Erin Quinn

Wait? We’re in a Burrito League but we’re running for a year’s worth of free coffee and a scone? Yes. We’re on the east coast or the “beast” coast and we do things a little differently here. We also have a north-flowing river, so there’s that too.

New Paltz, NY began its own Burrito League Chapter, whereby anyone and everyone is encouraged to run or walk The Village Grind Segment (a .45 mile route in the heart of the Village) as many times as they can in the month of January.

It’s shaped like a lollipop and begins and ends at The Village Grind, an independent, locally owned cafe right next to the Trailways Bus Station.

As this story is going live, we have 37 local athletes in the The Village Grind January Segment Challenge Strava Club. Bruce Stevens, endurance athlete and local real-estate business owner is in first place with 91 efforts in January. That’s approximately 40.5 miles, well-over a marathon. He’s being hunted by another local endurance athlete, Karl LaRocca who has, at this time, 87 efforts logged in.

There are a total of 25 people on the leaderboard (a Strava feature that allows people to see how they stack up against their competitors both in terms of numbers of how fast they completed the segment and how many efforts they’ve logged in.) As this went to press, Stevens held both the Local Legend Title and the Course Record (CR) running it in a time of 3:13. He’s followed by his wife, business and training partner, Lindsay Stevens who holds the women’s CR with a time of 3:14.

While they are a speedy couple, pace is not part of this particular competition. It’s all about repetition. Who can go the distance? There’s a lot riding on Strava challenge.

Whatever individual completes the most segments on the Village Grind Segment between January 6th and January 31st a 11:59pm will win a year’s worth of free coffee and a scone from the Village Grind (52 cups of coffee and 52 scones to be exact.)

This is the New Paltz Chapter of the Burrito League which was started by Jamil Coury, owner of Aravaipa Running and creator of the Cocodona 250, and some other unhinged runners in Tempe, Arizona when they learned that Strava and Chipotle were not bringing back their January segment challenge where they offered free burrito bowls for a year for the person that completed the most segments.

They began their own challenge and called it the Burrito League, offering prizes that included free burritos for a year as well as a free entry ticket into the Cocodona 250 (a 250-mile, point-to-point foot race that runs from Black Canyon City to Flagstaff in Arizona.)

This went viral, or almost anti-viral as people started to create their own local burrito league chapters and offer prizes from independent businesses. It began with ultrarunners creating their own chapters in cities around the country and has now spread to Canada and other places worldwide.

But none of them can hold a candle to the Village of New Paltz. We’re the place where a 26-year-old, Green Party Mayor began marrying gay couples, defying the law and creating a groundswell of political activism that resulted in the legalization of same-sex marriages. We’re also a college town and apple-farming town the endurance capitol of upstate, NY, and home to the oldest incorporated street in America (Huguenot Street) as well as one of only 5, north-flowing rivers in the world, the Wallkill River.

Our .45-mile loop passes no less than 12 local business, a public library, two independent bookstores, a Cat Cafe a Gaming Guild, a 18th Century Casino-turned bar and restaurant, a vegetarian fast-food burger joint and a Synagogue located on Church Street.

We’re going live tomorrow on the Mountain Outpost, a Media Company that broadcasts live events, races, news and entertainment all about running. They’re conducting a livestream on Burrito Leagues all over the country. Tomorrow we will be showcasing New Paltz on their livestream feed.

Why? Because we’re just that cool. We want to show the running world (really more of a segment-running cult) our community. We run, we walk, we skip, we hop right into the center of downtown.

And we do it over and over again. Why? Because we can? Because it’s just about a half-sandwich sort of a picnic activity? Because it’s spirited, it gets people out walking and running and being competitive in a friendly way with their neighbors. It celebrates local businesses and running local and doing all-things foot-powered.

Is it crazy? Absolutely? Is it fun? Hell, yes. Come out, walk or run. (But log it as a “run” if you want it to get Strava segment credit.) Take pictures, bring a friend, breathe deeply and get to know every square inch of the lollipop loop until time becomes a flat circle and you’ve transcended not only New Paltz, but existence itself.

—– Erin Quinn