Avid runner Lenny Maughan was one of those children growing up who saw shapes in the clouds. Maughan now creates shapes on the ground through his running art.
He uses a GPS-enabled smartphone application to highlight the route he runs within the 49 square miles of San Francisco and creates a distinctive shape or image.
“It’s my own artistic indulgence,” he says. “It’s one of the many ways I like to run.”
Maughan is often asked about the statistics and figures involved in creating his art, but they are not important to him.
“It’s not about the miles, it’s not about the elevation,” he says. “It’s about making a fun, quirky shape.”
On average, Maughan says he runs about 15 miles per shape. Some shapes can take less than an hour, while some go from sunrise to sunset. His longest run, depicting a person running, was more than 40 miles and his shortest run, a slice of pizza, was less than a mile. When Maughan and other runners started using apps, such as MapMyRun, several years ago to create a highlight of their runs, Maughan noticed that some of the highlighted routes resembled a distinct shape.
“I thought, ‘That it is kind of interesting,’” he says.
Maughan became more intentional about the shapes he created and planned his routes in advance. During his first attempt, he ran more than 6 miles in under an hour to create the Vulcan hand sign. The shape was made soon after the 2015 death of Leonard Nimoy, the actor most famous for his role as Spock in the Star Trek franchise, and served as a tribute to the actor and his iconic “live long and prosper” gesture.
Following the success of his Vulcan run, Maughan made more art on a monthly basis, with his designs becoming more elaborate. He now uses Strava and Relive apps to create, respectively, 2-D and 3-D renderings of his masterpieces. He comes up with his shape ideas by looking at a paper map of the city or by fitting a shape within the city boundaries.
He highlights his route and takes his paper map with him on those special runs to stay on track.
“If I do make a wrong turn, I mess the whole thing up and have to start over,” he says.
Maughan doesn’t only run for art. He also participates in group runs and marathons, running leisurely about three days a week. Maughan has created running art as an activity for a breast cancer fundraising event last year, but he’s never had friends or another person join him on those runs to create art.
Their schedules may not line up, he says, and they may not have the time to commit to create the shape with him.
“This is a solo thing, but I love to have people do that with me,” he says.
Maughan says his running art is a way to express himself artistically, while getting exercise, and doesn’t plan to make money from it. He compares his artistic hobby to traditional canvas painting, but without the need for storage space, as he uploads his images on Instagram.
Since the pandemic began, Maughan now runs on his own, though he misses the running clubs and races he participated in. His passion and fitness haven’t changed, as he unintentionally finished a marathonlong run on the beach in June.
“Running is absolutely fine and healthy as long as I maintain social distance,” he says.
When he’s not running, the technology worker spends time learning photography, doing yoga and socializing with friends. Maughan’s photos of his running art can be found at www.instagram.com/lennymaughan.
Brandon Klein is an associate editor. Feedback welcome at bklein@cityscenemediagroup.com.
