The Race for Love is a virtual event where people run a 5K, 10K, or a Half Marathon on Valentine's Day (February 14, 2021). At 10am ET / 9am CT / 8am MT / 7am PT on Sunday morning, you will begin your run and race against people from across the country in real-time by using an app called Charge Running.

The location of your choice! WWF's Race for Love is a virtual event, which means that you can choose where you will be Racing for Love. You can run in your neighborhood or hop on a treadmill.

The Charge Running App will track your distance, pace, and update their leaderboard in real time! If you are running on a treadmill make sure to connect to WiFi and keep your phone on your body. If you are running outside, it is best to turn off WiFi.

While this event is a competitive race geared towards runners, you can choose to walk or jog if you'd like. The app also provides an option to listen in to the program instead of participating. This is a race, and we don't want you to feel discouraged, so if a race is not your speed, we do have other events throughout the year geared towards walking or stepping including our Virtual 5K for Nature in June, our Panda Paddle event in August and our Species Step Challenge in October.

Once registered, we will send you a confirmation email with a link to the event and a personalized code for you to use to sign up for the race. Please do not share this code with anyone else! If you cannot find this email, please reach out to us at pandanation@wwfus.org and we can help get you the link and code. You can also navigate to the event through the Charge Running app by searching for events on February 14th. From there, you can sign up and enter your code and then add it to your calendar.

A running coach will open up the run in the Charge Running app five minutes before the start of the race, so you can share photos or message other racers before we take off. The race will get started right on the hour.

Most runners start their run just outside their house or apartment while they are still connected to WiFi. When the run starts and they begin to run from their house, the transition between WiFi and cellular data may drop your audio from the Race for Love for 10-15 seconds. So we ask you to switch over to cellular data before your run begins so that you do not experience this inconvenience. Standard data rates may apply.

With a healthy phone battery, a 45-minute run will utilize about 20% of your overall battery. The longer you run the more battery life it uses, so make sure your phone is charged!

You will be able to use Charge Running's chat function to message your coach, as well as others who are in the run with you. Feel free to wish others in the race a good workout, congratulate them on a job well done, or just have a friendly conversation, and share pictures of yourself out on the run!

The live leaderboard ranks each runner based on distance traveled during their race. It updates hundreds of times per minute to give the most accurate distance for each runner and is a key motivational tool to push yourself harder than you thought you could.

It sure does! If the Charge Running app is installed on both your iPhone and Apple Watch, Charge Running uses the built in sensors on your watch to calculate the distance for you. Keep that phone on the treadmill! It’s important that you keep Charge Running on your phone, as the watch relies on your phone in order to transmit and receive data for the race. If you are having trouble with your Apple Watch collecting your data, force close the Charge Running app on your Apple Watch once you join the race, and then re-open the app. That should do the trick!

Charge Running utilizes your smartphone's native hardware to simulate distance traveled, paces, and cadence. Although its usually very accurate, there can be some distance differences between treadmill distance and your Charge Running distance. In order to make this information as accurate as possible, with an iPhone, Charge Running recommends going into the “Health” app and inputting your correct height and other personalized characteristics. Please refer to the Charge Running privacy policy for more information.

For additional questions about Charge Running, please visit https://www.chargerunning.com/faq and for more questions about the event or WWF please email us at pandanation@wwfus.org.

You can register for the Race for Love on our website.

Absolutely! Each participant will need to register themselves through our website and create their own personal fundraising page. However, the first person to register can also create a Team. When you create a Team, each of your personal pages will be linked to one Team page that will track the funds you’ve raised together as a group. This way, you can participate with friends and family members across the country.

Things change, we understand. If you are not able to compete in the Race for Love, don't sweat it. You made a difference just by signing up for this event. You can continue fundraising for WWF if you choose or send us an email and we can deactivate your Race for Love fundraising page.

Fundraising is not required in order to participate in WWF's Race for Love, but it is encouraged. You will receive a fundraising page upon registration. When you fundraise for World Wildlife Fund, not only are you raising crucial funds to support our global conservation efforts, but you are also spreading awareness of WWF's mission. A gift in any amount is much appreciated and goes a long way.

