Local Race Series

Sooooo for a while there has been a local race series that happens in Morgantown, the Morgantown Area Grand Prix (MAGP).  The series consists of 12 races, the distances are anywhere between 5K and 13.1K, and take place throughout the 2015 calendar year.  The first race of the year for this series usually doesn’t take place until late March at Cooper’s Rock (a very tough first race of the series).  I have always wanted to complete all of the races in the series but last year I didn’t have the complete race schedule far enough in advance to schedule work around the races, so I ended up running a handfull of races last year.

This year however, things were gonna be different.  I would check iplayoutside almost daily until the schedule for 2015 went live, and I have written all of the races down in my planner so I can schedule work around them!  Like I said, there are 12 races, if a person runs in one race they are autuomatically entered into the series, but one would have to complete at least 7 races to be considered for year end prizes, should a person run more than 9 races, the best 9 scores are considered for prizes.  The scoring system used is age-graded (in my opinion, it really plays into the hand of the young and old very well) but that is how they have ranked runners for years past!  So far, I have run the first 2 races of this series and am currently in 12th place in the female division!  The next race for this series is May 24th, in Point Marion, PA!

The county I live in, Marion County, decided to jump on the race series bandwagon, and the Marion County Parks and Recreation Commission (MCPARC) created the MCPARC race series last year.  I don’t remember how many races there were in the series last year (it was also created too late for me to plan to run all of the races) but I also completed a few of those races last year.  This year, the series consists of 8 races also ranging in distances from 5K-13.1K.  The first race was at the beginning of the year on a snowy January and was a half marathon!  To be considered for prizes in this series, one has to run at least 5 races, should one complete more than 5, the best 6 scores would be used for end of the year prizes (the same age-graded scoring system that’s used for the MAGP series is used for this one).  So far this year I have run the first 3 races that have been held and am in 3rd place in the female division!  The next race is in Fairmont on the 23rd of May and will benefit the Marion County Boys and Girls Club programs.

Are there local race series with incentives to run races where you live?  What are the ranges in distances, do they benefit local charities, organizations?

Thanks for reading!!

CASA Superhero 5K

Soooo I recently ran the 3rd race in the MCPARC race series I had mentioned in a previous post, the CASA superhero 5K, in Fairmont, WV.  This is a race I had heard about in previous years but had never been able to run!  If you’ve never heard of CASA, it’s an organization that helps abused children, and the theme of the race is that these children don’t just need a hero, they need a superhero!  So it is encouraged that runners and walkers dress up as a superhero.

Naturally, I chose Michaelangelo from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles!  My foot was sore beginning the race and I wasn’t sure if I was even going to run it when I got there, but I decided to go for it anyway!

The course started on top of a pretty long hill and we ran downward for close to a half mile and my foot hurt pretty bad during this part of the race, but I didn’t push it, my goal wasn’t to PR or place in my age group, just to run and enjoy it and hope my foot didn’t hurt too bad.  Once we got onto the flat part of the race the pain in my foot actually went away, maybe it was that fantastic runner’s high, I don’t know but I actually ended up forgetting that my foot hurt!  Don’t worry though, I didn’t push it, I still kept a conservative pace and focused on finishing the race.

The race ended with an uphill finish and I felt really strong due to the training that I had been doing for the half marathon at Harper’s Ferry, so I was happy that I finished strong and didn’t have to walk during the race!

I didn’t stick around, but there was a pretty nice party afterward with food from Dos Hermanos where the awards were given out.  Hopefully next year I’ll be in full racing form, it will be warmer, and I won’t have anywhere to be afterward so I can truly partake in all of the festivities of the day!  This was a fun race, and I highly recommend that you run it if you can; in your superhero costume of course!

Thanks for reading!!