In January 2025, I remember watching daily YouTube updates about a showdown taking place in Tempe, Arizona. Ultrarunner Jamil Coury and thru-hiker Kevin Russ were duking it out for a year’s worth of free burritos in the January Chipotle x Strava challenge. Each logged over 700 miles that month on a 0.22-mile segment of city sidewalk. What absurdity.
My mom would call it asinine.
It’s 2026, and there is no Chipotle x Strava challenge this year. But there are grassroots Burrito Leagues popping up all over the country, including in Boston. Here we have a beautiful 0.23-mile paved loop around the Hatch Shell (an outdoor orchestra stage) that includes river views, highway views, city views, and three porta-potties. I’ve spent 33 hours in the past 6 days running loops there. For me that equates to 182 miles of running and 798 loops. To put that in context, I’ve been running for around 8 years and usually average 30-45 miles per week with some biking and weight lifting as well.
Below I’ve chronicled the 3 weeks of the 2026 Boston Burrito League in 3 parts.
PART I: How & why I ran 182 miles over 6 days on a 0.23-mile loop
The Why
I’m going burritoing every day?! (Yes, Scrabble Dictionary, please catch up.) If you think too hard about it or don’t think about it at all, this Burrito League thing is pretty stupid. But I try to think about things just enough.
Honestly, it was the prizes that got me out there: winner of each division gets a $520 Anna’s Taqueria gift card, a $300 Janji gift card, 4 pairs of Mount to Coast shoes, a free entry to a Trail Animals Run Club (local trail running club) race, a Marathon Sports gift card, and a Skratch Labs hydration package.
Like daaaaang. Those are some sick prizes. It’s amazing how companies can rally around a sports event, even one of this level. Imagine… nevermind.
So, the primary reason I went out was for the prizes. Of course, now that is definitely not why I still make a pilgrimage to the Hatch Shell every day. Now it’s more about the people I get to catch up with, the little community of niche, like-minded runners I get to share the experience with even if we’re running in silence.
It’s about how in 50 years when we’re sitting around a campfire, we’ll get to laugh at this weird thing we did that one time. (I don’t like camping, this just sounded idealistic.)
It’s about gaining perspective.
It’s about doing something odd, putting myself out there in an uncomfortable way, and seeing what happens.
But whenever I’m reminded about the prizes, I remember it’s really about the burritos.
The How
Let’s start with the preparation. I had no idea that this challenge was going to take place until the day before it started. Preparation is important, but being able to accept the circumstances and adapt to whatever comes up is invaluable.
That being said, once I knew this was happening I made some extra effort in my daily life for the following:
- Sleep. I’ve found a humidifier and eye mask make a big difference for me, so I started using those every night. My wind-down for the day was massaging my calves with icy hot and put my feet up against the wall. The one exception to getting to sleep at a reasonable hour was for the football games over the weekend. I’ll compromise on some things but not everything!
- Food. I did most of my runs in the morning taking in 50-70 grams of carbs/4 grams of protein per hour and ate as much as I could for snack, lunch, snack, dinner, and snack in the rest of the day. I also paid more attention to getting in fruits and vegetables with the help of smoothies from Life Alive (I don’t usually splurge, but if there was going to be a time, it was now). I didn’t have any GI or energy issues the entire week. Fueling was essential so that I could be mentally alert for work and life performance as well.
- Evening preparation. I love minimizing morning bed to door time. Once I went 7 minutes bed to door including bathroom and warm-up routine, but lately I’ve been taking my time. Setting myself up the night before helped me keep this to about 20 minutes most days this week. My routine in the evening was: clean bottles, pack fuel, charge headphones, charge phone, charge bike light (I was biking over to the loop), charge/check watch charge, lay out clothes, braid hair. All I had to do in the morning was down two glasses of water, eat breakfast, fill bottles, activate hand-warmers, and not forget to put on a helmet.
The Log
I thought this whole entry would just be a log, but it hasn’t been. Below are some of my thoughts from the day-to-day this past week though if you’re interested!
Wednesday 1/14: 26.8 miles total split as 22 in the morning and 4 in the evening.
Wednesday was the second day of the Boston Burrito League. I missed Day 1 because I was working at the 6:30 pm Tuesday launch time. By the time I started Wednesday, the first-place (Local Legend) had logged 15 miles! Anyway, enough excuses.
