Baker Trail Ultrachallenge. This year it's the south section so more roads but next year (2014) it will be back on the north section in Cooks Forest which is phenomenal! 

The hardest 50 miler I have ever run. 

Virgil Crest was my first trail 50 miler. I DNF'd my first year (training set back). But I finished this year. I think I have to agree with you, it is tough.

But this is a gem of an ultra! ian does such a great job putting it on. The volunteers are awesome. The course is awesome. The ground bees not so much... The view from the top of the ski slope out over Hope Lake Lodge is breath-taking.

The other nice thing about VC is the Virgil Monster Marathon. It is a good preview of one of the challenging parts of the course and it is 3 weeks out from VC. It will definitely give you a lot of confidence going into VC. I just only wish that they could add the Lift House Loop into VMM.

Lace-up - Did you run it this year? Ian changed the Lift House Loop and it is more difficult IMO than last year.

If you opt for a mid- to late-fall 50 miler, you may want to consider Labor Pain as part of your training or a good test run.  5 mile trail loop, 12 hours...run when you want, rest when you want,  or just keep running.  It was my first time completing a 50K and gave me the moxie to want to sign up for Blues Cruise 50K. We had a friend run his first 100K at Labor Pain. 

Last year, top male did 75 miles, while top female did 65 (both new records, I believe). Tons of fun, no matter what!

I'm itching to sign up for a 50 right now! The only problem is I'm going to be moving (either locally OR cross country) around the same time as Finger Lakes 50.  Would this prevent you from signing up? I'm worried the move would cause too much extra stress around my training.

Also - I'm running my first 50k in May, do you think it's realistic to jump to 50M in July if I put in the appropriate training? I have such an urge to do this race.  Help me, ultra gods!

Your comment about Virgil Crest makes me feel better about my performance there.

Sign up for it and it'll work out. The timing between your 50k and 50M is fine. The stress of moving is a bitch, but distracting yourself with training actually might help reduce the stress. It did for me anyway.

 

I also just noticed the comments about Virgil Crest. I ran it in 2012 and it's an absolute monster. If it had been my first 50, I probably would have never run another.