Believe In The Run Concludes Winter GRIT, Raises Nearly $6,000 For The Donna Foundation

February 25, 2021

BALTIMORE, Md – Believe in the Run, in partnership with Big Run Media, recently concluded Winter GRIT, a distance project sponsored by ASICS and Polar. To kick off 2021, over 700 registrants from 48 states and 23 countries participated in the event. Additionally, the event raised nearly $6,000 for its charity partner, The DONNA Foundation.

“Summer GRIT had runners pushing their limits in the heat. Turns out they really enjoyed being miserable, so we decided to run it back. With both title sponsors onboard again, we couldn’t wait to challenge runners to freeze their butts off,” said Thomas Neuberger, Co-Founder of Big Run Media and Believe in the Run. “It was amazing to see so many participants put up some huge goals to start off the new year.”

Runners chose a distance tier ranging from 25 to 300 miles and were challenged to complete their mileage within the month of January. Additionally, Winter GRIT featured a new distance tier, Unhinged, in which runners completed as many miles as possible. The top finisher racked up 636 verified miles. Upon completion, all participants received a swag bundle featuring an ASICS pom-pom winter cap, custom finisher’s medal, and a distance-specific button.

Weekly prize giveaways were provided by title sponsors ASICS and Polar. In total, nearly $10,000 of prizes were distributed. Grand prizes included ASICS shopping sprees, Polar Vantage V2 watches, and Polar H10 heart rate monitors. The Unhinged winner also received a special Believe in the Run prize pack.

“When it comes to running, Polar is about as core to the sport as you can get,” said Tom Fowler, President of Polar USA. “That’s why we were delighted to join forces again with Believe in the Run on the Winter GRIT project. Congrats and a big thank you to all the GRIT runners.”

Big Run media promoted the event through Believe in the Run’s website, social media channels, online advertising and influencers, generating a community of runners who shared their GRIT journeys with event-specific hashtags and custom social media graphics. The event also saw high levels of engagement in the Winter GRIT Facebook group, where runners shared their progress throughout the event. Miles were logged through the RunSignUp registration platform, where results were posted in real time to distance-tier specific leaderboards.

Promotion of the event generated over 300,000 impressions, 5,000 engagements, and an $8.50 CPA. Strategically placed ads across Facebook, Instagram and Google resulted in over 145,000 impressions and a .22% CTR.

“While most live events are still on pause, creating a community within Winter GRIT gave us inspiration to keep running through the coldest days of the year,” said Neuberger.

About Believe in the Run

Believe in the Run is an independent run culture outlet based in Baltimore, Md. Founded in

2009, its goal has always been to provide honest, no-BS reviews with a culturally-relevant edge. Its mission is to bring a fresh look to running and provide their followers with sound advice from everyday runners just like them. https://www.believeintherun.com/

About Big Run Media

Big Run Media, LLC is a full-service branding, digital marketing, and creative design agency that focuses on active lifestyle brands. Their mission is simple: to develop your brand message into peak form. Much like an athlete preparing for an A race, Big Run Media tackles endurance event marketing and advertising challenges with strategic passion, planning, and know-how. Their work results in more athletes on your start line, and more devoted fans of your brand. To learn more about Big Run Media, visit: https://bigrunmedia.com/

About Polar

For over 40 years, Polar has been the innovator of sports technology, helping athletes and coaches achieve peak performance. Polar began with heart rate monitoring and has since expanded into multiple training solutions for elite athletes, coaches and active fitness enthusiasts. Polar remains the trusted performance partner due to our accuracy, reliability and superior experience. Polar’s award-winning product range includes pioneering sports wearables that work elegantly with Polar training apps and cloud services.

The Polar Grit X is Polar’s flagship outdoor multisport GPS watch. With its exceptional battery life, top-of-the-line heart rate monitoring, nutritional alerts, route guidance, and more, the Polar Grit X delivers exceptional performance for the outdoor athlete. Customized workouts and training plans are available through the Polar Flow web interface and sync to the watch through the Polar app. It’s everything you need to get your training down to a science.

About The DONNA Foundation 

The DONNA Foundation is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization established in June 2003 by three-time breast cancer survivor and visionary Donna Deegan. Through her own experience surviving breast cancer three times, Donna has cast a vision to transform the experience for those living with breast cancer to one of love and support over fear and confusion. The DONNA Foundation delivers this vision through their DONNA CareLine, serving patients’ financial critical needs so families don’t have to choose between life saving medicine and groceries. They deliver this vision through groundbreaking breast cancer research funding at the Mayo Clinic so there is a hope for the future.