Hey Trail Animals,

2012 has been an fulfilling period for Trail Animals all over the world.  Our pack has growth to over 1,500 members, we’ve had another great TARC Trail Series with a dozen races and thousands of members participating at all distances and levels.  Over 1,000 Animals toed the line for their first-ever trail race and over 300 tried their hand for an inaugural ultra distance – very, very impressive.

But the fun has only just begun…..

To kick off a year-long celebration of the 20^th anniversary of the Trail Animals Running Club [founded in 1993], we have some BIG news to share:

TARC e-Store Open For Business

We’re adding an exciting new feature that members have been asking for many years – TARC logo gear!  We’ve partnered with one of the best technical and eco-friendly sports apparel suppliers in the business, GreenLayer, to bring you the first-ever TARC e-Store where you’ll find a sweet assortment of men’s and women’s TARC logo gear at member-only discount prices (30% off!).  This stuff is schweeeeet!  We’re starting with men and women short and long sleeve technical running shirts as well as singlets and jackets.  If this goes well, as time goes on we’ll add more logo gear to the mix.  And. As a TARC member you can also purchase anything from the Green Layer store (sans TARC Logo) and still receive our exclusive TARC member discount of 30%  – how’s that for a free membership benefit?!

The store officially opens today – right now – so let the shopping begin!  What better gift to give to a loved one or treat yourself to at the holidays than official TARC gear?  Even Santa will be putting this on his list along with all our fellow reindeer critters J

TARC/Green Layer e-store is here: http://store.green-layer.com/SearchResults.asp?Cat=454 or just go to the general Green Layer store: http://store.green-layer.com  and click on the Trail Animals under “Event Stores” on the lower left corner. Key in TrailAnimal30 in the coupon code box in your shopping cart to receive your TARC 30% discount EVERYTIME you shop and – off ANY GreenLayer product!  Everything you see is in stock in the colors shown except the jackets, which if you order between now and Nov 15^th, will ship to arrive in early December.

2013 TARC Trail Series

It’s never too soon to start planning your next year’s races and we’re giving you a forest full of choices for 2013!  Click here: http://www.trailanimals.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/2013-New-England-Ultra-Calendar.pdf to see 2013 TARC Trail Series calendar of events (highlighted in green) along with other New England ultras.  Many of the other races have yet to announce their 2013 dates but you can always check our web site for the updated schedule from time-to-time by going here: http://www.trailanimals.com/race-announcements/ where we post periodic updates.  The TARC Trail Series dates are set but there’s a couple subject to change.  We’ll keep you posted via email and Facebook.

NEW TARC (Boston) 100 Mile Endurance Run

We’ve added an exciting new event to the TARC Trail Series for 2013 – a trail hundy!  Filling the otherwise ultra trail race void in June in New England, we’re introducing the TARC 100 which will be run June 14/15.  You’ll want to put this puppy on your calendar.  It’ll be located in metro-Boston, 100% trails, challenging but still accessible for a first-time 100 mile attempt, this New England beauty will have the usual outstanding TARC aid, trail markings and volunteers AND an official Trail Animal finisher’s jacket and an optional opportunity to collect a newly minted TARC100 belt buckle.  We will offer a 50 mile distance as well – a perfect run to cap your VT100 training!  More details to follow in the coming weeks but we wanted to be sure club members got the news first.   We await approval of the permits – and then we’ll fill you in with more details.

Run Like A Trail Animal!

A Trail Animals late-summer update

Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/trailanimals/

Welcome New Pack Members

Since our last update, which I believe was when Dewey and Truman were going at it in the presidential election J, we’ve added a herd of new members to our pack – swelling membership to over 1,000, with folks joining from all over the US, and world.  Hum.  Must be the fancy swag (none), exclusive membership (free) and tasty Ultra Cookies (yum) that has everyone so eager to join?  Trail running is growing at a 16% clip every year so whatever the reason; we’re delighted to have so many diverse and enthusiastic friends to play with on the trails!

