SUMMER CHallenge II: across america

Earned Runs Run/walk/bike Across America map. Taken by PKSenagore, 2017. All rights reserved.

RUN/WALK/BIKE ACROSS AMERICA FROM SEA TO SHINING SEA
Start:  Memorial Day, May 28, at Astoria OR
Finish: Labor Day, September 3, at Portland ME
 
Rather not train all summer for yet another a long-distance race in the fall? Bored by running without a purpose or destination? Hoping to involve your friends or children in running, walking, or cycling with you, and sharing a goal?
 
Take a VIRTUAL journey ACROSS AMERICA on foot or bicycle, approximately 3,730 miles long, in this challenge!  Enjoy the ‘sights’, learn the geography and history of parts of America you’ve may never have visited. Use this challenge to hold yourself to a fitness schedule of RUNNING, WALKING, and/or CYCLING all through the summer months. Earned Runs has created a calendar adapted from a bicycle tour (see *acknowledgment) that involves committing to 2 to 3 sessions/week.
 
Participants will choose how they wish to “scale” the miles (1 real mile run/ walked = 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 or 100 miles on the map).  There is an itinerary chart that shows the distance to be traveled for each of 39 segments over 15 weeks by each scale calculation.
 
The scale system was created so that each person could run/walk/bike the entire ‘distance’ according to their fitness level.  Persons of different abilities can participate in the challenge together, by each using a different scale.
 
Example:
Segment 1 takes travelers from Astoria OR to Portland OR. The actual distance on the map is roughly 100 MILES. The distances participants can choose to run/walk on this segment are:
 
- 10 miles (10:1 ratio; for every 10 miles on the map, you run/walk 1 mile)
        or
- 5 miles (20:1 ratio; for every 20 miles on the map, you run/walk 1 mile)
         or
- 3.3 miles (30:1 ratio; for every 30 miles on the map you run/walk 1 mile)
         or
- 2.5 miles (40:1 ratio; for every 40 miles on the map, you run/walk 1 mile)
         or
- 2.0 miles (50:1 ratio; for every 50 miles on the map, you run/walk 1 mile)
        or
- 1.0 mile (100:1 ratio; for every 100 miles on the map, you run/walk 1 mile)
 
Use Earned Runs bibs to record completion of each segment!
 
Each Sunday there will be a BLOG post about that week's segment, providing a bit of information on the ground to be covered. If you know the part of the country the challenge will be moving through, please COMMENT, sharing your knowledge and expert insights with everyone else. If not, you might be inspired to research more deeply into the sights, topography, environment, people, and culture of that part of the trail.
 
Hopefully this challenge will work well for families, with children using a different scale than adults, as needed. Children of various ages can run/walk/bike distances best suited to their fitness and ability to focus on the day’s goal. It may be that in some families it’s the parents who require the highest handicap!
 
This challenge is a simple way to track progress made exercising over the entire summer.  The cumulative miles will allow ‘travel’ from west to east across the broad expanse of the northern United States, through different regions. It’s a fun way to learn more about what’s there!
 
Having a planned ‘itinerary’ provides structure to the summer’s running, walking, or cycling fitness activity. The scale system makes it possible for each participant to choose how strenuous this ‘trip’ will be. The ACROSS AMERICA Calendar and Itinerary drafts ARE POSTED on the RESOURCES* PAGE for you to preview. Check out the SEGMENT MAPS for weeks 1-3, also posted there, and free for download.
 
My experience: I took up this challenge in the summer of 2016 and started by running all my miles on the 10:1 scale. I was training for a race as well and doing the STREAK running. Eventually I found it easier and more enjoyable to walk some miles, if I could not get them covered by running, on certain days. This was true for 2017 too. This year I plan to cycle some miles on my fat tire bike.
 
It’s all about the JOURNEY in this challenge.
 
RUN & MOVE HAPPY!
 
ACROSS AMERICA Itinerary 2018
ACROSS AMERICA Calendar 2018
ACROSS AMERICA Segment Maps: WEEKS 1-3 

NOTES:
1.   Change the mile ratio as needed, adjusting the scale you as you go. Start with one ratio and drop down or move up to another if the effort is harder or easier, respectively, to fit into your schedule than first imagined.
2.   Cover the miles running, walking or biking (on the road or in a studio), or a combination of both. or a portion of them (see my experience above). 
3.   The Calendar schedules the segment runs/walks/bike-rides Monday through Friday, to avoid taking up family/friend time on precious summer weekends. 
4.   Take as much time as you need to complete each segment. Even if you fall behind, finish as much of the journey as is possible.  It will still be fun. and possibly educational too. Pick up next summer where you stopped.
 
AKNOWLEDGEMENT: The route is an itinerary for a bicycle tour that’s been publicly posted on the internet. The TREKTRAVEL company worked to develop it, and hosts the tour and many others.  In 2016 and 2017 Earned Runs contacted the company through email every year to provide notification of our use of the plan. 

Check out their site, especially if the real trip is something you are interested in completing!
http://trektravel.com/trip/cross-country-usa-bike-tour/