Armed with a brand new pair of trail shoes and a can of bug spray, I arrived for my first trail race in the Lynn Woods on a hot and humid Wednesday night in 2018.
I had never run trails before. But that night, I pretended I knew what I was doing as I charged up steep, rocky hills and over rolling single track sprinkled with pine needles. At the end of the race, along with the new friends I had made along the way, I crossed the finish line to cheers and flashing cameras.
That night would change the course of my running, and ultimately, my life. I didn’t know it at the time, but I had just begun chasing an ultramarathon dream.
Continue reading The Lynn Woods: Finding my Tribe and Passion for Ultra Running →
For eight years the Nougat 100K was a mostly “underground” event on the Massachusetts ultrarunning scene. The annual fatass-style event put on by Jeff Lane and Greg Esbitt was a deliberately small gathering of friends at the Lynn Woods Reservation that focused more on fellowship than running. In fact, the advertised distance was rarely achieved – a point driven home on the Nougat website that darkly offered preliminary results as “100% DNF – congrats to all.”
A handful of runners were credited with a 50K or marathon finish through the years, though finishing wasn’t really the point. The Nougat was about spending a day in the woods with friends. That’s why when Lane and Esbitt handed over the reins to Salem residents William Jackson and Kristen Smith to organize the event – now rebranded as the WJKJ 50K – the focus remained on bringing friends together. Continue reading Inaugural WJKJ 50K Keeps Nougat Spirit Alive →
Going beyond the marathon in Massachusetts
MassUltra 