As an ultrarunner, I have a slight (read: heavy) addiction to stalking UltraSignup and constantly scoping out possible races and marathon/ultramarathon schedules…I discovered a few virtual ultramarathon races with Destination Trail Run — the fine organizers of 200+ mile races such as Bigfoot 200 (attempted in 2018! DNF at 133 miles), Tahoe 200, and Moab 240.

In particular, I noticed there was a “Race Across the USA” virtual run, in which entrants can either register to run 1000 miles or 2572 miles (distance from San Francisco to New York), either solo or as a team…over the time frame of June 1, 2020 to January 1, 2021.

Since I’m slightly behind on my Strava goal of running 1500 miles in 2020 (have run 416 miles thus far in 2020, as of May 31st), I figured signing to get a cool 1000 mile belt buckle would be a good incentive to sustain my needed mileage throughout the rest of the year — about 33 miles per week, to be exact.

Although I’m also attempting to maintain and gain a bit of strength through ring workouts in the park and weighted sandbag sessions (cleans, front squats, deadlifts), running ~30-35 miles a week shouldn’t preclude the ability to also keep some strength.

Look forward to receiving the unique buckle, as can be seen below, after running 1000 miles!