Giddy Up and Go!!! MRTT Summer Virtual Race Recap

I mentioned in my previous post how last Sunday I met up with my Moms Run This Town ladies.

A little backstory on MRTT: I started my city’s chapter a little over a year ago having no clue what to expect. I was sorta involved in neighboring cities but thought that having one in mine would be fun (and convenient) so I went for it.

Over 150 women later, my chapter has become very active and super fun. It’s been a blast to see the group grow and meet people starting their fitness journey, coming back from a hiatus, or trying out a “run club” for the first time.

We have weekly meet ups on Sundays, but because both my husband and I are currently training, I’m not always able to attend (I’ve been long running Saturdays and my husband Sundays). I do have an amazing co-leader who has been instrumental in helping the group grow and making our meet-ups successful though.

With her help, I finally felt like our chapter was ready to take on a summer virtual race. MRTT national hosts two virtuals a year, one in summer and one in winter. I passed last winter as I was reluctant (and really, still a newb) to take on such a task. But with my buddy Jennifer, this summer I was in.

The theme was “Giddy Up and Go!” and the medals were suh-weet!!

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A lot goes in to making a race happen (and this was a suuuuper small one, lol!) and organizing was tough, but after months of planning, last Sunday, we were finally able to see the fruits of our labor. And it was….AWESOME.

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We had such a great turnout for our first!

Jen and I created swag bags that our runners would receive (and swag for their littles if they ordered medals for their kids!), mapped out a 5k course, and even had bananas, oranges, and water as post race fuel.

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Everyone loved our swag! We had MRTT colored bandanas, headbands, an MRTT magnet, and really cool drinkable glass jars (that had chalk tops to write on!). Inside the jar were hair ties, a rubber MRTT bracelet, running fuel, and a discount card to a local burger joint.

I decided not to race and take pictures for the runners. That way, they could get free race pictures šŸ˜‰

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I also wanted to be at the end so that when they’d cross, I’d be able to medal them. The mom who finished first was so excited that she was the first to cross, saying that she’d never finished a race first in her life. It was so cool to see her excitement šŸ™‚

All in all, it was so much fun and even though it was super tough behind the scenes, the big day was such a success that yes, I’d do it all over again ā¤

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–Have you ever organized a race?

–Have you run a virtual race before?

I hope everyone has a great weekend!! Who’s racing? Who’s long running? (I’ve got 18!! Eeek!) ā¤ , helly

I’m a winner!

So in my Healthy Moms Group Iā€™ve mentioned before, some of the girls participated in virtual racing. I had never heard of this but itā€™s basically a website that hosts ā€œracesā€. You register just like you would a ā€œnormalā€ race and you have to run a said mileage by a certain date. You can run any way youā€™d like, outside or treadmill and when youā€™re done, you post a pic of your time/route/mileage on the websiteā€™s Facebook page (this isnā€™t mandatory I believe). And if youā€™re wondering whether you get a medal, yup! Itā€™s sent to your home.

I joined the Facebook group but hadnā€™t pushed the button to register for a race–even though some of the medals looked pretty cool.

A couple of days ago, the creator of the website, fit4liferaceseries.com by the way, announced heā€™d be holding a giveaway of free races and free memberships (a membership includes a discounted first race and discounted races for the year). The catch was that you had to be a new runner to the group, as in never have run a virtual race.

Iā€™ve never participated in online giveaways, prizes, contests, etc. because one, I never think Iā€™ll win; and second, I never believe theyā€™re actually legit. Nevertheless, I did what the instructions said and made a comment on the post, ā€œGiving it a shot!ā€ Easy enough. No harm, no foul.

Four hours later, I received a Facebook notification that Iā€™d won a one year membership! I never win anything and to win something running related makes this first time that much cooler!

I immediately went to the website to check out the races they had going on. One is for tomorrow, Sunday, World Run Day. Iā€™m thinking pefect!! Not only do I get the race comped (my discounted first race) but I get this really cool t-shirt (no medal this time though). There is no specific mileage for this ā€œraceā€ since itā€™s World Run Day; any amount is acceptable. This is ideal considering I should be taking it slow, but I just canā€™t resist. Plus, I think itā€™ll do me some good to get out there for a little while : )

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