Jack Alexander from Leipers Fork, Tennessee, USA has finished the Camino for Good Virtual Camino!
Jack ran the 480 miles along the Virtual Camino within 4 months. What an accomplishment!
Read what Jack had to say about his experience:
When the COVID pandemic brought everyone’s usual routines to a halt, it provided a great opportunity for me to start increasing my running mileage since it was one of the few activities that did not require interacting with others. As the spring moved to summer, my mileage had increased but each run was starting to seem like every other run. So when I heard about the Camino for Good project, I was all in. Not only did it provide a focus for my runs, it allowed me to feel like my solitary runs were actually helping someone else in a small way. We are so fortunate in this country and often take the advantages we experience for granted.
I started using the Camino for Good app the first day it was available. After a few questions to figure out how it was supposed to work, it was a breeze and one of my favorite elements was the ability to track progress on my own time table. My goal when I started the virtual walk was to try and cover about 30 miles a week. I tracked my miles with my Garmin and then I could go in and post the daily miles at one time. Sometimes I would spend time on the app going through the pictures and absorbing the beauty of the different locations and sometimes I was just in a hurry to get to the next virtual village.
The virtual trip did bring on some of the same challenges of any endurance activity. Starting in August, the heat certainly slowed me down a bit but as I like the summer weather, it certainly made it more fun for me than doing it in the winter. And as so many others have experienced, there were a few weeks during the course of the virtual trip that I had to reduce my goals to keep injuries from sidelining the trip.
The Camino for Good was a great experience for me. It kept me accountable on my weekly mileage and especially motivated me to keep going as I got closer to the end. I really like the maps where you can see where you are in the country and where others are on their own journeys. I think it would be fun to do again and spend more time learning about the locations that I virtually visit. As someone who hasn’t been out of the country, this was the next best thing.
Congratulations, Jack! We’re so happy the Virtual Camino could help you achieve your running goals and provide you an escape during 2020.
Buen Camino!
You can hear from another finisher, Betty Sanders, here.
