I ran every street of my village during a global pandemic and here's what I learned

An athletic store in my village conducts a fun challenge every November, called GOvember. The residents are encouraged to run or walk every street of the village. Since this will be my first year living here, I thought it would be a fun way to see my neighborhood. It will also give me a chance to get out and train in November when the weather usually turns cold. 

On day-1, I almost gave up before starting. It was 16F windchill on November 1st, so when I woke up I decided not to do the GOvember. My running friend, Jung, messaged me that there are various challenges within the GOvember challenge like running the entire length of one of the busiest streets, completing all north/south streets, all east/west streets, etc. I can do any of those or all of them. Though I didn't want any of the fun prizes, I thought it would be a fun challenge. 

I ended up running 133 miles. Though the entire village is only 110-ish miles, I had to go back and forth on many streets. And as luck would have it, I was the first person to complete GOvember this year. The winner gets a $100 value balloon display from a local store and a $25 gift card at the athletics store.

Here's what I saw and learned during my runs:

November is a beautiful time to run, with the fall colors. The leaves were particularly beautiful during sunrise and sunset. 

There were a lot of parks. It was good to see our tax dollars at work.

I enjoyed the beautiful historical houses. Frank Lloyd Wright built many of them. And there were houses influenced by his style.  

There were a lot of churches. When I googled to see how many in my village, there were 50.

There were block parties. I am unsure if I was more surprised that the block parties were in the November cold or that they were mingling during a global pandemic. 

One needs to be incredibly careful running on the sidewalks, I tripped only twice and luckily avoided any fall. But those cement slabs can be brutal.

Public schools were closed for virtual classes, private schools were open for in-class sessions. I learned that private school teachers don't have a union. 

I had to run a slower pace. When running in the streets, the running pace significantly slows down as you have to watch for traffic, stop signs, traffic lights and traffic.  

When running early mornings or evenings, always wear reflective materials. I also had my headlamps during night runs. 

It is a good idea to carry a mask. When running through busy areas, sidewalks, parks, it can come handy to be safe. And carrying a mask in one of my pockets was no big deal.