A personal fundraising page is generated automatically for you during registration. You can use this page to fundraise for WWF and all of the donations that you personally raised for WWF will appear on your fundraising page. The funds you raise can qualify you to earn some exciting fundraising prizes!

For those of you participating on a team, each person on your team will have their own fundraising page to collect donations, and you'll also have a team page where the totals of everyone is added together. Donors may choose to donate to your personal page or to donate to the team fundraising page on behalf of the team.

All funds raised through Panda Nation support our global conservation efforts. We are not able to direct the donations toward a specific species. The donations received through your fundraising page will allow us to help protect species around the world as well as reduce threats that many habitats face to allow species and communities to thrive.

Log in to your Panda Nation Center to access tools to change and edit your page in the Personal Page section. To get to your Panda Nation Center, log in at the top of this page, and then click on the “My Panda Nation Center”. After you make your changes, be sure to hit save before moving on.

Your Race for Love fundraising page will help inspire people to donate to your fundraising efforts, so take a moment to share your own passion for conservation and why you’ve decided to show your love for people and nature this Valentine's Day by participating in WWF's first-ever Race for Love. Updating your page and sharing in your own words will make your page feel more authentic and make people excited to support you.

Here are a few style hints:
• Try not to type your story in ALL CAPITAL LETTERS. This makes the page difficult to read and is the web equivalent of SHOUTING.
• Make sure to spell check your page before publishing.
• Start a new paragraph after every few sentences. Your page will be much easier to read and your donors will thank you!

You can update the name and description by logging in to your Panda Nation Center.

Yes, please do! This page should reflect you and your personality as much as possible. Your page can display two photos and one video. To update these, go to your Panda Nation Center.

Go to your Panda Nation Center. You can click “change” right underneath your thermometer at the top of the page. Type in the monetary amount that you're hoping to raise. Make sure to click the update goal button before exiting the page.

Your Race for Love page features a standard donation tool, which enables you to raise funds to support WWF’s conservation work. Making a gift—and a difference—is as easy as clicking a button.

Once you’ve registered and set up your Race for Love page or team page, set an amount that you’d like as your fundraising goal. You’ll automatically receive an email that you can forward to your friends and family. You can also go to your Panda Nation Center, click on the email section at the top of the page, and then choose a standard form message to send or create your own message. When people visit your page, they will be able to click on the donate button to make a gift of any amount through a secure form. Once their donation is complete, it is counted toward your fundraising goal!

Yes, donating to your own page is a simple, fast way to generate momentum toward your fundraising goal. You don’t have to give big—just give something. Whether it’s $5 or $50, your donation sets an example for the friends and family you’ll be asking for donations.

Go to your Panda Nation Center. Click on the email section at the top of the page. You will be taken to the suggested messages page, where you can click on versions for a standard form message. You may want to personalize your message and tell your friends more about your page. To create your own message, click on Blank Message and type in the text box.

You can also share a link to your personal page on your favorite social media networks.

Once you find someone's page you would like to make a gift to, click on the donate button to make a gift of any amount through a secure form. Once your donation is complete, it is counted toward that person’s fundraising goal.

Once you find someone's page you would like to make a gift to, click on the donate button. You will be asked to fill out a form with your donation amount and information. In this section you can check the box that reads, “Please don’t include my name in the public donor roster.” Please note the person who you donate to will be notified that you gave a donation, your name just won't appear in any public recognitions of your gift. If you would like a different name to show up when you make a donation, you can enter it into the field that reads, “How would you like your name to appear in the donor roster?”

The funds you raise through your Race for Love fundraising page support WWF’s global conservation efforts, including protecting endangered species, preserving threatened species, and addressing global threats such as deforestation. Thanks to the donations made through your Panda Nation page, WWF is also working to empower people to conserve resources, while improving their livelihoods.

No worries! All you need is the email address that you used to register. Go to the Forgotten Password page. Enter your email address and we will email you your account login information to that address.