How To Choose A Top Goal Race for the New Year
Plus, recommended races to experience the San Juan Mountains
Welcome longtime readers and new subscribers. Several of you signed up this past week due to a nice mention in
’s newsletter. Thanks for being here. If you’d like an invitation to a monthly online meetup and occasional bonus posts, please consider upgrading your subscription to the supporter level.Christmas came early for me. After describing a discouraging setback and the blues in last week’s post, caused by the double whammy of long-term injury and a bad case of the flu, my luck did a 180.
My body recovered fast and well enough to leave home Friday on the first leg of our trip. In spite of coughing fits that made me mask up and feel like a pariah on the plane, we made it on Saturday to Quito, Ecuador, and then on Sunday to Santa Cruz Island in the Galápagos. I’m spending each day immersed in animal, bird, and plant observation, learning about evolution and climate adaptation. I invite you to check out my Instagram post to see some of what we saw and did in just the first two days:
But something perhaps even more amazing and unlikely than witnessing a baby blue-footed boobie up close happened to me Saturday morning as I walked through the Atlanta airport to catch a connecting flight. I had been consciously keeping my phone in my pocket and trying to ignore the chronically heartbreaking lottery happening online for the Hardrock Hundred. Suddenly, my phone began buzzing repeatedly. Text after text demanded my attention. Looking at my phone screen, I felt an all-over warm sensation of joy mixed with disbelief, and I literally jumped up and down a couple of times, in spite of my IT Band’s partially torn attachment at the tibia head. I couldn’t help jumping!
So many wonderful people texted to say my name was drawn for Hardrock! Since 2015, I had experienced annual disappointment on lottery day. I had amassed 512 tickets due to exponential ticket growth over the years of not getting picked, my ticket count boosted by volunteering. More than 600 women sought one of only 19 spots available to “Female Nevers.” Four of us had 512 tickets and a 75 percent chance. I braced myself to be the one of the four not picked. But this was my year! (Read iRunFar’s recap here of the insane lottery.)
With Hardrock on calendar now, my top goal is obvious. In any other year, I’d weigh the pros and cons of choosing certain races as an “A” goal—a process I wrote about a couple of weeks ago. Because I’m traveling and not running, I’m repurposing that earlier post to share advice that’s relevant for the end of the year.
How to choose your top-level race goal (updated)
This is the time of year when many of us plan the coming year’s training blocks and goal races. I relish the annual practice, blended with the holidays and winter solstice, of contemplating where to run and what to train for in the new year. It’s escapist in part, like travel research, and gets the mind off worries and work.
Getting a special race on calendar, and booking a hotel for the nights before and after it, also nurtures optimism and the sense that we have at least a smidge of control over future events. Of course, I could get injured, or a wildfire or even a global pandemic could break out and force event cancelation—shit has happened and will continue to blow the best-laid plans—but the act of getting that confirmation email, and outlining the weeks of workouts with progressively higher mileage, satisfies me far more than checking off any house or work project on a to-do list.
How do you choose which 100 (or any special ultra) to make your “A” race for the year? I suggest thinking about the following questions:
Does the destination, including its terrain and climate, excite you? Choose a race that takes place where you yearn to spend a few days in and around the host town, immersed in its landscape. Also consider whether you can handle the terrain (e.g. desert sand, mountain rocks, or the likelihood of miles of mud) and the climate.
What course profile and format do you prefer? It could be a point-to-point journey (like The Bear or Wasatch), a big loop (like Hardrock), an out-and-back (like Leadville), or repeat loops (like Javelina or HURT). It could be pancake flat (like the Thames Path 100 in England I’ve considered running) or have 40,000 feet of vertical gain and descent (like Ouray).
Is it a qualifier you need? If you care about getting into Western States, Hardrock, or another marquee ultra, then you will need to run one of the ultras listed as a qualifier to enter that event’s lottery.
Will you rely heavily on crew, and if so, is it a crew-friendly race? Some 100s are much more accessible than others.
Does the date work for you? Make sure the race falls at a good time of year for you to peak train and taper in the two months prior and then spend a long weekend at the event. For example, when my kids were school age, I tended to avoid races in late August and early September because the back-to-school season was so busy and kid-focused. Now, I tend to avoid challenging ultras in late spring or early summer (such as Bighorn 100, even though I’d like to run it) because it takes so long for trails to clear and melt out where I live, I can’t start high-country training until June.
Does the race organization and its race director have a good reputation? I gravitate toward Aravaipa Running, Gnar Runners, and Mad Moose events, and also ran a lot of NorCal Ultra events when I lived in California, because I feel a certain level of trust and confidence in their race directors. Personally, I have chosen not to support UTMB events or try to earn their “stones” for UTMB entry because the UTMB-Ironman partnership is creating a monopoly in the sport of mountain/ultra/trail-running events and changing the landscape, size, economics, and culture of the events we can run, which alarms me.
