During the coronavirus shutdown, gyms have had to completely close and events like marathons and half marathons have been canceled or postponed. That’s left a lot of people turning to online workouts to stay in shape and connect.
SweatNET founder Erin Garber is trying to step outside the box and bring everyone together virtually during the coronavirus pandemic – from giving access to over 150 free online workouts on SweatNET.com to launching a virtual 5K that reinforces social distancing.
"You can step outside your door just start running, start walking. It doesn't matter where you run, we just want people to get out and get some fresh air. You can also do it on your treadmill too,” Garber said.
The name itself, 6-foot 5K reminds everyone to social distance and best of all anyone can take part.
"It's very inclusive. It's for any person, anybody, we're asking people to stay safe and stay healthy and the goal of it is to run this by yourself, but you're still going to be able to have that feel like you're with other people” Garber explained.
Garber has even uploaded an MP3 for participants to download so that you get a real 5K feel.
“You have your virtual run coach in your ear motivating you and inspiring you throughout the race. It's going to be fun,” Garber said. "We have crowd noises, we have cow bells, the race gun everything. It's going to be a pretty cool experience, and you can download any race pace that you'd like to run from a 7-minute mile all the way up to a 17-minute mile."
Just like many other business, SweatNET is feeling the effects of the coronavirus shutdown, but their main goal is continuing to promote a healthy mind & body for everyone going through this.
“We're feeling it, but we're just trying to find ways to think outside of the box, kind of pivot and just what can we continue to do to connect the community and to provide people at home with workouts to keep moving and stay healthy," Garber said.
The 6FT5K will start on Wednesday, April 15th and is open until April 20th. 100 percent of the proceeds will go to Feeding America.