With Paine to Pain fast approaching, it’s time to line up a nice practice run as we did last year. This is purely a fun run — think of it as a guided running tour of the 13.1 mile course. It’s open to all, whether you are running the race or not.
This will be eight days before the race, on Saturday, September 24th, at 7:30 am.
But. The run does not start at the P2P start. It starts instead at the trailhead for the Leatherstocking Trail on Pinebrook Blvd. (about .9M mark of the race)
Starting here allows runners that don’t want to do the full monty to do the shorter versions. This includes the popular 10-mile version where you jump off the trail as you cross Pinebrook Blvd a second time (as you head south down the Hutch Trail), and simply run Pinebrook two miles back to the start.
Options include:
- 5.5-miler – simple out and back on the Leatherstocking Trail
- 10-miler – Leatherstocking–>Saxon Woods–>Hutch Trail–> Pinebrook
- 13 miler – The full monty – Leatherstocking–>Saxon Woods–>Hutch Trail–> Twin Lakes –> Nature Study Woods –>New Rochelle
You can view the course map at PaineToPain.com. Yellow flags will mark the course on race day.
MEETING PLACE: Leatherstocking Trailhead on Pinebrook Blvd., New Rochelle (at the intersection of Hillside Crescent and Pinebrook). Park on Crescent if you are driving.
TIME NEEDED: Two pace groups. I will lead one (I run an 8 mile road pace, 9 mile trail pace) and Nina Steinberg will lead another that is 1-2 minutes/mile slower.
WATER/TOILET: At Saxon Woods golf club, about 6.5 miles after the start. Please carry a water bottle. There is no support of any kind.
And if you haven’t signed up yet, well, what the hell are you waiting for? We currently have about 500 registrants, and with wave starts, we still have room for you without overburdening the trail.
Register online at active.com or by completing the entry form on our website.
And yes, of course we are still looking for volunteers. Duh. You think these races run by themselves? Please email our Volunteers Poobah, Greg Stern, to help out.
Last thing, if it rains, remember this: Mud is not a problem. It’s a feature.
Please RSVP to let me know if you are coming so I have a rough idea how many to expect. Eric [at] PaineToPain [dot] com.
Ran the course on labor. I certainly hope the trail is marked better during the race than it is now (blue markers).
Those blue markers are for the Colonial Trail. While we use many of those trails, we deviate in a couple of places (to make the race longer, harder, and more interesting).
On race day the course will be marked with hundreds of yellow flags, laid out by volunteers the day before.