UPDATED SEPT 29TH, 2025: I cannot participate in the Houston Marathon for January 2026, though that was a goal I wanted so badly to meet. I am unable to fundraise due to personal financial hardship and pounding the pavement looking for jobs for weeks and months on end has really hurt my efforts in health and running in general.

Had my fortunes been better, I would LOVE to participate… but I have something else going on. I remembered thinking about creative ways to inspire me to run or bike years ago and the concept of the virtual run appealed to me.

I didn’t get very far, but since I’m in MUCH better physical shape than I was a decade ago when I started (even if the tire around my middle would call me a liar), I figured I’d do it.

Starting Oct 1st, 2025, I’m going to log the miles I generate over the course of a year. The Goal: 880 miles across Texas using Interstate-10 as my path. Starting at the New Mexico-Texas border & swooping on past Orange to Louisiana… yeah, that’s 880 miles, give or take a few.

Divide that by 365 days… I think it’s VERY doable, especially when I allowed myself some leeway.

My initial plan was to do real terrain ONLY: jogging tracks, asphalt, sidewalks, park paths, etc. And that was all well and good until I remembered how the weather and my schedule will impact things (tend to get rainy late falls and early winter around here). That would slow me down badly.

However, my elliptical trainer is FAR easier on my joints and stamina than real terrain this early in my training, so I decided that any mileage I did on it would only count as half. So if I did 3.6 miles on it, I was only going to count 1.8 for my day. That would prompt me to do more real terrain miles for one, and push me to go farther in general. And I can walk-jog-run in nearly any weather condition. My goal IS to do as much real terrain running as possible.

Maybe you fine folks wouldn’t mind joining me… might lead to something funny as hell (or just plain fun, fielder’s choice).