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You are here: Home / Adventures / Think You Can You Beat Me? An Open Challenge

Think You Can You Beat Me? An Open Challenge

August 23, 2011 By Joel Runyon 19 Comments

Not Me

I had a really fun time racing with with Johnny at the Sylvania Triathlon last week. It was a lot of fun to not only do the race, but do it with someone, and then be able to hang out with them afterwards and talk for a bit. It was a really good time. There’s a seeming under-representation of bloggers in the Midwest and it was pretty fun to hang out with someone like Johnny and share an experience with.

I’ve been thinking lately that between now and my Half Ironman (am I really signed up for that?), I have quite a few weekends free. I’m going to have to be training for them anyways and weekends are always a more intense training day.  So, I figured I can either go out and do the distances, get it done and fight through doing it, or I could make it into an experimental challenge and have a little fun with it.

So I decided to have a little fun with it:

The Challenge

Come race me.

Go to the sidebar. Find one of the races I’m doing. Sign up for it. Show up and come race me.

Think I’m too far away? Or, the races I’m signed up for are too far away?

I’ll race you.

Pick a race. I’ll come race you in it. I have a few weekends where I’m not doing a race. I’m willing to go somewhere and race you.

The Rules

  1. You have to do it (Otherwise, what’s the fun?)
  2. The race must be on a weekend (who races on a Tuesday?).
  3. The race must be a half marathon or shorter (I’m not running a marathon for a while).
  4. I can’t be already doing a race that weekend (I’m still learning to teleport). You can find my current race schedule at the bottom right of the sidebar –>
  5. The race needs to be within 6 hours of my current location (Milwaukee/Chicago area).
  6. The race costs less than $80
  7. You let me crash on your couch, floor, spare bed, hammock, futon, front lawn etc.
  8. There re no rules. If you have an awesome idea and are moderately persuasive, you can probably convince me to do it.
FAQ

Why are you doing this?

I think it will be fun :).

I’m really fast. Do you think you can beat me?

Probably not. I’m not super fast, and this is more about having fun than racing, but we can make it whatever you want.

Why 6 hours Hours?

Any drive longer is probably a little excessive. Any shorter would make it hard for anyone to challenge me. I generally like driving and after 16 hour days driving across America, 6 hours seems like cake. That said, shorter distances are obviously given preference, but if you’ve got a great race and are really awesome, and incredibly persuasive, I might be willing to drive 6 hours or farther if needed. I have a few good podcasts I need to catch up on anyways.

I want to race you in Jamaica, but that’s more than 6 hours away. If I buy you a plane ticket, will you come?

Absolutely. When’s the flight?

What’s the catch?

I get to say no to anything I don’t want to do :). But I like saying yes, so that probably won’t happen much. I just need to be careful about not getting hurt and jeopardizing my other races for the year.

Are There Any Exceptions To The Rules?

There are always exceptions. Especially if you have something particularly awesome in mind. Let me know what you’re thinking. I always make exceptions for awesome.

What if you don’t have any takers?

Then you’re all scared :). This is an experiment. I have no idea if this will get tons of responses or zero response. But I’m curious, I want to try it and I’m willing to look stupid.

So…want to race? If you’re up for it, get with me on this form –> Let’s see what happens.🙂

***
UPDATE: In the “duh” moment of the day. I originally forgot to include where I currently am. I’m in the Milwaukee/Chicago area.

***

This is just one of a lot of different things I’m going to be experimenting with this fall. I’m looking to make the blog more expansive & interactive with new information, features & tools. This is just the beginning.

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Filed Under: Adventures, Fitness, The Impossible, Updates Tagged With: Awesome, exceptions for awesome, Racing, racing readers, readers

About Joel Runyon

I started IMPOSSIBLE to push myself to try to live a life worth writing about by pushing my limits, living an adventure & telling a great story by doing the impossible. You can get free updates in your inbox via your new favorite newsletter, free fitness training tutorials, and see all my businesses at Impossible X and our philanthropic efforts at Impossible.org

Comments

  1. Kohan Ikin says

    August 23, 2011 at 10:33 am

    Damn, here I was thinking I’d found a loophole in your 6 Hour rule, but you already mentioned your inability to teleport 🙁 Awesome experiment though, looking forward to hearing how it goes!

    Reply
    • Joel Runyon says

      August 23, 2011 at 1:57 pm

      If you’ve got some technology that I don’t know about…let me know!

      Reply
  2. Mike Tiojanco says

    August 23, 2011 at 11:01 am

    I’ll be at Warrior Dash in Twin Lakes – what heat are you in?

    Reply
    • Joel Runyon says

      August 23, 2011 at 1:57 pm

      We’re on Sunday. 8:30 maybe? What about you?

      Reply
      • Mike Tiojanco says

        August 24, 2011 at 12:58 am

        Sunday, but post-church. I don’t think we’re on till 130.

        Reply
        • Joel Runyon says

          August 29, 2011 at 11:50 pm

          Maybe we’ll see you there!

          Reply
  3. Josh says

    August 23, 2011 at 12:38 pm

    Your 6 hour rule sucks! I’m doing my first triathlon on October 9th and it’s a pretty short one – don’t worry I’d still destroy you on the run!!

    If you’re brave enough to break your own rule you should get to Bournemouth, UK and check out my beautiful student acccommodation. That, and lose to a beginner at a triathlon! 😀

    Reply
    • Joel Runyon says

      August 23, 2011 at 2:02 pm

      How long are those UK plane tickets lately? BRING IT.

      Reply
  4. Danielle Sigman says

    August 23, 2011 at 1:47 pm

    Ok, maybe a silly question but I just started following your blog…. where are you located??? I’m trying to get a big group of people together to go to this epic race http://runforyourlives.com/ but I live in vegas so it may or may not happen. Other than that there is the rock n roll marathon and 1/2 in december in vegas if you want a vegas vacation! That’s where I live and I have a spare room to crash! Good luck on your challenge!

    Reply
    • Joel Runyon says

      August 23, 2011 at 1:56 pm

      Not a silly question. I have it in my sidebar, but I’m guessing most people don’t look there.

      I’m currently in the Milwaukee/Chicago area. Vegas is very cool though. We stopped for my first time on the road trip and had a blast.

      Reply
  5. Dawn Heckman says

    August 23, 2011 at 11:42 pm

    September 24 – Fort 4 Fitness 10K in Ft. Wayne.

    Reply
    • Joel Runyon says

      August 29, 2011 at 11:50 pm

      Sign up on the link!

      Reply
  6. Mike says

    August 24, 2011 at 7:01 pm

    Damn dude. That’s a tempting offer. Next time I’m in the Midwest it’s on yo.

    Reply
    • Joel Runyon says

      August 29, 2011 at 11:50 pm

      Come back through 🙂 DARE Ya *PARKOUR*

      Reply
  7. Katie Pretzel says

    August 25, 2011 at 9:47 am

    Hey!
    we’re getting a team of people together to run the Monster Dash. if you’re free and want to join us we’d love to have you!

    http://monsterdash.org/splash.html

    Let me know!
    kp

    Reply
    • Joel Runyon says

      August 29, 2011 at 11:51 pm

      That’s the same weekend as my half ironman – otherwise I totally would! Shoots. Next time 🙂

      Reply
      • katie says

        August 30, 2011 at 5:47 am

        i suppose that’s a good excuse! good luck in your half iron!

        Reply
  8. running around says

    January 3, 2012 at 6:55 am

    still running???

    Reply
    • Joel Runyon says

      January 3, 2012 at 7:31 am

      depends who’s asking 🙂

      Reply

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