Recipes for a good (short) run

Ok, time to get serious about some nonserious running.  After my last post, I sat down to decide what kind of runs I should do in my allotted 20-30 minutes.   Seems like there is one of two ways to make it through this change: 

1.   "Mini-size" (instead of supersize) all my existing training plans and just do everything - but in great moderation, or

2.  Get creative and make these small escapes from reality a little bit of fun.

You can probably guess - I choose option #2.   I won't say that I will avoid all my old trails and distances, but after years of "purposefully driven running" for an event, a time or goal, I think I will take advantage of this time to mix it up a little.

If I reach way back into my memory banks, I can remember a few runs for the sake of running.  Time to reach into my "recipe cabinet", dust them off and sort through them.  Literally.  Like my real recipes for food, my favorite runs are stacked haphazardly in a few different places in my house.  They are jotted on scrap paper, articles pulled out of magazines, books stuffed away on high shelves, and bookmarked on some running sites like Favorite Run, and Run the Planet.  It should be fun to sort through them and find some new old stuff.

Any ideas?  (Now would be a great time for a site like allrecipes.com but for running stuff.)Do you know good recipes for a short run? If you do, here are the few ingredients I have to work with:

1.  20-30 minutes (and I go no where fast or far - so keep it short)

2.  Mindless, brain-on-autopilot running mentality

3.  In town, in the country, or on a track - I have all of them available

4.  Tunes generally required

In lieu of a darn good plan, I will stick with an oldie but goodie tonight - the "oh-crap-I-only-have-20-minutes-to-squeeze-in-a-run-between-work-and-kids".   I am pretty sure that is why the Gray's Lake loop was invented.