It's the steady, quiet, plodding ones who win in the lifelong race.

Robert W. Service

Races are thrilling events with up to thousands of runners competing. Here it will be that you will improve your personal records and what you have prepared towards for months. You will find races near you by searching on the internet and have fun with it. Preparation is everything and let me know in the comments how you did.  I do about a race every two months in increasing distance to prepare for marathons. I like the Dublin race series which uses a 5 mile run, a 10k, a 10 mile and a half marathon as a build up to the marathon in October.