Who else likes to vary up their running locations? (Read 156 times)

I was speaking with a friend the other day who said they have basically always run in the same place which is around a track 400m, they'll do 15 laps or 10 laps or however many depending on what distance they want to do but I believe the distance has remained the same for them over the years as well.
Myself I like to run a different route everyday even if its from home running to the running path and going left instead of right like yesterday. I will usually drive to another path a few times a week also. There's about five separate main courses I run regularly then there's there's ones I've only ran once; a drive out to a national park area, bushland or wilderness area, to break things up, also sometimes will drive to a running path miles away from where I live just for variety and to keep it a little less boring, new scenery, more stimulating.
When I travel I like to use running to see the place and explore sometimes too.
I always thought this was a pretty normal approach, but apparently different strokes for different folks.
I'd be interested to hear about how other people choose where they run and if they like to vary it up and use it as a chance to get back to nature a little.
Oh yeah- sometimes I do hill training depending on what phase of my program I'm in and will choose routes with hills.

I definitely find it more interesting to vary my routes as much as possible. I live in a rural area, but besides various nearby neighborhood runs, I'll run to town or from town to the house, drive to town and run various routes there, drive to nearby towns to run on a railtrail, a canal towpath or battlefield, or I'll drive to the state forest to run gravel roads, etc. Long runs are the easiest to make unique; my short runs tend to be from the house, so I'm more limited in my options because there just aren't that many roads. I love traveling because I can run in different state parks and on trails.

I was speaking with a friend the other day who said they have basically always run in the same place which is around a track 400m, they'll do 15 laps or 10 laps or however many depending on what distance they want to do but I believe the distance has remained the same for them over the years as well.

I am not quite this monotonous, but I do stick with my regular routes. I run either from work or home. From each starting point, I have a route for <10 miles and another for 10+. Plus one when I go to the track for intervals. Main priority is having a route that minimizes the need for stopping as well as the chance of getting hit by cars. So not really looking for variety for its own sake. I should add that I run 100% solo and with no music, so I seem to do my best to make an already boring hobby even more so.

I do agree that finding a good place to run while traveling is key. I have found the “Run Spots” tool in the “Resources” section of this site to be indispensable.

I normally run from either work or home.

From work there is one nice long flat uninterrupted coastal footpath which I will almost always use if I'm running any sort of workout as there's no traffic lights or stops.  At ~9km it's probably the longest flat stretch in the entire city.  Other than that there are a few different directions or routes that minimise traffic interruptions and road crossings which I'll mix and match.

From home there's basically three directions I can go, or a short drive up to the track.  I mix up the routes based on whether I need to run any intervals, and how many hills I feel like running.  There's one particular favourite 6km loop, which is 4km from my house, so I'll almost always run that if I'm planning a 14km or longer run.

I love running different spots when I travel - to be honest it's the best thing about work travel.

The vast majority of my runs are from work -basically the same route on an out and back, just varying a little according to the planned distance. If I do a longer evening run, I can modify this route to a circle.

I have varied from time to time, but have settled on this route as its the safest in regards traffic and is on a sidewalk the whole way.

From home, I have a nice loop in the neighborhood, but can add some side loops or out and backs as desired, but the core of the route remains the same.

I do have some great trails in short driving distance, but dealing with kiddos normally prevents me from getting to them too much.

China Camp

thanks, this looks great. I'm going to give it a go.

 

thanks, this looks great. I'm going to give it a go.

China Camp

Go counter-clockwise, you have a steep shorter climb and a lot of singletrack downhill, and since most cyclists do it this way you have less of a chance of a head-on. I park on the road by the entrance station to the campground. There's a "pay station" where they ask you to pay a few dollars to use the trails (in a public park!) but rumor has it that it's voluntary despite them making it seem mandatory. I have never been asked to show a receipt in the 75-100 times I've run there since they put those boxes up. Big loop is close to 11 miles but there are ways to cut a couple off. Short loop is about 7 miles, but has a very steep section to the top directly in back of the campground.

Most of the trails are in the shade, so it's a good place when it's sunny.

When I first moved to my current location I used the odometer on the car to determine distance and basically just ran up and back the same road near my house. When I found Running Ahead I was able to use the mapping to start creating many more routes. almost all of which start at my house and travel in all different directions. I now have over 50 courses mapped and have run on almost all the roads within like a 10 mile radius. Still, the nearby roads get used the most for shorter runs and the longest runs are rarely used. I have not run any of them that are over 22 miles. I do have to run far distances now to get to new territory. However, I am getting bored with running the same courses and recently started driving to a canal path for some long, flat runs (where I live is very hilly). I want to look for more new areas to run, hopefully not too far a drive away!