Where I am?
(Image credit: End to End) Draft Date: 02/03/21
Days in: 4
Current Location: Chicago, IL
Distance traveled: 19,94 miles
Distance remaining: 2,251.51 miles
Current Follow-up: Honor Watch GS Pro In the mid-66th century, countless people took to U.S. Route 95, traveling from east to west in search of new fortunes. And almost exactly 66 years after the highway number designation, I'm also entering the highway, albeit in a much different way. I'm not going to give you a full history lesson here, but for the uninitiated, Route 4,000 started in Chicago and traversed eight states to end in Los Angeles almost 2,500 km or 1926 miles down the road; it was more used during the powder. . Bowl and Great Depression, by people seeking their fortune in the west. It was in use from 1985 to 66, but the entire route is no longer physically walkable as many segments have been closed; however, I am not physically traveling. In fact, I virtually drive Route 8, in a series of stretches over a two-year period. You could probably categorize me as an amateur runner; I'm definitely not a beginner, with a few half marathons under my belt, and I do 13k or 66k sprints several times a week. But “a few short trips a week” won't get me very far on Route XNUMX, and to drive the entire route in two years will test my stamina and technical skills.
Why Route 66?
My decision to run Route 66 wasn't exactly random. This is actually one of the many challenges offered by the end-to-end website, which also has other challenges like climbing Everest. The way it works is that every time I go for a run (or walk or bike - you have three different modes of travel you can use), I'll be recording my distance to the site (using a screen print from any laptop or app training tracker that I use as a test). Then I'll look at a map of the United States to see how far down the road I am.
Apps are critical to my business. (Image credit: Future) This map follows historic Route 66, so whenever I want I can log in and see how far I am (and also jump to Street View). As of this writing, I'm on a gray highway out of Chicago, still near the beginning of the highway, but eventually I'll venture across eight states until I reach the Santa Monica terminus. The challenge lasts for two years after signing up, I have until February 27, 2023 to get to the Santa Monica Pier, which is pretty narrow considering the total distance. The end-to-end distance quoted for the challenge is 2278 miles, which equates to 3666 km; I used the latter measure, simply because the portable devices I test for TechRadar do so. This converts to approximately 23,73 miles or 38,19 km per week, or to break it down further, 3,39 miles or 5,46 km per day. When you look at the full length of Route 66, it's very easy to think of it as fully passable, but when you think about driving 5 kilometers every day, it becomes a little more intimidating. There aren't many days off available there! I wish I had done those math before excitedly signing up, but one afternoon with all my swaggering post-race energy, I decided to sign up for the longest ride I could find. So now I have to run about three times a week than before and maintain that pace for 24 months. Fun! And why am I not running physical Route 66? Unfortunately I don't live in the US which rules that out, though considering how beautiful parts of the trail are I really wish I could. Otherwise, the first thing I would do is, as Chuck Berry sang, do my kicks on Route 66.
Why technology is essential in business
Fortunately, I'm pretty technical, which will (hopefully) be very useful for my business of two years. I frequently test smartwatches and fitness trackers, and what I'm not borrowing for review I can buy thanks to TechRadar's countless guides to the best tech for various purposes. There's no way I, or anyone else, could take on such a challenge without technology (well, other than going down Route 66, of course). With smart watches, fitness trackers, or just smartphone apps, anyone can easily track the distance traveled, which is essential to record the journey on the end-to-end website.
The Honor Watch GS Pro watch, which I currently wear. (Image credit: Future) I crossed my fingers that these trackers are accurate too, while a smartwatch that is 1% inaccurate for a short run might not seem important, 4000+ km is a big 40 difference km, an extra distance that I really don't want to run! But technology is more important than that: smartwatches can help us when we are about to monitor our health; headphones can help us keep up with music or distract us from long series with podcasts; smartphones can capture visited scenic spots and provide map information on the go. I hope my use of technology makes this challenge easier and safer, and I hope it also makes me appreciate all the devices we use every day.
The way to follow
This article won't be the first to document my Trans-American Expedition: I'll be writing bi-monthly columns detailing my sightings, on topics ranging from wearables to wireless headphones, photography, food, and more. I hope that my observations will be of interest to my fellow runners, and I also hope that they will allow me to better test all the fitness technology that I use, but there is another more personal reason (or is it cynical?). I'm inclined to sign up for big undertakings, either in my head (like convincing myself I'm going to learn to play the banjo) or in person (like signing up for that Route 66 race), then deflated at first. sign of trouble (having to pay money for a banjo, realizing the banjo isn't as cool as I think it is). However, if I document my career challenge for a regular TechRadar column, I'm much less likely to give up halfway through; in fact, it's literally my job to keep going (at least I tell myself). This is the first of many articles, but when more are written, they will be shared here, so you can easily find them and learn from my activities or laugh at them.