We’re starting to come down to the wire, @Challengers, and the Most Points for women competition has gotten tighter, with Nora McIver-Sheridan less than four points behind Liz Hartman, who’s planning a fast Black Diamond Park to Park effort on Sunday. Also, Caitlin Loehr isn’t letting Pete Kresock run away with Most Miles—they’re just 2 miles apart now.
The heat cut into our collective miles again this week, but we broke the 10,000-mile mark! Congrats to everyone—that’s a lot of ground covered. Five courses have now exceeded 1,000 miles: Black Diamond Park to Park, Cornell Scenic Circuit, Dryden Lake Lollipop (which is open for running again after suffering significant storm damage this week—thanks to Ruth Sproul for the photo), Ludlowville Loop, and Lakefront Loops 5K.
A bunch of those miles came from those who claimed their medals this week. Congrats to Erin Pietras for her eight-course Personal Challenge completion, Ana Riley, Mary Howard, Steve Ryan (our oldest finisher at 72), Jessica Smith, and Stephanie Mulinos. That brings us to 38 finishers, with 136 people having run at least one course. You have until midnight on August 13, so plan your runs carefully in the next few weeks!
You can pick up your medal at the FLRC Challenge award ceremony, which will take place at the club’s annual picnic at Treman State Park on August 24, complete with a free catered dinner and a swap table. I’ll post more about the picnic soon, but pencil it onto your calendar and please RSVP by August 10 so we can order enough food. I hope to see lots of you there so I can make a fuss about everyone who finished, with a focus on those who ran the Ultra Challenge or ran the most number of times on a course to claim the course sign.
We have more FLRC Challenge shirts available now, so if you’d like one, you can order online and pick it up from me at an FLRC race, workout, or group run, or at the picnic. This second shipment is true to size in the men’s/straight style, so that’s available now if the slim fit of the first shipment is too small. The shirts are light and comfortable—perfect for summer running.
It’s all about the Sweet 1600 for photos this week, with the Tristan, Oliver, and Ben Lambert running on a track in Bergen, Norway, Iris Packman finding a track in Falmouth, and Sarah Giesy discovering that the Ithaca College track is now a moonscape.
Finally, you can still register for tomorrow morning’s Tortoise & Hare trail race tonight. I’ll be there timing, and it should be fun even if it rains a bit.