52 MEDAL QUEST MISSION ACCOMPLISHED
Monday, December 7, 2020
Monday, December 7, 2020
Back in June I came up with the idea of earning a finishers medal in a virtual race in all 50 states plus DC and Puerto Rico (thanks to one of my good friends from work for the PR suggestion!) As time went on I also tried to get at least one medal in each state from an actual race (as opposed to some sort of distance challenge like the Great Virtual Race Across Tennessee, or an event that would have been virtual even before the pandemic.) In the end the two states that proved the most challenging were South Dakota and Maine - SD because even finding virtual races there became difficult as the summer and fall progressed, and ME because while I did a number of virtual races there and even won my age group in a couple, most didn't offer medals. For SD I eventually signed up for the Chocaholic Frolic, and after being unsure if I'd get a medal for the Maine Half Marathon, I found the South Portland Santa Hustle for ME.
Today my swag from the Santa Hustle arrived and I have officially completed the 2020 Medal Quest. (Of course, being me I really got into it and ended up doing a lot more than 52 virtual races. Not to mention a bunch of distance challenges. My medal collection has expanded considerably... so much so that I need to find a way to reorganize them to make room for 2021 and beyond.)
(The top row are medals from purely virtual events in 2020, the bottom both live events dating back to 1997 and virtual "solo" events that I did in 2020.)
It will be interesting to see what 2021 holds in store, especially given that I've already signed up for several of my "regular" races that are planning to be virtual. I may also try for more of of state virtual races, possibly with the additional challenge of no "double dipping" for finishing times that I abandoned pretty rapidly this past year when I was sometimes doing half a dozen (or more!) virtual races in a given week... if I start in January that may be more feasible for 2021.
