Fifty States HALF Marathon Club's OFFICIAL BLOG

Fun Updates from Fifty States HALF Marathon Official Members

2012-02-06T11:35:00.000-07:00

Bryan Pitman from Missouri - "woohoo 3 half marathons and a half ironman planned this year.....will have 6 of 50 states done and 9 of 100 half marathons/half ironmans completed by year's end!"

Michelle Johnson from Virginia - "Tinkerbell in the morning (repeat state, just for fun) and already wondering what I can possibly squeeze in the schedule before DC on march 17th. It's official...I'm addicted."

Theresa Caven of Wisconsin - "The 12 big races I did in 2011 - 2 Full Marathons, one 20 Miler and nine 1/2 Marathons."

Bryan Pitman from Missouri - "wanted to share my christmas gift that my awesome girlfriend made by hand for me......if you cannot read the top part it says: "Run because you can..Bike When you have to...Swim if you must....and it has the races I have completed...I can also hang my medals at the bottom as well....i was in shock at the thought and time she put into this....Happy New Years gang!"

Michelle Johnson's Bling - from Virginia - last 12 months of RNR bling and my other 2010 & 2011 hardware.

JANUARY 2012 NEW MEMBER PROMOTION - FIFTY STATES HALF MARATHON CLUB

2012-01-07T00:25:00.001-07:00

NEW MEMBER PROMOTION! Everyone who joins Fifty States HALF Marathon Club in January 2012 will be submitted into our January Hat Drawing for a FREE Fifty States HALF Marathon Club long sleeve club T-Shirt. One person will win this drawing and we will get their size once a winner is picked out of the hat. The drawing will take place February 1st 2012 and announced immediately!

For Membership information, please visit our official website at:

www.halfmarathonclub.com

Halfmarathonsearch.com US Half Marathon Calendar 2012 Updated

2012-01-05T16:58:00.000-07:00

Hello Runners! The Halfmarathonsearch.com US Half Marathon Calendar for 2012 should be all updated with the exception of a few unknowns and event sites down. There are some events who have not updated their date yet for 2012, but we are working on trying to obtain those new dates.

www.halfmarathonsearch.com

Holiday Special! Less than One Week Left!

2011-12-26T19:58:00.000-07:00

Less than a week left of our Holiday Special! Become an official member of Fifty States HALF Marathon Club by January 1st 2012 and receive a FREE large club sticker - decal! Take on the 100 HALF Anywhere Challenge (half marathon and half ironmans) OR the 50 States Endurance Challenge (Half marathon, Full marathon, Half Ironman, Full Ironman ALL count toward your 50 States Endurance Challenge).

For more information on membership, please visit our MAIN website at www.halfmarathonclub.com

ADVERTISE WITH US AND REACH LOTS OF RUNNERS

2011-12-18T19:52:00.000-07:00

Advertise with us in a variety of places and reach lots of runners! We have a large variety of monthly pricing and options, including discounts for advertising for multiple months!

ADVERTISE ON OUR HALF MARATHON BLOGS. HERE IS THE HALF MARATHON BLOG IN EVERY STATE DIRECTORY

http://halfmarathons.blogspot.com/

ADVERTISE ON FIFTY STATES HALF MARATHON CLUB MAIN SITE:

www.halfmarathonclub.com

ADVERTISE ON ANY STATE OF THE HALF MARATHON CALENDAR HALFMARATHONSEARCH.COM

www.halfmarathonsearch.com

FOR ADVERTISING PRICING:

http://halfmarathonclub.mybigcommerce.com/advertising/

Welcome Hollywood Half Marathon as a NEW SPONSOR of Our Club and Halfmarathnsearch.com

2011-12-17T00:00:00.001-07:00

We'd like to welcome Hollywood Half Marathon as a NEW SPONSOR of Halfmarathonsearch.com and Fifty States HALF Marathon Club! Official members of Fifty States HALF Marathon Club will receive a discount to the event. Their event takes place on April 7th 2012. For all the exciting details of the event, please visit their official Hollywood Half Marathon website at:

www.hollywoodhalfmarathon.com

Membership * SPECIAL* Running Through January 1st 2012

2011-12-16T16:01:00.001-07:00

Join Fifty States HALF Marathon Club as an official member by January 1st 2012 and receive a FREE large size Fifty States HALF Marathon Club sticker - decal, your choice of red or blue!!!

