~Dan's Virtual Race~ Here's the deal. 1) You pay me money. 2) You run on your own someplace and tell me about it (lying is permitted, exaggeration is encouraged). 3) I will send you a t-shirt and a medal. Sound good?
That is essentially the gist of virtual racing. Oh, there are variations, but why not look at it from a slightly detached point of view? It seems at least a little silly, doesn't it? Yet here I am, virtually running across Tennessee, along with 16,000 others. And here I am, helping the Medina County Road Runners put on their very own virtual race. The irony (of my ridicule and my participation) is not lost on me.
I get it. We can't do our normal racing due to social distancing guidelines. But we still want challenges, so enter virtual racing. Racing has always been special to me - there the challenge, the competition, the social gathering, the spectacle. But since we can't gather in large groups, why not try doing this virtual thing. I did resist at first, but then I saw this The Great Virtual Race Across Tennessee 1000K thing. And I decided to challenge myself. It's different. This mileage will indeed be tough for me.
My friends and family are putting up with me, as they always do. "Hey, look - I'm almost to Selmer (TN)," I say. "Oh, that's good, Dan," they answer. And so on.
Today I was all dressed up with no place to go. No place, because it was cold - very cold - outside once again. So for the second day in a row, I was a treadmill wimp. I had intended to do something of substance outside, so now that I was inside, I there it there: 9 x 1200 at about 5:52 each. It will have to do.
One more thing about GVRAT. Today is day 12 of 123. That means I'm 10% done, at least in terms of time. I'm ~24% of the way across, and that's around 12% of the total distance. Bottom line: I'm staying ahead, but there isn't much room for error.
General Info about The Great Virtual Race Across Tennessee 1000K
Info about my own participation in GVRAT
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