Bricks and Bones (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
bricks_and_bones) wrote2013-05-08 10:46 am
bricks_and_bones) wrote2013-05-08 10:46 am
Stone Cat Trail Races will be going by LOTTERY this year!
Yup, the announcement recently went up on the race site. Last year’s registration was a debacle, I will admit. The marathon sold out in UNDER AN HOUR. (What is this, the Boston Marathon?!) The online registration site somehow oversold the race and a lot of people were left frustrated and upset. I think the lottery is in place this year in the hopes of avoiding those problems and making the registration process fairer. I have to say though it has my stomach in knots: the idea that I WON’T make the lottery. I have been planning on entering the 50-mile race for months now and I think I might be crushed if I don’t get in.
Stone Cat has easily become one of the most popular trail races around, and there is good reason for that. Stone Cat is AWESOME. It is a race put on by the GAC, a club that has years and years of trail experience all over the world. They were running trails before the sport ever became as close to as popular as it is now. The support on the course is outstanding, the course is beautiful and eminently runnable, the race is well-organized, and there is an old-school trail race atmosphere. (Read: you don’t feel like you’re at a testosterone-powered frat house hazing, which is the feel I get from a lot of these “mud runs,” trail “challenges,” and other faddish events that seem to have gained popularity in recent years.) This is just serious runners running; experienced and non-experienced alike. It’s an EXCELLENT first-timer trail marathon, too! Trail running is a different sport from road running, period, and those with road experience shouldn’t assume that translates to trail at all. So anyone with an interest in hitting trails WOULD be excited about Stone Cat.
My plan at this point is to keep training and make sure I get my name into that lottery. After that, it will be trying not to think about it too much until the entrants are announced.
Stone Cat has easily become one of the most popular trail races around, and there is good reason for that. Stone Cat is AWESOME. It is a race put on by the GAC, a club that has years and years of trail experience all over the world. They were running trails before the sport ever became as close to as popular as it is now. The support on the course is outstanding, the course is beautiful and eminently runnable, the race is well-organized, and there is an old-school trail race atmosphere. (Read: you don’t feel like you’re at a testosterone-powered frat house hazing, which is the feel I get from a lot of these “mud runs,” trail “challenges,” and other faddish events that seem to have gained popularity in recent years.) This is just serious runners running; experienced and non-experienced alike. It’s an EXCELLENT first-timer trail marathon, too! Trail running is a different sport from road running, period, and those with road experience shouldn’t assume that translates to trail at all. So anyone with an interest in hitting trails WOULD be excited about Stone Cat.
My plan at this point is to keep training and make sure I get my name into that lottery. After that, it will be trying not to think about it too much until the entrants are announced.