Tonight’s run was a loopy 5 miler that never took me more than 2/3rds of a mile from home.
This loopy style of run has much to recommend it:
It starts and ends in the same place.
Each loop is a single block, with no road crossings to worry about, allowing a steady pace without too much stopping and starting.
There is remarkably little repetition, as most of the repeated sections are run in opposite directions.
The length of the run can be adjusted by adding in or leaving out loops.
It’s a good way to get to know an area.
You are never very far away from base.
It’s an approach that has made finding routes simple: my old one mile block can be transformed into anything up to six miles; my old three mile block can be extended to anything up to twelve miles; and one hill can be stretched to breaking point*.
Perfect.
*My breaking point. I’m not fond of hills.
abradypus 
It might just be me but if you turned this round a bit would it be a rude gesture?
I love your looping! (and it’s not just you shazruns…)
It’s a handy technique when you are quite sure about what your insides are doing of a morning….
You have rude friends. My mind is far too clean to have ever thought it could be rude. Do you believe me?
Since I’ve just come from travellinghopefully’s blog, your map reminded me a knitting, not rude gestures 🙂 Red yarn with an open warp kinda thing? Must be fun to live in a neighborhood. I forget what that’s like…
Rude? Never!
what a clever idea! and it makes a nice picture too 🙂
Totally agree with ‘travellinghopefully’. Loops are fab on upset belly days. I am on the ‘it looks rude’ camp.
Looping is great! Saved me many times in the earlier stages of my pregnancy: the toilet was always near :-).
Reminds me of:
http://figurerunning.com/blog/