Thursday, December 06, 2012

#132. or, The K&K Virtual 5K

So, here we go.

  I don't know about you, but I seem to make better progress toward an end, if I have a goal to work toward. Now that things are beginning to slow up a bit for me, I would like to get back into the habit of running when I'm able. It's been something that I've done at the track, at the local arena, for the last few winters. It's been in the back of my mind for, like....almost forever it seems. It's just been hard to get motivated to drive into town in the evening to do it.

  My friend Kianwi, over at Simply She Goes, and I have come up with this cockamamie plan to do a virtual marathon. Just to be clear on this, a virtual marathon is NOT sitting on the couch, in front of the TV with a controller, directing an avatar around some course. I suppose it could be, but that's not what we had in mind. The plan is to actually compete with each other and do this 5K marathon together, at the same time, 3000 km apart.  In 3 months from now, on or about Saturday, March 2nd, we will hold our very first virtual marathon.  The sweet part is, we want you to join us in this adventure.

  Over the next week or so, we'll be putting up pages on our blogs to link back to all of the posts that relate to our run. Anybody who has an interest in joining up with us, is welcome to let us know in a comment or drop either of us an email. Kianwi at, kianwir@gmail.com or me at, info@ken-inatractor.com. We will be creating a list of anybody who joins up, and posting that on our pages as well. The list will be shared between us and will be visible on both sites.

  This is going to be a pretty casual affair. I mean, our goal will be to do as well as we both can in this, but we won't be posting weekly or anything early on. As we get closer to the date and things start to come together, we'll share the information we come up with, to let you know how things are shaping up. If anybody who wants to participate, wishes to do a post about this, we would be more than happy to link back to that post on our pages and you'll most likely get mentioned in one of the posts.

  The cool thing about this, is that conceivably, there could be a whole whack of us doing this in different parts of the world, without having never actually met each other, but still competing toward the same thing. So the more people the better. And if you can't run, then ride a bike, or just walk your dog, or get through the 5K anyway you can.

  We would like to let you know how we're doing at this, so the plan is to tweet about our progress and I'll likely comment about it on my facebook page too. We want to create a twitter hashtag that anyone can use, to comment on the progress in training that you have as well. It's probably going to be #KKRun so you can start watching for that to start popping up shortly.

  Hopefully, some of you will consider joining us. I think it's going to be a fun thing and if we can make ourselves better over the course of it, we all win.

 Now you need to head over to Kianwi's companion post and get her take on all of this.

16 comments:

  1. Yay!! It's gonna be so much fun :)

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  2. Cool idea! I bet you'll get lots of participants. I won't be one, but still.

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    1. we are hoping that we get a few people who would like to do this with us. It's good to do something over the winter to keep active.

      .......other than shoveling snow.

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  3. This sounds fun, but I have to question, why not just run around your farm? I would hate to have to drive to town to exercise. Although, I kinda like working and exercising in the cold, so there is that.

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    1. I have actually tried that. The trouble I have is that no matter where I run, I always see jobs that I still have to get done and I end up more stressed out than when I started. When I go to town, which really is a bit of a pain in the ass, it's just me running. I don't have to think about anything else.

      That, and in the winter, I always feel like Rocky training to fight Ivan Drago when I run through the snow, then people get annoyed when I start adding "yo" into every sentence. :)

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  4. This will be really cool. What an awesome idea.

    I would participate, but I am a lazy sack. So, I'm out.

    However, I will be cheering from the sidelines (my couch).

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    1. I'm a bit of a lazy sack myself so there's always hope.

      I suppose you could be one of those guys on the virtual sidelines, handing out virtual paper cups of water to the virtual passersby?

      There's a job for everyone.

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    2. Can we do this via Twitter?

      Count me in.

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    3. The hope is that we can use twitter to let everyone know how things are going.

      Happy to have you on board!

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  5. I think this would be fun but I do not tweeter or FB?
    Good luck to you all.

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    1. Those are only some of the tools we are using to get the word out. The 5K is open to everyone. You are welcome to participate, however whether you choose to or not, we appreciate your support. :)

      Thanks for stopping by.

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  6. I just left a post over at Kianwi's place - I'm in, as long as I can run outside with my asthma in the cold. Sounds like so much fun and such a great idea!

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    1. Hi Michelle,

      I have my fingers crossed that the weather is everything you need to be able to participate. Glad to have you on board! :)

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  7. I'm in. I let a comment on Kiawni page. My only concern is the cold, but I will do what I can.

    I hate cold weather.

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    1. Hi Brett,
      Glad that you are on board. I hope that the weather works out for you. I don't really like running in the cold myself. I go to the indoor track in town to avoid that. The only bad thing is that I have to avoid all of the seniors that go there to get their exercise over the winter.

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