This is a late entry for my run on Monday but I have to say I LOVE this course. I have driven by Lime Hollow for years and never stopped to look at it. I am so glad it is part of the Challenge bc it got me to visit.
The trails are nice and wide, the scenery is varied, and the art trail is wonderful. There are a number of art sculptures of animals and mythical creatures including a sea monster. I especially loved the Run Go instruction at around 3/4 mile that told me to look across the creek and up the hill to see the dragon.
I suggest you take the time to run it twice, either twice in one day or come back on a different day. The first time go slow, learn the course, and enjoy the art work and then later you can aim for speed.
The dragon has a story. Jack’s Way was created as a memorial for Jack Jakubek. Jack was a SUNY Cortland graduate who interned at Lime Hollow and was a member of the swim team. Tragically Jack died during an ocean lifeguard test shortly after he graduated. His family set up a fund to create what will eventually grow into Jack’s forest at that site. The entire men’s and women’s swimming and diving team comes out every year to do trail work and plant more trees. The dragon was created in Jacks’s honor, the SUNY Cortland mascot is the red dragon. And if you look carefully you will see he is perched on a starting block ready to launch into an epic swim.
I needed to hike these trails to refine the RunGo directions, so @tonya-engst and I went out this morning to notch an effort and have a picnic. Just a few tweaks to the instructions, but they should be better than ever.
In honor of all our friends running Seneca 7 today, I wore a hat and hoodie from previous editions.
I marveled at RunGo’s directions today as I wound my way through the woods on the enjoyable single track and rail trail of Lyme Hollow. How lovely to smell the woods and see the sites without messing around with a map!
Today’s plan was for me to run ahead of @adamengst while he walked and tweaked the RunGo directions. When I finished back at the car, I would grab a drink and a sweatshirt and then run backwards to meet him, stopping to walk when we met up.
Due to my actually starting after Adam, my stopping a few times to text my RunGo feedback or take a photo, and our comparative long-run and walking speeds, I met him only about a quarter mile back on the trail. We closed the outing with a short picnic—it was too chilly to linger and the sun had slipped away. It started to rain once we were on the road back home, but the outing was a success.
Drizzly morning for 2 efforts here! Hiked the first loop, walk/ran the second loop. Ran into @mclark and his adorable dog Maggie at the s/f in between (and we each obtained community stars!). Had the poop scared out of me by a goose hiding on the other side of a bank near the end of Lehigh Trail before Gracie Rd. I was expecting to see more red efts, and finally spotted some near the area ironically called Salamander Springs. Sat on the bench at the bog, enjoying the view and ate some fruit snaccs, which only included my favorite flavors!
A warm afternoon for 2 runs here. Enjoyed more fruit snaccs at the bog, but no red efts were consumed! Saw a kingfisher dive into the water while seated here, too.
I ran my second loop at tempo effort to record a faster time. For some reason RunGo was a bit delayed on this loop, so I had to backtrack after missing a couple of turns. I’ll have to come back later to do an uninterrupted fast run.
@Gretchen@medardia and I took advantage of the excellent weather to run the Lime Hollow challenge course. With only one slight detour (I missed a turn despite Adam’s very careful directions) and one extra hill climb just for fun (Adam’s side note “be grateful that I didn’t make you run up that hill!” made us laugh, so I ran up it anyway!)
Amazing wildflowers this time of year, and a great excuse to get out in the woods.
Thanks for putting this together, Rachel! And I can vouch for her having run up that extra hill. She should get additional stars for that! Good to run through the woods with both you ladies.
I loved this new-to-me course, what a beautiful spot! The terrain was soft and trails were not too hilly, although somewhat overgrown in places (tick check after!)
@lynsayayer and I went this morning and paused for a photo op, naturally! We were also coincidentally both wearing our challenge shirts from last year
Laughed at the part of the RunGo instructions where Adam told us we wouldn’t have to run up the hill. However, I followed the instructions to look up at the hill and missed a rock in front of me, which sent me pretty dramatically flying down the trail. Slightly shaken, I finished the course with a good slice to my knee and the blood, sweat and dust to show for it
Finally got to my first challenge course. Adam’s directions kept me on track despite being distracted by memories of hosting field trips to the LH bog with SUNY Cortland education majors teaching Cortland county school kids about bog life. Messy but fun! A bit like trail running.
This was our first time visiting Lime Hollow and this is such a beautiful area to explore. It was hot and we hiked Watkins Glen yesterday, so Erin asked to hike this one. On our hike we saw turtles, a dark banded snake we could not identify, a wood frog, a female Baltimore Oriole, and plenty of blooming Dame’s Rocket (my favorite wildflower).
I’m sharing a few photos, including one where we are “basking in the glory of the bog.” And yes, Erin was grateful RunGo didn’t send her up that hill! The directions had me laughing out loud a few times. Nicely done, and they seemed to be spot on the whole way.
Good to run through the woods with both you ladies. 
