Back in February, I met up with runner Jim Cielencki who was canvassing and charting every single street in Buffalo on foot (see here). Since that time, Jim has been running his butt off, in order to complete the daunting task. At this point, Jim only has 20 miles to go, plus the Buffalo Marathon on May 29.
Along the way, Jim has been updating a Strava Heatmap, which has been keeping track of his progress.
Following are some questions that we had for the ambitious runner.
How far along are you?
Well, my running of every street is nearly complete. I have about 20 miles to finish plus the marathon on the 29th.
How long did it take?
It’s been just over 4.5 months since I started running every street of Buffalo.
How did it go?
There were tough times when I felt like Pac-Man eating up miles instead of dots, but there have also been amazing times too. The tough times basically deal with the winter that just can’t quite let go and running when you don’t want to. The good times are when you see something amazing that you never expected.
Tell us a little but about the houses/people that you encountered.
The houses are great to see, but it’s been the chance encounters with the people throughout the city. There’s a good number of people who are stand-offish, but the ones that are confident and comfortable end up talking to you for a long time.
How did the photo journalism aspect of the journey pan out?
For me the photos have become an open source history project where people will fill in the history that they might know about the subject. This has honestly been the most rewarding part. Learning about Buffalo from the people who have made it.
How far did you run? How far do you have to go?
I ran about 850 miles, with 22 to go, plus 26.2 for the marathon.
What surprised you along the way?
BRO and WKBW did stories on my run and I immediately got recognized all over the city, but mostly the East Side because that’s where I was running. I recently filled in a 0.1 mile section and a guy says “I saw you on TV.” Another time I had a 10 minute conversation with a guy in the middle of Memorial Drive about it. I’ve also had people from around the country say that they’ve heard about it.
Any reflections?
This has been one of the most challenging things I’ve every done. I don’t think I’ve ever been this committed to something before. Not sure where the drive has come from, but after this anything seems possible.
To see Jim’s progress thus far, check out his city coverage on Strava Athlete Heatmaps.
At this point, Jim’s Instagram account is up to 219 photos… to see some additional photos, check out our initial BRO post that we ran on Jim’s pursuit to run every single city block of Buffalo.