Disclaimer: I received a free entry to the California Coast 500 Virtual Challenge as part of being a BibRave Pro. Learn more about becoming a BibRave Pro (ambassador), and check out BibRave.com to review, find and write race reviews!
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Back in June I wrote about the California Coast 500 Virtual Challenge. It was 3 months into the quarantine life. I was looking for something motivating and exciting to do while in quarantine and this looked like the perfect challenge!
This challenge was to run 100, 250, 400 or 500 virtual miles from LA’s Santa Monica Pier to San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge along California’s idyllic Highway One. It began June 8th and ends September 7th. I signed up for 250 miles which is about 84 miles each month.
So, as you know from Sunday’s post, I am not running. Since I began this challenge, I was on track to complete it last week. My last run was August 15 in which I had run 223.6 miles. Most likely I won’t complete the challenge. I have a doctor appointment on Friday (for my yearly exam) and I will double check with her (she told me it was OK to see her). I want to do the right thing but I am also itching to run outside.
The California Coast 500 Virtual Challenge is a fun and great virtual race. Let me tell you why:
✅ Weekly email from the race organizers. Each email came with digital badges and mini challenges to win prizes (i.e. log 24 total miles from Monday 6/29 to Sunday 7/5 or log 50 miles during Week 9 of the California Coast 500). I didn’t win but it was still fun to enter to win a prize.
✅ Motivation from my BibRave Pro friends! I am in awe of those that selected to run 500 miles and finished weeks ago. There are 6 of us on the team and my coach, Juan, and I are the only ones that close the 250 mile challenge. I am close to San Luis Obispo.
✅ Thanks to the team at PWR Lab, there was an interactive map to keep track of the mileage. It was fun seeing how far along everyone was on the route.
✅ Support from Run Local.
This was from an email I received on June 24. KK Fischer finished in about 2 weeks. Wow!
While I am sad that I won’t complete it, I am glad I signed up for it. I was motivated to get out there and run. On the days I did not want to run, I reminded myself of this challenge and knew that every mile helped (or .10, .18, etc). I am not sure what I will do once this is over. I’m having a great training session with my coach and hope to continue, but don’t think I will sign up for virtual races or challenges.
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