Run Rabbit Run Star Posts

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Wow! What a glorious morning for Run Rabbit Run. I probably shouldn’t have pushed myself just two days after a grueling attempt on this course BUT I just had to take advantage of the cool, dry morning. I felt soooo much better than on Wednesday and actually enjoyed the course. And RunGo worked like a charm this time so I didn’t have to constantly be looking at my phone, plus the course was fresh in my mind from Wednesday’s run.

I foraged for some post-run refueling on the BD trail:

I’m looking forward to these improvements:

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Story

Driving out on 96 to meet @kimj at the trailhead, the light rain turned into a strong downpour, making me wonder if running in the rain was really going to be fun. Twenty minutes later, half soaked to the skin, but keeping cool in light rain, I knew it was going to be fun. We ran the second loop first, working our way through downtown T-burg and returning on Rabbit Run. We were both feeling a bit unsure about if we could run 11 miles without stopping to walk, but toward the end of the first loop we were feeling a bit self-congratulatory - especially as we enjoyed the downhill on Rabbit Run.

We decided to avoid long uphills on pavement, so we ran our second loop of the figure 8 backwards, while continuing our lengthy discussion of life, the universe, and everything while taking in scenic meadow views and marveling at the miles rolling by. Even so, when we made our final left turn onto the Black Diamond trail with 2 miles to go, my legs felt a bit wobbly. Still, all I had to do was run straight, I thought, for 2 slightly uphill miles on the easiest trail imaginable. Little things got a little bit hard, like road crossings and quite a few large puddles in the trail. We kept up a steady patter of encouraging chit-chat and soon enough we were back. It was a very successful, and not too hot run. Next time, I will set my selfie camera to not do the mirror image thing!

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Story

Per usual didn’t get out as early as I hoped, however did absolutely enjoy my first “long” run since my marathon :smiling_face::smiling_face_with_three_hearts::running_woman:
This being my second attempt on Run Rabbit Run, (and knowing it was going to be a hot& humid day) I decided to run the course in reverse, saving the shaded black diamond section for the end.
Immediately ran across a few fellow Challenger’s completing the course :smiling_face::heavy_check_mark::wave:





I think I did enjoy running it in reverse a bit more. Not​:thinking: sure why, just seemed to flow better for me :woman_shrugging: anywho, more miles down :smiling_face: and sweaty long run complete :grin:

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Story

I packed an ice cold bottle of water and a small container of saltines for Rabbit Run nourishment this morning and off to T-burgh I went!
On the first part of the Black Diamond Trail, I jogged past a lady who laughed and said I had more energy than her. I chuckled and responded, “We’ll see!” because I was just starting out! There were some lovely Nearly Wild Roses on this part of the trail too. (I think that’s what they’re called.)


Trail was a good opportunity for me to get to know the roads on this side of the county better, as I’m from Brooktondale. I mused that this area, with its long straight roads along flat farm fields, felt like the true beginning of western New York.
Ahoy! PortaPotties!
Due to the upcoming GrassRoots Festival there are now more PortaPotties on the Rabbit Run course! I spotted a row of them in the campground field behind ShurFine as I approached Smith Woods. And then, coming back around the other side of T-burg on Rabbit Run Rd. near the gate entrance to the oval track, there is another row of PortaPotties. The gate to the track is currently open, since the fest hasn’t begun yet. Luckily I didn’t need their use, but some other trail runner may find them convenient.
The area around Smith Woods offered a welcome drop in temps with its shade and a nice breeze. Ahhhh…
And I found that I never realized just how bustling T-burg was until I was making my way down main street. Some of the bustling of the town may have been due to the Grain Bin Flea Market taking place at the fairgrounds this morning.
After I completed the course, I made a visit to Gimme Coffee in the center of town for some nice air conditioned sustenance.
Another course done. Just two more to go for me to complete the Challenge. Woop! Woop!

