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Ready for Race Day

Let's prepare for a great race day.  Make sure you're ready for Saturday with our Race Day Checklist:

  1. Set up the Virtual Race app
  2. Create and join teams
  3. Plan your route before you run
  4. Get decked out for the day
  5. Increase your impact with Vizer
  6. Ideas to make race day fun
  7. Stay safe

☑ Set up the Virtual Race app

You're already here! Cross this one off the list.

☑Create and join teams

Race day is more fun with friends. We know you run in multiple circles, so you can create and join multiple teams from the app. ? Book Club, ? Coworkers, ? Neighbors, ?‍?‍?‍? Cousins, ? Spin Class—you can make a team for all of your groups and race together. On race day you'll be able to cheer each other on and see results for the team.

Tip: anyone on the team can customize the Team name and icon for everyone.  Pick a good name so it's easy to tell which group it is! 

Go to the Teams tab in the app to get started. Friends can register for the race through race day, so there's still time to build your team.

Some of our partners are also offering a fun sweepstakes to people who join their teams.  Learn more about the details and how to enter here. 

☑ Plan your route before your run

During the race, the Virtual Race app will let you know how you’re progressing toward 5k. But we find that you’ll get the best time if you begin the race with a planned route that you already know is 5k. Our full website has more resources to plan your route, including links to tools from Google and Strava. Head to your Order Status page and then click the big blue "ready to race" button

If you're not into a plan, that's OK too. One simple way to know when you'll get to 5k is to leave your house and run/walk until you hit 2.5 km. Turn back back there and retrace your steps; 5k km should be right at your door.

☑ Get decked out for the day

Our t-shirt printer is working to get shirts printed and shipped as fast as possible given the circumstances, but there are many of us who won't have their shirt in hand for race day (there are also many who generously skipped the shirt and donated it to our Essential Worker fund).  

No reason to fret—if your shirt will not arrive in time, you can still look great for the race by personalizing a custom race bib (find the link on your Order Status page). We left a blank space in the middle of the bib where the number usually goes: it's for adding something meaningful to you. You can choose a lucky number or your team name, but consider digging deeper:

Maybe express what the sacrifice that Essential Workers—working in healthcare, delivery trucks, grocery stores, daycares, research labs—make means to you. Or a meaningful person in your life who's taken care of you or stood up for you during hard times.  Or, if you feel safe when you run outside, the privilege of being able to run without fearing for your life. That's not something Americans in the Black community can count on; we've got to keep striving for better with our voices and actions.

☑ Increase your impact with Vizer

Our partner Vizer allows you to count your 5k steps twice and create something amazing: more impact for Feeding America.  Vizer is a social fitness rewards app fighting hunger. Your exercise donates meals: every day that you reach your goal and tap Donate, their sponsors donate a meal on your behalf. Free to download and use, your sweat is your currency!

Just for joining Vizer, you'll contribute a meal.  Add your 5k steps / exercise time from Run Across America and you'll be taking your first steps to to making more impact every day.

Learn more and download at vizerapp.com. You can also show your support by joining the Vizer team (code VIZER) on the Teams tab.

☑ Make race day fun

Just because the race is virtual doesn’t mean it can’t be social. Coordinate with your team on some of these fun ideas:

  • Phone tag relay Set an order for a virtual relay. You can’t start the race until someone else from your team calls to say they’re done and hands you a virtual baton.
  • Start together Video chat with your team and have someone call a start so you all begin at the same time.
  • Post-race Happy Hour After the race, have a video call with your team to share stories of the route and unwind together.
  • Best dressed Have a competition for most creative homemade race bib or race outfit.

☑ Stay safe

We all have a responsibility to keep each other safe.  You are accountable for choosing a safe route.  It is more important to finish the race in a way that's safe for you and those around you than to get the best time.

Follow guidelines from local, state, and federal agencies on how to stay safe. Depending on your area, you may need to wear protective equipment, maintain safe social distance, and/or obey curfews/stay-at-home orders.

As a virtual race, you have lots of flexibility on when to run and what route to follow.  You should maintain a minimum of 6 feet of distance around you throughout the event.  That may not be possible at noon on a sunny Saturday, so we recommend you choose an alternate time during the race day.  If you live in a city where "open streets" have been created for pedestrians, those can be a good resource, as well.

If local regulations, conditions, or your personal risk factors/comfort prevent you from running outside on June 6, we also offer the ability to record your time manually from your treadmill or other indoor running option.  Complete your run inside and take a photo of the display showing your time.  On the Race tab on Saturday, you'll find a button that says Manual Entry.  Use that to upload your time, and we'll make sure you make the leaderboard.

Here are some resources to learn about Covid-19 and exercise: