North Country Trail Run

I loved this race, I supported it, me turned to others how much I loved it. However in 2023 they got a new manager of social media, this individual has deemed her power to block anyone who has a negative comment of the race. I posted about the sleeveless hoodie, wasn't pleased with that choice, asked if it was an ordering error. She blocked me from the Facebook page (and blocked me from seeing any race photos from 2023), then responded snarky to Instagram, telling me there are other races I can run instead. So just be aware, you can only shower the Facebook with praise or risk getting blocked. They cut down this year, 1 meal ticket was given to those running 2 days, 1 swag item for double racers (used to be 2...2 races, 2 shirts).

Definitely one of the most challenging runs I have ever done. More hills on this run than I ever thought existed. This run takes you through miles of forest with little open fields. Very peaceful and beautiful terrain with one and two track trails. After a few miles the crowd thins to only a few people. I was alone out there at several times. Some roots and rocks but far less than other trails I have been on. The finisher medal was the largest I have earned, being the third largest in the nation. There was also lots of cool swag. The team put on a great race despite having major setbacks from the 2020 run being cancelled. The volunteers were fantastic. There was a major thunderstorm that rolled thru the night before. This was very difficult for them as most of them camped out overnight to ensure there was a good set up the day of. Spectators were plentiful at points of access but due to the limited access points, there were only a few points they could cheer us on. The Aid stations had plenty of food and hydration but there were only three of them on the course. I suspect it was because of a tight budget from the 2020 cancelation and the storms that came thru the night before. I wish there would have been one between mile 13 and 23, ten miles is a long way to go without any assistance. I nearly passed out about 100 meters from the aid station at mile 23. Post-race was cool, food was good, beer was great and there were plenty of people cheering us on at the end. Only negative thing I can say was the website had some errors on it. The dates were not correctly updated in a few spots. Also, you have to stay on them. I almost missed out as they did not receive my originally email stating I wanted my race deferred to 2021 as 2020 was cancelled. They also deferred to my original registration. I had changed t-shirt size and they still had me listed as my age from the year before.

This is true single track running ... only without a lot of pain and agony of falling on rocks or other impediments. This has what must be the best trail surface I have run on, either hard pack sand or soft pine/leaf covered. Minimal rocks, but does have roots ... which against the white sand was usually easy to see. The RD for the race is awesome. This is a true runners race. Despite thunder, lightning and heavy downpours, Chris Nicholas, managed to put on a safe and fun event. The volunteers were unbelievable, cheering on each runner as they came into the aid station, providing lots of food with it being provided in eatable portions. And, the medals, post race party and general overall goodies were awesome. Really love the sweatshirt and the shirt. The only negative on the entire race is that the maps are wrong and it caused confusion coming into the finish since most of our Garmins are wrong because of the loss of GPS signal.