So we all know that the Human Race is a 10km run, but if you’re going to participate, and train towards that distance, it’d be helpful to, you know, KNOW how far 10km is. Or 2km. Or 7km. Or…you get the idea.
I mean, there are tech-y ways to measure these things, but not everybody is rocking a pedometer.

Enter the good people at the Running Room. A friend told me about this awesome feature on their web site, which lists route maps of varying lengths in cities across Canada (routes that begin and end at Running Room locations, natch).

I’m particularly stoked on these guys, if only because I’ve been getting a little sick of marking distances by running and re-running the only 1km park loop I know of in the neighbourhood.

At the same time, some of these maps are pretty intense. The 32km route beginning at the Yonge Street location in Toronto has more twists and bends than a backstage…cast party…at Cirque du Soleil.

If you like the Running Room maps, you might also want to check out the Nike+ Map It feature.

It's a route map system that's a bit more elegant, a bit easier to navigate, and it has the added benefit of allowing you to draw your OWN route maps, which is pretty great.

In fact, the only thing better would be if route-loaded GPS devices started raining from the sky on all of us.

Fingers crossed!