2014 Trail Running Camp at Dippikill

This past weekend I finally participated in something I’ve been wanting to do for a while–but couldn’t for various reasons–the ARE’s Trail Running Camp! TRC is a three night getaway at Camp Dippikill in the Adirondacks for runners who want to learn more about/experience some trail running. It’s open to runners of all abilities and is pretty much a guaranteed fun time.

Thursday night

I arrived at around 4:45 on Thursday night, checked in and got my bib for the evening’s run, along with our handbook and our Frog. The theme of camp is Frogs–because of the Froggy Five Mile Race held on Sunday. Frogs were everywhere!

I was staying in Garnet Lodge with my friend Loretta, once of the nicer lodges on the facility. We had electric, woohoo!

After getting settled in we had a 5:30PM group run. We got to meet our fellow campers and had the option of running various trails throughout the woods around Dippikill. I chose a shorter 1 mile loop and did it twice. It was such a nice night for running.

After our run, we had some dinner (all meals were provided for us, cooked by the awesome John, one of the staff members at camp!) and an orientation, followed by s’mores. Also, the camp was BYOB so campers must be 21+ and are allowed to bring their own adult beverages. 😀

Yes! It really felt like Summer camp for adults (which it pretty much was)–which is fun for me since I never went to summer camp as a kid.

Friday

Friday morning we had another run. I chose the Pond loop, a 2.6 mi look down to Dippikill Pond. It was gorgeous!

After the morning run, I went to a seminar on running injuries, which was really interesting. We learned some important ways to prevent injuries (LESS SITTING!) and how to properly stretch. Followed by that, I went to the first yoga class of the day. We had the option of going to ab workout class, but I chose yoga instead.

The yoga was intense and was something my tight running legs needed. I hadn’t done yoga in a long time. After yoga, it was time for swimming. Or better yet, kayaking! There were canoes and kayaks down by the lake so I grabbed a kayak and just paddled around the pond for a bit, while the other swam. It was nice and relaxing.

After our pond adventure, there was more yoga. This session focused on stretching the hips and IT band, and it hurt! But in a good way. After dinner there was trivia. This was really fun and our team tied for first place, which was awesome. There was also an ice cream social. 😀

Saturday

Saturday was the Run & Tube event. This was open to other ARE members, so a few people came up just for this. Saturday morning we took vans to a tubing company in Lake Luzurne, where the tubing bus dropped us off five miles from the launch point on the Hudson River. We ran the five miles (or had an option of three miles), down.  I was kind of worried about how tired my legs would be but they held up fine.  It was time to cool off after our run.

We really had the perfect weekend for all this.

When we got back to camp, we had some down time. After dinner there was the famous Talent Show, which was really fun. Some of the skits were hilarious. It ended with a video recapping the weekend.

Sunday morning

Sunday was the last day of TRC 🙁 and the Froggy Five Mile Trail Race! The race/run goes all the way up Dippikill Mountain and back down again. I just wanted to enjoy it and did a run/hike, since I was determined NOT to fall and get injured.

The race start.

So many frogs.

At the halfway point of the race, there was a summit and a gorgeous view of the Adirondacks. I stopped just in time to take picture and then went on my way. And just because I’m a hiking nerd, I had to find: out the summit of Dippikill is 1,562′ in elevation. I was worried again about how tired my legs would feel, but they were fine. I think the yoga and stretching helped a lot.

I finished in 1 hour, 11 minutes, which is pretty slow, but who cares. I just wanted to enjoy it. There was a BBQ following the Froggy Five and with that–camp was over. We squeezed a lot in over the three days and it was so much fun. The ARE does such a great job at organizing this event, I was really impressed. It was one of the best weekends of my summer so far, because I got do everything I truly love in one weekend: trail running/hiking, kayaking, yoga, spending the entire weekend outdoors enjoying my favorite place, the Adirondacks. I’m definitely going to try to go back next year!