I very new to speed running and I just wanted to make sure that emulators are ok as long as I dont mess with any run times and things.

You'll get the same answer wherever you ask this: It depends on the game. Ask the game mods. Generally speaking, older games are fine as the emulation is very accurate, but there's no reason not to ask the guys who make the rules.

Also speaking about emulators, not all of them are allowed, it's better to ask the mods of the games you want to run, but if you can't / don't want to do that there's always this topic : https://www.speedrun.com/Speedrunning/thread/19h43

It really depends on the game which emulator you can use if it is allowed. For example, speedrunning Spyro the Dragon on an emulator is fine as long as you use one of the correct versions listed in the rules.