Fairfield, CT - He's done it! Fairfielder Joseph Walewski completed his personal challenge yesterday, Mon. Aug. 24, running along EVERY street in Town.
"I saved the best for last and ran 21.44 miles to clear the farthest streets from my house," he reported to Fairfield HamletHub. "Despite the heat and humidity, I had a really solid run to round out the challenge, maintaining approximately 7:30 pace with a slight speed up at the end."
Upon returning home in March from his first year at college, Joe decided to spend his extra time in Fairfield taking on a challenge he never thought he would: to run every street in town. Although he had been GPS logging his runs for the past five years and, therefore, had a headstart (he had previously run approximately 20% of the roads), he thought there were too many dead ends and side streets to make the challenge worth it. However, with all of his extra time and wanting a change of scenery despite being stuck in the same place, he finally "decided on April 3 to go for it."
"To manage all 1,125 streets, I broke the town into 43 regions and created running routes to fill in these areas," he explained. As of end of June, according to his best estimates, he was 76% of the way done and expected to finish either late July or early August.
"It feels incredible to be done. I’m so grateful to have had something to look forward to throughout 2020 and, while the timing was a little closer than I would’ve liked (just one spare day before returning to college), I acknowledge it’s a fantastic end to the summer," Joe said, excitedly.
What's next, Joe?!
PHOTOS:
1 - Joe Walewski
2 - Joe's running progress as of June 29, 2020.
3 - A heatmap showing his completed challenge.
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