Running Related, Part II

Another running blogger/podcaster is a guy calling himself Steve Runner who hosts Phedippidations. Steve focuses on running tips and techniques, fueling, heart rate monitors, the technical side of running. To tell the truth, I find the phedippidation podcasts boring since they only ever talk about running, but he has another project on the go that is truly fantastic.

Steve Runner organises the Phedippidations World Wide Half Marathon and 5km and this year marks the second race in the annual series. The PWWHM tagline is Think Global - Run Local. Here's the deal, you sign up at www.worldwidehalf.com then run a half-marathon or 5km distance in your local area any day between October 6th and October 22nd and record your time at the site after your race. If there's no race locally within those dates, organise a run among your friends along a 13.1 mile or 5km route you've mapped out. I love the tie-in to sustainability issues, and the way the event tries to bring together runners all over the world to share their running experiences. It's totally free and you can pledge funds for a charity already listed or list a new charity that is dear to your heart. You can form virtual teams if you like, and PWWHM offers a virtual goody bag of discount offers and other stuff that entrants have donated or suggested.

As usual, I'll be running the Royal Victoria Half Marathon on Thanksgiving long weekend which falls within the date range of the World Wide Half. It's not truly local since we do have to take a ferry and a few buses to get there, but there's at least no flight involved and I'm already registered, so there you go. I registered for the PWWHM last week and, surprisingly, I'm the first Vancouver entrant. That really surprises me. So I'm going to promote it locally among the folks I know who run. Maybe we should start up a Vancouver team.

Another cool thing that PWWHM have organised around the virtual event is a website (The Extra Mile Podcast) where entrants can record a short, 2-minute podcast describing their training or their thoughts and feelings about the upcoming races. I'd like to try to record one of my own to submit; I'll let you know if/when that happens. You can hear the submissions on the blog or subscribe to the podcast through iTunes.

One more thing, did you know Rocco is running now? He's been following a Running Room program to train for a 10km distance and as it turns out, he really likes it and is quite good at it. At the Victoria weekend they also offer an 8km race. Rocco and Dora will be running the 8km. Yay! I'm sure if they wanted to they could track their 5km time on their own and enter their results at the World Wide Half site for the 5km distance. It's like accomplishing two races by running one, see? Clever.

In my opinion, a great initiative to support. Maybe next year we'll skip the RVM and organise a 13.1 mile and 5km group in our neighbourhood. I'd likely spend way, way too long designing a t-shirt though and the whole thesis thing would be thrown out the window. Huh, maybe this isn't such a great idea after all... Anyway, Think global - run local!