At some point in our adult lives we realize we can't do everything, dang. The world is too vast to visit every city, to climb every mountain ... And to run every race. Once we come to grips with this we become more selective, not wanting to waste a race experience on a poorly put on event or one that is not our style.

 
For me bigger is not always better, last year I ran the San Antonio Rock and Roll event and found that yes, 25,000 people can be wrong, a sterile expo, a city course with lots of bad pavement, too many turns and the list goes on. That said, much of it is personal preference. I believe a road course should be fast and accurate, offering a chance for a personal record, OK, some hills, turns and chuck holes but mostly good fast roads, leave "tough" to the trail races where personal achievement has little to do with time and more to do with adventure and accomplishment. 

Based on the number of participants, I guess the Muddy, Warrior, Buddy, obstacle course kind of events that are popping up are fun for someone ... but there is too little running for my likes. Most of the web sites for this type of event pride themselves in only having a mile or so of real running, a lot more crawling and climbing. Even with similar stupid spots in Dances With Dirt, the event is still 90% great trail running. But again, it's personal preference.

 

Here comes that shameless plug you should now be expecting ... Check out the Running Fit event calendar, our goal is to create a fun, well managed, well balanced year of running events, from old school 5K's on the road to weekend long running festivals. Yep, we've done the work for you!

 

Love this running life and live it up,

Randy Step, an obsessed runner who loves events that make runners sweat, work ... and smile