Everyone in the ZLDR groups can participate! It doesn’t matter your experience, if you can run a whole marathon or just walk a few kms per week, we want to include everyone, and everyone’s contribution will be important for your team. 

If you would prefer not to be on a team, you can run as an individual and track your distance on the individual leaderboard, which can be filtered by gender and age group.

You must create an account on this website to participate in the challenge because that is how we can track your submitted distance/points both for the individual leaderboard and the team points.  We ask you for some information about yourself for the following reasons:

1. Email Address – Your email address will be used as your login name for the website.  We may also use your email address to contact you if we have any questions during the challenge (especially if we are unable to reach you through Facebook, Strava, Zwift, etc).  In addition, you can perform a password reset by having a link sent to this email address.
2. Zwift/Facebook/Strava usernames – All runs that are submitted on this site must exist on either Zwift or Strava so they can be verified.  Also, all official team communications happen on Facebook Messenger chat, and so this is required for participating on a challenge team.
3. Running Habits – We ask a few questions during the sign-up process about your running habits so that we can try to make the teams as balanced as possible.  We want the challenge to be fun for everyone and so we do our best to put a mix of various running levels on the each team.
4. Age and Gender – Age range and gender is requested so that you can see your rankings on the individual leaderboard either overall, by age group and gender.  This information is not required, if you do not feel comfortable submitting it.  The only difference will be that you won’t show up in any of the age group/gender rankings if you do not provide this info.

This year there are two ways to participate:

On a Team

This is the original ZLDR challenge experience.  Participants are assigned to a team and the members of that team encourage each other to get in their daily running as well as work together to claim as many points as possible in the various challenges.  The teams rankings will be released on a weekly basis.  The challenges are designed to require team members to work together to maximize points, so it is very important that members communicate with each other on a regular basis.

Individually

For those who want to participate, but don’t feel they can commit to being a member of a team, there is now an option to run as an individual.  You will not be placed on a team, but you can still track your daily distance ran (with no caps) on the individual leaderboard.

The challenge will start on the first day of the month and end on the last day of the month.

For team-based runners, participants will be assigned to teams, and each team will have a leader (captain). Participants will log their total distance they ran each day whether done virtually (Zwift) or in real life (Strava Activity) on our website.  In addition to the daily distance, teams will have challenges to complete as a team to earn additional points.  Team rankings will be released on a weekly basis.  There is also an individual leaderboard that ranks all runners based on their total distance run during the challenge (the points cap only applies to team points), and this leaderboard can be viewed with all runners, per gender and per age group.

For individual runners (non-team), you will track your daily distance the same as team-based runners, but your distance will only show on the individual leaderboard.

Team points will be capped at at a maximum of 10km (10 points) per day. We understand that the safety of our members is important, so we decided to cap the points to prevent some people from running more than they should. For the personal results, the distance will not be capped, so we can stalk how far our top runners can go, and give them a push.

For those that run more than 10 km a day, you still submit your full distance for the day.  You will contribute 10 points to your team points, and the full distance you ran will be added to your ranking on the individual leaderboard.  For example, if you submit 15km (or 9.3 miles) for the day, your team will get 10 points from you for the day, but on the individual leaderboard your total distance will increase by 15 km.

This challenge is for fun and the primary purpose is to allow people to get to know other members better.  There are no prizes for the winners (either team or individual), so please do not run more than you feel that you should, allow your legs some rest along the way, and listen to your body, always!  

When signing up for the challenge, you will be asked to answer a few questions about your running level that will allow us to rank you based on your experience. After the signup closes, we will split people into different ranks, and then evenly distribute the participants in the teams, trying to make it as fair as possible. So please, be honest when answering the questions, as this will help us make the challenge as balanced and fun as possible.

Every week there will be a new mission for your team to complete as a group.  The missions are often require the team members to coordinate and work together to maximize the points earned.  To see the missions for this challenge, please look at the Missions page before signing up.  The missions will not be changed mid-challenge, but feedback can be taken into consideration for the next challenge.

After the challenge starts, you will be able to log in with the information you used to sign up, and there will be a page for you to submit your runs/walks.

