2022 FLRC 100k Ultra Challenge

The FLRC Challenge was such a success in 2021 that the Finger Lakes Runners Club decided to bring it back in '22 with a brand new set of courses. Naturally, that meant the return of the FLRC 100K Ultra Challenge. And of course it meant I'd have to get down to business and tick this one off sometime over the summer. 

So what's the FLRC Challenge? In brief, it's a 4-month-long virtual race series comprising ten specific courses around Tompkins County. The courses range from 1 mile to 13.1 miles on various surfaces, including roads, track, rail trails, singletrack trails, and cross country trails. The main goal is to run each of the courses at least once during the 4 months the Challenge is open to be counted as a finisher. Various competitive elements, such as overall and age-graded scoring systems, are outlined on the Challenge Web page. The event includes a dynamic leaderboard that is updated in real time whenever someone logs an effort on any of the courses using a specified smartphone app.

The FLRC 100K Ultra Challenge involves running all ten courses, a total of 63.8 miles, within 24 hours. What makes it stand out from a normal 100k race is that the the 24-hour cutoff includes the time it takes to get from one course to the next. You can run the ten in whatever order you choose, allowing for maximum efficiency. At the start and finish of each course, there's a metal sign

with a QR code on it. To log each run, you have to open the Webscorer app on your phone, cue up the correct course, and scan the QR code to start the app's timer. Run the course, then scan the code again at the finish to record your time. The leaderboard will immediately update accordingly, logging your time for the course. The one exception is the Sweet 1600 course, where you can run the 1600 meters on any track you want and record your time manually, without a QR code. 

You're allowed crew and pacers for the Ultra Challenge but I elected to go solo like I normally do for in-person races. With all the driving from one course to the next, I'd have plenty of time to change shoes and socks, let my feet dry while driving, and eat and drink behind the wheel. This way I'd still be making forward progress while fueling and hydrating between bouts of running. I packed an cooler with ice, water, and other drinks and laid out extra clothes, food, shoes, and other gear in the trunk so it would be easy to find what I want when I need it. Whenever I was finished with a piece of gear or clothing, I'd shove into a "used" bag to keep it out of the way. The meticulous pre-planning would prevent me from having think about this stuff later in the Challenge when I'd no doubt be exhausted.

I'd run a couple of longer ultras in May and June and needed some recovery time before attempting the Ultra Challenge. In mid-June I decided to take Monday, June 18th, off from work to knock out the 100k and then recover later that week while on vacation in Rhode Island. The day before the run, I packed up all my gear, mapped out a running order for the ten courses, and bought all the food and drinks I'd need. I planned to start the next day around 4:00 a.m., but the weather forecast turned to rain for the first half of the day. After the kids went to bed, I made the rash decision to to head out and start running ASAP, figuring I wouldn't be sleeping much anyway and at least I'd beat some of the rain and afternoon heat. I'd load up on caffeine and nap in the car if needed. I promised Hayley I'd come home to get the kids up in the morning and take them to daycare and she was okay with the plan. With that, I loaded everything into the car and drove up to Taughannock Falls to start with the course furthest from home and finish it before sundown. 

1. Taughannock Rim & Falls

This course is the furthest out of the way from the City of Ithaca, so it made sense to cut down on the driving by knocking it out either first or last. State Park rules prohibit people from using the park trails after dark, and given the the North Rim Trail's proximity to the park's campgrounds, I didn't want to tempt fate and draw attention to myself if my headlamp was spotted late at night by a ranger. 

I arrived at the overlook ready to run and scanned the sign's QR code at 8:18 p.m., officially starting the clock. I always run this one clockwise so I can start off downhill, tackle the South Rim and all its stairs before getting fatigued, and then cruise downhill for the final mile. This run was no different, except I had to turn on my headlamp with 2 miles to go while running under tree cover through the woods where the sun don't shine. The trails here were smooth and dry enough that I wore my Brooks Ghost road shoes, avoiding the need to change shoes an extra time before starting the paved Inlet Shore course. I kept it easy and ran my slowest time here by a large margin. I saw a family of four on the Gorge Trail, which is noteworthy because I wouldn't spot another soul on any of the courses until the following afternoon finale. The once mighty Tauhannock Falls wasn't much more than a trickle thanks to the summer drought. 4.6 miles, 48:03. 

