

Spontaneous Marathon Races. Could an Idea like this work? - hotmind

Ever thought of running a marathon, but the race date or location didn't jibe?<p>Do nagging injuries prevent you from ever getting to the starting line?<p>Are you feeling great TODAY, and would love to run a marathon TODAY?<p>Then DO IT. Be a random runner!<p>Tell randomrunners.com about your need for speed, the distance and route, and we'll tell running enthusiasts far and wide about your impromptu race. You can set up a marathon as quick as one hour (depending on the area).<p>Meet new people, stay in shape, and finally check "run a marathon" off your life's to do list!
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sdfx
Running a marathon is hard - really hard. Most people need month to train for
a marathon and only run maybe 70% of the distance during training. A
designated city marathon offers a lot of benefits that you don't get when
running alone:

    
    
      - Blocked streets, no need to wait for traffic lights etc.
      - They are at a specific date in the future which helps
        you by setting a deadline to get in shape
      - Spectators to cheer you on
      - No matter how fast/slow you are, there are hundreds of
        people around you, running at the same speed
    

I don't know about you, but even people who run regularly are physically not
able to run a marathon tomorrow or next week. So how many people are in your
area who are able to run a marathon and are just as fast as you are?

OTOH: What about a site to set up "running groups". You specify a
track/expected time and how often and when the group is running (monthly,
twice a week etc.). This way you give people a way to organize groups, let
them communicate if they are unable to show up, talk outside of a running
context etc.

You might want to look into similar sites. Off the top of my head I know of
runmap.net and mapmyrun.com but there are probably a lot more like this.

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hotmind
Perhaps runmap.net and mapmyrun.com, along with realtime platforms like
Twitter could be leveraged as part of RandomRunner's service?

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sdfx
Sure, I think runmap.net especially offers a great mapping-tool and a good way
to discover new tracks, but leaves a lot to be desired in the community area.
If you could combine great maps with Twitter (Sending messages like: I just
ran X miles in Y minutes RandomRunner.com/runID) and a platform to talk to
other runners it could be quite a nice service. Don't know how open for
integration these two other sites are.

I thought about something similar a while back, but decided against it when I
saw the existing sites. I would love to see/use such a service though.

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HeyLaughingBoy
I don't know about marathons since I'm not much of a runner. But I have
thought for a while that a spontaneous "meetup" site for normally solo sports
would be a great idea.

e.g., say I like kayaking but normally prefer to do it alone. Today I'd really
like to do it with someone else maybe for company or because I want backup on
a tricky part of the river but none of my friends like kayaks. Go online and
find 2-3 people in the area who are free and want to do it.

There are times I'd pay for something like this.

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hotmind
RandomRacers.com was available last I checked ;-)

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hotmind
That's the ad hoc pitch for the idea I got about 30 minutes ago in the shower.
I registered a couple of domain names and now I'd like to get some input from
the HN clan.

Could this work? If so, what are the minimum amount of features I'll need for
launch?

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davidw
Don't think most people are interested in picking up and running 42k at the
drop of a hat. Maybe something more like finding running partners?

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hotmind
Thanks David. I should probably survey a runners forum next.

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davidw
Yeah, I certainly can't say I know much of anything about running. I do know
cycling though, and I don't really get the appeal of saying "hey, I'm going to
go do a really long ride". I think I'd either just do it, or not. Organized
rides or races are more fun though: you have company and infrastructure which
makes it different from simple going out and riding some huge distance.

~~~
hotmind
Random Runners would add a social and competitive element to the runs too. You
could announce "hey, if anyone wants to run 26.2 today, I'll be at the Java
Cafe on Fifth st. and Main at 3pm." Random Runners could report on the outcome
of the race and even have a leader board.

