Conditions on the Trailipop are pretty good right now!
The Lick Brook climb has dried out, the grassy paths aren’t too overgrown, and all the downed trees on the Treman Lake trail have been cleared away.
Though there was this:
Are there extra points for snake wrangling?
Three back to back to back runs on this course for Rebecca! For the record, that’s a triple Treman Trailipop.
Family fun run on Treman Trailipop! Maddie Dorward and her fiancé Christian Lincoln and I ran the muddy mucky truly terrific Treman Trailipop! One of the most fun runs of the challenge!
My choice to save this one for last was based almost entirely on my desire to get back in the water after finishing. I arrived 5 minutes before my cut-off, and took 7 minutes to get ready, putting my parenting responsibilities at risk if I didn’t make it home efficiently.
I was so close to throwing in the towel at this point, feeling like I had pretty much nothing left in the tank, but still had almost 8 miles and f’ing Lick Brook to climb. I knew I just needed to maintain 15:00 pace, and gave myself the out of calling it quits if I wasn’t holding pace by the time I made it to where the FLT joins up with the new stair path before continuing up.
Well, I somehow held on all the way up, and once I hit the 2 mile mark, passed the point of no return and knew I’d be pushing through to finish. It was then that I drank everything in my hydration belt, the first time I’d ever worn it running. You know it’s going to be rough if I’m purposely choosing to carry extra weight!
By the time I made it up to Yaple, my legs were completely shot. I was expecting ahead of time for that road stretch to feel like hell on Earth, and my quads seizing up half-way through meant I needed to walk most of the rest of it, even though it was slightly downhill, but once I got onto the Buttermilk trails, things started to ease up.
Similar to the brain scramblies, I know the hallucinations start for me around mile 25, so I freaked out a bit near the dam upon seeing the flash of an animal that I’m sure wasn’t actually there. I made it back to Yaple, cursed for the 100th time today, and struggled back to the orange blazes. I knew South Hill Cider was a turning point, in that it was all downhill from there.
Today had a lot of sections with good flow, and a lot that hurt, but I feel like once I hit the bottom of Lick Brook, I realized how close I was and couldn’t wait for the creek crossing, which helped carry me through the last mile. The water was only 18-24" deep, but for an instant I felt refreshed enough to kick the last bit.
I returned to the creek upon finishing, drank a bottle of Gatorade and watched the wildlife before staggering back to my car. Not chocolate bar this time, as it obviously would have melted, but I’m about to go get one right now!
I’m definitely proud to have completed this, partly because I didn’t think I was in ultra shape but this makes me think I’m not that far off, and especially around the perseverance required to push through and actually finish. I think if I had some more time, I could have slowed down at the “aid stations” which may have helped make the actual running part easier. I’m not sure given the location of the courses that there would be a better order to run them in on a hot day – I’d either need to wait for better weather, or pull an all-nighter to do it in the early morning.
But all in all, a fun day on the trails – thanks to everyone who helps put the Challenge together!
Part 4 - Lindsay-Parsons
5 - Treman Trailipop.gpx (233.3 KB)
Nice job, @steve-desmond!
lol upon re-reading my posts from last night, mostly about how negative I was feeling in the moment, but then closing with “all in all, a fun day on the trails” and if that doesn’t just sum up what it means to be who we are…
Did lots of “power hiking” in the first mile or so all the while hearing @adamengst in my head saying “if it was easy it wouldn’t be a challenge”!
Just before getting to the top of the Lick Brook section I spied a runner coming towards me with great ease as he got closer it was @Banyan_Tree we had a quick exchange and we were off I was huffing and puffing up and he was just gliding down I was hoping I’d feel that on my return trip too! The rest of the run was fairly uneventful but beautiful I stopped many times to take photos and just observe how pretty it is here. Then on the last section down I came up on Marie and Barbara who are also doing the challenge we were on a steep downhill section so we chatted a bit and then parted ways. It was nice to reconnect with them and celebrate the joy of finishing this course in the parking lot!
Afterwards I stopped in to the Finger lakes running Co to restock on some gels and was surprised to see Banyan was there to assist! Great day on the trail.
What a wonderful day! Loved the course!!! So tough but it was a fairyland out there! Barb C identified so many plants for me! Banyon left scuff marks to make sure we went the right way ! We saw a train ! Met Jessica ! Just thrilled !
This morning I completed the Treman Trailipop with my dear friend Marie and the adventure did not disappoint! Wow, wow, and wow - what an absolutely stunning trek and so much fun! Many thanks to Banyan (apologies if I’ve misspelled your name) for getting us started and keeping us pointed in the right direction, and for fitting us in our new trail runners which we love! I’ll definitely revisit this terrific trail.
This was course #3 for the day on my way to completing the Tough Trail Challenge. Not gonna lie, this was tough. @gplwoo enjoyed it more than me and was happy to be on her old stomping grounds.
We did get a brief break while waiting for the train! And spotted the @caitlin-loehr and @Jamie on the trail.
Okay, this is an absolutely beautiful run especially in the Lickbrook section, however while running it was hard for me to get much of a view because my eyes were mostly glued on the ground. This is definitely a challenging trail run for me as I am too afraid of falling or tripping over roots and twisting an ankle. Nonetheless, I loved running through the woods.
We were in awe of @julie19 and @gplwoo who we passed going up while we were on our way down as they were halfway through the Tough Trail Challenge. Congrats to both of them! Sadly, I didn’t think to snap a picture until we were well passed
I’ll toss in a couple extra pics here from my recent bike trip in France -biked with a friend from Nantes to Bordeaux, mostly along the coast.
Great pix!!!
This was part of my trail challenge day, so here are the links to all of my posts from the day: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
I was glad I brought poles for this, since I hiked the entire way up to the road, running very little. As I traversed over to Buttermilk, it started to POUR. So, thoroughly drenched in minutes. My shirt was already sopping wet from sweat, but the soaked shorts and the shoes made it feel like a Cayuga Trails 50 effort complete with stream crossings. I ran a bunch of the Buttermilk segment and managed a good pace all the way back to the car.
Great job @scottpdawson !
Matt and I were the ones in your way on your return 
I was too busy staring at my feet on the climb and didn’t notice you coming down 
Today we enjoyed a nice muggy hike, knocking another course off Matt’s list 
Great job to you as well! Not a problem at all, you weren’t in my way! Love these trails and this challenge, and it’s so nice to put names with faces. Have a great night!
I started in the dark and finished in the light on course number 2 of the Tough Trail Challenge. It was already 70° and humid at 5:00 a.m. making it a sweaty, soggy, good time. I considered hopping in the creek at the end in let of a morning shower to cool down and rinse off but was short on time. One more course before stopping home.
