RandyStep.com - Obsessed Runner

2016-11-03 - The power of the run

randy freep I love extremes ... But I must admit, glorious fall days also rock the run! Don't you love a fall run that starts in the cold, dark morning, heads through a breathtaking sunrise, then, as the day quickly heats up, leaves you sweating like it's a summer day! There is a bit of magic in a run that takes you from cold to warm, and night into day. It's not easy to explain, but it seems to give the satisfaction and feeling of a very long run in just a short time, powerful, like a run that lasted 2 days and only took an hour!

Get out there,

Randy Step, an admitted obsessed runner who loves the power of the run.

PS: Did you know that age group winners, 5 deep in 5 year age groups get pumpkin pies at the Ann Arbor Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving morning? Did you also know they give awards to the top 3 ugliest sweaters, top 3 best holiday themed costumes, and awards to the top themed group of 5 or more people! To top it all off... hot chocolate will be served, and the turkey finisher's medal for the 5K is awesome! Enter today at theturkeytrot.com.

PS: The Martian Invasion of races is back and better than ever. Join us April 22, 2017 in Dearborn, MI, on Planet Earth for 5K, 10K, Half Marathon, 26K, Full Marathon or Kids' Marathon! A fun theme, a distance for everybody, NEW Half and Full Marathon courses, and glow in the dark medals for ALL finishers! martianraces.com

2016-10-26 - The Passionate Runner

randy running This running and fitness lifestyle is a blessing. I cannot imagine life without a passion, better yet, a positive passion. I was driving behind a truck with lots of stickers about field training dogs, dog events, even a dog vanity plate. Much of it made no sense to me... much like a 26.2 sticker might not make sense to them, but you could feel the passion. The meaning of life? Perhaps not, but certainly a huge and important part to a fulfilled and complete life, making getting out the door a priority you don't want to mess with! Get out and run, it is essential for your happiness and wellbeing. How's that for justification!

Run, be fulfilled and if you want to, put an oval sticker on your car!

Randy Step, an admitted obsessed runner who is blessed with a passion

PS: HUT! HUT! Registration for the Super 5K is now open! Join us Sunday morning, February 5th in Novi, MI for a fun 5K with tons of SWAG! Get off the couch and get your run in before the big game. Check it out HERE!

PS: Please consider joining up for a bit of Trail Clean up on the Dances With Dirt and Run Woodstock trails. This is an opportunity for us that use the trails, to maintain the trails we share with others, and those that need trail volunteering for certain races, and for those that want to help and make a little piece of the planet a bit nicer. Bring work gloves, and optionally, a brush trimming tool of some kind. Click here for more.

2016-10-19 - Running is illigocal

randy freep As Spock would say about running, it's illogical. The sweat, pain and the energy used to get from point A to point B may seem pointless, perhaps even wasteful to someone without deeper knowledge about what the runner is experiencing. In ways, running has aspects similar to art, music and religion. Without personally experiencing what we experience, even a well-delivered explanation would fall short. For these reasons, many of us were forced to run for the first time, or perhaps tricked into it. However it happened, we obviously glimpsed something hiding below the surface, something that made us run again, and again, and again, with each run adding to the richness of what the run gives back.

Get out and defy logic,

Randy Step, an admitted obsessed runner

PS: Come join me for some "vacation running", a term that the sedentary world would truly call illogical. February 10 - 17, 2017 I'm heading to a first class all-inclusive resort, the kind your family and friends would love to join you at. You don't even have to tell them it's an active trip, you'll be back from your run or walk before they realize you were missing. Check HERE for more info!

2016-10-12 - Get your butt out the door war

randy rainsuit2 To send a get out the door motivational message during these glorious fall days may seem to be a wasted effort to some, but all of us will soon have to get in our runs during the cold, dark mornings or evenings, as daytime continues to shrink. It's never easy but always worth it. A high lumen LED headlamp along with an even brighter hand held light can tear a hole through the dark and by overdressing a bit, the punch of the cold can be reduced to a light slap that we can defend against, giving us the edge to win round one of this six month, cold fight. I'm in your corner and cheering like mad!

