I don't run road races much anymore and I truly do miss them. But with the rising costs of racing and the fact that they are often held on Sundays, I am gladly going with other priorities in life right now.But running without changing it up at times can grow tiresome and I am beyond thankful for virtual challenges. I stumbled upon Amerithon earlier this month, thanks to sponsored posts on facebook, but this one intrigued me and I looked into it more. Darling daughter got sucked in too when she glanced at what was getting my full attention. She was also hooked. There are many package options to this virtual challenge and we opted for one we can both do and still stay within my budget. Budget matters.
You can check out the Amerithon Challenge and more HERE - and yes, this is a referral code given to me after I signed up. Any monetary benefit I receive from you signing up will go to purchasing a medal for my buddy, Toby. A wonderful boy with Down syndrome that I run for through the I Run 4 Michael program. The medals are HUGE and somewhat costly so I appreciate you signing up through my referral link if you are interested. Mahalo!
But back to the challenge and what it is.
The Amerithon Challenge officially starts annually on July 4th but you can still join the mission to run, walk, swim, bike, whatever your way across America. The goal is to complete the challenge within a year but if you don't, that's okay. You can keep going!
You can do it as a team or solo and darling daughter and I opted to each do a solo challenge. The journey is 3,521 miles long and broken into 36 segments in which you receive badges to track your progress in your passport. And along your journey when you hit target check points you get to add a piece to your medal! There is even a finisher piece that you receive at the very end.
It is all easy to do and has a tracker for you to log your miles. It is even broken down into categories - run, swim, bike, other (and maybe some more). For me, I am logging my actual workouts - my runs and the rare times I swim laps. For darling daughter, we are tracking her overall fitbit stats for each day as she is just 10 and this is an ambitious goal for someone her age. Geesh! It is an ambitious goal for me! And I want to keep it within doable ranges to keep her motivated.
We have posted the map to log our progress in the hallway with our medals. Right now both our medals are empty waiting their first addition but we have both earned our first badge for our passports! Not too shabby for starting on July 5th and we are both pushing ourselves to get to our next badge...in completely healthy ways.
I hope you join me today. It will be a lot of fun and just wait until you see your first flyover video! What a fun challenge this is and it is both good for your brain (you will learn a lot) and for your body.
Daily Gratitude: I am thankful for amazing virtual challenges and that proceeds from this challenge goes to charity.
Daily Bible Verse: Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. ~ Colossians 3:12-16
