6 Mile July

I survived the last week of work before summer break. Usually this is a happy, exciting time, but in light of layoffs it was probably one of the hardest weeks ever. There was a lot of anger, frustration, and tears. Despite all this, it is behind me; those last four days dragged out and felt like months.

As I move into my summer schedule, which offers me a lot more freedom, I have decided to take on a challenge. Normally my summer includes a trip where I do something crazy, like learn to whitewater kayak in a week (thank you First Descents!). In light of the uncertainty of my job, I backed out of my preplanned adventure, so I've been seeking some sort of challenge to take my trip's place. While it's not nearly as exciting, I have come up with a plan that is less financially consuming but may prove to be quite time consuming.

At the beginning of May, I wrote about Earndit.com. I found out about the site through facebook's creepy targeted advertisements. Earndit popped up on the side of my homepage and told me I should participate. I clicked on the link partly because the concept sounded interesting, and also because the little illustration of an orange hamster on it's wheel was particularly cute.

Earndit has proved to be as addictive as facebook, I run with my Nike+ and then upload my run to the Nike site, which automatically links to Earndit. Earndit awards a point for every .1 mile ran/walked, maxing out at 60 points (6 miles) a day. I log on to Earndit after every run and check out my rankings. In the last three weeks, I've progressed from being ranked at about 175 for all-time points to breaking into the top 100.

Each month, Earndit profiles the top point earner of the month. To win this title, I need to log 6 miles a day, every day in July. Yes, I know, this sounds crazy. However, I can combine running and walking, so knowing that, I think it's a doable challenge.

You heard it here first, I will be the top earner on Earndit for July. It may not be quite as cool as running class III rapids on in Washington State, but I'm up for the challenge.

Hope, Love, Run,
-Marathon Girl