In 2019 a couple of my local running friends and I joined a team of people from North Carolina to run the Blue Ridge Relay, a beautiful 200+ mile relay through, you guessed it, the Blue Ridge Mountains. It was quite an experience: lots of laughter, miles, memories. (Actually, you can hear us talk about it here.) And we eagerly agreed to run again in 2020. Well, you could probably figure how that plan turned out.
You, faithful reader, will remember that when coronavirus-related shutdowns began, and my spring marathon was officially cancelled (well, rescheduled, deferred to 2021, whatever), I determined to run every day. (I write this entry on day 200 of the streak, and I celebrated as I did back on day 100. You're welcome.) And so, with official road racing events cancelled, rescheduled, or moved to virtual, my BRR friends (plus a new recruit) decided we needed to do something. As usual, during a regular daily run, inspiration struck, and so was birthed the Plywood Challenge. (Why "Plywood Challenge?" The event is 4 x 8 miles. As a friend pointed out, "A sheet of plywood is 4' x 8'." Yes, it's just that simple...and stupid.)
The specifics of PWC are simple: Each of four runners designs an eight-mile route. All four runners to complete all four routes together over the course of one day. All runners are self-sufficient, providing whatever nutrition and hydration they need. Each subsequent route begins approximately one hour after completing the previous route. Difficult? Of course. Insane? Maybe, depends on who you are. Attainable? Yes.
The purpose of PWC is a bit more nuanced. See, like a lot of runners, we like to enter and complete races, and 2020 is a curious year for this sort of thing. So one objective was to help focus our running, to put something on the calendar, to have a tangible goal. Since we had no aim to create an official event, there would be no clock. No clock means this is a running event, not a race. And so we determined to run it together. The four of us (RB, Hollywood Paul, the Canadian Weave, and the Ironman) could train for and complete a marathon, so thirty-two total miles didn't seem so ridiculous. Challenging but attainable. And I hope to inspire others to tackle a personal challenge. Therefore, we invited other friends to join us for any part of the inaugural Plywood Challenge. And some accepted, with others covering one, two, and three+ sections on the second Saturday in September.
