Mt Greylock Road Race

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Mt Greylock Road Race in North Adams, MA
May 5, 2019
This race is part of the USATF Mountain Series, I ran as a Gate City Strider.

I'm a Mountain Goat! This was my 6th race to qualify. Next year I will tackle Mt Washington!



One of the major logistical issues with this race was distance. Mt. Greylock is 2.5 hours or more drive from my home. Being Labor Day weekend we decided to make it a family mini-vacation and rented a campsite 30 minutes from the race start.

Week leading up to Race (skip if all you want to read is race info)
This race was also on the first weekend after the start of a new school year. We didn't think that would matter, we were wrong. One of our children got sick and I spent the week in a panic about will I get sick, not to mention the late nights. Seriously what is it with 3am? By Thursday morning I had started to realize that the race just might not happen and I better prepare to run Waterville Valley(thankful I left a back up race). Another important fact is when my sons have stomach bugs, I fast for days. I switch to clear fluids so that my digestive system is at 'rest'. I sleep a lot more as well. I can't get sick because of my job. I add specific supplements to my diet to aid in my immune system beating any incoming virus before they become actual symptoms. The whole week I fasted, and we waited to see if anyone else came down with it. Friday 3AM he was sick again, and I started to make plans to day trip it out to the race. We took him to the doctor just in case as the symptoms didn't follow the pattern I was aware of for a stomach virus. OK, I was panicking about the race, I needed a calm opinion that was not emotionally involved in the outcome. Did you know stomach viruses can linger for up to 5 days and even take a day off from symptoms in the middle? I learned that at the doctors. Thankfully my son didn't have any infection that could be causing the symptoms and the doctor was confident that he'd be fine the next day. Maybe this would happen.

We delayed heading out to western Massachusetts that day, to have one good night.

Campground. Our tent is the green one on the right.

Saturday morning we woke up and everyone felt healthy and slept through the night, we decided to chance it and go. We started finalizing our packing and filling the car. We left later than we wanted, and with the Moxie drop off the ride took over 5 hours, but we did eventually make it to the campground, getting the tent set up before dark.  I'll skip the tenting experiencing except for the ones that pertain to the race.

Sleep that night was less than ideal. I forgot to top off the air mattress before the boys were asleep in the tent. Plus the boys tried to climb in( and they didn't fit as the mattress tried to roll us all into a pile int he middle. Add to that there was a drainage pipe near our campsite on the pond that sounded like a broken toilet constantly flushing.

Race Day

I woke up and dressed in the tent under covers. It was in the 40s that morning, colder than I was used to. We skipped making coffee, and headed off to find the start.

Thumbs up! It was cold in the morning before we left.

At the start, I realized parking could easily be a disaster, I opted to just have Alex drop me off. He headed off with the boys to find a diner and enjoy their quest of breakfast food in small town New England. Once in line for check in I realized I had left my race belt(for bib) and ear buds in the van with Alex. As with many of these races, the social time is right before. I joked I'd take 3 hours, and I just wanted to finish.

At 8:30 the race started. I took off, likely too quickly with my friends, but it wasn't long (likely less than a quarter mile) before I was falling back to a pace I could handle. Hanging to the back of the pack I ended up with Kerri from Wachusett Mt. Race for a mile or so before I needed to slow down more and she eventually disappeared up the hills and around corners.

One of the scenic views from the route.

This was an 8 mile race, I knew I was going to be moving for a while. Once I was alone I realized I could listen to my audiobook on speakers as it wasn't going to be loud enough to annoy anyone else. I listened to Michelle Obama* talking about her years in college, and grad school, along with her first job as a lawyer, where she met Barack. She was good company for an hour as I steadily walked as fast as I could handled it up the mountain. Miles 3-5 are some of the hardest of the race, along with the day getting later and traffic on the road increasing, I switched to music which was easier to miss some of when  car passed. The week of fasting was catching up with me but I was nervous about taking in any nutrition for fear I'd trigger massive gas pains. I stuck to electrolyte pills and water.

Somewhere around mile 6 I was convinced I was in last place, where I expected to be. Though I was surprised on the last hill and 3 women caught up and eventually passed me. After mile 7 the race gets steep again for the final climb tot he top. When the 4 of use were carefully walking along side the road, a white jeep came flying up toward up honking loudly. Scared us all and I am certain a few up us yelled at the driver. As we continued, we saw a ranger in the road, and I told her about the jeep and what happened. The driver was kind enough to come flying down the mountain at the moment, and she stopped him. I don't know how that conversation went, but she informed him that the runners had the right of way, and it sounded like he was getting lectured on his bad behavior.  A little while later I saw my husband drive past headed to the summit.

Finisher photo taken by another Strider. Race outfit was Skirt Sports Cool-It in white & GCS long sleeve shirt.

Right near the finish, the two women behind me passed me, and we all finished within a minute of each other. A friend in the striders, took a finishing photo and I met up with the friends I started with. "Three hours my butt" Kerri teased me as I finished under 2.5 hours.

The family arrived a few moments later. I got to snag and apple to start my refueling recovery. We explored. Walking around the summit we saw a hang glider jump off the mountain. We climbed halfway up the the tower, Alex and my older son went to the top. My legs were not amused by the stairs. We explored the lodge some as well.

Draining my legs in style. 

Race tip: If you ever run this race, set up a way to get down that doesn't involve the shuttles and enjoy the summit. There is a restaurant and cafe in the lodge, along with small shop for drinks. 

Watching a hang-glider jump off the mountain.

Eventually we headed back to our campsite. In the early evening Alex started the fire, we tossed potatoes into the coals to bake and heated up the skillet for bacon, kielbasa and anything else that sounded like it would taste good cooked in bacon grease over a campfire. I made tea. It was over a quarter mile round trip to the bathroom, which while sucked also helped keep me loose after the race. I remember to top off the air mattress as well.

The boys fell asleep on our camp sofa in front of the fire, and Alex and I stayed up late talking.

Eat all the things, cooked with bacon!

If this race was not 2.5 hours away(more with dog drop off), I would absolutely go again! Course support was fantastic, check-in easy, no feeling athe finish like I'd taken too long. The shirt was high quality. I'm excited for completing the Mountain Goat series and I look forward to Mt Washington next year with equal amounts of dread and excitement.