Scrappiness

Scrappiness

Last weekend, I was at a race and a runner wanted to pay with Venmo.

Run The Day previously offered Venmo as a payment option for race day registrations, but we discontinued it in 2024. More insight into why we made this decision is in the next section.

While Venmo was no longer an official payment option through our QR codes, I did not want this to prevent anyone from running a 5k and supporting a good cause. I believe we need to get more people running and that when someone wants to support your cause, you figure out a way to take their money.

So I opened my personal Venmo and asked the runner to Venmo me $35 while pulling $35 in cash from my wallet and handing it to a race day volunteer.

I didn’t think much of it, but after the race I received a nice voice message from the runner:

“Ian thanks for working with me before show time. I’m sure you were trying to do a lot of stuff and you were patient with that so I’m glad it worked out and you were able to help me cross the finish line metaphorically and literally for the timing. Thanks for what you’re doing I’m sure its a lot timing these races but great for how you’re helping invest and growth the sport. Cheers.”

Besides putting a smile on my face and giving me a boost of energy, the runner’s voice message made me think. Ultimately, we’re working to build a future with united communities and active people. Technology is a big part of how we’re doing that, but sometimes scrappiness is what gets the job done.

— Ian

Why we sunset Venmo as a payment option

Paying with Venmo sounds great - people are familiar with it and like using the app for peer to peer transactions. When we offered Venmo as an option for race day registration, we experienced hiccups with the API and confusion about how the payment worked. It was less reliable than our other payment processor, which caused issues with seamlessly transferring the registration data. All of this combined with our data that showed more people prefer to pay with Apple Pay or saved credit cards caused us to sunset Venmo as a payment option in 2024.

Tech Update: Invite Only Race Registration

• Build hype for your event

• Keep your race registration private

• Invite local influencers, friends, family and loyal community members to register ahead of the public

• How to use:

  • Make your race private in your RTD race director dashboard

  • Set a password

  • Share link and password with list of invitees

  • Collect registrations like usual

  • Open your race to the public at any time

Record-setting participation

@goruntheday

Thank you to the Moyer 5k team for putting on a great community race! #5k #run #runtheday