How Far Did Adonis Run in Creed?

Scene from Creed via the first trailer

I wrote an article in 2013 titled, “How Far Did Rocky Go in His Training Run in ‘Rocky II’?” Connecting the various scenes of Rocky Balboa’s long training run in Rocky II, the route I drew had the Italian Stallion going nearly 30.61 miles in that one montage.

A lot of people read it! It was aggregated across the Internet. Rebecca Barber turned it into a real thing with the Rocky 50K Fat Ass Run, now in its third year. I even wrote a spinoff, based on the ambulance route at the start of the film, last year.

Creed — where Rocky trains Apollo Creed’s son, Adonis, for his first big fight — came out in November. It was pretty great: Director Ryan Coogler did a fantastic job inserting a new character into the Rocky franchise, Michael B. Jordan was a solid lead and Sylvester Stallone actually turned in the best acting performance of his career. There was also a little bit of running in it.

As such, I figured this article deserved a sequel: How far did Adonis run in Creed?

Scene from Creed via the second trailer

There are a few running scenes in the film that aren’t part of any long run. In one training montage scene, Rocky watches Adonis run on the Schuylkill Banks Boardwalk. Adonis also runs up some steps at an El station, runs on a treadmill and, in both trailers, runs through the Italian Market.

In the most memorable running scene in the film, Adonis does roadwork with a bunch of kids on ATVs and dirt bikes alongside him. But most of that scene takes place on a few blocks on Clearfield Street and surrounding roads in Kensington and Port Richmond. It’s not a long enough run to track.

But there is one significant run in the film. It may not be Rocky II far, but it’s a decent distance.

The long run starts after Adonis asks Rocky if he can move in with him, in order to prepare for his first U.S. professional fight “old school.” He bunks with Rocky, who’s a tough trainer. Rocky wakes Adonis up early, then hops in a white van outside his house — but makes Adonis run behind the van all the way to the gym. This is our scene.

The house has a number, and the 25th Street Viaduct is in the background, so it was easy to figure out where Rocky lives: 2504 Federal Street, in the city’s Grays Ferry section.

The film’s next scene shows the end of the run, and it’s easy to make a running route. Rocky’s driving, so this has to be on the roads and has to follow the streets. I figured they’d run through Center City and North Philly rather than go all the way down to Delaware Ave.

The route: The pair head west on Federal Street to 26th, where they turn right. They turn right again on Washington Ave. and go to Broad, where they make a left. They take Broad north, around City Hall and all the way to Cecil B. Moore Ave. They take Cecil B. Moore to Front Street and run under the El past the York-Dauphin Stop.

They continue north on Front and take it all the way to Lehigh, where they make a right. They take Lehigh to B Street, hit Gurney and go over the B Street Bridge — as we know from Rocky’s run in Rocky II, he likes this going over this bridge.

They take B Street to Cambria, Cambria to Kensington Ave. and run under the El to Clearfield. Adonis then finishes his run as Rocky parks at the Front Street Gym, which is a real place. Despite its name, it’s at 2076 East Clearfield Street.

Just like last time, I put my route into the USATF’s route-mapping feature. Adonis may not have done Rocky’s 50K, but he did put in a solid 7.98 miles (12.85 kilometers) that morning.

Don’t disparage Adonis. This is only the first film. Creed made so much money there is already talk of a sequel. If the movie’s a linear sequel that follows Adonis’ boxing career, I’m confident he’ll ramp up the mileage.

Follow @dhm on Twitter.