We’ve gotten a few inquiries about when you can expect your shirt and medal. Packages are being mailed out tomorrow morning! Be on the lookout this week for your race swag! Foreigners can expect theirs this or next week! 

Just to review the numbers, we had 93 participants for the first annual RaceEpic! Thanks to the generosity of many racers, we raised nearly $1000 for our three charities!

If you’re interested in reading other racer’s recaps, just search ‘raceepic’  as a tag. 

Thank you to everyone who participated and spread the word about RaceEpic! We are already scheming up big plans for RaceEpic 2012! 

Is it really almost New Year’s Eve?
 
Well, quit asking yourself where 2011 went and start lacing up for Race Epic!
 
Best of luck racers!  Have fun, do your best, remember why you’re racing, and make this race (and this upcoming year) an epic one!
 
Submit your proof* any of the following ways:
 
Email: raceepic@gmail.com
Ask: http://raceepic.tumblr.com/ask
Submit: http://raceepic.tumblr.com/submit
Post: tag with #raceepic
 
 
 
* The term ‘proof’ is used loosely here.  Just show us you ran!  This can be Garmin data, a picture of your route, a picture of you running, a poem about your run, etc.  Be creative and have fun!

GOOD MORNING RACERS!

First, today is the LAST day to register for Race Epic.  Registration will officially close tonight at MIDNIGHT.  So tell your kids, tell your wife, tell your husband cause we’re RACING IN THE NEW YEAR!

Second, we have a winner from Monday’s raffle, but he’s choosing to remain anonymous.  Just know, the winner has been notified, graciously accepted an Amazon gift card, donated the addition $25 to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, and passed along the additional registration to a wonderful and deserving racer. 

Today’s featured racer is leadoeslife! Check out her story-this chick is awesome, and reminds us that being healthy is a choice. Follow Lea and make your health a priority in 2012!

What Race Epic means is getting my life back.  A slight exaggeration?  Maybe, but in a round about way it is true.

On New Year’s Eve, I will be working a 12 hour night shift, after having worked several nights before and several after.  Race Epic means making a run happen despite the fact that “I don’t have time”.

 I used to be an EMS helicopter pilot, now I work in the Company Headquarters.  At a Desk.  I used to be “in shape” and make room in my life for exercise, now I am obese and unhappy.  I used to run several miles without much prep, now I struggle to run a mile…..sssllllooowwllly.

Every day is a new chance to change my life and become happy again.  This is the catalyst to move forward, move on, and claim my life.  You have all done it, why can’t I?

I have signed up for the Colorado Half Marathon on May 6, 2012.  I decided a few weeks ago that I would start training “for real” at the start of January.  I wanted to be able to go three miles before I began my plan.  As of now, I’ve been doing about 2.  Do I run the whole thing? Nope.  Do I care?  A little, but I know that will come. 

So, for Race Epic, I will do my 3 miles.  I will probably have to do it on a treadmill, unless I can sneak away from work for 40 minutes or so… ;-)  This will launch me into my more intense training, and remind me that I can reach my goals, if I choose. 

This New Year I choose to be happy.  I choose to be fit and make my health a priority.  I choose to go from 244 pounds to 144. (Ok, that may take more than a year and I’m ok with that)  I choose to make new healthy habits and activities with my family and friends. I choose to find support and support others on Tumblr.  I choose to make this year…. Epic.

Thank you to everyone who registered for Race Epic yesterday and spread the word!  We were simply amazed at the support.

This morning, we have a winner!  Congratulations to Mikey!

Mikey won an additional race entry to Race Epic, a $25 Amazon gift card, and a $25 donation to the charity/organization of his choosing.

Mikey chose to donate to the It Gets Better Project.  This project, started in 2010 after numerous suicides by LGBTQ youth, offers assurance, guidance, and support to victims of bullying.  It’s a simple message that sometimes gets cloudy: life is worth living, you are special, unique, and amazing just the way you are, and differences amongst people should be not only accepted, but celebrated!  
 
So thank you, to everyone racing, donating, and getting the word out for Race Epic.  We’re honored to be racing with people as special, unique, and amazing as you!  


