2021 (Tentative) Race Calendar

2021 (Tentative) Race Calendar

Tentatively penciling things in

I’m going to be honest here: I agonized over whether to share my 2021 race calendar. It is irresponsible to be fretting over races or promoting races (and other group gatherings) in context of the raging pandemic. But on the other hand, many of these races are deferrals or postponements from 2020, or they’re really small trail races. (Trail races — especially ultras — were already socially-distant activities in the best of times, so with some adjustments such as wave starts and contactless aid stations they can often be held in a relatively safe manner.) And while the idea of races is exciting, I’m also very cautiously optimistic. Some 2021 races have already been pushed to 2022 and I know other runners have opted to skip many races, whether because they felt it might be unsafe (mostly in terms of lodging and logistics) or personal preference (such as not finding a race interesting enough to run without crowds or crew).

So with that said, this is my tentative race calendar. Everything is pencilled in and there is a good chance that more races will be cancelled or postponed or I may choose not to attend. But even so, I’m excited to have some (tentative) things to look towards. Even if they end up cancelled, these races can be tangible goals for me to train for and take back a little bit of control in an overwhelming time.

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January

• 30 - South Mountains Marathons 50K

  • This was originally supposed to be January 9 but was postponed due to snow. There are fewer than 100 runners and we will be spread out on non-looping trails in a more remote mountainous state park. It will have wave starts to spread people out from the start and contactless aid station, and I’m planning on camping out before and after (yay for sleeping in the cold! lol) so I feel pretty good about the logistics of this race.

February

• 6 - Uwharrie Mountain Run - 8/20/40 milers (volunteering)

  • I don’t plan on racing this, but I do plan on volunteering here. It’s a remote trail race, runners spread out quickly, and the race directors are local and responsible. I volunteered in 2019 and raced in 2020 (it was my last race before the pandemic hit the US) and am looking to sitting in the cold and making sure runners can get the aid they need in the safest possible way.

March

• 26 - Umstead 100 (pacing some laps)

  • This one is tough for me because I was all trained up for this to be my first 100 miler in 2020, but it was cancelled due to COVID-19. It was a good decision to cancel, but that didn’t make it easy to let go of all that hard work and not fulfill my goal. While I didn’t opt to defer my registration to 2021 (I was so burnt out from all that training I dreaded the idea of trying to sustain it to 2021), I do want to be a volunteer pacer for a few overnight laps. That said, there’s a very good chance this will be cancelled or postponed, so we’ll see what happens!

April

• 10 - Beast of the East 25 Miler

  • This race was postponed from spring/summer 2020, and while we’ve got a new date scheduled I don’t have much more information around this race. It’s also in an area that isn’t ideal for camping and doesn’t have a lot of AirBnB options, so we’ll see if I attend this.

September

• 24 - Yeti 100!

  • I’m excited about this! Any 100 mile race will have a small field of participants and 100 miles will very quickly spread out the runners, so I have confidence in this being a socially distant event. It’s also close to a lot of good camping and AirBnB options so I feel like the logistics are promising and I’m excited about this race!

November

• 6 - Savannah Rock’n’Roll Marathon (deferred from 2020)

  • This was a deferral from 2020. It’s a big road marathon race so we’ll see if this happens. It’s far enough away that there’s a glimmer of a chance.

• 13 - Richmond Marathon (deferred from 2019 to 2020 to 2021)

  • I was originally supposed to run this in 2019 but I deferred to 2020 because of work being crazy. But due to COVID I deferred my 2020 registration to 2021, so now I’ve got two marathons on back-to-back weekends, assuming it’s safe to have these big road marathons by November.

What about you? Are you registered for any races in 2021? If so, do you feel confident you’ll participate? Or are you holding off on any races for a while?