If you've ever wondered how you stack up against runners in Muskegon, even though you live in Midland, your days of curiosity may be over.

Active Sports Technologies in partnership with Running USA, the professional trade association for the running industry, has launched a national online runner ranking system. The "Runner Rankings" provides a comprehensive, searchable database of personal road race performances for runners of all ages and abilities.

The goal is to enable runners to measure themselves against America's best (and not so best, for that matter), building a sense of community among runners of all ages and abilities.

The Runner Ranking database utilizes race performances from more than 3,000 USA Track & Field-certified events nationwide to provide a quick and easy way to track individual results, identify leaders and view the fastest times for various distances.

The system assigns points to individual runners based on distance, time, age and course difficulty. Rankings are then calculated and searchable through categories including name, gender, age, city, state, country, year or distance.

And yes, in case you're wondering, a first-place finish in the Boyne City Fourth of July 10K is worth fewer points than winning Crim. Runners receive minimal points for completing at least part of the distance, and a few more points for finishing faster than the median time for that distance.

In order to activate your performances and earn points, runners must go to the online system and claim results. To do this, simply visit www.active.com/rankings_and create a user account, or log in with an existing Active.com account. Then go to "Individual Results Search," enter your first and last names, and click the "Search" button. Check the "Claim" box next to each result and click the "Claim Results" button. Boom, you're official. Running Ranking awards are in the works, but no details are available yet.

Ignorance may be bliss, but it isn't as easy to be dumb anymore. Log in now and learn how fast folks in Alpena, Allen Park and your hometown really are - or aren't.

To check out the new Runner Rankings or for more information, visit http://www.active.com/rankings or http://www.RunningUSA.org.

Greg Janicki can be reached at runrun262@hotmail.com. MR