Cape Town, Farmville, Jackson, Jenkins Mountain, Sharm El-Sheikh + Susquehanna River

Races you'll love running + weekly recommendations

Good morning, friends! ☀️

As the hosts of late-night shows used to say, “We’re back!” Just in time for Global Running Day, in fact — a day set aside to celebrate and encourage running to everyone all around the world, both by trying a five-kilometer run today and by making running a part of as many people’s lives as possible.

I enjoyed my break from writing, but I missed you all — hearing from you in the comments, and especially in the day-by-day chats we had for our May running challenge. You helped keep me on track and consistent with my own running in a way I hadn’t in a long while, and for that I’m incredibly grateful. So many of you in our community participated, encouraged me and each other, and shared your daily progress, it really was a blast to see.

For today’s issue, I thought I’d switch things up and share with everyone the issue I usually send out to paid subscribers on Sundays — to give you a chance to see more of what we’re about, the amazing places you can go around the world to run, and the stories we share.

To get this and everything else The Half Marathoner has to offer, just click/tap here:

How’ve you been? How has your running been progressing? Is there anything you have on the horizon, either this summer or fall, that you’re looking forward to?

For my own running, summer has always been a season to pause and reflect (largely because the weather gets so hot here in Atlanta where I live, especially in July and August). And to take a break from the more structured, intensive training, and have some fun with shorter runs on trails, in cooler places whenever I can.

How about you? How are you taking some time to rest and recharge this summer, and what’s ahead for you this fall? I always love hearing your stories, and would love to catch up since it’s been a couple weeks since we last chatted.

In the meantime, keep in touch and let me know what’s new in your running/life.

Your friend,

— Terrell

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🏃 To run

Runners on the course at Pennsylvania’s Bird-in-Hand Half Marathon, set for this September.

🌲 Jenkins Mountain Scramble Trail Half Marathon. A challenging, scenic run along the trails that wind through the woods just north of the campus of Paul Smith’s College in the Adirondacks of Upstate New York, along a route that includes more than 2,300 feet of elevation change. From there, the course follows a clockwise loop along the trails and logging roads of the forests here on your ascent up Jenkins Mountain, along single-track trails that wind up and down hills, around lakes and ponds, and cross a few bridges. Set for August 12, 2023.

🍇 Running Between the Vines Half Marathon. A run that starts at the peaceful, relaxing grounds of a winery and then unfolds out into a wilderness area filled with forests, hiking trails, fishing lakes and campgrounds in Michigan’s Waterloo State Recreation Area, a 20,000-acre park that lies less than an hour’s drive from Ann Arbor. The race will take you on an out-and-back course that starts and finishes at the Sandhill Crane Vineyards, a family-owned winery that offers a beautiful backdrop for the race start, with wine grapes in the fields surrounding the course. Set for August 19, 2023.

🐦 Bird-in-Hand Half Marathon. You’ll think you’re in another time and place when you run this race through Lancaster County, in the Amish country of southern Pennsylvania. The race unfolds along rolling country roads in and around this small village of roughly 300 residents whose history dates all the way back to the early 1730s, when it was founded by small communities of Quakers and Mennonites. Along the way, runners will get to see a glimpse of what the area’s Amish families are like, as many Amish who live here will be out at the aid stations to offer refreshments to the runners passing by. Set for September 9, 2023.

🌉 Susquehanna River Running Festival. Run through a place Smithsonian Magazine says is among the nation’s “best small towns to visit” at this race, which features a pair of bridge crossings over the river it’s named for and plentiful scenic views of the river and the parks along the way. The race starts in the small Maryland shore town of Havre de Grace, which has a history that dates all the way back to the nation’s founding, and from there heads across the Thomas J. Hatem Memorial Bridge. Long stretches along the riverfront are followed by a run back across the bridge and a finish near the Concord Point Lighthouse. Set for September 23, 2023.

🧑‍🌾 High Bridge Half Marathon. Named for the 2,400-ft.-long bridge that stands more than 100 feet above the Appomattox River flowing by below, this race is run on wooden planks across the bridge and on a crushed limestone trail surface for the remainder of the out-and-back course. Known as “America’s Crucible,” the town of Farmville was the site of one of the last battles of the American Civil War, and where Gen. Robert E. Lee’s surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia took place in the nearby Appomattox Courthouse on April 9, 1865, finally bringing the war to a close after four years. Set for October 7, 2023.

