Ready, Set, GO…

So your ready to do your first organized race, thats a big decision and all I can say is YOU CAN DO THIS. So you have been getting those miles in either at the gym, on your Dreadmill or around your neighborhood and well as great as that, ha ha we all know we do the miles for the medals!!

Depending on the area that you are in you may have a great selection of races to choose from.  Being in San Diego I could race every weekend if I could afford it.  Last year that is kind of the route that I went.  If I could find a race, I was signing up for it.  Now, I was trying to pick some based on location, but for the most part I was looking for lesser expense races.  What this added up to was me completing 33 races in 2016 from 5K’s all the way to a half marathon, oh yeah, throw a duathlon in too.  But here is some tips and hints on signing up for races and some links to help you do this.

First of all, a tip I wish I had known about sooner.  Sign up for an inaugural race, this is a race that has usually been organized for the first time, or in other words its the first year for this race.  My friend Shawn Gallagher has done several and she is very loyal to those races.  So you are asking why I should pick this type of race.  Motivation and ownership plain and simple, once you run the first race you will want to run it every year.  Then as you run it every year you could become a Legacy Runner, meaning you have run it every year since its conception and sometimes will get a special shirt or medal.  Here is a great article on more reasons why you should run an inaugural race.

There are other races that can make your first 5K’s really fun and those are the goofy ones such as a Bubble Run, Foam Run, and the ever popular color run of which I have done twice.  Now the color run is interesting as you will be reminded of this run for several days after, as you will be blowing that color powder for days out of your nose.

So there are several ways to find races in your area.  First there is Active which I do use and I am a member. A large amount of races actually have their race sign ups through here and when you go to purchase this race you will be charged an admin fee if you do not belong to Active, usually $4.95.  But if you are a member of Active then that fee is waived.  I use this site for the majority of my races and this really paid off at the end of the year, why you ask?  In 2016 I received an email that Active was paying for my next pair of shoes through Road Runner Sports.  As it turned out this was totally legit and I got $85 off a pair of shoes through Road Runner, Yeah Me!

There is also Racegrader which not only grades the races but on some will offer a discount code.  The other good aspect to Racegrader is that there is an area you go into a drawing for free races.  I have not used this site much but it gets pretty good reviews.

Now if you are budget conscious like me, Groupon and Living Social are your, go to places to look for races. I found several last year that I paid anywhere from $15 to $30 for and they were great deals.  This is an absolute go to as you start really getting hooked on doing the races.

So now that you have a few tools to find a local race and get your run on, I have one more tip.  HAVE FUN. Remember you will only have one first, 5K, 10K, Half Marathon, Marathon or or other Multi Sport Race.  I have been doing these type of 5Ks for years and up until last year walked them.  I did most of them with my sister and we were known for dressing pretty goofy and normally wore Tutus they made us feel as we could run faster.  Make sure to smile at the camera and do something goofy you will thank me later.  Talk to other runners along the way, as you will meet the nicest people on the race course.

And as always I will see YOU at the Finish Line!