 
“It gets better.  However bad it is now, it gets better, and it can get great and it can get awesome.  Your life can be amazing, but you have to tough this period of it out and you have to live your life so that you’re around for it to get amazing.  And it can.  And it will.” -Dan Savage

Thanks to a very generous donor looking to pay it forward this holiday season, we have TWO free entries to Race Epic to give away.

To match this donor’s generous spirit, we’re raffling off a way for you to pay it forward by sharing Race Epic with a family member, friend, training partner, or person of your choosing.

And we’re raffling off the first entry (along with a few other goodies) TODAY!

Register today, 12/14, between 12:00PM and 11:59PM EST and you will be automatically entered to win:

• a free Race Epic registration for your chosen race buddy.
• a $25 donation to the charity of your choice (one of our chosen three or one of your own).
• a $25 gift card to either Amazon or iTunes (your choice).

Please reblog & spread the word!

Today’s featured racer is Amie! This post reminds us that sometimes you have to remember that we all start from the same place. No one is able to run miles and miles right out of the door. Through consistency and perseverance, Amie shows us that anything is possible with a little hard work! 

“I began this journey in late September of this year. I wanted to be happy, I wanted my life back. I was tired of hiding and being miserable. I decided to eat right and get off my ass and move! In doing so I took up running. I am getting ready to start week 8 of the C25K program. My first run I could not run for one minute. Who would have thought that I can now run for 25 minutes? I have lost some weight and smiled a lot in the process. Race Epic will be my first 5k and a brilliant start to 2012!”

Don’t forget to submit to us what RaceEpic will mean to you! 

Today’s featured racer, Laura, was the first international registrant of Race Epic (and proof that it will slowly take over the globe).

“Running has become my therapy.  When all else fails I grab my trainers and hit the road.  Running clears my head, gives me clarity and helps me to get through the day.  In times when I feel mentally weak running makes me feel so strong.

You see I suffer from depression.  I think I always have to a certain degree but over the last couple of years I have found myself hitting rock bottom on a couple of occasions.  Wishing I could go to sleep and never wake up.  For me depression is a wave of sadness - it can pass over in a flash or linger for days, weeks or months.  When it appears those are the times that I need running the most.  To make me feel alive again.

I have to thank tumblr for introducing me to running by reading all of the race reports and personal journeys.  I wanted to experience that - I needed to experience that.  So I started slowly not being able to run for 1 minute through to completing a half marathon.  It hasn’t come easy.  I have had three injuries this year forcing me to pull back and take breaks, but these moments made me realise how much running and the tumblr community means to me.

Race Epic has come along at just the right time.  The depression has hit again over the last few months and this time of year is never great for me. Race Epic means that I have something positive to take me through the end of 2011 and into 2012.  I plan to run on New Year’s Eve to celebrate all of my achievements this year and also on New Year’s Day to enter 2012 in the right frame of mind.  I am due to start training for my first marathon in January and I see Race Epic as the start of this challenge.  I am not going to decide on a distance to run and I will just take myself wherever my legs choose to take me, for however long they wish to run.  I am excited to run knowing that the very people who have inspired my running journey will be taking part too.”

It’s not too late to submit your story!  Let us know what Race Epic means to you!

Anna, Brenna, and Claire have all shared with you what Race Epic means to them, but we want to hear what participating in this New Year’s event means to you.

How are you challenging yourself? How are you changing yourself? What adversities have you overcome or are you working to overcome? What goals are you working towards, and how does this event fit into achieving them?  How are you creating new, healthier traditions for yourself and your loved ones?  Where are you planning on running your Race Epic?  How will you make it your own?

From now until New Year’s Eve, we’ll be spotlighting a story a day from each of you.  So tell us yours!

Submit to us what Race Epic means to you anytime between now and 12/30, and we will feature as many of our Epic Racers as possible.


Email: raceepic@gmail.com
Ask: http://raceepic.tumblr.com/ask
Submit: http://raceepic.tumblr.com/submit
Post: tag with #raceepic

And please contact Race Epic at the e-mail above if you have any questions!