Never let up,

Randy Step, an admitted obsessed runner, hoping for a victorious running season with far more wins than losses in the get our buts out the door column!

PS: An additional weapon in this get out the door fight is to be signed up for at least one event in each or the upcoming cold months. Events give us incentive to keep the training alive and lining up with our peeps reminds us that we are not in this dark, cold, battle alone.

November 12th, Vasa Trail Run, Traverse City, 5K, 10K, 25K
November 24th, Thanksgiving Day, The Ann Arbor Turkey Trot 5K and 1K
December 10th, The Holiday Hustle 5K and 1 mile in Dexter
January 21st, Bigfoot Snowshoe 5K, 10K, Traverse City
February 5th, The Super 5K, Super Bowl Sunday morning
March 12, Shamrocks and Shenanigans, Ann Arbor

PS: Here is that sneak peak of our 2017 CALENDAR! Be sure to pick up your magnet at the Detroit Free Press Marathon Expo... and plan your year with RF Events!

2016-09-28 - The best day to run is... Today!

randy woodstock2 Unlike so many other sports our running season never comes to an end... We don't have to pack away our gear at the end of the year because there are 365 days and every day is ours! The seasons change and today we might bring warmer gear to the top of the pile but it's a wonderfully simple sport so it all fits on a shelf or two. The best time of year to run and the best day to run is always, TODAY! All we have to decide is how far and what to wear. That said... Fall is pretty dang special. Ha.

Run like there will be no tomorrow,

Randy Step, an admitted obsessed runner who likes the leaves, snow, rain and sunshine to fall on me during the run.

PS: Crisp fall weather, apple orchards, costumes, zombies and RUNNING, the perfect combination, join me for Run Scream Run at Wiard's Orchard and Haunted Thrill Park Saturday morning October 8th. Come to Friday night packet pick up and hit the Night Terrors to get in the mood! Yikes!

PS: Perhaps the oldest family running tradition is the Turkey Trot. Sharon and Ron Suffolk of Good Boy Events started "The Ann Arbor Turkey Trot" in downtown Ann Arbor, on Thanksgiving day 10 years ago, as Ron celebrates his 70th year of life he has placed this race in the hands of RF Events, insuring this tradition to go on. We are excited to keep the torch lit! Start or continue the tradition, grab the family and join us! http://theturkeytrot.com/ Run, then eat, it gets no better!

2016-09-12 - Running traditions bring meaning to life

randy woodstock2 Our sport's roots go back to the ancient Greek Olympics, add to that historic races like the 121 year old Boston Marathon and we can agree that running as a sport is not a fad and has an excellent foundation. That said, most of us won't be running in the Olympics and even qualifying for Boston may be a stretch but we each have our own traditions that personally motivate us and add so much to our running lives. I love this stuff and have devoted much of my life to creating events that I can only hope are worthy of tradition, especially family friendly races where we can invite non-runners to join us for their first 5K and to start family traditions, like "Run Scream Run" and "Scrumpy Skedaddle" in the fall, "The Holiday Hustle" in December or the "Super 5K" on Super Bowl Sunday. We will all be gone someday but these family traditions, that we can play a part in starting, will live on.

Start a tradition and become part of the run forever,

Randy Step, an admitted obsessed runner who loves this stuff.

PS: Speaking of tradition, families and FUN... Registration for the Holiday Hustle is NOW OPEN! Don't miss this festive tradition in Dexter, MI on Saturday afternoon, December 10th! Festive puff-ball beanie to all entrants, FUN gingerbread man medals to all 5K finishers... Check it out!

