Course

The Course Map is up! As are the individual leg maps. As you will see, we've put together a diverse course with some challenging legs and some easier ones. Most of the legs are really great. . . picturesque, historic or both. We've endeavored to stay away from heavily trafficked areas as much as possible and to RUN WHERE THE LOCALS RUN! In our view, it's all about the course, that's why we've taken such care in putting this one together.

In addition to the Course Map, we've posted a Leg Difficulty Chart that adds up the legs that each runner will run and grades them on how tough they are. We're pretty certain that the course as it's now laid out is what you will run, but we may make a very minor tweak or two. So, we won't be doing a final PDF for each leg quite yet. Check back soon though!

The race will start in Gettysburg, PA in the shadow of the Civil War battlefields. We strongly recommend that you take full advantage of the amazing Gettysburg National Military Park by arriving early.

From Gettysburg we will head out to Fairfield, PA. We will cross two beautiful covered bridges, climb a monster hill, run the dirt roads in Michaux State Forest and slowly begin to make our way toward MD. Our Gettysburg/Fairfield running buddy, Nancy Petrosky, has her fingerprints all over this fantastic part of the course and we are in her debt for the great legs in this area!

It will likely be dark as you cross the famed Mason Dixon line from the old north into the old south. Legs 11 and 12 will end at Smithsburg High School. Cross country coach Ray Shriver has been great at helping us come up with a leg that his team uses to train and he also suggested some other good alternatives for us.

From Smithsburg we head to Boonsboro and the soon to be famous, mid-race Odyssey Oasis festival. Leg 15 will end at the Boonsboro High School complex (BHS) and we will then run legs 16, 17 and 18 in a cloverleaf fashion such that each one starts and ends at BHS. So, that means that not only will Van 2 be hanging out at BHS for a good long while, but so will Van 1, meaning that runners from the two vans can actually interact with each other! We have lots of great stuff planned for BHS, but that is for another section of the site!

From Boonsboro we will head to Sharpsburg, home of the Antietam Battlefield. We will run through the battlefield during the middle of the night and on into the wee hours of the morning. From Antietam we will head to Harpers Ferry, WV for our third state. We will hop onto the C & O canal just northwest of Harpers Ferry at Dargan Bend and head toward DC. Along the way we will pass historic Riley's Lock and Great Falls, MD.

The final runner will get to run through Georgetown, past the Kennedy Center, the Watergate, the Lincoln Memorial and the Jefferson Memorial before finishing with teammates running directly toward the Washington Monument!

We hope you love this course as much as we do!