Liz Derstine, trail name “Mercury”, is a distance runner, endurance hiker, writer, and musician residing in Greater Boston, MA. She holds the fastest known times for women on the Appalachian Trail (supported, northbound), Vermont’s Long Trail (self-supported), and Pinhoti Trail (self-supported). Liz is also a classical pianist, songwriter/composer, and has toured all over the globe as a pop keyboardist and singer. She is currently pursuing a Master of Music at Longy School of Music of Bard College.
Outside of running and music, Liz loves hanging out with her cats Bo and Juno and nerding out on whatever is the latest in the sci-fi/fantasy realm.
Liz writes weekly stories for her newsletter “Mercury on the Run”, which you can subscribe to here. You can also find her on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.
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Fastest Known Times:
Appalachian Trail – Women’s Supported, Northbound (2020)
2,193 miles / 515,000ft elevation gain / 51 days, 16 hours, 30 minutes
Long Trail – Women’s Self-Supported (2022)
272 miles / 66,000ft elevation gain / 6 days, 8 hours, 12 minutes
Pinhoti Trail – Women’s Self-Supported (2022)
348.6 miles / 50,000ft elevation gain / 7 days, 18 hrs, 22 minutes
SCAR (Smokies Challenge Adventure Run) – Women’s Supported (2021)
72 miles / 18,660ft elevation gain / 18:27:07
Forest Park Nasties | Tour de Nasty – Overall Self-Supported (2020)
67.5 miles / 13,500ft elevation gain / 13:58:05
Wildwood Trail | Out and Back – Women’s Unsupported (2020)
60.4 miles / 6,600ft elevation gain / 11:53:43
Kings Mt. – Elk Mt. Loop – Women’s Unsupported (2020)
10.8 miles / 3,700ft elevation gain / 2:27:47
Personal Records / Achievements
2022 Across the Years Last Person Standing – DNF / 4th to last overall / 104 laps / 108.96 miles
2022 JFK 50 Mile – 7:36:54, 9th place
2022 Hagg Mud 50K – 4:34:11, 1st place
2021 Promise Land 50K – 5:51:56, 6th place
2021 Hellgate 100K – 13:57:49, 4th place
2019 Hellgate 100K – 14:18:47, 4th place, ultramarathon debut
2020 Houston Marathon – 2:51:34
2019 Holiday Half Marathon – 1:22:43
2018 – Tenacious 10K – 36:44
2018 – Carlsbad 5000 – 18:01
Appletree Half Marathon Course Record (1:24:50, 2019)
13-time Boston Marathon qualifier
3x Fastest Known Time of the Week (Appalachian Trail 2020, SCAR 2021, Pinhoti Trail 2022)
2021 Fastest Known Time of the Year top ten nominee (Smokies Challenge Adventure Run)
2022 #5 Women’s Fastest Known Time of the Year (Long Trail, self-supported)
Get in touch by using the contact form below, or by sending snail mail to the following address:
Liz Derstine
27 Garden St
Cambridge, MA 02138
Mercury on the Run 