I’ve been “stridin’” out here for about 1.5 years in Tulsa, OK, and up until just recently, I’ve been pretty obsessed with route efficiency. Each time, I would want to see just how many nodes I could claim in the fewest number of miles. And this would sometimes result in route-plotting sessions that took longer than the runs themselves.
Well, since downgrading my phone (getting off social media, trying to find more pleasure in intentional analog content consumption), my navigation options have also reduced. This forced me to alter how I plot running routes to avoid confusing my flip phone’s limited navigational capabilities.
I thought this would make stridin’ a nightmare and dramatically less efficient. And yes, that was partially true. Example: it hates u-turns and doesn’t understand why someone would route in such foolishness.
But I’ve actually come to really enjoy my less efficient routes. While these require more miles to earn the same node quantities, they are much more fluid, contain fewer disruptive u-turns, and make for a better running experience. They’ve also made route plotting less of a chess match with myself and more like traversing a boardgame’s surface.
I invite you to try some less efficient routing. You may just wind up with a more pleasurable pedestrian experience.