Forums >General Running>There must be an easier way of creating new routes and NOT getting lost, anyone?
This will work best if you are in a city (ie. streets in a grid). Make note of 2 or 3 parallel roads. Then note all the roads that connect those roads. Basically, this gives you a way to create a "box". I did this when we went to LA last year.
Some GPS watches have a "Back to Start" feature which can help you retrace your steps, or if you don't want to retrace, can point you in the direction of your starting point. You should check and see if you have a feature like this in your watch.
I managed to get lost on a run during a visit to Tokyo years ago. The hotel was a tall building, but so were all the other buildings around it. I had a Garmin Forerunner 305 at the time and it had a feature that showed my starting point relative to where I was. It didn't show a street map, but I knew which direction to run towards to find the hotel.
runktrun
I just take a small piece of paper and write down the directions i.e. 1.3 L on Sollenberger, 2.7 rt. on Crottlestown, etc. Some of our streets, especially out in the country, don't have signs so I've learned to be very specific. The distance is more important than the street name. I keep the paper in my pocket and take it out when needed. Like you, I got lost a couple of times in areas where it was a long way back to someplace familiar.
Exactly what I've been doing for years, well before Garmins/I could afford a Garmin and smart phones and even the Google. Pencil on a sticky note with the sticky part folded over. Pencil is a bit more resilient on damp paper than pen. Works best if you have an internal pocket in your shorts that you can flip over to the outside (nike split shorts come to mind).
Not running for my health, but in spite of it.
Similar to what Buzzie suggested, just make a couple of different loops that are easy for you to learn. For my long run over the weekend I almost always start in the same location (the parking lot near my farmer's market so I can hit it on the way home) but I have several different loops. I build my route based on how long I want to run, but I can keep it interesting by running the loops in different orders or clockwise/counterclockwise. My loops are pretty easy to follow since I tend to zone out while running and never could remember multiple turns, so each loop is essentially just a square, three turns and i'm back to where I started.
The easiest way to avoid getting lost is a simple out and back course. You run straight out (no turns) until you reach half the distance or half the time and then you turn around and retrace your steps. This of course can be boring.
Most areas have roads laid in a grid pattern. So you can set up a route that only requires you to remember 3 turns. Simply you set up your route to be a simple square or rectangle. This way you will be turning in the same direction at each turn and you only need to remember the three streets you will be turning on.
Buy a very large retractable spool of strong string that acts like one of those measuring tapes that just zips back in on the push of a button. There should be enough length of to cover up to 24 miles.Tie the string to the back of your shorts. If you get lost, just let the string bring you back home. If you make it back without getting lost, just release the string from the back of your shorts and it'll zip back to the spool.
Most areas have roads laid in a grid pattern.
Hahaha, good one.
Runners run
Carry some chalk, and every time you make a turn, mark your path with arrows pointing toward the direction you came. Chalk is light to carry.
It's time to haul out the New York vs. Boston streets meme again...
lol, that didn't take long to get out of hand.
Believe it or not, I had a pretty simple route. It was just one of those types of roads that merged into another.
My problem is that I picture the map in my mind but when I get to my destination and follow it, it's never as easy as you thought. I think a cheap wrist band or paper in the pocket would work, besides, I would only need it the first time and after that it's locked in my head.
I DO have many routes that tie into each other and that works well for me, just trying to create more. One downfall with mapping out a run before hand is that you never know if you will have sidewalks or not. My route put me on dangerous winding/rolling hills in retirement communities (not good), constant fear of getting hit.
In my case, I could have easily ran back on the route I had just ran, that was not hard, but I was not about to run 3 miles again. I just wanted to find what street I missed to complete my loupe.
Another route I got lost with was a route around a lake, too many stupid extensions that lead out of the park and you can never tell which is the main trail, but that's more of an issue with who's maintaining the trails and how they're marked, so that doesn't apply for this argument.
Finding routes, creating them..getting lost and all that, seems to be an "old guy/loner" struggle for me, never had this issue when I was young, lots of running groups and friends, not so much these days which may also part of the part of the problem. ha
Thanks for the input, advice and fun sarcasm
not bad for mile 25
in retirement communities (not good)
Watch out for those old codgers!
No kidding!
This old gal almost took me out one day at a stop sign, have to have my head on a swivel
One downfall with mapping out a run before hand is that you never know if you will have sidewalks or not.
Another cool thing about using this site to map routes, is you can change the Map dropdown to Satellite. Then you can see the sidewalk situation in advance.
When it’s all said and done, will you have said more than you’ve done?
Awesome! thanks
#artbydmcbride
it's all in the hippocampus!