Choose Your Own Races

(When else have you been able to race the 400m and marathon in the same season?)

My sister's college coach told her team that they could not run a race that involved stuffing 12 doughnuts into their stomachs as quickly as possible. Obviously, this could only mean that the NC State club team had to make up for the lack of varsity participation by running a race that involves stuffing 12 doughnuts into our stomachs as quickly as possible every year. Other club teams must have shared our sentiment because the club teams from UNC, Duke, UVa, Wake Forest, and Clemson (and possibly more) were well represented at last year's Krispy Kreme Challenge.

Now, running and eating might not be to your liking, but do not underestimate the joy found in having the freedom to choose your own race schedule. It allows you to explore all of those races that you always wanted to do, or continue to improve at the races that you always have done. I always liked running track and have continued to lower my PRs in college, but I know a lot of people were tired of running in counter-clockwise circles over and over. They decided to take to the roads. The running club allowed many of my teammates to test their legs at the marathon (a few even ran at Boston) and enter new realms of racing that they have always wanted to explore.

Club races have taken me from Hershey, Pennsylvania down to Alachua, Florida (Go NIRCA!). Some races have meant relaxing at the beach, some races have meant sleeping huddled with friends under a church all night because the support car broke down in the mountains.* Either way, it's the race you chose, and it was exactly what you wanted to do. 

*It didn't happen to me, but it's a true story