It’s that time of year again when I start fleshing out my annual race schedule in pursuit of a new year of endurance sports goals. I had the race of my life at Ironman 70.3 Raleigh last year and PR’s at Belews Lake and Pinehurst International Distance triathlons. I also managed a 2-minute 5k PR at a Turkey Trot! I’m hoping 2014 will be just as good.
My first event of the season is the awesome Little River Trail Run. I participated in the first four Little River Trail Runs and am excited to be back! By the time you read this, I’ll have finished the event (hopefully!) and will be working toward my next race, which I haven’t completely figured out yet. I’ll need to do a few local running events before the Rock n’ Roll Raleigh Marathon – my first marathon since 2009! I’ve already seen some good events while editing the calendar section of this event guide you have in your hands right now. I hope that this issue will connect you to some great events in the endurance sports community as well.
Everything we do here at Endurance Magazine is geared toward cultivating the endurance sports community and connecting you to the many great events in our state and the country. Whether we’re publishing inspiring stories of everyday people who have overcome tremendous obstacles because of their desire to participate in an endurance event, changing the lives of women through our beginner triathlon series, or producing some of the largest running events in North Carolina, our goal is to help you be a healthy and successful runner, cyclist, swimmer, or obstacle-course racer with access and information on the best races around. One of the best tools you can use to find races, events, clinics and classes to enhance your lifestyle is www.SPORToften.com.
As you will find in this issue, our sixth annual SPORToften.com event guide, SPORToften is the most comprehensive listing of events in North Carolina. But there’s much more to it than that – especially if you are a race director or a would-be race director looking to raise money for your charitable efforts. SPORToften is YOUR marketing solution. It connects your event with one of the largest active communities in America. Just by listing your event in our calendar you receive repeated exposure to tens of thousands of runners, cyclists and triathletes looking for their next experience.
Just how large is the SPORToften community? SPORToften has more than 250,000 online members, receives more than 260,000 monthly website impressions, and has more than 130,000 opt-in subscribers to its newsletter. The people who visit our site and read our newsletter are among the thousands of women who participated in our Ramblin’ Rose series last year, the 5,000 runners who participated in our Tar Heel 10 Miler, and the more than 5,900 runners who participated in our Bull City Race Fest & Food Truck Rodeo. We’ve grown our own events with SPORToften and our marketing professionals here at Endurance Magazine want to help you drive registration growth for your event, too.
We at Endurance Magazine believe that your success is a reflection of ours. Whether that success is defined as growing an event, achieving a personal best, or getting inspired to do an event you never thought possible, we want to help you be your best. In addition to more than 700 events for you to choose from in this issue, we offer some great training advice as well as another awesome recipe – be sure to try this one. I made Brandon McDearis’ Caribbean cakes myself last night and can tell you it’s one of the most unique and flavorful dishes you’ll ever have!
