Saturday, January 17, 2015

RaceRaves & a Great Contest!

Friends, I am not a big-name blogger and it's not like I find myself constantly inundated with piles of emails for promotions and giveaways. But I do get my fair share, and most of them are for products or services that I don't feel like the folks who read this blog would be that interested in or that I just cannot get behind philosophically. But recently, I've joined a site called RaceRaves (created by Jen's friends Mike & Katie!), and Mike asked if I wouldn't mind spreading the word if I was finding the site useful/enjoyable. (You can read Mike's own post about it here.)

Basically, it's a little like Yelp for races (but much less douchey). You look up a race you've run (it's a pretty good database so far & growing, and you can always request to add a race if it's not currently in there), rate it on a few different aspects (difficulty, production, scenery, etc.), and write a little review for it. (You can also add links to more detailed race reports or images if you want.) There are also options to include your time or rate your performance for a race if you want. All the races you've rated show up in your private "Staging Area" (dashboard/home page).

If you search for a race, you'll see all the reviews people have written along with its average rating, a map of its location, and historical weather data for recent years (<--BRILLIANT).

Now, this next part, I really should not tell you. But I am a good person, so I will. Until January 22nd, they are running a sweet contest with prizes that include an early bird entry to a Brazen Racing event, shoes, a RoadRunner Sports gift certificate, etc. All you have to do is join & review your races (at least one of which I think has to be a Brazen event). (Contest details here.) I still have a huge head start on most of you, so better get typing!

Also, ICYMI, I am running a race (!) tomorrow, so wish me luck. :)

7 comments:

  1. That sounds really awesome, because it's actually hard to get first-hand information on races. One of the main reasons I read running blogs is for race reviews, so I know what I'm getting into.

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  2. I'm not eligible for the contest (not in SF), but I signed up for Rave a bit ago when Jen first posted about it, but never got around to writing any reviews. I should still get on that! I really love the idea - I usually end up googling and trying to find blog race recaps when I'm preparing for a race, but it'd be awesome to have all that consolidated in one place.

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    1. Thanks for checking out RaceRaves, Margaret... the site is particularly friendly to bloggers who can link to their detailed race reports, so please let us know if you have any feedback, and appreciate your help in spreading the word!

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  3. That's actually a really great idea. It would be really useful to get some idea of how good a race is before you enter.

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  4. That's actually a good idea. (Hah, I realized I said the same thing as Char.)

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  5. Thanks Angela, very glad you're finding the site useful and worth blogging about... and it doesn't take a math whiz to know that the more runners who contribute, the better it gets. You do indeed have an appreciable head start on most of the competition, so good luck on Friday! (We're looking to make "Like Yelp for races, but much less douchey" our new tagline.)

    Hope Foster City was a successful return to the racing circuit!

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  6. "Basically, it's a little like Yelp for races (but much less douchey)." LOL. Love it.

    Good luck with the contest -- I wish I saved up some reviews to have more entries!

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