Wednesday, October 14, 2026
By Maggie Miles | Outer Banks Voice on March 25, 2026
Kitty Hawk ultra marathon runner Wendy Coulson Murray is gearing up for her next endurance challenge after being selected as one of 21 runners nationwide to participate in the MS Run the US Relay — a 3,260-mile run across the country to raise awareness and funds for multiple sclerosis.
Her part of the run will cover 221 miles over eight consecutive days through the Mojave Desert –from Barstow, CA to Las Vegas, NV—beginning on March 29. Each runner completes a segment of the route while committing to raise at least $10,000 to support MS research and programs for those living with the disease.
No stranger to these types of runs, Murray has completed a number of extreme races. They include a 314-mile segment in the Vol State 500K in Tennessee, which she completed twice; the Across Florida 200, in which she ran 200K;, and the Mattamuskeet Death March in Fairfield, NC where she ran two laps, 62 miles around a lake on hot asphalt. Then there’s the Badwater 135, where runners go from the lowest point in the United States, which is Badwater Basin in Death Valley, to the highest point in the contiguous United States, which is Mount Whitney in the Sierra Nevada range.
Murray moved to the Outer Banks in 2008 from Hilton Head, SC, and is currently the Director of Sales and Marketing for Island H2O Water Park, which gives her time to train in the offseason. To prepare for this run, she has participated in the Across Florida 200, a 24-hour race in Myrtle Beach in January, and a 48-hour Race in Las Vegas where she ran 120 miles. Having started running in high school, she also regularly completes high-mileage training on the Outer Banks. To support Murray and the cause go to her profile here.
Murray’s first ultra run was the 24-Hour Cancer Run in April 2014. But she says it was the at Mattamuskeet Death March 100k about a year later when she realized her love of running long distances in the heat.
“You just had all the things that go with the heat. And I had a crew, and they were keeping me hydrated and cool as they could,” said Murray. And I got finished, and that was like, ‘wow, I really like this suffering.’”
For the Tennessee run, she was given a GPX File, which a standardized XML file used to store and share geographic data—such as waypoints, tracks and routes—across different GPS devices and mapping software to navigate.
“You don’t really have a lot of support. There’s not, like, specific aid stations or marks. The course isn’t marked…you kind of sleep in cemeteries, you sleep wherever you can find whenever you need to sleep,” said Murray.
Many of the runs she participates in, such as the MS Run, raise money and awareness for illnesses. She became involved in that event through her daughter, who works for the National MS Society on the Bike MS endurance event.
MS Run the US was founded by Ashley Snyder, who, at 24 years old, ran across the country for her mom, who had MS. Her goal was to raise $500,000 in a solo journey across the country and she ended up raising $52,000.
Many people were interested in helping her but couldn’t race across the entire country, so she broke the route into segments so different runners could each take a portion of the journey. The relay is now in its 15th season and has raised a total of more than 4 million dollars for MS, according to Murray.
“I really love the desert, love the heat. So when I applied for this. I actually asked for the desert section, which is the Mojave. What’s kind of cool about it is it is the longest section,” she said. “And I love that I’ll be out there by myself and just kind of seeing the country.”
Her segment is the equivalent of eighty marathons in eight days, about 26.2 miles each day. She will have a two-man crew assisting her and an RV that travels with her. The RV will be parked on public lands for off-grid camping with no hookups for water, electricity or sewer or electricity—something known as boondocking.
“It’s pretty primitive when you boondock,” said Murray. “So I’m kind of excited there’s a little bit of a new element to it that I haven’t experienced.”
When asked to explain what she means when she says she loves the suffering, Murray explains that it comes down to the challenge. She has gone to extremes and knows where some of her limits are, and loves to see just how far she can push that.
“It’s a little bit of an addiction, like you kind of want to see how far you can go, how far you can challenge yourself, both physically and mentally.”
According to Murray, she’s a happy runner, an easy runner, and she doesn’t take herself too seriously. But, she says, there are always going to be highs and lows.
“There’s gonna be a pain cave that you’re gonna get in,” she explained. “You have to be creative with how you get out of it [and] know that that’s a roller coaster [and] you’re going to come out on the other side, and something’s going to be really magical about it. And that can be anything from petting a dog that runs by you, or a kid giving you a high five, or if you’re out there by yourself, it could be a song that comes on that gives you happy memories.”
