15: Virtual Race (Amerithon Challenge)

Goals, goals, goals. I gotta have them and I gotta work towards them or I get bored, bored, bored. I especially like to track progress and check boxes, so this challenge is right up my alley!

On July 4, 2018 I started a virtual race to run, bike, or walk [the distance] across the United States, from just outside the Bay Bridge in California to the Washington Monument in DC. The event is called the Amerithon, and participants can start whenever they want (though a big class of us started July 4), finish whenever they want, and complete the distance in whatever manner they want. There is a Facebook group for participants and everyone is sharing their own rules and strategies and the timeline in which they hope to complete the challenge. Here’s how I plan to tackle the challenge!

Total Distance: 3,521 miles

Goal Finish Date: July 4, 2019 (one year)

To Meet Goal:

• Monthly average distance: 293 miles
• Weekly average distance: 68 miles
• daily average distance: Just under 10 miles.

Mileage That “Counts”:

• All running
• All biking (my first recorded mileage was a bike trip to the donut shop!)
• Intentional walking (hiking, walking the dog, going for a walk, etc.)
• Canoe paddling

I am not counting my “steps” mileage, i.e. the normal walking I do as part of my day. Also, I’ve decided to only count activities in which I travel at least a mile, which will actually exclude most of my dog walks unless we step up our game. Obi and I are usually going about 0.8 miles in the afternoons, so I think we could stretch that to a mile most days– which is probably good for both of us!

So far, I have completed 13 total miles– the donut shop ride and one bike commute in to work– so, 0.3 percent of the way done, 99.7 percent to go!

All my miles are being tracked on their website, and a sweet box of swag is being mailed to me as we speak. It includes a map and stickers for tracking progress and an epic medal.

This is the tracking page. There are 37 total badges on the journey to mark the distance in smaller chunks and give you some sense of victory along the way.

The medal. The four pieces that make up the Lower 48 actually come out, and you add them to your medal as you complete the section. I might be biased, but I think the Great River and Great Lakes section is the prettiest, so I am looking forward to getting that far! The little shoe that clips on is mailed to finishers after they complete the full distance. It says “Amerithon” on one side and “Finisher” on the other. Hoping to see that in my mailbox in a year!

A paper map for tracking progress!

I think the mileage is a stretch, but doable. I have definitely racked up either as much or close to as much mileage in the past, but maybe not super recently. I am hoping to bank some miles in the remaining months of summer, because I imagine winter will bring a slowdown. I do plan to include snowshoeing miles, but I am probably not going to snowshoe 300 miles per month!

Seems like a fun challenge and fits well in my current state of working out– less running (still coming back from a spring injury), less running events, more biking and other fun things, and always going at my own pace!