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Des Linden has a month-long running challenge that anyone can join

Participants in this challenge will run 496 kilometres or miles in the month of October

Are you struggling to find motivation as the warm weather fades into colder months and there continue to be few or no in-person races available for you to run? If so, don’t worry, because Des Linden has got you covered with her new challenge called Run Destober. In total, this challenge will work out to a whopping 496K (or 496 miles) in just one month, but who better to run with for almost 500K than a Boston Marathon champion?

How it works 

The concept for Run Destober is simple enough (although the total distance might be quite daunting for some runners). On the first of October, you run one kilometre (or one mile, if you prefer). The next day, you run two kilometres. On the third, you run three, and so on until Halloween, when you’ll run 31K.

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This monster month of training will add up quickly, and while the opening week or two might leave you feeling like you’ve got more to give, you’ll definitely want to save your legs for the latter stages of the month. It will be especially difficult if you choose to run in miles, with almost a full week at the end of the challenge working out to more than a marathon each day. 

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Run streaking 

This is an intense 31-day run streak, and you’ll likely be pretty tired when it’s done. If a 496K month sounds like too much to you, don’t sweat it. Instead of running the exact rules of Run Destober, why not try out a regular run streak? You can run 1K, 5K or any other distance a day for the entire month and still accomplish something to be proud of.

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There’s no winner at the end of the month, so you can make up your own rules while still tagging along with Linden and the rest of her challenge followers. Linden and Brooks are organizing this challenge, and anyone who wants to join can follow Linden on Twitter to virtually complete the runs alongside her. 

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