I seem to be getting quite adventurous in my old age! Not only will I be running the inaugural Seashore Nature Trail 50k in December, but now I’ve added the 22nd Running of the HAT Run 50k on March 20th, 2010 to be my race calendar too. Some time last week I was alerted to the race by DailyMiler Andy O., and after running it by wife Ally (who always supports me no matter what crazy thing I want to do) and a quick bit of research, I took the plunge and signed up.
The more I read about the event, the better it gets!
Course description: The course is mostly single track trail with a mix of open fields, dirt road and some paved road and features nearly 9,800 feet of climbing. The starting loop of 3.6 miles is followed by two identical loops of 13.7 miles and there are four stream crossings that can be challenging depending on the water level.
(course profile courtesy of www.hatrun.com)
If you’re interested in taking part (better hurry as at the time of writing there are only 179 slots left), check out this great article about the 2008 HAT Run that was featured in TrailRunner Magazine. Still not sure? Take a look at this tremendous HAT Run video by Geoff Baker. If this doesn’t convince you to sign up, nothing will!
No doubt I’ll be writing more about the HAT Run as the months pass by, but meantime I’ll need to find some hills to train on and start increasing the miles to cope with the longer-than-marathon race distance. Exciting times.
PS The 2010 HAT Run takes place on the same weekend as the 2010 Shamrock Marathon, which means that for the first time since 2002, I won’t be lining up on Atlantic Avenue to brave the cold March winds of Virginia Beach. Kind of sad to end a seven year streak, but in the big picture, not really….
Looks like fun to me.
Been reading your posts and looks like you really love running. Thanks for sharing it with us since i also enjoy running.
I will be at Seashore Nature Trail 50k and Hat Run, looking forward to them!