@Challengers, we’ve had a couple of solid weeks since the last Update with mileage in the upper 600s, so we have now exceeded 6,500 miles. Some of that is due to recent signups from Dan Keenan, C. Lucas, Laura Helmerick, Michael Allinger, and Meghan Keenan—we’re now at 149 participants. Recruit shamelessly!
The top of the leaderboard has also seen some changes, with last year’s champion, Sarah Woodyear, taking over the top spot in Most Points for women, and John Hummel displacing Geoff Van Fleet in second place for Most Points for men. John is also in first for Age Grade, Sean Okihiro has moved into second in Most Courses with 25, still well behind Pete Kresock’s 33, and I’m now first in Community Stars thanks to doing most of my runs with people. But most compelling is how the @Fabulous-50s have taken a commanding lead in Team Points. Could this be the year?
Some notes:
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Congrats to John Hummel for completing the 10 Classic Challenge courses to claim his medal! He’s the second finisher after Matt Clark—I’m looking forward to seeing the Completions page start filling up.
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Thanks to leaderboard wizard Steve Desmond, you can now see how your friends are doing with their Challenges. Navigate to any Athlete page, and their progress will appear at the top.
But it gets better! On the Completions page, there’s now an In Progress view that shows how everyone is faring. Looks like that Steve guy is pretty close.
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Remember, you can change the set of courses you need to complete to claim your medal at any time. So if you just took the default 10 Classic Challenge courses when you signed up, but are thinking you’d like to extend it, go to your Challenge Dashboard (click More Info on the banner on the homepage), and click Select a Different Challenge at the bottom. I’m hoping to do all the courses 10K or less.
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Run Tortoise & Hare on Sunday: There’s no group run this weekend because Sunday is the Tortoise & Hare race. Join us, and you can log a Tortoise & Hare course completion. The Challenge course is a subset of the race course (it starts and ends at the far end of the parking lot), so you’ll see Challenge lawn signs there to remind you to note your times. And you can adopt a sign after the race.
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Photos of the Week: Melissa Plank always looks so composed in her stats-laden Garmin Connect photos, like this one from the Jim Schug Trail, and I regret not capturing a shot of Mik Kern running his toddler Miles into the Jim Schug finish after his jogging stroller lost a rear wheel in the final 50 feet. I’m loving the Stroller Challenge that Mik and Patrick Milano have going. Also, props to Adrian Kresock and Joel Kresock for finding frogs!
Until next week, keep covering the ground!