December 26 & 27: The Meadow & Town Park

New York has updated its Covid-19 restrictions

• Maintain social distancing before, during, and after the run. Limit groups to 10.
• Run abreast where possible to keep out of each other’s slipstreams
• Stagger start times, courses, and directions to maintain smaller groups
• Wear masks or buffs/neck gaiters when in the parking lots and when you see others on the trail even if they don’t do the same.

Thank you all for coming out and running the Dancing Rock Run this past Sunday. This end-of-the-year event is a special one and revives a race that was started in the early days of the Leatherman’s Loop. It was great to see two of the founders of the race out on the trails yesterday—Tony and Judy Godino—enjoying the day at a much easier pace that the rest of you.

Kudos to Chris Irwin who completed two loops of the classic course—forward and backward in the tradition of the original race. Also a shout out to Jacob Benesch who completed a perimeter loop (and then some) and a loop of the course. Ed Dee, Doug Petkanics, and Joe Cloidt completed perimeter loops at 5:00 with Greg Boland just behind in distance.

As is the tradition of the 50k, no one completed the entire distance. Most everyone else finished one loop of the Dancing Rock Classic course though the times were slower than usual. Considering the amount of snow, I’m just glad you all had the perseverance and sense of humor to finish with smiles on your faces. Maybe next year we’ll have better weather, a fire pit, an aid station with coffee, bagels, and bacon, and a finisher of the 50k. We can only hope.

Until then, as this crazy year winds down, I’d like to thank all of you for coming out and running with the group whenever you can, in all kinds of conditions, at whatever distance and pace you want. Running with you has made this year more positive and hopeful than I could have imagined and I’m looking forward to sharing many more miles of trails with all of you next year and in the years to come.

Happy trails all,

Lee Willett