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When Virtual Races Aren't Enough....

Robin Condon | Published on 9/27/2020

Did someone say "CHALLENGE"? MVSers love a challenge!  Virtual races are not enough for these fellow striders.  When they found out that races were cancelled, they decided to take on a new challenge. Strava’s Street Ferret.  Haven’t heard of it? The following Striders will give you an idea of what it is.






Chad Pelletier

Chad Pelletier




Races cancelled for the foreseeable future what is somebody to do? Oh, look at this cool app that tells you the streets in your town and what you have to run…... the rest is history.

North Andover has 166 miles and 462 streets which seems manageable, so why not give it a go. The quest began in late March and ended early July because of some Achilles issues that could not be taken lightly.

Interestingly, I had one run early on that netted me 37 streets in one 12 mile run in our neighborhood and by the end of the journey I was running the same distance on the other side of town for 2 streets.

Best of luck to all those in MVS tackling their towns.





Laurie LaVallee




I needed a challenge and I had already run a lot of the streets in Merrimac, so it wasn’t a huge undertaking. This was super easy in this little town.  157 streets 47.65 miles, every single one of them was hilly.

And on one of the hottest days of the year I ran a bunch of streets in Amesbury by accident, back and forth over the top of this giant hill, because I didn’t know where the town line was.  There was no way I was funning up that darn hill again, so I had to be sure I hit everything in that neighborhood that day.

Here's a fun fact about Street Ferret. If you ran the Earth Rock Run Half Marathon last spring as part of the Super Iron Series you're already 1/3 done with South Hampton, NH.






Marcie DiLorenzo

Marcie DiLorenzo


 

In March I was disappointed with having the Boston Marathon pushed out. At that time, I was inspired by Chad, who was wrapping up his personal challenge of running all the streets in North Andover. I was curious about my town, Amesbury. I wanted to see just how many streets there were. Was it a challenge I felt I could accomplish? Amesbury, despite being a city, is relatively small. So, I mentally committed to the challenge. However, I was not quite ready to take the plunge. I dragged my feet a bit before jumping in. When I did, I was rejuvenated as a runner. I eagerly went out the door each morning, racing to complete Amesbury. I shared my story on “Amesbury Talks” a Facebook group. My goal was to alert residents that they might see me running their streets early in the morning. The lady in the bright colored Lycra was there to run with no nefarious intentions. My post caught the attention of the local paper, who wrote an article about my miles. That article caught the attention of a producer from Live with Kelly and Ryan! After two phone conversations they “booked me” for a live interview, over Zoom. To think my two minutes on camera started from running 12.29 square miles. I ran 86.44 miles to complete the 12.29 square miles. I learned the topography of my city, gained a better understanding of the geography, and gained a new favorite spot in town! If you want to see it, come with me on a hilly run!

 

 

CLICK HERE to check out Marcie's interview on Live with Kelly and Ryan


 

CLICK HERE to read about Marcie in the Newburyport Daily News





Maura Ward Szendey


Maura



When things started shutting down, Chad posted that he was going to run all the streets in N. Andover.  I decided, why not try Andover - it would keep me motivated and force me to try new routes.  And since I was fairly centrally located, I would be able to get to all the streets from my house.

 

I started in May.  I am now at 83% complete, still needing to complete the Northwest corner. I have completed 628 streets for a total of 192 miles. and still have 128 left.  Of course, I’m repeating streets to get to new ones!

 

I have found some streets on Street Ferret that don’t exist - and I've run on new streets that aren't in any map yet.  In one of my long runs I ran down Jenkins Rd through Harold Parker. There was one street that I was not sure if it was Andover or N. Reading and decided to run it just in case.  Well I got down to the end of the street and heard someone say "I was wondering when you'd hit this area" - It was fellow strider Brigid Rodin.  We ran for a few miles together (or rather she dragged me since she had fresh legs and I was on mile 13 of 19).

 

It has been interesting.  I have discovered new areas to run - and lots of hills.




 

Jen Curro


  

My town is huge!

233 miles of 903 streets and I am 56% done with Billerica. Makes every run different… I like how it mixes up the routes.  My town is so big, I live .3 miles from Chelmsford border, I’m at the point that I have to drive to do my runs.




Are you ready to take on the challenge? Check out Strava Street Ferret!



If you're a Strider and have accomplished or are in the middle of the Street Ferret let us know so that we may share your story. 

 

 

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