Runners Are Gaga Over Google's Running Maps

Technology may not be changing the way we run, but it is helping to determine where we run.

The latest push comes via the suddenly ubiquitous Google Maps, which, in conjunction with USA Track and Field, has created America's Running Routes, a program that allows runners to map and measure courses and then save them into a searchable national database on the USATF Web site.

"The feedback we've gotten indicates the system is very popular with runners who are very particular and precise about keeping track of their mileage, especially those who travel frequently and want to see routes in unfamiliar cities," said Jill Geer, USATF director of communications.

And it provides technology geeks one more nearly justifiable reason to use Google Maps and manipulate satellite imagery that only 10 years earlier was restricted to CIA officials working in windowless buildings. The free service has been available since December and already has more than 24,000 routes in its database.

The program, located under the map icon at http://www.usatf.org , is easy to use and tracks routes on and off roads, and its accuracy appears limited only by the particular resolution of the image and the skill and patience of the user. For that special runner's high, GPS users can compare measurements from their portable devices with Google's.

A perusal of the routes catalogued in runner-friendly Washington reveals that the mall and bike paths along the Potomac River are most popular -- a noontime stroll along those venues shows the same. What is surprising are the number of routes that bushwhack through congested areas such as Capitol Hill, Dupont Circle and Georgetown.

Clearly, many of the saved routes are submitted by runners for their own edification, which raises the question of the utility of maintaining a national database. The answer there, of course, is that we can, so we do.

Matt Pyle, an Alexandria marathoner, uses the site to better gauge the length of new local routes, although he has checked out recorded routes in cities he visits.

"Lots of nice routes are described, but even if I have a rental car, I'm probably not going to drive several miles just so I can do a defined route. Authoring these routes might be the running equivalent of writing a blog -- something that provides more satisfaction to the creator than to the potential audience."

· GOING, GOING . . . : Online registration opened Wednesday for the 31st Marine Corps Marathon on Oct. 29. As of Friday, less than 5,000 spots remained. For more information, visit http://www.marinemarathon.com .

-- Jim Hage

hagej@washpost.com