Ok, this is going to speak to a really specific audience, but if you ever played Sims 3 you’ll know that when you play without cheats, your sim can get a “stir crazy” moodlet if you don’t take them out of the house for a few days. That is me. Since being in quarantine, specifically in the last few months, I’ve taken on a kind of over-confidence that comes from being entirely separated from the rest of the world. An example of that is this blog, though it’s less self-confidence and more “I-don’t-care-what-people-think-because-I don’t-see-anybody-anyways.” Whatever you want to call it, that’s been my general attitude lately.
Since being stuck at home, I’ve gotten to hang out with my sister a lot more. She got me hooked on a couple who vlogs their travels on YouTube, Kara and Nate (click here to check them out!). In the past four years, they traveled to over 100 countries and only returned to the U.S. because of COVID this year. Since being home, they’ve been living in a converted sprinter van and traveling the country. Recently, Nate biked the Colorado Trail – a beautiful, 487-mile-long trail – in two weeks. While the views were gorgeous, the biking itself looked like absolute hell. And just like that, I was in.
It’s been a long time since I’ve had a difficult physical challenge that I have to work towards. When I was playing soccer in college, it was preparing for the beep test on the first day of preseason or hitting a new max bench in spring lifting. I’ve missed grueling, physical work and the feeling of achieving a goal. Post-college athletics, a lot of people turn to running half or full marathons. If you’ve been paying any attention, you know I hate running with all of my being, I stomach it because it made soccer more fun, it keeps me fit, and I love that release of endorphins once I finish. So, in the way that marathons speak to some people, biking the Colorado Trail really spoke to me. I love biking. I’ve never mountain biked and don’t even own a bike anymore, but once I watched that video, the seed was planted and I knew I had to do it.
This is obviously something I absolutely cannot and will not do alone, so I texted the only two people I know who are crazy enough to agree and also be excited about it – Haley and Mitch! While there are many obstacles ahead to accomplishing this goal (COVID chilling out, buying a bike, training on local trails, etc.), I realized that there’s not much that I can do now, which is incredibly frustrating and seems to be the theme of global pandemic life. It feels like I’m in a perpetual waiting game.
I’ve gotten the hang of making the best of my situation mostly through pouting for the majority of three months and then just getting into the emotional rhythm of what our new normal is. It’s far from optimal, but it is what it is, it’s not going to get better just because I can’t get used to it. I might as well not waste my own time.
So, that’s where you might come in. Parker and I have been struggling to motivate to workout from a dangerous combination of no longer having sports and no longer seeing people. When I told her about my desire to do the Colorado Trail, we brainstormed to create the “Colorado Trail Challenge” – a month long physical challenge to log as many miles as the Colorado Trail (487) by walking, running, or biking on our stationary bike. That’s a lot of miles for one person, so we’re going to partner up to split the mileage and try to get it done.
We figured if we were struggling to motivate right now, someone (or someones) out there might be too. If you’d like to join us in attempting to do a stupid, seemingly impossible challenge, grab a friend (or 3) and let’s do this! I’m going to attempt to document our progress – everything from weight, to fitness level, to aches and pains, to motivation levels. Depending on my level of giving a *&%#, I’ll do my best to post videos through the process!
If you’re interested in our plan or interested in doing it yourself, keep reading! If not, this is the end of the article!
For those of you still reading, here’s the breakdown:
487 miles in 31 days comes out to about 15.7 miles per day. For one person not solely biking, that’s a lot. Parks and I are splitting that, so we’re aiming to accomplish 7.85 miles each, per day. We’re choosing not to do this entirely on the bike because we realized that as the seasons change, running outside will stop being an option. So, while the weather permits it, we’re going to run while we can. Depending on how this goes, I might try to do the full 487 myself on the bike, but that’s TBD in a month.
We’re human, so we’re guessing that we probably won’t get all of our mileage every day and we will probably go through some days where we just don’t care. By involving you guys, you’re helping to keep us accountable, which yes, is terrifying but also helpful. Even if you don’t give a shit about what we’re doing, the fact that you’ll see it at all will keep us motivated. We’re athletes, so we hate failure, especially when it’s public.
Starting today, we’ll begin logging miles and pushing each other every week to get our miles done! Shoot me a DM or email if you and your friends/teammates/family are joining us! If not, sit back, relax and enjoy our struggle!
A side note: Those of you that are runners are probably look at 7.85 miles a day and laugh that we’ll have to supplement with biking. First off, that’s rude and secondly, I’m out of shape, ok? But I guess that all attention is good attention for this blog, so if you’re solely here to laugh at us, I won’t tell you to leave…(insert shrug emoji).