Adventures in consistency

To run the same old route yet again, or to go on an adventure? That is the question

My friend Carl running my go-to route in Dartington in Devon

When Strava first introduced their Local Legend feature, my initial reaction was that it was a bad idea. For those who don’t know, a Local Legend “crown” is awarded to anyone who runs the same “segment” the most times in a 90-day period (a segment can be anywhere that someone has labelled on the app as a segment, from a 50-metre section of footpath, to a 100-mile loop around some mountains).

“The thing is,” I thought, “it’s simply rewarding monotony.” I would be out running my usual route and thinking: “Oh, I know, I could follow that path, I haven’t been down there before.” Or: “Maybe I’ll loop back a different way today.” But then the thought would come in: “Ah, but if you run the same old way you usually run you might pick up a Local Legend crown.”

I instantly rebelled at that thought, and even took pride in getting as few Local Legend crowns as possible. I was a maverick, someone who chose adventure over routine, spontaneity over monotony. No boring Local Legend crowns for me!

And yet, there was something satisfying about it when I did get one. “Local legend,” had a nice ring to it for a start. It also carried some sense that I was really getting into the grind of training when these started popping up. They were rewarding consistency too.