I really appreciated a home basketball tournament after making trips to Lancaster (track close to that venue was closed) and Ocean City (couldn’t find a track on the barrier island!).
Saturday I set up my “school” office between games.
But today I packed running gear because if time allowed, I was planning to use my knowledge from the Turkey Trot course (in reverse) to head to Stewart Park for the 5K course.
Before the game, I decided to check if the track was open, and to my surprise, it was. I was able to walk a 1600 before tip off.
Unfortunately, my son’s team lost their game, so our day was done early and no 5K course for me today.
Out in Seattle visiting my daughter’s family. Ran down to Green Lake and did two separate 1600’s on the cinder track. Beautiful cool and sunny morning.
Home Run
I suppose if I have a home track it would be the one less than two miles from my house. So, I did a home run late this afternoon at Cicero-North Syracuse HS. My first time on their track.That should be a new location for Pete’s map. (@Petorius) As for maps, many thanks to Jon (@jonlewis) for the map of all the courses - that has been very helpful as I plan out some long runs for later in the year.that link multiple courses.
I was hoping for some heat but by the time I could get to the track, clouds and a breeze had rolled in. I managed to improve my best Sweet 1600 time for the year to 9:27 on the third one. But Patrick’s @patrickmilano PR would still have lapped me twice before I finished!
Visiting Courtney’s parents in Myrtle Beach, we headed up the road to Coastal Carolina University to get our obligatory challenge track points in while traveling.
My 6:10 felt really good, especially after an oppressively-buggy warmup at the local national wildlife refuge. Negative split the whole mile, too: 97, 95, 93, 87!
I ran the 1500m today at the Empire Senior Games (with some warm up and cool down 1600s). The meet was held on the SUNY Cortland campus and this year is a qualifying year for the Senior National Games. I encourage those of you who want to support track and field for seniors (over age 50) to consider participating next year! @Laura_Helmerick and @ks_eggs also competed . Laura ran the 800m, 1500m, 400m, and a relay; Keith ran the 800m and 1500m. The official results haven’t been posted yet but I am pretty confident all 3 of us qualified to Nationals!
Super late on this one since we were so busy over the weekend, but Tonya and I had 30 minutes before we were expected at our friend’s house in Wayland last Friday, so we found the nearby Wayland High School track and walked a Sweet 1600 to stretch out our legs from the long drive. As one does. Nice track, wide open to the public!
I’m in Oregon for the celebration of life of a dear childhood (I think teenager is still considered childhood) friend, and I spent a couple of days on the coast at some of her favorite spots.
Today I ran a Sweet 1600 shakeout after a long hike yesterday. I found a track at the high school in Waldport.
I heard territorial-sounding dogs barking not too far away and the repeated beeping of a school bus backing up (I think someone was learning how to drive a bus).
I saw these really cool flowers around the track and school grounds:
If anyone was watching me trying to take a selfie, they probably thought I was some crazy influencer or something because it took me so long to get a “decent” selfie.
I tried to run on another track a little further south in Florence, but ….
Thanks for the good chuckle, Sarah! Had a good laugh at WWDD. My Western States run ended at 30 miles as I missed the cutoff by 6 minutes. The high altitude had me gasping for air and trailing to the back. Sitting here watching the record breaking finishes and in good spirits, wishing there was an ice cream truck here!
Sweet 1600 completed 3082 miles from home at the West Valley High School track in Fairbanks, AK. If not the farthest from Ithaca this year, perhaps the farthest away while still in the US.
I walked this with Adam after a drive to the Boston area – we had arrived a little earlier than our friend would get off work, and a quick search for nearby tracks in Google Maps revealed one less than a mile from his house at Wayland High School! The track itself felt like a relaxed, friendly space, with gates wide open and a handful of other people working out on the infield or walking the track. What I really liked about it … was the parking! We could park our car in the shade, thanks to roofing made of solar panels! It appeared that they were cleverly slanted to run snowmelt and rain down between the parking rows.
bittersweet 1600
I had hoped to still be too sore and exhausted to do a Sweet 1600 today. But, the high altitude of the early course bit me and my Western States ended at mile 30 by 6 minutes. High country was spectacular and wildflowers were in peak bloom!
Anyway, since I was in the vicinity, I took a scenic drive along Lake Tahoe today and crossed the state line into Nevada to run a Sweet 1600 at Incline Village HS to add a new state to Pete’s @Petorius map.
Due to construction work at the school, I parked on the side of the road, hiked through some woods, crossed tennis courts and a practice field, before taking a path to the entry gate…only to find it locked. Found a shady bench on the field above track to rest and enjoy the sunny, peaceful morning for a while. Before leaving, I checked again and found the gate had been unlocked!
So, the HS sits at only 6600’ elevation and I huffed and puffed my way around 4 laps.
Sorry to hear things didn’t go your way at States and I hope you’re already recovering from it. On a positive note, this might be the highest elevation Sweet 1600 documented so far.
