Jonathan Mogg, who sells real estate and loves to run, is embarking on one of his greatest goals yet. He's running every street in Sault Ste. Marie to raise funds for Algoma Residential Community Hospice (ARCH).
By running approximately 760 streets by the end of the year, Mogg hopes to raise $5,000 for ARCH as part of his Great Bucket List Challenge. Mogg has been running for over three years and averages about 300 kilometres a month, if not more. Running has become a huge part of his life, and he wanted to give back to an organization that does so much for the community by doing something he loves.
“I believe ARCH has one of the hardest jobs in the world. Taking care of people at the end of their journey is heart-wrenching, and I know they do such a fantastic job for our community. I thought this would be the easiest way for me to give back by using my passion,” he said.
Within two and a half months, Mogg has already run 95 per cent of the city, and he’s saving all of his favourite spots for last. After already completing 15 per cent of the city prior, he was confident that he could accomplish this goal. He just never imaged he’d be this far in such a short period of time.
“I never had the stats for this. I always thought to run all the streets would be 2,000 kilometres, and that would be daunting,” he said. “I just started chipping away, and I found that I ran more just by trying to get one more street.
“In one day, I did a half marathon (21.1 kms) in the west end. It accounted for 25 streets,” Mogg said.
After finalizing his goal, Mogg contacted ARCH and presented his idea.
“We were extremely grateful for Jon when he initially reached out and said that he wanted to join our Great Bucket List Challenge by running every street in Sault Ste. Marie! It's been amazing to be a part of Jon’s journey, his love for our community as well as running is one of a kind,” shared Bree Bennett, fund development associate at ARCH.
Miranda Leonard, marketing and events associate at ARCH, couldn’t believe the news when she heard from Mogg.
“Bree and I were not only shocked but amazed by Jon’s challenge, as well as his goal to raise $5,000 for hospice care," said Leonard. “Jon gave himself the entire year to accomplish this goal – He’s over 95 per cent completed, and it's only March! We are so grateful for Jon Mogg’s dedication and our community’s generosity.”
ARCH has been impacted in many ways because of the pandemic, and many events have been cancelled or have shifted to being hosted virtually. Fundraising is essential to ARCH and after a year of the pandemic, Bennett is grateful for the continued support.
“Since the Pandemic began, one year ago, our fundraising efforts have been impacted dramatically. ARCH is required to raise at least $850,000 to ensure care, comfort and special moments are provided to our residents, and their families at no cost. Jon’s independent Bucket List Challenge is a breath of fresh air, we are extremely grateful for Jon as well as our entire community," said Bennett.
As Mogg embraces his new goal, he learns more about the city streets than ever before, including finding new ones. He expressed how mesmerizing the newest locations were, and he hopes to become the agent that knows every captivating part of the city.
“I’ve discovered so many beautiful parts of this city. Things that I didn’t know were here,” he said. “I want to become the person who knows this city better than anyone. Inside and out, I’ve been down every single street, and one thing I can say is I felt safe everywhere in this city.”
Mogg says his biggest challenges through all of this are preparation time and navigating through street locations, and at the end of the run, making sure he hasn’t missed any.
“The run itself is the easy part. It’s all the preparation time and driving to the locations to run. It costs so much time, but otherwise, make sure you don’t miss a street and when you do going back and getting it.”
On exactly three occasions, Mogg has missed a street and had to go back and run it. Luckily, each time was only under a kilometre. Although he is nearly done, he will have to go back to some streets in the spring because of the snow.
“That has happened about five times on my journey now. A couple of times, I ran right through the snow because I knew there was a street there. There have been a couple of disappointing times, and definitely, spring is going to bring a lot of happiness in finishing those little spots.”
Mogg looks forward to completing his journey and even more so because he’ll be able to show his sons all the new spots he’s found.
“I can’t wait to show my sons the coolest parts of Sault Ste. Marie. That is my favourite part of all of this. I can’t wait to show them the waterfronts I’ve found and show them there are hills that you can see the heart of the city.”
While Mogg has made this goal for himself, he has also made another goal with his sons. By showing them that a little effort each day can make for a big reward.
“Well, I like these things of little efforts every day, and that’s why I run every day. It started little, and now it has gotten big, so the little efforts mean a lot to me. I told my sons if they walk at least one kilometre every day, they can build to a long-term goal. And that goal is getting a dog.”
To support Jonathan Mogg's challenge, click on the link.
To follow Jonathan Mogg on his journey as he runs every street in Sault Ste. Marie click on the link.