Runner Uses The Streets As His Canvas, Maps Out Artistic Designs With His Routes (31 Pics)

Jogging is a truly healthy activity for both physical and mental health; we all know this already. For some people, it comes naturally. For others, it's either a struggle not worth contemplating or just a little, well, boring.

Without a jogging buddy or any element of competition, how do you spice up your runs? Well, there are now plenty of apps that you can download, that keep track of things like speed, distance, heart rate, calories burned and even challenges against other users to keep you motivated.

San Franciscan Lenny Maughan doesn't have any problems with motivation though, he loves to run! He uses the social fitness app Strava to create amazing pieces of 'running art;' carefully planning his route beforehand to run in the pattern of a certain image with the streets of San Fran as his canvas.

Lenny sometimes has to run incredible distances - his 'Frida Kahlo' masterpiece covered 29 miles and took almost 6 hours to complete - all the while being careful not to make any mistakes. A single wrong turn can ruin the whole piece!

"You can't see the lines drawn until after you finish your run," Lenny told SFGATE. "So it's such a joyful feeling when you put in all of that work and you finally finish and get to see what you envisioned at the end."

"San Francisco is my canvas. I use the streets as a framework for what I want to do, find shapes, and make it work. Kind of like how little kids look up at the clouds."

Lenny has been doing his running art for over 3 years now and has created 30 unique designs. Far from the stereotypical image of an artist sitting patiently at an easel for days on end, painstakingly applying the gentlest of brush strokes, this very modern type of art is as exhausting physically as it is mentally!

What do you think? Do you enjoy jogging, or is it something that you find boring and a struggle? Scroll down to see the rest of Lenny's hard-earned art for yourself, and let us know what you think in the comments!