More on getting started

The Race
Rumor has it that the USA Rock N Roll Marathon is filling up fast--only 1,000 spots of 24,000 left. So if you're seriously considering signing up for this race, now would be the time to act. And remember, if you register by January 5th, you can use the code RESOLVE to get $15 off your registration fee.

Please keep in mind that you can participate with us in any race you choose to run, at any distance. If you are a beginner who gets winded on the long journey from the couch to the fridge, then your best bet is to start with a Couch to 5k program and choose a 5k race that is at least 10 weeks out. On the other hand, if you're a veteran runner and 10-time Boston qualifier who gets up to run Yassos at 4 a.m., then you can run any race you darn well please, and also, I kind of hate you.

But seriously. No matter where you are in your running journey, you can join us in running for their lives. If you haven't yet found a race that suits you in terms of distance, date and location, here are a few links that list upcoming races by area:

1. Cool Running : Many of the road races in New England are listed here, though I found after we moved to Ohio that the site is light on the listings for midwestern states.
2. Active.com : This site provides fairly comprehensive listing for most regions for races of all distances.
3. Half Marathon Calendar: Here you'll find a listing of half marathons by date and state.
4. When all else fails, Google it. If you search the web by just plugging in the distance (5k, 10k, half marathon, etc.) and name of your city or region, you'll be able to find many of the smaller events that the national sites above don't list.

Now, for those of you who have already nailed down your race and are fast approaching race day, (looking at you, Rebekah), I'm happy to report that we'll soon have a customized Run for their Lives webpage for tracking and making donations to Love146. Please know that by choosing to participate with us in this project, you are in no way obligated to donate or to solicit donations. But you will at least have that option, and we're working to make it as easy and seamless as possible with our very own Run for their Lives donation page. (Link to follow soon!)


The 146 Mile Challenge
Our team of runners on dailymile is up to 13 and growing! If you haven't yet committed to running 146 miles in support of Love146, there's still plenty of time. I created this challenge with the thought that it would be a great way to provide some purpose behind our training, to offer encouragement through connection, and to track our collective miles. There isn't a monetary component to this, no matching gift that springs forth when we each hit the 146 mile marker. If donations come in as a result of our efforts, fantastic. But that's not the driving force behind this particular challenge.

Coming Up
I promise I'm almost done bombarding you with details about how to get started. Going forward, the content here will likely be a bit less bullet-pointy and a little more tear-jerky. We're planning a series of posts (and guest posts, if I can effectively twist some arms) that will cover the issue of human trafficking in more depth. In addition, I hope to intersperse a bit of levity with a weekly post in the Average Jo's Guide to Running. Emphasis on average. Ahem.

So lace up, my friends. We've got a lot of ground to cover!

The Starting Line: How to Get Involved

Friends, thanks so much for your enthusiastic response to Run for their Lives. I realize that in my impulsive first post, I asked you to come with me without really even telling you where we were going. Details, details.

So let's talk about where we're going and how to get started.

1. Join dailymile and sign up for the Run for their Lives challenge.
Whether you're looking to 2012 as the year to start running, keep running, or reach a new PR, if you plan to run a mile, will you join us in running for their lives? We've set up a challenge at dailymile to run 146 miles in support of Love146.org and the battle against human trafficking. Let's tally our small steps together for one big distance!

To sign up for this social networking site with a fitness twist, you can use your Facebook or Twitter account to sign in or simply set up a new account. Dailymile is simple, free (of course) and can be tailored to share as little or as much information as you choose. For example, I usually just track my mileage and pace, but don't post my running routes on the off chance some creepy stalker might try to locate me. (Not that he could catch up with me if he tried. Yeah, creepy stalker, you're creepy AND slow.)

I've used dailymile over the past several months primarily to track my training in terms of overall weekly mileage, average paces and to figure out how many miles are on my running shoes. But more on that later. For now, here's what you need to know. Sign up. I'm serious. Go right now. I'll wait for you.


2. Okay, so you're back? Great. Next, we need to make sure you don't miss any of the riveting updates and posts that will be pouring forth from this site in the next ten weeks. There are a few ways to do this. You can join this site using the "Run Along, Now" widget to the right.  You can subscribe to the feed in a reader, or you can enter your email in the space to the right to receive updates delivered to your inbox. And if you're an over-achiever, you can do all three. Knock yourself out.


3. If you plan to participate with us in some way, and you have a blog, please leave me a comment below with a link to your blog or website so I can add you to a soon-to-be-created link list. 


4. Find and sign up for a race in your area. Larry and I are signed up to run the USA Rock N Roll Half Marathon in Washington, DC on March 17th,  as are a handful of our friends and family members. Some are traveling from afar, and others may just be walking from their house to the starting line. If you register to run the DC event, please let me know! Email me with your name and  contact info at mylestonesblog at gmail dot com so we can include you in the event-specific activities. (If you're thinking of signing up, the USA Rock n Roll Marathon is running a special of $15 off registration when you use the code RESOLVE. The offer is good until January 5th, 2012.)


5. Some of you (God bless ya) have already asked about how to donate and where to direct potential sponsors for an upcoming race. I'm working on a process for that--hopefully one that will allow us to tally all the donations that have been made through our Run for their Lives efforts. Stay tuned, and I'll be back to you shortly!

It's possible I set a PR for word count and exclamation points. I'm not usually this exclamatory, but this is exciting stuff, folks. Okay then. You have some homework to do. And some miles to run. On your mark, get set, go!