Austin to Aspen 2026 Challenge

Your 2026 Challenge Starts ANYTIME YOU'RE READY!
Our goal is to raise $50,000 for Beautiful Together Animal Sanctuary

The Austin to Aspen Epic 1000-Mile Challenge (Solo and Relay Teams available)

You have six, nine, or twelve months to complete (you choose!)

Experience an epic challenge from the heart of Texas, across the Great Plains, through the High Desert of New Mexico and the gorgeous mountain peaks of Colorado. This is a city-by-city expedition from Austin, Texas to Aspen, Colorado.  Along the way, you will earn milestone badges for each major city/landmark you reach. Make no mistake, this virtual challenge will test you! But don't fret, as we will motivate you along the way! 

All challengers receive a limited edition Austin to Aspen T-Shirt, a gorgeous Finisher's Medal, a complimentary window sticker and a custom Pre-Race Bib, as well as Live Map Tracking of your progress, a Challenger's Leaderboard, a digital Finisher's Certificate with your stats and access to our Challenger's Community on Facebook.

 

Live Map Progress Tracking!

You will be able to see your progress along the route as you enter your mileage!  Our live map tracking feature will even allow you to see where your fellow challengers are on the map compared to you - now that's some motivation! (see example below)

 

You Can Join The Challenge Anytime!

You can join a challenge anytime, you will have six, nine, or twelve months to complete the 1000 miles.

 

You Got This!
Take on as few as 19 miles per week (2.75 miles per day).

You can set your goal to move as few as 19 miles per week or challenge yourself to cover as many as you can - be sure to pace yourself! We will help you total up your distance and track your progress with our online progress tracking platform.

These challenges are simple:

1. Do what you want to do, when you want to do it, from wherever you are (run, walk, bike as few as 17 miles per week)!
2. Connect and track your progress on our race page and connect on our facebook group!
3. Get your limited edition Austin to Aspen T-Shirt, Challenger Medal and more!

 

We Are Making A Real Impact!  We have already raised over $43,000!
All Challengers Support Beautiful Together Animal Sanctuary

Donations support Beautiful Together Animal Sanctuary.  Our goal is to raise $50,000 to support animal rescue programs.

Beautiful Together is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization founded in 2014. We rescue animals who have been abused, neglected or abandoned, giving them comprehensive care as we work to find them loving homes. With a focus on empathy-building and pet therapy, we connect animals in need of refuge with children living in foster care, at-risk situations or underserved environments. Our goal is simple: To connect the vulnerable and the voiceless in purposeful ways that benefit us all.

Go to the race website and log in (click user icon on top right corner)

Click on the "RESULTS" link in the main menu.

Click on "SUBMIT VIRTUAL RESULTS"
(NOTE: After you have already submitted your first activity to results, you will be able to add activities by just clicking on your results - saves you a few clicks)

Enter you first and last name and lookup your registration

Click "Log Activities"

Enter your activity

Click SUBMIT ACTIVITY

Congrats! You did it!

You can add another activity by clicking on the "ADD ANOTHER ACTIVITY" button.

You can manage all of your already entered activities by clicking "MANAGE ACTIVITIES".

(NOTE: After you have already submitted your first activity to results, you will be able to add activities by just clicking on your results - saves you a few clicks)

Austin to Aspen is being produced by Endurance Lifestyle Media. We have produced both in-person and virtual events for over 15 years, with a strong emphasis on donating to organizations doing tangible good in the world. In that time, we have raised a combined $1.5 million dollars for local and national charities. Our current virtual challenge efforts focus primarily on supporting local food banks, feeding programs and hunger relief initiatives.

For the Austin to Aspen event, specifically, you can see all of the hunger relief programs receiving donations here:

https://www.austintoaspen.com/Race/Donate/TX/Anywhere/AustinToAspen

All non-profits will receive 100% of the donations given via the Austin to Aspen challenge.

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Other Challenges We Produce

In addition to this challenge, our other virtual challenges include:

Blue Ridge to The Beach (BlueRidgetoBeach.com)
Tahoe to Malibu (TahoetoMalibu.com)
Boston to Bar Harbor (BostonToBarHarbor.com)
Manhattan to Montauk (ManhattanMontauk.com)
Bend To Whistler (BendToWhistler.com)
Canyon To The Coast (CanyonToTheCoastChallenge.com)
Food Run Challenge Series (FoodRunChallenge.com)

For these other challenges, we have a multitude of beneficiaries, also receiving 100% of all donations.
Some of these food relief programs include:

California Association of Food Banks
Feeding The Carolinas
Oregon Food Bank
Feeding Texas
Good Shepherd Food Bank
Los Angeles Food Bank
Feeding Colorado
Beautiful Together for Foster Youth
Second Harvest (Canada)
Feeding Illinois
...and more

Have any questions?