For more information on membership, visit our official web page

www.halfmarathonclub.com

COLD WEATHER TRAINING by Paul “Crazy Legs” Stofko RRCA Running Coach

2011-11-03T17:56:00.001-06:00

Cold Weather Training
Article By: Paul “Crazy Legs” Stofko RRCA Running Coach
November 3, 2011

Cold weather training requires a little extra planning and protection before you head out the door. Your body loses heat quickly in cold weather due to convection (heat loss due to motion), conduction (transfer of heat due to temperature changes), evaporation of moisture, and radiation (transfer of energy caused by the difference between skin temperature and ambient temperature). The right layers will protect you from the elements without weighing you down. Cold can take it toll on your performance and comfort. And frostbitten skin is always a risk. But if you take some simple precautions, you can maintain your mileage in anything weather winter bring your way.

The challenge in dressing for winter training is not only to keep the winter chill and wetness out, but to manage the heat and moisture your body produces as well. Even in subfreezing temperatures your body produces a lot of heat and sweat. You can produce up to two liters per hour when running. Water conducts heat away from your body 25 times faster than air – great in summer, but dangerous in cold temperatures. Staying dry under your layers is critical and can impact heart rate, as well as comfort, dryness, and warmth.

Here are some tips for dressing in layers:

First Layer

Forget cotton. It holds moisture next to your skin. Choose the new lightweight, moisture-wicking fabrics that hold a very small percentage of their weight in moisture. Performance microfibers hold less than on percent of their weight in water compared to 17% wool or 8% cotton.

Second Layer

If you running in very cold weather, you may need a middle layer to trap the warmth your muscles generate. Choose a layer that produces maximum warmth with minimum bulk. Synthetic fibers have an advantage of staying drier than natural ones.

Outer Layer

Fibers have been developed that block the elements without trapping too much heat and moisture underneath. Look for waterproof fabrics that vent.

Hands and Head

Up to 40% of your body’s heat loss occurs from the head due to a large blood supply, extra surface area, and the mucus membranes of the nose and mouth. Choose thin microfiber hats and lightweight gloves liners for your hands.

Don’t forget your feet

Cotton is a bad choice for socks. Look for synthetic socks that won’t hold moisture and become packed down when damp.

National Half Marathon Club catered to ALL Half Marathon Runners

2011-10-21T22:35:00.001-06:00

The time has come where Fifty States HALF Marathon Club is stepping it up and growing discounts and perks for Half Marathon runners. The club is a central resource for half marathon runners to find half marathon races, meet other half marathon runners at races throughout the US, build camaraderie amongst the half marathon community, receive discounts to many events across the United States to many popular races, and also other discounts such as Road ID, Apex Nutrition, and many more in the works. The organization is now at a point to announce the club as a national half marathon club open to all runners that choose to join, with no requirement to participate in a specific 50 State Challenge or 100 HALF Anywhere challenge if they so choose not to. Over the next year, club members can expect to see a significant increase in the amount of races added to the discount list, increased partnerships to provide additional discounts and perks, and lots of new member apparel and gifts for the half marathon community added to the online store for members and non-members of the club. The discounts alone pay for your annual member dues, hence this being a great deal to the half marathon running community. This is also a great resource for the half marathon race event community, since the club is extremely connected in the "half marathon world" and will continue to play a crucial central presence in the half marathon community, with growing half marathon runner membership and continued support of maintaining a national half marathon calendar free to the running community.

