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Do You Run With a Group, Friend, or Alone?

 teamAre you the type of person who is independent and self-sufficient?  Have you ever considered how other people affect your life?  Many people find it hard to run with other people but I want to give you some reasons why you should consider running with a group or a friend for some of your runs.

Everyone likes extra motivation right?  Having another person to motivate you to go pound the pavement is a huge bonus!  If I am going for a run by myself, even if it’s a planned event, I occasionally will come up with an excuse for why I shouldn’t go and will end up not going for a run.  When you plan to run with a group or a friend there is a different type of obligation involved.  It is much harder to tell someone else why you need to cancel your set time to run.  This increased motivation to run will get you out more.

The social aspect of being an a group can present an opportunity to change your life.  Many of my close friends I currently have came through running with other friends.  These relationships have built past the barriers of just running.  I have seen my family and work life change solely from these new and lasting relationships I built because of running.

Last is the competition that comes from running in a group or with a friend.  Usually when you run with others you want to find people who run at a similar pace as you.  This allows everyone on the run to enjoy the run.  The ability to push each other to be better is highly prevalent when you run with others of similar capabilities .  You can push the other to go faster, go further, and overall improve in running statistics.  We want you to follow us on Instagram @irunutah and Facebook to share your experiences when you run in a group.  We will sometimes post about when and where we will be running and invite you to do the same on our page so you can connect more with the I Run Utah community!

Devin@irunutah.com

How often do you run each week?

What is a healthy number of runs to do per week? Where do I start when I want to become more consistent with running? The beginning to gaining a consistent weekly run schedule is creating a plan. A plan allows you to build running into your daily schedule. Many people use the excuse of a lack of time in the day for a 30 minute run, but is that a good enough excuse?  Here at I Run Utah we say NO! There is a way to fit weekly running into your life. Add your comment below to share with us and other runners how you are able to accomplish a weekly run schedule.

Here is howrexlee I accomplish my goal of weekly running. I am currently a student finishing up college and have set a schedule which allows me to accomplish a goal of running at least 3 times per week for up to 1 hour. I may only run for 30 minutes but if I feel really good, I will run for the entire hour. Tuesdays and Thursdays are long days for me, so I need time to release at the end of the day. I return home at approximately 4 p.m. after a day full of nonstop classes and change into my running gear. While running, it allows me to organize my thoughts and also take any worries away from school after a long day. I am able to free my mind and enjoy myself by doing something I love. In addition to these two days, I start my Saturdays with a run to have an energized mind for the busy day of chores and errands. If I have time on the other days of the week then I will go for a run because it doesn’t hurt to get in another work out.

Whatever your excuse has been for not running regularly, throw it out the window! Make a plan for running weekly and stick to it, even if you are only running a mile or two each time you run. We invite you to take a picture when you go out for a run whether it be of yourself, the scenery, or something you find unique. Post your picture on Instagram and tag us @irunutah to share with us your journey and gain motivation from your friends. We will be posting pictures of a few of our runs on instagram as well so make sure to follow us. Don’t forget to comment below with your Reason 2 Run and what helps you stick to a weekly running schedule because we want to know.

Devin@irunutah.com

Train for your first 5k!

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For some people a 5K is simple, but for other people a 5K is a struggle, a great accomplishment, a step toward a healthier life, or the beginning of a running career.  Whatever your cause may be, knowing how to train for a 5K properly is necessary.  We invite you to explore our race calendar, select a 5K, and start training for it.

Before even stepping onto the pavement for your first run, make a plan.  Following through on a plan is necessary for success.  To begin preparation, establish a pace per mile you feel comfortable running at.  This will allow you to set a run walk schedule.  One way to train is to run a specific number of seconds then walk a little, and continue the pattern for 15 to 20 minutes.  If you are in the 12 to 15 minutes per mile range you may consider running for 40 seconds then walk for 20 seconds.  Once you start to feel comfortable, start running 50 seconds then walking 10 seconds putting you in the 9 to 12 minutes per mile range.  If you feel up for it run for 3 minutes then walk for 1 minute.  These techniques not only help you to build your stamina but will help increase your speed.  The key for this method is to actually run your hardest for the run portions then the walk is to briefly catch your breath.

