Finger Lakes 50s 25K - July 5, 2025

 Short is Good

Having done the Finger Lakes 50s 50K in 2023 (report here), 2022 (report here), and 2007, I don't feel the need to see more than one loop of the 16.5 mile course.  It isn't easy, and frankly, I'm not as young as I used to be. (That's extraordinarily trite, as no one alive is as young as they used to be a second ago.) Ok, I'm a lot older than almost everyone else in the event.

Vintage shirt

Sometimes You Are Not What You Think You Are

I'm wearing my vintage 2007 FL50s shirt which garners lots of comments and  inquiries - except from one runner who recognizes it.  We are running together on the early part of the course.  He looks older than me and he is. James is 76 and tells me he has run all five versions of the FL50s course going back to the 1998 50-miler.  After a bit I go on ahead.  Later in the day I see him at the finish. He dropped out about mid-way and made it back to the finish to hang out.  His dropping allows me the honor (?) of being the oldest finisher.

An Overactive Mind

Walking to the start of the 25K, I fall in with Race Director Adam. After being assured that there will be separate AG awards for the 70+ category we talk about possible fun awards. I suggest a few.  But I have the rest of the day to consider the question, and so I do, the result of which is that my mind is raging torrent of rivulets of thought cascading into a waterfall of creative alternatives. Several days later I send him an email enumerating several of the ideas. Some may be easy to calculate, others too bothersome:

• DFL
• Oldest FL50s shirt
• Fastest virgin (someone who has never run a 25K/50K/50M before)
• Oldest finisher
• Youngest finisher
• Grizzled veteran (finisher who has run most FL50s)
• Top of the hour finishers (runners who finish at the top of the hour, e.g., 4:00, 5:00, etc. Person closest to the top wins, i.e., 5:00:04 beats 5:00:17, 4:59:59 is too early to qualify.)
• Fate-tempter (fastest person wearing the race shirt on race day)  
• Awards for 5-, 10-, etc. year finishers. 

I suggest that awards be made of Finger Lakes Forest shale or wood.

Along Burnt Hill Trail, about mile 1.5.

I'm using trekking poles as part of the course can be rocky and rooty, and in some places, steep.  While the poles can slow me down on flat parts of the course, I'm not in a hurry, so losing some time is a fair trade-off for stability insurance on more challenging parts of the course.

The weather is warm but not overly so and there is no precipitation.  The course is mostly dry, although some rain in the preceding days have left some mud puddles, one of which nearly sucks a shoe off.

The course is generally downhill to the Morgue Aid Station (mile 3.5) at the end of the course's route on the unpaved Mark Smith Road. It then turns right onto the Gorge Trail, and switches between the Interlocken and South Slope Trail. Paying attention to the course markings through here is important as the course doubles back on itself at one point.

South Burnt Hill Pond (mile 5)

We visit the South Beach AS twice, outbound at mile 4.7 and inbound at mile 7.5. As usual, the volunteers at the aid stations are friendly and accommodating.

The view to the western side of Seneca Lake

From there it is about 3 miles up the Interlocken Trail. Crossing the pasture north of Mathews Road provides scenic views of the west side on Seneca Lake, and a rare chance to get a cell phone signal. 

Day Lilies by the Backbone Trail

A turn onto the Ravine Trail to the Library AS (mile 10.4) at Burnt Hill Road. (No books at the library, near as I could ascertain.)Then down the short, but very steep trail, followed by an up to unshaded Picnic Area Road.  It is a short stretch, but uphill and, for me, never pleasant. A left puts the course on the generally straight, due north and uphill Backbone Trail for another two miles to the Outback AS (mile 13.7).

Don't Let the Cows Out Get You

The aid station workers point out that the cows have come up the pasture to near the trail through the pasture.  That's neat I think, as we have not seen any in the earlier pastures. A 50K runner laps me at the aid station and goes on.  

I open the gate and head across. The herd seems to take an interest in me that it hadn't in the previous runner.  I'm not a farm guy but even my dim knowledge of farm animals recognizes that the very large animal in the middle is no cow - he is a bull. And the animals around him are not cows. They may be heifers for him to impregnate, or . . . I dunno, but they don't have udders, so not cows.

And for some reason they take an interest in me and start to follow.  Having four legs to my two, and being younger and fitter than I, they are quickly overtaking me. "Great," I think, "I'm about to be killed by a stampede." Since this is 2025 I do what any person in that situation would do - I take out my phone and try to get a video of them coming after me.  But I hit the photo button rather than the video button and since I'm blindly trying to get a shot behind me while I watch the footing ahead, all I get is a blurr picture of legs. 

Critters purse me. Bull does not.

Before I reach the gate on the far side they begin to lose interest in me.  One or two watch when I close it to make sure it is closed.   In a hundred yards or so a trail biker comes toward me and I warn him of what is ahead.

Foster Pond (mile 15.5)

Now it is just a matter of pushing on the mix of boardwalks, rooty trails and smooth trails to the finish.  Glancing at my watch I think I have a chance of finishing under five hours, but I miss by eight seconds.

The finish line workers give me the finisher's towel, soaked in cold water to cool off.  I collect my ceramic cup AG award and get an Athletic non-alcoholic beer before walking to the very dust car to head home. 

Results

I finish in 5:00:08, good for 97 of 105 overall, 42 of 44 males and 1 of 1 in my age group.  I'm six years older than the next oldest finisher in the 25K. (In fairness a 75YO finishes the 50K at a pace faster than my 25K pace.)

Swag: Towel, shirt, glass (purchased), AG ceramic mug, bib.

AG award.