NEW Official Fifty States HALF Marathon Club Stickers - Decals

2011-10-21T22:14:00.000-06:00

NEW Official Fifty States HALF Marathon Club Sticker - Decal now on sale at our official club website online store www.halfmarathonclub.com

Half Marathon Member Milestones

2011-10-21T22:07:00.000-06:00

Congratulations to Gloria Hinton and Ivy Kusler for surpassing 25 states of their 50 state Challenge!

Congratulations to Elizabeth Gmerek for reaching 50 states of her 50 States Challenge!

Half Marathon Addict Stickers - Decals and Fifty State HALF Marathon Stickers

2011-09-30T21:46:00.000-06:00

We now have Half Marathon Addict Stickers - Decals for purchase at our online store

www.halfmarathonaddict.com

We will be getting larger size stickers, shirts, and other gear in soon!

This also includes more Fifty States HALF Marathon Club member stickers, member logo'd apparel and gifts as well for our official club members.

Perfect running gifts and knick nack gifts for Birthdays, Xmas and stocking stuffers!

Half Marathon - 50 Half Marathon announcement of the 100 Half Anywhere Challenge

2011-08-12T20:05:00.004-06:00

Congratulations to Fifty States HALF Marathon Club member Petra Hoy for reaching 50 half marathons of the 100 HALF ANYWHERE Challenge!!! HALF way there!!! Petra is working towards both the 100 HALF Anywhere Challenge and our 50 State Challenge of a Half Marathon or longer in all 50 States!

Half Marathon 25 State Finisher announcement - Half way there!

2011-08-12T19:32:00.001-06:00

Congratulations to our Fifty States HALF Marathon Club member Steve Weber for hitting his half way mark of 25 states this summer and Loree Hoag who is about to run her 25th State at midnight on Saturday this weekend in Las Vegas!!!

Half Marathons, Half Marathon Runners, Race Directors & Event Organizers

2011-06-04T16:25:00.001-06:00

Hi Half Marathon Runners, Race Directors and Event Organizers. Feel free to email us Half Marathon Race News and Stories to post on our blog. To send news, articles or fun information, please send us which Half Marathon State Blog you'd like it posted in at CONTACT US

Also if you'd like your event or any other discounts to be added to the official Fifty States HALF Marathon Club Member Discount List that goes out to all our members across the United States, please send your event, website link and race discount code to be added for our official members to use. Our members like to choose from races on our discount list when they look at choosing a half marathon in your state. Send to CONTACT US and in return we will help promote your event.

If your Half Marathon event is missing from the Half Marathon Race Calendar found at www.halfmarathonsearch.com and would like to be added, please send the event date, name, and website link to CONTACT US

FEATURED PARTNER & HALF MARATHON: Run Wisconsin Dells Half Marathon June 5, 2011

2011-04-29T19:43:00.000-06:00

http://www.rapidrunning.com/

Half Marathon 2011 Race Calendar - Exclusively Half Marathons across the USA Search by State, Sorted by Month

2011-04-09T19:32:00.002-06:00

TO VIEW HALF MARATHON 2011 RACE CALENDAR - CLICK HERE AND THEN CLICK ON THE STATE YOU ARE SEARCHING FOR A HALF MARATHON IN

http://halfmarathonclub.com/Upcoming_Races.html

New Window Decal for all Official Club Members Being Sent Out!

2011-03-19T00:14:00.000-06:00

Five half-marathon training tips | The Indianapolis Star | indystar.com

2011-03-09T21:44:00.000-07:00

Five half-marathon training tips | The Indianapolis Star | indystar.com

Came Across this video and Thought It Would Start to Get All you Club Members Motivated for our Tahoe Member Event!

