The role of race director has many parallels to training for an ultra. Directing a race can be a time consuming and frustrating process and at times, it can test your patience and passion. I find that I often need to emp...
Articles by Amy Rusiecki
At this year’s Vermont 100 (VT100), I would yell, “Let’s hear it for the volunteers!” just before leaving each aid station and allow the crews (eagerly awaiting their runners) to do what I couldn’t appropriatel...
Seven Sisters Trail Race female podium (L-R, Bonnie Lathrop in second, Colleen Chase in third and Carmen Bango in first). Rebecca_González-Kreisberg For the past several years, I have directed the Seven S...
I’ve been a runner for about 30 years now, and an ultrarunner for nearly 15 years. Over the years and miles, I’ve learned a lot of lessons—often the hard way. I was asked to speak to a local running club about my expe...
On a Saturday morning in April, 17-year-old Will Draxler set off up the trail to begin his “design your own” 100-mile journey through the Hilltowns of Western Massachusetts. Will was a senior at the local Academy at Char...
Winter in New England is always full of cross-training, as it’s hard to maintain regular running without a bit of flexibility and creativity. Snow-covered trails, slick roadways and sub-Arctic temperatures often force...
I sit in my backyard, completely comfortable in the old camp chair. My shower and bed (and kitty cats) are mere feet away inside my house, and the temptation to give into these creature comforts is intense. I have run 10...
In this crazy year, I’ve found it hard to find inspiration. I think that I just wasn’t invested in anything enough to capture my imagination. Particularly, there was the struggle of trying to navigate the immense work st...
I’ll admit it. My mental game can be weak. Of all the muscles in my body that I train to prepare for an ultra, my brain is the most neglected and undertrained. And, in those late miles of an ultra, it’s a critical compon...
On Monday, April 20, I ran 26.2 miles around my community. I was supposed to be running from Hopkinton to Boston, but COVID-19 changed that. Still, I couldn’t allow Marathon Monday to pass without celebrating the best wa...
Just 90 minutes outside of Washington, DC, hides a gem of a trail in the George Washington Forest – a perfect ring of mountains just begging to be run. The Massanutten Mountain Trail circumnavigates this 71-mile mountain...
For 40-50 hours per week, I work as an environmental engineer organizing the logistics and operations of a municipal public works department. My entire involvement with running, including training, coaching and race dire...
Somewhere between winter and spring, lies the frustration of ice and mud season in the Northeast. This time of treacherous running can last anywhere from a week to a month, but the most challenging conditions are when bo...
Years ago, someone once told me that “snowshoeing made the winter bearable.” I would go farther than that and say snowshoeing makes the winter fun. I actually think it’s the secret training weapon of those ultrarunners w...
Over the past few years, runners like Kyle Robidoux have made the ultrarunning news for their participation in races. Kyle is a well-known fixture in the New England running scene, having completed races such as the Verm...
There has been a lot of discussion recently regarding the wide categorization of gender in ultrarunning. Conversations, policies and debates have centered around male versus female topics including where transgender athl...
Anyone who’s directed a race likely has some crazy stories of the unexpected, humorous and stressful things that can happen behind the scenes. And anyone who’s directed an ultra has many more stories – as things only get...
Like many in the ultrarunning community, I crave adventure. This has pushed me to enter 100-mile races and run a few epic routes “just because.” However, I don’t always have time to travel to a race, or even carve out a...
I’m an engineer with a Type A personality. If there was such a thing as being Type A+ that would be me. I like organization and anyone who has done one of my races has received race announcements that include bullet poin...
While most of us will never hold an FKT, simply perusing the list of FKT routes will fill up any ultrarunner’s bucket list. The Beast Coast offers plenty of such routes – one of the most popular being the Presidential Tr...