You will have to choose the day of the run/walk, and type in the total distance achieved that day. Your points will be capped at 10 km/10 points.  This is to prevent those with a strong competitive spirit from being tempted into pushing too hard and injuring themselves.  Even though we will cap the points, you are allowed to submit the total distance you achieved, that will show in your personal record. So if you run 50km,  you will contribute with 10km worth of points for your team, but in your total record it will show 50km.

On the completion of the week (Monday through Sunday) you will have until Tuesday, 11:00pm UTC, to enter your weekly distances. After this time all entries will be blocked.

Any mileage you submit for the day is subject to verification by either a member of the challenge committee or a team captain.  Please make sure that you only submit mileage that is listed on either Zwift or Strava (and as mentioned above, you will submit multiple runs/walks as a single combined entry into the website).

As has been mentioned, the primary goal of the ZLDR challenge is to foster stronger relationships between ZLDR members.  For this reason, many of the missions that teams complete to gain points have been designed around people working together to complete the goals with as many points as possible.  People who have joined a team are expected to be in regular communication with the team so that each team has the best chance of getting as many points as possible.  People who join and team and then do not participate cause teams to earn less points in the missions and are drag on team morale.

We realize that not everyone has the time or availability to be fully engaged in the challenge and that is why we also have the option to sign up as an individual.  Individual runners are still participants in the challenge who can submit their daily distance and have their results included in the individual leaderboard, but there are no expectations around needing to communicate with a team.

So choose the option that is the best fit for you!

The following are the expectations for a team participant.  Many of these expectations are statements that you must agree to on the team sign-up form.

1. You must have a Facebook/Facebook Messenger account.  This is the official means of communication for the challenge.  Your team captain will set up a FB Messenger chat room for your team to communicate and coordinate on the missions.  If you need to reach out to your captain or someone on the challenge committee about an issue submitting your distance, then Facebook is the best way.  Team captains will be invited to a special Facebook group with the challenge committee members so that announcements can be made (and questions asked/answered) for distribution to each team.  In short, there are a lot of communications that happen via Facebook/Messenger and so not having an account will make it very difficult to stay engaged with your team.
2. You are expected to check in with your team on a regular basis.  The general recommendation is on a daily basis, especially when it comes to coordinating for some of the team missions.  This is just a guideline, as it just depends on what frequency of communication will keep you engaged with the team.  It is up to your captain’s discretion as to whether you are engaged enough.  In addition, we understand that people my have work trips, vacations, sickness, injury, etc.  Just let your team know if you’ll be unavailable for any length of time, and then there won’t be any problems or confusion.
3. If you have been assigned to a team and the captain is unable to reach you, then you may be removed from the team and moved to being an individual runner.  This is at the discretion of your captain, so once the challenge starts, be sure to keep an eye on your Facebook messenger account.
4. If you get injured or sick and feel like you won’t be able to run/walk for a longer stretch of time, please communicate with your captain.  We can work with you to either move you to be individual runner, or perhaps leave you on the team as an inactive member and add a replacement.  We don’t want anyone to feel excluded because of uncontrollable circumstances, so we’ll work together to figure out the best solution.

The team captain is a very important role for the challenge, and with each challenge we need people to volunteer to be team captains.  The more team captains that we have, the more people who can participate in the challenge without the teams becoming too big.

Team captains do have a few extra responsibilities, but that doesn’t mean they have to do all of the work.  A few responsibilities will need to be performed by the captain, but others can be delegated to other willing members of the team.  Some examples are:

Captain-Only Duties

• Captains will be added to a private Facebook group where you will get information from the challenge committee throughout the month that is relayed back to the team members.
• Captains can also bring issues back to the committee if there is something that needs to be addressed (scoring problems, website problems, replacements for non-responding members)
• Captains will report weekly mission scores to the committee (for missions that don’t require a public post with results)
• Captains will need to set up their team’s Facebook messenger chat group, invite all members, and verify they are still committed to being a part of the team.  Captains can work with the committee to reach out to anyone not responding through other means (email, etc).  Last resort is that the committee can swap out the non-responding member for someone on the waiting list.

