We all know there's nothing better than getting outdoors; it’s where our bodies recharge, our minds find clarity, and we connect with something bigger than ourselves. But, if we're being honest, it's much easier to stay within our comfort zone by sticking to the same trails, the same activities and not really pushing ourselves to see what else we are capable of and what other adventures await us.
That's why, here at My Urban Trail, we've created something for 2025 that will encourage you to push your boundaries and which has been designed to help you achieve your outdoor goals at a pace that suits you.
Introducing... MY 5 for 2025 — an outdoor challenge for everyone, designed to push you to new heights and help you achieve the outdoor goals you’ve always dreamed of!.
Get ready to experience a year of excitement, personal growth, and a whole year of adventure.
How does the "My 5 for 2025" outdoor challenge work?
It's super simple.
1. You choose five outdoor related challenges for 2025 that you'd like to achieve or get better at over the course of the year, commit to them and then we cheer you on every step of the way. The challenges will be personal to you can be anything outdoor related that you want. Just choose ones which are meaningful and challenging to you.
2. The challenge spans over the whole year giving you lots of time to make progress towards each goal and allowing you to chip away at each goal at your own pace.
3. At the end of the year, you'll be able to look back and say "I actually did that!" while enjoying some little treats on us for your efforts too.
Why challenges and not resolutions?
The start of a new year often brings with it a new bout of enthusiasm for "having the best year yet". We've all been down the New Year's resolutions road, making last minute promises to ourselves that we'll do XYZ in the following year, setting the goals too high and breaking them within the first month. We often expect to get off to the perfect start whereas in reality, life just doesn't allow this.
We then get that feeling of failure and blame ourselves for not achieving what we had planned and inevitably tell ourselves we knew we wouldn't be able to do it anyway.
Yearly challenges are a much more effective and positive way to achieve the things you dream of beacuse;
- You can focus on progress rather than perfection. Yearly challenges focus on continuous improvement and you'll feel more motivated by seeing your improvements throughout the year.
- The focus is on personal growth and learning throughout the year rather than an "all or nothing" mindset that comes with making resolutions.
- You have better flexibility in achieving. Need to spend a bit longer on one of the challenges? No problem! You've got all year.
How to choose your outdoor challenges for 2025
Think about everything you can already do and can't do (yet) in the outdoors.
Is there anything you want to get better at? Are there any new skills you want to learn?
Is there something you've always wanted to do but held yourself back from?
Is there something that scares you, but you know if you can just find that extra bit of courage and bravery, you'd really enjoy it?
I bet there's loads of ideas swirling around in your head at the moment so quickly write them down and pick the main ones that really call out to you.
These are your 5 for 2025.
The most important thing is that you choose your own goals and challenges based on what's doable for you and what will challenge you.
If you need some inspiration, take a look at some suggestions below. We've organised them into different outdoor categories and tried to rank them by difficulty so you can really think about, and find, a challenge that suits you.
Walking and hiking challenges for 2025
- Explore somewhere new in your local area - a nature reserve, reservoir or a local hill
- Go on a nature or wildlife walk - what can you find on your walk?
- Do a sunrise or sunset hike - could you do one a month?
- Learn some navigation and map reading skills to plan your own walking routes
- Visit a new part of the UK and try some walks there
- Bag your first trig point
- Complete a coastal walk
- Hike your first mountain
- Join a group hike for the first time
- Go for your first solo walk or hike
- Hike a new mountain or trail every month
- Walk a yearly distance - it could be 200 miles, 500 miles, 1000 miles or more
- Hike a yearly elevation goal - 5000m, 10,000m, more or less
- Walk 20 miles in one day
- Walk a section of a long distance hiking trail
- Hike your first mountain abroad
- Hike the National Three Peaks in the UK (Ben Nevis, Scafell Pike and Yr Wyddfa) separately or within 24hrs
- Complete a hiking challenge like the Yorkshire Three Peaks or The Welsh 3000s
- Do you first multi day, long distance hiking trail - check out the Dales Way, Hadrian's Wall, West Highland Wat, Coast to Coast or the South West Coast Path
- Hike your first 4000m mountain
- Start or finish bagging all 88 trig points in the Peak District
- Start or finish bagging all 214 wainwrights
- Start or finish bagging all 282 munroes in Scotland
Camping challenges for 2025
- Camp in your back garden; this is especially useful if you've never camped before or have anxiety towards camping
- Go for your first camp with family or friends - a campsite is a good option for the first time
- Go for your first solo camp - campsite or in the great outdoors, it doesn't matter
- Go for your first wild camp in the hills or mountains
- Try your first solo, wild camp
- Camp completely off grid with no electricals to keep you entertained (obviously have them for safety reasons though)
- Camp in different temperature conditions outside of your comfort zone
- Go for your first multi day camping trip
- Go camping abroad on an adventure trip
- Try camping in different ways - hammock, bivvy, in a bothy
- Try your hand at bushcraft - can you light a campfire or cook a meal over a fire rather than using dehydrated meals, learn to identify edible plants and mushrooms
- Sleep under the stars without a tent
Running challenges for 2025
- Join a running club
- Run your first 1k without stopping
- Run for 30 minutes without walking
- Run your first 5k
- Sign up for your first running event
- Run your first 10k
- Try your first trail run in the hills
- Run your first half marathon
- Find a consistent running schedule and run a certain number of times a week that suits you
- Run 10k in under 1 hour
- Achieve some PBs and beat your current running times
- Run your first marathon
- Run your first ultra marathon
- Run a certain distance over the whole year (100 miles, 200 miles, 500 miles or even 1000 miles - what distance suits you?)