Congratulations to all the Animals who completed the Vermont 100 and/or Leadville 100 recently – you are truly Animals of the most impressive kind!  Also we offer a special thanks our RD Chris Haley and volunteers and congratulations to all the members of the Pack who toed the line at the TARC Summer Classic this past Saturday in Medfield.   All reports have been everyone had a great time and found the course plenty hilly and challenging.

Yo, Fogetaboutit

Members like hearing about what events Animals are running so be sure to keep updated by joining our TARC Facebook site and share your stories & pictures (https://www.facebook.com/groups/trailanimals/) – otherwise we fogetabout what you do and what fun is dat?  You can request to join and become a member and that way you’ll see any updates on training runs, events, discussion about foot fungus and other good stuff.

TARC Fall Classic

Saturday, October 13^th at 8:00 am at Great Brook Farm in Carlisle, MA.  We offer a choice of distances: 10K, half marathon, marathon and 50K.  The course is wooded single track trail, fairly flat, a 10K loop with beautiful fall colors throughout the journey.  Plenty of on-site parking, aid, rest rooms.  As usual, this is a low fee ($22), community-oriented TARC event open to all skill levels from trail neophytes to veteran ultra distance runners.  You can register now at http://ultrasignup.com/register.aspx?did=14914 but hurry as the event sold out last year.

There will be a training run on the course announced via Facebook soon (https://www.facebook.com/groups/trailanimals/) but looking like Saturday, September 8^th at 7:30 am at the Great Brook Farm.

Ghost Train Rail Trail Race (Part of the TARC Trail Series)

October 27-28, 2012.  Spots are disappearing faster than Casper the ghost for this great autumn event.  It’s the only race in the entire universe that guarantees it will be haunted.  Intrigued?  It’s also the only 100 miler in the Live Free or Die state of NH and offers runners a choice of any multiple of 15 miles distance.  We have over 100 ultrarunners in this year’s race, over half of which are 100 milers, and we want to show them our New England hospitality.  Come and join us for an hour or a weekend.  You can sign up here: http://ultrasignup.com/register.aspx?did=16401.  Ghosts!  Goblins!  Mayhem!  Hijinks!  Don’t miss out!

There are two preview/training runs scheduled on this course for Saturday, September 13^th at 7:00 am and Saturday, October 13^th at 7:00 am (if you choose not to run the TARC Fall Classic).  To learn more go to the Ghost Run Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/groups/128914447155469/

Volunteers

We need volunteers for both the TARC Fall Classic and Ghost Train runs.

Need volunteer hours for an upcoming hundy?  Have some spare time in the middle of the night and not sure what to do with it?  Getting ready to celebrate Samhain?  If the answer to any of these questions is “I dunno”, then you should really consider volunteering at the TARC Fall Classic and/or Ghost Train Rail Trail race.  Please e-mail RD Bob Crowley at imbc@comcast.net for the TARC Fall Classic or harried RD Steven Latour at s_latour@hotmail.com for the Ghost Train run to volunteer.

Weekly Training Runs

Yep, we’ve got ‘em and they are happening just about every weekend like weeds growing the back yard.  The best way to know what’s going on is to check in on our Facebook page where weekend runs are posted by members.  Anyone can pull together a training run – just post it and watch the Animals come out of the woods!

Coming Soon – Train Animals On-line Store

We’ve had lots of requests for TARC gear from our membership.  Folks want to rep the club in races, strut about town with Animal-wear and unleash the Animal inside.  Although we try to keep the club low key and simple as possible, we hear you.  So, we’ve been talking to a few possible gear manufacturers about partnering whereby we’d be able to offer great TARC logo running apparel and maybe some other gear, at very fair prices, all available to members on-line.  Stay tuned as we hope to have more news in the coming weeks.

Well that got a little too long in the tooth so let’s leave it at that and wish all of you a healthy and happy fall season of getting dirty.  See you on the trails.  Run like a TRAIL Animal!

