The Lincoln marathon to offer race virtually

Lincoln Marathon organizers and runners are working to figure out a way to still run the marathon after it was cancelled earlier this week.

On May 3rd 7,000 runners were going to compete in the Lincoln Marathon.

Since the race has been cancelled that's not the case but some runners are still hitting the trails.

Matt Anderson has been gearing up for his fifth half marathon.

"Honestly I wasn't shocked," said Anderson. "I don't think anybody is by all the cancellations that have been going on at this point. We understand and hopefully there will be plenty of opportunities to do it in the future."

While it still needs some fine tuning the Lincoln Marathon organizers decided that racers can run the marathon virtually.

"It won't be the same because you won't all be running at the same time and the same conditions," said Ann Ringlein the manager of Lincoln Running Company. "You can see how many people ran in your age group, so we're trying to make it as close to a race situation and simulation as we can."

The virtual marathon means that runners can make their own path, it just has to be a half or full marathon distance.

"Could run to Bennett Nebraska from here," said Anderson. "You could do a loop around the lake. Heck I could run to South Street and back like 20 times and that would count."

Even though the marathon is cancelled Anderson says there is still a goal to accomplish.

"At the end of the day," said Anderson. "It's still about getting out and running and that's what we have to do."

Lincoln Marathon Officials are still working through the details of the virtual run.

They will update all competitors as soon as they have the logistics figured out.

The runners are expected to get their completion certificate, medal and t-shirt.

posted Thursday March 19th
by Nicole Griffith