This is Mapping Anonymous! How much time do you spend on mapping the perfect 5k route?

[CBDB]

Ok, I admit. I spend too much time on mapping out the perfect routes!

Ever since discovering the Footpath app, suggested to me in my 3rd week of C25k by - I believe - our dear, late  IannodaTruffe I have been using it extensively to map my routes.

I know what they look like via OS maps, Satellite and open-source maps. I’ve used this app to map my way to 5k, to 10k, rain-safe versions of routes and summer favourites, and I used it for discovering routes when I’m away from home.

And for my perfect 5k or 10k distances, I spent inordinate amounts of time painting new lines on these tiny maps, just to find the perfect combination of loops, trails, hills and connecting paths.

I just spent an hour mapping a perfect 5k route that uses some of my other routes.

You’d think it wouldn’t matter if a route is 4.7 or 5.1k? But I’m happy to report that after an hour of fingers running over the glossy surfaces of my iPhone, I found another perfect 5k! (And I had to decorate the resulting map for the occasion, see pic 🤣)

Now I cannot wait until I can get out there tomorrow!

It’s bonkers, isn’t it? I’m sure I'm odd this way. I love maps, love planning. And planning a route on a map is just the delightful synergy of both.

Surely only running a newly mapped-out route is better than this!

So are you one of those runners who enjoy spending an inordinate amount of time hovering over maps, calculating distances or using an app to “run the route virtually” before ever setting a foot out the door?

I’d love to hear. This is mapping anonymous! 😉🗺️📝🏃‍♀️

[MissUnderstanding Administrator Graduate10]

Far too much faff for me! Trainers on and head out with a vague idea of where I’m going. I often change route mid run. That has lead to a fair bit of getting lost or finishing a decent walk away from home but that’s all part of the fun. I’d find trying to stick exactly to a mapped out route pretty stressful and I like the freedom to go where my feet tell me to on a total whim! We’re all different and that’s to be celebrated!

Have fun on your run-that something we can all have in common! ❤️🏃‍♀️❤️

[Gthants 60minGraduate in reply to MissUnderstanding]

I only got to do a few 5k runs, but I am getting back to it. And, yes, I just kind of made it up as I went along. I hadn't quite got round to venturing further, so I was sometimes repeating a bit to get me up to the time/distance I wanted to run. I look often enough at my phone and watch when I am running, if I was trying to map read (without glasses!!😬) I'd need a VR headset! (And number of a local taxi firm programmed on my phone for when i got lost due to NOT being able to follow the map without glasses!🤣)

Having said that, I will certainly take a look at the app to see what it's about.

[CBDB Graduate10 in reply to Gthants]

🤣🤣🤣 By the time I get out there, I don’t need to look at my phone anymore and whilst running, never look at it.

But VR headset … hmmm … you get me thinking … 🤣🤣🤣 (just joking … I’ve indoor rower with a VR headset, which was … not straightforward 😂😂)

[Gthants 60minGraduate in reply to CBDB]

Well, I reckon even I couldn't get lost indoors! 🤣

(I do, by the way, have an excellent sense of direction and am a good map reader, but look at a map these days without glasses and I may as well stick a pin in and hope for the best!😬)

[CBDB Graduate10 in reply to Gthants]

🤣🤣

[Oldfloss Administrator Graduate10 in reply to MissUnderstanding]

Me too... I just have a general idea but if some way looks interesting, I take it... i have been lost a few times. very close to home too! There is always something to explore or check out... and with location share J always knows where I am!

You run and walk some wonderful routes and always things to photo for us too ! xxx

[CBDB Graduate10 in reply to Oldfloss]

Yeah, I somehow never ever get lost. I must do that intentionally one day. I feel I’m missing out! 🤣🤣

[Oldfloss Administrator Graduate10 in reply to CBDB]

It has to just happen...a wrong turn..a familiar corner...that isn't...!

