-
Like most of the world, the COVID-19 pandemic hit us hard – as people, as a company and as members of the racing industry. As the shelter-in-place orders continued, we realized that waiting this out wasn’t an option. The Bryce Ultras at the end of May was our first opportunity to see if there was a way to hold races during the pandemic while also keeping our runners and staff safe.
-
Originally Candice Burt had planned to spend the week before her next race, the Badwater 135, adapting to the heat in the Badwater Basin, but with Badwater’s official cancellation, she instead spent a week at altitude in Lake Tahoe for her new goal: the 171-mile Tahoe Rim Trail unsupported fastest known time.
-
Was I nervous? Absolutely. I had one week to prepare for a high elevation mountain race. But despite that aforementioned absurdity, my excitement to pin on an actual race bib completely trumped my fears, and I dove in head first without looking back.
-
Were it not for the circumstances of the pandemic, I would never have been shopping around for a race, but fate brought me together with the Strawberry Fields Forever 30 Hours in North Bonneville, Washington, near the Columbia River. It turned out to be a wonderfully well run and satisfying ultra with just 3,200 feet of elevation gain.
-
At the end of the day, whatever it takes to preserve our sanity and keep us moving is a good thing. And maybe, just maybe, when all this is over, our running community will have gained a few members for life from this surge in virtual races.
-
During the long summer days, the sun rises before 5 a.m. in Minneapolis, Minnesota, home to the hardworking mother of four, founder of Native Women Running and ultrarunner, Verna Volker. She heads out the door for her daily morning ritual: a run towards the rising sun.