My virtual run across America, and a business idea.

[Rain Man]

So I'm getting over my little knee problem and have started running again, and I thought it'd be cool to plot my progress on a map of the U.S., running across the country. I've always thought it would be cool to walk across the U.S., but I can't figure out how to get my work done in that scenario, so this is my fallback.

And then I thought, "Hmm, this is a pretty good idea for a website. If I started a website, could I get enough people to sell some advertising and stuff and maybe make some money?"

So I went out looking to see if it's already out there. The concept isn't overly innovative, so I see a fair amount of sites out there that talk about it, but they all seem to be pretty lame. Here's a map, print it, color in your progress with a crayon kind of stuff.

What I'd like is a web site where you plot your progress and then see a google maps street view of your location, and then a virtual tour of towns that you walk through, and an atlas so you can pick your route as you go, and an interactive map so you can plot your route. That doesn't exist.

Is there money in this? What's the revenue model? Any web designers out there who would want to collaborate on this?

In my 15 minutes of looking, I found one web site that's actually kind of close, though it's still basic. http://exercise.lbl.gov/index.html is a federal government site, and they do the street view pictures, which is pretty cool, and the online log. However, they only give you one route, an inexplicable Yorktown, Virginia, to Florence, Oregon, route, and you can't vary from that. Also, you don't get local information along your route as far as I can tell.

I signed up for it, though, since it's the best option out there, and am now 11 miles into my journey. I've left Yorktown and am now on this nice road about 2 miles from Williamsburg. Anyone else want to wander along?

[Rain Man]

Originally Posted by truebigdog

Hit the 1,000 mile mark this morning (I know it's not a "state line" but I would have never thought I would do 1,000 miles in a year, let alone in nine months).
Should hit Illinois by the end of next month.

Awesome. Congrats! Illinois is nice because it goes really quick and you get to cross the river at the end.


I'm still cruising along, currently at 2,375 miles just outside Dillon, Colorado, headed toward Wyoming.

[Old Dog]

Crossed into Illinois after four miles this afternoon.

[ziggysocki]

I am terrible at doing repetitive things like logging miles, but I have run a lot since this thread started. According to my garmin connect stats I am around 1460 miles since this thread started. I have done a few miles where I forgot my forerunner or the battery died.. but that is pretty close. I have also run several trail races this year (and a road marathon) April - 100K Trail Ultra, June - 50K Trail Ultra, September 11 - Road Marathon 26.2 mi, September 23 - 50K Trail Ultra. I am doing another 50K Trail Ultra Saturday and the last one for the year will be a 50K Trail Ultra on Nov 6. So I think this is a good year for me, race wise... Next years goal will be to get the courage to sign up and finish a big scary 100 miler.

[Rain Man]

Originally Posted by Old Dog

Crossed into Illinois after four miles this afternoon.

Kentucky is a long one, isn't it? It seemed like it took me forever to get across Kentucky, though in fairness that was when I'd hurt my knee and wasn't getting many miles in for a while.

[Rain Man]

Originally Posted by ziggysocki

I am terrible at doing repetitive things like logging miles, but I have run a lot since this thread started. According to my garmin connect stats I am around 1460 miles since this thread started. I have done a few miles where I forgot my forerunner or the battery died.. but that is pretty close. I have also run several trail races this year (and a road marathon) April - 100K Trail Ultra, June - 50K Trail Ultra, September 11 - Road Marathon 26.2 mi, September 23 - 50K Trail Ultra. I am doing another 50K Trail Ultra Saturday and the last one for the year will be a 50K Trail Ultra on Nov 6. So I think this is a good year for me, race wise... Next years goal will be to get the courage to sign up and finish a big scary 100 miler.

I still don't have the discipline I need to do a full marathon, much less anything longer. I want to, though, so maybe I should get more strict about my diet and stuff.

I just did my 28th 10+ mile race a couple of weekends, ago, though. I think I'm at 22 half-marathons (+/- 0.2 miles) 2 10-milers, and 4 that are 14 to 16 miles.

[ziggysocki]

Originally Posted by Rain Man

I still don't have the discipline I need to do a full marathon, much less anything longer. I want to, though, so maybe I should get more strict about my diet and stuff.

I just did my 28th 10+ mile race a couple of weekends, ago, though. I think I'm at 22 half-marathons (+/- 0.2 miles) 2 10-milers, and 4 that are 14 to 16 miles.

That is a lot of half marathons! Especially at altitude such as yours. The 100k in april was extremely challenging, but I was very surprised how mentally exhausting it was. You expect to be physically wiped after 12+ hours of running, but staring at the ground, watching every footfall to avoid tripping or stumbling... deciding which hills to walk, calculating distance and pace to the next checkpoint... That was tough. I was truly exhausted after that, physically and mentally. But to know that I had just moved my body over 62 miles of wooded trails under its own power was an amazing feeling of accomplishment. Even if standing and walking was painful for 10 days afterward!

[patteeu]

I can't decide whether I think you guys are really amazing or reeruned. All that running is quite an accomplishment.

[ziggysocki]

<-- Amazingly reeruned.

[Old Dog]

<--- Leads a really boring existence and has no better way to kill an hour a day than running and working out

[ziggysocki]

Originally Posted by Old Dog

<--- Leads a really boring existence and has no better way to kill an hour a day than running and working out

There in nothing boring about stepping forward with your right foot, followed by your left foot, and then repeating anywhere from 1-10 hours...... oh, well, when you put it like that...

[Rain Man]

The more I think about it, running really is kind of a dumb hobby.

"What do you do for fun?"

"I run."

"Where?"

"Just around in circles for the most part."

[Old Dog]

Crossed the Illinois/Missouri border after 4 miles yesterday morning. That gives me 1,217 miles so far this year.

[Rain Man]

Cool. Across the bridge.

I hit 2,600 miles last night. I'm just north of Rawlins, Wyoming. Pretty quiet around here.

[Rain Man]

Okay, today marks the end of my second year of doing this. I'm currently at 2,722.3 miles, which is averaging 3.7 miles per day every day - 7 days a week, 52 weeks a year.

At this pace I'm barely on pace to reach the coast before my three-year anniversary, so my goal for 2012 is to make the coast by December 26, 2012 or before the world is destroyed.

I'm currently slightly more than halfway across Wyoming, headed toward Yellowstone National Park and Montana.

[-King-]

Originally Posted by Rain Man

Okay, today marks the end of my second year of doing this. I'm currently at 2,722.3 miles, which is averaging 3.7 miles per day every day - 7 days a week, 52 weeks a year.

At this pace I'm barely on pace to reach the coast before my three-year anniversary, so my goal for 2012 is to make the coast by December 26, 2012 or before the world is destroyed.

I'm currently slightly more than halfway across Wyoming, headed toward Yellowstone National Park and Montana.

Is there a reason you started on the east coast?