Every Single Street Sugar Land, TX

#EverySingleStreet

Sugar Land, TX, USA 

At the end of 2018 a well known ultrarunner, Rickey Gates, created and took on a very unique project. He set out to run every single street in his town, which was San Francisco, CA. Rickey has a large following on social media from a variety of his prior accomplishments and projects and so it was very cool to follow along on his daily updates via twitter and see all the cool photo collages he would post to his Instagram feed. He is a great story teller by the way of these running projects. Plus the idea was novel and so that it had a ton of appeal. On December 17, 2018, 46 days later, Rickey Gates completed running the San Francisco streets. His main sponsor, Salomon, made a very cool documentary on the project.

Flash forward to November 2019, I had personally run 45+ ultramarathons now and be focusing on many specific races for this year. The year of 2019 I was focused on a year long goal within the TROT (Trail Racing Over Texas) community of trying to win the TROT Cup. I have yet to venture into ultrarunning projects or FKTs (Fastest Known Time). During those last months however, these ideas have been stoking away slowly in the back of my mind.

Just over one year after Rickey Gates had begun his Every Single Street project I randomly stumbled across this website one day: CityStrides. And just like that, the thought of my own #EverySingleStreet project was born. Right then and there I synced up my Garmin Connect account and started digging into it more.

website that syncs your STRAVA data (created by James Chevalier)
https://citystrides.com #CityStrides

At first I did not tell my wife about this project since I was not going to do something drastic. Instead I was simply going to take my everyday training and move it to a new and unique spot each day or at least a couple times a week. My goal was not to complete this as fast as possible, it was just a project to complete over the course of 2020 during my regular training miles. I was unsure how long it would take me but again I was not concerned about the time frame, but more just the process and fun of the project.

I would come home from my runs and my two oldest daughters would always race to me and ask if they could help me trace my map. Since I started this #EverySingleStreet project they have been helping me color in the streets as I completed them. The website tracks all of this as well, via STRAVA, but including my kids in this has been an awesome experience to share with them. Plus it gives them some lessons on long term goals and working on something that is not instant gratification - which I think can be a good lesson for today's youth.

Marking off latest section with Lillian (2nd daughter). Photo: Katie Meding 2019-11-25.

manually filling in my streets on my printouts. I used this to cross-reference with CityStrides, but it provided the visual cues I enjoy to see where to go and the progress I was slowly making. 2019-12-04.

I have had fun progressing through the process of checking off street by street. I am a very numbers, data, and analytical person so this type of project was a fun thing for me. At times it was also very catering to my obsessive-compulsive side of my brain which can be quite daunting at times (I am sure a lot of ultrarunners experience this).

Garmin tracks on my Garmin Fenix3 HR watch. 2020-01-29.

Tracking got super easy with maps feature on my new updated Garmin fēnix® 6X - Pro Solar Edition. I love this watch! 2020-02-27.

Data analysis with Lillian (2nd daughter). 2020-04-25.

One of my six printed out cheat sheets I would fill out manually to show visual progression. 2020-04-26.

Progress of My Project

Over the early months in this project I would grind out many streets then take a break to continue my ultra races. Like I stated above I did not really have a timeline goal in mind for this project, I just wanted to complete it. During the month of May I did a bunch of virtual 50 km runs, and I used 2 of these runs to do some urban running and complete more streets in the progress.

START: 

I did not actually track my progression until I discovered CityStrides, which was on 2019-Nov-21. But from there I did a somewhat concentrated effort over the next 7.5 months to complete this project. When I started I was initially at 8.22% done, only 91.78% to go.

FINISH: 

The completion of my #EverySingleStreet was done on 2020-Jul-25. I actually finished it up with a 100 mi virtual solo effort. I had 2 very long sections left and I utilized my virtual race to get these knocked out.

My self completed cheat sheets printed out from City Strides website. The purple was done and then I printed these. I would then color in with pen as I went to track manually and provide the visualization of the progress. My daughters enjoyed helping me fill these in.

DATA RESULTS:

So CityStrides has Sugar Land listed as 1,699 streets. But I found out there are actually a lot more. The city limits on that website was not quite updated and so was missing a bunch of the new existing neighborhoods that were annexed into the City in 2019. This was also another bonus of me using my printed out sheets to help track and cross reference the streets as I went. Anyway I do not know the exact number of streets but I would place it between 2,000 and 2,400 range. I do not know the total mileage either but I have broken it down to show my data (see below).

Mileage breakdown of the project.
(i) 8.22% - initial 115 runs were not on purpose just random over course of living here
(ii) 91.78% - after committing to the project this was my effort to compete #EverySingleStreet.

Considering the first 2 years living here I just basically ran close to home and did not pursue finding streets it got me to that 8.22% where I initially claim to start the project. So I broke out my stats that way to show the 91.78% effort to complete it. Overall I have run a total of 678 run activities in Sugar Land since moving here in the fall 2017, but only 253 are directly contributing to the progress of my #EverySingleStreet project -- and again just over half of those (138) were the later 91.78% part of the progress. I totaled over 1,800 miles but some of those are overlapped a little.

Tracking to the nearest tenth percentile milestones as I progressed. This is based off CityStrides which only listed the 1,699 streets but there were a lot more as mentioned.

Similar graph but shown on the 1st of each month to show progression over fixed timeline. Again based on the CityStrides streets of 1,699, not the true number.

This is a screen capture from CityStrides website which is taken from your Garmin or STRAVA data.

Created by utilizing all my .gpx files from Garmin and STRAVA and then with the assistance of GPS Heatmaps website to create this visual. I am going to research either how to get a large print of this or my wife suggested a wood cutout model type piece of art.

