Jersey man running every street in his county
Event is to honor father, raise awareness
There are 37 municipalities in Camden County. More than 227 square miles. Literally hundreds of streets, avenues, roads, boulevards and drives.
And Jack Witzig is well on his way to running each and every one of them.
Not that Camden County is the only place where the Merchantville resident runs: He’s done four marathons and a couple of ultramarathons. He’s training for the Boston Marathon. He’s run the hills and hollows of West Virginia, where his wife has family. And he’s hit the streets of Centralia, Pennsylvania, a ghost town most famous for a coal mine fire that’s been smoldering underground since 1962 (he stayed away from the dangerous, toxic sections of the town).
But Witzig, who took up running in 2016 (“It’s a typical story; I needed to lose weight and get in shape,” he explained), is concentrating on running on every mapped roadway in Camden County. He’s already gotten through several municipalities: tiny boroughs including Audubon, Woodlynne and Merchantville; sprawling municipalities including Cherry Hill, Pennsauken and Haddon Township (including its West Collingswood Heights extension); the City of Camden and the rural county roads of Chesilhurst.
“I found out this was a thing by listening to a podcast, ‘Running Times,’ with Michael Gagliardi, who’s a Philly guy,” Witzig said. “He interviewed a guy who’d run every street and alley in Washington, D.C.
“So I thought, let me see about (running) Merchantville. And I grew up in Haddon Heights, so I did that, and I’d run from my house to the house where I grew up. Then I did Maple Shade, and it spread out from there.”
Witzig, who works for Bloomberg, is the son of Don Witzig, a longtime teacher and coach at Cherry Hill East and Cherokee high schools. “Coach Witz,” as he was affectionately known to generations of track and cross country runners, bowlers, baseball and softball players, died in 2016 from Lewy body dementia, a degenerative disease that struck comedian and actor Robin Williams.
In honor of his dad, who also served on Haddon Heights borough council and board of education, Witzig is donating 50 cents for every mile he runs — raising $561 thus far, according to his Instagram account tracking the runs, @camcorunnner. (He also welcomes others’ donations, and includes a link on his Instagram bio.)
Witzig is tracking the run through Strava, a social media app for runners and bicyclists, and through CityStrides.com, with his progress mapped day by day, street by street.
He’s learned a lot on his runs, he said. As he ran some towns, he researched their history, learning about planned communities like Audubon Park and Fairview. Clinton Street in Oaklyn and Seventh Street near Cooper Hospital in Camden were favorite spots, places where he noticed details he knew he’d never see driving through. He loves running in Merchantville and Haddon Heights, around the Cooper River and along Lake Street in Haddonfield, which he called “so quaint and homey.”
“Being in Camden helped me learn more about the city — the different neighborhoods especially. I got the feel of running down the streets, seeing places like Parkside. In Waterfront South, I saw the (South Camden Theatre Company) and thought, ‘This is really nice here!’
“My wife went to Rutgers and back then, students were told not to go north of campus,” he remembered. “But when I ran there, it was a nice neighborhood with the most vibrant feel to it.
“Camden seems like a bigger deal to people who don’t know it... I take the same precautions I would anywhere: My wife knows where I am, I never run with both earphones in, I bring pepper spray and make sure I have situational awareness.”
Witzig understands male runners can be a little less worried about personal safety than their female counterparts, but still, he admitted, “You need to have your head on a swivel.” Speeding cars, distracted drivers, potholes, puddles, even wildlife are hazards that can cause injury to even the most cautious runners.
Though he initially began running different towns as a way to break up his routine, Witzig has worked the county trips into his Boston Marathon training with the help of his coach, Casey Coleman.
“When I work with someone like Jack who has his own thing, we can build that into his training plan,” said Coleman, who with PR With CR partner Randi West offers customized training for runners. “You never want to interfere with something that excites or motivates someone; you want to encourage that.”
Marathon training, particularly for an event like Boston’s, which has time requirements to qualify, takes a higher volume of training, Coleman added.
“What he’s doing now” — Witzig usually runs 8 to 10 miles at a time — “gets him on the road and gets him a lot of miles.”
Different towns present different challenges, something that’s good preparation for an urban marathon.