You can check out our FAQs or contact us here

(sample event for reference - screen navigations are the same)

You can easily join a team after you are registered.  You can also easily change teams anytime :)

Then you will be logged in (in this case you can see the user icon has changed)

Then click on the user icon again and select PROFILE:
(NOTE: this is an often-missed but important step)

Then find your event and click on "manage registration"

Then you will see an updated menu bar that includes the "TEAM" option - CLICK "TEAM"

Then click the "JOIN EXISTING TEAM" option:
(note: if you are currently on a team it will be displayed to the bottom left under "current team)

Then click on the drop-down arrow to select your desired team: 
(NOTE: these are listed alphabetically but extra characters like "" and # can skew the display order for those team names)

Then click UPDATE:

That's it!  You should now see your new/current team listed in the bottom left corner.

 

 

We've made it super easy for you to manage your registration!!

To manage your registration, you can log in to your profile (via the user icon in the top right corner of the website). 

Once you log in you will want to click on your profile icon once more and click on PROFILE

From there you can click "Manage Registration". 

To change your T-shirt selection click on "giveaways"

To update your shipping address click on "shipping"

To create and/or join a team click on "teams"

To transfer your registration to a different challenge category click on "transfer challenge" * Note, you will need to re-enter your activity as that data will not transfer.

You will start your challenge from Austin, TX and make your way, city-by-city to Aspen, CO.  


Major Milestones

Austin, TX: START
Lake Travis, TX: Mile 15
Comanche, TX: Mile 142
Abilene, TX: Mile 230
Lubbock, TX: Mile 390
New Mexico Border: Mile 480
Santa Rosa, NM: Mile 595
Las Vegas, NM: Mile 655
Taos, NM: Mile 728
Colorado Border: Mile 784
Grand Sands Desert National Park: Mile 835
Poncha Springs, CO: Mile 906
Buena Vista, CO: Mile 930
Taylor Park, CO: Mile 962
Aspen, CO:  Mile 1000 - THE FINISH LINE!

You will be able to see your progress along the route as you enter your mileage!  Our live map tracking feature will even allow you to see where your fellow challengers are on the map compared to you - now that's some motivation! 

 

Who can enter the event?

This challenge is designed for anyone and everyone! With the challenge of covering as few as 17 miles a week and anyone in your family can participate.  You can run/bike/walk/swim from anywhere to participate.

 

What do I get?

Your inherent reward is that you are improving yourself while supporting animals in need.  All challenges will also receive a limited edition Austin to Aspen Challenge T-Shirt, in addition, all will receive a gorgeous Custom Medal to proudly display your accomplishment. And each challenger will receive a virtual challenge bib that can be downloaded from the race page, participation in an active leaderboard, live map tracking along our course and a digital finisher's certificate with all your stats! 

 

When will my shirt, medal and sticker be mailed to me?

We will process your race packets once every quarter. January-March will be sent in April. April-June will be sent in July. July-September will be sent in October and October-December will be sent in January. 

 

How do I complete the challenge?

You can complete it any way you wish. You can walk, roll, run, spin - whatever makes you happy! And you can cover your miles any day, and in any way, that best works for you.    

 

When Can I Start?

You can start recording miles any time and you will have six to twelve months to complete your challenge.  

 

What are the Waves for this event?

 

Opened ended 6 month challenge  - 6 months from your start date 

Opened ended 9 month challenge - 9  months from your start date 

Opened ended 12 month challenge -  12 months from your start date 

 

How Do You Track Our Progress?

This challenge relies on the honor system. We do encourage you to take photos of your watch, phone screen, treadmill, etc to share your results and/or activity on the Facebook Challengers' page.

These are the ways you can track and prove your accomplishment:

1. Join our Austin to Aspen Challenge Facebook Group. You can upload photos of your activity and also connect with other challengers.
Join The Austin to Aspen Challenge Facebook Group 

2. Go to Austin to Aspen Submit your activity updates via the RESULTS page. 

Go to the "Results" tab on the Menu. At the top of the page, it will say "Post your Virtual Results". Hit the Blue "Submit Virtual Results" button. Search for you name and follow the steps!

 

We Are Making A Real Impact!  We have already raised over $43,000!
All Challengers Support Beautiful Together Animal Sanctuary

Donations support Beautiful Together Animal Sanctuary.  Our goal is to raise $50,000 to support animal rescue programs.
Beautiful Together is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization founded in 2014. 

We rescue animals who have been abused, neglected or abandoned, giving them comprehensive care as we work to find them loving homes. With a focus on empathy-building and pet therapy, we connect animals in need of refuge with children living in foster care, at-risk situations or underserved environments.
Our goal is simple: To connect the vulnerable and the voiceless in purposeful ways that benefit us all.

 

1000-mile - 12-month Challenge: Challenger T-Shirt

1000-mile - 9-month Challenge: Challenger T-Shirt

1000-mile - 6-month Challenge: Challenger T-Shirt