Organizing My First Running Event

The first annual, Ash Annual.

In November I turned 30. To celebrate, I wanted to do something special, so I decided to host a small private running event with friends. 17 people showed up, most ran some part of the course and a few came just to support, which meant a lot.

The full distance was a 30k (about 18.64 miles) of trail running. In addition to being a birthday celebration, it was the perfect training checkpoint for the Fuji marathon in December that a few of us were preparing for.

A course map my friend laser etched and topologically CNC'd into a block aluminum.

Since this was my first time organizing anything like this, I spent a lot of time thinking through logistics. I needed an aid station in the middle of the course, but didn't want people to have to trek out to a midway point to man it. To solve this, I designed the course in a V shape with the start at the center point. This meant the aid station sat at the start, midpoint, and finish. Friends who didn't run or finished early helped run it.

I worried people might get lost or injured, but none of that happened. People naturally grouped up by pace, and enough of them studied the map and guide I shared ahead of time, so there were no issues on the course. I was a bit anxious that hosting a running event, even a small one, would cause issues with other people on the trails, especially with a make-shift aid station setup. But no one gave us any trouble.

The event felt like a real success. I got to spend time with my friends doing something hard, which made it extra special. I hope to turn it into a tradition and call it the Ash Annual.

Thanks for reading! If you have any thoughts, please email me at [email protected]. I also have a newsletter that will email whenever I have a new post. Please sign up below if you are interested.