Montrose resident racing through Wright County
Missie Jacobson, of Montrose, used her extra time during the pandemic to set a new goal; to run every road in Wright County. When the pandemic started, she found a website called citystrides.com and was inspired to challenge herself with a new project. Currently, she has over 50% of the streets in Wright County completed.
Jacobson wants to cover all the city and township roads in the county. “When I first started, just city streets were listed, eventually they added township roads, so I have been getting some of those done,” she shared. Jacobson said she has always been an active runner, running towards her goal six days a week since 2016, and runs at least a mile every day. “I run up to eight miles when I go out,” she said.
In October of 2021, she finished her first 50k Run, the Surf the Murph Run in Savage at Murphy-Hanrehan Park. Since then has wanted to run more dirt roads noticing it is easier on her body. “I just can’t keep running the same loop anymore,” she shared. Jacobson has completed running all the streets in Montrose, Buffalo, Delano, Rockford, Waverly, and more. Her running streak began on September 13, 2016, putting her streak at over 2,000 days.
Her favorite part of the experience so far is seeing new places in her county. “I love discovering parks, exploring, and I add new discoveries to Google Maps so other people can find them and enjoy them,” Jacobson stated.
“I love running along the Crow River, I have seen it from a variety of different views, it’s beautiful,” she shared. “In the winter, I enjoyed running in Victor Township; I found a lot of hidden gems. I like to find old schoolhouses,” Jacobson shared about her adventures around Wright County.
Jacobson shared she tries to always run outside and is trying to give up using her treadmill completely. She has gone on runs on the coldest day of the year and went for a run during a blizzard.
Some challenges Jacobson has faced is finding parking near new roads she wants to complete. “I try to park at parks, and in the winter, it’s a lot harder to find parking when I need to drive to where I’m running,” she mentioned. Sometimes, she comes across roads that are actually driveways or dead ends, which have sometimes made it difficult for her to plan runs in advance.
The project will cover over 2,000 miles when Jacobson completes all of Wright County. Jacobson is the only person in Wright County attempting this impressive challenge that she knows of, but she does know others outside of the county who use citystrides.com as well and have similar goals to hers.