2. Inlet Shore Trail

It was still hot and muggy after the sun went down, so I did my best to cool off on the 20-minute drive back into town. To minimize the driving I decided to do this easy course second. The Inlet Shore Trail is my home course for the 2022 Challenge —  the building I work in — Island Health and Fitness — is right along the course and I've run the 10k route a bunch during my lunch hour to battle Jesse Koennecke for most completions on this one. It's also the only stroller-friendly course this year. I could probably run it blindfolded by now. 

The pace was easy and controlled. I took a brief walk break to text Adam Engst and let him know what I was up to tonight. I passed the Hanger Theater tent with its outdoor stage. It reminded me of an aid station the way it was lit up in the dark except I'd never seen a group of aid station volunteers performing Cabaret in the middle of a race.

With a quarter mile to go I started running hard to break 60 minutes, knowing it was going to be close. I pulled out my phone to get Webscorer ready to scan the finish line code and... WHAM! Off the curb and into the gravel opposite the Cornell boathouse, total faceplant. I hobbled it in with a cut on my hand and left epidermis samples from my right leg and right arm on the course for the next runner. Go figure, the only nasty fall all night would be on the smoothest and easiest course. 6.2 miles, 1:00:51.

3. Lick Brook & Treman FLT

One goal I had for this year's FLRC Challenge was to run this course in the dark, and this was a great opportunity. Better to get the toughest course out of the way while I still felt good. I swapped my Ghosts for the Hoka Speedgoats and grabbed my pre-filled Nathan pack, knowing I'd be out there for awhile. I started just before 11:00 p.m. and hit the shorter Lick Brook side first like I usually do, using poles for the uphill. I found it difficult to see the trail surface as it began to get foggier and found myself using the poles to feel my way along the more technical parts of the trail to avoid tripping or stumbling downhill. At a casual effort the 4-mile Lick Brook leg took almost an hour. Good God, this is gonna take forever. For FLRC Challenge scoring purposes Lick Brook & Treman is 13.1 miles, but I think the real distance is closer to 14. 

When I reached the car at the underpass I stopped to swap my soaking wet shirt for a dry one and felt reborn. I kept going with the poles so I could use them as feelers the rest of the way even though they wouldn't help much ascending the smaller hills. After about 8 miles and 2 hours elapsed, the forecasted rain finally came. It just made everything wet and limited my visibility without cooling things down much. Ugh. I wasn't tired at all but I started regretting my choice to run this course at night and couldn't wait for it to be over. I was expecting to take between 3:00 and 3:15 on this course but I just couldn't get it together. Nor could I get the song "Pressure" from the Disney's Encanto out of my head. I picked up the pace a little once I started thinking long and hard about how I might encounter that cabin at the end of The Blair Witch Project or the Texas Chainsaw Massacre house in the woods, or possibly spotting H.H. Holmes out for a stroll. 

I finally stumbled back into the underpass parking area frustrated and soaking wet but elated to be done with the longest and toughest of the ten. 13.1 miles, 3:43:21.

Hello darkness, my old friend

4. East Hill Dryden Rail Trail

Oh hey, I can actually run this without stumbling around looking for trail blazes! I took the dirt path out to the east to finish the longer leg first, doing my due diligence to watch for the turnaround sign so I wouldn't accidentally run a step further than necessary. This course is a good one to run at night — you don't have to worry about trail obstacles, cars, following blazes, or watching for turns. I got spooked by a skunk that raced across the path 10 feet in front of me. I saw it run into the woods and I hightailed it down the trail to avoid a DNF by severe skunking — possibly a first in the history of ultrarunning. The shorter, paved western leg was a little faster due to better traction but otherwise uneventful. 7.5 miles, 1:21:10.

5. Beebe Lake

It was only a 3-minute drive from the East Hill Trail's Challenge sign to this one. Thankfully the gate to the arboretum road was open at 4:45 a.m. so I wouldn't have to park further away and walk to the start and from the finish. My headlamp battery died after two miles through the Newman Arboretum, but by then it was just light enough to see the path through the Mundy Wildflower Garden without it. I circled Beebe Lake clockwise hoping to cross paths with my friend Shane Eversfield, who runs these trails almost every morning. I was starting get bored running alone and longed for someone to talk to. But not a soul to be found. 3.9 miles, 46:00.

