SAN ANTONIO – Even when it seemed the world was hunkered down at home, there was no such thing as sitting still for Kevin Mack and Angela English.
The pair took to the streets – every single one in Helotes – to complete an unusual challenge during the coronavirus-related quarantine.
“It was a time when everything was locking down and we were looking for some positivity and some way to motivate people,” said Mack.
He and English, who are partners only on the pavement, set out on their quest in April of last year to run along every street in Helotes.
They plotted out their courses on a website, then kept track of the completed miles on a map.
Late last month, one full year after they started, they used pink highlighter to color in their final course, signaling completion.
“You go and you run it and it’s fun to run,” English said, describing the experience. “You feel better after and then you get to mark those streets off. That’s very motivating for me.”
The pair not only designed their routes but also made up their own rules.
Mack says they had a pact that they wouldn’t cut corners or skip any streets.
“Our rule was you gotta go back and do it,” he said. “You gotta set two feet on each road.”
In the end, they had covered about 200 miles and made countless memories.
“We’ve seen some beautiful, beautiful areas, and met some awesome people along the way,” said English.
They also had several eye-opening experiences, encountering everything from snakes to tarantulas to llamas along the way.
They also saw some famous faces as well, two well-known ballers who passed them on bicycles.
“They turned around and came back at us and we did a wave,” Mack said. “I was, like, ‘That looked like Tim Duncan!’ And then the second biker comes and it was Manu Ginobili.”
Seeing the two San Antonio Spurs alumni was a definite highlight, but the pair says an even bigger thrill comes from their accomplishment and the impact it has had on others.
“We had people reach out to us as we started doing this and marking off the map that (said), ‘Hey you guys motivated me to do my first 5K,” Mack said.
For now, they are taking a break from all that mapping although they are still putting in the miles.