At the end of October Lisa and I will be running from the top of Mt. Greylock to the top of Mt. Wachusett over the course of a weekend, and we’d love it if any of you want to join us for the adventure. We plan to run the 99.68 mile course unsupported in two 50 mile days, and you can either join us for this “carry everything you think you will need because no one is going to bring it to you” adventure , form a relay team, or talk some poor soul into crewing for you.
For that last option, a spouse is great if you can talk them into it because they’ll put up with all the complaining and abuse 80 miles in and still love you afterward. Lisa can tell you stories about that! 😉
The finish line at the top of Mt. Wachusett
Here’s how far we have gotten with our planning so far…
- We have a course planned, you can see it here (loads slowly). It may change a little bit
- The run will start no later than 8am on Saturday the 26th of October
- Saturday night will be spent in Northfield.
- We have a reservation at the Centennial Inn in Northfield for Saturday, we can have two more people in that room if you want to join us
- There is a road side motel at mile 48.5 that is another option on course, there are several other hotels in the area if you are crewed or relay
Running 50 miles in a day may sound daunting but it is not as hard to do as you might think. If you’ve run a marathon, don’t compare that experience to what running 50 miles will be like. Ultrarunning is just not as intense and while you will be sore at the end of the day you will recover quickly and probably be surprised by how good you feel the next day.
Update 9/2/13: the course has changed a bit from the earlier link to avoid 2, 2A and the city of Orange. It now runs a more northerly route from Northfield through Warwick, Blissville (yes, really), and on into Athol. It climbs Mt. Wachusett in a slightly quicker manner instead of circling the mountain twice before finishing off. The run will start at the base of the Greylock’s Veterans War Memorial Tower and finish at the base of the Fire Tower on Wachusett. Total mileage will be right on 100. Course elevation gain is 13,513′ and the total loss is 16,987′ leaving a elevation change of -3474′ — it’s a downhill course!
Thomas, Joel and his wife are interested in doing this. What email address can he contact you at?
Steve, great to hear that, Joel can reach me at Thomas -at- cross fit never doubt dot com
Can a person sign up for a partial, say maybe a 20 mile section?
If you can find someone to drive you out there or run the rest as a relay, yes, for sure.
Or if you want to join us for the last 20 on Sunday we can give you a lift home after finishing.
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Relay sounds fun!! If I can figure out someone to help with the kids, I may be up for the challenge:-).
What would the recommended pace be for this? Or does it matter?
Yes! I am IN!!! I have been needing to do a 100 mile race to qualify for the HURT challenge in Honolulu! Yessssss! So pumped for this!
Hi LeighAnne, we’d love to have you but you should check with the HURT folks about their requirements for “officialness” of the 100 mile qualifier.
While we will be covering the 100 miles, it’ll be in two 50 mile days over the course of ~ 32 hours. It also isn’t an official race as such, more of a journey run.
Just don’t want you to rely on us for your qualifier and be disappointed by the nature of our run and the HURT rd not accepting it as your ticket in.