Ok, here's how it's going to work:
On August 31st, Nike is holding the first global 10 kilometer race in 25 major cities around the world (Paris, Rome, Sao Paulo, Singapore, New York, Vancouver, etc.), to benefit the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), the UN Refugee Agency, and Livestrong, with the Lance Armstrong Foundation. Their goal? Raise awareness, pimp their Nike+ system, and kick off a killer annual event. One million runners for 6.2 miles, on one day. Obviously since 40,000 participants per city is an impossibility (even the New York City Marathon cuts off at 37,000), runners not near an official city can still simultaneously participate wherever they are by running through their Nike+ system, and uploading their run by the end of the day.
All runners--those participating in an official race city, and those running on their own, still follow the same registration process (race city participants pay to register, but receive a race day packet):
Select your charity and your location...
...put together your race profile, and pledge a donation if you so choose...
...and start training, if you haven't already. The race site offers a plethora of options--compete against friends, in a pool against other countries (US vs. China), see who's fastest with which genre of music (rap vs. pop), or just use the site as a personal trainer as the race date grows closer and closer. You can even score the official race day gear that runners from race cities will be receiving in their packets.
The last step is to set up your own route. My Human Race will start along the Asahi River, cut through downtown Okayama City, swing around Momotaro Stadium, blow past the University of Okayama, then finish with a sprint up Handa Mountain--effectively combining all my regular short routes from the past year and a half, in one 40 minute fell swoop.
I'm running in Japan, for the United States (against China), and I've got friends and challengers in Brazil, and France, and I don't intend to lose.
Where are you running on the 31st?
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2 contributions to this piece:
I'll be eating Birthday cake ;)
Actually, I have to run twice that on that day, so maybe I'll just celebrate halfway through with a luna bar; as usual :P
I don't know if I could decide between the WWF and UNHCR, or run it in no stinkin' 40 minutes.
You do know that World Run Day occurs annually on Nov. 9, too? Sorry to burst your and Nike's le bubble.
Yeah, but this is a slightly more competitive event. Most people are lucky to even have their shoes properly tied on "world run day."
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