Volunteers needed!

Hey fellow Animals, we are actively recruiting volunteers for our TARC Spring Thaw (3/18) in Andover and Spring Classic (4/28) in Weston, MA.  It’s a great way to get involved in the Club, support your fellow Critters and have some fun.  Volunteering is also a really rewarding away to give back and pay-it-forward.  Email Emilyat for the Spring Thaw (3/18) and Bob at for the Spring Classic (4/28) if you can pitch in (emails below).  Roles include set up, trail marking, aid stations, traffic control, course monitoring, registration, scoring, cheerleading, clean up.

We have other TARC races at which you could volunteer.  The full list is found here .

We also provide hours towards ultra runs that have volunteer hour requirements (i.e. VT100, WSER, et al).

Questions?  Send us an email here.

Volunteer for Spring Classic with Bob: imbc@comcast.net

Volunteer for Spring Thaw with Emily:emily_trespas@yahoo.com

As of 1/2/12 registration is now open on Ultrasignup.com at http://ultrasignup.com/register.aspx?did=14908 for all distances (10K, half, marathon and 50K). We sold out last year so be sure to register early to be assured of a spot at the starting line.

Happy Holidays you Animals!

As we wind down 2011 we wanted to thank all of our fellow TARC members for joining the pack.  We are 500+ strong now – that’s up from 30 members just 18 months ago – and growing consistently each month.  Many of you decided to come out of your lairs, dens, holes, etc. and join us for one of our weekend training runs in the Middlesex Fells or Blue Hills Reservation.

We had the pleasure of launching the brand spanking new TARC Trail Series in 2011 and seeing so many new and familiar faces come out and give trail racing a try.  In fact, we sold out 90% of our events.

Beyond runners and spectators galore we had an increasing number of incredible volunteers who gave all of us their time and smiling faces to make our events possible.  THANK YOU so much all TARC volunteers – you set an example for us all to be proud of!

We hope as winter sets in, you’ll come out of breath some fresh air with us on one of our weekend runs, or make a resolution to run your first trail race or simply just get motivated to come out and hang with us for a while – even though we’re all Animals, we don’t bite!

Now onto 2012………

We’ve got the TARC Trail Series returning for its sophomore year and there are a few exciting changes we hope you will like.  We’ve added three new races to the Series: a new summertime 50 miler in the Middlesex Fells (replacing the Fells races of March and December), the only 100 miler in New Hampshire in October and a great hibernation busting run north of Boston in March.

So mark your running calendars now and plan on joining us for a bunch of great events planned especially with you in mind.  And as always, if you are feeling like you’d rather watch than run, then come out and volunteer at one of our events – it’s fun and will make you feel better about yourself – we guarantee!  And you can use your time to towards fulfilling any volunteer hours you need to log as part of another event you’ve entered (i.e. VT100, Western States, etc.)

Here is the entire lineup for 2012 TARC Trail Series:

3/18   NEW! TARC Spring Thaw 6 Hour – Harold R. Rafton Reservation , Andover, MA (Registration is now open here)

4/15 Don’t Run Boston and TARC 50 Miler – Blue Hills, Milton, MA (An email will be sent to all TARC members in January regarding registration)

4/28 TARC Spring Classic – Weston, MA (Registration opens 1/1 here )

5/12 Wapack and Back – Ashburnham, MA (Registration opens in Q112 here )

6/?  NEW! TARC Summertime Fells 50 miler – Middlesex Fells, Winchester, MA (More details to come but it will be a good one!)

8/4 TARC Summer Classic – Noon Hill Reservation, Medfield, MA (Registration opens 4/1 here )

10/13 TARC Fall Classic – Landlocked Forest, Lexington/Burlington, MA (Registration opens 6/1 here )

10/26-27 NEW! Ghost Train Rail Trail Ultra, Lake Potanipo, Milford, NH (Check it out here)

Happy Holidays from all of us in the TARC Pack to you and yours!