What is it?
The mileage game is a "just-for-fun" competition that we have here as a way to 1) motivate you to do the training that you already have planned and 2) to get to know a few forumites (your team) beyond the usual posts. We have 10 teams of 21 runners who post their mileages for the previous week by Tuesday morning. Note: only the 20 highest are counted on each team to minimize the impact of injury or inability to post. The totals are tabulated and rankings are created to foster some friendly competition.
Here’s an example of where you post your miles: Click for thread!
Here’s an example of the tally: Click for thread!
Here’s the yearly totals: Click for Yearly Accumulated Results!
How do I sign up?
If you'd like to be a part of the mileage game. Post a guesstimate of your 2005 on a game-related thread in the forum. If I don’t post a reply saying you’re on the waiver list, I didn’t see your post. Try to get my attention somewhere! Better yet, you can email me at RWOL@cypressop.com if you'd like me to send you notification when you're put on a team, rather than having to check back to the marathon forum ever so often…make sure you list your forum name in the email!
When a spot opens up in a few weeks you'll be placed on a team, replacing a runner of similar-mileage (for fairness).
How do I post my miles once I’m on a team?
The game thread is usually up by
Friday or Saturday. If it's not and you
are ready to post, start it yourself. It
doesn't matter what you call a week Mon-Sun or Sun-Sat, etc, just stay
consistent. You must have your miles in
by Monday night or early Tuesday morning (usually
Try to post your miles in reply to one of your teammates rather than the top-level post. That way, all of your team's posts are grouped together. It doesn't help me doing the tally but is nice for the team members.
The format for your mileage post should be:
Team#,Mileage,Forum-name ===>
Like: ===> 5,100,fat-pumpkin
Remember to take the "Re: " out of the beginning of the post as that's a manual edit for me when I do the tally (takes a lot of time!). And please change the subject line if you reply to another post on the game thread (also takes a lot of time to delete double postings)
What are the rules?
1) Posts must be in by
2) Posts must be in the correct format (team,miles,forumname ==> 5,100,fat-pumpkin" to be counted. I may or may not catch your post if you fail to post correctly but I will not go back to change the results if it is wrong & I missed it.
3) If I make a mistake, bring it to my attention!!!! Sometimes my macro deletes some mileage posts when the server formats them wacky…or if you make a change or if there are double posts in reply to yours, etc.
4) If you miss posting three consecutive weeks, your team can request a replacement for you on the waiver list. They don't HAVE to replace you though...like extended injury or vacation.
5) I try to keep mileage equity based on your stated mileage from the previous year...waiver runners are placed in the order they request to be put on the list but only if it doesn't make a great disparity between the teams.
6) If you leave the game and then want back in, I'll try to put you back on the team you request but no promises.
7) We count the top 20 of 22 players (this is dynamic based on the total number of players) each week. Not all runners are counted so as not to penalize teams too much for injuries, layoffs or AWOL runners.
8) It doesn't matter what you call your week for mileage game purposes (M-F or Sat-Sun, Etc) so long as you stay consistent week-to-week and get your posts in by the deadline for the previous week.
9) If you miss a post, you can have a teammate post it for you before the deadline but you can't double up the next week when you get back, etc. Also, if you miscalculate your miles too low or get an unplanned extra run in, you can't add them next week. Honesty dictates you should subtract miles next week if you miscalculate too high on the other hand though!
10) Please don't estimate your miles for the week if you are unable to post unless you are in position to correct it before the deadline (for example, you tell your teammate to post your expected miles but phone them if you don't run as planned, etc)
11) Smilies in the subject line of a RunningTimes.com mileage game post almost always get lost and thus are not counted for the mileage game!!!!!!!!!