Other Duties That Can Be Delegated

• Team missions will often require scheduling and coordination.  Someone needs to be the “leader” when it comes to compiling availability and setting a schedule
• Keeping communication/banter/chatting going between the team members to help everyone get to know each other better
• Recording/Compiling/Summarizing the results of the team missions for submission
• Writing status reports in the ZLDR facebook group with results of certain missions (if they require publicly posting results)
• General cheerleading to keep team morale higher
• (Friendly) trash talk against the other teams

…and likely a lot of other smaller things depending on what the mission is for that week.  But again, the captain is ultimately responsible that those things get done, but can request help from the team to get things completed.

Team Scoring

• Every KM a team member runs/walks for the day will earn 1 point, up to a daily maximum of 10 points, per person.
• Each week will have an assigned mission that will give teams the chance to earn additional points for the team.
• Some weeks may also have a bonus mission (often non-running related) that can also earn extra points for the team.
• There will be 2 extra days after the end of a week for all submissions to be entered before weekly scores are calculated.
  • Late submissions will not be accepted after this 2 day period
• After the cutoff, the scores for that week will be posted on this website, as well as the cumulative total for all the weeks completed up to that point.

While this challenge was designed as a friendly competition, the primary goal is for ZLDR members to get to know each other better.  There are no prizes for the winning team, so let’s keep things friendly and fun.  The teams will be made up of people of various fitness levels, and some may be either new to running or returning from an injury.  Let’s make sure we encourage each other to achieve our own personal running goals during this challenge and not push people to over-exert themselves for the sake of team points.

It is recommended that as a team you choose a uniform (shirt and short minimum) and put this uniform on everyone’s avatar during this week.  You’ll need it for future missions and will save you from having to do it under a time crunch later!

For this challenge, each team member that completes the distance of 10k per day for 6 days out of the week will earn bonus points for their team.

Mission Admin: Pete Laporte

Rules:

1. Team members must complete 10 km per day for 6 days during the mission week.
2. 10 km is the cumulative distance for the day.  You can do it all at once, across multiple runs, run it all, walk it all, run/walk mix.  How you accomplish the distance is up to you.
3. Please let your captains know that you’ve completed the weekly mission as soon as possible so they can keep an accurate and  timely account of team members who will be awarded the mission points
4. Captains, please private message to the committee member who is leading this challenge mission with a final list of names who completed this challenge for your team (This person will be communicated via your captain closer to time)
5. No pics are necessary unless there is a question about an activity and specifically requested by a committee member

Points:

Each team member who completes this mission will earn 100 points for their team.

Examples:

1. A team member runs 12 km every day of the week (7 days).  That team member will earn 70 points for daily runs (7 x 10 points), plus an additional 100 points for completing this challenge.  On the individual leaderboard, the runner will have earned 84 km of distance (7 x 12) and will be ranked based on that amount.
2. A different team member run 20km on Monday and Tuesday, 10km on Wed-Friday, and 2km on Saturday and Sunday.  This team member will earn 54 points for the team (50 points (5 x 10) for M-F, 4 points (2 x 2) for Sat & Sun).   They did not complete the challenge, and so does not earn any mission points for the team.   The individual leaderboard will show 74km of distance.

By now you and your teams should be getting along famously, you’ll probably know everything about each other and got yourselves some new BFF’s so now time to test your ability to work together and cooperate closely to achieve the best result – when you get this one right, it’s so much fun!!

Rules:

• Your teams meet up must be at least 5km in distance.
• At least 3 team members must join the meet up
• The meet up must be challenge team-only and closed to all others
• Teams must be in matching shirts and shorts
• Teams must stay together at all times within 0.25kms of each other
•  If any member runs ahead or drops behind the team then they will be disqualified from gaining mission points for this challenge.
• The meet-up must take place between (and including) Monday and Sunday of this week (dates shown in the title above).

Pictures required:

• Minimum of 3 group pics must be taken during the meet up (to help ensure your team gets great pics, have several team members taking pics from different views)
• All pics MUST include ALL team members (avatar head count! Sidebar should be included for double check but all avatars must be visible. Top aerial view pics are the best for this purpose)
• The first pic must be within 0-0.5 kms
• The second pic must be taken at the halfway point between 2-3 kms
• The third pic must be taken after 4.5 kms
• Any missing pic will cost the team a penalty of -10% of the team score
• to ensure you get the right pic have multiple members snapping shots!!!

