we then stopped by the Ithaca Bakery for take-out sandwiches, then on over to Stewart Park to sit in the shade and stare out at the lake as we ate our picnic. Gusty wind, rough water. Several Osprey flying over the lake, riding the wind so effortlessly and calling out to each other
Today was all about travel, starting with loading myself, Adam, and Adam’s parents into a car with luggage. We drove north toward the Ottawa airport, and stopped for an early dinner at a random Yelp pick near the airport, the Mad Radish. After dinner, we had a little extra time so I Google-mapped for a track and found one just a block away! Amaze-boats!
We persuaded Adam’s parents to walk a mile with us. The track was fine gravel around the Bob Stephen football field.
We saw a child walking a dog around the track. The child’s grownup said that the kid has a disability - I think he said cerebral palsy - and was training to run/walk a 5K.
This track gets a big thumbs up as a nice stop to or from the Ottawa airport and I hope to come back and run on it another time.
I think Adam will post more photos, showing the area.
Yet another serendipitous track, since we had some time to kill and wanted to stretch our legs after dinner and before heading to the Ottawa airport (which is surprisingly relaxing and no further away than the NYC-area airports). It wasn’t the best track, being gravel, but for a four-lap walk, it was fine.
I only needed the Sweet 1600 Course to knock off the challenge for a second time (an accomplishment I owe to @amy-dawson because she asked me to tackle Lick Brook/Treman FLT with her). After feeding the dog, cats, rabbits, and heifers, I headed over to my ‘hometown’ track in Tburg for a post-sunset mile. There were a few other people on the track. I jogged a lap warm up, ran my mile, and jogged 3 more laps to complete a second mile.
I have really enjoyed the Challenge this year, the courses, and all the write ups!
For today’s run, I meandered down a steep hill from our AirBNB toward a track that Adam and I had run on last time we were in Vancouver, the Confederation Park track. I wasn’t sure how far away it would be, since I was running on a mix of roads and trails and making some guesses about how my route would connect. It turned out that the track was only a half mile away!
I ran a mile on the track, enjoying the early morning mist and Pacific Northwest smells and mountain views. There weren’t any other runners on the track, but there were several groups of older folks who looked like friends meeting for a walk.
It seemed like a very safe location, but a sign indicated that there is a problem with loose bocce balls!
After my track mile, I enjoyed a trail run along the scenic Burrard inlet. It was hilly, which was excellent training for my upcoming Lick Brook/Treman effort. I cut the run short at just 5 miles so I would have some “go” left for tourist/family activities for the rest of the day. The last few blocks featured the clouds clearing over the city to the west and some fun architecture quotes on a construction site.
did an easy mile on the Cornell track after our Beebe run. nice cooling breeze here but still hot
stopped by Purity for a pint of coffee ice cream. hit the spot
Met up with my two faithful running buddies in Homer at the High school track for my 1600 which was also my final challenge run. We have been running early mornings for a few years and lovingly call ourselves “The Frosty Moms”
I haven’t pushed myself to run fast in a while so I had no expectations and was surprised at how my body responded, faster than I thought I could!
I then checked over all my results as this was my last run and realized I hadn’t hit the “submit” button on several runs. Now I’m official 
Heading home for a quick shower then coffee and a treat, not sure where just yet! Î
Not to be the curmudgeon, but should we all remember to respect trespassing rules on tracks that are not open to the public @adamengst? I’d hate to see anyone get fined or ticketed just to run a mile!
Officially speaking, we strongly discourage the use of tracks that aren’t open to the public.
Unofficially speaking, it’s well known that tracks get sad and depressed when they’re locked up so people can’t run on them, and an occasional fence hop and quick 1600m makes the track feel appreciated again.
Nice cool down miles on the Cornell track, powered by “Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me.” If I ever got on I hope to ask the presenter about how his running is going.
Nice cool down mile powered by a soccer podcast and ginger candy. Tip for US soccer fans: if you join the American Outlaws fan group you get first dibs on US Soccer team tickets.
The Ithaca College track was a great place to run a couple of Sweet 1600s this evening! So soft and springy after yesterday’s Brookton Hill & Dale’s pavement. And the weather was awesome–about 70 and clear. Not having done any particular speed work recently, it was fun to just hold a reasonable pace and not push it too hard. Hoping to do Lick Brook/Treman in a couple of days, so need as much recovery time as possible. Spent the afternoon in my classroom at EAC Montessori and rode my bike the short distance to the track. Made it a little longer on the way back with some light, high-cadence spinning to keep the blood flowing through my quads. IC was pretty empty and it was super fun to rip around the perimeter road.
Westhaven Farm CSA pick up day, so shop local meant more fresh produce–tomatoes, greens, summer squash, garlic, zucchini, and another round of fresh gazpacho like last Tuesday. Leftover sweet corn from Bigsby’s that I bought Saturday after doing the Jim Schug course rounded out the plate. What abundance we have this time of year!
I haven’t done any speed work in a while, so headed to Cornell track after dropping my kids at camp next door and ran a couple 1600s (warm up and fast-er). Definitely need to get back on it! There were two women from the lacrosse team running 400s, but we didn’t get in each other’s way. It was in the upper 60s (hallelujah!) and such a relief after the heat advisories of the past two weeks! And loved wearing my challenge shirt!
