Running
This guy ran every single San Francisco street in just 46 days
Covering 2,000km of cityscape and more than 45,000m of elevation, Ultrarunner Rickey Gates achieved a scarcely believable feat in the Californian city.
There are endless sporting challenges that tally well with exploration. You can climb Mount Everest, cycle across the entire globe or swim around the British Isles if you wish. Or, if you're an endurance runner Rickey Gates, you can run every single street of San Francisco.
The idea to run the totality of his hometown city in California, USA, first popped into Gates's mind towards the end of TransAmericana, a monster 5,900km coast-to-coast run he made from South Carolina to his home between March and August last year. He covered dusty trails, winding rivers, snow-capped hills and parched desert lands, and yet it was the urban sprawl that had most captured his imagination.
So, from November 1 to December 17, 2018, Gates set his sights on running every single street in an Francisco, clocking up over 2,000km in an astonishing 46 days. Here's what it took.
1. The elevation gain was equivalent to 5 climbs of Mount Everest
The city's hilly terrain was a challenge in itself
© Getty
During his challenge, Gates ran a total of 2,124km, and because of the hilly landscapes of San Francisco, it was equivalent to five climbs of Mount Everest (45,415m). "I was trying to hit a 48km quota each day. It ended up being 40km to 64km on average, and my biggest day was 80km," recalls Gates. "I usually ran from 7am until about 6pm, with the sun going down at around 5pm."
Gates slept in a van four or five nights a week so he didn't have to commute home after the long days. San Francisco was actually a great option for this kind of run, he says, because of the way it's surrounded by water on three sides, with the fourth side being a pretty straight border. When all was said and done he'd jogged through every single named street or alleyway in the entire city.
2. Forest fires meant he had to wear a mask
Nearby forest fires saw Gates wearing a mask on his run
© Rickey Gates
After a deadly blaze known as Camp Fire erupted in Butte County, Northern California, the resulting smog had a knock on effects for Gates, who ran wearing a mask for 10 days to avoid inhaling as much bad air as possible.
It also didn't help that the fires happened in the first couple of weeks of the challenge, which were the hardest on his legs. "Having done the coast-to-coast run, I knew I was going to get some blisters on my feet and that I'd be physically pretty destroyed from it," Gates says. "But then your body begins to adapts, and it becomes a bit easier in time."
3. The logistics often proved harder than the running
Gates's friend developed a computer programme to plan the route
© Rickey Gates
In order to plan the challenge and optimise his time the best, Gates teamed up with his mathematician friend, Dr. Michael Otte, who developed a computer programme to plan the route. "He got really excited about it, and that should have been an indication to me that it was a challenging maths problem," Gates recalls. "We had some back and forth trying do this problem more efficiently, and he ended up writing a computer program to help me out with it.
"It was trial and error every single day. I tried it out, but then I ended up using a map printed from Google to tick off what I had done, and to hit the rest efficiently."
The main action plan was to focus on one neighborhood at a time, print that map out the night before, and then try to stick to that area.
4. He didn't eat a single energy bar or gel
Gates got to know his home city of San Fransisco a lot better
© PhotoMax
Nutrition was whatever food was available, and boy was there a lot of it. "What San Fran provides is good, cheap food from around the world. Dumplings, tacos, pho, any number of things that were fun to eat, and not that expensive," Gates says. "I was really happy not to eat any energy bars or anything like that, and be able to take advantage of what the city has to offer. If I could have pho out on a cold race course, I would be the happiest racer in the world."
5. He was joined by other runners
The challenge quickly captured the hearts and minds of the local running community, with many people coming out to bound pavements alongside Gates. Not only that, but Lance Armstrong, who's trained with Gates in the past and had been following the challenge closely, tagged along for a while. "He joined for just a couple of hours, but I think that was enough for both him and I. He leaves the crazy stuff up to me," Gates says.
6. Gates got to know the 'real' San Francisco
Some neighbourhoods took hours to run, others days
© Rickey Gates
Running through many different and diverse neighbourhoods gave Gates the opportunity to connect with the city as a whole. "Some days I was in neighborhoods that are entirely Chinese people, and some days neighborhoods that are entirely African-American, some days in neighborhoods with young white people, and then some days in neighborhoods that are all of the above," he says. "It was really important for me to talk with people, and get a feel for the place. Mileage is less important to me than that."
7. Fear didn't come into it
Daylight or not, running in every single district of a big city like San Francisco meant Gates had to keep his wits about him. On one occasion, in a notoriously rough part of town, Gates came across 20 or so guys doing something to a car and blocking the sidewalk. "It was very clear that I wasn't meant to pass through the sidewalk so I just went on the street. It was fine in the end," he says. "Much like when I ran across the country, I didn't want fear to really govern where I was going or who I'd talk to. I do believe there's a lot of fear in our world, and certainly in cities. We all need to be wary of our surroundings."
8. Gates now leads a wider movement
Could you take on a similar challenge in your nearest city?
© Rickey Gates
Gates didn't invent the #everysinglestreet hashtag, but he did bring it to a whole new level. Now people all over the world are now following in his footsteps by taking on the challenge. "It's cool it caught on a little bit, and people all over the world are doing the same thing on every continent minus Antarctica, although I have connection there and I'd like to set something up there, too," he reports.