[MissUnderstanding Administrator Graduate10 in reply to Oldfloss]

Thank you! I especially like getting lost close to home and realising how paths and bridleways link up in totally unexpected ways. Some of my favourite routes have come from spur of the moment “I wonder where that gate goes?” detours!! I have occasionally had to scramble over barbed wire fences, walk through fields of stingies or retrace my steps for twenty minutes when it hasn’t quite worked out right. It’s always an adventure though!

This is the forest I totally unexpectedly found on my holiday run that was supposed to be to a stately home but I couldn’t find a path and thought I’d be stuck running round a housing estate. Then I spotted a stile…

MrU did have to come and pick me up because I ended up miles in the wrong direction! Luckily there was a convenient McDonalds where I could treat him to breakfast as a thank you!

Forest

[CBDB Graduate10 in reply to MissUnderstanding]

Beautiful!

[Oldfloss Administrator Graduate10 in reply to MissUnderstanding]

Just wow!!!

[SueAppleRun Graduate10 60minGraduate]

Goodness me! I don't map routes at all. I pick which area I'm going, then I go, I often change route in the way and when I've had enough I go home again 😔

[CBDB Graduate10 in reply to SueAppleRun]

lol , yeah, I knew I was the odd one out! 🤣🤣

[Annieapple]

🍏🤣 This is the first I have heard of anyone being SO meticulous about mapping for the sheer pleasure! Reminds me of studying for exams..I used to spend hours preparing my study timetables in multi colour … at least you use yours to actually enjoy a well planned run.. I can’t say mine were put to such good use 🤣 A challenging post that has left me with a desire to look into it! Than you x

[CBDB Graduate10 in reply to Annieapple]

🤣🤣

I can tell you, it’s definitely not like studying for an exam 😂😂 at least for me!

[Oldfloss Administrator Graduate10 in reply to Annieapple]

Ha ha.... I spent more time listening to Radio Luxembourg than studying ! That's how old I am! x

[CBDB Graduate10 in reply to Oldfloss]

🤣🤣

[Sulley101 Graduate10]

yep! I use onthegomap.com. Have found it great for running abroad and just anywhere I haven’t run before really! Love the way it shows gradients so I can try to avoid as many hills as possible 😂

[CBDB Graduate10 in reply to Sulley101]

Hello!!!! Finally, someone who can join me in the mapping anonymous support group!!! Hello fellow map lover!!!

Yeah, love my colour coded gradients as well! But I recently was trying to find specific gradients for hill runs, rather than avoiding them. 🤣🤣🤣

👏👏👏👍🏽🗺️📝💪🏃‍♀️

[Week7 Graduate10]

Wow-very impressive. I love the idea but I 'm more of a step out of the door and just run person. I have accidentally discovered lots of lovely footpaths by doing this but gave also come to many dead-ends!! Maybe I need to review my strategy!

[CBDB Graduate10 in reply to Week7]

🤣🤣

Sounds like it’s a great strategy for you!

[Vespina Graduate10]

This might make you feel better. I’m sat on a train on my way to the Lakes for a week’s holiday. What am I doing on the way? Passing the time refining my planned routes on Footpath.

The photo shows evidence of a LOT of hours planning my routes. I’m allergic to doing the same loop every time I go out.

I’ve just added it up and I have 244 routes 🙈🤣. So far.

Some of my route totals on Footpath app

[CBDB Graduate10 in reply to Vespina]

😍❤️😍❤️😍❤️😍❤️😍❤️😍

Be still my heart!!!!!!

I’m only at 123! You are my role model !!! 😃😃😃🗺️🗺️🗺️

Footpath

[Vespina Graduate10 in reply to CBDB]

We can nerd together 🤣. Love how we categorise them differently

[CBDB Graduate10 in reply to Vespina]

😃😂👍🏽🗺️

[Cmoi Graduate10]

Zero. I rarely know where I'm going to run when I head out of the door, I just go by instinct. While I mostly have a minimum time or distance in mind, I hardly ever run round figures. Apps are rarely much use as they simply don't plot many of the places I like to run. In any case I need to be able to adapt, as round here paths and tracks are liable to get blocked for all sorts of reasons.

There are other aspects of my life which I plan down to the tiniest detail - when I got married my brother said he was surprised I hadn't had all the guests bar-coded - but running, nope.