 Another option to improve is set a muscle building schedule along with a running schedule.  Plan to run 3 times a week with 2 days of strength training a week, leaving 2 days left for “off” days where you will do simple stretches to maintain all your efforts.  For example the first few weeks you may run 1 mile on each of Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.  Leaving Tuesday and Saturday for simple building exercises in your core and legs.  With this schedule, Sundays and Thursdays would be your “off” days for simple stretching.  As you continue training. weeks three and four may consist of 1.5 to 2 mile runs.  Then week five builds into 2 to 3 mile runs.  Finishing week six off with 2.5 to 3 mile runs, 5k ready.  If you plan to run a 5k race for the last run of week six, you may only want to run 1.5 miles the run before the event.  If the last run of week six is a 5k race, it could begin a journey that only running will satisfy.

So, what’s your Reason 2 Run?  Take a look at our race calendar, choose a race, make a plan, and pound the pavement to a whole new life with running.  We promise you won’t regret it!

Is your Race Timing Company an Asset or a Liability?

Do you want a “timing” company that is an asset or a liability for your event?  While the answer should be obvious the question is relevant.  I often hear the horror stories about timing companies from Race Directors.  Here are a few examples:

  • A timing company dropped an event at the last minute leaving the race director scrambling. (The race director then contact I Run Utah four days before this race and we successfully timed it)
  • A timing company canceled their booking with a small event to take a more lucrative contract. (We can time several events in a single day and have never canceled a contracted event)
  • A timing company showed up and then failed to provide a single time to a race director at an event with nearly 2,000 participants. (This race director will now happily provide a reference for our services)
  • A timing company provided terrible customer service resulting in seriously negative social media comments about the race.

At I Run Utah, we love the running community and we want to prevent bad experiences for participants and event organizers.  I want to provide you with a few things to look for so that you can tell the difference before you get locked in with a vendor that is only a liability.

  1. Your timing company demands a check for full payment before your event happens.
  2. Your timing company offers to provide timing services for the lowest cost possible.
  3. They fail to return your phone calls or answer your emails.
  4. They show up late or unprepared for your event.
  5. They blame others when any mistakes happen and try to hide themselves away from participants.
  6. They are willing to take shortcuts in safety-this often goes along with providing the lowest cost possible service.

When I decided to create an event management and race timing company, I vowed that we would be different.  I want race directors to view I Run Utah as an asset to their race and here’s what we do to make sure that happens:

  1. We communicate regularly with race directors and use our experience as a participant, organizer, and vendor at hundreds of events to provide timely advice regarding race operations.
  2. We promote your event to our network of potential participants. (Last year we brought 185 paid participants to one “small” event)
  3. We participate in your packet pickups and will even help you sell your merchandise (I personally sold over $1,500 worth of merchandise for one client last year and provided training for members of their staff that dramatically increased their merchandise sales)
  4. We arrive early, provide a professional setup, and will help your team get prepared so that the race can start on time. (We take safety very seriously)
  5. We offer a full range of services (online registration, marketing, logistics, T-Shirts, medals, sponsorship, or even complete event management) that can save tremendous amounts of your time and money.
  6. We provide outstanding customer service to your participants and we will take responsibility for our mistakes when they happen.

When looking for partners for your events, don’t settle for a liability.  Send an email to greg@irunutah.com or give me a call at 801-656-5897 to find out how we can help you make your next event more successful!

Rotary Club of Sugar House Chili Open 5k Mini-Recap

Start of the 2015 Chili Open 5k

Start of the 2015 Chili Open 5k

 

The Rotary Club of Sugar House views the race from this past Saturday as a complete success!  Runners arrived on a beautiful and rare warm January morning to run in support of various charities and sponsors.  Competitive runners came out to the race while others attended solely to support a charity or sponsor and participate in the fun atmosphere.  Pictures captured at the event are posted through multiple of our social media outlets.  First you can view pictures on our own Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/IRunUtah.  Also, specific pictures showing our winners and the atmosphere of the race can be found on our Instagram at http://instagram.com/irunutah/ .

