I decided to share my walking and running routes for the past four years.
Mainly this is an excuse to air out my map making skills. If you ever wondered what geographers do for fun, well…. this isn’t it. I was using my mapping tools at work when this idea for a blog popped up in my mind. By the way if you don’t have it yet, get Google Earth. it’s a great little mapping tool. Very easy to use and the basic version is free.
I started out with a mind-blowing 1-mile walk at night. It took me half an hour and I came back sweating and breathing hard but it was a start.
Then I “discovered” Hershey park and upped my game to 2 and a half miles of walking. I would drive to the park and walk the route and within a month I had torn some tissue in my hip. Any attempt at running was painful to say the least. So I had to walk this route for 6 months.
My next progression was walking to the park rather than driving. Up to 4 miles now but still walking. Taking a few short sprints here and there and testing out my hip.
I hate taking the same route up and then back so for my next step up I completed a loop round the park. Up to five miles now. Still mostly walking but jogging here and there putting together a half mile here, a quarter-mile there. Eventually segments would merge together. One nondescript Saturday morning I took a chance and ran the whole course. I actually did a victory loop at the end.
My daily run has now settled to about six and half miles. I keep a couple of different routes to keep from getting bored.
If I wake up late I use my “emergency” route. A quick 4 mile course that I can finish in less than an hour and still feel that I’ve accomplished something for the day.
On the other hand if I wake up early I go for my 8 mile route. Took some creative routing to get it up to 8 miles.
Finally there’s the 16 miler. I have failed horribly on this route twice. I get around 13 to 14 miles before I have to walk or rather hobble home. If I ever hope to run a marathon I need to achieve this first. I think I need to work up to it. But I’m in no rush.
What is your running regimen?
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