Stealing Miles

I have this little thing I do to steal a mile here and there. It's kind of a mental game, but it works out to some extra mileage and that's what matters. For instance, today (and several "long" runs recently), I run a block into a couple of neighborhoods and right back out. And then on my way back on the old out-and-back course I retrace the route. Those little forays into a neighborhood net me about .12 miles each. But when I do the out-and-back it comes out to a quarter-mile. And doing it twice adds up to a half-mile. I also add in a little extra to the "out" portion of the run and and suddenly I've tagged an extra mile onto my run. Today I ran 7 miles total and it was completely my 6-mile course plus these extras. I've done this before with brief sojourns into a neighborhood, and it works because it's barely noticeable on the run but it adds up in the end. Recommended.