Fitting Remarks: When Does a Route Become a Route?

By Cool J in Minneapolis

I have quoted from “The Runner's Rule Book: Everything a Runner Needs to Know--And Then Some…” by Mark Remy (buy it HERE) multiple times in the past. I highly recommend this fun little book to all my running friends!

Lately I’ve been reading this book in the AM before Kelly arrives, and we head out for a morning run to meet up with Abby- (I love our little routine!) Reading this book beforehand wakes me up, makes me chuckle, and reminds me that running is FUN and FUNNY.

This morning, I read Rule 1.58:

Here it goes (sourced again from THIS BOOK)

“A Route is a Route When it Becomes a Route.” 

If this sounds like circular logic, that’s because it is. 

It also happens to be the best answer to the question, “When does a running route, you know, become a route?- as opposed to just a series of roads, streets, and paths you happen to be using for your run?”

Anyone who has run for any length of time knows what I’m talking about. A real running route, or “loop” is greater than the sum of its parts. 

A route has a history, a personality, a name. A route can be short and sweet or long and ugly, urban or rural, hilly or flat or rolling. A good route, over time, becomes another member of your running group. A good route wears a groove into your collective psyche.

So: how do you know when a route truly becomes a route?

When two or more runners in your group can refer to it by name without confusion or further description.  When someone can suggest doing the Susan Seven, backward, or the Bait Shop Loop, or simply, Fifth Street, and everyone else just knows what that means…congratulations. You have a route.

5 Ways to name a Route

1. Based on its shape, as seen from above – sort of the inverse of the way ancient cultures used to name constellations (e.g. the Phone Loop, which when seen from the sky, looks like the outline of an old-fashioned phone)
2. Using the name of one or more of the streets or roads on the route (e.g. the Fifth Street Loop) 
3. In honor of a landmark or town on or near the route (e.g. Bait Shop)
4. In honor of people- often the runner who discovered or popularized the route in question (e.g. the Susan Seven)
5. Based on something totally unimaginative, yet good to know (e.g. the Hill Loop)

This ‘rule’ rang true for me and for my running pals this morning. Our morning running group has our “Minnehaha 10k” that we do quite a bit in the mornings. For the CBRC, we thought of a few truly established “routes” that all our run club members know:

• The Bunny
• The Downtown Loop
• Any combination of two lakes (A Calhoun/Harriet, a Cedar/Isles)
• Tyrol Hills
• The Kenwood Hill
• The Winter Hill
• The Bandshell
• The Capitol Run (Read all about the Capitol Run in this post!)
• The Cedar Bridges

Even from our house, the D-man and I have a few established “routes”. If I came in from a run, and he asked me how far I went, I’d just have to say, “the Harriet Loop” or “Just a Calhoun” and he’d immediately know how far I ran (5.5 miles or 4.2 respectively).

I know that SoCal bloggers like SkinnyRunner and OnceUponA(L)ime are always running the Backbay Loop, and I know that NYC runner Ali hits up the Reservoir and the Bridle Path.  (I honestly don’t know where these places are, but I know them from reading about them on their blogs!) 

Runners and their familiar routes are common with runners across the country. It’s part of the local dialect in a running community!

Tell me more about this "Bunny": I know that a lot of first-time long-runners with the CBRC are confused about the Bunny. What is the Bunny? Why do people tell you to make sure you “Touch the Bunny!” (yes, you have to pet the bunny, or this well-known 12 mile route  doesn’t count!)

THIS is the infamous bunny. 

It's located 6 miles from the Calhoun Beach Club, so a route to the bunny is a 12 mile out-and-back.

So tell me- what are your routes? Any funny named routes that you have heard?

Please share!