«Việt Nam Tôi Đó 2026» (My Vietnam) National Race

   Two of the four distances carry odd-looking numbers: 2.9 km and 9.2 km. They are not unusual rounding but a date written as a distance — 2 September, the day Ho Chi Minh read out the Declaration of Independence.

   The other two are 21 and 42 km, a half and a full marathon. That combination lets one race hold both families with small children and serious runners — unusual, since most events have to pick one group or the other.

   The organisers frame the race as a way of going back over 80 years of the country's building and development. Every entrant receives a running shirt in the red flag with the gold star, so the field moves as a single colour.

   The start is at the National Exhibition Centre in the Vinhomes Global Gate development in Dong Anh: new infrastructure, wide roads and few junctions, which suits a pushchair as much as a personal best.

   Entry is sold in four waves at rising prices, and the last one closes on 14 August, after which registration shuts. If you are running with a child or wearing a race number for the first time, 2.9 km is where to start — and the meaning of that number needs no explaining.

   Registration at iRace.vn.