Running Royal Oak

My wife has supported me through every running endeavor thus far, so it is only right that when she stated a few weeks ago that she had come upon an idea for her summer running goal that I support it. When she stated that she wanted to run every street in our city of Royal Oak, I was a bit surprised. I mean here is a woman that can get lost in her own city, but then again, when I thought about it, I began to see the sheer brilliance of the idea.

First and foremost is that she is guaranteed to see new things on her runs. Let's be honest, most of us stick to our same routes on a daily basis. There is a certain level of comfort that comes to us as we see the same thing day after day, but by venturing out, she will see parts of our city she never new existed.

Secondly, stating that you want to run every street in your city and then getting a map (cost $2) from the City Clerk's office to actually look at all the streets really highlights just how big our little city is. There is a sense of adventure already as she has begun to scout the map and plan out her run for the day.  A bonus here for me, is that if she gets lost, I have a map of where she should approximately be.

Third, it's a great motivator to get out the door every day.  While it is not a "time" ( sub 60 min 10k) or "distance" (marathon), there is a start and end date for her. From Memorial Day to Labor Day, her goal is to simply cover each street in its entirety minimally once. Yes, she will have to drive to some locations and then get out and run, but the fun part about it is that she will be doing it all within the city limits.

A bonus to all of this is that she might actually begin to understand what a Garmin is and what it can actually do. She was genuinely surprised when she learned that you can actually view on a map where you ran with your Garmin. And that my friends is what the true spirit of running is all about.



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