New digital front doors

The first time I wanted to build a website, it was an arduous process.

Getting the vision from my head onto the internet took weeks and cost thousands of dollars. When the site was finally online, not only was it not I wanted, making edits required even more time and money.

Today, that same process takes hours and costs $20.

Thanks to AI, I can go from what's in my head to a live site before lunch. And the iteration is fast — when things change, I deploy an update in real time.

On that note, stay tuned for a redesign of the Run The Day site, coming soon.

But enough about me. Why does this matter to you?

There’s a window open right now where the front doors of the internet are changing. For race directors, that means the way runners discover your event — and what they see when they land on your page — is changing in front of us.

I won’t pretend to know exactly how it plays out. But I’ve watched races that use AI to build an elevated web presence grow faster than the ones that don’t. Take a look at a few of these and it’s easy to see why. They have an unfair advantage:

• Christina Chambers Twilight 5K

• Darc Sport Athletics 5K — San Diego 2026

• 2026 Dragon 5K Run & One Mile Walk

If you don't believe me, I’ll share numbers from last weekend's Coast Guard Race. They built a new website. Registrations went from 282 last year to 850+ this year.

Tripled.

This window won't stay open forever. My guess is 6 to 18 months before a great race website stops being an advantage and starts being an expectation.

Want to understand how to grow your race with AI? Read this — or just reply to this email.

— Ian

Organize a Turkey Trot 🦃

Thank you Portsmouth!