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Anyone know if it will be worth it trying to run this course during Grassroots weekend? Like next Friday in the evening? What about access to the T-Burg track during that time? @scottpdawson

I’m trying to find a good day to run the Tough Tarmac…

Totally doable! You’ll need to be aware of cars on rabbit run, but the road is open. The Trumansburg track should be open too. It’ll definitely be entertaining!

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Story

Today was my first time running this course in reverse order (starting by going up Rabbit Run). Even with the heat at 5pm, I was feeling great and making pretty good time. At around mile five, coming down Falls rd. my wife called and said that my mom was at the house for dinner an hour and an half early. I had to cut my run short at the halfway point and head home.

After dinner, and after dark, I headed back out to finish the Jacksonville rd./Kraft st. half of the course. It was a beautiful night. The stars and the fireflies were out and there was a cool breeze the entire run.

When I got back to the parking lot, I was greeted by two police officers. They politely asked if I had been out on a run and wished me a good night.

I didn’t log this run on Webscorer, because I had to break it up and I wasn’t sure if it would count for challenge miles. Can someone clarify that for me?


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The trick for pausing and then restarting a run is that it has to be in the same “session.” So you can submit it to Webscorer, but your time starts when you started the first half and finishes when you finished the second half—including the several hours of dinner. In essence, you get credit for covering the ground, but with such a slow time that it won’t possible mess with any other results from you having rested thoroughly in between.

I’ve added this to the No Pausing rule for clarification.

It’s a bit like @patrickmilano’s mile session, in which he accomplished a sub-4 running time by resting between 100m or 200m sprints, but his Challenge-compliant time was the elapsed session time, or 34:43.

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Got it. That’s what I figured. 5 hours and 37 minutes it is! Thanks!

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July 15 through ~July 22 a short segment of this course will be closed. I imagine an acceptable reroute will be to connect from BDT back to the Jacksonville lot by running Gorge Road for that brief stretch. Redirecting...

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Thanks for the update, Scott, and yes, rerouting on Gorge Road and Jacksonville Road will be an acceptable alternative. It’s a touch longer, so I recommend anyone running for time wait until the Black Diamond Trail is open again.

Good to know. That week might be my only chance to run the Tough Tarmac and now it’s even tougher with that extra 0.15 miles.

I spoke with Bill Hughes at Taughannock Park this morning. The Jacksonville Road parking lot is closed for a week. After that time (and since it’s a contractor, it may be fungible), half of the parking lot will be available again and the other half will be used for construction staging.

During this week, all access from that parking lot to BDT is closed, so reroute along Jacksonville Road and then Gorge Road to get to BDT. When the lot re-opens, the access to BDT will not be along the current path, but instead along the footpath at the top of the bridge that crosses the gorge. I made a video to show what that looks like. It should be fairly clear with fencing when they have it completed, too.

In the meantime, you can still scan at the sign (it’s accessible) but you’ll need to park at the two spots at BDT and Gorge, or at the Kraft Road parking lot (start/finish there) and enter times manually.


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Thanks, Scott! I really appreciate the visual documentation for those who haven’t been there much or at all.

Super Helpful! Thank you :smiling_face: :+1: :+1:

Thanks, Scott. I’ll take the detour, as described!

Story

As with the 100k in April, I saved The Rabbit for last. As I write this I feel dumb for missing @scottpdawson’s detailed post about parking and trail access. It would’ve saved me a minor headache. But no, instead I rolled up to the upper lot and was surprised to see the whole thing blocked off. I don’t know my way around the course too well so I had to study the RunGo map, drive over to Gorge Road to park on the shoulder, scan the sign, and then run the detour back over to Gorge Road. Two and half hours to the 12-hour cutoff was plenty of time, but I didn’t want to be on those roads after dark, especially when Grassroots ended for the night.

I was able to scan the sign by leaning far enough over the chicken wire. When I turned around I found no signs or barriers blocking the Black Diamond Trail over to Gorge Road, so I ran up it assuming it had recently reopened. Wrong. Chicken wire blocked the end just before you step onto the road to cross. Sick of all the setback on today’s runs, I just plowed through the bushes off to the left, hoping for no poison ivy.

