Are you a runner (or a walker or anything in between)? Are you a geek (or a nerd or a dork)? Have you a favorite fandom or gaming obsession or fabulous sword collection or anything like that? If you answered YES! to any of those 3 questions, then you NEED to know about this new group, The Rogue Runners. They’ve only just launched and already I’m super excited! So who exactly are they?

The Rogue Runners was created by Carry Crawford, a woman in Jersey (you might remember her from Misty & Carry’s Drunken Reviews for past Shitfests!), who enjoys participating in 5ks and other runs. However, she found that they could get very expensive quickly. For just one person, registration is often $40-60; there are the travel expenses (even if it’s local there may be parking fees or even just food and drink while you’re out for the day); and for smaller runs it’s rare to get a participation medal – most of the time it’s a t-shirt and some other printed gear like pens or keychains. When Carry heard about Virtual Runs – 5ks (or more) that you can do on your own time wherever you are – it seemed to hit all the best parts of what doing an event meant to her. They are less expensive because you don’t have all the overhead of an organized run; you can still donate to a good charity; and you can receive a fun participation medal for being involved. Cool, huh? Honestly, I’d never heard of Virtual Runs till I spoke with Carry (I had to give up running a couple of years ago is probably the reason why but now that my health is better, I’m thinking this is the perfect way to start back up again!).

Still, Carry said, there was an element missing…The one piece that was lacking with the majority of virtual runs Carry found was the subject matter. For instance, a medal with a cartoon-y Santa lounging at the beach just didn’t get her interested. See, Carry (like a lot of people) is into a lot of geeky stuff – Star Wars, Star Trek, Tolkein, comic books – and she had a hard time finding runs that spoke to that side of her. As she said, “I knew there must be other people who would like a participation medal inspired by their favorite movies or shows!” And thus, The Rogue Runners was born – “Virtual Runs for Real Charities with a Side of Geekdom”! This way you can get cool medals for doing something you like or perhaps this will get fans of those subjects interested in getting involved in a virtual run. At the same time, money is being raised for great charities, so a win for everyone!

So what’s up with the charity part? Well, every good turn deserves another, and so for each race held, a portion of the proceeds will be donated to various charities with participants having a choice between two charities for where they want their part of the donation to go. Kickawesome right? Totes. For example, the inaugural race is The Running Dead (yes, indeed it IS The Walking Dead and the medal is wicked mad, ya’ll!) and the two charities you can choose from are NEDA (National Eating Disorder Association – because eating, get it? Ha! And more importantly because eating disorders suck and they wreak havoc and they are WAY too fucking prevalent) AND Puppies Behind Bars (AWWW!!!).

Seriously, could this BE more cool??? I’m already making a list of my favorite TV shows and cult films as well as charities to be taken into consideration, haha. If you have suggestions, holler at The Rogue Runners via Facebook, Twitter or their website (they’d love to hear from you!). And finally here are the deets for The Running Dead, mwhahahahaha:

Join us October 11-17, 2015 in celebration of the return of our favorite zombie show! Walk, jog or run at your own pace for a 5k, 10k, Half Marathon or Full Marathon and imagine gathering supplies, looking for other apocalypse survivors and outrunning the walking dead!

Every participant will receive a one-of-a-kind medal* measuring about 3″ in diameter and including a ribbon to wear proudly, display, or use as a last-resort weapon against the undead! Medal will ship within 30 days after the event has ended on October 17, 2015.

Cost: $25.00

We offer 10% off the registration price for a quantity of 5 or more.