During this pandemic, and who knows when, or even if, it will end, running has been my therapy, besides when I do teleconferences with my actual therapist. Running has become a big part of my life. It was becoming big even before the pandemic. Running was a tool to lose weight at first, but now I legitimately enjoy it. I like going out to run pretty much any distance. It’s good to get away. It’s a relief. It’s a workout. I feel better during and after my runs. It’s great.

I was worried when the pandemic started because every race I signed up for was getting canceled. I’d get emails everyday with a new postponement or cancellation. This bummed me out. I didn’t know what I would do, or if this would quell any momentum I had gained since I started running about five years ago. Then virtual races became a thing. I didn’t really know what these virtual races entailed, or how to even do one. So I kind of stayed away at first. I took refunds when I could from canceled races, and the ones that were postponed, I deferred to whenever they would be safe to do in person. For the first couple months of quarantine running became just exercise again. That’s all well and good, and I was still getting out there, but I missed the race aspect of it. I didn’t miss the SWAG or the food, I missed the competition.

I’m a competitive person by nature. I’ve played sports my whole life, and competition has always driven me. I was never one to place in the top 50 of the races I ran, but I usually shot for the middle, and would usually land there. Sometimes I’d be closer to back, but in a few shorter races, I’d get myself into the top 20 or 30. I had talked to a few people, fellow runners, who had done some of the virtual races, and they spoke glowingly about them. Kirk, a sometimes contributor, was the first person I talked to because he was doing a 1000k virtual race pretty much as soon as the pandemic started. He told me it gave him a push to get out and run. He also said that he would take pictures and log miles into a system that kept count and let him know how much he had left. Before we started running together again, we took about three months off, talking on phone while we ran instead of in person masked, like we do now, we would talk while he logged miles. This got me even more intrigued with virtual races.

About a month after Kirk started his 1000k, I noticed that the state I live in, Missouri, was doing a similar thing. They had an online virtual endurance challenge, with the sign up money going to a good cause. I signed up for the 250 mile portion of it, and started in June. I realized quickly how much more this was pushing me to run. I was starting to log a good amount of miles in a short amount of time. I put in over 100 miles in the first month. I had until the end of the summer to do the 250 miles. I thought I’d cruise. Then the endurance challenge site said that you could upgrade for a small charge, so I went up to 500 miles. I wasn’t ready for a 1000k, but I figured I could do 500, which I did. That was the first virtual race I did. Since then I’ve signed up for more than a dozen. I’ve done a bunch of virtual 5k’s for many different good causes. I’ve done a few for BLM, for voters rights, for LGBTQ causes, and they’ve been great. I’ve also done a few virtual 10k’s, one of which I did get some cool University of Michigan SWAG. This past weekend I ran a virtual half marathon for GO! Saint Louis, a great local running company. I’ve also signed up for a virtual turkey trot and am contemplating doing another virtual BLM race coming up in Saint Louis. So, for a skeptic like I was, the virtual race option has been a very solid holding spot until I feel safe enough to do an actual in person race. Actually, the first in person race I have scheduled, that I will do if it happens, is in early December. But for now, I am enjoying the virtual option. It keeps me motivated and I have found myself doing longer distances than I thought in faster times than I was last year. I actually shaved about ten minutes off of my half marathon from last year.

Running is great therapy, and virtual races are great for keeping me competitive. If you’re still on the fence about virtual races, I recommend trying one out, especially if you can find an endurance option. They’re pretty cool.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

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