Run Report:

• A run report must be written and posted on the Facebook Challenge page ON Sunday, the last day of the weekly mission!
• It must contain the title “Team Meet-Up Run Report” along with your team name
• It must TAG the challenge committee member leading this mission (This will be communicated via your captain closer to time)
• It must state how many participants completed this challenge and their names must be listed
• It does not have to be lead or posted by the captains. Any designated team member can lead and post
• It must include the 3 required pics but may include more pics if you’d like

Points:

• The team will receive 100 points per team member who joins and meets the requirements of staying with the team
• A bonus of 25% points will be given to any team that has 100% of members included in this mission
• As stated previously, any missing required pics will cost a penalty of -10% of the team’s total points earned for this mission.

Have a fantastic week and Good Luck!!

Here is the first of the new missions for the 2024 January Challenge.  We will be bringing the trivia running events to the challenge for some bonus team points!

Mission Admins (Quiz Masters):  Pete Laporte & Meghan Brown

Rules:

• 6 different events will be scheduled across various time zones to give as many people an opportunity to participate as possible
  • Some will be led by Pete, and some led by Meghan
• The trivia matches will be set up as Zwift events, so we don’t have to worry about following and getting invites.   Just sign up in advance like any other event!
  • Event dates/times will be posted in the near future so that people have time to figure out which ones they can attend. Captains will distribute the list to their teams.
  • The events will be held at May Field so that nobody will get out of range of the Quiz Master
  • This is not a running challenge.  Running and even walking is optional.   It is up to you if you want to run or walk to get in your distance, or just stand on the track to play the game.
  • The meetup will be scheduled for 1 hour.
• There will be around 20 questions during the event, although the Quiz Master will be prepared with more questions in case we have a bunch of smarty pants in the event.  It is also possible that 20 may not get answered in the hour.
  • The first person to guess the correct answer (out loud in the chat) will earn the quiz point for that question.
  • Contestants can make multiple guesses, so if you should out a wrong guess, feel free to try again (and again).
  • If multiple people guess at nearly the same time, the winner will be the first to show up in the Quiz Master’s chat feed.
    • If 2 people answer at the same time, each person will see their response in their chat log as soon as they press Send, but then has to be sent to Zwift before anyone else receives it.
    • Both people will see their own answer before the other person’s because their own answer instantly went into their chat log while the other person’s had to cross the Internet to reach them.
    • The Quiz Master has to receive both responses over the Internet, and so the person who the Quiz Master sees first will be the winner
    • To summarize:  Your chat may show your answer first, but if it did not reach the Quiz Master first, it was not the winning answer.  Screenshots of your answer first will not overrule the one the Quiz Master received first.
  • The Quiz Master has the authority to award “Funny Points” at their own discretion.  If you don’t know the answer to the trivia question, but give a response that makes the Quiz Master laugh, they can award a quiz point to the funny person IN ADDITION to the person who answers correctly.
• Team Points will be awarded as follows:
  • 100 points to first place (the most quiz points)
  • 50 points to second place
  • 25 points to third place
  • 10 points to every person who joins in the event, regardless of whether they earn any quiz points.  (So don’t skip out on joining in if you can make it)
    • This is in addition to the points for 1st, 2nd or 3rd place
  • Ties within the 1st-3rd rankings will be solved by whatever method the Quiz Master deems appropriate during that event.
• There are no limits around who joins the event
  • Multiple members of a team may join the same event.  They still compete individually for one of the 3 places.  Points are not pooled by team.
  • A team member can join multiple quiz sessions

This mission will have your team scattered across all of the worlds in Zwift to explore various running routes.  There is a list of 48 routes from 1.6 miles (2.6km) to 12.7 miles (20.4km) long across all of the worlds.  It is the team’s mission to run as many of these routes as possible.

The routes list can be found at:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1j954oeuFAl-5tARMDcoZuCq63XHfrKNy4o5GszYmP1I/copy?usp=sharing

Note: This link should force you to make a copy of the google sheet.  That way you can mark down who is assigned each of the routes on the sheet.

