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The start/finish of the MMT 100, taken on a brilliant afternoon of the 2017 race.
Keith Knipling
Training Runs
The VHTRC sponsors four training runs on the MMT course in the months leading up to the race. These training runs kick-off on MLK weekend in January and usually extend into April. All runs are on Saturdays. Three of the training runs each comprises roughly one-third of the MMT course. The fourth training run, the Chocolate Bunny, is a nighttime run on the southern portion of the course the night before Easter.
See the schedule below for details. You must sign up in advance if you wish to attend any of these training runs.
2024 training runs
MMT Training Academy Run 1: Caroline Furnace to Elizabeth Furnace
Sat Jan 18, 2025
32 miles
Day #1 of the MLK weekend of mountain training runs, this year hosted by Larry Huffman. This is a roughly 50 km section of the MMT 100 course along the western ridge of the Massanuttens, starting at the Caroline Furnace Lutheran Camp and ending at Signal Knob.
MMT Training Academy Run 2: Elizabeth Furnace to Camp Roosevelt
Sat Feb 17, 2024
30.3 miles
This MMT training run covers the middle third of MMT, from Elizabeth Furnace to Camp Roosevelt.
MMT Training Academy Run 3: Camp Roosevelt to Camp Roosevelt
Sat Mar 16, 2024
35 miles
This MMT training run covers the final third of MMT, from Camp Roosevelt to the finish.
MMT Training Academy: Chocolate Bunny
Sat Mar 30, 2024
25.9 miles
A low-key, tough, night-time run on the southern section of the MMT course. Prior daytime experience on the MMT course is a prerequisite.
Before the start of the first MMT “Training Academy” run in 2002. Left to right: Amy Bloom, Steve Platt (they were not yet married), Brian McNeil, Mike Bur, and John Dodds. Tom Corris is taking the photo.
Brian reports: “(Amy and Steve) had the good sense to turn around at Milford Gap. The four remaining characters drank from hoses at cabins along the Shenandoah River when we ran out of water. What we DIDN’T know about the MMT course far outweighed what we did know at that point.”
Exploring on your own
With exception to the start and finish, the entire MMT course is on public land. You can explore the course yourself.
Unless you know the course well, we recommend that you obtain Potomac Appalachian Trail Club (PATC) maps G and H. These are topographic maps that cover the trails in the Massanutten Mountains -- north of US 211 (Map G) and south of US 211 (Map H). Both maps are printed on water-resistant, tear-resistance synthetic stock in six colors. Most of the course is on map G. Only the Bird Knob section of the MMT course is on map H. The PATC also has a Guide to the Massanutten Mountains updated in 2013 (available as a separate item or in a set with maps G and H). There are discounts for PATC members.
You can order these maps on the PATC Web site.
Map G is also available at REI.
Weekly training runs
Missed a training run? The VHTRC holds weekly training runs in Rock Creek and Great Falls parks. No sign-up is required for these.
Last updated February 8, 2023