Nicole Lopez-Watson had set multiple alarms and reminders. She checked her schedule over and over to ensure she would be able to get to her computer by noon.
She was not trying to get presale tickets to see Beyoncé or Taylor Swift. She was hoping to register for a road race in New York City.
“In 2019, I could pick and choose whichever races I wanted and it was just never an issue,” said Ms. Lopez-Watson, who lives in the Bronx. Now, she said, “the anticipation of when the races are going to be released gives me so much anxiety.”
It’s a problem that New York Road Runners, which stages the New York City Marathon and dozens of other races every year, has acknowledged. Thanks to yet another running boom fueled by the pandemic and the newfound popularity of running clubs, getting a race bib for an N.Y.R.R. event has become a race in itself.
While the popularity of running is not limited to New York City, it may be especially pronounced in a dense city whose marathon has a side-door entrance for locals who complete multiple N.Y.R.R. races.
In 2019, it took an average of 121 days for an N.Y.R.R. race to sell out, Rob Simmelkjaer, the organization’s chief executive, said in an interview. This year, races have sold out in an average of four days. Some of the most popular races, such as the Brooklyn Half Marathon and the New York City Half Marathon, are in such high demand that the sign-up queues have crashed the N.Y.R.R. website.
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The post Running Boom Makes Race Bibs a ‘Precious New York City Resource’ appeared first on New York Times.
