10 min readWhen famous essayist Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, “It’s not the destination, it’s the journey,” he probably wasn’t talking about your running goals. But he should have been.
While there’s a fantastic payoff waiting at the end of any running plan (hello new PRs!), who’s to say the training can’t be just as rewarding? Virtual running challenges allow you to adventure through places you may have never been—or those that may not even exist outside of your TV screen—all without straying from the prescribed workouts in your plan.
“Goal-setting is a really important motivation technique that we use in sports psychology,” says S.H. Moon, Psy.D., associate director of behavioral health and sport psychology services for student-athletes at the University of Oregon. “Anything that helps you reach a goal, those little steps that you take, they build confidence.”
Regardless if you’re signing up for the virtual challenges below to earn cool prizes or you just enjoy running and want a creative way to get in a workout, let them serve as motivating, confidence-building steps that get you out the door and logging miles as you continue on your training journey.
The Benefits of Signing Up for a Virtual Challenge
Moon explains that virtual challenges, like the ones below, use both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation to inspire runners. Intrinsic motivation refers to the drive to participate in something that is inherently satisfying to you; extrinsic motivation is the pursuit of a goal because of an outside factor like a monetary prize. “Oftentimes both [types] appear in anything we do,” says Moon. “But what research shows is that if you want longer-lasting effects and to promote more dedication and persistence in working toward the goal, intrinsic motivation will help you do that more so than extrinsic motivation.”
In addition to helping you set goals, using these challenges as a means to getting out and running consistently helps you lead a healthy lifestyle. “Any time we invest in our physical health, there is an opportunity to increase confidence, mood, and improve depression and anxiety,” says Moon. “There are so many mental health benefits of setting that goal to consistently go out there and run.”
These four challenges serve as a stepping stone to get you moving regularly, giving you something fun to focus on for a few weeks, or providing long-term engagement as you work toward a larger goal.
1. Zombies, Run!
This original series of challenges, co-created by novelist Naomi Alderman, offers objectives and obstacles centered around rebuilding a survivor’s community in a zombie apocalypse.
What It Is
This challenge is geared toward casual runners looking for some excitement in their daily runs, complete with an audio-guided track.
Each track, called a mission, describes a series of events that depict you—as a character in the story—collecting materials and building a virtual apocalypse survival base as you make your way through your regular running route. Missions are grouped into seasons, much like a TV show, with new missions and fresh storylines released regularly.
How to Participate
Each mission is housed and logged in the ZRX: Zombies Run app. The missions consist of time-based goals, so there’s no mileage target to hit. Also, if you toggle the zombie chases option in the app, you will encounter groups of zombies at points in each mission that force you to run faster! Be careful though, if you (virtually) get caught, you’ll lose all of the supplies you’ve collected to that point in your mission.
For example, the mission entitled “Fuel Run” tells a story that describes you running to pick up and return fuel to your base. Midway through the mission, the narrator tells you that there is a pack of zombies on your trail and instructs you to speed up! At that point, the GPS function in the app tracks your speed and you can run away from danger and escape with your collected fuel.
Additionally, the app connects to your favorite music-streaming platforms and plays your selected playlists in the background of each mission.
Try it out for free, or subscribe to experience the full 500-plus mission library. You’ll never be short of adventures!
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The Payoff
Running becomes a game! Your workouts are no longer just you by yourself; they’re intertwined in a story of survival. Taking this step into a virtual story designed specifically for runners may be exactly what you need to enjoy putting in daily miles.
2. Cities of Europe
New runners seeking a unique running experience to help log miles should look no further than this Cities of Europe challenge collection. The street view feature in The Conqueror’s mobile app (where you join the challenge) allows you to virtually view the famous sights of London, Paris, and Rome—all from the comfort of your everyday exercise route.
What It Is
Each one of the three challenges in the Cities of Europe bundle is a mileage objective of 75 miles or less. Each mile you log in real life progresses you virtually down the streets of three of the most iconic European cities. In total, it will take you less than 150 miles to adventure through all three places.
