My hubs and I decided to take on The Shire virtual challenge a few weeks back and I am so glad we did! This was one of the most fun things we have decided to do together as a couple and it has been such a good challenge for our health as well! This is the first stretch of the Lord of the Rings challenge and it is 145 miles in length! You can use various forms of exercise to count towards it, but my husband and I decided to have walking count towards our daily miles and this is part of the reason it has been so fun to for me!

Through the challenge we usually take nightly walks together now, but also because my job is stationary and his job gets him on his feet I have taken more time to walk during the day now. I usually walk about 1.5 miles at lunch now and find reasons to get up and move during the day!

Both my husband and I are about 60% of the way through our challenge and when we finish we get an amazing medal containing the “one ring” and I am so excited for that! I am not sure if we will do the next step in this series (I believe it’s Rivendell) but doing this first portion has been so invigorating! Not only has it gotten us moving, but you get virtual postcards from the Shire along the way AND you can either choose between saving the ocean form plastic or planting trees as a cause for your walk. My hubs chose planting trees and I chose saving the ocean, so every time you make it 20% more of the way through the walk more trees are planted and more plastic is pulled from the ocean. It’s amazing!

I will say – it’s about the cost of doing a 5/10K race, $50, but in my opinion it’s well worth it! Not only do you get an pretty freaking incredible medal at the end and fun virtual postcards along the way, but it’s also a really fun health challenge. We have walked and moved so much more than normal since starting this challenge and I am so excited for what that sets me up for! I am building positive habits through this and that is possibly the best part!

Definitely check this out if you are a LotR fan, or maybe check out one of there many MANY other challenges available!