Ultramarathon News Monday, March 16

Well this is sure weird, isn’t it? Kids are home from school (presumably for the rest of the semester), track is cancelled indefinitely, MUT races are postponed, stores are empty, hospitals and medical pros are tasked with unimaginable workloads, supply lines are disrupted, and there’s a fear permeating every conversation between us.

There’s good news too! This will be a season in which people reconnect with their families. We’ll get home projects done, hit the trails together, and hopefully learn to not take our health for granted. We’ll get creative with how to “see” each other, pointless meetings will be cancelled, and hopefully new industries emerge from this upcoming economic devastation.

So without races to report on, URP will do what we can to share posts about our community and work towards what’ll be a totally crazy fall season. After today, COVID posts will be limited on these pages, as I want to keep this part of life normal.

Here’s Justin’s rundown on iRunFar about the few races held and the myriad events postponed until fall. Again, fall is going to be NUTS.

See spreadsheet at bottom of this page for all MUT cancellations.

Citius: What it takes to be a good rabbit. Interesting.

Mountain Outhouse: JamJam reports on Transgrancanaria, the Nike Hundred thing, Ian’s close call on the freeway, and more. Note updates in comment section re cancellations.

But as I stood at the finish line, none of that mattered. My 6:17:11 official time was more than 45 minutes faster than 2017, and would have been a tad better had I not briefly taken a wrong turn at a driveway about a mile from the finish. After one of the leaders was DQ’d for going off course, I placed fourth overall, third male and first in the 50-59 age group.

But even if I had finished DFL it would have been a successful day. We run because of the joy it gives us. We run because the running community is inspiring. We run for health and mental wellbeing.

And sometimes we run because the world is jacked up and we need an escape form the realities of modern society. Perhaps there has been no time since 9/11 when that has been real and poignant.

—Run Spirited: Henry still raced a trail 50k this weekend and came away doing better than he’d expected. Nice job!

Need a new way to greet people that doesn’t include touching? Here are some ideas.

Trail Runner Mag: So your race was cancelled for coronavirus…now what?

Personal take: Just as I was a bit ambivalent about COVID a week ago, I need to drop that regret and look forward. Same needs to go for our community and country right now. The past is past, let’s look forward and beat this together. Blaming yourself or others isn’t productive or healthy. I’ve gotta remember that.

Jill pulled the plug on her Iditarod Trail Challenge early, only to discover the world she left a few weeks ago has changed drastically. Interesting perspective on both the race itself and how she’s handling the new normal. Meanwhile, her parter Beat is still out there, largely unaware of what’s been happening.

Generally a drive thru brewery doesn’t sound like a very good idea, but in these times, it makes sense.

Here’s a list of cancelled/postponed MUT events put together by Ultrarunning Magazine with input from the greater community. Use this link for updates.