- London: 75 miles
- Paris: 33 miles
- Rome: 34 miles
How to Participate
→Select Your Challenge: Download The Conqueror’s mobile app, and pick which city you’d like to start in. Bundling the three challenges costs $77, a savings of about 20 percent over purchasing each one individually at $33.
You can also opt to complete each challenge with a group of friends. Each person must purchase each challenge separately and then link together using the mobile app. That way, every mile recorded in the group goes toward the same mileage goal. Don’t worry, everyone gets every reward too!
→Set Your Goal: The Conqueror allows each participant to set a time goal to complete each challenge, anywhere from one day to 24 months. (You can always adjust this timing in the app.)
→Start Running: Once you’ve selected which city to start in and you’ve set your time goal, you’re ready to get out there! The Conqueror’s mobile app allows you to sync logged workouts completed in Strava, MapMyRun, Runkeeper, and Apple Health to your challenge.
The Payoff
Every completed challenge comes with a physical medal (mailed to you upon completion!), intricately designed with a theme that matches the corresponding city.
During your trek, you can use the Conqueror app’s street view and virtually follow your progress past landmarks like The London Eye, Windsor Castle, and The Coliseum. You will also unlock virtual postcards along each route that give history lessons and provide fun facts based on where you are virtually located in each city.
3. The Lord of the Rings
If you’re a fan of the award-winning fantasy trilogy, The Conqueror’s Lord of the Rings-themed virtual challenge is for you! Even if you’re not familiar with the epic tale, the medals and the ability to sync the challenge with your favorite workout apps are great reasons to sign up.
What It Is
Make your way through Middle Earth in this mileage-based set of challenges that mirrors the journeys of the protagonists in the Lord of the Rings film trilogy. As you rack up your miles in real life, you can track your progress along two epic journeys portrayed in the films.
The first path, “From Shire to Mordor,” consists of five objectives that follow the path of Frodo as he takes the One Ring from the Shire all the way to Mordor.
- The Shire: 148 miles
- The Fellowship: minimum of 98 miles
- The Mines of Moria: 40 miles
- The Eye of Sauron: minimum of 95 miles
- Mordor: 282 miles
The second path, “The Return of the King” bundle, follows Aragorn as he unites the men of Middle Earth and assumes his rightful place on the throne as the King of Gondor.
- Rohan: minimum of 80 miles
- Helm’s Deep: minimum of 100 miles
- Gondor: minimum of 70 miles
How to Participate
→Select Your Challenge: Download The Conqueror’s mobile app, decide which path you want to do, and purchase your challenge. If you purchase all eight challenges in one bundle it’s $300 (and also includes a LOTR-themed hanger to display all eight finisher medals), or opt for discounts by purchasing each path separately ($200 for The Shire to Mordor and $127 for The Return of the King). You can also buy each challenge individually (from $50).
Additionally, you can tackle this set of themed goals all by yourself or join together and conquer the challenges with a group of real-life friends by sharing each virtual mileage goal. Every person in your group must purchase each challenge separately and then opt to connect with each other through the mobile app.
→Set Your Goal: Before you start each challenge, you’ll select a target time frame in which you hope to complete each challenge—any time from one day up to 24 months. (You can always adjust this timing in the app.)
→Start Running: Now that you’ve got your challenge and you’ve set your goal, you’re ready to run! The Conqueror’s mobile app allows you to sync any logged workouts done in Strava, MapMyRun, Runkeeper, and Apple Health to your challenge.
Each mile you run, walk, or even cycle (for those of you who cross-train) you progress further along the challenge you’ve chosen. Once you accumulate the mileage goal for each challenge, you earn the accompanying reward and can move onto the next one.
The Payoff
For each challenge you check off, you get a medal mailed to you. The medals display familiar visuals from the films, relating to each objective you complete. Along the way, participants unlock virtual postcards and stories that, for those unfamiliar with the films, highlight pivotal points in time for the characters.
