Use this topic for posts that will collect community stars for the Long Loomis course. You can also ask questions or make comments about this course.
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Story
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WHAT!?!
As long as I was at Hammond Hill, it seemed worthwhile to complete the last of the three Challenge courses there. I had never exactly run the specific Long Loomis course before. I looked at RunGo and discovered a large percent of it was also part of the Thom B course, but with one strange difference… the default Long Loomis runs clockwise!! Over many years and quite a lot of miles, I don’t recall ever running in the clockwise direction at Hammond Hill for loops of anything!!
I made it through without confusion, finished just ahead of the rain, and noticed several groups of painted trilliums that I had not seen earlier while running the Thom B course:
Call me unoriginal. When signing up for the challenge, I just picked the 2026 10 Course Challenge (which I know I can modify).
There are just so many course options!! This morning I sat in the parking lot of my kids’ school deciding which course to run. Given the wind and the distance I was willing to run, I settled on the Long Loomis.
For some reason, I kept thinking I was seeing animals on the trail … it was small branches, a rock, and who knows what else. That climb was a … climb! The first mile felt like it was never ending, but then they passed more quickly.
It’s late. I can’t think/type/form a coherent sentence.
Just got home from Hammond Hill. My Run Go app didn’t work even though I got it all set at home for Long Loomis. I knew how the first part went, but only a vague notion after that. Ended up doing 6.04 miles. Fortunately there were some bikers/walker runners out there who could point me in the right direction. Yellow 2, Yellow 4, Red 4, Yellow 5, ???
It sure is dry out there!
Adding to the weird things I think about while running in the late afternoon, I noticed that my 5 pm shadow is now longer than I am. At least there is still a shadow at that time. Had the course all to myself, except for a runner and biker going the opposite direction within a minute of each other on the last half of the course.
Where did THIS come from? Couldn’t tell from the drive out - legs felt tired and I was feeling dragged out, and a little guilty about running instead of paddleboarding with Jeanne. Expecting that my pace would be about that of the Forest Frolic run, I skipped the usual warmup because I was worried about time - I didn’t want to be on the trail in the semi-dark, even as well-worn and familiar as this trail is. I did let a mountain biker pass before starting out, slowly. As I climbed up Y1, a solitary hiker pass going the other way, giving me a quizzical look that was in tune with what I was thinking. I got to the top and got a shock - I was to turn LEFT, not RIGHT…oh my, not at all what I was mentally envisioning. But I was a good doobie, and followed the directions from the RunGo lady, and was soon across Star Stanton and heading up to Y2. I noticed that my footfalls weren’t that heavy - in fact, I was (for me) relatively light footed, easily dodging the roots and rocks on the trail. It helped that the trail was dry - just the occasional, easily skirted, mudhole - and not yet covered in leaves. I stepped off the trail to let a couple of mountain bikers passed, only to catch up to them at the Y2 junction…my first clue I was going better than I expected. Soon after, got the confirmation - a sub 13:00 mile, despite the climbing..huh. I flew - again for me - down Y2 and up Star Stanton, just in time to see a circle of what looked like college-aged runners doing the lunge matrix…Engulfed by guilt, I wished them well and headed down Y4. I couldn’t remember the last time I run Y4 in this direction, so it was almost like running it for the first time, though all the crossings were familiar…I did pause for a moment when Y4 joined the FLT because the Y4 markers disappeared for a couple hundred yards, but memory told me to follow the FLT - because there wasn’t another trail there…and sure enough I soon saw a Y4 marker. Y4 quickly became Y5 as I continued to marvel at the way I was running - I didn’t stop to take any pictures because I didn’t want to break the spell. Crossing Canaan Rd to transition to Y6, I met a dog walker and the dog enjoying being off leash - how I remember Carmel enjoying that! - but I was much too scary for the dog so I kept going. As I descended Y6 to Y1, I was startled out of my reverie by the overtaking call from a mountain biker - the same who I had let start ahead of me. The sudden start was just the jolt I needed to fly down Y1 to the finish - much sooner than I had expected.
A magical run - not something I’ll expect again any time soon!
Haha @bobtalda ! That was my Cornell Trail Running Class. Their final exam was to survive Hammond! And yes we have been doing the lunge matrix warmup all semester (@adamengst ). They were impressed you just emerged from the woods and weren’t carrying any gear.
@julie19 Ah! Thanks for letting me know - and I apologize for not recognizing you, but I was sorta swimming in guilt at the moment…I was impressed that many young runners wanted to do the trails - I’m just glad y’all didn’t catch me!..Hope you had as good a run as I did…