2011-02-02T23:59:00.000-07:00

Fifty States HALF Marathon Club has officially announced the 2011 Member Event to be held in Lake Tahoe

2010-11-23T20:40:00.000-07:00

http://www.halfmarathonclub.com/FSHMC_SPECIAL_EVENTS.html

Memorial Day Marathon, Half Marathon & 10k discount for Fifty States HALF Marathon official club members

2010-11-12T21:34:00.000-07:00

We have a new race added to our "official" Fifty States HALF Marathon Club members discount list. The Memorial Day Marathon, Half Marathon, 10k will be May 29th! I will send update out to our members for the discount code. Race website is at http://www.memorialdaymarathon.com/

FOR RACE DIRECTORS & EVENT ORGANIZERS: EVENT WEBSITES IN OUR CHANGING WORLD OF TECHNOLOGY, SOCIAL MEDIA & ACCOMODATING THE EVER-GROWING TRAVELING ATHLETE

2010-11-07T20:25:00.001-07:00

As new Marathons, Half Marathons, Triathlons and many other events continue to pop up all over like a spreading fire, the importance of knowing your audience is key. As Founder and President of Fifty States HALF Marathon club and being a key contributor to endurance runners and Half Marathon race calendars on the web, I myself couldn’t be more frustrated with an event website when I land on the webpage and can’t even find the city and state on the homepage of the event. Sometimes even the date of the event is missing from the homepage and you have to dig for it buried in other sub-pages.
Race organizers and Race Directors creating a website sometimes seem to create their website catering to believing that most participants are local and already know where the race is. The growing popularity of the traveling athlete, desire to travel to various states or countries to participate in events, makes information on the event website valuable to attain market share to the traveling athlete.

TIPS FOR RACE DIRECTORS AND EVENT ORGANIZERS TO CREATE INFORMATIVE TOP NOTCH EVENT WEBSITES

CHECKLIST FOR THE “MUST HAVES” ON HOMEPAGE
1) City & State (You’d be surprised how many event sites do not have this. Very frustrating for non-local participants and maintaining national race calendar sites)

2) Date of event (believe it or not there are a lot of sites that do not have this on their home page and participants have to dig for it)

3) The DAY of the event is also very helpful (ie: Saturday or Sunday).

4) ALL Race distances (Marathon, half marathon, 5k, etc) listed on “home page”, not buried in other links to figure out if there are various other distances in addition to the main event distance.

5) A CLEAR and CONCISE “Link” to “EXACT LOCATION” with FULL ADDRESS

Most participants that are not local have to do a lot of extra work to find the location because event organizers do not put the address of the event location anywhere in the website. Participants like to use online maps or utilize GPS in their car or rental car when traveling, to locate the event, so I can’t emphasize enough how important a “full address” is of the event location.

6) And finally, having a “race date” planned well in advance, ideally one year ahead. Many traveling athletes plan their race calendar one year in advance. The sooner you have the date published on your website, the sooner it is updated on sites like our Fifty States HALF Marathon Race Calender , and the sooner athletes can add that race to their race calendar for their travel plans. We start looking for new race dates a year in advance when updating our website.

NICE TO HAVES

In addition to the “must haves,” social media and various websites definitely follow as “nice to haves” on an event website. Connecting with the running community, triathlon community, and other athletic event communities on sites such as Twitter, Facebook, Blogs, etc. (where participants can read about feedback about the course, connect with others about their experience of the event in past years, and join the community of others who will be participating in the upcoming event and share the excitement of the anticipation), and partnering with Race Calendar (advertising your event where the community looks for the best race to attend), can all go a long way in increasing participants and giving visibility to your event.