6. Sweet 1600

Since this course can be run on any track, I figured I'd fit it in wherever I could, likely at Ithaca High School between 6 and 8 a.m. when the track is open to FLRC members. When I drove past Cornell's outdoor track at 5:30 on the way across campus, I noticed one of the gates was open and pulled over to get the four laps done. I may have parked illegally but it was early and rainy in the empty parking lot and I'd be out in 10 minutes anyway. I started the timer, set my phone down, and took off for an easy jog in a soggy lane 1. After four laps my phone's screen was wet and I couldn't stop the timer before the clocked ticked past 10 minutes. I quickly pulled my wet shoes and socks off and hopped in the car for the drive up to Lansing. 1.0 miles, 10:16.

7. Lansing Center Trail

I donned my Inov-8 TerraUltra G270s for maximum traction on the cross country course's wet grass. My legs stiffened up on the drive and it took awhile to get moving when I got out of the car. I used RunGo on this to navigate the myriad turns and side loops because I didn't want to risk cutting it short and not officially finishing the Ultra Challenge due to navigation error. The misty rain continued and I had to watch my step to avoid the 20-30 dead field mice peppered across the trails. 3.4 miles, 36:19.

Intermission

I would have much preferred to just move on to the next course, but I'd promised my wife I'd come home to get the kids up for breakfast at 7 a.m. and take them to daycare in Dryden. On the plus side, their in-home daycare is less than a quarter mile from the Jim Schug Challenge sign, so I didn't have to drive out of the way. My legs were pretty beat but I wasn't affected at all by sleep deprivation. Thankfully the boys took it easy on me and we got out of the house at a reasonable time. I downed a can of Bluephoria Guayaki Yerba Mate to make sure I'd have no trouble staying awake behind the wheel. No risk is worth it with toddlers in the back seat. 0.0 miles, 60:00

8. Jim Schug Trail

After a 1-hour break, not including driving time, I finally hit the 8-mile out-and-back Jim Schug Trail at 8:30, a little over 12 hours elapsed. It was a long boring shuffle, no turtles to be seen, but at least the rain had stopped and it hadn't warmed up too much yet. I wore the Inov-8s again for traction in the wet dirt and grass, although it probably didn't help at all. Just breaking an hour and a half was chore. 8.0 miles, 1:29:45. 

9. Long Loomis

Up into the hills for the penultimate course, saving the dreaded Brooktondale backroads for the grand finale. I actually ran the Loomis trails comfortably, especially the uphills where it hurt less to shorten my stride and still move efficiently. Around 2 miles into it I passed the 50-mile mark for the Ultra Challenge. The rain was over by now and the trails were still dry. 

I started this run with 40% battery life on my iPhone 12 and when I finished the phone was dead. I couldn't revive it to scan the sign so I had to go by the time recorded on my watch and adjust the Webscorer time later. Okay, no problem. I'll just charge the phone in the car while I drive out to Brooktondale. Uh, oops... the charging cable I keep in my car is nowhere to be found. 5.7 miles, 1:17:41.

Excursion

I started driving the backroads down to Brookton's Market for the final course. I figured it would be fine to record the Brookton Hill & Dale time on my watch and load the activity to Strava, then submit my Webscorer result manually after the phone was charged. The rules say you have to scan the sign, but I'd plead my case with Adam and not worry about it for now. By the time I left the Hammond Hill parking lot I hadn't slept in over 30 hours and it started messing with my memory. I couldn't remember for sure how to get to Brookton's Market directly from Freeville and took a few wrong turns. 

My car was somewhere on Ellis Hollow or Ellis Hollow Creek Road while my mind was somewhere in the galaxy's outer reaches when I was suddenly jarred back into reality with a rude awaking. "I don't know the Brooktondale course and need RunGo to navigate!" I pulled over and stopped to think it through. The only solution then was to drive 20 minutes back home, wait awhile for my phone to charge, then drive another 20 minutes to the course and shuffle through it using the RunGo audio cues. I just didn't trust myself to navigate the last 10.4 miles from memory, based on the one and only time I ran the route, and risk ending up as buzzard pickin' roadkill two counties away. That meant about two hours elapsed to solve the problem and get back on course. I wasn't worried about exceeding the allotted 24 hours but I was just plain exhausted and wanted a cold shower and a long nap. 

