Winter in Toronto has a way of stripping the excitement out of life. The days are short, the conditions are frigid, and oftentimes I lack motivation to step outside to go shopping, let alone go for a jog.

But, when I heard that the e running event was headed to Toronto this past January, my motivation to get outdoors spiked. I got my running shoes out. I was prepared to suffer.

For anyone unfamiliar with the Chipotle City Challenge, it’s a somewhat ridiculous but tempting ordeal for runners. The Mexican eatery gifts the runner who records the most laps around a specific Chipotle restaurant in a months time free burritos for a year.

You read that right. Free food for a year. For any runner, this is like having an unlimited supply of gels at mile 20 of a marathon鈥揺xcept dressed in foil with extra guac.

Chipotle Helped me Kickstart my Spring Marathon Training

I couldn鈥檛 resist the prospect of free food. It seemed like the perfect antidote to winter blues鈥攁nd, of course, a fun way to kickstart my spring marathon training.

At first, I approached the challenge with casual intention. I participated in Chipotle’s kickoff event on January 2 where I ran a few laps around the location at the heart of the challenge, asking other runners how many laps they thought they could run during the month. During the first few days, I ran between six to ten laps a day to keep things chill, and scout out the segment and my competition.

It was sometime around Day 5 of the challenge that my burrito campaign really kicked into overdrive. Running around听Chipotle was no longer a joke. I mentally decided to absolutely shred the challenge into beef barbacoa.

A Legend is Born (So I Thought)

I quickly claimed the title of “Local Legend” on Strava鈥攁 designation given to the man or woman who completes the most recorded workouts on a stretch of road or trail. By mid-January, I was averaging 40-50 miles each week around the restaurant.

Let me tell you, this was not an easy athletic feat. The Chipotle in question is located in the heart of Toronto, near the city’s main train station. The sidewalks are slammed with pedestrian traffic at all hours of the day. The lap itself is a tight 1,000-foot city block. Every lap felt like a mind-numbing carousel ride through car exhaust and past bewildered pedestrians, while inhaling burrito-scented air. I started my day with听a morning run between 7 and 8 a.m. I’d return each evening to complete more laps between 5-7 p.m.

By the final week of January I had logged around 400 laps around Chipotle, which equated to 150 miles. According to the data on Strava, I was comfortably in first place. In fact, I had a 150-lap lead on the second-place runner heading into Jan. 31. Victory seemed inevitable at this point. My girlfriend and I went to the Chipotle on the final day to snap some celebratory photos. I even made a homemade crown.

An Undercover Victory

But then, as the final hours ticked off, my victory fell apart. As it turns out, I was undone by cunning Strava trickery. Another runner, who I will title Mr. Tricky Tactics, outwitted me.

Back on Jan. 21, this runner wrote on his Strava account that he was withdrawing from the Chipotle x Strava challenge due to a hip injury. He posted the news alongside a photo of him receiving acupuncture on his hip. At that point there were four serious contenders鈥攎yself included鈥攚ho were vying for the title. We all thought the guy was done for. But he wasn’t.

In the final days of the challenge, he returned to the Chiptole and ran hundreds of laps, undercover. He waited to upload the data from those runs to Strava. So, those of us who were following the leaderboard didn’t know he was secretly amassing amazing mileage. He ran 110 miles in the final ten days, even sprinting a personal best 15-kilometer split just a few hours after he announced his injury.

We all learned about his impressive running feats when he uploaded his mileage from those ten days to Strava in the final hours before the deadline. I was blindsided! I wondered how the heck he’d run so far.

Considering I spent the last three days of the challenge running around that Chipotle, I couldn鈥檛 fathom how I’d been outsmarted. During those last ten days, I ran between 8-10 miles each day. I was out there at dawn running through snow and ice. I never saw the guy.

The Hard Lesson I Learned

I protested the result to Chipotle. Their response was diplomatic but logical: 鈥淗e employed unique tactics.鈥� Technically legal? Sure. Morally sound? Up for debate. But their decision was final. My foe had 鈥渆mployed unique tactics鈥� and, of course, ran more laps than I had. The free burritos weren’t mine鈥攖hey belonged to him.

The hardest part was that I was so confident in my strategy: rack up a huge lead early in the month and do anything to defend it. If I鈥檇 known my nemesis was still running, I believe I could have run big miles on the final few day to win. I would have gladly endured 24 hours of running if it meant scoring free burritos for a year.

But hindsight is 20/20. Instead of earning a year鈥檚 worth of guac, I instead learned a lesson in听trust. Don’t trust everything you read online, and always be prepared for soul-crushing tactics when you’re chasing a Strava challenge.

