Million Mile Challenge

The Garmin Kanas City Marathon – Million Mile Challenge

“Disclaimer: I received entry into the Garmin Kansas City Marathon (half) to review as part of being a BibRave Pro. Learn more about becoming a BibRave Pro (ambassador), and check out BibRave.com to review, find, and write race reviews!”

At the beginning of the year I thought I would hit 40 marathons (or longer distances) in my 40th year of life. It was the year I would take on the I-35 Challenge which would include two marathons in one weekend. The first marathon would have been the Garmin Kansas City Marathon.

The KC Marathon would have taken place on October 17th. While I have run another race in KC a few times, I have yet to run this race. I was excited for a new to me event.

After I registered the race was prompt with emails, then came a global pandemic. The emails kept coming and then the cancellation of the in person event.

Participants were given three options: 1) Join the Million Mile Challenge 2) Donate your race entry fee 3) Defer your entry. I opted for the Million Mile Challenge.

Originally the challenge would go through race day, but it has been extended through December 15th – So if you are looking for a virtual challenge you can still register, if you do so before October 4th you can get your name on the t-shirt!

After two virtual marathons earlier this year, I knew I didn’t have it in me to run two in one weekend, so I changed my entry to a half marathon.

What is the Million Mile Challenge? The idea is to collectively log 1,000,000 as a running community in training for the race. Participants will log their miles (tracker provided) and be entered to win prizes as milestones are achieved.

What is included in the Million Mile Challenge?

• A race-branded shirt
• Large finisher’s medal
• Commemorative race bib
• Digital finisher’s certificate
• Garmin Kansas City Marathon Million Mile Challenge finisher item
• The “Ultimate Kansas City Swag Bag” which will include special offers and items from local Kansas City companies including Garmin, T-Mobile, the Kansas City Royals, Sporting KC, Charlie Hustle, the National WWI Museum and Memorial and more to be announced!!  

*Special note that if you can not pick up your items at the drive thru finisher festival you need to pay to have the items shipped.

I started logging my miles at the end of August and as I write this have logged over 100 miles for the challenge. In fact one of the challenge benchmarks was hit – 100,000 miles and people who logged miles were eligible for the first prize – and I WON!!! I won an entry into the 2021 event, fingers crossed I will be able to attend. (Logging miles is simple, just follow a link and enter your name and bib number.)

I plan to run my half marathon on October 17th, I try to keep the virtual events the same as when they would have happened. I am not sure logging mileage has me prepped, but hey I know I will be able to accomplish this.

If you are looking for a mileage challenge, reminder the deadline has been extended through December 15th. https://www.sportkc.org/marathon/