A Summer of Virtual Challenges...

I might have gone a teeny tiny bit overboard with my virtual challenges. I'm currently participating in three of them; but thankfully I only had to pay for one, and most of the activities and requirements overlap.

This past week was the first week of the Amerithon Challenge (which started on July 4th)...

This is a 3,521 mile virtual journey from the West coast to the East coast and I want to finish it by the end of the year (which is a very lofty goal since I am doing it by myself instead of with a group). The race organizers allow you to count any "movement miles" so I'm counting running, walking, swimming and the indoor cardio stuff I do, like the stair climber, upright and recumbent bikes, elliptical etc. I'm counting walking (including my daily steps) because I'm intentional about completing at least 10,000 steps a day. And since I also participate in a step challenge (aka virtual challenge #2) I have extra motivation to get up and move so I can reach the 10K step goal. 

At the end of the Amertithon Week 1 I got my first virtual badge...

..and I'm about 93 miles away from reaching my next landmark.

Heroes, Hydration & Challenges...

As much as I agree that you have to find your own motivation to train, there are certain mornings when I'm only able to get through my long run because of my running buddies (aka my "running heroes"). Recently I've been doing my long runs on Saturdays with Dafney (who has been helping me with my pacing and endurance), but this morning I ran with other running heroes (Andy, Tabitha and Suzanne) for my Sunday long run.

The group was scheduled to do 11 miles but I ended up doing 9 miles with them and then ran on by myself for another 3 miles...