racing

St. Albert Road Race 10 Miler (2022)

April 25, 2022

There is an interesting phenomenon that happens during shoulder season races here in the Canadian Prairies. Four days ago we had a blizzard, and the streets were covered with five centimeters of snow, and a biting cold wind reminded us that any kind of weather was never a guarantee around here. As I woke up at 6am on Sunday morning, race day, there were traces of that cold lingering in the air, tho nearly all the snow had melted again. I stepped out my back door and I could see my breath and the chill was obvious.

virtual race season, take two. maybe.

Submitted by 8r4d on April 4 2021

Sunday Runday, and on our morning ten kilometer trail run everyone seem to want to talk racing season.

Except there is no racing season.

Twenty-twenty-one is a racing write off.

Or… it would be if it wasn’t for virtual races.

Virtual racing. Oh, those virtual races. And why?

Last year as the pandemic picked up its pace, another one of those little oh-yeah-and-that-too inconveniences was the cancellation of a bunch of running races. I was registered to run at least four big races, including the 2020 Chicago Marathon.

[Virtual] Personal Peak Summer Race Series (2020)

The race format is pretty simple: just run as far as you can in the allotted time.

After I gave the Quarantine Backyard a whirl a couple months ago, I found myself on a fortuitous mailing list. Last week I got the notice that the same crew were hosting a second race, this time a summer series, in a different format. Rather than looking to long-term endurance for the measuring stick, this time the race is a time trial.

I signed up for three of the four races this summer:

Boston, Virtually

Submitted by 8r4d on May 28 2020

Not that I was registered for the Boston Marathon, but as it was announced today that for the first time in it's 124 year history the Boston Marathon has been cancelled and will be run as a virtual race, I'm sitting here pondering what exactly that means for the Chicago Marathon scheduled for a month later. That one I am registered for.

Cancelled or otherwise, I think the biggest gift to runners right now is just certainty.

[Virtual] SeaWheeze Half Marathon (2020)

The day I registered for a couple virtual races was the same day that I found out -- officially -- I'd be working from home for the entire summer. At least. With a minimum of three more months of pandemic not-quite-lockdown facing me down and getting me down, I figured one of the only solutions for my personal health and fitness was to lockdown some real goals. Challenges are one thing but an actual, paid-for, medal-in-the-mail virtual race is another.

The rules I put in were simple:

[Virtual] Vancouver Half Marathon (2020)

The day I registered for a couple virtual races was the same day that I found out -- officially -- I'd be working from home for the entire summer. At least. With a minimum of three more months of pandemic not-quite-lockdown facing me down and getting me down, I figured one of the only solutions for my personal health and fitness was to lockdown some real goals. Challenges are one thing but an actual, paid-for, medal-in-the-mail virtual race is another.

The rules I put in were simple:

Quarantine Backyard Ultra (2020)

April 6, 2020

Post-Race

I woke up at about 530am to get myself prepped.

To be very, very clear: After watching the race live feed for the better part of the weekend, and as I write this 48+ hours later the live feed is STILL going and 3 people are STILL racing, my two laps and 13.5 klicks seems pathetically inadequate. The runners are approaching 330 klicks and 49 hours and three people are still racing.

So, I participated.