Move Your Body

It’s been beautiful weather in Chicago lately, which makes it extra hard to get into the gym.  I really do like going to the gym, but after working in an office all day, it’s difficult for me to go back inside to work out.  So I’ve been spending more time running outside.

Friday I went for a long run and loved it!  Weather was perfect.  After getting back, I wanted to figure out how far I had gone.  I checked out a new site online at the suggestion of a friend who is an avid runner – MapMyRun.com.  Basically this is Google maps with a bunch of tools that you can overlay onto the maps.  You can mark where you start your run and map each twist and turn until you reach your endpoint.  This is a pretty cool tool for map geeks (like myself) who want to know how far they’ve run in the neighborhood.  I thought I had gone three miles on Friday, but after using the site was surprised to find I had only gone two.  So this site helps ground you in reality, too.    I imagine this would be a useful site to use before you head out for a run, too.  If you want to try running a mile in your neighborhood, for example, you can figure out what streets and route you’d have to take to complete it.

My only complaint is that the site is a little overwhelming and the interface is very busy.  When you get to the home page, you can click “Start mapping” in the center if you want to get straight to the map.  Once you do, you will be greeted by a lot of information and ads.   There was an ad blocking the map when I first began using the site, and I had a hard time figuring out how to move it off to the side so I could calculate my mileage.  There are also pop-ups encouraging you to sign up.  No problems with signing up, but pop ups annoy me.

Overall, the site seems useful, and I’m sure there are a lot more cool features that I haven’t experimented with  yet.  Please feel free to share any tips if you are a user of the tool.  Happy summer running!