In addition to offering flashy tangible prizes, this set of challenges also allows you to dive headfirst into an epic story by recreating the journeys of the characters all while doing anything from going for coffee to training for a marathon.
4. The Oregon Trail
Not a fan of magical mystery and fantasy lands? That’s okay. The Oregon Trail, from Pacer Virtual Challenges, is rooted in real-life history.
What It Is
Unlike the previous series of challenges, the Oregon Trail objective is one singular 1,982-mile quest that takes participants through one of the most famous treks in the United States.
You’ll virtually begin in Kansas City, Missouri and finish in Portland, Oregon, mirroring a path originally laid in the mid 19th century by fur traders and later used as a migration trail from the Mississippi River valley to farmland west of the Rocky Mountains.
This challenge is reserved for those prepared to put in serious mileage!
How to Participate
→Select Your Challenge: A one-time purchase of $38 is all you’ll need to sign up for this challenge. Once you sign up, make sure to download the Pacer virtual challenge app to sync your workouts and track your progress.
→Set Your Goal: Once you sign up, you then choose a target completion date. According to Pacer’s website, there is no time limit on completing this challenge, although customer reviews say it has taken over a year to complete.
→Start Running: Now, you’re ready to hit the (virtual) trail! Log your distance-based running, walking, or cycling activities directly through Pacer’s app and follow your progress along the map. You can also sync your workouts from select exercise apps, like Garmin, Fitbit, and Apple Health, to Pacer’s mobile app.
Try expanding your activity beyond just your workouts. Log your walk from your apartment to your favorite coffee shop in the morning or even your path through the supermarket while grocery shopping. Every step counts toward the final goal!
In addition to tracking your progress along the virtual trail, Pacer allows runners to view their standing among other runners embarking on the same challenge via their global leaderboard feature.
The Payoff
Finishers of this impressive challenge receive a physical medal, along with a showcase box to display your prize, and an e-certificate highlighting their impressive accomplishment. Through the journey, participants unlock various digital postcards that provide lessons on history, culture, and landmarks that correspond with the location.
5. My Best Year Challenge
If you’re looking for a tangible way to display your running progress year over year, My Best Year Challenge, from Challenge in Motion, is the one for you.
What It Is
The goal of this challenge is to see growth in your running month-by-month and year-by-year. Using your own training plans as you complete different races and distances, you’ll receive custom rewards that, once compiled into a full display, commemorate the progress that you have made as a runner over a series of years.
How to Participate
At the end of each month for a full year, you record the mileage that you ran during that month on the Challenge in Motion website, paying $110 for the year. That’s all there is to it!
The Payoff
Each month you record your mileage, you get a custom commemorative coin engraved with that mileage number, delivered in the mail. As you collect coins, you insert them into a commemorative plaque that, at the end of the year, is full of your running achievements. Each subsequent year you sign up for the challenge, you add another plaque and twelve more custom coins to your running accomplishments display.
Instead of looking back at race-day medals, this challenge allows you to view your own running journey and the progress you put in throughout the entire year. Seeing how far you’ve grown from one point to another is a great way to boost your self confidence.
Matt Rudisill is an Associate Service Editor with the Hearst Enthusiast Group. A Nittany Lion through-and-through, Matt graduated from PSU in 2022 with a degree in journalism and worked in communications for the university's athletic department for the past three years as the main contact and photographer for its nationally-ranked cross country and track & field teams. Matt was also heavily involved in communications efforts for the Penn State football team’s 2024 College Football Playoff run as well as the Nittany Lion men’s basketball team’s 2023 NCAA Tournament appearance. In his role with Hearst’s Enthusiast Group, Matt contributes to both Runner’s World and Bicycling magazines, creating service content to benefit runners and cyclists of all ages. When he’s not out jogging, Matt can be found tweeting bad takes about the Phillies or watching movies.
