How many times have you searched online for upcoming run races, only to find that the best ones are already sold out? Recently that’s been me. Nevertheless, I am always surprised by how quickly the races fill. Sometimes I fail to schedule events because I don’t know what will happen in my life in six months or a year ahead. Wrong strategy! Better to determine upfront what I’ll be doing. To this end, I decided to be proactive and check which live events had opened for 2021. My reward is a shortlist of scenic trail running races that look interesting and slightly challenging. Consequently, I am compelled to train purposefully if I don’t want to struggle too much!
We will run our first race on June 6, the Rabun Half Marathon near Sky Valley in Georgia. We’ve wanted to explore the higher elevations of Northern Georgia since the pandemic started more than a year ago. Rabun Bald is the second highest peak in Georgia, making a perfect choice. Picking races in places we want to visit is how we like to give our travel destinations additional purpose
The Rabun Half website describes pristine single track, crossing 14 footbridges over creeks and small waterfalls. We summit Rabun Bald, the 2nd highest point in Georgia, to enjoy the 360-degree views overlooking 3 states. The route traverses the trails and fire roads with nearly 6000 ft of elevation change (2700 ft gain) – coming from Texas is that going to be tough or what?
Check it out! Oh, and this race offers no swag or finisher awards. There will be no medals to show for doing this one, which is fine by me. I have a box full of medals that I wish I could find a cool way to display.
Upcoming run races
Other races on the list are the NUT 17 in Oregon, a long-distance triathlon in Kerrville, and two races in South Africa in October. And, to round off the year, a tentative 50k in December. Now that I have all my events lined up, it’s time to create a training program that accounts for all of them.
Follow the link to to learn more about my running background.
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