INEXPENSIVE OPTIONS TO HAVING A WEB PRESENCE OR WEBSITE FOR YOUR EVENT

For smaller local community events who do not keep an all year round web page for the specific event, like some of the YMCA’s, YWCA’s or events just starting out, this ALL can be accomplished at NO COST or very little cost. Race Organizers can create a one page Blog in Google Blogger to appear almost exactly like a website (kind of like our official blog http://halfmarathonclub.blogspot.com/ but “without the ongoing content added”, and leave this posted with all the above mentioned “must have” checklist” posted on the BLOG. This is FREE, and at least gives your event its own identity and a place for the public to look for the details of the event. You can then share your blog link via facebook or twitter, and with race calendar sites like ours. This can be a valuable tool to at least avoid your participants having to click on an expired Active event listing from previous years, with no event site to go to for future details. Another very inexpensive means for an ongoing event site is Yahoo business. It is inexpensive and you can create your own website within an hour with their easy to use templates, walking you through step by step how to set up your website, allowing your event to have its own domain you choose.
In summary, the number of events popping up will continue to grow and the market will remain competitive. Even though the trends show there is no shortage of participants in the ever-growing events such as marathons, half marathons, or triathlons, it is still important to be aware of the “user experience” you are providing your participants, starting from the very first step of when that individual visits your website and decides if it is an event they would like to add to their calendar for the year.

© copyright 2010 Nicole Blomgren & Fifty States Half Marathon Club LLC

Guy Collins gets a Half Marathon PR on his 25th State

2010-11-06T10:42:00.000-06:00

Guy Collins an official member of our Fifty States HALF Marathon Club! Congratulations today for finishing your 25th state of your 50 States Challenge AND a PR!!!! 1:35:59 ! You are half way there!

Marathons Affect Heart, but Runners Bounce Back

2010-10-26T00:51:00.000-06:00

Marathons Affect Heart, but Runners Bounce Back

Fifty States HALF Marathon Club's OFFICIAL BLOG

Fun Updates from Fifty States HALF Marathon Official Members

JANUARY 2012 NEW MEMBER PROMOTION - FIFTY STATES HALF MARATHON CLUB

Halfmarathonsearch.com US Half Marathon Calendar 2012 Updated

Holiday Special! Less than One Week Left!

ADVERTISE WITH US AND REACH LOTS OF RUNNERS

Welcome Hollywood Half Marathon as a NEW SPONSOR of Our Club and Halfmarathnsearch.com

Membership *** SPECIAL*** Running Through January 1st 2012

COLD WEATHER TRAINING by Paul “Crazy Legs” Stofko RRCA Running Coach

National Half Marathon Club catered to ALL Half Marathon Runners

NEW Official Fifty States HALF Marathon Club Stickers - Decals

Half Marathon Member Milestones

Half Marathon Addict Stickers - Decals and Fifty State HALF Marathon Stickers

Half Marathon - 50 Half Marathon announcement of the 100 Half Anywhere Challenge

Half Marathon 25 State Finisher announcement - Half way there!

Congratulations to our Fifty States HALF Marathon Club member Steve Weber for hitting his half way mark of 25 states this summer and Loree Hoag who is about to run her 25th State at midnight on Saturday this weekend in Las Vegas!!!

Half Marathons, Half Marathon Runners, Race Directors & Event Organizers

FEATURED PARTNER & HALF MARATHON: Run Wisconsin Dells Half Marathon June 5, 2011

Half Marathon 2011 Race Calendar - Exclusively Half Marathons across the USA Search by State, Sorted by Month

New Window Decal for all Official Club Members Being Sent Out!

Five half-marathon training tips | The Indianapolis Star | indystar.com

Came Across this video and Thought It Would Start to Get All you Club Members Motivated for our Tahoe Member Event!

Fifty States HALF Marathon Club has officially announced the 2011 Member Event to be held in Lake Tahoe

Memorial Day Marathon, Half Marathon & 10k discount for Fifty States HALF Marathon official club members

FOR RACE DIRECTORS & EVENT ORGANIZERS: EVENT WEBSITES IN OUR CHANGING WORLD OF TECHNOLOGY, SOCIAL MEDIA & ACCOMODATING THE EVER-GROWING TRAVELING ATHLETE

Guy Collins gets a Half Marathon PR on his 25th State

Marathons Affect Heart, but Runners Bounce Back

Membership * SPECIAL* Running Through January 1st 2012