There Are More Than 300 Miles Of Roads In Tewksbury, And He Wants To Run Them All

TEWKSBURY, MA -- The Tewksbury Department of Public Works is responsible for maintaining 314 miles of roadway in town. That doesn't include the roads maintained by the state, or the rights of way that fall somewhere in the grey area between public and private stewardship.

The exact total number of miles of roadways in Tewksbury doesn't matter much to Jeff Tucceri: he plans to run every last mile of every road in town as he trains for a 50-mile ultra marathon.

And the total number of roads he will have to run to cover that goal will be a lot more than whatever the total is. As Tucceri points out, the town has a lot of one way streets that he has to run to the end of, then circle back onto his route. Tucceri, 37, also notes that he starts most runs from his home, meaning an ever growing perimeter of roads around his home are roads he has run multiple times.

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"I have been running Tewksbury for many years and wanted to share my love for running and the town," Tucceri said. "It's a beautiful town to run in with lots of nice streets and trails."

Tucceri has started a Facebook page to track his progress and, hopefully, inspire other residents to explore the town's roadways by walking, cycling or -- preferably -- by running. Tucceri originally started the page so friends and family could track his progress, but in the short time he's been keeping the log, it has grown to include followers who are just interested in his quest.

He doesn't expect everyone to mimic his goal of covering every mile of roadway in Tewksbury, given that his current training schedule calls for him to run between 60 and 70 miles per week. In the past four weeks, according to a recent post, he has run the equivalent of four weeklly marathons with shorter runs thrown in on other days.

But Tucceri takes followers on his runs, finding time when he's banging out a 20- or 28-mile run to stop and snap some photos. Later, he posts the photos on Facebook with thoughts and even some Tewksbury trivia. His Facebook page is evolving to become part fitness blog, part personal journal and part town history.

And, of course, the Facebook page is the perfect place to find out how Tucceri is doing as he chases his goal. He regularly posts a photo of a map of town with red lines indicating the road's he's covered so far.

Tucceri, a 1999 graduate of Tewksbury Memorial High School who works in his family's natural stone restoration business, started running after the 2013 Boston marathon bombing. "I felt like I needed to do something, but didn't know what. So I went for a run," he said. "I ran about four miles that day and people were honking and waving at me in support. I almost felt guilty because I wasn't really a 'runner'."

Tucceri said he got more serious about running and fitness in 2015 when his father had a heart attack and an emergency triple bypass. Since then he's run several half marathons and seven full marathons. He is currently training for the 50-mile, Stone Cat trail race in Ipswich on November 4.

Photos by Jeff Tucceri.

Dave Copeland can be reached at dave.copeland@patch.com or by calling 617-433-7851. Follow him on Twitter (@CopeWrites) and Facebook (/copewrites).