Rules:

1. Each team member can only complete a maximum of 4 routes from the list.  It is suggested that the teams assign routes in-advance based on people’s ability and time available.
2. The run needs to be done as a meetup of 2 people, so that the name of the route will show up in the event name.  This is how we’ll verify which route was run and by whom.
   1. Zwift requires at least 1 person to be invited to a meeting, so you can’t make one for just yourself.
   2. You can invite your captain or Diana Niki… whoever really.  It doesn’t matter if they show or not.   Only one person gets credit for doing the run.
3. Full distance of route must be walked/run to get credit, so make sure you fully complete the route.  Distance will be verified in the saved activity from the run.
4. Each route earns the team 40 points (so 1920 team points max if all are done).
5. This mileage can be used towards as/towards daily running amount for the runner.
6. Captains are responsible for turning in a list of who did what routes to the committee member running the event.  Ideally the spreadsheet you copied above can be marked with which are completed and by whom, and they have screenshots of all the activities from ZCA with name/distance/time/etc shown.

Heres a chance for bonus team points where you can run as as much or as little as you like.

This week find the scavenger item (picture to be disclosed in Captains group at the start of week 3) on a run and take a Zwift screenshot/picture for bonus points.

1) 10 points per picture + 5x (times) distance run (in km), maximum 10km.
Examples:
– Take a picture at 21k (max of 10k will count) with scavenger item in the picture:  10 + (5 x 10)= 60 points,
– Take a picture at 2k with scavenger item in the picture: 10 + (5 x 2) = 20 team points
2) Captain to submit all photos to Russ by (Monday Jan 22)
3) The Zwift picture/screenshot must contain the scavenger hunt item, the runner’s avatar, total distance ran and “nearby” list so we can see runner’s name
4) 1 submission per person on the team.
5) BONUS 10% if every team member has submitted a picture following the above rules

This mission is one of our toughest and most detailed missions. Please read the instructions carefully and be sure you understand and follow the instructions and rules!! If there are questions please ask as this requires the team to work in sync.

Mission Admin: Diana Niki

Rules:

1. This mission can only be done on May Field track 
2. There is a minimum of 2 participants to complete this mission.
3. Each participant must do a duration of 30, 60, 90 or 120 mins 
4. The time per participant can be split into 30 min segments (if a participant runs a total of 120 mins, they can split that into max 4 different 30 min segments.) 
5. All relay participants should log onto Zwift at least 5 mins before their time segment starts. (If your segment is from 10am-11am, you should log on by 9:55am at the absolute latest, earlier would be better to ensure your equipment is working properly)
6. It is recommended that for your final 5 mins of your segment you walk so that you don’t run past the next participant. This along with the next segment’s participant logging on 5 mins prior to their start allows you to find each other more easily and get both participants into the pics
7. Relay participants must move continuously during their segment at a pace no slower than 3.6 kph unless you are in your handoff period in which case you may slow down or even stop. 

Pictures:

1. Participants must be in the same shirt and shorts for easy view in pics 
2. Each participant(segment) should have 2 pictures!! 1 at the start of their segment and 1 at the end of their segment, but their ending segment pic is a requirement to show the duration of their segment!!
3. If a participant has 2 separate segments, they should have 4 pics 
4. Each pic must contain both participants at the hand off point! (the relay starter will only have themselves in their beginning pic and the finisher will only have themselves in their finishing pic)
5. Each pic must show the sidebar with the name of the individual taking the pic visible and legible  and better to have both participants’s names legibly visible.
6. if you have to pick between the person who is starting or the person who is ending, always use the pic of the person who is ending with the top info bar visible and legible so we can see their time and distance!
7. It is recommended that each person take more than the 2 pics to allow the team to select the best quality pic

Run report:

1. Teams must write and post a run report for this relay with “Relay Run Report” and their team name included in the title 
2. Teams must include all required pics with their run report (all pics must be uploaded in sequential order!!!) it is best to label your pics to help you and the committee easily find and order the pics 
3. The person posting the report must TAG the committee member leading this challenge 
4. The report should list out by segments the participants name, what duration their segment was, and the distance he/she ran/walked during their segment. So example if Jens ran 120 mins, Kevin ran 120 mins and Gina ran 120 mins total but broken segments then the list would look like this:
5. Jens 60/10k
6. Kevin 30/5k
7. Jens 60/10k
8. Gina 90/12k
9. Kevin 90/17k
10. Gina 30/4k
11. All distances listed must be in the same measurement meaning if you start listing by kilometers then all listed must be in kms! If you start in miles then all distances listed must be in miles.

