A New Kind of Running Experience: Run to Escape Launches This Week!

I received entry into the Run to Escape: Mission Mt. Olympus as a part of being a BibRave Pro. Check out BibRave.com to read and write race reviews.

So we've all been doing this "New Normal" thing awhile now, yeah? We've all changed the way we work, socialize, exercise, basically everything over the past year plus. And while I know races have been doing the best that they can as far as offering Virtual options to keep us motivated to still get out there and pound out the miles, really, all the innovation has been up to the individual runners to make things fun for themselves. You know I've been the champ at that with creative routes, coming up with my own special challenges, hosting live events for friends and so on, but even I have gotten to the point where I am tired of more of the same.

But finally, I've found something truly new: a brand new, immersive running experience where you embark on an epic adventure to test your wits and your fitness. Think running paired with escape room style logic puzzles and that will give you a good idea of what the new Run To Escape experience is. 

Run to Escape is launching their first (of hopefully many) missions: Mission Mt. Olympus. The storyline in a nutshell (without spoilers) is that the Greek goddess Atalanta, the goddess of running is trying to become the 13th Olympian and take a seat on Mt. Olympus. The current 12 Olympians are making her complete challenges to prove her worth, and she has chosen a mortal (you) to help her complete 6 challenges from Olympians who would deny her bid. 

Atalanta, goddess of running and who you'll help claim a place on Mt. Olympus

HOW IT WORKS
(from the Run to Escape webpage here: https://www.runtoescapeseries.com/)

"Run to Escape: Mission Mt. Olympus, presented by Runkeeper™, is a first-of-its-kind, virtual experience that mixes running with the clues, codes, and explosive popularity of escape rooms. For those seeking a more immersive, fulfilling virtual experience, Run to Escape is an addictive blend of motivation, dopamine, entertainment, and endorphins."

Basically, once you register for the mission, you will get an email from Hermes with all the details that you need to get started. You'll need to download RunKeeper if you don't have it already, and through the email link, you will send your mission to your RunKeeper account where it will be waiting for you when you are ready in the Races tab. You then download the race audio and press Track Race Now. As you run (or walk) you will hear audio cues when you reach certain distance markers that will guide your challenge. Because of this, the experience is only available to those physically moving for the challenge, so no treadmills. It is highly recommended that you use some sort of headphones so you hear the clues clearly while you run. I use Aftershoks (see pic to the left) so I can hear not only the clues, but also have the benefit of hearing all of the surrounding noises around me like traffic and so on. Safety first, yo!

Each of the 6 challenges is presented by a different Greek god and Hermes acts as the official messenger (as expected) and sends emails with important information before and after each challenge. I've only done 1 challenge so far, but it was really fun listening to the audio and over the course of 5K, I want to say I got 4 messages in addition to the introduction message that played about a minute after I first hit go. 

I don't want to give away any spoilers but I completed my first mission on Sunday and well, let's see if you can guess which of the Greek gods was the one to sponsor my challenge by my post run celebratory picture. It was good luck that I chose to start and finish my 5K at a brewery is all I am going to say. But doing the challenge was really neat. There was a nice gentle harp sound that played right before the audio did both to keep from startling you and to give you a moment to pay attention to the information that was given. And no worries if you missed hearing something, when you finish your miles, Hermes sends you an email with the challenge information including the audio recordings in case you need to hear them again. If if you are really stumped, there are also hints. When you solve the clue, you enter the answer into the registration page on your Race Roster page (there will be a link emailed to you also) and if you are correct, you will get the next mission emailed to you. 

I am pleased to say I solved the first challenge and have received the info for my 2nd, which I plan to complete tomorrow morning. I plan to do another update on the series as a whole once I complete all 6 missions, which should be by the end of the month. So stay tuned! And if you have any questions, feel free to comment below or DM me on any of my socials. I am @runnerdgirl on Insta, Twitter and FB if you don't follow me already. 

If you think this sounds fun and you want to try out this brand new running experience, you can learn more about it here: https://www.runtoescapeseries.com/ The registration hasn't quite gone live yet (as of this blog post going live that is), it opens up on Wednesday, April 21, but you can enter your email address in to get notified as soon as it goes live. And, when it does, I have a discount code to sweeten the deal. Used code BIBRAVE10 when you do register to save 10% off entry. 

In addition to the fun, immersive storyline and experience, the mortals who embark on this quest will have lots of opportunities to win really cool prizes from Run to Escape partners like Aftershokz, Knockaround, BibRave, RunKeeper and others. Serious, I know I keep saying I do not want to spoil anything, but I saw one of the upcoming prizes and let's just say I really really hope I am eligible to win. Cause WOW! 

And lastly, let me leave you will a little challenge to whet your whistle. See if you can solve the riddle below. If you can, you're totally ready to embark on Mission Mt. Olympus!