Back when I decided I was going to be running all these races in 2020, I imagined that I might be doing a few virtual races. I didn’t realize that the whole world was going to turn upside down and I would be running, say, a 15k (that’s 9+ miles for those of you playing at home) on a course that I had to make up on my own (or in reality, Kyla made it up on her own because I was whining about it) because there would be no course map with street closures and tables with volunteers cheerfully handing me a cup of water or gatorade.
As I am a very stubborn person, I wasn’t about to let my aversion for running races on courses I had to plan, with water I had to bring, and cheerfulness I had to invent, get in the way of running 20 races this year. The problem we ran (hahah) into was that everyone seemed to be taking the CoVid-19 precautions / stay-at-home orders to mean: go outside when you’ve never done so before! Congregate with your neighbors and all their children and don’t wear masks! Lick toilet seats! Or I don’t know what the voices in some people’s heads are saying, that’s just mine.
I understand that working from home (or not working at all) and being cooped inside your house with your family and 7 kids is probably really really hard. But it was super strange, after having used two small local parks pretty regularly for 5 years and worrying that I would be murdered and no one would hear me scream; to having a line of cars down the street just to enter the park. We were going to have to improvise.
Salt Lake Run Series 15k (Virtual)
Fortunately, Kyla lives in a housing community that has a running trail that’s a little under 3 miles. The only street crossing we have to do is residential. Aside from being a little monotonous, the weather cooperated and it worked well for what we needed. We were also able to leave water bottles on her porch and visit with the dogs each time we took a break. And it only took me the entire month to drive to downtown Salt Lake and pick up our medals and swag. #Procrastination
Conquer CoVid-19 10k (Virtual)
Two weekends later, we reconvened at Kyla’s to run the same route, just a lap less. Which was nice. Except it was kind of windy and was threatening to rain on us the whole time. We did manage to finish, and as I was typing up this post I realized that I forgot to actually register for the race and that’s why my medal hadn’t arrived yet. Fortunately that was a fixable mistake and the medals (mine and Chad’s) are now en route. Kyla already had hers because she is a responsible adult.
SoJo Earth Day 10k
There are two race organizations that I’m familiar with in Utah: On Hill (which is just really really bad) and Runtastic (which is just really really amazing … perhaps in comparison to On Hill). When Kyla forwarded this race information to me, I figured it was time to expand my running horizons and give it a go. I had very low expectations and I was BLOWN AWAY.
This event, which was supposed to be an in-person race, was altered to a virtual race 3 weeks prior to the event. So, the event organizers set up the course and MAINTAINED IT for a full week to keep down on trail crowding. It also had a MapMyRun map and some other gadget related map that I didn’t look into because it appeared to be pretty straightforward to follow on the map they sent out. We started out from a park near the trail and had a little trouble finding the starting point (because I am TERRIBLE at reading maps, it turns out) but we eventually sorted it out.
But the most amazing part were the trail markers they used. Apparently, it takes very little to impress me. Every so often, just as I was afraid that we might have wandered off the trail, there was a teal marker on the ground to instill me with confidence that we were going the right way. They asked for some trail photos and a shot of our watch time for proof to be able to pick up our medals. We had a little fun with the photos along the way and a GREAT time running, so I’m really looking forward to doing more SoJo events.
Social Distancing 6k
Way back in February, when Australia was on fire, Kyla told me about this Virtual 5k we could do to raise money for the koala bears. Because I’m not totally a monster, I was like, IN! And then I promptly forgot to sign up. When we were scheduling out our virtual races for April, Kyla asked if we should do our Australia race and I quickly went to sign up and realized it was sold out. I googled around and found a 6k that Chad and I could do while Kyla did her 5k and that’s how I found this race. In case you were wondering.
I apparently didn’t take any photos during our very lovely run, but I did take a photo of my giant wine glass which was a present from the people in my life who I’ve forced to run a race or two. I mix their tears with my wine and it tastes like victory.
SLC Run Series 5kCandy Heart 5kRun SLC Series 10kLucky 13 10k- Run SLC Series 15k
- Conquer CoVid-19 10k
- SoJo Earth Day 10k
- Social Distancing 6k / Sarah doesn’t care about koala bears apparently 5k
Unfortunately it appears that our big #19 & #20 races aren’t going to be happening so we may have to replace them. But until the powers that be make it official, I don’t want to jinx it by announcing where we were planning to be in November in case someone wants to use that information to break into my house and steal my legos while I’m gone. Or lick our toilet seats. You never know.
Twelve more to go!
Blue House Yellow Door 