A distance runner from San Francisco had an extraordinary idea of using the city map as a canvas for creating his running art pieces. With the help of a special app, Lenny Maughan crafts a running route carefully selecting the paths of the future picture beforehand.
Lenny has been creating these illustrations for the past years. So far he’s already created 53 running artworks, covering the distance Lenny had to cover to get the picture. The runner says that the most challenging part of making his artwork is running up the hills, which are an inevitable part of creating every masterpiece. Taking a shortcut isn't an option either.
Maughan uses a fitness app called Strava and MapMyRun which record his routes and provide all the statistics which come along with his runs.
Lenny’s feet have drawn lots of remarkable masterpieces, but it was Frida Kahlo’s portrait which attracted people’s attention and finally shook the web to take a look at his work. It happened when his friend, with the nickname themouth, posted Kahlo’s running portrait on the Reddit site and mentioned that it took the runner 28.9 miles to complete the picture.
The process of planning the route takes some of Lenny’s time. Firstly, he draws the picture he wants to get on the map and goes through several repetitions before he starts the “art” process. Lenny himself admits that sketching a picture takes more time than running it sometimes. He always has to be very careful when running because taking a wrong turn may spoil the whole picture.
Maughan does not take requests and never reveals what his next artwork will depict — so it all comes as a real surprise to his friends and followers.
COMMENTS