201,000 Ways to Change Up Your Running Routine

I spent the recent three-day Easter weekend at my grandparents’ house in Lebanon, Pennsylvania, a tiny town on the outskirts of Amish country with plenty of rural roads and open space for running. Problem is, I don’t know those rural roads and open spaces.

Before I left Brooklyn on Saturday, I squeezed in my long weekend run, so the only exercise I had planned for Sunday was stuffing my face with a Pennsylvania Dutch feast. But I was scheduled to run five miles on Monday, and I knew I’d be doing it in unfamiliar territory.

My outdoor running so far this season has consisted mainly neighborhood routes, mapped out and measured with the help of Google Maps’ pedometer tool. Until I get myself a snazzy GPS watch that can tell me my distance as I go, this site keeps me on track.

I could have used the same site to plan a five-mile course in Lebanon, too. Except that I couldn’t really be sure which roads had sidewalks, lots of traffic, or monster hills—or were just generally better for running than others. Essentially, I wanted someone who knew the terrain (and owned a computer, since Grandma and Grandpa do not) to plan the route for me.

Luckily, my coworker Mara, who’s been doing this running thing for much longer than I, introduced me to a new online resource: The USA Track & Field’s America’s Running Routes database. It uses the same Google technology but also stores whatever routes are created—more than 201,000, at present count—and makes them
available for anyone else searching the same location.

I was skeptical I’d find anything worthwhile. Lebanon’s not exactly a booming metropolis; I like to type its ZIP code into locator tools online when PR people try to convince me their products/stores/restaurants are nationwide. More often than not, there isn’t much nearby. So I was shocked when my search returned 16 results in Lebanon—including two that ran right past my grandparents’ house.

My sister and I headed out Monday morning with a crudely drawn map of a 2.5-mile loop I’d copied from the site, described as having sidewalks and a mix of flat and hilly roads.

It was a really enjoyable two laps, past our Aunt Bettie’s old house and a churchyard we used to go sledding in as kids, a neighborhood we could vaguely remember but probably wouldn’t have found again on our own.

When I got back to civilization (i.e., an Internet connection), I logged on to rate the route we’d just tested. I awarded it a silver medal and added a comment about my only complaint: a steep hill
located, inconveniently, at the very end.

Back home, I’m excited to try some of the 400-plus routes that have been mapped in Brooklyn alone. Now that I’m running longer distances, I could use a change of scenery!