Thirteen+ miles. Four burritos. One ridiculously fun afternoon! Here’s what Eric Ferree, YRRC VP and event organizer, had to say about the event…

What gave you the idea for this ridiculous run?  I love all forms of running, from serious road racing for time to the grueling endurance trail challenges highlighting type 2 fun; and throughout all these experiences, I’ve benefited by the organizational efforts of so many others.  As a form of appreciation and hoping to spread that fun further afield, the idea of hosting something got into my head. I knew to be truly contributory to the scene, it should be something of a slightly different color. I’ve always been a big fan of Roburritos. And the culture of their brand is a perfect fit for this kind of ridiculous challenge. The staggering of their locations made for such an ideal course distance (difficult, but doable). And, I love that the York City streets was to be a big part of it. I felt like the dominos lined themselves up all the way and that’s what I was looking for. In my mind, the best challenges feel naturally inherent in their existence as opposed to being more forcibly contrived. 

What kind of planning went into an event like this? Gaining partners-in-crime whom are always up for an adventure was necessary to making it happen. Neal and Chad supported the idea before the pitch even got out of it’s first sentence. We picked a date we could all make and threw the idea out there without any expectations really. As interest grew, we got serious about how to leverage the most fun out of it we could. The YRRC, whom was already on a mission to increase membership engagement opportunities, gave us crucial financial backing. We nervously approached Rob with our idea, hoping at best that he wouldn’t find our shenanigans a general nuisance to his business and attempt to shut it down. We were genuinely blown away when he jumped all the way into the idea and not only contributed mucho burritos and swag, but also became an eager participant in the run! The rest was minor logistical details we sorted out by consensus to maintain at least a semblance of organization and safety. My wife put up with a lot from me unnecessarily fretting on some details and ultimately stepped up to help a lot.

Sue K: A Big ShoutOut🤸‍♀️ and Cheers🍻 to the Crazed Organizers of this Inaugural Epic Event🏃‍♀️🌯🤪. It was a fun time and great meeting you all along the way.

What was the most challenging part of setting up the event?  What about the event itself!?  For me, the biggest challenge setting it up was balancing the run’s status between an official event subject to added insurance and permits versus it being a fun group activity open and adaptable to all comers. The boundaries kept us from pursing all of the ideas we wanted to add to and polish it up with, but it also positively fostered a freedom for the participants to add their own personal spice to the run challenge, which I found to be the most enjoyable aspect to see come to fruition. Some folks intentionally added other fun stops along the way and a couple guys wore burrito costumes and more; I loved it!!

As an organizer/participant during the event I was focused much more on everyone else trying to see if I could lend any support to the benefit of their effort and experience. I needn’t have worried though; everyone I saw seemed to fully embrace the intended spirit of it and folks didn’t even get deterred by longer wait times at the burrito stops or inadvertent bonus miles by missing turns. The weather is always one of those uncontrollable variables and it unfortunately kept some folks at home this time, but in my view, it also lent bonus credit to the accomplishment of our participants.

Daryl L: It was a great day to meet in person so many people whose names I recognize from social media and Strava! It was a perfect way to share miles, eat great food/drinks and not take ourselves too seriously! Cheers to Roburrito’s for their tremendous hospitality!🍻

Are there any plans for this to become an annual event?  The interest from others can dictate if we do it again, which I suspect will be the case at this point from what I’m hearing. I certainly had a blast! And what I really hope is that this inspires others to create their own fun/challenging experiences to go after and share as well. As part of our mission, I know the YRRC would like to help support those kind of efforts and make it happen if we can. All they have to do is supply the ideas and the energy to see it through and they’ll have my support.

Neal (YRRC Club President) summed up a great shoutout to Rob and his most enthusiastic and generous contribution to the fun!!! “@Roburrito Famouso thank you so much…a year ago this was a pipe dream of ours…at first it was going to be a fun run for a few folks…and then @Eric Ferree stepped-up and lead the project, like he always does, and said we need to do this for the running community (@Eric Ferree is the most giving and inclusive person that I know). The project goal was to run to all of the @Roburrito Famouso locations in York, eat a burrito and keep running. We came out of nowhere and pitched this idea to you and you graciously agreed! Not only did you agree to this crazy idea, you fully embraced it…you provided breakfast burritos to all of the starters, you provided swag for the participants, YOU RAN THE 13.1, you coordinated with Liquid Hero for a “hydration station” and you jumped behind the counter to make all of the participants burritos mid-race! I’m not sure anyone won a new tattoo but I’m sure that we all had one hell of a great time. Thanks for partnering with the York Road Runners Club and we are looking forward to more crazy shenanigans in the future!!”