2014 Seven Sisters Trail Race

 2014 Seven Sisters Trail Race

Its fun for some

The seven sisters is a challenging out and back trail race along the M&M trail on the Holyoke range. The trail is really never flat and you can forget about maintaining any consistent pace. The terrain goes from very rocky to smooth single track, steep climbs to blazing descents. There is scrambling, rock hoping, hiking because your heart rate is maxed out, and anxious self talk as you negotiate footing. This race brings  together adrenaline and endorphin's and is not a race for everyone. One fellow racer hates this race...too technical, mentally exhausting, and the flow too erratic. I LOVED this race. Mentally engaging, constant speed changes, using all limbs, and being in nature. 

With that said, my only complaint of the race is how they set the start. With 400+ people the organizers decided break up the start in 4 heats, each with about 100 runners. Runners submitted their times during registration which then placed them in their respective heats. At the time I registered, 2 weeks prior, the first 3 heats were sold out. For me, starting in heat 4 meant I had to pass 350 racers to get to where i would expect to finish. Though I found all runners extremely kind and courteous as i ran around and by them, I think it would be better for all runners if the organizers where able to sort times and at race day place runners in appropriate heats. I may be totally ignorant of how much work that would involve, but it seems like the database should be able to sort times very quickly, then assign numbers.

Overall,if you like the mental challenge of trail race, try this one out! If you want to be competitive, sign up early!! 

Photo Credit: Ben Kimball

Mark and I pre-race

Results: 

27th place out of 433 racers     

Time:  2:29:19

Link to my running stats.

http://www.strava.com/activities/137494915