Dawgbitten = Marathon Man

[Rickeydad]

Stroller Guy finished 5-10 minutes behind me last year at Motorola when I ran it in 3:30. I was in very good condition, but he was a freaking animal! I think he mentioned in the newspaper article last year that it was time for him to stop running for a while. I did see a guy pushing a double, but he was no match for Stroller Guy.

Perhaps a 5K or 10K would be a good fundraising idea for homecoming weekend. I directed a race here on New Year's day and we brought in $5000+ after all the expenses were taken care of.

Our race history
2002 - 125 runners, $2500
2003 - 230 runners, $4000
2004 - 390 runners, $6000 (had more sponsors)
2005 - 475 runners, $5000

These things aren't too hard to put on. I'd share my how to if somebody in Ruston wanted to do this.

[AustinDawg]

Stroller Guy finished 5-10 minutes behind me last year at Motorola when I ran it in 3:30. I was in very good condition, but he was a freaking animal! I think he mentioned in the newspaper article last year that it was time for him to stop running for a while. I did see a guy pushing a double, but he was no match for Stroller Guy.

Perhaps a 5K or 10K would be a good fundraising idea for homecoming weekend. I directed a race here on New Year's day and we brought in $5000+ after all the expenses were taken care of.

Our race history
2002 - 125 runners, $2500
2003 - 230 runners, $4000
2004 - 390 runners, $6000 (had more sponsors)
2005 - 475 runners, $5000

These things aren't too hard to put on. I'd share my how to if somebody in Ruston wanted to do this.

We ran the 5k in San Marcos this saturday. The race was organized by a student organization at Texas State and the proceeds were to benefit the American Diabetes Assoc. The race was a real struggle for the organizers because they only expected 50 but had 180 show up the day of the race (and it was even raining). One guy who appeared to be a serious runner told Kdaniel that you could get 100 people just by posting an announcement at Runtex the day before the race.

I would imagine you could get the same results in N. LA. with any halfway decent attempt to publicize it. Especially if you canvassed Dallas and Little Rock. BTW, there were several people there saturday who drove down from Dallas. And this was only a 5K.

[RXDAWG]

I think a 5K 10K would be a great idea! We could get Tommy's Tees to do the T-shirt and I'm sure he would give us a great deal. I could get Mark Cramer from Champion Trophies to cut us a deal on the awards. Plus, we could have a post-race party and get ready for the game!!!

[RXDAWG]

The best way to get the word out in the Monroe/Ruston area is through the Ouachita Valley Road Runner Club. They put on a lot of the races held in this area.

[Rickeydad]

Just need a race director and a team of helpers to get it going...

[Rickeydad]

This could be the longest post I've ever put up anywhere. This is for one of you industrious Ruston-ites that might want to go with this 5K/10K race idea. Or any of you elsewhere that might want to raise some money for your church/charity/other. I originally wrote it for a friend that is putting on her first race in the Austin area, so it has local color.

I have helped with the Resolution Run (January 1st 5K race at my church) the past three years, race directing the last two.



Here are a bunch of thoughts basically in the order that I have thought of them.



· Race committee – Form a group to help you. The more the better because there is lots to do. Make sure they are reliable.

· Handing out tasks – I find that if you let people do the tasks they want to do, they do a better job.

· Meetings – I hate meetings and have done almost all of my organizing through email. The people I work with like this better.

· The course – If you are in city limits, it is much harder because you have to get permits and that costs money, at least in Austin. For our race we are in Williamson County and we are luckily not in Austin or Round Rock. Since we are in a residential area and we don’t close any of the roads we haven’t had to pay anything or get permits. The county constables send out two cars and help us out.

· Cones – You will need cones, up to 200 of them. We got cones for free from Runtex (local running shoe store) and from the constables. We had to pick up the cones from Runtex and cone the course ourselves, but that was a piece of cake. Just need a pick up truck for that.

· Course certification – As the race gets bigger, this is something you should consider. Certifying our race cost us $150, but its good for 10 years. That averages out to $15 a year and that can be paid for by having one extra runner show up. A lot of the people on the Runtex Message Board like to see the courses they run on be certified. Find the local course certifier on the USA track and field website. http://www.usatf.org/

· Chip timing – This will cost some money. I don’t want to post any numbers here on the cost. It may not be feasible for you to do in your first year because of the cost. As your race grows, you really should strive for this. The post race activity is a breeze once your race gets big enough. In Austin, www.run-far.com is the place to check on this. Not sure where to go outside of Austin.

