I love silly puns, so I think it’s hilarious that the Western Mass. Athletic Club keeps standings in an annual Grand Tree series (not to be confused with the USATF “Gran Prix” series).

I did a couple GT races last year (Greylock and Groton) and hope to do many more this season. I’m still in the planning/fantasy stages; I have yet to register for any race this season. I’d like to do them all, but that’s unlikely. I’d be bummed if I let a summer pass without a few epic motorcycle rides, catching some good waves and canoeing a few local rivers.

The first several GT races, at least, sound too good to pass up, though. The Merrimack River race (10 miles, April 14, Andover, Mass.) has been around a long time, and I’ve heard it’s a pleasant, gentle course.

The Muddy Moose (14 miles, April 22 in Wolfboro) is irresistible for the name alone, and Seven Sisters (12 miles, May 6 in Amherst, Mass.) is a notoriously challenging course.

I’m especially looking forward to the Nipmuck marathon June 3, in Ashford, Conn., having heard so much about it from a friend who’s run it twice. The course goes out and back one section of trail, and then out and back another section, in the other direction. I gather the second section is way tougher than the first. Yikes.

The Northern Nipmuck race (16 miles, April 7) is the first one on the GT calendar. I know nothing about it, but I’m eager to get back into things, so I will probably go for it.

The Greylock Marathon isn’t on the calendar this year, but there is a half-marathon on Massachusett’s highest peak June 17… I can’t imagine I won’t take another shot at that mountain, since it was so much fun the last time.