New England Green River Marathon
This body fueled by potatoes and maple syrup!
I was fast in my past running life. One of my proudest accomplishments was qualifying for and running the Boston Marathon. And I did it after less than a year of marathon running. But I was 29 then and training at my most intense level—it was how I got through one of the roughest patches of my life. I’m much older now and have lost my speed. I’ve since embraced ultra-running and endurance for my second running act. So when I decided to do a marathon or ultra in all 50 states, I knew the Boston Marathon was probably not going to be my Massachusetts race.
I chose the New England Green River Marathon to represent the Bay State; and in many ways it’s the opposite of Boston. Sure it’s a Boston qualifier and a topnotch event. But its location and overall vibe is so different than Boston. It’s capped at around 300 (compared to Boston’s near 30,000) and this race is primarily on dirt roads along a gorgeous river surrounded by forested rolling hills. No skyscrapers, no sidewalks, no roads lined with cheering spectators, no hype. The race starts at a rural music retreat and ends on a sprawling lawn shaded by big trees at a community college.
Half of this race is held in Southern Vermont where the Green River begins. The other half is in Franklin County, Massachusetts which accounts for just 1% of Massachusetts’ total population. It’s classic rural New England—and quite a contrast from metro Boston. As a 50 State Marathon Club member I’m allowed to count this race for Vermont or Mass, but not both. I already had Vermont under my belt—so Mass it is. The race happened to fall on my 20th wedding anniversary and my wife Heather decided to enter too. Great way to celebrate our anniversary. My parents from NH, and brother and sister in law from Maine came out to Western Massachusetts with us to enjoy the region and cheer us on.
As primarily a trail runner these days I absolutely loved that this marathon was overwhelmingly on dirt roads and through forest. Pretty darn close to a trail run for a road marathon. It was also a predominantly downhill course following the Green River on its way to the Deerfield River. I loved too how the race directors cherish this special environment. Upon registering we are required to make a donation to either the Connecticut River Conservancy or the Sugarloaf Mountain Athletic Club whose mission is to make running accessible to all athletes.
The race started at 7 am, but we had to be ready at 5 am to be bused to the starting line for this one way run. We started at Potash Hill a former 560 acre college campus now run by the Marlboro Music Festival in tiny Marlboro Vermont (population 1,720). Its main hall allowed for us to stay warm and dry—and good thing too as it was raining. And despite being a Washington based runner—this would be my first long race in the rain in a long long time. The Northwest has been dry and burning this year while New England was wet and verdant. Dirt roads I thought would be dusty—would be muddy! And some slick mud added a little suspense to the long downhill sections.
The race definitely had a Vermont and Western Massachusetts vibe known for its crunchiness. This part of the country is where young people come to numerous colleges and universities to major in being a hippy. The port-o-potties were composting toilets complete with buckets of wood chips to add after your contribution. And we passed by two drum circles! And this race had an unmistakable New England flavor when we entered the tiny town of Guilford Vermont (population 2120) and ran across an 1870-built covered bridge spanning the Green River. The covered bridge would provide a short reprieve from the rain, too!
But despite being a wet day, the rain was light most of the way and the temperature only in the 60s. A pretty decent running day weather-wise and far more agreeable than my last marathon in Vermont where I contended with energy-sapping heat and humidity. The course was almost split exactly between the two states. We entered Massachusetts at around 13.5 miles and the scenery was still gorgeous tracts of northern hardwoods along the rocky river. The course continued along the river through tiny Colrain Mass (population 1650) which I kept subliminally referring to as Coltrane, one of the greatest jazz musicians ever. And while I don’t run listening to music—I have my internal soundtrack on a continuous loop. But what really got me jazzed along this race were the Untapped Energy Gels at the aid stations.
These packets were pure Vermont Maple Syrup and the ones I reached for were caffeinated. Maple syrup infused with coffee—Vermont rocket fuel! And it kept me moving—moving so well that I had one of my best marathon finishes in recent years and despite the big challenging hill at mile 21. It was there that we pulled away from the river and entered the small city of Greenfield passing family farms, quiet neighborhoods and finishing up at the community college.
Here I was met by my family with my son running with me in the last half mile. To my chagrin my wife was there too. She’s not faster than me. Unfortunately she had to drop out half way because of nagging injuries. She was still in good spirits after running a good half marathon. I hanged around to cheer on fellow runners and 50 staters—one of them John from Virginia I met earlier this year at the Casper Wyoming Marathon. We ran about 17 miles together enjoying good conversation and camaraderie. Soon it was the time to enjoy the race fare. Attached to my bib number were three tickets—one for beer—one for ice cream—and one for food. You had four food truck choices and I went for the fusion panini one! And being in New England—the ice cream of course was killer—definitely worth running 26 miles for!
After the race, the sun came out and I spent the afternoon with my wife, son and bother walking a gorgeous rail trail in the town of Hadley in the Connecticut River Valley. Hadley happens to be the home of the largest potato farm in Massachusetts and we walked right by it. This area has some of the best soils in New England and it supports a large agricultural community. The University of Massachusetts with its agricultural research centers is in neighboring Amherst. This area was settled by many Polish immigrants whose descendants still maintain large farms in the area. Szawlowski Potato Farms Inc (known as SWAZ Potato Farms) is one of the oldest (founded in 1910) and one of the largest (more than 1500 acres). Of course these farms are small potatoes compared to the family potato farms in Washington among the largest in the US. And this Team Potato runner is happy to consume these nutritious vegetables anywhere to help fuel my runs and recover from them afterward!
Big Thanks to the Washington State Potato Commission for sponsoring me. I’m proud to be a member of Team Potato and to showcase the nutritional value and performance enhancement of potatoes as I train for my second 100 mile run—and continue to run a marathon or ultra-marathon in all 50 states! Massachusetts makes state number 15. I’ve got many miles and places yet to go—and lots of potatoes to consume to power me along the way.
