This past weekend I finished the 2021 Virtual United Airlines NYC Half Run For the Love of Running in just a little more than two hours. In a way, this virtual race is my COVID #TheMoment; it marks the year anniversary of the moment I began to realize the gravity of the COVID-19 pandemic. Last March, I was ramping up for my fifth consecutive NYC Half, which has always been my favorite NYC race aside from the marathon. It falls in mid-March, often during a weekend with perfect running weather: cold and clear at the start, but with lots of sun to bring up the temperature by the time you finish the race. I’ve set a personal best for the half distance in this race every time I’ve done it, except once.

In the days leading up to the March 2020 NYC Half, we began hearing rumors that the race might not happen. Postponing or cancelling an event of this magnitude seemed unfathomable at the time, since so many people had already made the journey to NYC from afar. Some people had even picked up their bibs and race shirts! Looking back a year later, though, it seems fantastical that organizers took as long as they did to cancel, given that within a few weeks, the fields of Central Park would be used to set up tents and build some ad hoc hospitals.

So when Strava and the New York Road Runners posted about hosting a virtual race instead of an in-person event last March, I figured I would give it a shot. I had never done a virtual race before, but because I wanted to capitalize on the “training” that I had done in the weeks prior, I signed up and ran 13.1 on my own, as I’ve done scores of times in my running life. I tried to replicate my race pace and race conditions as much as possible, except that I ran in Prospect Park rather than the cross-Manhattan bridge rouge. With the 8:17 per mile pace I ended up with, I would have almost certainly set another personal record in “real” race conditions. Thus began a year-plus odyssey of approximating the communal racing experience by enrolling in virtual races.

General thoughts about virtual races

I’ll be honest. I am looking forward to returning to in-person races, just like I am looking forward to returning to other forms of in-person life that have been put on hold over the past year or so. Still, virtual races have been a nice addition to my life and have given me a bit of extra incentive to keep running at times when I otherwise might have stopped or not gone out at all. Here are some observations I have about the few virtual races I’ve done (and about virtual races in general):

  • Virtual races extend the sense of running community and allow people from all over the world to feel connected to the spirit and energy of an event.
  • Virtual races offer me (and others) motivation and a relatively safe way to keep up with running and training during these months.
  • In times of complete (or near complete) shutdown, virtual races can provide a revenue stream for running clubs and race organizations that otherwise would not be possible. I look forward to more virtual race events and series that can provide rewards and other pathways into competitive races.
  • I have not run a virtual marathon, although I know many people who ran the majority of the NYC Marathon course during the first weekend in November 2020.

Running during the time of COVID

In other reading and recommendations this week, I urge you to take a look at Lindsay Crouse’s essay on the effect of the pandemic on running from a couple weeks ago. It’s a peculiar piece that describes an experience to which I cannot relate. Crouse writes that toward the end of 2019, she had been peaking as a runner, reaching levels of volume and speed that she hadn’t ever attained in her life. When COVID-19 arrived in NYC, all the momentum stopped and she (like many people) stayed inside. A few days turned into a few months on the couch of no running or exercise at all.

I get that overwhelming anxiety or burnout can cause people to stop running, but I’ve never been the kind of person who stops running completely. In fact, running has been one of the activities that has grounded me during the pandemic. So it’s interesting for me to read about the more disparate experiences of others, especially those who touch such extremes in such a short amount of time.

What have other people experienced? Has there ever been a time where you stopped running completely, and not because of a specific injury? Has the pandemic affected your desire to run?

I realize that we don’t yet have a commenting forum on our site, but it never hurts to send an e mail or let us know what you think. In the future, we may be a little more proactive about fielding questions.

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