished my Lakefront run this morning, the sky opened up a deluge of rain. I sprinted over to the roof near the Black Diamond trail start, to wait it out along with a few other runners and bikers. Didn’t have to wait long, it ended as suddenly as it started
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After posting my last course of the challenge, the Blueberry Patch, I was a frustrating 0.13 points behind Andy Klepack, who was second on the leaderboard at the time. I had a soft time, though, on the 5k, since I ran it before the course was corrected, and also didn’t put in a very hard effort.
I knew I wouldn’t have to do much to get those 0.13, but might as well get in a tempo to get the Challenge finished in style.
I was leaving for the Adirondacks at 9am to go pick up my son, Riley, from a music camp, so I also had some extra motivation to get done quickly.
It was rather quiet early on a Sunday, so I had the path mostly to myself, and after doing a quick warmup and some drills, I launched into it. I wasn’t sure what tempo was these days, and found myself doing 6-oh-something for the first mile. Turned out that was a little spicy for me given my training, and maybe given my effort the day before in Hector. I slowed to 6:20-6:30 pace, and held that okay for the rest, although I was pretty gassed after the jack-knife turnaround. 19 minutes and 30 seconds later and I was slouching around the finish, sopping due to the humidity, and trying to towel off to get home and get on the road. It was good enough for 9 more points and (a short lived) #2 on the leaderboar. Mik Kern was coming up fast in points, and hadn’t done the 1600 yet. He basically just had to jog it to catch me, and catch me he did. His 5:05 submission around 10pm put him in the #2 spot, but my morning effort meant I got to stay on the board at the end of all things.
Much fun was had. Many thanks to the organizers, and especially the agonizer in chief, Adam, who put in a ton of work to get this series working!