Project I•Town

Running #EverySingleStreet of my Hometown

 #EverySingleStreet Innisfail: Project I•Town (2023-Sep).

Ever since I started dabbling in running streets, via #EverySingleStreet an original concept dreamt up by Saloman ultrarunner Rickey Gates, I have had the idea in the back of my mind to be able to complete my hometown. The problem is I now live about ~2,500Mi away from where I grew up in central Alberta, as we reside here in South Texas currently. My love of running streets was born here as I tackled the project of running out current hometown of Sugar Land, TX in 2019-2020 (Blog Post HERE). I have fallen in love with this "training philosophy" because it keeps you finding new areas interesting and exciting by simple exploration and discovery. As much as I wish I had more trails and mountains around me I use urban and street running a lot to keep my training miles interesting. Since completing Sugar Land I have continued to expand my #EverySingleStreet heatmap footprint by adding on the adjacent towns and been slowing growing my map. I even took on my wife's hometown of Santa Barbara, CA as we travel there on a bi-annual basis (see my data tab for the most recent up-to-date street maps).

Flash forward to this September and I was gearing up for the Canada's first 200 Mi race, the inaugural The Divide 200 held in the Canadian Rockies of Alberta and British Columbia.  I had been anticipating this race all year and took some extra vacation days off to be able to visit my parents and my childhood home that would couple this race trip. I had it in my head I would simply knock out #EverySingleStreet of Innisfail while I was there without any more planning than that. Early September on the Labour Day long weekend I headed north from Texas targeting my destination of Innisfail, AB, Canada. A wee little road trip north. I arrived at my parents on the evening of September 5th, exactly 7 days before the start of The Divide 200. My timeline to complete my Project I•Town was tight, but I was determined to get this done since I had not been back to Innisfail in nearly 5 years. With that the next day I woke up after some good rest after my long travels and headed out the door to explore my hometown where I grew up with a long run to kick things off. 

Sep-06. Day 1 Long Run. 19.79% complete.

Innisfail, AB, Canada.

Sep-07. Day 2. Run 1. 32.29% complete.

Sep-07. Day 2. Run 2. 38.54% complete.

My first house I bought (2007) and owned. Still looks exactly the same on the outside.

Sep-08. Day 3. Run 1. 51.04% complete.

Sep-08. Day 3. Run 2. 60.42% complete.

Sep-09. Day 4. Run 1. 66.67% complete.

Sep-09. Day 4. Run 2. 71.88% complete.

Painting the northern range road boundaries of Innisfail, passing the farmland during fall harvest season.

Sep-10. Day 5. Run 1. 95.83% complete.

My Parents little acreage sits on the western edge of Innisfail. I spent countless hours here exploring the outdoors. You can reach the far eastern edge of Innisfail (Hwy 2) within about only 2.5 miles from here.

Sep-10. Day 5. Run 2. 97.92% complete.

Sep-11. Day 6. Final "taper" run - 100% complete.

After my initial day 1 Long Run, I would then run daily double runs to knock out the mileage for the remainder of the town. I did not think it would take quite this long (which is always the case running streets FYI). After it was all said and done I managed to complete Project I•Town in 6 days over a total of 10 runs. I accumulated a total of 91.49 Mi (147.24 km) with 2,857 ft+ (871 m+) elevation gain. This is not the ideal taper week heading into a 200 Mi event, but my training is anything but conventional. 

I had come back to Alberta to tackle two things this September: my Innisfail street project and then The Divide 200.  Step one complete, onto my 200 miler now - which start Sep-12th the morning after I completed Innisfail streets.

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