00:00My name is Nigel Beecroft and I'm from Harbourn in Birmingham. I took on a challenge to run every
00:06single street and cul-de-sac in Birmingham. I've always been into running, I really enjoy running
00:12and after running the same routes for years and years, last January, January 2024, I bought a
00:21running magazine, I was on a long train journey and there was an article that caught my eye in
00:26there called Become a Local Explorer and it was advertising a website called City Strides,
00:33which basically maps your runs onto any city in the world really. So I thought, yeah, being a resident
00:40of Birmingham, I thought I'd give it a go. I started doing a few runs in my immediate area and I soon
00:47got hooked and thought, yeah, this is a challenge, I'm going to go for it. So yesterday, 16th of October
00:532025, so 20 months later, I finally did the final leg of my challenge. So yeah, I'm one of very few
01:03people that have run every single street in Birmingham. I met some really, really interesting
01:08people. I mean, when you're normally just running around the, you know, running along the canal or in
01:13your local park, people don't generally bat an eyelid. But when somebody sees you running up to the
01:19end of the street and back again, they kind of stop you and say, you know, you're lost. During
01:24the challenge, I thought, am I really going to continue with this? I mean, the run in itself
01:28was not the biggest challenge. It was logistically trying to get over to the other side of Birmingham
01:34to do a run, for example, to drive over in full traffic. But yeah, I'm really pleased now that
01:41I've managed it. What surprised me about Birmingham is how hilly it is. I run up some absolutely killer hills,
01:47especially in the sort of north side of Birmingham. I just didn't realise how, you know, how many hills
01:53I've encountered. And when you're doing every street, you tend to be going up and down, up and down.
02:00So yeah, but on the plus side, got some really, really good views across the city.
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