· Race calendars – As soon as you are going to go ahead and put on a race, get your race on the Runtex race calendar or local race calendar. Some businesses (T-shirt shops) will contact you so they can bid on your business. I have also had some sponsors come forward as well. There are other calendars as well – coolrunning.com, insidetexasrunning.com, Runnersworld.com, runningtimes.com, etc.

· Post race food – You should at least have bananas, oranges, and water. Gatorade/Powerade also. Bagels or doughnuts are good. Sausage wraps are good.

· Sponsors – I added door prizes to our race in 2004. I can’t decide if it helped us grow or not because we were growing already, but lots of people liked this. It’s a lot of work to go out and get door prizes, but I think its worth it. When businesses can’t actually give money to help pay for the costs of putting on the race, they often will give a door prize. Having lots of people on your committee definitely helps with this. We’ll see if it helps this year. Hopefully we’ll get a lot of repeats.

· Runtex Raceworks – This will cost you, but they offer services and equipment for races. Call Runtex Riverside and ask to speak to David Grice. He helped us last year. They provided the start/finish line scaffolding and fencing. They also have cones and water jugs, split clocks, mile markers, etc. They do custom signs– you will need these to put up on the race course in the days before the race to warn drivers of the upcoming event. They can provide other advice.

· Race Announcer – We used Robert Evilsizer (www.evilsgoodtimes.com). He does a great job. Do a search for him on the Runtex board and you can read about him, if the thread is still there. I love crossing the line and hearing him do his thing!

· Race bibs – Those sheets with the numbers that the runners wear can be bought from www.marathononline.com. You can also get them from Runners World or Running Times for free if you sign up early enough but you have to send them your participant’s addresses – some people don’t like this. Get the numbered bibs with tear tags. The tear tags can be used for the door prize drawings.

· Keep an eye on the Runtex Forum, especially the race reports to get an idea of what people like to see at their races. www.runtex.com

· Ask questions on the message board, people will help.

· Without annoying people too much, use the message board to make people aware of your race.

· More on shirts – go with cotton the first few years. If your race is really successful, then perhaps you can get fancy with the shirts. Cotton shirts will cost around $3.50-$4.00 each, more if you have lots of colors.

· Other ideas instead of shirts – socks, shorts, hats,”dog-tags”.

· Use online registration if you can. I think it helps to bring runners in, and it makes your paperwork easier. I like signmeup.com rather than active.com. Active has pop-ups and has some cheesy deals associated with it. Signmeup is straight forward and doesn’t seem to annoy people. Consider taking the hit on the registration fee. Contact them for a quote. http://www.signmeupsports.com/

· Still offer paper registrations because some people still do that. Have a PDF on your website

· Awards – go three deep in male and female age groups, every five years. Also give Masters division awards (first place at least, for 40 and up). It would be cool to have some gift certificates or something for the top three overall male and female finishers, and they are given separate awards apart from the age group awards, meaning they don’t win an overall and an age group award.

· Insurance – you need to have your race insured. It’s a snap if you do your race with the help of a local running club that is a part of the RRCA.



I also have a checklist with some other small things on it. Let me know if you are interested and I’ll send it to you.

[Rickeydad]

The best way to get the word out in the Monroe/Ruston area is through the Ouachita Valley Road Runner Club. They put on a lot of the races held in this area.

Anybody that might take this on, ought to get help from them.

Ideas for groups to put this on: Alumni Association, a respectable frat/sorority pair, Tech CC and Track. Add to the list!

[Rickeydad]

Oh, here I am dragging ass in mile 21 after hitting the wall at 20. I was on pace for 3:27 until the wheels came off.

[Dawgbitten]

Someone scheduled a 5K race that was to be associated with a Shreveport game last year (or was it the year before?), but it was cancelled along when the game date was changed. It was called the Big Dawg run. I want to say the cross country team had it's hand in planning this race for a fund raiser.

[Dawgbitten]

You look like you are angry about hitting that wall.

[kdaniel72]

I think this run would be a great idae. I am in if anyone wants to try and get it off the ground.

[Dawgbitten]

I vote for a Memorial Day run.

[Rickeydad]

I think Memorial Day in Ruston would produce a small turnout. If its during the school year you have a chance to get some of the student body to run or even volunteer, even if many of them leave town on weekends. Make it a football weekend and I think your odds are better. But thats $0.02 more from me.

[kdaniel72]

WHy not have it in Shreveport? Or Bossier?

[duckbillplatty]

Any other runners/triathletes around here?

Great time on the 3:43, Rickeydad!

I am a one-time marathon finisher. November 30 at the Marine Corps Marathon.

My next is slated for early December. Either Mississippi Coast Marathon, Baton Rouge Beach, or some East Texas race if a gotta go that route.

I also do a little of the tri stuff. (Usually sprint distance) But generally default to adventure races instead.