Run to Win

In a continuing collaboration with Scott over at Straight to the Bar, we will be writing about some things that you might be able to do locally throughout the month of April. This week I will wrap things up by sharing some ways to find local races, especially inaugural races.

What is an inaugural race?

Inaugural races refer to the first time that a race is run. That could mean the first race in a series, but it usually refers to a race that has just been organized for the first time. Brand new races can sometimes be hard to find, but it can be worth it when you find a good one.

Why would you want to run an inaugural race?

The best reason to run a local inaugural race is so that you can become a streaker. If the race lasts, and many races don’t, then you can become one of the few people who have run in every single one year after year. After a decade or so, the race organizers will usually start recognizing the folks that have supported them year in and year out.

Another reason to run in an inaugural race is that it may not yet be very popular so it can give you a good opportunity to compete in a good race in a small crowd. That might mean that you can score an easy age group award or even set a course record, which is always worth bragging rights.

One thing to be aware of, though, is that races don’t always get things right in the first year. If the organizers are experienced then you won’t have anything to worry about, but you may want to arrive early and with plenty of your own amenities just in case it takes a long time to register or there isn’t adequate water or post-race refreshments.

How can you find an inaugural race?

There are a few ways to find out about them, and you can use these methods equally well to find out about established races if you aren’t sure what is in your area at any given time of the year.

1. Join a local club, team or running group and make sure that you get their newsletters and are on their email lists. You’ll get notifications about new races and requests to volunteer pretty consistently. Up here, the Maine Track Club is very good about keeping its members informed of any upcoming races or volunteer needs.
2. Keep an eye on your local USATF chapter. I keep track of both the New England and Maine websites and goings on. If you live outside of the United States then you will obviously want to follow your local governing organization instead.
3. Visit a local running shoe store. They may have a bulletin board available for race directors to pin their flyers, and will at least advertise any races that they are involved with or are sponsoring.
4. Go to other local races and always peruse the table set out for fliers belonging to other events. Any race director worth his salt is going to get his race onto the tables at as many other races as possible to drum up some interest. Especially in small local races, there usually aren’t any fees so it may be the only marketing that a new event will be able to afford to do.
5. Subscribe to a local magazine (in my case, New England Runner) and keep an eye on the race calendars listed in the magazine. You can also check their websites. The bonus of subscribing to a regional magazine is that every month or two you can read about the local news and look for pictures of people you know or race against.
6. Look for races on running websites such as MarathonGuide.com, , Active.com and similar sites to see what shows up near you on their calendars.
7. Subscribe to Google Alerts for keywords about races in your area. For example, you might set up a weekly search for “races in Portland, Maine” for local races near me.
8. Keep an eye out in your local newspaper for articles about new races. Most sports sections will list upcoming events on at least a weekly basis.
9. Last but not least - ask fellow runners what they’ve heard of. Runners are a pretty chatty bunch, and if your running partners are starting their own races they might know somebody who is or have at least heard of a new race in your area.

So those are the methods that I use to find out about new races, or any races in my area. Sometimes they can be tough to find out about until after they have happened since new races tend to have small budgets and their is not usually a lot of word-of-mouth buzz around them.

Is there anything that I’ve missed that you think aught to be included on the list?

Leave a comment below.

In a continuing collaboration with Scott over at Straight to the Bar, we will be writing about some things that you might be able to do locally throughout the month of April.

This week, Scott offers a few benefits to sharing your home gym with a training partner, not least of which is getting a change of pace.

In a continuing collaboration with Scott over at Straight to the Bar, we will be writing about some things that you might be able to do locally throughout the month of April. This week, I’d like to answer a question from Lisa about how to find a local running club. She asked:

I am looking for a running group in my area. I live in Mesa, Arizona and my zipcode is 85207. If you have any information about this matter please advise.

Thank you.

The difficulty in finding people to run with in your area can vary dramatically based on where you live and at what speed you like to run. Some areas are full of fitness minded people who just like to go out and get a jog in, whereas in other areas you will get nothing but strange looks and comments (or worse) as you run by people. Even in an area where people do run, it can be difficult to find ones who train at the same pace as you.

