The end is near, @Challengers, so if you still have some courses left to run, figure out when you will do that before 11:59 PM on Monday, September 2, when Webscorer will stop accepting times.
We had another high mileage week that brings us to within striking distance of 12,000 miles for the year—I’m sure we’ll take that down at Saturday morning’s Freeville Fly-In group run. 13,000 miles is still in striking distance!
We’re now up to 62 completions, thanks to a slew of people logging their final courses, including Courtney Pure, Matthew Coston, Damian Clemons, Hannah Grazul, Ana Riley, Hope Towle, Tanya Burnett, Banyan Love, Mikhail Kern, Kim Jackson, Michael Allinger, Brittany Cronk, Simon Woods, and Michelle Woods. While everyone in that list deserves acclaim, it’s worth noting that Simon Woods is only 8 years old and completed his third Personal Challenge in three years, Mike Allinger is currently our oldest finisher at 67, and Mik Kern and Michelle Woods have both moved into third place in their respective Most Points competition. The main dark horse remaining in Most Points is Cecelia Madsen, who could move up significantly when she runs her Sweet 1600 and even more so if she re-runs Duck Trails and Lindsay-Parsons for time. Remember, the Challenge has cash prizes that go deep—58 people are currently set to win something, but the specifics will keep changing until the last run.
Photos of the week go to the Woods family (Simon, Michelle, and Ian) for documenting why I have the Treman Trailipop RunGo directions alert you to look for trains before crossing the railroad bridge and showing Simon completing his final course.
To Dennis Stadelman, whose nature shots have been great all year, for capturing one of our friendly red newts at Hammond Hill. Watch your feet on the trails!
And to Laura Taylor for this heavily logoed Run Rabbit Run selfie that managed to avoid all the construction fencing.
I’ve already mentioned tomorrow’s Freeville Fly-In group run, and if you’re already done with the Challenge and feeling footloose and fancy-free, consider signing up for the Two Hollows Monster Marathon and Half Marathon on September 1, or, if that’s longer than you’d like, log a final fast Lakefront Loops 5K time by running the Lansing Lighthouse 5K on August 31 or the September 2 Groton Labor Day 5K, organized by friend-of-FLRC Scott Weeks. Both are fundraisers for local scholastic cross-country teams.
Just 10 more days to finish covering the ground!