Roughly one year ago I joined the Hogwarts Running Club while surfing on facebook after my Harry Potter Marathon. HRC contributes to a wide range of charities in various forms: house cup with Charity Miles, goodies shop, and the virtual races. (If You got interested, check out my post for mor einformation about HRC.)
So far I only used CM to track my runs/hikes/rides/etc and strengthen the Ravenclaw house and the Faculty. I was always eager to try one of the virtual races, as they have amazing medals, but the prices always discouraged me. This spring, however, I checked out my paypal acocunt, how much I still have from the $480 I earned with running, and this is what I saw:
Well, this is roughly the same amount, as the registration fee for the Half Blood Prince Half Marathon, so why not, let's do this! Especially, since Prof. Snape was one of my favorite characters in the story. So, I registered, and got my bib the next day or so:
I printed it out, laminated it, and was waiting for the medal. I wanted to recieve it right after the run, so I decided not to do the half marathon until then. The medal arrived in 2-3 weeks, and I started planning my race. I decided that my favorite tea house should be the finish line, so I left the medal there. I only had to wait for a nice day without any other program... It took me a while, but today, I could finally put on my bib, and hit the road.
It was a very hot day already at 9am in the morning, especially in the black shirt (I thought, that it was the fitting one), but I was determined to finally do this. I decided to have a simple track, just running to the second village on the bicycle road and turn back. The beauty of nature compensated me for the hot weather. Here is a photo of the place where I turned around:
Obviously, it was easier on my way back, as the promise of the cold beer at the end was really uplifting. In a blink or two I got back to the tea house, got my medal and my well-deserved refreshment:
And this was my track:
As a conclusion: this was a really fun way to kick of July, but well, it is still not something designed for Hungarian salaries, which is understandable, as most of the wizard/witch pupils come from the US. However, if money is not that big of an issue for You, I urge You to enroll to these events. It could also be more fun, if a group of people do it together. Now that I mention it: I got plenty of looks running around with a bib alone :-D
So, what about You? Have You ever tried virtual races? How did You like them? Let us know in the comments!