Types of Running Groups

There are a few steps that you can take to find people in your area to run with. The first thing that you need to do is to decide what type of people you are going to look for. There are 3 basic groups of people that you might find that you can run with, and note that these groups are not mutually exclusive:
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In a continuing collaboration with Scott over at Straight to the Bar, we will be writing about some things that you might be able to do locally throughout the month of April.

This week, Scott gets things started by discussing the Red Bull Flugtug. Basically, a bunch of crazy people put together contraptions that are meant to be thrown off of a 6 meter high ramp into the water.

Unlike most sports where whoever jumps the highest, runs the fastest, or throws the furthest wins, the flug tug only marginally worries about how far each team manages to “fly” their vessel from the ramp. Thousands of people cheer on each team no matter how well their contraptions work.

There are competitions in over 20 cities across the globe. Have you ever been to one near you? I’ll admit, this is the first that I’ve heard of it.

You can read more over at Straight to the Bar.

In a continuing collaboration with Scott over at Straight to the Bar, we will be writing about do-it-yourself home exercise implements throughout February and March.

This week, Scott describes how to make your own clubs.

What good are clubs for? Swinging, lifting, extra movements during exercises such as squats, a club is basically an unstable weight that you can hold at arms length.

Scott shows two methods for creating your clubs, either through filling a hollow vessel or fabricating your own from metal parts. I have to admit, most of the clubs that I have made in the past have been much lighter than the examples that he gives, but I have always used my clubs for juggling rather than as a weight implement. I’ll have to give them a try this summer.

In a continuing collaboration with Scott over at Straight to the Bar, we will be writing about do-it-yourself home exercise implements throughout February and March. This week, I’d like to teach you how to make screw shoes.

Stabilicers are a good product and will go a long ways towards making your run safer by providing good traction in icy conditions. They have a few problems, however. If you don’t put them on right, then they will come off during your run. They can get heavy, especially when you get snow packed in between the stabilicer and the sole of your shoe. They are also more expensive than the alternative.

So what is the best alternative? Screw shoes.

Here’s a quick video that demonstrates how to make screw shoes:
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In a continuing collaboration with Scott over at Straight to the Bar, we will be writing about do-it-yourself home exercise implements throughout February and March.

This week, Scott describes how to make homemade medicine balls.

This summer, I definitely need to go the sand and foam in a basketball route. Last year, I painted almost every room in my house and made a medicine ball out of the painter’s tape that we used to protect our ceilings and windows.

That’s a nice, lightweight 2 or 3 pounder that is made entirely out of what otherwise would have become trash. So outside of getting a new piece of workout equipment, I also got to amuse myself by seeing how long I could keep each piece that I wrapped around the ball without it coming apart as I ripped it off of the ceiling.

Scott also describes how to make tornado balls, stress balls and juggling balls.

The tornado ball is basically a medicine ball on a string, and the juggling balls are basically stress balls with a different filler.

Another way to make a juggling ball, which is what I did when I was in high school, is to fill a tennis ball with water. You can add a dash of the chemicals that you use in your pool or a water bed to keep anything from growing inside of the tennis ball, and which also gives it a slight foaming ability that can create an oddly balanced ball that lets you do some really neat tricks while the ball is in the air.

You’ll need a syringe in order to get the water and chemicals into the tennis balls, but the hole will heal itself within a few hours of removing the needle. Just be sure not to mistake one of these for a real tennis ball; that’s a quick recipe for destroying your tennis racket.

In a continuing collaboration with Scott over at Straight to the Bar, we will be writing about do-it-yourself home exercise implements throughout February and March. This week, I’d like to talk about utilizing snow in your workouts.

If you live in a climate where there is a good amount of snowfall, then you don’t need a gym membership during the winter. Where I live, we’ve gotten 7 or 8 feet of snowfall so far this year and still have half the Winter yet to go. You can get quite a good workout by pushing snow back and forth.

The next time that it snows near you, try incorporating a few of these moves:
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