Welcome to the Rocksylvania Dispatch

There’s the version of trail running you see online—polished finish line photos, heroic captions, perfectly framed suffering.

And then there’s everything else.

This blog lives in the everything else.

I’m a trail race director and long-time participant in the strange ecosystem of endurance events across Pennsylvania. I’ve spent years in the woods marking courses that may or may not still be there by race morning, negotiating permits, watching weather systems with mild dread, and trying to anticipate every possible way a runner might get creatively lost.

Here, you’ll find what doesn’t make it to the social feeds.

Behind-the-curtain looks at race directing—the logistics, the near misses, the decisions that seemed good at the time. The unglamorous parts. The occasionally absurd parts. The moments where everything holds together just long enough to call it a success.

You’ll also find long-winded opinions. The kind that start with a reasonable point and wander off into the metaphorical woods. Consider this the “old RD yells at cloud” section of this blog where observations on trail culture, race trends, gear, etiquette, and whatever else seems worth overthinking.

There will be extended commentary. These are the posts too long, too nuanced, or too niche for social media, or the posts where you need to scroll endlessly to find.

There will be extended commentary. These are the posts too long, too nuanced, or too niche for social media, or the posts where you need to scroll endlessly to find. And revisits of old race reports, both mine and others, viewed through the lens of time, experience, and the realization that we probably didn’t know what we were doing.

But this isn’t just about races.

It’s also about the outdoors itself—especially here in Pennsylvania. The places these events depend on and reveal. The overlooked state parks, the forgotten trails, the rugged stretches of public land that don’t make the postcards but leave an impression anyway.

We’ll get into the economics of outdoor recreation—how small towns, state agencies, and volunteer-driven events intersect in ways that are messy, important, and often underappreciated. The heritage of these landscapes matters too: the history underfoot, the industries that shaped them, and the communities that continue to define them.

And occasionally, the spotlight will land on the surprising places—the ones you wouldn’t expect to host something memorable, but somehow do. The in-between spaces. The ridgelines, hollows, and trail systems that don’t try to impress you, but end up doing it anyway.

This blog is a record of the process—the miles, the mistakes, the minor victories, and the ongoing experiment of putting people on a trail and seeing what happens.

This blog is a record of the process—the miles, the mistakes, the minor victories, and the ongoing experiment of putting people on a trail and seeing what happens.

If you’ve ever wondered what goes into a race before the first runner toes the line… or what’s left after the last one comes through…

Or why these places matter in the first place…

You’re in the right place.