I started running around age 16 in an attempt to improve body image issues. I went out after midnight because I worked late, and so no one would see me. Over the next few years, my motivations took on other aspects, from a general feeling of wellness to, more recently, a good excuse to listen to books. Once my brother Tim seemingly randomly signed up for a marathon, I stepped up my running as well. I’ve since run a bunch of races, though I am on the slower side and am not super competitive.

I ran my first marathon in 2012 in San Francisco (along with Tim and Mom!), and through 2022 have run around 8 marathons, 6 50Ks and a 50 miler. My peak so far was in 2018, the year of the 50 miler and my first full year working at Fitbit. It’s hard to say for sure why I trended down after that, but I’ll point out the Covid-19 pandemic happened, during which I moved twice and bought a house. I started running more “seriously” again in 2022 to prep for pacing Tim for part of his 10th or 12th 100 miler. I am aiming to sign up for a 100K in the next year or so.

Cardio distance 2010 through 2022, with running in green and biking in blue

While an upcoming race is great motivation, I have kept myself occupied long term by trying to “run every road” in my city.

I started this in San Francisco in 2017, and while I was not rushing, I thought I might become the first one to finish the city (on CityStrides at least — I’d heard someone walked all the streets before and wrote a book about it). Unfortunately for me, some superstar Rickey Gates made news in December 2018 for having done this whole project in less than 2 months! That’s amazing! As for me, I made much less progress in 2019 and 2020. I made more progress in early 2021 but then moved across the bay.

With my 2022 push to start running again, I focused my efforts on running every road in Oakland. I completed about a quarter of the streets in the first year. I’ve also started chipping away at SF again now that I am commuting to the office periodically.

Below is a snapshot of my progress in November 2022, with 87 percent of the streets completed in San Francisco and 28 percent in Oakland. Click the images for the latest map, or check out my profile on CityStrides!