Is there a Google map with pins somewhere that I can’t find? Asking because I ran Sweet 1600s on four different tracks in New England this year and may have a few more good ones coming next week.
No, I never got around to building such a thing. It’s conceptually fairly simple, but I was hoping to figure out a way to automate it so I didn’t have to enter everything manually. Perhaps I can get an AI chatbot to write the code for me. 
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My daughter has been doing strength and conditioning workouts in preparation for preseason volleyball which starts Monday. This week she has been quite the recruiter as she dragged her brother out for his first mile on the track in who knows how long (could be first ever), met up with a friend yesterday, and willingly got up early this morning to join me at the track.
Photo credit goes to the kid because I suck at selfies!!
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Yesterday morning and again today I ran some Sweet 1600s around the cruise ship deck track while on vacation with my family. Theee laps per mile, with varying splits due to pedestrian congestion, tight turns, and stopping for pictures. This morning I ran 10 miles solo at 5 a.m. Alaska time due to my body and brain still on EST.
After breakfast, I run-walked a mile with both kids for the third and final course in their Personal Challnges. They told me they wanted to say their Sweet 16 for vacation. They are happy to be done and look forward to getting medals!
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Same track as yesterday but with new scenery. I haven’t checked the distance yet, but this is definitely my PR for my farthest-from-Ithaca Sweet 1600. The mile was a cooldown after a short trail and road run in Skagway, AK. With only 850 year-round residents, the town is too small for its own high school track.
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Apparently my daughter and I convinced one another we should run a shake out mile or two. She’s sore from preseason practice, and I’m sore from my fall yesterday.
Laps complete followed by a sweet treat!
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It should be the easiest course to complete, being short in length and flexible in location, but it’s taken me all summer to get to it! Fortunately my family was open to a mile long walk through a tree farm, so thank you @harry_greene for making the Sweetgrass 1600 available for the challenge! The kids appreciated all the butterflies and my husband came away with some inspiration for his own willow hedge.
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After my long and not very fun Black Diamond effort, I needed some encouragement for the mile. So since my partner Julia finished work at the same time I finished Black Diamond, I picked her up from downtown and drove to the Cornell track. We walked a mile finishing just before the track club (same people as are always at Barton) came on for their practice.
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I’m on vacation in Cape Cod and saved the best (
) for last. Haven’t trained in speedwork for over a year and my left foot is pretty injured, so I knew this would be a doozy!
Found the nearest public school track and had only a few obstacles to navigate around (not to mention waiting for two gym classes to run a few laps before I started).
This may be the only track in the country with an active osprey nest overhead!
The two babies serenaded (heckled?!) my limping efforts around the track.
I finished under glorious blue skies with one final day left of vacation. I didn’t feel great about the run, but it turns out you really need to be able to push off BOTH feet when running hard. 
I’ll attempt again and definitely work speed training back into my routine. It just means leaving my dog behind and facing her devastated looks as I lace up my shoes without taking the leash!
Overall, I’m really happy to have finished this year’s challenge, and find it ironic that with all the intense hills and epic hours of trail miles, it was the lowly 1600 that did me in!
Off to enjoy the sparkling waters of the Cape!
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Convinced Matt to do the shortest at our local high school on his birthday with the promise of ice cream 
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This morning ran 3 miles on the Trumansburg track while the high school football team warmed up on the inner field for a football scrimmage
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Finally…
was able to run on the Cornell track and, man, was it ever crowded…
@gillian-haines-sharp and @krishainessharp
Lovely to finally meet them!
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I had to run my mile in the fitness center of the Pacific Palms resort in LA while at a wedding on the last day of the challenge. It was 100 degrees Fahrenheit outside so that was not an option. Also I might have been run over by a golf cart.
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What better way to warm up for a 5K race than on a track, I thought, as I ran yet another Challenge mile while enjoying the country-rock playing at the 5K finish line zone on the Groton track this morning under blue skies and puffy clouds.
After the race, which goes through downtown Groton and finishes at the track, I was back on the track again for another Challenge mile, but I had to stop after three laps for the awards ceremony. I confirmed the rules with @adamengst, so I knew that I had to keep my watch going because I was leaving the Challenge course and basically resting. After the ceremony, I ran the last lap, for a total time of about 44 minutes!
