My first "run" at Virtual Racing

Have you ever heard of a virtual race? 

I hadn't either until recently. As it turns out - virtual races are AWESOME! I'm totally obsessed! 

Here's what they are. You find a virtual racing website (there are a bunch). Find a race that you like the theme/distance/dates. They typically set a date range that you can/should run your virtual race. You sign up online, just like you would register for a real life race. They'll send you your race packet with a shirt, a medal and a bib number. Then, on the date specified (or whenever works for you) - you run the distance! 

When I first heard of this I didn't really grasp WHY you would want to do this. Why would I pay to do a "fake" race? Well, I just did my first and now I know!!! 

• You get a great shirt and awesome bling. No more dinky race medals or ugly white tees. 
• Part of your registration fee goes to charity. 
• You have committed to something - so you're more likely to work towards it and actually do the distance. 
• The dates are flexible so you can run your race when you want to! 
• There is an amazing virtual community cheering you on.
• You can run with whoever you want. Bring your kids, bring your dogs - no rules! 
• It's the PERFECT way to organize your own mini race without all of the hassle!

While I'm pumped about ALL of the benefits of virtual racing, that last one was the real kicker for me. You see, I teach a "Moms in Motion" fitness class where moms and their kiddos come to play and workout together every week. I always thought it would be fun to do a 5K together, but there aren't many races in our area very often. When there are, they often aren't stroller friendly which is kind of a must-have for our #strollersquad. I thought it would be fun to organize one just for us, but didn't want to deal with the logistics of signing up, designing and ordering shirts, getting race bibs...etc. 

In comes virtual racing.

Here's what we did:

I found an awesome virtual run through Flex It Pink. The theme was "Girls Run The World". They had a great shirt design (perfect for strong mamas like us) and the charity they partnered with was Dress a Girl Around the World. 

I picked a date and a location to run and invited my class members to join me and sign up. Each of us signed up on our own, and got our race packages shipped to our homes. On race day, we all met up with our shirts, medals in hand and of course, our kids! ​

I have to say, it's one of the funnest (is that a word?!) races I've run! We did a kids dash first (to wear them out...duh), warmed up with a Freeze Dance and got to spend a beautiful morning running and walking together with our kids!

Add a homemade photo booth for post-race pictures and we had it all! It was so fun getting to do an "event" that we were able to tailor for ourselves! Lots of running strollers (what would we do with out our BOB's??), snacks and even Disney music at the finish line. 

If you've never thought about trying a virtual race - I encourage you to check it out!

​Find some friends and make it a party! 

PS - Super Kudos to this mama - who came and pushed her Double BOB while 39 weeks pregnant! She earned her tiara medal for sure!!!!