What it is: A local running store, Pacers, has partnered with New Balance on a well-known Washington, D.C. area race, the George Washington Parkway Classic, a 10-mile race.
But wait, that's not the cool thing.
The cool thing is that the race has a "Break Your PR Challenge." You submit an essay about how running has changed your life, and if your essay is compelling enough, you get picked.
And I was one of the nine people who did.
The winners get:
- Free entry to the race
- Free New Balance uniform for the race: shoes, shorts, and technical shirt
- Free coaching from the Pacers coach, who leads a group of semi-elite/elite local runners
- Start at or near the starting line of the race, along with the elites
- Your essay and photo on the GW Parkway Classic website
- Attend the race exposition and dinner with Olympic Trials Marathon qualifier, former elite runner and training coach Dick Beardsley
- Attend the post-race award ceremony, press interviews, and other photo opps
- Update our progress on the race website
- Get two more free pairs of running shoes over one year
- A GW Parkway Classic jacket
Except for mine and one other woman's.
When you click on my name, you get "HTTP Error: Page Not Found." (I'm the first winner listed.) You can read a tiny snippet of my essay in the race press release posted online. But that's not the same as reading the whole thing.
I and a friend told the race organizers about the error 7 days ago, which they said they would fix very soon. But they haven't yet.
Sigh.
I was waiting until they fixed the error to announce my winning here. But I'm tired of waiting. So I'm going to post my essay and ugly mug here later today (this post is already too long).
And if you happen to tell the race organizers that you can't read all of the winners' essays, I won't stop you.
Hey, congratulations! You're a great writer, so I'm not surprised you won. I'm looking forward to reading your essay.
ReplyDeleteHey that is really cool bex, post a link when they get it all up and running I would love to check it out. Sounds like alot of fun, good luck breaking your PR.
ReplyDeleteI can already sense the competitive juices flowing.
You rock rock rock!! as i told you before, you're gonna break that pr, or die trying.
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Very nice! Great story -- even from what little we're currently able to read. Congratulations!! I'm sure your grandmother's proud of you too.
ReplyDeleteIs it later today yet? I wanna see this article. So very awesome!
ReplyDeleteCongratulations! That is very exciting. On my way to "help" them fix their website.
ReplyDeleteThey didn't need me to fix to link and I am so stunned that you have only been running for a couple of years. Clearly you never lost a bit of your 10 year old mojo.
ReplyDeleteBest of luck in this race. They almost all seem to be PR (barring hideous weather and bad starts) so I'm guessing you'll be in new shoes for a while!
The link works now. You're famous! Nice story. Old traditions die hard.
ReplyDeleteI didn't realize you only started 2 1/2 years ago. You've come a long way in that time. Ah, the advantages of youth!
What are you standing in front of in that pic?!
Now that's cool! Hope they get your link set up correctly. I'd like to read your essay. Best of luck training to break your PR. I'd go out blazing for two pair of shoes.
ReplyDeleteAs always, you have got it going on. So they didn't have a professional writer disclaimer? Lucky you.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations! I wish you had mentioned this contest, so that I could enter it too. Think of the prestige for the 10K group if it could boast TWO coaches who had won.
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