Marley Dickinson has been a staff writer for for five years. He has covered events ranging from Jamaica’s Reggae Marathon to the Paris Olympic Games. Beyond running, Marley is a diehard Toronto Blue Jays fan and shares his love for baseball on his website .

The post I Thought I鈥檇 Run Far Enough to Win Free Burritos for a Year. I Was Wrong. appeared first on 国产吃瓜黑料 Online.

Friends, we have a crisis looming on our hands and something must be done.

If you鈥檝e been living under the surface level of the pool, Strava sashayed into the zeitgeist last week when Elle听published an article titled 听According to the story, a pay-to-play, digital dating environment has ravaged younger American generations with swipe fatigue, and Strava, author Kelsey Borovinsky argues, provides a platform for people who enjoy endurance sports to find each other.

So far, so great. Endurance sports have infiltrated pop culture enough to get written up in the likes of听Elle, without even Taylor Swift signing on? Rejoice! We can use Strava to find connection and community? Hallelujah!

But, Borovinsky, are we talking about the same ? The one with segments and leaderboards that breed ? The app that doesn鈥檛 even support direct messaging, much less discovery?

Sure, Strava has a 鈥渇lyby鈥� feature to see who you encountered on your outing. But if you manage to track down strangers you glimpsed for a quarter of a second on your run two days ago with this beta feature, what are you going to do? Ask them out in a public comment on their activity?

No, if you are a sane person with manners, you are going to find them on Instagram or something and send them a DM. Nicely. Politely.

I hear DMing is coming to Strava. We will deal with those ramifications later. One crisis at a time. Beyond practicalities, there lies the greater existential question that we must ask ourselves: Do we really want Strava to serve as a way to impress people in that dating-kind-of-way? It鈥檚 already a haven for those looking for validation and ways to look down on each other, but it could get worse, much worse.

Indeed,听Elle鈥檚 Borovinsky describes a Strava filled with young, single people like Ellie Gerson. She鈥檚 a runner and influencer from San Francisco who, after completing her scenic seven-mile run, 鈥渋mmediately opens Strava to upload her workout, along with a cute selfie and a relatable caption about the highs and lows of training for the Chicago Marathon.鈥�

Marathon training, we love to see it. But Gerson isn鈥檛 here just to chronicle the highs and lows of her journey to 26.2. When asked if she hopes potential suitors will see her Strava uploads Gerson said, 鈥淥ne thousand percent. Whether it was a long run or I鈥檓 in a cute outfit, there have definitely been times where I鈥檝e thought, he will see this.鈥�

Look, it鈥檚 a free country. Gerson, Borovinsky, and all one hundred million Strava-ers (Strava-ites?) can use Strava however they want. But do we really need yet another platform for people to impress each other? Can鈥檛 someone just spend a long run thinking about pancakes, not thirst traps?

Strava鈥檚 where I connect with friends and family. I see my 72-year-old dad鈥檚 five-hour Zwift ride, and I know he鈥檚 just as deranged as he was 50 years ago. Thank god. It鈥檚 where I get beta on trail and road conditions from those more intrepid than I. It鈥檚 where we -yes the royal we of all endurance peoples 鈥� bond over our mutual hatred of wind. And it鈥檚 what I turn to when I need a little bit of extra motivation from my psycho friends who run at 4 AM.

In short, I rely on Strava to learn about听what鈥檚 really going on. It鈥檚 like getting an honest answer to, 鈥淗ow are you?鈥� without even needing to ask. Even for those people who call their hammer sessions 鈥渆asy runs,鈥� the heart rate data keeps them honest.

Strava feels like a safe haven for simplicity, silliness, and sincerity鈥攕egment hunting and threats of stalking put aside.

Maybe (probably) I鈥檓 being an overly cautious curmudgeon. I鈥檝e been off the market for like six years, I鈥檓 old and out of touch. But in our overly digitized and curated world of filtered photos and painstakingly edited reels, Strava is the last place on the internet that hasn鈥檛 wholly succumbed to the dramaturgical trap of masking your true self in service to an impossible ideal. It鈥檚 a place to be yourself, and to celebrate others for being the same. And in a world saturated with insincerity, I need Strava to feel like I still have a semblance of a grasp on the truth.

So, Strava-ites, here is my plea to you: Keep posting those snot-encrused selfies and silly Strava titles. In the spirit of love, celebrate your friends for doing the same. And then, if Strava happens to serve as the most wholesome accidental meet-cute on the internet, we all win.

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