As the Challenge draws to a close, I’m enjoying the last-minute changes on the leaderboard, and I am feeling SO appreciative of the Challenge, because each year everyone’s efforts push and pull me into becoming a better runner than I thought possible, and I mean that in ways that are measurable and ways that are not measurable. Also thanks to this year’s Challenge, I am ready for cross-country this fall! If you’d like to join the FLRC/High Noon team, please check us out and get in touch with me or Adam if you have questions – we are co-captains.
I already shared my one photo of the day in my Lakefront Loops post, so here is a photo of my fridge, with my Groton Labor Day 5K number and finisher’s ribbon posted!
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I was only volunteering at the Labor Day 5K to help out with announcing before a 24-mile ride home, but with a nice track sitting there empty after the race on the final day of the Challenge, I couldn’t resist power-walking a Sweet 1600 to get a semi-real time compared to the previous walk effort while mapping the Sweetgum 1600. The form still feels funny and restrictive, but my knee didn’t hurt, and I was able to hit even splits of 100, 102, 102, and 100 seconds for a 6:44.
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Well, saved the shortest for last on the very last day, just like last year! Still a bit tight from the North Country Half on Saturday, but I pushed about as hard as I could. Next year, do some speed work throughout the challenge! I ended up at Newfield after finding IHS track totally locked down and not trusting that IC would be any different, as was the case for me last year. Google Maps showed Newfield as the next closest real track. Although there is construction going on all over their campus, I didn’t cross any barriers and found the track unlocked. Not a soul in sight, so I went for it, without much of any warm up or cool down, for fear I’d get chased off! Great bunch of Challenge courses once again this year!
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Good decision—Ithaca College and Lansing are putting in new tracks and aren’t finished yet. Trumansburg and Dryden and Groton also seem readily accessible.
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I visited 8 different tracks across NY and PA for my first 112 Sweet 1600s, but until today I hadn’t been to Harry’s farm. I didn’t want to finish the Challenge without going there at least once so I made the trip with my family in tow for number 113. My wife Lauren carried 2-year-old Theo on her back most of the way but he got antsy and wanted to walk the last quarter mile. Harry was there and was nice enough to share some seaberries with us. Delicious.
This will be the last year that I try to win the Sweet 1600 sign (and likely the last time I try to win any other sign). I love doing track workouts but next year I would like to be able to run my warm ups and cool down off the track and not have to spend an extra 5 minutes on Webscorer entering times.
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This song largely wrote itself yesterday while I plodded through the North Country Half. I hiked a Sweetgum just before sunset today to end my 2025 Challenge. The lyrics don’t necessarily reflect my feelings about the course or the 1600.
“Harry’s Farm”
Words by P. Kresock, music by Bob Dylan
I ain’t gonna run on Harry’s farm no more
No I ain’t gonna run on Harry’s farm no more
I go up West Hill in the morning and try to run it fast
But polyurethane and rubber are easier than grass
It does nuthin’ to improve my age grade score
No I ain’t gonna run on Harry’s farm no more
I ain’t gonna run by Harry’s sweetgum no more
No I ain’t gonna run by Harry’s sweetgum no more
It’s a sweltering inferno, the sun a-blazin’ down,
You search for spots of shade, there ain’t none around
Pace feels sub six, watch reads seven twenty-four
No I ain’t gonna run by Harry’s sweetgum no more
[harmonica break followed by guitar solo]
I ain’t gonna log a sixteen hundred no more
No I ain’t gonna log a sixteen hundred no more
Track or trail or ship deck, it’s just repeating circles
Brain is numb and thoughts are null, I’m seein’ blue and purple
They say “sing while you slog” and I just get bored
I ain’t gonna log a sixteen hundred no more
I ain’t gonna run on Harry’s farm no more
No I ain’t gonna run on Harry’s farm no more
Well I tried my best just to get my mileage fix
But the Challenge, it’s all over ‘till April ‘26
Sweetgum circuits now won’t change the Leaderboard
No I ain’t gonna run on Harry’s farm no more
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