I must’ve been thinking way too much about the challenge because I had a dream that people were running loops while I slept through my alarm. In reality, I woke up at 5:30 Wednesday morning to bike over and start looping. After only a few loops, a couple people nicely invited me to join their running group. One person’s name was Steve and the other was Dave. Then once they left I ran with someone named Charlotte whom I’d met a year earlier while course sweeping the TARC Frozen Yeti race. Everyone was super encouraging, and it was so nice to reminisce about adventures and get excited about goals similar to my own!
In the afternoon I went back for more loops because I had a little time, but I felt awful and heavy and afraid that my shins were hurting, so I didn’t do much. I doubted I’d do much the next day either after literally running a marathon today!
Thursday 1/15: 30.9 miles total in the morning.
I spent a lot of these miles chatting somewhat deeply about life with Steve, the kind of conversation that happens with strangers during ultra races, at least in the middle and back of the pack. I was feeling some shin pain at first (I have a long history with shin splints), but it faded once I was distracted and talking. I don’t totally recall how I racked up so many miles. I think it was a combination of the pleasant weather, barely looking at my watch, and my just telling myself, one more loop and I’ll go do work. Luckily I work midday into late evening most days so my mornings are pretty open. Work ended up being very distracting later that day and I totally forgot what I’d done the past two mornings. I realized it really helps to have the memory of a goldfish for some things! I went to bed feeling fine but of course not planning to go as long tomorrow.
Friday 1/16: 32 miles in the morning.
It was extremely blustery and cold. The river looked like an icy beach with Basin white caps crashing against cracked, frozen sand. Again today I found myself mostly chatting with others, time passing. As I got to the 15-mile mark, I realized it might be a longer day again and became slightly motivated by the prospect of setting a 50k PR by accident (I’ve only ever raced those distances on trails). My calves were quite tight. I also had some hamstring tightness and a whopping blister on my pinky toe. The loop was only going one direction, counterclockwise, and I definitely think my little injury twinkles were asymmetric due to that.
Today a squirrel ate my sandwich and my fingertips and bottles froze. I learned I should bring a backpack for food rather than a running vest, and I should not wait until my hands are too cold to open hand-warmers.
Saturday 1/17: 36 miles in the morning.
After again going to bed thinking there was no way I’d be able to run in the morning, my body bounced back after sleep. I was at the segment early for weekend runners and ran alone for about 1.5 hours before anyone else showed up. I found a nice flow listening to music for the first time in a few days (every other day I was socializing!). Yesterday gave me perspective on the weather, and I was very thankful for the calm wind and sun this morning. My bottles never froze, but a squirrel sabotaged me once again. It ate through my backpack. Through the fabric. I didn’t realize squirrels have such pincers, but I suppose they eat nuts! Smh. I learned that no real food is safe unless it’s in a sealed hard tupperware.
I ended up running about 32 miles before my hamstrings started getting really uncomfortably tight. Then I walked a bit until I got bored. Walking is not really my jam. This was a good day in the community department though: I met about 10 new people and got to hear all about their adventures, their work, why they run, what they like/dislike about coaches they’ve had… it was great! It was also fun to switch up the pace a bit depending on who I was running with instead of just staying steady the entire time.
Recovering in the afternoon, I definitely had more calf pain and overall throbbing fatigue in the lower legs. Otherwise muscularly, metabolically, and mentally I felt good. I did miss my usual biking and uphill treadmilling and stadium stairs and lifts though. I’m unsure about a long day tomorrow, but of course I won’t know until I wake up tomorrow.
Sunday 1/18: 39 miles total split as 32 in the morning and 7 in the evening.
Today I really started to feel musculoskeletally limited with my left calf almost immediately seizing up when I pushed off the ground to get my bike going. I arrived early and there was no one else out on the loop, so it was just me and some black ice. I was afraid to the use the porta-potty until someone else used it because I was afraid there was someone sleeping in the middle one? It had been locked since I got there. I never saw anyone exit and eventually the lock signal turned green, so maybe it was just a ghost.
My calf was uncomfortable, but distraction is amazing. I listened to a podcast playfully hate on the Burrito League, which gave me a laugh. My body seemed to start remembering that its job was to run in a loop, so I got into a good rhythm. After an hour or so, who shows up but the legendary Jenny Hoffman! She’s a Harvard physics professor and elite ultra runner who has the women’s record for running across the country from San Francisco to New York City (47.5 days!?!). Perfect, I needed her advice. We chatted for a bit before she continued on her own run. Though boosted, the rest of the day I still spent lots of energy debating if it was worth continuing to run or not with a California trail running vacation coming up next weekend. Ultimately I just pushed through and figured I could take the next few days off. The rest of the day I enjoyed watching football (go Pats!) and eating.