After the race I had the opportunity to interview a few runners and ask them why they decided to run.  One person I spoke with is Erika Wiggins, an avid blogger and tweeter.  Erika was diagnosed with asthma a year and a half ago.  Before she was diagnosed, running was a hard task and didn’t attract her attention for the type of adventure she was looking for.  Now having an inhaler, this was one of Erika’s first races which resulted in a positive experience convincing her to come back for more races in the future.  Erika volunteered for Teen Challenge in the past where she worked with the National President of the organization.  When she saw they were a charity for the race, she became very excited to participate.  For Erika, races like this are all about having fun and helping support a good cause.

Whether you race to win or are like Erika looking for a fun atmosphere to support a good cause, we would love to see you at any of our races.  To find out more about our upcoming races, explore our race calendar at https://www.irunutah.com/race-calendar/.  We continually add events throughout the year so check back often.  Thank you to everyone who came out to the race and for the sponsors and charities involved making the race a success.

 

Utah Chili Open Charity Partner Holding Out Help

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Imagine if your world go turned upside down, if everything you knew to be normal in your life was suddenly gone.  This is a reality for some families.  In Utah’s polygamist communities there are people who don’t have a clue how to live in the real world yet find themselves suddenly thrust into it.

 But there is hope for theses families! People have come together thru the help of volunteers, church groups, etc.  to form a foundation called Holding out Help that raises money to support and help these families by providing places to live, mentoring, education that they so desperately need to live normal lives and much more.

 There is an opportunity for you to meet some of these families, and support them and other local charities at the Rotary Club of Sugar House Chili Open run!  This event will be held on Jan. 31st 2015, at 11:00 AM, we would love to see you there running to support the Holding out Help charity and many other local charities!

Register here! http://utahchiliopen5k.itsyourrace.com

Carly Ituma
(801) 822-8375
carly@irunutah.com

How did I Run Utah become an Event Management Company?

Once upon a time a not so long time ago an Army Soldier thought about retiring and doing something different. This Soldier just happened to be a logistics officer whose primary function had usually been to sit at a desk hidden behind a computer. Now don’t let this destroy your image of the Army but some people especially in the military get the illustrious task of pushing paper. Well, pushing keyboard buttons, performing the all-important functions of cut, paste, and print all while still sitting behind a desk. Some of you may have experienced the unending and incredible joy of being permanently seated behind a desk, but this one particular Army officer didn’t want to retire just to sit behind another desk in another office.

For more than a few brief moments, this Soldier fantasized about becoming a homeless veteran. No, no, no not the one holding a cardboard sign on a street corner. The one that decides to take a cue from Crocodile Dundee and go on a walkabout. No mortgage, no lawn to mow, no bills to pay, or any of that stress. After years of repeatedly facing the enormous importance and pressure of meeting the next suspense (that means deadline for you civilians) the thought of being carefree on a little walkabout across the entire Appalachian Trail sounded pretty enticing. Then, at some point reality had to set in-oh, I mean children. Sometimes being a Dad means you have to forego crazy ideas like becoming a homeless veteran.

Since the sitting in another office and becoming a homeless veteran ideas didn’t seem to work, I (yes-I’m that Soldier) had to come up with something different. Although I didn’t have any real experience at becoming an entrepreneur, I had always wanted to own my own business. Did I mention that I love running? Don’t forget that I have children. I also enjoy helping make my community a better place. Mesh all those things together and I started to envision what my life would really be like after leaving the Army. I decided to start my own running (Event Management) business, make my children work for me, and provide a valuable service to great organizations in my community.