[MissUnderstanding Administrator Graduate10 in reply to Cmoi]

Oh my goodness this is so me too. Maybe there’s something about being super organised in other parts of life that means running feels so much nicer unplanned! I love the idea of bar coded wedding guests! 😂😂😂

[Cmoi Graduate10 in reply to MissUnderstanding]

You've nailed it, running is very much an escape from organisation and performance for me!

I got married almost 25 years ago. I guess that nowadays we could've just slapped an airtag onto everyone...

[MissUnderstanding Administrator Graduate10 in reply to Cmoi]

😂😂😂

[CBDB Graduate10 in reply to Cmoi]

“Bar-coded” 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

Yes, to each their own. I just love maps, have always done. Even as I child I hung up a huge map of Wales (at that time I had never been there but it was in a National Geographic Issue my dad received and I thought it was beautiful!) and I studied the mountains, waterfalls and paths.

My German OS-equivalent maps were from ex-military, and I found it fascinating how it mapped outstanding trees and key geographic features like a dip, a rock, an ancient burial.

I doubt there are many places footpath cannot map, and they have different countries’ mapping services integrated.

Now doesn’t this attached pic of somewhere in France look enticing!

(I know , it’s an unusual love affair 🤣🤣❤️ … so be patient with me as I drool over my maps)

A place somewhere in France

[Cmoi Graduate10 in reply to CBDB]

Oh I love maps, they're fascinating, and incredibly useful. I much prefer them to satnav, which I loathe!

And of course I run roads, and tracks, and waymarked paths, but I also run (= walk, hop, skip, jump) where hunters have cut a path through, or loggers have just felled trees - see photo. Yes, those are the actual tracks that I followed, not just views from where I was! Apps, quite rightly, don't take those routes into account.

Cirque du Falgoux is out of my league right now, and a bit too far to be local! Though there's a really interesting-looking ultra trail there in May 2024 - might've been tempted, but I'm due to be going away that weekend with my Renaissance group instead. Lucky escape, methinks.

Forest trail running routes on tracks cut by loggers

[CBDB Graduate10 in reply to Cmoi]

They are, aren’t they!? (Maps are fascinating)

Your paths look like proper crossroad trails!

But I bet I could find them on my app! It has various satellite modes, handy for when there are no mapped trails… and my finger can trace them to map a route through!

(you can see how I think my app can do anything regarding mapping …. all but run it for me…. which is of course a good thing!)

Love the pics of your trails! There are so hillily wild!

Satellite image of a path not on any map

[Cmoi Graduate10 in reply to CBDB]

I get the point about satellite views. They can be very helpful, but they don't always work. The routes in that image are waymarked walks and recognised forestry access roads, whereas I'm talking about running in the spaces left where trees have been recently felled. These don't actually lead anywhere other than the designated felling areas!

I've downloaded Footpath, thanks, as it looks like it could be a useful resource for holiday runs in areas that I don't know. However, the satellite view, excellent though it is, doesn't match what's actually there in real life. I know there are places I can run that don't show up on the map (the logging tracks in my photo) and, conversely, places that look runnable but in reality aren't.

Consequently I'd rather head out to see with my own eyes, rather than stay in my house planning a theoretical route. Of course this plays havoc with distance and quite often time too, but exploring and discovering as I run is much of the fun for me, and if I get lost, so be it.

Happy planning and running!

[CBDB Graduate10 in reply to Cmoi]

😊 And nothing beats running a route for real.

👍🏽🏃‍♀️🏃‍♀️😊

[Cmoi Graduate10 in reply to CBDB]

The other thing I should say is that my IT competence is limited and it'd take me way, way longer to map any 5k route (I don't believe in a perfect 5k route - perfect for what? speed? vertical? views? running with the dog?) than it would to run it.

[CBDB Graduate10 in reply to Cmoi]

Exactly! 🤣 There are so many perfect routes! ❤️🏃‍♀️❤️🏃‍♀️❤️🏃‍♀️ And I find mine whilst sipping cups of tea. (But scratch vertical 🤣, scratch speed … dogs. Leave views… and add distance, location, hills, rivers, surfaces, woodlands, lakes, secret paths, stiles…. 😍 welcome to my mapping anonymous🤣🤣🤣)

P.s. your woodlands look amazing!

