Virtual Run: What Is It? And 11 Reasons Why You Should Run one in 2021

A Virtual Race is a run you sign-up for where you can at any time or place, get cool swag shipped to you, a medal or certificate of completion, posted results, and other cool tools to help you commit to accomplishing a goal!

Get all the excitement of participating in a race without the big crowds, the long lines, and the pressure of running with other participants.

After your run, you can submit your finish time to post on our results page.

You can also share photos of you and your friends wearing any cool swag and sporting the medal you achieved from your virtual run.

Virtual runs give you an extra spark in your run that you can share with friends and family of your accomplishments!

Here are 11 other awesome reasons to sign-up for a Virtual Race!

1. To Stay Safe in a Pandemic

2. To Run More 

A good reason to sign-up for a virtual race or virtual run is to motivate you to run more!

Adding a goal or something to train for is a great motivating factor to run more.

If you’ve never signed up for a race before and want to without the crowds or having to run at a specific time, a virtual race is the perfect opportunity to do so.

And as you probably already know, running has numerous benefits. You can find 25 Ways Running Can Help You feel better, be healthier, and even lose weight here .

3. Virtual Run For the Medal

If you run for the bling, virtual races usually have the best bling and medals for you to show all your friends and family!

Virtual races is a great way to collect medals for your accomplishments and your runs!

4. For the Sense of Accomplishment

Quite often what we need is having a sense of accomplishment, which comes from committing to a goal such as a virtual race.

Completing a virtual race helps us stay motivated in other aspects of life such as our work, relational goals, etc.

5. Virtual Run the Run Shirt

Of course you should expect a cool run shirt with your Virtual Race! The best way to sport the accomplishment you made, is by wearing a cool shirt from your Virtual Run.

If the Virtual race doesn’t include a shirt, be sure to skip it and look for the ones that do have a shirt for you for your accomplishment.

6. For the Finish Time

It’s great to be able to share your results and achievements with your friends! What better way than to have the results online.

Finish time and online results from Virtual Races also are good for companies and certain programs that require one.
If you even need a certificate of completion, it can usually be requested!

7. To run in a New, Scenic Place

A lot of times, it’s easy to run the same route over and over again.

But perhaps there’s a course you’ve never ran before.

Or if you’re travelling and you’re not sure where to run.

Virtual Races sometimes provide professionally designed courses that runners have run before and loved or you can design your own via a nifty tool we use called MapMyRun!

Whether you’re running a 5K, 10K, or Half-Marathon, find a virtual race that will provide a beautiful, scenic course for you to run on!

8. Virtual Run to Avoid Large Crowds

Ever participated in a large race with thousands of runners only to be stuck in a lump of runners for the first few miles?

Large crowds have their draw also, but sometimes it’s better to get away and allow yourself to run without the pressure of other participants.

It allows you to focus more on your own personal, virtual run.

You get the same swag, online results, and beautiful course. Just without the huge crowds and the pressure to have to complete your virtual race in a certain time.

This became even more important after the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic!

9. To Avoid Pressure of Time/Course Limits

If you take a little longer to finish races (particularly longer distances), it’s good to not feel the pressure of getting left behind, being the last runner, or even worse – having the course close down on you.

Virtual races give you the flexibility to not only to run on your own time but also your own pace!

Take as much time as you need to finish your run!

10. For Personal Achievement / Motivating Yourself

Virtual Races is a great way to set a goal to motivate yourself to run and accomplish what you’ve set out to do.

It’s a great way to feel good about achieving something.

When you complete a race, the feeling is indescribable as sometimes your goals may have felt impossible before.

11. Virtual Run To Run for a Good Cause

Virtual Races are commonly tied to supporting charities or a good cause. A portion of the sign-up fee would go to the charity the virtual race had designated it for.

Not only do you get to run and achieve a personal goal, but you also get to help others while doing it.

Make sure to look into the virtual race you’re signing up for to see if they support a charitable cause!

If you’re looking for a virtual race that has great swag, cool medals, a great course, and was professionally designed by one of our experienced race directors, you can try out our Personal Best Marathon virtual race!

If there’s not one near your City, let us know and we would be more than happy to design one right where you are!