As snow fell in the evening I thought about how nice it’d be to go for a walk, and naturally I decided the Hatch Shell would make a good walk. So I went and did a few more miles in the evening. It was snowy and quiet and peaceful. This day I really felt that Boston is a competitive Burrito League place as the second-place female was hot on my heels!
Monday 1/19: 16.8 miles total in the morning.
I slept in a little because I was up later watching the overtime football game last night and also wanted the snow to stop so things wouldn’t get all wet. I almost didn’t go out because the body was really feeling a rest day (suuuuuper tight calves), but it was MLK day so most people had off work, and I wanted to see who would come out to the segment! Shout out to Parley, one of the Boston Burrito League organizers, for bringing donuts this morning! Though vibes were high, my looping got off to a rough start. My calves were absolutely burning, and my trail running Hokas (I brought shoes with traction for the snow) were absurdly heavy with water from the mucky ride over. The slush didn’t help ease the load on my calves. I kept telling myself that if it weren’t one thing hurting it’d be another though.
A mile in, I almost decided to give up the day. Luckily I’d thought to bring an extra pair of shoes, and though the Adidas trail runners had failed me in the past, I ended up switching into those. It was like I’d been running in sand and was now running on a trampoline. Okay, maybe not quite that extreme. But the shoes made quite the difference, and I ended up running solidly well for about 12 miles! A co-burrito-er, Jonny was a big help in pacing too. Eventually though, my calf tightness felt like it was tugging in a more focal spot on my shin, and I started thinking about how I wanted to run in California and decided to slow way down and do more walking. This day I made it to 16.8 miles before really hurting and getting bored. I pulled the plug and went home, a little disappointed. On the other hand, I was proud of myself for stopping. It may have been easier to let compulsion drive another 30-miler, but I recognized it and resisted.
With the temperatures plummeting overnight I was aware the loop would be icy the next morning, so the next day was certainly going to be a rest day. A well-deserved one too. I’m wow-ed with my body for the 182 miles of burritoing it put up with this past week and it deserves a full 24 hours of care.
Some Final Week 1 Thoughts
The Burrito League is an interesting idea. I like that the challenge fits in with life. Of course it’s hard to make it fair with everyone working different jobs and hours, but in the end it’s all fun. It’s really not about winning. It’s about the process that leads towards that goal. It’s about the challenges and the people and the laughs along the way. It’s about feeling a part of something bigger.
Go out and do a segment at your local Burrito League. We’ll all go farther together.
PART II: Falling down the leaderboard while running up mountains
This second week I only got to spend two quality days on the Boston Burrito League course before traveling to San Francisco for a long-anticipated trail running vacation! My travel back was delayed two days, but not to worry: I’ll be back burritoing the rest of this week (the challenge ends January 31st).
Tuesday 1/20: 0 miles total.
I took a much-needed day off running today. My calves were so sore, and I had a bunch of work. Plus, it was icy and I don’t have spikes. I biked a bit (missing my bike!) to loosen up and stretched.
Wednesday 1/21: 22.4 miles total in the morning.
I felt a little left out seeing Strava uploads of everyone looping together yesterday, so I went out this morning to check out the scene. It was a little quiet (the evenings seem more popular!), but I got to run more with Jenny and Justin. Justin is doing a month-long challenge to run the mileage corresponding to the day of the month (e.g. 21 miles on the 21st). One of my friends also came out to support immediately after landing from a red-eye!
My body felt pretty good today though the calves were definitely still tight. Unfortunately it was so cold that I had some trouble staying on my fueling plan and started getting tired the last 3 miles.
Thursday 1/22: 24.5 miles total in the morning.
I found out late last night while packing that our fantastic Boston Burrito League organizer Parley would be donating $2 to the Dana Farber Cancer Institute for every loop done today. I had to go out and run! This was the earliest day so far I’d made it to the loop, and I was rewarded with a great sunrise. The sun had been evading us most days.
I got to run some loops this morning with a couple others at the top of the leaderboard (I was top female heading into this week): Steve (overall leader) and Chelsea (leader/second female depending on the time of day). This was fun! Then I ran most of my remaining loops with Justin, sometimes chatting, sometimes just running quietly, step-for-step, in our own worlds. I had never ran for a cause before, and I discovered it was very motivating!