THANKS:

A big shout out to Rickey Gates for the inspiration to perform my own project of my current city of residence. I know the area a lot better now that is for certain. Who knows, maybe I will continue my adventures into the small towns and urban areas next to Sugar Land as there is a vast amount to explore here in the entire Houston metropolis area. But for now I want to get back on the trails more for my usual training when i can.

More reference to the original Rickey Gates project

• Every Single Street official website by Rickey Gates
• 2020-03-21 | Adventure Audio podcast | Rickey Gates, Ultra Runner | 0:50:31
• 2020-01-27 | Rich Roll podcast | 495. Running As Art: Rickey Gates | 1:49:52
• 2020-01-13 | Ginger Runner Live | GRL#290 | Rickey Gates - Running Every Single Street & Beyond | 0:56:17
• 2019-07-30 | STRAVA Athletes Unfiltered podcast | Rickey Gates: Every Single Street | 0:26:43
• 2019-06-25 by Yvan Fornes | tableau visualization | Every Single Street A run by Rickey Gates
• 2019-05-23 | The Bad Boy Running Podcast | Episode 163 -Rickey Gates on running every single street in San Francisco | 2:35:05
• 2019-03-05 | Salomon TV | Every Single Street with Rickey Gates | 0:17:43
• 2019-01-10 by Nick Busca | Red Bull running | This guy ran every single street in San Francisco in just 46 days
• 2019-01-08 by Katherine Turner | STRAVA stories | Every Single Street
• 2018-12-19 by Jacob Meschke | Runners World | Ultrarunner Rickey Gates Just Ran Every Single Street in San Francisco
• 2018-12-17 by Anne Francis | Canadian Running Magazine | Rickey Gates runs every single street in San Francisco

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Thank you for following along.

New Year, New Decade, Let's Roll!

2019 Year in Review

Its that time of year again. 2019 was a solid year for myself as an ultrarunning dad. Thank my sponsors & supporters (see my Friends) as without their support I would not be able to do as much as I did in this sport. I am proud to represent Team TROT, rabbitELITEtrail, Team Victory, & Team Nathan. The biggest thanks goes to my family whom without this wound definitely not be possible at all. I love it when they are able to be there in person and cheer me on and crew & support me at ultras (Thank you to all 5 of my women in my life).

2020 Here I Come!

Well, honestly it's probably been solidified a few weeks or even months ago for most people, including myself. But the "lottery season" (i.e. December) was just upon us and probably currently underway for the last few like UTMB. Now that I have not been drawn for Western States I have my first 7 months lined up more or less. Here it is, my current 2020 race schedule thus far:

January

• Bandera 100 km (Bandera, TX)
• Since I didn't get into Western States I require another qualifier for 2020 season and what better way than getting it out of the way early.
• GOAL: Destroy my 2018 time of 13:36:21, hopefully sub-11 hrs in reality.

• Running the Rose 108 km (Tyler, TX)
• headed back to defend my victory from last year and because these trails are epic. 
• GOAL: of breaking the 11 hour mark. I was just over this last year.
• Love this course in the pine trees and cool January weather

February

• The Franklins 200 mi (El Paso, TX)
• headed back to El Paso because I have come to love this place to run here in Texas. I've run the Franklin Mountain race twice now and the Franklins 200 last year as well. I've put in ~300 miles so far on these Mountains....why not add another 203 or so?!
• GOAL: sub-60 hour. I have no idea if this is possible. If you read my race recap from last year everything basically went pretty dang good. So I have no idea if I can repeat last years time (64h & change) or effort. This is part of the exploration of the unknown.
• 2020 is the last year for this event. It is being replaced by something bigger (mileage wise) in 2021-Feb. Check out the TROT website for more details. Rob Goyen has already dropped hints of this on his monthly FB live updates and it now appears on the schedule (all the details are not fully finalized yet - but it is in the line up).

March

• Chattanooga 100 mi (Rising Fawn, GA)
• This will be my first Run Bum Tours (Sean Blanton) event, I've heard nothing but good things and can't wait for a race in another new state and area for me.
• GOAL: I have not researched into this too much, but my initial goal will be a top-10. I may revise my goal as I get closer and dive into the race stats & profile more.

April

• The Game - Backyard Ultra (Columbus, TX)
• I ran this last year and won this event in a weather filled day in Dale, TX. I made it 23 loops/hours before my assist dropped out. I anticipate more like 150 mi (36 hours) to even have a shot at the victory this time. Great event put on by Spectrum Trail Racing.
• GOAL: Win this event. Obtain the "golden coin" which gets an invite to Big's Backyard Ultra "Last Human Standing" in 2020-Oct.

July

• California Untamed 330 mi (Arcata, CA to Mt.Shasta, CA)
• Yes you read that correctly....330 miles of point-to-point.
• California Untamed is an extreme Ultra Marathon, stretching 330 miles from Arcata (the ocean) to Mt. Shasta in beautiful Northern California.  It is the longest, most extreme endurance foot race in the Continental United States.
• GOAL: Finish & be as competitive as I can be.
• This will be my A-race of the year. Everything prior to this will be building towards this, so I may even throw in extra training or racing efforts among the above mentioned races.
• Watch the preview film of the course HERE of race director Ryan Spitz forming the course.

Along with these I aim to get in some more volunteer hours in my running community:

• I help out at my local run club, Sugar Land Running Club (SLRC), since its inception in 2019-Aug and I definitely want to continue this each week when I can.
• Goal of getting more trail work hours logged for 2020 (not just the minimum for race entries).
• Help build the Trail Racing Over Texas (TROT) trail community by giving back more.

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Let the training begin!