I pulled back onto the road and headed for home with just enough energy to be furious at myself for forgetting to charge the phone when I was home with the kids four hours earlier. Out of nowhere, the sun emerged through the clouds and a better solution struck me, clear as day. 

I'm only a few miles from FLRC Challenge race director Adam Engst's house. If  he's home, I can drop in and beg and plead to let him charge my phone. Even better — Adam plays with Apple products for a living. He's probably swimming in spare Lighting-to-USB cables and will let me take one for the car. 

I had no ability to call or text so I just parked and knocked on the front door — something almost no one younger than 60 does anymore. What a relief when Adam opened the door and was more than willing to help a guy out! He gave me a spare charging cable to use on the drive down to Brooktondale, plus a hard copy of the map with all the turns marked. This was so I wouldn't have to sit around waiting to get enough of a charge to use RunGo — with it's real-time map, GPS function, and audio cues — for the two hours I'd be on the course. I opted not to cool down in Adam's pond like I did in last year's Ultra Challenge and hit the road for the final leg. 0.0 miles, 1:20:00.

10. Brookton Hill & Dale

Around 12:40 p.m. I finally rolled in to the Brookton's Market parking lot. A full hour later than planned, but I was grateful that I'd still be done with the 100k in a reasonable amount of time. It had warmed up so much and I knew I'd be out there awhile, so I strapped on the Nathan pack so ensure I'd have enough water. I walked most of the first mile on Brooktondale Road, trying to get my legs loosened up after so much idle time since finishing Loomis. A few people were out walking their dogs on this stretch of road — the first humans I'd seen on any of the courses since Taughannock the night before. 

After the first left to turn up Middaugh, I started a pattern of alternating shuffle/running with power walking. I actually found it easier to run uphill than on the flats or downhill. I kept that pattern up for the next 9 miles. I don't remember much else about this run other than dump trucks breezing by every 2 to 3 minutes. Seriously, like 30 to 40 dump trucks on the 4-mile stretch along Middaugh and Coddington Road. It probably had something to do with the nearby quarry and/or paving work on Route 366. Once I turned onto Ridgeway Road it was quiet the rest of the way. 

The gravelly downhill on Van Demark was painful, and suddenly I was done with the 100k. The finish was so anticlimactic — no one outside the market and only a few cars in the lot. I scanned the final QR code and went in for a celebratory snack. The Brookton's Market staff probably figured me for the drunk the way I stumbled around and spent way to long staring at shelves trying to make up my mind. Nothing I saw was appealing, but I felt obligated to buy something after taking up a parking spot for 2+ hours,. I settled on some artisan cola in a glass bottle and enjoyed it alone under the tent. 10.4 miles, 2:11:47.

Six Mile Creek in Brooktondale

Afterword

The evening start and decision to run Lick Brook & Treman FLT in the dark made this a lot harder than it needed to be, but made for a new experience. I guess that's was I was going for after running the 100K Ultra Challenge twice last year, albeit on a different set of courses. I'd never run a race with an evening or night time start, but now I have some idea of what I'll be getting into when I sign up for the Hellgate 100k, Black Forest 100k, or Grindstone 100 Mile. (All races I want to run!) I could have done without taking breaks for my kids and to deal with my technological incomitance, but those are all part of the logistics and it's called an "ultra challenge" for a good reason. 

With this run I became the fourth person to complete the Ultra Challenge this year. My total cumulative time for the courses is 13:25:13, and elapsed time from start to finish is 18:35:47. I racked up close to 100 miles on the odometer. (Exact number unknown. I forgot to start the trip meter until I was halfway back from Taughannock.) 

Thank you to FLRC Challenge race director Adam Engst for all the hard work organizing this thing for the second straight year, and for saving my day with a one-meter long piece of wire and rubber, and the Finger Lakes Runners Club for it's support with the event!

Who's next? I still hope to see at least a few more people give this a shot before the 2022 FLRC Challenge closes on August 14th. If anyone reading this plans to attempt it, let me know and I'll help however I can.

Fin.