I had an overall positive experience at the Big Tex Run 5k.

The start and finish lines for this race were located on Randol Mill Rd, directly in front of the Texas Live! Facility in Arlington, Texas. This area is perfect for this type of event, as there is plenty of room to warm-up, stretch, and wait for start time. It was also good for parking, as there is a large lot directly adjacent to it that is quite convenient to use, except if you were needing to leave prior to 10:30 a.m. If you needed to leave before that time, it was better to park in the other lots in the area about 3-4 blocks away walking distance. Otherwise you wouldn't be able to drive out since the streets surrounding the parking lot were closed off for runner safety until that time.

The race started on time as scheduled at 8:30 a.m. I found the course to be comfortable and easy to run on, with wide, ample streets which allowed me to find a straight line quite quickly among the approximate 200 other runners. The course views are also great as the route goes around the Dallas Cowboys AT&T Stadium as well as the Texas Rangers Globe Life Field. The course markings were also easy to follow and there were some volunteers posted on the few turns it had on it. All of that helped me get into a good rhythm and cadence from early on and all the way to the finish.

After crossing the finish line, I had to leave for my hotel right away because of a work commitment, so I wasn’t able to stay for the post-race party. However, my cousin who ran the 10k shared that they did enjoy the live music and free beer that was provided there and had a good time.

We did experience a few issues that were likely caused by a shortage of volunteers during the event:
- No signs or staff directing participants to the exact spot for packet pickup, as the location indicated on the race website was not correct
- Only one person at a table off to the side from the finish line attending to the handout of medals

That being said, I feel that this is an event with a lot of potential because of the attractiveness and comfort of the facility where it is held as well as because of the course around it. Hopefully the volunteer situation can be resolved next year, and if so, this can definitely be an even better race in the future.

This race was switched to virtual this year due to COVID, but despite not being able to go run it there in person I found it quite valuable to run it virtually as it gave me something to works towards for this time of the year which helped me stay motivated to keep up with my mileage and overall fitness.

The race organizers were always involved and interacting with participants on social, and also went above and beyond by including a special/custom runner's box with items from Missoula and Montana in it in addition to the regular swag that is typically provided by most races. They were also great in emailing out consistent and informative updates about the race.

I mapped out a 13.1 mile route here in Houston that started at Hermann Park and went through Rice University, University of Houston, and back, and had a great time running it with 3 friends from my running club as well as a couple of family members. We took it easy and enjoyed the scenery, snapping pics of interesting spots along the way. Glad to have been able to participate virtually and looking forward to getting back to running it live in Montana in 2022. 🙏🏽💯🏃

This was a virtual event created as a way to remember Tony Banovich, an awesome human being who served as Race Director for the Missoula Marathon and Executive Director of the nonprofit organization Run Wild Missoula. Tony was deeply dedicated to the running community, and his sudden passing left behind running shoes too big for anyone to fill.

It meant a lot for me to participate in this event because from the moment I had met Tony at the start of the BibRave campaign for the 2018 Missoula Marathon, he treated me like family. He communicated often with me and went out of his way to do things that made me feel completely welcome and appreciated as an important member of his team.

The virtual event consisted of running or walking 4.35 miles, which was the average daily distance of Tony's amazing 1,731 day run streak. It was a great way for me to set time aside to think of him and the example he set for all of us to follow.

Proceeds from the event benefitted nonprofit organization Run Wild Missoula and therefore support the Missoula running community which was such an important part of Tony's life. Registrants completing the challenge receive a commemorative pin embossed with the event logo, and nice memento of Tony and his legacy that will make a neat keepsake for many years to come.

For the last few months I've been participating in the Monthly Detours Program of the Texas Distance Challenge. The Monthly Detours feature custom 5k-10k virtual routes throughout the state. When the Detour location is announced each month, program directors publish a blog post describing it, its route, history, and nearby attractions. This has been not just a great way to add some motivation and variety into my running schedule, but also to learn about parts of the state I'm unfamiliar with and neat places to go and visit in hopefully the not too distant future.

For example, November's detour was Possum Kingdom Lake near Fort Worth. I had never heard of it before and learned all about it through the blog post published when it was announced to challenge participants.

The Possum Kingdom Detour challenge consisted of either running or walking 4.8 miles, which is the distance equivalent to Possum Kingdom's Johnson Peak Loop

When I completed that detour, I just went to the link provided by race directors and simply connected the results with my date, time, and distance from my Strava account, and a couple of weeks later received the challenge sticker and card from the race organizers. I have a neat collection already and it will continue to do so all the way through April 2021, when the challenge ends.

Besides the Monthly Detours, there are two other options you can choose from within the Texas Distance Challenge if you are interested in completing them either running or walking:

Solo Crossing: 814 individual miles
Team Crossing: 814 combined miles as a team

There are also options for cyclists to choose:
Solo Crossing: 814 individual miles
Team Crossing: 814 combined miles as a team
Solo Loop: 3,612 individual miles
Team Loop: 3,612 combined miles as a team

Regardless of which of these options appeals to you (or your friends), a neat feature of the program is that all miles can all be logged retroactively, meaning that any miles which you ran, walked, or cycled from July 1, 2020 can be counted towards your overall total in order to complete the challenge by April 30, 2021.

The swag you will receive first upon signup and then upon completion of the challenge is absolutely awesome and has been a nice incentive for me all along.

The California Coast 500 virtual challenge helped me have my strongest, highest mileage summer ever. I felt motivated and committed to keep cranking out the miles during our typical hot, sweltering summer here in Texas.

The challenge allowed participants to choose from a number of distances to run cumulative from June 8 until September 7: 100, 250, 400, and 500 miles. The miles would be virtually run on the Pacific Coast Highway on the California coast, from Santa Monica all the way to San Francisco.

All you had to do was log your miles manually at the event website or simply link up your Garmin/Polar/Suunto account to it and it would sync up automatically to it.

I opted for the 250 miles goal and that turned out to be perfect for me---challenging yet achievable. After having my strongest June ever with a 107 running miles, I was able to follow that up with another great month in July for a total of 110 miles. That then allowed me to recover a bit by lowering my weekly average mile some while staying active and not just shutting it down completely during the brutal August temps and humidity. It all felt very satisfying to do so.

The race website was great and had a super easy way to check your progress on an interface that would show your stats both on a table as well as on your virtual position along the California coast. The position of the runners in front and behind you would also be shown so that was a neat way to check how you were doing not just with your target mileage but others as well such as my fellow BibRave Pros who participated in the challenge.

However I believe that what I loved the most about the California Coast 500 were the weekly mini-challenges and accompanying digital badges. They were great for me because of the difference between them from week to week; I felt they kept things fresh and helped me have something new to look forward to each week. For example, I earned the POWER HOUR Shark badge (see photo) during one week by logging 60 minutes of running on July 16th, which also made me eligible to win a shoe & apparel package from @HOKAONEONE. I didn't end up winning the package, but it sure as heck motivated me to get those miles done, and ultimately that's what I truly wanted to do.

In all the years I've been running, not once had I logged 100 miles in a month during the summer. Not ONCE. I've thought about it and can only conclude that in the past I've just let the challenging heat and humidity during this time of the year get to me mentally and break my discipline. But this year, motivated primarily by this challenge, I was able to get past that mental block and put together those back-to-back months of over 100 miles each.

The swag was an AWESOME custom/handmade wooden medal as well as a great looking participant shirt, super soft and comfy and perfect for relaxing anywhere.

In conclusion, this was an outstanding virtual challenge to participate in and one that I'd gladly do again next summer.