2016-09-14 - Ignore your self-placed running limits

randy woodstock2 I'm just coming down from a weekend of runner's high at Run Woodstock where at the finish line, I was continually reminded that us humans are the most incredible endurance creatures on the planet and for sure we are designed to run. I greeted Ashley Truan at the end of her 22 hour, 100 mile winning run on the trails. She looked as fresh, happy and fulfilled as many 5K finishers. Yes, we are not all created the same and our athletic capabilities vary greatly based on genetics and life experiences but we all have (sometimes buried) in us, the incredible drive of the human spirit that can be harnessed to take us to places far past the limits we often put on ourselves.

Ignore the limits you have placed on yourself and attempt to accomplish what seems impossible,

Randy Step, an admitted obsessed runner who is inspired by you

PS: Volunteer to be on the Dirt Crew for Dances With Dirt, September 24th and play a part in fulfilling the goals of the 50 mile and 50K runners as they attempt to move their outer limits, it may open up your world to new possibilities. Join me! Check it out here!

PS: We have loved having a HOT, HOT summer... but we won't lie, it has been getting us excited for beautiful fall days! Join us for fall running in the apple orchards at Almar Orchards in Flushing, MI on October 2, 2016. Hard cider, running and an all you can eat pancake breakfast... we're in! runscrumpy.com

2016-09-07 - Every run has it's place

randy iron I love the peaceful solitude of a training run alone, my time to sort out the tangled world. I also like to run with friends, some for the conversation where pace and distance matter little and some for the motivation where pace and distance are maxed and challenged. Last but not least, I love to line up on race day and find out where I stand, mostly to compete with myself but yes, to see how my time compares to others and to duke it out.

Go find the run you need,

Randy Step, an admitted obsessed runner with a lot of good choices when it comes to the run, dig it!

PS: WE WANT YOU on the DIRT CREW! Dances With Dirt Hell is right around the corner! Join us September 24th weekend and get a little dirt in your shorts! This race is a must see to believe... Get in on the fun HERE!

2016-08-31 - Run aware, run with care

Karen McKeachie, an old friend and amazing athlete was killed this week when she was struck by a pickup truck while out on a training ride. www.freep.com/story Tragedy is a harsh reminder of how fragile and precious life is, a brutal reality check of the risks we face every day as part of our active lifestyle. All the cool things in life seem to come with a bit of risk and danger but missing out on them can bring on stress and depression. The answer is to respect the risks, mitigate them to the best of our abilities and head out the door to live life fully.

Run, bike and swim smart,

Randy Step, a shocked, saddened, admitted obsessed runner and triathlete who suggests you avoid roads as much as possible because distracted driving has changed the game. When on the run, head to the trails, parks and woods, find a running friend, ditch the headphones, alter your routes, always run against traffic and respect the weather. On the bike, find routes with wide shoulders, ride with traffic, yield to traffic when appropriate, be predictable, stay alert at all times and don't flip off the jerks even though they deserve it. Dang.

2016-08-24 - Your own records are meant to be broken

It's a combination of things that get us out the door and running each day. One that can fire us up big time are stories of inspiration, stories of medals won and world records being broken. It's a gift to see these larger than life people living and performing on the edge, way beyond any comfort zone. When we watch the young American, Galen Rupp, drop his pace to 4:40 per mile at mile 22 of the Olympic marathon to run with the world's best and medal in only his second marathon, or read about the American, Zack Bitter, running 7 minute pace for 100 miles for a new worlda record. It can only help us to imagine moving our edge out a bit farther than we what we thought was possible. Let the accomplishments of others give us the OK to dream a bit bigger.

Live, train and run without limits

Randy Step, an admitted obsessed runner who is in a bit of post Summer Olympic depression ... Soon to be broken, as I watch 200 brave souls line up to run 100 miles at Run Woodstock. Come join me for a soul cleansing, inspirational weekend in the woods. Perhaps volunteer, run a trail 5K or whatever, to witness the seemingly impossible, to get inspired and to dig the live performances on stage, a sure cure for the post-Olympic blues ... and a lot more. Go to runwoodstock.com and click on the volunteer or event entry tabs, dig?