February 7, 2022 | 0

As some of you may or may not know, there has been a 31-day challenge taking place the last four Januarys. It’s really simple and boils down to walking or running at least one mile outside for each day of the month. Ann Ringlein approached me on this idea in late 2018, for an idea to encourage and motivate the community to be outside and active. The end result was the “Lincoln, Launch Your Toughness” challenge sponsored by the Lincoln Running Company.

Ann gave me a lot of leeway to design the contest, and rules have pretty much been the same each year:  one raffle entry for each day the person runs/walks at least one mile outside, and a bonus raffle entry if the challenge was met each day of the reporting week (reporting periods vary between 4 and 5 weeks each year). The Lincoln Running Company sponsored a weekly drawing for a pair of Brooks Launch shoes, as well as various other prizes like socks, hats, water bottles, running journals, etc.

Since I’ve been the gatekeeper of the challenge, I have the benefit of all the data, and I wanted to take a moment and share that with you all:

• 2019 – 494 participants, 26,817.37 miles (70.95 miles per person); 61 participants who met the challenge (12.4%).
• 2020 – 519 participants, 33,242.53 miles (64.03 miles per person); 195 participants who met the challenge (37.6%).
• 2021 – 491 participants, 40,880.47 miles (83.26 miles per person); 238 participants who met the challenge (48.5%).
• 2022 – 575 participants, 41,993.64 miles (73.03 miles per person); 312 participants who met the challenge (54.3%).

I would love for January 2023 to have twice the participants, but it’s fun to see the increasing total mileage AND higher percentage of people completing the challenge. Of course every year is different depending on the weather! This year, it snowed in early January, but the month finished on a high note with temperatures in the 50’s.

Thank you to everyone who participated in our 2022 version of the challenge, and I hope you all mark your calendars to participate next year.

Happy Running!

Logan Watley