Runner Treks Every Robbinsdale Street

How well do you know the town where you live?

For instance, let’s take the city of Robbinsdale.  People know that it has a vibrant restaurant scene, and plenty of space for outdoor recreation.

Just ask avid runner Lance Voelker, a Robbinsdale resident.

“I spent 18 weeks from December till April running, training for the Boston Marathon,” Voelker said. “And I was up and down the parkway, out to the river and back. I was going through Sochacki [Park] a couple of times.”

With easy access to all of those trails, Robbinsdale is a perfect place for people who enjoy pounding the pavement.

“And it was as simple as walking out the door and going up and down the parkway,” Voelker said.

However, Voelker decided he didn’t want to limit himself to the city’s designated trails, considering there’s plenty of other scenery to check out.

Running the City Streets

In total, Robbinsdale has 85 miles worth of streets. Voelker has run literally every single one of them.

“I basically did it the old-fashioned way and printed out a Google map and outlined it,” he said.

After Voelker finished with his marathon training, he decided to take a break and run the streets without worrying about time and distance.

Over the course of 13 different sessions, Voelker zig-zagged his way through the entire city — residential and busy streets alike — using the GPS on his watch to track his movements.

“Robbinsdale was a fun experiment to do because I live here, and I haven’t been down every street,” Voelker said.

In total, it took him nearly ten and a half hours to finish the task, which he officially completed on May 12.

“I enjoyed it,” Voelker said. “I saw things I didn’t know were here and it was a good way to exercise and let go of all the training I’ve been doing and just kind of enjoy running,” he said.

Meanwhile, Voelker says he doesn’t have any plans to run every street of a neighboring city, but he would be interested in running Robbinsdale again next summer and doing it a little bit faster.

Robbinsdale