- Run a certain amount of elevation in a year if trail running (1000m, 5000m, 10,000m of elevation - choose an elevation amount that suits your plans)
- Complete a 100 mile ultramarathon
- Complete a multi-day running event
Other outdoor related challenges for 2025
- Try a new outdoor activity - kayakiing, climbing, horseriding, mountain biking, bouldering, bike packing, cycling, skiing, foraging
- Volunteer with an environmental project/outdoor charity - wildlife protection, habitat restoration, tree planting, mountain rescue.
- Try wild swimming for the first time
- Try an ice bath
- Learn some new skills - map reading, bushcraft, navigation techniques
- Book a group adventure trip
- Sign up for an outdoor sporting event like a triathlon or an Ironman
- Sign up for that outdoor qualification you've been talking about doing
- Finally complete the outdoor qualification you've been working so hard to get.
Need some more inspiration? Take a look at our 5 for 2025 here at My Urban Trail.
Laura's 5 for 2025
1. Av daily steps for the year to be 8k.
A basic but an all-year-around necessity. This will help provide me with focus in upping my general time outdoors when running a business can sometimes convince your mind to cut a walk short or skip to avoid the 'guilt', well I am looking to increase this year from 6.5k to 8k average per day.
2. Complete my very first trail run race.
I have a few trail races in mind, around the half marathon mark and ones all my shows are confirmed I will be getting one booked!
3. A 50+ mile multi-day trek/wild camping
The West Highland Way, High Peak 60, Cumbria Way or Dales Way, spoilt for choice!
4.To do my first solo wild camp in the mountains
I have wild-camped with my husband numerous times but here's to being independent in nature and testing oneself in the open.
5. Complete an off-piste skiing challenge
We are excited to be skiing in Chamonix in March and I am particularly wanting to improve my off-piste skiing with lessons and to complete the Vallée Blanche 20km off-piste ski route.
Izzy's 5 for 2025
I'm such a list planner and often overface myself with too many goals for the year so choosing just 5 to work on has really helped me narrow down what I want to achieve in the outdoors this year. My 5 for 2025 are;
1. To finally do my Mountain Leader training.
I've only been talking about it for the last 18 months and I've been a bit scared of signing up to be honest, but I'm finally going to book it and take the first step to becoming a Mountain Leader
2. Complete my first ultra distance trail run.
I've signed up to a 50km race taking in Skiddaw and some of the surrounding mountains in the Lake District in August
3. Do my very first long distance hiking trail.
I'm thinking the Dales Way and *maybe* one other
4.To do my first solo wild camp in the mountains
I've wild camped before but many, many years ago. And never solo. It all feels very overwhelming but I'll save it for a nice day in summer and choose somewhere I know well.
5. Improve and overcome my fear of open water swimming
I get really nervous in open water and convince myself that things are in the water; jellyfish, whales, deep crevasses. It makes me panic but I'd love to try and overcome this fear a little bit and swim further than 100m in open water in 2025
When does the MY 5 for 2025 outdoor challenge start?
As soon as you've signed up and set yourself your 5 outdoor challenges!
Use January to really think about what you want your challenges to be (unless you already know) and then you can start working towards them straight away.
What will I get out of the MY 5 for 2025 outdoor challenge?
Apart from a huge feeling of self accomplishement and a massive boost in confidence, you mean?
Well, at the end of 2025, if you can show us that you've achieved your 5 challenges, you'll be rewarded with:
1.An exciting MY 5 for 2025 exclusive completion patch (above) as a reminder of your outdoor achievements.
2. A £15 voucher to use with My Urban Trail with no minimum spend!
3. Plus, we'll match a £15 contribution to Shelter charity. We decided to support Shelter with this campaign because although we are embracing challenges outdoors, unfortunately, too many experience the biggest outdoor challenge of all, homelessness.
I'm ready to get started with the 5 for 2025 challenge; how do I sign up?
Easy! Simply sign up using the below form by the 31st January to take part.
Event Registration - Google Forms
The below is your MY 5 FOR 2025 Challenge Sheet to complete and share back to us once you've conquered your challenges.
Please feel free to tag @_myurbantrail_ on social media when undertaking your challenges using: #MY5FOR2025
Good luck and we can't wait to see your own 5 for 2025 and to watch you achieve your challenges throughout the year!
Laura & Izzy x