[Doris8 Graduate10]

I’m more or less go out the dor and think I will walk there today. Very spontaneous. I’ve a terrible sense of direction so stick to a lot of same routes unless with Mr D.

[CBDB Graduate10 in reply to Doris8]

😃 Same routes change beautifully through the seasons, though. 👍🏽👏

[RosesAreRed777 Graduate10]

Omg yes! I love plotting routes and re plotting! My fave is Plot a route. Free and so much fun!

[CBDB Graduate10 in reply to RosesAreRed777]

Hello! 👋👋 Welcome to mapping anonymous!

Fun! Definitely 💯!

[Wavy-chick28 Graduate10]

I sort of do the same old routes just mixing them up but hoping to move so this might be a great way to plan my 🤞🏻New runs 🤔

[CBDB Graduate10 in reply to Wavy-chick28]

Ohhhhh… let us know how you get on! Moving means new running routes! How exciting!

[CBDB Graduate10]

UPDATE FROM A DAY LATER: Well, I ran it. Well almost.

I got home, finally checked my Runkeeper (my phone usually stays in my running belt during my runs, except when taking pictures or recording voice).

And looking at the mileage I realised I was missing 600 meters? 🤔❓⁉️ I was puzzled.

I looked at my map and …. DOH!!! 😣 😖 🙄 🤦🏻‍♀️🤷🏻‍♀️ I had forgotten to run that little slinky loop rather than heading straight down aside the river!!!!

All my planning for naught!!! 🤣🤣🤣

But there is always the next run! Next Sunday I’ll run my perfect 5k, yes I will!!!

🤣🤣

Happy running, everyone!

Doh!

[MrBassmanjazz]

Thought this looked amazing. Apple only!

I'll stick with Google maps.

[CBDB Graduate10 in reply to MrBassmanjazz]

☹️ Sorry.

[MrBassmanjazz in reply to CBDB]

Hardly your fault

[Wawacito Graduate10]

Could you map something fancy like a christmas tree for Christmas?

Apart from that:

This app would come in handy for me when running in an unfamiliar location. For running here at home I would not really use it, unless I do ever get to running more than 10k.

[CBDB Graduate10 in reply to Wawacito]

🎄LOL! I’ve never tried using it for mapping Strava art routes like Christmas trees. 🤔 hmmm … you’ve given me an idea … I might try that later in the season, but I think I don’t have enough town to draw effectively. (I also do not often run in the town)

Yes, more recent version added the functionality of audio instructions, but I seldom use those.

[Cowladyrunning Graduate10]

Please can I join mapping annonymous? I admit I am far too obsessed I actually paid for the premium version of plot a route while I'm marathon training and got very excited by the fact it had OS maps and many other layers. 😂 I can now save multiple routes AND download them to my watch 🙃 Just too adicted sorry!!

[CBDB Graduate10 in reply to Cowladyrunning]

Hellloo!!!! You’re in! So great to read! Great to hear you can download maps to your watch! I didn’t know that you could (don’t have an Smart Watch).

Yes, the OS mapping functionality is amazing, isn’t it. (And cheaper than OS app itself)

Happy mapping!

[Cowladyrunning Graduate10 in reply to CBDB]

Yes that's what I thought - cheaper way to get it and more! I can download to my Garmin for simple instructions - great fun 🤣

[CBDB Graduate10 in reply to Cowladyrunning]

😃🗺️🏃‍♀️

[Leotigris Graduate10]

I love maps, always have done, but I'm not so sure about maps on a small phone screen - they just don't show enough at a useful scale.

[CBDB Graduate10 in reply to Leotigris]

Yeah. Size does matter, doesn’t it. But I have a large phone and find it’s perfect. I work more on my phone than on my laptop, and I love the mobility of it,

But yes, I nice, real, crinkling paper map mmmmhhhh nothing beats that!