🇿🇦 Cape Town Trail Half Marathon. A jaw-droppingly gorgeous trail run atop Table Mountain National Park, which overlooks this South African seaside city’s coastline, where the Atlantic and Indian Oceans meet. You’ll get the chance to “traverse from the stadium to above the city through flora, fauna and sweeping vistas of the Atlantic,” the organizers note, adding “the trail weaves through one of the world’s most diverse and rare floral kingdoms, the Cape Floristic Region. Many species on this trail are not found anywhere else on Earth.” There’s both a full and half marathon you can run on Saturday, followed by a marathon through the streets of Cape Town on Sunday. Set for October 14, 2023.

🇪🇬 Sharm El-Sheikh Half Marathon. A once-in-a-lifetime run through Egypt’s Ras Muhammad National Park, which spans some 185 square miles along the tip of the southern Sinai peninsula near the beach resort town of Sharm El-Sheikh. You’ll run along trails that wind past mountains and through sand dunes, wadis, and coastal mud plains, as well as a small mangrove forest near the coastline, where you’ll get to see the Red Sea’s crystal-blue waters and a hidden bay. Set for November 24, 2023.

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📚 To read

She Ran 6,400 Miles Over 200 Days. Then She Cooled Off With a Marathon. Since early November of last year, Boulder, Colo.-based Candice Burt has run 32 miles a day, every single day, until late last month — “almost enough to cover a run from Seattle, Wash., to Fort Myers, Fla. And then all the way back to Seattle,” the Wall Street Journal points out. Why would the 41-year-old mother of two teenagers want to do this?

“I think it was the pure curiosity of wanting to see what my body can do.”

The Case for Slowing Down. Most of us probably run too fast too often, or at least we try to. Even though I’ve run for as long as I have, my vanity still pushes me to pick up the pace, even when I know there’s no need. This Slate article delves into the details of why it might be better to slow down most of your runs, most of the time:

“The more I looked, the more I started seeing other coaches advising that athletes slow down their paces—to cover up their watch face with tape if they have to, and especially, to quit looking at other people’s splits on social media.”

“For most of my life, I just went out the door and did whatever felt good, and finished huffing and puffing,” says Erin Williams, a runner based in Kansas City. She has since adjusted her running habits so that she finishes many workouts still feeling good, like she could keep going if she wanted to. “Fact,” she recently wrote in one caption: “Pace is the least important thing about your run!”

Seven Tips for a Perfect Run. Written by Christopher McDougall, the author of Born to Run and Running With Sherman, this essay highlights some things he learned from running with the Tarahumara tribesmen in Mexico, including one I loved called “your run is not your own”:

Hopi and Navajo runners have a long tradition of treating every run as a prayer. Before setting off, they’ll dedicate the run to someone who’s going through a bad time, believing that strength and energy flow toward those who strive for a purpose beyond themselves.

One Man’s Mission to Make Running Everyone’s Sport. Martinus Evans has been on the cover of Runner’s World, posed nude for Men’s Health and appeared in an ad for Adidas. He also weighs 300 pounds and is the founder of the Slow AF Run Club, dedicated to back-of-the-packers like himself, who’ve been discouraged by the thoughtless:

The idea for the club was born at about mile 16 of the 2018 New York City Marathon, just after the grueling Queensboro Bridge into Manhattan. Mr. Evans was cruising along when he noticed a man gesturing from the sidelines. He took out his AirPods.

“You’re slow, buddy,” the man shouted, adding an expletive to indicate just how slow. “Go home.” Mr. Evans tried to ignore him, and turned his attention back to the course, which he eventually finished in just over eight hours, or six hours behind the winner. But as the bystander repeated his taunt, Mr. Evans got angrier — then inspired.

👉 Dig deeper: Nontraditional Runners Are Finding Their Stride Online

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Words to run by

Recently, I stumbled across these tweets by the well-known athletic performance coach Steve Magness, and they really struck a chord with me:

Have a great, great run out there — and let me know how it goes!