Friday, 1/23: 19.2 miles total as 11.6 in the morning and 7.6 in the afternoon.
Saturday, 1/24: 11.7 miles total in the morning.
Sunday, 1/25: 16.3 miles total in the morning.
These miles don’t count towards the Burrito League, but my gosh were they fun! We visited trails we used to struggle up when we lived in San Francisco. We ran hills and mountains and cliffs, totaling around 10,000 feet of climbing and equal descending. We touched mossy redwoods and inhaled ocean fog. We caught up with friends and developed Polaroid photos. We got to almost momentarily forget about things happening in the world. It’s just gorgeous there. My legs and lungs felt shockingly good, and despite doing no vertical in the past few weeks, my quads were never sore!
I did fall down to second on the leaderboard. Chelsea put up some really solid numbers—impressive in the numbing cold and snow that hit Boston. I ended this week about 400 segments (90 miles) behind, though I’m still holding onto second by about 200 segments!
Monday, 1/26: 0 miles total.
A bit of a travel and a rest day. Calves are still tight!
Looking Ahead After Week 2
There are still five cold, snowy days left of the Boston Burrito League. Anything can happen. It ain’t over ‘til it’s over.
PART III: Closing my 1,460th loop
My mind during the final week of the Burrito League was occupied with the annoyingly opposing feelings of anger and celebration. I found a way to continue showing up in running and in life with the support of this new little community.
Tuesday 1/27: 23.7 miles total in the afternoon.
We exited the airport at 5am Tuesday morning, blinded by nearly 2 feet of snow and shivering in the bitter cold. After a short recharge nap, I walked to our nearest hardware store to find a shovel. They didn’t have any, and nor, apparently, did any hardware store around. I ended up “shoveling” out our car with the ice scraper (surprisingly satisfying). Then I learned that my afternoon in-person coaching was canceled, so I luckily napped again instead of heading straight to the loop.
When I finally got myself together to go to the burrito loop, I realized my bike cables were frozen and the train had 30-minute delays. I guess I had to run there! Fortunately it’s only about a 2-mile run, so I slopped my way over without sucking too much time. I felt slow and heavy at the start, but once I got going and saw some burrito friends things were okay. Eventually the calf that had been bothering me the past few days got tired, plus my hand warmers were getting cold, so I went home. There was lots of slush on the loop today. We did some shoveling to make the path wider. I was glad I wore trail shoes for traction. I was also glad I remembered to put in contact lenses to avoid my glasses fogging up under my buff.
Wednesday 1/28: 28.4 miles total, split as 15.3 in the morning and 13.1 in the evening.
I was so cozy in bed this morning, and my cat was lying on me, so I was a little slow to get up. I knew there were people out looping though, and I had to go join. The roads still looked slushy, plus my bike cables were still iced (as they will be through the first week of February, I’m told). Today I decided to risk the train — it must be over the delays by now! — and ended up waiting on the platform for 20 minutes. This wilted my insides a bit, as I knew I could’ve run there faster. But the whole situation just made me that much more efficient with my running. I picked up the tempo towards the end of the morning with a little time pressure to get to a meeting. Then I found out afterwards that there would be a raffle at night, so I decided to go back later.
It was a cloudy evening, and though I didn’t get to see the sunset, I did get to spend evening miles with a few people I hadn’t ran with since the first week! The loop was also less slushy than it had been in the morning — it was inspiring to think about how many thousands of footsteps had ground the snow until the asphalt showed through. Though I had a successful day in the office, I wasn’t sure I’d go out again tomorrow. It was just so cold and so extra hard to get to the segment. Plus my calves were still tight and I wanted to be able to go long on Saturday in case anyone challenged my second place position (first was too far ahead for me to catch her while being a reasonably working adult).
Thursday 1/29: run rest day, 1h40m indoor bike.
I put in contacts and was set up to go… I almost got myself out the door… but something just didn’t feel right, so I didn’t end up burritoing this morning. My motivation was low. I know this sometimes happens a few days a month. This was probably one of those days, but even knowing that didn’t get me out the door. In retrospect, I do feel like I missed out on a nice sunny morning, so I will definitely be out bright and cold and early tomorrow!
It looks really cold the next few days, like single digits every time I can run. I should probably figure out a thermos situation for keeping my liquids liquid, but handwarmers around my nalgene worked yesterday, so I’ll probably be lazy and do that again.
Friday 1/30: 30.1mi total, split as 16.5mi in the morning and 13.6 in the evening.
