Research

A Journey of a Lifetime

My best friend and I came up with the idea on June 29th, 2020, back when I was about halfway done running every street of Fairfield. On May 23rd, 2021, the idea finally got off the back burner and came to life - I ran 11.2 miles in Thompson, CT to start my journey. As of mid 2024, I am almost 75% of the way done with this breathtaking challenge, excited for where each and every turn lying ahead takes me! If you want to stay updated, you can follow my instagram account @jwalewski_ to see both the incredible runs I've done so far and the incredible kindness of all of those who have helped me!

Always Finding New Roads

Just 12 days after running every street of Fairfield I found myself starting down Woodlawn Avenue in New London, my college town. As I found myself essentially repeating my previous challenge I again gained so much perspective on a community which I previously thought I was familar with. As I wrote in a short reflection after finishing, "I discovered a whole new set of stories that are just as much Connecticut as the place I grew up." Running every street of New London made me also appreciate the divide between college students and permanent residents, and how simply seeing the whole city began to ammend it. Below is a map of all of the completed project, color coded by frequency - the yellow roads at the top are the Connecticut College campus.

A map just after I finished running every street of New London.

Exploring During Lockdown

Itching to see something new during the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, I set off on Split Rock Road on April 3, 2020. Between that time and August 24th of the same year, when I ran down Mulberry Hill Road, I discovered so much of a place that I thought I previously knew like the back of my hand.

Racing The Clock

Track

In track season I specialized in the 10K, the longest race available at the collegiate level. I ran my college best of 32:33.88 in April 2022, shortly after running 116 miles in one week (the most I ever have). The experience was yet another symnbol of hard work paying off, as I beat the 32:35 required to run NEICAAAs, a New England championship meet across all three NCAA divisions.

Otherwise, I also ran the 5K (PR of 15:33.65), the mile (PR of 4:38.40) and other distances on occasion.

Cross Country

The highlight of my cross country experience at Conn was the team qualifying for nationals my senior year. While the team usually sends individuals, this was the first team apperance on DIII's largest stage in exactly 20 years! My individual role was small, but not insignificant: I was often the sixth or seventh runner for the Conn College Camels, being just outside of scoring position (top five) for our team but displacing the scores of the teams around us. I am still grateful for the hard work every teammate gave, especially those often in the scoring five, for having created the nationals oppurtunity they did.