Livermore Man's Marathon Of Love For His Hometown

LIVERMORE (CBS SF) -- For many people, it's hard to find the motivation to run even a mile. So imagine a Livermore man who set out on a mission to run every street in his city.

Mike Beckwith laces up his running shoes, launching into an exercise routine, but also undertaking a discovery mission to seek out new nooks and crannies in his East Bay community.

"My goal is to run every single street, every cul-de-sac, every turnaround, everything, to see every inch of this city," said Mike Beckwith of Livermore. "Doing the same trail every day gets really boring. "

"I love the city, I love everything about it. I love meeting new people. I love seeing new things. And when you run every single street, you get to see a whole lot of people and see a whole lot of things you might not have seen otherwise."

On Friday, Beckwith did his 65th run in Livermore. His GPS watch tracked every single one of his routes. So far, he's completed 350 miles within the city. And he's inching closer to the finish line.

Beckwith said he has about 25 to 30 miles left and projected he would finish running on every street in Livermore by the end of March.

"So many cul-de-sacs and so many streets that you have to double back on. That's why I call it a puzzle," said Beckwith.

He uploads his trips and progress onto his Facebook page, Mike Runs Livermore.

To keep the trips interesting, sometimes, Beckwith would run routes that symbolize something. He ran a route that read "Love Livermore." He also ran a route that shaped like a heart. And on this past Monday, Pi Day.

"I'm kind of a numbers guy. On March 14th every year, I run 3.14 miles. It draws out 3.14 and the PI symbol," said Beckman, who started that run at 3:14 p.m.

The 50-year-old tech worker retired from Apple in January.
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"No, I was not a runner," he said. "I started smoking cigarettes at 13 and then gave them up when I was 39, just before my 40th birthday. And ran a mile the next day. It hurt, man. I was coughing. I sure didn't want a cigarette after that. And then I just started running."

Before Beckwith moved to Livermore about six years ago, he finished running on every street in Dublin where he had lived.