The loop was entirely asphalt today except where the icy wind had blown snow into the path. I found Charlotte (third place) out on the loop this morning. If it weren’t for her, both in the camaraderie and competition sense, I would’ve left much earlier. The temperature was in the single-digits. The wind howling across the river was still blowing snow into the path. The dearth of morning bike commuters was obvious. But the bunnies were out hopping. The squirrels were burrowing. We were burritoing.
I was glad I brought my extra thick buff and an extra pair of hand warmers. I ended up putting two hand warmers in each glove and wearing two buffs. I thought about how tough skiers are to endure cold weather all the time. I thought about the winter mountain runners up in New Hampshire. The cold is scary. I respect it so much. Today I also learned that it’s ok for it to be cold. I can manage it. The most important things is that my hands are warm and there is aquaphor in places. I even kept up my fueling and hydration this morning.
Unfortunately my shin started hurting in a new place that I had vaguely felt on Wednesday evening, so I decided to go home and not do anything stupid. In the past few weeks, I’ve definitely had migrating aches and pains, but as long as they’re migrating I don’t take them too seriously. This pain was recurring and worse as I kept running. Too bad because I was finally accepting and even enjoying the cold weather? This is the last weekday I get to do this, see these people, feel like I have direction on this loop.
The entire middle of the day was filled with meetings, and I wore a compression calf sleeve the entire time. I ate half a pound of protein pasta with cheese in the afternoon and was feeling optimistic. It was time to return to the loop. Kevin accompanied me on this second excursion. Things felt good. I had no issues, not even blisters or bruises. This was the best I’d felt running since the first or second day of burritoing!
The air was cold on my throat, and I had forgotten to take my inhaler since earlier in the day.. whoops. I was bundled up like a snowman. My thick buff felt like a neck brace. I had to turn my entire body to look sideways. We ran to the loop to find the usual crew. We watched the sun set in snapshots, observing the light change on the snow-covered river every 2.5 minutes as we rounded the loop. Snow had blown further onto the path and the wind had made snowy ripples on the surface of the iced river. The Citgo sign glittered in the distance. I guess evening running is okay.
Saturday 1/31: 33.3 miles total midday.
The final day! I was mostly relieved to be here. Despite spending half of last week on vacation, this burrito leaguing thing was feeling like a part-time job. After all, I had logged an average of 20 hours a week on the segment over the past 3 weeks, and that is not including commute or vacation time! Plus, it was just so relentlessly cold, with no end in sight. On the other hand, I was already nostalgic for this little pocket of fun and friends. I was so proud of my body for, honestly, excelling with 400 miles of running over these past three weeks when it was used to more like 130. This last day was a celebration of strength in many forms.
To be extremely safe from third place, I figured I should go around 30 miles. I really wanted to get it over with, and my legs were cooperating. I ran a steady tempo pace for 4 hours, accelerating the last 1.5 hours as I tasted the end and felt good. It was fun to push a bit after so many long easy miles on this loop. I thought about the Tour de France and how some riders gain fitness during it — that’s how I felt. Eyes nearly covered by my winter hat, I felt the loop fill from three people around 9am to 30 or so by noon. I heard the background hum of helicopters over the ICE protest taking place at the Boston Common. After a solid marathon-length effort I stopped to socialize, take some pictures, blink enough to rehydrate my contact lenses, and eat some burritos. I realized I’d gotten my period during this morning’s run, which explained the low motivation earlier in the week. I put on a third pair of pants, a puffy jacket, and my winter coat and shuffled a few more miles with the remaining all-star burritoers!
Conclusion
Thank you so much to the Burrito League, especially mastermind Jamil Coury and Boston local mastermind Parley Hannan. Many thanks as well to the City of Boston, the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation along the Charles River, and the City of Cambridge for helping manage the snow and sidewalks this past week. Finally, thank you to all of the runners, walkers, and supporters who came out to the loop and formed the heart of this Boston Burrito League!
I wrote this at the end of the first week but am restating it here: The Burrito League is an interesting idea. I like that the challenge fits in with life. Of course it’s hard to make it fair with everyone working different jobs and hours, but in the end it’s all fun. It’s really not about winning. It’s about the process that leads towards that goal. It’s about the challenges and the people and the laughs along the way. It’s about feeling a part of something bigger.
Over the past few weeks I’ve thought over and over again, when else will you get to do this? Be present in the cold air, the changing light, the city sounds, the stories of co-burritoers. Enjoy this while you can, while you have the chance to make memories doing absurd things.