With a summer like no other, everyone is looking for ways to keep themselves motivated, while staying close to home. As Judy was busy running across Tenessee (virtually), I though I would jump onto the virtual challenge bandwagon as well when I came across the CONQUEROR Virtual Challenge Series.
The 12-part Series has a wide range of distances to follow, with virtual challenges that run from a modest 34km across the width of the English Channel, 240km along Australia’s spectacular Great Ocean Road, or hike the entire 3167km of the Appalachian Trail. The timeframe is self-defined, and the mode of activity is yours to select (swim, run, walk, cycle). Data is collected with a standard tracking device, and I opted to do this all on foot (no cycling) – though some kayak paddling was included while camping!
I selected the Camino de Santiago trail, which provided a more modest 772km route of a bucket list trek I’d like to do in person some day. Tracking your progress along the virtual trail using Google Street View with the App kept things interesting, and let you look around the towns along the route. A bonus feature for the CONQUEDOR series is that you also get ‘postcards’ along the way – 13 in total for this trek. Mock-up postcards from yourself and a brief description of the historic significance is a welcome break in the news.
And of course, what’s an event without some bling at the end of the journey. Shortly after finishing you can receive a shiny metal as a reward for your efforts, and then it’s off to see what the next challenge will be.
I’m currently working on a traverse of the Length of Britain, and got to get those steps in to keep on track to finish before Christmas!
Run K2J 
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