In September, marathon events across mainland China officially leave the summer “beat-the-heat” window and dive headfirst into the golden-autumn PB season, with a total of 33 races firing the starting gun over the month.

The schedule heats up in a stepped pattern: September 6 opens with 6 races, the 13th jumps to 8, and by the 27th an astonishing 10 events are packed into a single day. Such concentrated density at the opening of the autumn season is rare.

These 33 races span Liaoning, Jilin, Xinjiang, Heilongjiang, Hebei, Ningxia, Gansu, Qinghai, Inner Mongolia, Shaanxi, Jiangxi, Shanxi, Beijing, Tianjin, Shandong, Sichuan, and Yunnan — from the Northeast plains to the Northwest Gobi, from the foothills of the Taihang Mountains to the shores of Erhai, every location is a crisp-autumn PB haven.

September 27 stands out as this month’s “super marathon day,” with ten races taking place simultaneously; the most eye-catching are the Taiyuan Marathon and the Hengshui Lake Marathon.

The Taiyuan Marathon is a Chinese Athletics Association (CAA) Category A Gold Label event — a flat, comfortably cool course long praised by runners as one of the “fastest autumn courses.” The Hengshui Lake Marathon is an A-class full-marathon event; its lakeside loop is straight and wide, and it has long been famed in the running community as a “must-PB marathon.” Did you manage to grab a spot in either of these?

From the border new city of Kokdala to Harbin’s Central Street; from the foothills of the Tianshan Mountains to the shores of Hengshui Lake; from vineyards on the eastern slopes of the Helan Mountains to the morning mist of the Shunan Bamboo Sea — every race in September is an excellent choice for a long, freeing run in early autumn.

So, which race did you sign up for this September?