DeKalb man runs every road in DeKalb County

DeKALB – For Shawn Beck, running has become part of his newfound way of life.

So, when an opportunity arose to use running as an outlet to put an end to his smoking habits after years of burning through three packs of cigarettes a day, the DeKalb resident said he couldn’t resist the urge to give it a try.

“I read somewhere that if you wanted to quit smoking, you have to become a different kind of person, the kind of person that doesn’t smoke,” Beck said. “I always looked at runners as being healthy and disciplined, the kind of people that didn’t smoke at least three packs a day. So, I decided to become a runner. … I quit smoking. I ran my 5K. [It was] like a miracle of some sort that I could run a 5K, and I became hooked on it.”

He said he achieved his initial goal of running every street in his hometown, but he wasn’t content with stopping there.

“It was a cool experience,” Beck said. “I think I finished that in May of 2020, every road in the city. The world had changed a lot between February and May of 2020 [because of COVID-19]. I had a lot of time on my hands. I discussed it with someone, and they jokingly said that, ‘I was going to run every road in the county’. They said, ‘You can’t do that. You need to get a bike.’ That was enough to spur me on to trying to do every road in the county. At that time, I was being paid to stay home because I was on furlough because of the pandemic. I had a lot of time to kill.”

It took Beck about three and a half years to accomplish this feat, with his last run in Genoa coming only recently.

Beck said before every run, he would prepare his fitness watch and the mapping application CityStrides, so they were in sync to trace his every step on DeKalb County streets. He said he’s never been too fond of the idea of rituals and the benefits they may offer.

But Beck often would purposefully start each of his runs slow. He also often would listen to music or the “The Four Quartets” poem by T.S. Eliot on his runs.

Beck said that while he’s never been into rituals, he’s now more in tune with his habits and leading a healthier lifestyle.

He said most of his running was done on his own without other people tagging along. Beck said what kept him motivated to keep running when the going got tough was understanding what it takes to have a runner’s mentality.

“Part of the appeal of running is that it forces you to practice with discomfort,” he said. “No one runs because it’s easy.”

Beck said he enjoyed his experience of running all the streets in DeKalb County and seeing everything that the county has to offer.

“I went out early on and I always had the goal of trying to find beautiful and interesting things in areas that you might not expect to find,” he said. “I found that as long as I had that mentality, everything was interesting and there were all kinds of beautiful things that I wouldn’t have noticed otherwise.”

Beck said he feels a sense of accomplishment after running every street in the county, but he’s looking to find additional inspiration to keep running after all that he’s achieved.

“It did feel a little more like I’d achieved something,” he said. “I guess immediately after that I felt like I don’t want to say empty. I woke up the next morning and felt like I didn’t really have a path, or at least a clear one. That had been pushing me forward. It took up a lot of time and focus, which I’m really grateful that it did.”

Beck said the whole experience was eye-opening, not only for his physical health but also his spiritual self.

“The whole thing started off as a reason to continue running and give me some kind of running challenge,” he said. “It turned into more of a spiritual pilgrimage. It really changed the way I interface with my community.”