California man maps out his runs to create art

SAN FRANCISCO (NBC, KYMA/KECY) - A California runner combined his two passions, running and art, and the result is amazing.

On any given day in the City of San Francisco, you will find plenty of runners out on the streets. Some looking to improve their times. Others looking to lose a little weight, but a precious few, though, doing what Lenny Maughan is doing.

"I like to say my canvas is San Francisco," Maughan stated.

You see, Maughan is not just running. He's creating art: "I love running, I love art, so this is a nice way to combine them in both."

Now, of those two loves, Maughan says art came before running.

"When I was a kid, I was notorious for drawing characters of friends. Like, I'd look at you and draw you, haha, and I have a real skill with that, and then, I sort of kind of forgot about that until about ten, a little over ten years ago," Maughan shared.

By that point, in 2015, Maughan was already an experienced runner, and like many others, he tracked his runs using GPS, and when he plotted that information on a map, a new art form was born.

"It sometimes could look like something...sometimes accidental. A telephone or a dinosaur or something, and then I thought, 'Well, why don't I begin with the idea in mind and design something and then purposely run it?' and boom, there you go," Maughan shared.

So Maughan takes hours drawing on a map of the city. He used to use paper, but now does it on a computer and then heads out to follow that exact route.

"When I'm actually doing this, I'm running down the street, looking at my iPhone. To other people, it looks like I'm just checking social media or something, but I'm following a map," Maughan further shared.

Maughan's latest creation is a snake in honor of the Lunar New Year. It took him ten hours and 40 miles to complete, with San Francisco's Famous Hills adding some 5,000 feet in elevation in the process.

Maughan does about one a month these days and has acquired quite a dedicated following for his creations online. He loves it when people like his work.

It means even more, though, when they are moved to join him. Not necessarily on a run, but in finding their own unique path to expressing themselves.