The Board Guide

The oldest race on the board, and the only one here you have to qualify for. The hill arrives at mile 20, exactly where you do not want it, and the crowd on the far side of it is the reason people come back.

Five boroughs, two million people on the street, and a park finish that people plan a decade around. Nowhere else does a city hand over its bridges for a morning.

Flat, fast and built for a personal best. More records have fallen here than anywhere else on the board, and the pancake-flat final 10K is why.

Stadium to the sea. You start under the lights and finish within sight of the water, and the middle miles run through six neighborhoods that each think they are the loudest.

The hardest race on the board. You start above eight thousand feet and the air never gives anything back, which is exactly why people put it on the list.

The fastest January race in the country and the friendliest expo you will go to. If you need a qualifier before spring, this is where people go to get one.

A net downhill point to point through open desert at sunrise. Quiet in a way no city race can be, and quick in a way that surprises people.

You are bussed up in the dark and run back down as the canyon lights up. Everybody says the first ten miles feel free. Everybody pays for it later.

A river on one side the whole way and a college town that treats race morning as a holiday. The best value on the board.

Four rivers, six bridges and a hill at mile 12 that has its own name. Runners who finish this one talk about it for years.

Cold, quiet and stunning. The lake is on your shoulder for eighteen miles and the trees are turning the whole way.

A flat, shaded loop through a barrier island. Small field, big personal bests, and a finish line you can walk to from the water.

The only mostly-trail race on the board. Soft ground, big trees and nobody watching, which is the appeal.

Waterfront the entire way and warm enough in January to feel like a holiday. The last chance at a qualifier before the year turns.

Small, hard and beautiful. Dirt roads, covered bridges and a climb at mile 19 that the locals warn you about at the start.

Lakes, parks and a city that turns out in the cold. One of the best-organized races anywhere, and the volunteers are the reason.

A course that runs through three centuries of architecture and finishes with a brass band. Nobody sets a record here and nobody minds.

A skyline course across the water, with the best spectator turnout per mile anywhere on the board.

The smallest field on the board and the shortest drive to the ocean afterwards. A summer race that stays cool because it starts at six.

Farmland, open sky and the friendliest aid stations in the country. The cheapest entry on the board and nobody has ever complained about it.

Waterfront, warm, and the last chance at a qualifier before the year closes. Flat enough that people fly in for it.

The smallest race on the board by a distance. Two thousand nine hundred people, dirt roads and a finish in a field. Ask anyone who has run it.