virtually

The Big Canada Run

March 9, 2022

Last July, right smack dab in the middle of 2021, one of my running friends suggested that a few of us sign up for a race.

This wasn’t unusual. We sign up for races all the time, and even many virtual races lately.

This race was a big one, though. A year-long virtual team run spanning every province of Canada in an effort to cumulatively run ten thousand kilometers in one year, from the West coast to the North coast and then over to the East coast.

We signed up. We ran. We tackled The Big Canada Run.

[Virtual] SeaWheeze Half Marathon (2020)

The day I registered for a couple virtual races was the same day that I found out -- officially -- I'd be working from home for the entire summer. At least. With a minimum of three more months of pandemic not-quite-lockdown facing me down and getting me down, I figured one of the only solutions for my personal health and fitness was to lockdown some real goals. Challenges are one thing but an actual, paid-for, medal-in-the-mail virtual race is another.

The rules I put in were simple:

[Virtual] Vancouver Half Marathon (2020)

The day I registered for a couple virtual races was the same day that I found out -- officially -- I'd be working from home for the entire summer. At least. With a minimum of three more months of pandemic not-quite-lockdown facing me down and getting me down, I figured one of the only solutions for my personal health and fitness was to lockdown some real goals. Challenges are one thing but an actual, paid-for, medal-in-the-mail virtual race is another.

The rules I put in were simple: