Donald MiralleGetty Images If you’re feeling a little rusty after a year or more without racing, the first thing to know is that your competition drought is, unfortunately, the norm. Although it may feel like races have been popping up most weekends since fall, most of those have been limited to small elite fields. The rest of the running world has been watching and biding its time until the racing door swings back open. The second thing to know is that there are many criteria for returning to racing—like reaching a certain level of fitness, getting vaccinated, or simply craving competition—and all of them are valid. Deciding when to approach your next starting line, and how to frame that first race back, is a matter of preference that looks different for us all.