Earlier this year I ran the Sehgahunda Trail Relay.

Sehgahunda is a fun running event. It is a trail marathon and relay. 26 miles on some of the most fun trails. Running through the forest at a beautiful state park in New York.

I have run this event 5 times. I think I have run it in every possible configuration now. I have run it as a 4 person relay twice. It was my longest solo run ever when I ran it solo for the full 26 miles as I built up to running my first ultra. Then I ran it as a two person relay, which also makes for great ultra marathon training. This year we competed as a 3 person relay, which I don’t think is actually an official team format.

I love running through the woods here. The trail is a branch of the Finger Lakes Trail that crosses much of New York State.

The event is held in late May. The running here can be different every time you show up. The only thing I haven’t experienced is a year when it is truly cold. And I am glad to have not been running on the years it has been truly hot. The year I ran the full was perfect.

One of the features of this course that is almost always a given is mud trying to get to and from the aide stations. Those are the only times you leave the safe confines of the forest. You traverse through open grassy areas and the foot traffic does a number on there terrain.

One year I remember the mud at the exchange points and aide stations actually not being too bad. This year was not like that. If might not have been the worst mud I have ever run through but it was a lot of mud. The mud was super goopy. Most of the time it was like running through a thick soup.

On the way to the checkpoints it is uphill and you can’t really run because you can’t get purchase in the mud to push of with. On the way back onto the trail it is downhill. The downhill is lest physically demanding, but perhaps more treacherous. Especially if you try to run. Gravity tries to take you down the hill on the mudslide. Running and slipping and sliding and just trying to go with the flow. Often just sliding along on one foot as you slide. Almost like water skiing.

This year I was running my favorite segment of the race. Probably the leg I run most often. The second leg of the relay is a 9 mile stretch. I love the beautiful views and sights through here. It is also some of my favorite parts to run.

There is one section where you hit a nice gradual downhill slope for a long while. It is the perfect grade because the gravity doesn’t force you to go faster than you want. As a runner you can push for more speed and the gentle downhill helps or you can relax and just ride the downhill and recover.

A lot of this part of the trail also runs parallel the a steep drop off into the gorge. And it is so beautiful and scenic. It is hard to keep my eyes on the trail with such beautiful scenery.

The trails are also punctuated with steep gullies created from run off water making its way down into the gorge and to the Genesee River. The gullies are beautiful and scenic. But they are not always fun to drop down into and then climb up out of.

Most years if people ask me what the trails are like I say that it is insanely muddy where you have to get tot he checkpoints and aide stations, but the trails in the woods usually still have good footing. This was not the case this year. The trails in the woods. The main trails you are on for most of the race, they were muddier and more slippery than I have ever experienced at this race. It definitely added a new challenge to my favorite sections of trails here.

Overall it was another enjoyable year at a fun event.

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