How did you choose your main's race, and why do you stick with it?

[Heliantheae]

I stuck with the female highlander because they put their heart and soul into everything they do.

[DynamoAce]

I guess I'm super basic so I went with the basic Hyur/Ordinary human race. : D ...Like I usually tend to do. But I guess I have reasons that narrowed my choice down.

Not too big on Elezens.
I love the Mi'qote race but...not sure if I want to be a cat girl. x.x
I refuse to be a cabbage patch child. (No offense to you awesome Lalas out there)
Roes are well....not sure I'd pull it off well but they're cool.
Au Ra would've been my second choice if I didn't go Hyur, but in the end Hyur felt right.

[Enkidoh]

Because I love cats! (Yes, I'm a crazy catlady :3).

That and also in FFXI I chose mithra as Enki's race for the same reason so when I first started FFXIV in the original version (1.0) Eorzean Enki was originally inspired by Vana'dielian Enki, and thus they shared a similar race and even hair colour and style accordingly.

[Joe_Schmoe]

This was only 1 of 2 races that could be bald, and as Roegadyns look like various shades of Beast, Hulk, or Hellboy mixed in with Mark McGuire I went with Highlander.

[Subsonic_GFX]

i chose female Miqo'te becuse of y'shtola

[Urthdigger]

As a player of FFXI, I picked Galka to be a strong monk that could punch everyone's face in. The near universal dislike for the race only made me more stubborn to express how much I liked the race. When FFXIV came out, I knew I had to recreate him in a way, and went with the new version, the Roegadyn.

[Niwashi]

I made several characters. At first it was because there's three different storylines for the first 15 levels, depending on which city you started in, so I wanted one from each. I'd originally planned on continuing all three of them more-or-less equally through the whole game (even after that 15 level story separation). But I ended up just liking my Miqo'te best and playing him a bit more than the others until I eventually decided he'd be my "main" and the others got relegated to "alt" status. I'll still switch between each of them for most seasonal events and such, but apart from that, I mostly just play as Y'kayah.

I know why my Elezen didn't become a favorite. Even though I like how she looks when she's standing still, I've never liked her running animation. She seems really awkward in motion. That's something I wouldn't have known until I started playing her. Between my Hyur and my Miqo'te, though, I don't really know why I gravitated more towards the Miqo'te. My Hyur was actually the first character I made, and I do still like him, but I play the Miqo'te more.

I also tried a Lala alt for a while. She's cute and I like her animations, but lala-sized gear doesn't look as cool as on the larger races. And I've been meaning to start on a Roegadyn alt, but don't know when I'll get around to it. (Been meaning to play her for quite a while now and haven't yet.) I like the idea of having several alts, but each is such a time commitment that it's not very practical without a lot more play-time than I have.

[Atoli]

Oh, I remembered another reason
Classes I mainly play changed over time, and not all races fit all classes 100% aestethically.
I started as a sun-tanned tomboyish Seeker cat because I planned on playing Marauder, and ended up maining BRD. Both natural outdoor classes.
But come 2.0 and 3.0, I gravitated towards BLM, DRK and the like. Which just goes so much better with horns, scales and a distant look.

I know some bulky Roegadyn men are absolutely in love with their sparkly AST dress and set of tarot cards, but at least I personally could never play a race that clashes so much with my main class.

[LordNickage]

I actually started as a Midlander way back in 1.0. When 2.0 dropped, I thought I'd try something more exotic. My first character was an Elezen, but then I settled on Highlander. I really enjoyed that choice for a while, but then my lady-friend convinced me to be a Miquote for a while. Tried Au Ra when 3.0 dropped. I never really thought to try Rogaedyn, as it was never really my scene.

Then I made the ultimate switch.

As a joke to most people in my FC who hate Lalas, I Fantasia'd to a Lalafell. And boy, have I been having a blast ever since. The emotes are absolutely priceless. It's a shame I don't really get to marvel in my glamour as much as I'd like, especially since I try to put a lot of effort into how my roles look. But I also love how there will be cutscenes where the WoL walks up, looking badass... except I'm a Lala, and I'm sort of just waddling up to face some demi-god or something. Fantastic.

[DefectiveMuse]

-snip-

The emotes are absolutely priceless. It's a shame I don't really get to marvel in my glamour as much as I'd like, especially since I try to put a lot of effort into how my roles look. But I also love how there will be cutscenes where the WoL walks up, looking badass... except I'm a Lala, and I'm sort of just waddling up to face some demi-god or something. Fantastic.

I've been considering a Lala. I realize now that what I 100% need is not a lore-accurate name but a name that I can work with with any race I decide to Fantasia to. So when I get home tonight I'm gonna make one more character. And for the same reasons you listed I'm really leaning Lala. Though I'm not a huge fan of their animations, I cannot resist the cute tiny races. (In Guild Wars 2 I played their tiny race a lot, too).