Early sunsets, frost as well as too comfortable sofas and ingels are very likely to mess up or running-rhythm. Even running professionals such as running-coaches and ultra-runners struggle with motivation. Especially, when it's cold outside! To combat this issue, the Advent Running Challenge was made alive by Claudia Schroegel and James Poole.
Claudia and James came up with the idea to encourage runners to keep up their spirit and go for a daily run during Advent Season. No matter how cold, nasty or grey the weather is. This year is the first time that this challenge is open for public. Around 500 people are already taking part (according to The Guardian) and although it is already December 10th, it is definitely not too late to start. As we all know, it is never too late!
Concept and aim are very simple: Lace up your running shoes every day between the 1st and 25th of December and run for a minimum of 30 minutes per day. After Christmas Day you can either carry on for the rest of the month or take a well-earned break. There is no required pace or distance to be run. Just find some time and do it.
In our opinion, this is a very lovely idea not only to fight the Thanksgiving and Christmas pounds but also to create an international community of "advent runners". Besides that, prizes and rewards can be won by all participants:
"... we will be awarding a daily spot prize for the best photo, video or written description of the day's run shared by you on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter."
Next to the prizes, events are being organized on a regular basis in order to bring participants together. As you can see, this challenge is about more than just running.
Now, you may ask yourself: "How can I get involved?" It is as simple as the challenge itself:
Take your running shoes and a watch, scribble down times on a piece of paper and stick update your list on a daily basis already counts.
In order to enter for one of the prize-giving you need to take part on social media. If you are one of the competitive ones, there is also an AdventRunning group on Strava so that you can compare your performance with others.
As a matter of course, you won't come across frosty weather during our Kenya Wildlife Marathon. Nonetheless, this amazing idea is definitely worth to be feautred in our blog and we hope that some of you out there will take part in this unique challenge.
Please feel free to leave your pictures or other impressions of your Advent Runs in the comment-section below. We are very excited to hear from you.