Saturday, March 21, 2009

Mapmyrun.com

Have you experienced the joy of mapmyrun.com? It is as amazing as Apollo Burger (If any execs from Apollo Burger are reading this, I think I deserve like a lifetime free burgers after all the business I have sent you). I went running with a work colleague this morning who opened my eyes to the site. In the early days of my running, I would map out the route in my head then drive the route to get a close estimate of the mileage. Once I learned the joys of mapmyrun.com I never looked back. My colleague and I spent a mile or two discussing the marvelous benefits of this site and how he had mapped out easy 7.5 miles on it last night.

The site is a truly amazing tool. The power of google maps incorporated into a mapping tool so that I can look up a location by keyword or zip code then zoom in or out to get my starting spot. I simply click my way through the streets and determine which route is going to give me the best run. It has an elevation feature which I use always. Where I live is very hilly (this is the mountain west definition of a hill, not the east coast definition of a hill) and so knowing whether I am running up hill or down is important to me and my legs. I can set out and back routes, save my maps and do many other things in addition to adding my own notes about various points on the route. This is my way of compensating for my lack of a Garmin or Nike+ or other sort of mileage tracking device on the market.

So, that's it for today...mapmyrun is awesome and it is free (if you dislike the ads, you can always pay).

1 comment:

  1. I like Gmaps Pedometer better. It seems to handle out and back routes or multiple loops on the same route better. I have almost 300 routes mapped and saved (most are very slight variations of others). Also free.

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