Yes. A noun could be a person, place, or object. In that case, race could be described as a place or object.
The Sky Runners are not currently in competition today. They usually have their marathons on either Saturday or Sunday mornings. They will be in operation through the fall.
Surprisingly meat, companions, and protectors of livestock
Yes, you should put a comma after "today" in the phrase "as of today" to indicate that the phrase is specifying the present moment.
Lick my nuts
it is a phrase
Adverb phrase
About twice as fast as today's fastest human runners.
full moon
The phrase is "Today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday." It reminds us to focus on the present moment rather than worrying about the future or dwelling on the past.
will have swum is the verb phrase.
No, though they are somewhat related. Surprisingly, the only animals around today that can be considered dinosaurs are birds.