Seneca7 2026
This was my third running of the Seneca 7, a fantastic 7-person relay race around the 77.7 perimeter of Seneca Lake.
This was our second year running Seneca7 with YogOdyssey, our hot yoga studio. Our team, Run Today, YogOdyssey Tomorrow, was comprised of
Mark de Oliveira
Scott Dawson
Devi de Oliveira
Hannah Friedrich
Jackie de Oliveira
Amy Dawson
Jake Panasevich
This race sells out in no time, so I was ready at my desk the morning of October 31 at 7 a.m. Here’s the text I sent Mark and Jackie, the owners of YogOdyssey:
Packet Pickup
Amy and I went to Geneva the day prior to get our packet, which turned out to be eventful. Someone had already picked up our packet and shirts! After frenzied text and calls to our teammates, we confirmed that nobody had picked up, and subsequently spent some time with Ian and Jackie (co-race directors) to get a new bib assigned and get on our way. We had planned to go out to eat in Geneva, but after seeing how crowded our first choice of restaurant was, we did a hard pivot and headed to Wegmans for some light grocery shopping and settled for a sub in the car on the way back home.
Midway through race day, we’d finally learn what happened from Jackie, via text. She said that team 201 took our stuff. I looked up the team name in the master spreadsheet – Run B!tche$ Run – and knew instantly what they’d done wrong. I shot off a quick reply to Jackie: They’d better run! At pickup, all you had to do was give them your number, which you looked up on the wall. Their team name is right before ours alphabetically, and they must have given number 204. Mystery solved! We hope in future years they’ll check IDs at pickup, since they know everyone’s team composition from Run Signup and can easily avoid this issue by confirming that an actual team member is picking up.
Race Day
Jake lives closer to Geneva, so planned to meet the rest of us there. We carpooled up from Trumansburg, enjoying talking about the day ahead during the 40-minute drive. After meeting Jake, we all walked to the start area to use the bathrooms and see Mark off on the first leg. It was a gorgeous sunny morning and the lake surface was so incredibly smooth. It was such a stark contrast to the whitecaps that kicked up the night before! We drove to the first transition area and I jumped out to do my leg swing and lunge matrix before starting my leg.
Runner 2, Leg 2
I warmed up on the hill that connected the parking lot to the race route, keeping an eye out for Mark. As I saw him in the distance, I quickly crossed the road and took the slap bracelet from him. My goal for the day was to run around 6:20 per mile, which is my goal half marathon pace. I took this leg way too fast, with splits of 5:56, 6:20, 6:06, and 6:05. And, I nearly broke my ankle stepping into a water-filled pothole! I was grateful to get away with just a soaked foot. This year, there was a shuttle bus at the end of leg 2 to connect us to the next transition area to meet our team. After the short ride, I was happy to be back at our Honda Pilot!
4.11 mi in 26:14 // 6:22 pace // strava
Runner 2, Leg 9
I fueled with a PB&J between my first and second legs. This one was far shorter, sun exposed, with temperatures rising but still comfortable. I started to get warm on this leg and had more tempered paces compared to my first one: 6:19, 6:18, and 6:06. I was so happy to peel off the main road and wind my way behind the winery to the transition area on the far side.
2.66 mi in 16:39 // 6:15 pace // strava
Runner 2, Leg 16
This leg felt interminable, but I was so glad this was my last leg. This started at Bonavista Golf Club, and the first section of singletrack grassy trail had me windmilling my arms as I bordered on the edge of control, hooting and hollering as the trail descended to lake level. I was thrilled to see Ron Heerkens Jr. of Goat Factory Media behind his camera lens just south of Willard Road near all the defunct buildings. I gave him a high five and continued north. That’s where the fun stopped, though. The slog to Sampson along the Lakeshore Trail was not my favorite. The first half was mostly flat, but the second was subtly uphill, making the pace just that much harder. There were a lot of walkers on this stretch, and it was probably where I picked up most of my roadkill. I was grateful for choosing to carry a soft water flask on this stretch, and managed to finish most of it. I just tried to hold on to a solid pace to get to the transition. The transition area was filled with teams waiting for their runners, and from the distance the throng made it feel like the finish line of a very large race!
5.21 mi in 34:54 // 6:42 pace // strava
Finish and Team Results
It was a super fun day encouraging each other around the lake! A huge shoutout to Ian and Jackie for the countless hours they put into this. When we were all reunited with Jake and ran in together, and as Ian Golden shouted our our team name as we finished under the “It’s Done” banner, I couldn’t help but being really proud of our team. We had a great showing on the day, and all finished smiling and satisfied.
Here’s a cool montage that Devi put together for us:
Want to see what it looks like for 310 teams to circle the lake? Here’s a really cool post-race replay of each team’s progress. As in past year’s reports, the roadkill report is a fun feature. It isn’t what you think: your roadkill number is how many people you passed, and you’re roadkill if you got passed. Our team passed 198 and was passed by 84, a pretty decent roadkill ratio.
77.7 mi in 10:20:31 // 48 of 310 teams overall, 23 of 212 mixed gender, 7:58 average pace
Personal Results
I passed 69, was passed by 3, but I think that 3 is erroneous due to the report’s reliance on entered times, to the granularity of only minutes. I don’t recall getting passed by anyone!
11.98 mi in 1:17:47 // 6:30 pace