Unlike a lot of runners I know, we don’t do a lot of “in person” events because I don’t like having to get up early to travel too far, or too long, so most events changing to virtual in 2020 was great for us. I think Adam and I earned more medals in 2020 than we did in the previous 5 years. Wait, I’ll just need to work that out now …
Year | medal | year | medal |
---|---|---|---|
2020 | Elvington Flyer 5 mile | 2019 | Elvington Flyer 5 mile |
2020 | York to London (virtual challenge – 237 miles over the year) | 2019 | Interstellar 10K |
2020 | Lockdown challenge (set your own challenge for the lockdown medal) | 2019 | Ribbon Run 5K |
2020 | Run2York virtual runs – North Yorkshire | 2019 | Chocolate 10K |
2020 | Run2York virtual runs – East Yorkshire | 2019 | York 10K |
2020 | Run2York virtual runs – South Yorkshire | 2019 | Yorkshire 10 mile |
2020 | Run2York virtual runs – West Yorkshire | 2019 | Gunpowder Plot 10K |
2020 | Run2York Seaside Series – Blackpool | 2018 | York 10K |
2020 | Run2York Seaside Series – Bridlington | 2018 | Yorkshire 10 mile |
2020 | Run2York Seaside Series – Saltburn | 2017 | York 10K |
2020 | Summer of Running 10K | 2017 | Yorkshire 10 mile |
2020 | Ribbon Run 5K | 2016 | York 10K |
2020 | Day of the Dead 10K | 2016 | Yorkshire 10 mile |
2020 | Chrimbo Bingo challenge | 2016 | Disneyland Paris half marathon |
Total medals in 2020 | 14 | Total medals in previous 4 years | 14 |
Not quite 5 years but we equalled the number of medals we got in the previous 4 years. Our previous best was 7 medals in 2019 and 6 medals in 2015 which is not on this list. it’s all thanks to See York Run York.
Anyway, on to this year’s long virtual run challenges. See York Run York have created 2 challenges which you can do by counting your distance over the course of 2021. You can also choose how you want to make up your distance – run, walk, cycle, swim etc. I entered Adam, The Man and myself in to both of the challenges and created gift vouchers for them to give to Adam and The Man for Christmas presents.

The first of the See York Run York challenges is a 644 mile virtual run (and, in our case, walk) from the start of the Boston Marathon to the finish of the Marine Corps Marathon in Washington DC. Along the way you run 5 different marathons, Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore and the Marine Corps marathon, as well as running in between. As this is over 1,000km, we are going to include our walks, as long as I record them in Strava/Garmin, if Adam and I walk together. Otherwise, it will all be running. If I run without Adam I’ll be counting those miles too. For the Man, I’m going to include his steps, as long as he has done more than, say, 5,000 steps in a day as he doesn’t get out running as often as he’d like.

The second challenge from See York Run York is to run the London Underground. This is split into the 11 lines of the London Underground network. The total distance is 346km and we are going to only use running for this challenge. The longest line is the Central Line at 53km and the shortest is the Waterloo & City Line at 2km. We have decided to complete these in alphabetical order so have started with the Bakerloo Line which is 22km.
I have also entered us for another challenge but this one we are doing as a team. We are walking and running Route 66! This one has been entered via My Virtual Mission/The Conqueror Virtual Challenges and, thanks to being able to link our Garmins/Fitbits we are including all steps taken to contribute to the distance. We are aiming to complete all 2,280 miles (3,669km) in a year. We started on Christmas day 2020 and aim to finish by Christmas Eve 2021.
We will, hopefully, be doing the York 10K this year as our entry from last year was transferred to this year. I’m also looking at 3 events which See York Run York have planned, as actual “in person” events, for later in the year. Here’s hoping we will be able to run with our running buddies soon.