Are you seeing way too many Gromits to count and want to do a run to celebrate these colourful creatures coming to Bristol? Are you use a running app and want to let me know about it? Check out what I have to say about the apps that helped me bring the Gromit Run to you.
I have detailed all the Gromits you will spot if you do the following runs. Please note that these runs are open to improvement, if you believe any aspects of these runs are inaccurate then comment to this blog post and I will work on improving them! I am also aiming to do another 3 runs, one really easy/Lunchtime run aswell as some more intermediate/advanced courses. Depending on the response for this blog post, I will schedule a run one Sunday in August for everyone to get involved in! Keep posted for updates.
(You may need to register accounts with MapMyRun to see the links I have provided!)
18 Gromit Run (Easy) (7k)
This is a nice scenic but cobbly run around the river which counts off the most Gromits in the shortest distance! As you sail past the SS Great Britain you will spot the following Gromits.
Gromits included in run:
Poetry in Motion, Salty Sea Dog, Hero, Groscar, Bark at Ee, The King, Carosello, What a Wind Up!, Bunty, Blazing Saddles, Zodiac, Stats the Way to do it, Lad!, Being Gromit Malkovich, NewFoundLand, Gromberry, Gromit-o-matic, Jack, Astro dog and then back.
Find 18 Gromit run on MapMyRun here.
20 Gromit Run (Intermediate) (13k)
Although you're ticking off less Gromits. It's far more scenic than the 18 Gromit Run with much more of a distance.
Gromits included in run:
Poetry In Motion, Newshound, Tutan Gromit, Golden Gromit, Sugar Plum, It's Kraken, Gromit!, Blossom, A Mandrill's Best Friend, Sheepdog, Ship Shape & Bristol Fashion, Patch, Gromberry, Stat's the Way to do it, Lad! Being Gromit Malkovich, NewFoundLand, Zodiac, Bark at Ee, Groscar, Hero, Salty Sea Dog back to Poetry in Motion.
Find 20 Gromit run on MapMyRun here.
21 Gromit Run (Hard) (16k with incline!)
Do the Park Run every Saturday? Why not add on this extra distance on top of the mammoth hill in Ashton Court.
From College Green, Temple Meads to Ashton Court, this really is a great run. Incorporate the hill climb in Ashton Court and you will be fightint to see the last few Gromits! These Gromits may seem far and few at times, but well worth it for the views along the way.
Gromits included in run:
Tick off 20 (one inside the Bristol City & Museum) Poetry in Motion, Salty Sea Dog, Canis Major, Malago, Lancelot, Collarful, What a Wind Up!, Isambark Kingdog Brunel, Blazing Saddles, Bunty, Grrrromit, Paisley, Grant's Gromit, Ship Shape & Bristol Fashion, Sheepdog, Patch, Golden Gromit, Vincent Van Gromit, Tutan Gromit (indoors), Newshound
Find 21 Gromit Run on MapMyRun here.
Why I'm doing this..
I am fundraising..wait..before you stop reading. You could win a painting of mine or a free comission if you donate! That's right, I will do you a commision based if you donate a tidy amount towards Cancer Research (all I ask is a small subsidy for the canvas costs!). If you've enjoyed the Gromit Runs - please donate to keep me running faster and producing you with some more awesome runs!
Technology behind run-mapping...
Running Apps with GPS
All keen runners will know there are tons of running apps out there right now, all fiercely hot with competition against each other - who has the most accurate GPS or who has the most monthly challenges? Frequent updates to the apps ensure they are outwardly showing efforts to be better and stronger apps. My advice would be to use an app that obviously works best with you and how you like to view your training but also an app that your friends also use to log their workouts so you have a close following of other people's training and so inspires you to get out there.
I have used MapMyRun for the purpose of this blog post, because it's great to map out runs manually, and as a running app I can't fault it. I moved to Strava not too long ago on the basis of it's 'Segments' which is a course within your route that you would like to be able to time and enter in as a set distance into the community leaderboard. MapMyRun have since come back and developed something similar to this so it's possible to see how you rank against friends and strangers alike, who are running the same routes as you!
Strava has been a constant friend on my runs and never fails to let me down - bar a few signal issues when I was trying to smash a segment time up a killer hill approaching the Downs. Wasn't best pleased about that time not being logged, but I reasoned that I was going so quickly my phone's GPS couldn't keep up.
Whether your Strava, MapMyRun, Endomondo etc let me know your thoughts on each app ahead of my review of them all next month! Which one do you use on your runs? Please comment below!
PinDrop
I used this to translate the Gromit's location onto a comprehensive map which you can interact and zoom into. I signed up to PinDrop which uses Google Maps and the Apple idea of 'Dropping a pin' to mark memorable places where you'd like to come back to. Overall, I found the app very clean and tidy in design and friendly to use. It hooks up to your Four Square account if you like to tell your mates where you've been lately as well as Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest. It is seemingly a new app and the social media hook ups particularly for Facebook seem a bit questionable (I got a message saying it couldn't connect to my account despite being logged in to Facebook fine, PinDrop developers I can tell you exactly what I did if you're conncerned). When I also tried to embed the HTML code into the text editor on my Wordpress blog the images turned up broken despite the link working. Anyway, boring tech blips aside - it's a great app / desktop site.
I have made my Gromit pin drops public, so if you sign up to the site and go to Bristol you should be able to see the Gromits.
Gromit winning Olympic Gold..
A year down the line since the Olympics, here are a few shots of our Gromit doing really well at the Olympics..missed it?
