Disclaimer: I received a free entry to Garmin Kansas City Marathon Million Mile Challenge to review as part of being a BibRave Pro. Learn more about becoming a BibRave Pro (ambassador), and check out BibRave.com to review find and write race reviews!
This would have been my 5th year running the Garmin Kansas City Marathon events — 4th time running the half marathon. And this year was going to be the last year of that amazing downhill finish…if you have run it, YOU KNOW!
The Garmin Kansas City Marathon cancelled their in-person event early in September but that didn’t stop me from running it VIRTUALLY.
Let’s dive in!
Kansas City Half Marathon | Race Recap
packet pick up + swag — Unlike other events, there were 2 opportunities to pick up my Kansas City Half Marathon swag — (1) in person on a specific weekend or (2) shipped anywhere.
I thought the in-person pick up was on Friday and Saturday, October 16th/17th (to which I went to the event space on Saturday) but found out it was only on Friday, October 16th. Since I missed the in-person event, I reached out to the RDs about the mixup and they were able to move my name to the “ship” list.
As with most virtual events, there is some pretty great swag to entice runners to participate. For anyone signing up after October 5th, their swag will be shipped in December once the challenge timeframe has expired :
- a race-branded shirt with all of the participants names (registered before October 4th)
- a large finisher’s medal
- a commemorative race bib
- digital finisher’s certificate
- a Garmin Kansas City Marathon Million Mile Challenge finisher item
- the “Ultimate Kansas City Swag Bag” which will include special offers and items from local Kansas City companies.
race day parking — Not necessary since I planned my route from my front door
the course + aid station + port-a-potty — I decided to utilize a rough 4-mile loop I have run/walked frequently. The plan was that I would run 3 loops and use my house as my aid station and port-a-potty.
my race
Being a virtual event, I had the ability to plan all the aspects of the event — the race day, start time, course design, aid station location, food/drink availability, bathroom stops, and post-race amenities.
I planned on running the virtual Kansas City Half Marathon the same weekend it was going to be in person — October 17th. But then I decided I was going to run the event before I went to KC for the packet pick-up, I changed my “race day” to Friday, October 16th so I could relax over the weekend.
I planned on starting EARLY in the day, but I didn’t end up getting out until nearly noon…but I made it work!
Loop 1 : The first loop of any looped course is always the most fun…you get to see the course and plot your attack of the event. For me, I knew I picked a course that was a little harder than easy-peasy… The distance from mile 1-2 is a big uphill section followed by downhill/flat course the remainder of the loop. Everything felt good with a walk/run plan and the sun started to shine.
Loop 2 : The second loop started well! I stopped by the house, grabbed my aid station food (banana + Gatorade Endurance gels) and drink (NOOMA) and hit the road. This loop started well but I could feel that my last loop was going to be tough. The sun was warming up the day and my first training cycle back after my RA diagnosis was showing its flaws…
Loop 3 : The sun came out and made this last loop hot and my legs weren’t having it. After a quick aid station stop to grab more gels, another NOOMA, and a Run Gum I called my hubs. I had a passing thought about my favorite ZL Smoothie drink (Strawberry Limeade) and within a second I was texting him to see if he could have one waiting for me when I finished my event. The big hill hit me a little harder and the downhills didn’t feel great either. My training plan was set up to just finish the miles which I was going to do!
Million Mile Challenge
Since the Kansa City Marathon weekend of events was called off, the KCM team wanted to create an event where participants had the opportunity to continue with their training and exercise miles and contribute to a larger goal. From August 24th thru December 15th, participants are able to log their daily steps in the form of miles to contribute to the goal of ONE MILLION MILES!
Of course there is some incentive to signing up for this adventure...
swag swag swag
In addition to these awesome items all registrants in the Million Mile Challenge will receive (seen above), there will be random drawings for additional swag as the miles are tabulated daily!
100,000 miles: 100 free entries into the 2021 Garmin Kansas City Marathon (any distance)COMPLETED!250,000 miles: 250 premium Garmin water bottlesCOMPLETED!500,000 miles: 500 T-Mobile cell phone armbandsCOMPLETED!600,000 miles: 3 lucky participants will win $600 CASH courtesy of Missouri LotteryCOMPLETED!- 750,000 miles: 750 Sporting Kansas City 2020 jersey bags
- 1 MILLION MILES: Heartland Coca-Cola Bottling Company will make a sizable donation to the Kansas City Sports Commission & Foundation, the non-profit organization that organizes the Garmin Kansas City Marathon.
REGISTER
TRACK YOUR MILES
my miles (so far)
I have already started entering my miles week to week, but I just wanted to see a total breakdown thus far.
2,000 STEPS = 1 MILE
10,000 STEPS = 5 MILES
week 1 (Aug 24) 75,159 steps
week 2 (Aug 31) 81,092
week 3 (Sept 7) 53,776
week 4 (Sept 14) 74,351
week 5 (Sept 21) 77,991
week 6 (Sept 28) 61,442
week 7 (Oct 5) 51,894
TOTAL (week 1-7) = 475,705 steps / 2,000 = 237 miles
week 8 (Oct 12) 57,286 steps
week 9 (Oct 19) 35,436
week 10 (Oct 26) 37,989
week 11 (Nov 2) 80,808
week 12 (Nov 9) 65,909
week 13 (Nov 16) 46,517
week 14 (Nov 23) 67,559
week 15 (Nov 30) 63,811
week 16 (Dec 7-10) 53,843 (to be continued until December 15)
TOTAL (week 8-16) = 509,158 steps / 2,000 = 254 miles
So far, I have logged a total of 491 miles into the Million Mile Challenge Distance Tracker! I will have a few more to add in the next couple days to week 16 — so we’ll see how close we get to the cumulative million miles!
Sign up for the Million Mile Challenge NOW and add up your steps from August 24th until December 15th!
What are you waiting for?
Go sign up for the Million Mile Challenge and start logging your miles!
How do you stay motivated?
Would an event like the Million Mile Challenge keep you motivated to keep moving?
I’d love to hear from you! Leave a comment and start a conversation!
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