For those fortunate and fleet of foot who can still run (not me!), ‘tis the season to start signing up for races. There are more trail race series than ever, forcing folks to pick and choose.

The first race in the region that I could find comes up at the Middlesex Fells on March 28, to kick off the second year of the Eastern New England Trail Race Series. The rest of the series remains, so far, a work in progress.

What I believe to be the biggest and best trail race series in New England, the Grand Tree, kicks off on April 11. Unlike past years, runners must choose either the 16-mile Northern Nipmuck in Union, Conn., or the 10-mile Merrimack River Trail Run in Andover, Mass., both on that same day. They’re both a lot of fun. Nipmuck is by far the more scenic and challenging of the two… perhaps more challenging than most runners need that early in the season!

The 14-mile Muddy Moose April 26 in Wolfboro is part of both the Grand Tree and the Xterra series, and this year’s will be the 10^th anniversary of that excellent slogfest.

The Western NH Trail Race Series includes seven races around the Newport/Sunapee/Hanover region, but doesn’t get started until June 13.

Local race impressarios 3C have been going all winter with snowshoe races, and the 2009 series is set well into next winter, including both road and trail races, most of a more modest distance, and the series includes races at Beaver Brook in Hollis and Mine Falls Park in Nashua.