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A big congratulations to all who registered and earned money for the virtual St. Jude Marathon. WMC-TV and Joe Birch aired a special segment with several interesting runner stories on marathon day. On one hand, it’s hard to believe that it’s been a year since I was volunteering at the MRTC cheer station at around mile 22. On the other hand, it seems like so long ago. I certainly can’t wait until the 2021 event and hopefully we all can step up the donations to St. Jude to make up for crazy 2020. Thanks to all the participants and particularly all the Heroes.

MRTC is honored to receive an appreciation award from the Youth Villages Red Kite Society. It has some beautiful artwork on the back of the plaque composed by Stephanie P., age 15. Memphis is very fortunate that Youth Villages and St. Jude call Memphis home. As you know, both organizations do awesome work. Yes, we are having the Winter Off Road Series as an in-person or virtual event, your choice. It will be an electronically timed event with the Start / Finish line open from Noon until 4:00 p.m. for each race. Disclaimer: You must finish the event by 4:00 p.m. sharp to get an official time for the event, which means the Start Line will be closing a little earlier that 4:00 p.m. depending on the length of the race. You will pick up your shoe tag on site and keep it for the series. There will be no mass start in order to keep the number of people gathering to a safe minimum. If you arrive and feel that there are too many people at the start (hopefully, that won’t happen), wait until they depart, then make your way to the start line. Once again, it’s an electronically timed event. It doesn’t matter when you start. It will also be a BYOW event (bring your own water) and we will not have ditch assistance at Stanky Creek nor post-race snacks. We hope to see you there, but we understand if you’re not. Just practice Safety Above All. COVID fatigue. Recently, I read an engaging article by Erin Berger about a mental health specialist who goes professionally by her first name, Grizel. In short, Grizel has made a study, initiated by her experiences, on mental health issues of people who love the outdoors.