Multi-day, two-legged adventures will be a common theme in 2013.
In addition to a week-long backpacking trip with my best friend later in the year – possibly in the Adirondacks, Cascades, Smokies, or Appalachian Mountains – this year’s trail running slate will include two three-day stage races in the mountains.
March will take me – along with more than a dozen of my Kansas City trail running friends – to Mountain View, Arkansas, for 3 Days of Syllamo, a three-day stage race in the Ozark Mountains that starts with a 50K, followed by a 50-miler, and then a 20K (which, I’m told, is actually at least 25K). All told, there’ll be more than 27,000 feet of climbing on gorgeous single-track trails.
In June I’ll head to Chattanooga, Tennessee, for a stage race that first caught my eye last year – shortly after it had reached capacity. The Chattanooga Mountains Stage Race is a three-day, 60-mile mountain event with about 6,700 total feet of climbing that begins with an 18-mile run on Raccoon Mountain, followed by a 22-miler on Lookout Mountain and a 20-miler on Signal Mountain.
Other races will include the Big Bend Ultra Run 50K at Big Bend National Park in Texas; Psycho Psummer in Kansas City, Kansas; and both Dogwood Canyon and “Dude, Where’s the Trail?” in Missouri. That makes for races in a minimum of five states in 2013 – with a possible addition in Colorado, where I’m already going to pace Sherrie Klover at the Leadville Trail 100.
The schedule is still in flux, but the biggies – both stage races – are official as I registered this morning for Chattanooga. I’ve been registered for Big Bend for months, and Leadville also is official as Sherrie signed up minutes after registration opened.
Chris Wristen 