If selected, it will mean I’m registered for two marathons on two successive weekends for the first time (Chickamauga Battlefield Marathon is the Saturday before). Also the Flying Monkey is one of the hardest marathons (non-trail) in the United States, and is located within our very own Percy Warner Park.
I have no idea what I’m thinking, but this has been on my bucket list for quite a while now. Hoping that Nathan will also decide to sign-up and be crazy with me (he’s also registered for Chickamauga). Last year the race sold out in 4-minutes, thus the lottery this year, so there’s always hope that I won’t be selected 🙂
The following is a description of the race from the event website:
A Tough Little Run in the Park
Ours has become an age of flat and fast marathons on city streets and in urban jungles, with more focus on times, course certification, gadgets, charities and putting on a big show than on running. Many modern marathons have become spectacles rather than athletic events. But it was not always this way. Marathons used to be about running for the sake of running. They were about pushing oneself beyond the physiologic limits of the human body. While running.
The Harpeth Hills Flying Monkey Marathon is meant to be an antidote. Featured in Marathon & Beyond and in Runners’ World magazines, it is a marathon that is about running. Running hard. Running over big and memorable and painful rolling hills through dense woods. Running with other like-minded athletes. The Harpeth Hills Flying Monkey Marathon is about the joy and pain of running a unique, and uniquely challenging—some would say beastly—26.2 mile course in the beautiful and historic Percy Warner Park, nestled among the Middle Tennessee Harpeth Hills.
We will time and measure the distance, but the course will not be certified and it will not be a Boston qualifying event. If you get to the end and you (or your gadget) believe the route to be long, we won’t charge you extra; if you believe it to be short, just keep running. There will be no bands, cheerleaders, wave starts or crowds. We promise no marathon Personal Records, but we guarantee every runner a PR – a Permanent Remembrance of a well-earned marathon finish. We promise to give you approximately 26.2 tough and memorable miles, with a total of over 3600 feet each of elevation gain and loss, or over 7200 feet of overall elevation change.
Sure, there are other road marathons out there claiming to be America’s toughest. But they are no Monkey. Come out and join us in Nashville. We look forward to seeing you.