Town Bagging - Article on Let's Run

Meet the Folks Motivated by Running Every Corner of Their Home StatesFrom Vermont to Iowa, they're determined to log miles in every single town or county.By Paul Snyder FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2017, 4:18 PM

Run Vermont

I thought, but wasn't sure, that I was alone in one of my peculiar tendencies when traveling via car or bus.

I’ll zone out while staring out the window, admiring the rapidly changing landscape, until I fixate on a particularly lush-looking, trail-strewn hillside, or an impossibly inviting town’s bricked main street, or even the crumbling asphalt of an urban waterway’s neglected bike path. And I picture myself hopping out of the vehicle and going for a run right there, exploring this previously unknown-to-me place on foot.

Vermont

After Dave DeVarney completes a casual run this weekend in Winooski, a town of about 7,000 just north of Burlington, he’ll join an exclusive and quirky club, but perhaps at an echelon he’ll have all to himself.

That’s because DeVarney, a native-Vermonter who now resides in Rhode Island, will become the first known person to go for a run in every municipality in Vermont. A similar club already exists, The 251 Club of Vermont, which welcomes members who have visited each of the state’s 251 towns and cities. As far as we know, DeVarney will be the first member to do so while logging runs.

Speaking to Vermont Public Radio, DeVarney explained that he was looking for something to keep him occupied following his retirement.

“Originally I was going to do a Forrest Gump and run across the United States last year,” he said. “And financially, physically, I was just not ready. And of course my wife was not ready for it, so that's when I played my card and I said what about if I do this? She let me do it.”

CONNECTICUT

Like Vermont, Connecticut also boasts an informal club that avid intrastate travelers can join, but unlike its northern counterpart, Connecticut’s aptly named Run 169 Towns Society is a club just for those who run a race while visiting each of the state’s incorporated areas.

The “race” stipulation means would-be members have not only the physical challenge of getting so many places to contend with, but also have to reckon with the road racing calendars of 169 communities. It’s no small feat, logistically or otherwise. In fact, in the club’s six-year history, only 22 people have completed the task.

MASSACHUSETTS

Though Massachusetts doesn’t have any clubs for intrepid traveling runners to join, that didn’t dissuade Dave Dunham from crossing a run off in every town in the state. (Runner’s World wrote about Dunham’s successful quest to do so back in 2009, and despite the impressive nature of his accomplishment, his record keeping might be the story’s biggest takeaway.)

An IRS anaylist, Dunham wasn’t motivated by a desire to stave off post-retirement boredom, nor—as mentioned above—could he become a member of an elite crew. So why did he do it? Dunham was already, accidentally almost halfway through with checking off every town in his native Massachusetts, and thought finishing up could be cool.

INDIANA

For whatever reason, New Englanders and Midwesterners seem most inclined to want to run their whole state. But given that heartland states tend to be larger, runners there chase after counties.

As of October 7, 2017, 12-year-old Madison Rahschulte had run a 5K in 82 of her native Indiana’s 92 counties. Rahschulte is well on pace to complete her goal of finishing before she starts high school, and in the process has lowered her 5K personal best to an impressive 20:46, proving you don't have to sacrifice speed in the interest of conquering counties.

ILLINOIS

Dave Joens of Westward, Illinois, completed his mission to run a race in each of his state’s 102 counties in 2015. His quest took seven years and a whole lot of ingenuity to find out about events taking place in the more far-flung regions of the state. The State Journal-Register described Joens’s ingenious approach:

“Hardin and Scott counties were the most difficult. His solution was to subscribe to their local weekly newspapers and watch for news of any races. Within a month, he hit pay dirt when a race was announced in the Scott County paper.”

IOWA

The Iowa-based duo of Daren Schumaker and Dennis Lee really upped the ante. Over the course of nearly a decade, they ran a makeshift marathon in every Iowa county.

In the course of marathoning in each of Iowa’s 99 counties, the two calculated that they had driven more than 20,000 miles, while running more than 2,500 miles, just in the interest of completing their objective. They cooked up the plan out of boredom, but wound up raising more than $10,000 for the American Heart Association in the process.

This sort of challenge ought to speak to the record-minded members of the running community, as there seem to be plenty of remaining states to attempt. Is there a soul brave enough to log a mile in every Alaskan city and town? Surely California, with its countless suburbs, hasn’t been claimed yet. Will the person who attempts to run every Hawaiian municipality use a boat to get between islands?

As for me, if nobody else has called it, dibs on Rhode Island.