Two miles down the BDT I realized RunGo Rachel was giving me the silent treatment again like she did that morning in Brooktondale. I closed RunGo and all other apps save Webscore, restarted the RunGo activity, and voila! Back on speaking turns. Perhaps the voice cue problem depends on what other apps are open. Maybe other apps that use voice, like Google Maps. I’ll try to remember to test this theory next time.

I solved the RunGo issue while walking up that steep part of Kraft after leaving the BDT. As I was engrossed in the phone a Swarthout Coaches bus slowed to a roll and the driver yelled out asking if I wanted a ride. I guess he thought I was walking 5 sweaty miles to the Grassroots gate. Twenty years of running and it was the first time I was randomly offered a ride on a commercial vehicle line. I assured him I was “just out for a little exercise” and all was well.

Further up Neverendingkraftroad I wished I’d taken the free ride offer. That long stretch of road under the evening sun ain’t that fun. The song stuck in my head was one I heard on the drive up. Orville Peck and Allison Russell’s duet “Chemical Sunset” was all too fitting for the moment and in a weird way appropriate for all of America this week.

I do a pirouette in the chemical sunset
Come and see me, baby, it’s the end of days

I finished up the Country Loop, refilled my handheld at the car, and started off for the City Loop. Soon after, Hayley called with the kids to say goodnight, making for an extended walk break. The boys were amped to be staying at a hotel for the first time. (I’m going up to Syracuse the next morning to join them for a family weekend.) After the call I was reenergized and ready to start being done.

I ran down the sidewalk on Main Street dodging festival going pedestrians, then down South Street dodging cars, ‘til finally I made it to the titular Rabbit Run Road. Near the end of the road I could hear the festival music getting louder and louder. In an ideal world it would be Mavis Staples belting the soulful and angsty “Eyes on the Prize”. Instead it was something I didn’t know. (I checked the schedule later on. It was probably something called The Flying Clouds. Apparently I was half an hour too early for Mavis.)

I ran the last two miles quickly, making sure to finish before dark. I cross the final bring just before turning into the upper parking lot. Only 100 yards to the QR code.

“Hey, excuse me! Did they close the trails for the season?”

Huh?

An out-of-town family is asking me about trail closures and driving directions, yelling out their car window. Give me a break, I just want to be done. Not to be rude, I slowed to a walk and explained where to park for the trails that aren’t closed.

Finally, I can jog to the sign and wrap it up by leaning across the chicken wire in the nearly dead sunlight. Getting a good angle to scan the code was awkward to say the least. Walk back to the car on Gorge Road and at last it’s time to order some Taste of Thai Express.

I unintentionally made it close to the 12-hour limit, but not a nail biter like for the Tough Trail Challenge. I was hoping to break 5 hours cumulative like I did for the Tough Trail, but 5:20 is good enough given the additional 6-ish miles and added logistical difficulties. Anyway, I’m glad to get it done. Now hit “reply” at 11:59 p.m. to get that community star!

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fyi, the Jacksonville Road parking lot is open again. The access from the parking lot to the trail is also available, though I’m not sure if they’ll be changing that, but they’ll have a short reroute when they do.

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Story

I can’t think of a better way to end my time in Ithaca than with a great group of people for a lovely run. Weather was amazing. Thanks to Amy and Scott for the post run hosting and to everyone who came to run with me.
And, we did see at least one rabbit. I’m sure more saw us.





Thank you FLRC

Gerald

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Story

I enjoyed joining @Gerald, Laura, Shannon, Amy, Scott and Jamie for Gerald’s last challenge course today! The company and conversation made this long road run much easier. Cool temps and nice garden viewing around Tberg helped too. Thanks to Adam and Tanya for the bagels after, and Amy and Scott for hosting. Happy trails, Gerald!

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