Made myself a knockoff CTB sandwich afterwards with TJ’s gluten free bagel, guac, salsa Fresca, melted cheese and scrambled eggs. Yum!
After a rest day, I woke up this morning and decided to tackle my last FLRC Challenge course: the Sweet 1600.
After dropping the girls off at camp, I drove a short distance to the Binghamton University track. I’m still feeling sluggish from this past week’s training (115 miles over 8 days), so I wasn’t exactly sure how this was going to turn out. I walked around the track once to warm up, transitioning to a jog near the end, and when I crossed the start line, started my watch, and took off!
At first it all felt a little awkward, but about 25 meters in, my body relaxed and I found a rhythm. I glanced at my watch only a couple of times but fell into a zone and just focused on feel and maintaining that speed and accompanying level of intensity.
My watch read 1 mile after 7:54.8. I was elated. I’m back in the "7"s!
For months I have considered revisiting some of my old high school PRs because for awhile now I seem to have been within reach of several of them. Maybe it’s time for new PRs in the 1-mile, 2-mile, and 5K, only 30 years later! 
This Sweet 1600 was especially sweet for me, as it makes me want to explore these goals even more.
I completed this run with no vest, no water, no phone, nothing…and it felt good to run a few ounces lighter just this once. But that meant no photos! So here are a couple from the beginning of summer when my 10-year-old daughter Erin had asked me to start taking her running. We are now on the trails but started our training on the (flat) track. Unlike the photos, it was cloudy today, providing welcomed relief from the sun’s rays, along with the drastically cooler temperatures. But like the photos, I ran the mile in my Hoka Speedgoats! 
After running the mile, I parked at the trail head on campus and went for a run on some of my favorite trails.
After the trail miles, I headed to the Vestal Farmer’s Market, which has hours on Wednesdays and Saturdays, and is set up at the Vestal Library. I was after more sweet corn, peaches, and watermelon (thinking of the Eddydale Farm Stand) but found some other delicious items. I bought way too many cucumbers from a kind Amish lady and her daughters who drove in from Newark Valley. No problem, we’ll make pickles. And I brought home sunflowers to brighten the kitchen table.
I entered the final week of the challenge without a fast 1600, so I drove to Endicott to race the mile (my favorite distance) at a Triple Cities Runners Club meet. I arrived early to warm up: 8 laps clockwise in lane 4 (my 98th and 99th Sweet 1600s). I’ve always thought of mile races as 4-act stories where each act/lap has its own distinct place in the narrative, so I put my race report in that format.
Act 1/lap 1: The cast is introduced and the stakes are set. I quickly learned that I was racing only one other person. One of us would finish 2nd, the other 3rd. Everyone else was too far ahead or too far behind to matter. I sat on my opponent for the first 300 meters and then passed on the home straight when I felt the pace begin to lag.
Act 2/lap 2: Character growth. As a result of all the choices I had made in my life thus far, I found myself in the middle a mile race. I accepted these difficult circumstances and resolved to see it through to the end.
Act 3/lap 3: Penultimate acts are a great place for a crisis, and the mile always delivers. To put it mathematically, (distance remaining)x(discomfort) is maximized. Everything hurts, but there is still a long way to go. At this point in the race I was still in 2nd place, but there were footsteps behind me and they weren’t getting any farther away.
Act 4/lap 4: The climax. Everything that had happened so far was a buildup to this. With 300 meters to go, the runner behind me passed me. I tried to match the move but couldn’t stay close. I sprinted as hard as I could down the home straight and finished 3rd.
That concludes my 100th Sweet 1600 of the challenge (Strava).
I stopped at Old Mexico for tacos on my way home.
This morning I headed to the track at Cornell to log a couple of Sweet 1600s. The main gate was locked, but the side gate was wide open. I warmed up a lap, ran a faster 4 laps, slowed down for 3 more laps. Because a portion of the Beebe Lake Course was likely closed, I tacked on a few extra miles on the East Ithaca Rec Way. I was surprised how much the fast mile contributed to a decent minute mile pace for my entire run.
I had to get my allergy shots this morning which put me close to Gimme Coffee. I decided to stop in to see if they had more coconut lime bread. It was my lucky day, so I purchased one for my friend and chocolate milk for myself.
I also treated myself to a hand tied cut bouquet from Sow Pretty Flower Co. outside of Trumansburg, NY.
Aren’t they SO PRETTY!!!
Great write-up and congrats on 100 miles!
First, I’m slow on the uptake this morning. It took me way too long to figure out that the reason I couldn’t delete the text under the header is that I was trying to delete from the original post. 
I’m not going to Ithaca today, so I decided to hit the track in Tburg for a couple of miles. This time I warmed up two laps, tried to run a fast mile (I covered the ground) then slowed it down for two laps to complete 2 x 1600s. To add a few more miles to my run, I ran a slightly modified course of the May Day 5K. I have such fond memories of running this race, and I’m sad it hasn’t happened in a few years.
Check out this photo from 8+ years ago of my son and husband completing the ‘fun run’ event at the May Day 5K.
I’m afraid the calories I have consumed supporting local businesses have not been offset by my running. 
But I ordered a bacon, tomato, and egg (BTE) sandwich from the Creekside Cafe. OMG, it was SO good. As my kids would say, ‘10 of 10, highly recommend!’