After brainstorming with my wonderful wife, we settled upon the brilliant name I Run Utah. I spent a year planning, running, sitting behind my Army desk, and trying to figure out how to start a business. I decided to do it the Army way. Jump right in and figure it out while moving forward as fast as humanly possible. Never retreat and never surrender. I started attending conferences with other race timers, volunteering my services for some non-profit charities, and networking until I landed my first major client in Idaho who wanted me to time five of his largest races including three triathlons. With the name I Run Utah, we worked with events in five states our first year. Let me also mention that Personal Best Performance in Idaho Falls, Idaho was my largest client! By our third year we expect to work events in 12-15 states.

So if you have the crazy notion that you want to put on a race, send us an email or give us a call. We will probably tell you that you are crazy and then we will help you figure out how to put on an awesome event that raises boatloads of money for your cause-even if your cause is to make a profit. Cause we’re like that. We think this is America and businesses ought to make money, create jobs, and all that good stuff. If you are more of the non-profit type who wants to change the world, adopt a child, or change the world by adopting a child then we will help you make that happen, too. Just plan to bring lots of friends, stop by an event, say hello, get to know us, and tell my kids to get back to work!

Greg Murphy
(801) 656-5897
greg@irunutah.com

What is Running?

What do you think about when you hear the word running?  Do you think about the feel of the wind in your hair as you rapidly cross over a favorite road or trail?  Do you think of your heart, lungs, and muscles straining under the increased workload running puts on the body?  Do you think that someone would have to be crazy to run anywhere when modern transportation makes it faster and easier to travel other ways?  No matter what thought crosses your mind, most people have strong feelings about running.  You either love it or loathe it.

I, for one, love it.  I love the interactive process that takes place between my body and the earth.  The earth with all its hills, trails, roads, and paths is there just waiting to be explored.  It calls my name and beckons me to come see new and exciting routes in diverse places.  The earth yearns to share with me its secrets and show me places and things that are often overlooked.  My body, on the other hand, doesn’t always want to cooperate.  It’s easier to sleep in than get up early for a run.  Running uphill puts enormous strain on legs and lungs and where I live you cannot run without finding a hill.

I never used to consider myself a runner, let alone someone that wanted to run long distances.  Of course, I was a Soldier and I had to train for my semi-annual physical training test but that only required running two miles twice a year.  And then in early 2001, some coworkers challenged me to run in the Army Ten Miler.  Other than a March of Dimes walk-a-thon, a crazy Volksmarch in Germany, and some forced marches with my military training I had scarcely walked that far let alone ran.  So I started training to run ten miles.

The training wasn’t that hard probably because the Army made sure that I stayed in somewhat decent shape.  I started to increase my mileage, slowly and steadily, so that I would be ready for that race in early October.  As the date for my upcoming race began rapidly approaching, history had its say when 19 men decided to hijack airplanes and attack America.  The organizers canceled my planned race, which was scheduled to start and finish at the Pentagon, shortly after September 11th.  My long-distance running debut became delayed for a year.

Not being a person that wanted to give up on my goals, I signed up for the Army Ten Miler the following year.  When race day finally arrived, I loved the energy emanating from the crowd of over 15,000 runners.  Adrenaline, excitement, and anticipation build up as the crowd gathers and waits for the start to take place.  I struck up a conversation with a fellow runner only to think that he must be psychotic when he told me that he was running the Marine Corps Marathon the following week.  I couldn’t figure out who in their right mind would want to run a marathon.  Little did I know how much running would start to impact me.

Ten miles seemed like forever.  My entire body ached and I felt pain in places that I didn’t know could hurt from just running.  Many times I just wanted to quit.  Eventually, when mile after endless mile has passed by the finish line became closer and I started to realize that I might actually finish without dying.  Somewhere around that finish line, I became hooked.  I started to want to run.  After a couple wartime deployments and military moves slowed the process, I set a goal to run my first marathon.

Running changes lives.  Doing it takes something that we know is healthy and provides us with the opportunity to challenge ourselves.  When you finally realize that with running you don’t have to cross the finish line first to be a winner, it can become your passion.  You make new friends, see new places, support great causes, and have fun.  So what is running?  It’s simply whatever you let it become for yourself.

Greg Murphy
(801) 656-5897
greg@irunutah.com