“Running the whole neighborhood” is an idea I got from Eric, one of my running buddies. Take the time to run your entire neighborhood—every road, every loop, every cul de sac, every dead end. The challenge is to do it as efficiently as possible without missing any segments. Back in April, I decided to give it a go.

To prepare, I printed out a paper map of the neighborhood. I took along water and a pink Sharpie marker so I could mark off the segments as I went. Starting right around noon, I looped up through the cul de sacs in my section of the neighborhood, then hopped on the paved trail and covered the uphill areas before working my way down the hill.

It took me a couple of hours, but I did it! I ran the whole neighborhood!

It was only after I checked out the run on Strava that I noticed that I’d missed a segment.

Dangit!

So obviously, I had to do it again

Sunday morning, I got up a little earlier than usual and printed another map. This time I ran downhill instead of up, meeting my friend Susan and running the lower section of the neighborhood with her before she had to head off. Then I worked my way around the neighborhood counterclockwise, going up the right-hand side and then down the other way.

When I got back, I checked Strava and what do you know? No missed segments! W00t! The only change I’ll make next time is calling and inviting Eric to run with me, since it was his idea in the first place.

If you ever feel like your running is stuck in a rut, try running the whole neighborhood and see how great it feels to accomplish something like that.