I still remember driving my car around town to measure my running routes. Times have changed!
I still do that to scout routes, because a lot of the rural roads near my home are narrow and winding, with no shoulder to run on. I prefer to find routes that are more open, so I can see cars coming and so they can see me, and where I can get off the road when necessary. If I drive a route first, I have some idea whether the road is safe to run. Plus the base maps in my area have a lot of errors - showing through roads that don't actually exist, or that are farm lanes, leading to fields or barns, not open to the public.
If I were coaching new adult runners, one of my first suggestions would be to run the first six months or so without a watch. It allows you to get in tune with concepts like "hard", "easy", "fast but not hard", "moderate", etc without tying them to a particular pace. I go on my morning jogs without a watch or my Garmin on occasion and I never use my watch for warm ups or cool downs on the track.
Short term goal: 17:59 5K
Mid term goal: 2:54:59 marathon
Long term goal: To say I've been a runner half my life. (I started running at age 45).
Fat & lazy runner
I don't own any kind of sportwatch like Garmin, Polar,... but I always use a simple stopwatch (I don't remember the brand). I can't start my training without it.
Andy G.
If I forget it I still go. I mostly use it to beep the miles for me. I know most of them by heart now anyway so it is no big deal if I forget it. I would rather have it though. I do download the data and keep track of everything.