Points:

1. 50 points will be given to participants for each 30 min segment completed.
   30 mins = 50 pts
   60 mins = 100 pts
   90 mins = 150 pts
   120 mins = 200 pts
2. Participants may run a max of 120 mins total
3. Each missing pic will cost a penalty of -20 points.
   
4. Mixing your distance measurement using both kms and miles will cost a penalty of -20 points

Bonus points:

1. A bonus of 25% will be given to any team that has 100% of members who participated and complete their segment 
2. A bonus of 10% will be given to the team that traveled the furthest combined distance 
3. A bonus of 8% will be given to the team that traveled the 2nd further combined distance 
4. A bonus of 5% will be given to the team that traveled the 3rd furthest combined distance 
5. This relay event can be counted as a ZLDR event

Recommendation:

We highly suggest that you have at least 1 team member (whether it be captain or another member) to oversee and coordinate everyone for this entire event. It will help the entire mission go more smoothly and reduce most risk of failure points. The person would know the schedule and coordinate the team’s participants to ensure that people are logging on in time and meeting up with their team mates. This person could also ensure that the correct pics are taken and possibly even sub in for a member should a schedule change or a tech issue arise. This person in order to be of max help would be on Mayfield coordinating for the entire mission. This is not a requirement but from the experience of committee and previous challenge members a very high recommendation!

*NOTE: Relays started on Sunday can go into Monday morning so long as it is continues and abides by all the rules

**Since team size is different every challenge, there is no total relay time limit. If your team has 10 people, your relay would be max 20 hours, if your team has 20 people your relay would be max 40 hours

The selfie mission is a quick and easy way to earn some points for your team!  Instead of the usual “match your avatar” selfie, you’ll instead need to take a selfie that is somehow related to your team name (80s theme)

Mission Admin: Meghan Brown

Rules:

1. You must take a picture of yourself in an outfit that fits with the theme of the challenge (the 80s).
2. Pictures must be taken and posted on the Facebook Challenge page in the specified Selfie Challenge Album
3. Any pic not added to this album will not be awarded points
4. All pics must have your name and your team name
5. You must tag the committee member who is leading this mission
6. Participants who complete this mission correctly will be awarded:
   1. 50 points if your selfie is in a costume pertaining to your team name
   2. 25 points if your selfie is a general 80s themed picture
7. Each participant will receive credit for a single uploaded selfie
8. The following things will NOT count for the challenge:
   1. Using pictures that were not taken specifically for the challenge (such as digging up old photos from the 80s, or from other parties/events in the past)
   2. Photoshopping only a face into another photo.   We at least need to be able to see some level of dress-up was attempted in the final submission.

The selfie mission is a quick and easy way to earn some points for your team!

As the last of the month is right around the corner, we thought your legs could use a bit of a break. In this mission, you’re required to walk 1k a day which can be part of your daily kilometers for team points, so there’s no need to make this a separate activity or to go more than 10K in a day! We want you to slow it down, waaaaaay down! There’s no minimum speed, so you can literally crawl it you want to, but the max speed will be set at 6.4kph. Some of you have a more difficult time slowing down than speeding up but for the last physical mission, we are going to give you team points for doing just that!

Mission Admin: Jens-Erik Rasmussen

Rules:

• During any run, you need to have at least a 1km split that shows an average of LESS than:
  • 4 mph | 15:00 min/mile
  • 6.4 kph | 9:20 min/km
• Proof must be sent to your team captain.
• A screenshot of your Zwift/Strava activity showing the splits of your activity with at least 1k of walking pace.
• Walking more than 1km is allowed — if you don’t want to change your units in Zwift to km, then you’ll likely need to do 1 mile walking to have a full split under the limit
• For each team member who walks 1K a day for the last 3 days of the month, we will give your team 100pts,  So if 5 people walk 1K a day, your team gets 500 bonus points.