This week's theme is 5 reason to race/run. I've already talked about 5 reasons why running works for me here so today I'm going to talk about racing. I've got a ton of reasons that I like to sign up for races but here are 5 of them.
1. To stay motivated - This doesn't apply to everyone but I am so much more motivated to get out there and get my training runs done when I have a race that I'm working toward. I'd like to say that the love of running alone would get me out there but there are definitely days when that just isn't enough.
Photo from my first 5k years ago, but I didn't sign up for another race afterward and stopped running
2. Fun, social activity - I love that I have friends that got into running about the same time I did and that we run a similar pace. We don't live close enough to run together on training runs but races are a great excuse to get together and have some catch up time before and after the race itself.
Being silly with friends at an 80's run
3. To show myself I'm capable of more than I thought - It's hard to push yourself in training runs sometimes but races give me a way to do that. And they give me a reason to run far. I'm still a pretty new runner but at this time last year I would never have thought that I could run 13.1 miles. I couldn't have even imagined why I would want to.
4. To engage with a community and give to a good cause - this does not apply to all races and it is important to research any races that are claiming they give charitable donations. But I've done several races this year where the charity was close to the community and the participation was all the more meaningful because of the chance to donate. Ben's Run was a great example of this. Here is the blurb from their website. "This race honors Ben’s amazing spirit, and the many other children who battle life-threatening illnesses every day. Run or walk this race for Ben, and for the other heroic children out there. Do it because they can’t." How can you not want to be a part of the effort after that?
I was proud to be part of this race's efforts and the $65,000 dollars they raised this year
5. Fun medals and shirts - I've got quite the collection of race shirts going from just this one year of racing! And I've also gotten a nice collection of medals started :) It's such a little thing but I always look forward to what the shirt or medal will look like and to wearing the shirt for the first time. It's nice to have a tangible reminder of participation in a specific race.
So that's my contribution to the Friday Five this week. I'd love to hear your reasons for racing!
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