https://www.runningahead.com/distance_game/2017I know some of you were on a team last year...I was and met some great folks! Now is the time for you to join for next year... maybe we'll end up on a team together!!ETA: Deadline to sign up for a team is December 21st at 12:00 AM EST. Deadline for individuals will be January 1st at 12:00 AM EST.
Trails Rock!
Marathon Maniac #957
Sure, why not? It might be fun! I'll give it a shot.
Life is a headlong rush into the unknown. We can hunker down and hope nothing hits us or we can stand tall, lean into the wind and say, "Bring it on, darlin', and don't be stingy with the jalapenos."
I enjoyed "meeting" all the different folks on my team and while we didn't win (you really don't win anything, not even a medal :-) ) I had fun.
MM #5615
I would like to be on a team if anybody wants to take a chance on me. I've been injury prone lately.
Just sign up Mike. You'll be assigned to a team based in your mileage goal. And if you're lucky no one will know you 😂😂
an amazing likeness
I'm on a team this year, and my goal was to 'meet' some new folks and work with them throughout the year. First thing they did was move all the team communication to Facebook, effectively meaning there's not "team" engagement for those of us who may not enjoy FB -- and it's kind of boring and, frankly, annoying -- that a group would come to RA for a fun group contest, then complain about using RA to participate.
Caveat emptor.
Acceptable at a dance, invaluable in a shipwreck.
We tried communicating on RA but got little involvement from the team members so the captain started a fb group where we kept in touch but I wouldn't say we were overly chatty The game got me out the door on some days I would of stayed in. Just cause I wanted to be green to help my team. For me that was a good thing.
I signed up as an individual, although not sure what that was supposed to get me but whatever. Then I got onto a team when they had some dropouts, and overall the team was dead last in the rankings. I'll probably do it again since you don't really have to do much (just run!), but this year was disappointing with all the downtime I had for my stoopid foot. Maybe signing up for a team in the beginning is a better way to go?
I've never done this before but sounds like fun. Any way we can have a RA Masters team?
Tammy
To clarify…my comments were specific to the possibility of a team you’re on not wanting to engage here on RA…
It took me some time to figure out the game is really about the weekly head-2-head matchups, rather than being a year-long ‘who can run the most miles’. That was a bit of an ‘aha’ for me.
And since there is ‘pressure’ to meet your stated goals to win each week’s matchup, the game does motivate some folks to get out and log some miles they might not have done otherwise.
(for example...my team is in the finals, so this past week, I ran a couple treadmill runs I would have otherwise taken as 'off due to weather' to be sure I hit my weekly goal miles in the contest...)
We had cases on our team this year where runners disappeared from RA, and the admins assigned replacements (like happened for evanflein) from the ‘pinch hitters’ list and they blended right in. We had runner who was injured for 3 weeks, so we all ran the extra miles needed to make up the lost miles while he healed up. So there is a definite team aspect to it.
For the most part, all that’s required is to set your personal annual distance goal at whatever you want, run ‘em and log ‘em. Your team will be appreciative.
Teams are randomly selected by the software which builds teams of equal # of runners and total goal miles for the team’s members. This leads to the teams having a mix of high and low mileage runners. After that it’s luck of the draw as folks get injured or interrupted from their yearly goal in all the ways life can dish out.
MTA: The 2017-in-2017 game admins are now posting reminders that the sign-up deadline is tomorrow, Dec 20.
Yes, everything Milktruck has said ...plus 2016 was the first year for RA to host the game. This is a game that came over from Runners World online. (RWOL) so there were a lot of moving and growing pains. It surely is not for everyone but I loved meeting all the new peeps on my team (those that actively engaged in dialogue)Nice that you are still in the game MilkTruck We ended up in 5th place...I see that they changed the last sign up day.Tammy i was placed on a team with our own Hermosaboy. You never know who your going to get to hang with :-)
Teams are announced! I'm on Team #4 and I don't know anyone on it. Should be interesting. I put 2,200 miles as my goal.
dang it. I forgot about this.
aw shucks Tammy...get signed up as an individual and they'll put you on a team as needed.
I'm on Team 8!!
This was my first year and I had great time with my team.
I am in team 7 and I see Holly S there...hurrahhh.
"Champions are everywhere; all you need is to train them properly..." ~Arthur Lydiard