As we transition from fall to winter within the Northern Hemisphere, many runners are pondering and planning their 2024 race schedules.

After all, on the prime of many runners’ lists are the large three occasions of the Western States 100, Hardrock 100, and UTMB. With these occasions all having qualifying requirements and lotteries, many people are ready eagerly to find their destiny someday within the subsequent month or two.

With that in thoughts and realizing how tough it’s to get into the “large three,” runners are additionally making early plans to run the Western States 100, Hardrock 100, or UTMB qualifiers in 2024 as a hedge in opposition to not being chosen this 12 months.

In my function as each a operating coach and somebody who has been within the sport for a very long time, I spend fairly a little bit of time throughout this a part of the 12 months speaking with athletes about their plans and serving to them strategize for the approaching 12 months. This 12 months, I’ve noticed three traits which can be price noting:

1. The 200-Mile Increase Is Actual

Increasingly more, I see athletes gravitating towards the 200-plus-mile distance. What was only a few years in the past a fringe area of interest in a fringe sport has now turn into mainstream.

The expansion in curiosity for the 200-mile distance originated with Italy’s Tor des Géants, which began in 2010 and which stays the globe’s hottest 200 miler. Along with of us in search of to run a number of of the Vacation spot Path 200 milers, which introduced 200-mile racing in earnest to North America, curiosity in newer occasions just like the Cocodona 250 Mile in Arizona and the brand new Southern States 200 Mile in Alabama continues to extend.

Alongside the best way, we’re studying extra about what works finest in these sorts of occasions, because the experiences of extra folks educate us concerning the keys to success, and the paths to failure, in these large multi-day races.

Franco Collé, the 2023 Tor des Géants champion. Picture: Zzam! Company/Roberto Roux

2. Runners Need Experiences

As the game has grown and occasion choices have elevated, the alternatives runners face might be dizzying. Over the previous two years particularly, I’ve noticed runners shifting towards occasions that not solely present a race surroundings, but additionally an expertise. From pre- and post-race festivities to distinctive locations, the expertise issue continues to affect runner selection.

Maybe the best instance of that is the Javelina 100 Mile in Arizona. Consisting of three distances unfold out over Halloween weekend in late October, Javelina has one thing for everybody — even for individuals who don’t run.

Additional afield, I’ve been impressed with the variety of on a regular basis runners flocking to the Madiera Island Extremely-Path and Transvulcania Ultramarathon as these historic occasions present alternatives for athletes to work together with distinctive cultures and landscapes they merely wouldn’t expertise have been it not for these vacation spot occasions.

I think we’ll see extra experience-driven occasions popping up across the sport within the years to come back.

The Halloween spirit alive and properly on the 2021 Javelina 100 Mile. Picture: Javelina 100 Mile

3. Mother and Pop Occasions

Together with the unimaginable reputation of the “large three” and all of the occasions which give qualifiers for the Western States 100, Hardrock 100, and UTMB — I’ve observed a paradoxical pattern, as properly. Extra runners I converse with are in search of to run the small, old skool mother and pop sort races that for therefore a few years have been the spine of our sport. From small fats ass runs over the vacations to easy occasions hosted by regional operating golf equipment, I’m seeing a resurgence in these sorts of occasions as runners lengthy for the homegrown expertise that introduced them to the game within the first place.

I, for one, am excited and inspired by these traits and hope that as runners proceed to dream and scheme concerning the 2024 season and past, they search to search out methods to stretch their bodily and psychological limits, discover experiences which can be partaking and enjoyable, and by no means lose sight of the roots of the game which can be so necessary to so many people.

Bottoms up!

AJW’s Beer of the Week

This week’s beer of the week comes from Deep Ellum Brewing Firm in Dallas, Texas. Their flagship beer, Dallas Blonde, was first launched in 2012 and has turn into a legendary beer within the Lone Star State. With a citrusy end and a easy, nearly flowery aroma, Dallas Blonde is among the finest blonde ales I’ve ever tasted.

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