Sunday, August 31, 2025
Thursday, August 28, 2025
Wednesday, August 27, 2025
Tuesday, August 26, 2025
Sunday, August 24, 2025
OK THAT WAS A CHALLENGE...
WE CAN REBUILD HIM 2025 RACE #63Black Diamond Half Marathon Trail Race
Sunday, August 24, 2025
I first ran the Black Diamond Half in 2016 (the first year it was a half, previously it had been 15k.) It was hot and humid and I remember thinking first, they were lucky no one went down from the heat, and second, I'd need a good reason to run it again, the course (out and back on the Lehigh Valley Trail) just wasn't very interesting.
Cue 2020 and lots of races going virtual due to Covid, and for some reason I decided it would be good to run the course on my own. Which I proceeded to do in 2021, 2022, and 2023 as well.
In 2024 I decided to do it live to see where my fitness was at, after a late spring and summer of doing far too little running. This year I was going to run it solo again, but plans changed and I found myself in Rochester on race day so I switched to the live race.
So either I found my good reason or like the Red Wing Trail Challenge, I need to learn to ignore myself when I say anything about not running a race again in the future...
2025 Event Totals
Run 309.8 mi, 79 hr 16 min
Bike 0 mi, 0 hr 0 min
Snowshoe 3 mi, 0 hr 59 min
Bike 0 mi, 0 hr 0 min
Snowshoe 3 mi, 0 hr 59 min
Kayak 0 mi, 0 hr 0 min
STATES: CT, MA, NY, RI
Saturday, August 23, 2025
Friday, August 22, 2025
Wednesday, August 20, 2025
BACK IN BLACK (CREEK PARK)
WE CAN REBUILD HIM 2025 RACE #60
Dirt Cheap Trail Race #4 -
Black Creek Park 4.1mi Trail Race
Wednesday, August 20, 2025
Black Creek Park was one of the first parks where I ran trails when I first started spending significant time in Rochester, 25+ years ago. The singletrack trails that are so much fun to run didn't exist back then - the park was pretty much all wide, grass-covered paths (with some wooded sections that had bare dirt.) I don't like running on grass - it's too difficult to see what the ground is doing, even when the grass is mowed. But Black Creek was a very convenient place to go run trails, and over time as more and more singletrack was developed it became more fun to run there.
I can only think of two races that I've run there - I ran the Anna's Wish 5k in 2022, which turned out to be the last year they held that one. And I ran the Cast A Shadow 6hr race there twice, in 2013 and 2017 (both years ended up being trail races, not enough snow to snowshoe - I managed to last around 4 1/2 hours both times) Other than that, the last time I have a record of running there was in 2014, though I also have a few times after that when Ann and I walked there to go see the heron rookery (which is now gone - the herons moved away by 2016.)
I'd been thinking recently that it has been far too long since I ran at Black Creek, so I was glad to have the opportunity to run there tonight - even with Boots being true-to-form and starting the course with us running up the sledding hill. Tonight's course hit some of the areas I ran most often (the more wooded southern part of the park) and brought back a lot of memories of past runs there, even though it has apprently been over a decade since I ran there on any sort of regular basis.
2025 Event Totals
Run 290.4 mi, 74 hr 18 min
Bike 0 mi, 0 hr 0 min
Snowshoe 3 mi, 0 hr 59 min
Bike 0 mi, 0 hr 0 min
Snowshoe 3 mi, 0 hr 59 min
Kayak 0 mi, 0 hr 0 min
STATES: CT, MA, NY, RI
Monday, August 18, 2025
Sunday, August 17, 2025
Saturday, August 16, 2025
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