Is it a “redemption race” (i.e. a do-over or do-better attempt)? Running the same event more than once for the challenge of improving on the course is a powerful motivator, and what’s more, knowing the route and its logistics makes for more confidence going at it a second time. Beware, however, of signing up for it again if you had a bad experience the first time and your heart isn’t fully into it.
Once you choose your top one or two goals for the coming year, you can design an annual training plan to reach them—a process outlined in this post:
Some Hardrock-like races I recommend
Try not to get your heart set on running Hardrock. Unless the organizers do away with the advantage that prior finishers have of getting in and increase the field size somewhat higher than 146—and I doubt they’ll do either—it will remain stupidly difficult to enter. You could enter the lottery for a decade and still be disappointed.
Alternatively, you can experience the San Juan Mountains at one of these races that I recommend, each of which is relatively easy to get into:
Imogene Pass Run 17M, September 6—Short but speedy, this classic race starts in Ouray and goes to Telluride via Imogene Pass (summit 13,100’) and Tomboy Road. Being entirely on a Jeep road instead of single track, it’s not my favorite, but it’s a fun challenge. The rule of thumb to predict your Imogene time is to use your best road marathon time. Breaking 3 hours on this route is a big deal. Check the website for registration details and mark your calendar to register immediately when it opens, because it fills up in minutes.
Ouray 100, July 20, or 52-miler (date TBD likely mid-September)—The Ouray 100 crushed me when I DNFed there, mainly due to a respiratory issue, in 2018. It’s monumentally difficult, harder than Hardrock with more vertical gain. Its route is different than Hardrock’s but covers similar terrain, featuring a series of out-and-back spurs up to peaks to tag. The out-and-back portions make for a social experience as you cross paths with other participants frequently. Hardly a “run,” Ouray requires mostly hiking—you’re always climbing or ascending 3000 to 5000 gnarly feet—with only some of the downhills and connecting dirt-road portions considered “runnable.”
San Juan Softie 100, August 15—A new 100 introduced last year, I heard good things about it. It takes place south of Telluride and Silverton, closer to Durango, and covers part of the southern portion of the Colorado Trail and some of my favorite trails in the Lizard Head Wilderness.
San Juan Solstice, June 21—This gorgeous Hardrock-hard 50-miler, which runs for miles above timberline at 12,000+ feet, is hosted by the special historic mining town of Lake City, well worth a visit. SJS50’s popularity means it has a lottery, which opens January 15. Be prepared for wet conditions and snow fields.
Silverton Alpine Marathon/50K, July 19, and Kendall Mountain Run 12M, July 20—Taking place the weekend after Hardrock in 2025, these two races together form a fun back-to-back challenge. The Silverton Alpine loop mostly follows an old mining road past the Animus Forks section of the Hardrock route, and it can be busy with OHV traffic, but it’s still a worthwhile event—a climb and descent to a 13,000-foot high point, bookended by runnable miles. The Kendall Mountain hill scramble the next day is a quad-busing lung burner. Doing both gets you a special medal from Aravaipa.
Telluride Mountain Run 40, August 23—One of my favorite races, this 40ish miler does a giant loop around Telluride, over four major passes (two of which go above 13,000 feet) and offers “graduate-level” mountain running in terms of difficulty. About half of the route overlaps the Hardrock route. A 24-mile and 13-mile option are available too.
And two sweet half marathons: the Ouray Mountain Run loops around Ouray, and the Deep Creek Half Marathon runs from right next to my house into Telluride. Both half marathons take place in late September (2025 dates TBD) and both are a great introduction to these towns’ trails.
A final race recommendation for desert lovers
Although it’s nothing like Hardrock, I’m excited about the new Utah 115/50 put on by the race directors of the Grand to Grand Ultra. The 115-mile challenge covers much of the deep sand and desert landscape of the Grand to Grand’s 50-mile long stage, including the Coral Pink Sand Dunes state park. The 50-mile version won’t do the dunes but will be highly challenging and special too. Taking place May 16 - 18, it starts and ends in the town of Kanab, Utah. Because I love Kanab and the Grand to Grand Ultra, I highly recommend this inaugural event for anyone who wants something harder than a 100-miler (or a kick-ass 50-miler) plus a taste of the Grand to Grand Ultra stage race in a single-stage event.
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Congratulations - especially for being in the Galapagos instead of glued to your computer screen on Lottery Day!
But in your otherwise excellent “races I recommend” you left out Imogene - next time I see Rick I may have to tell him you dissed him … 😜
Stay healthy - the longer the race the more this matters.
So freakin awesome!!!! Again sorry about being so behind also Galapagos is on my list as well looks beautiful