A quick recap this week, @Challengers, because I’m heads-down in final preparations for Trackapalooza tomorrow. (And yes, you can still register until 5 PM. The 5000m will count as a Lakefront Loops effort and the 1600m for the Sweet 1600. If you’re not running, I can use a few more volunteers.)
The big Challenge news this week comes from the five runners who qualified for their medals. First up is Nora McIver-Sheridan, who is now firmly in the lead for Most Points with 998.66 points, missing only a perfect 100 due to Caitlin Loehr (in second overall) having a faster Lakefront Loops time. Our next two finishers are the four-year-old twins Adrian Kresock and Joel Kresock, who finished their Personal Challenge of the Sweet 1600 and Duck Trails. Then comes Matt Clark, who was once again accompanied on all his Challenge runs by his dog Maggie, so we’ll have to see if we can get a medal for her collar too, even if only for a photo op. And last but certainly not least, Jesse Koennecke, who helped keep the @Fabulous-50s within striking distance of the @Fantastic-40s. Congratulations to them all!
Thanks to Scott Dawson for passing on the news that the Jacksonville Road parking lot for the Black Diamond Trail (and thus Run Rabbit Run) is closed for a week and will be limited after that. Scott has photos and a video showing what’s going on, and he explains how to route around the construction, so be sure to read his post before heading out to Run Rabbit Run.
Our group mileage ticked back up over 600 this week, with Banyan Love’s effort on Treman Trailpop today pushing that course’s overall miles over 1000, joining the popular FH Fox and Hammond Hill Hoctathon courses.
Photos of the week go to Pete Kresock for documenting Adrian and Joel’s Sweet 1600 success. It won’t be too many years before they’re doing Ultrahoctathons too!
To Gerald McKinley for a nice shot of the dam at the top of Treman Trailipop.
And to Marie Donnelly, for making us jealous of the scenery at Cape Ann en route to a Sweet 1600 on the local track. But if you watch the video on her post, you can see that the track itself is just asphalt, without even any lines.
Along with Trackapalooza this weekend, we’re also having a course preview group run on Sunday for the Forest Frolic course. That’s also a scouting expedition of sorts to see if downed trees will be a problem for the race. And if you can’t get enough of the Kennedy State Forest trails, the Monster Marathon and Half Marathon race directors are having a Monday evening group run out there too.
So many choices for ways to cover the ground!