Quick afternoon bridge loop
July 5th, 2008
Though I only got about 3 miles in this afternoon, I really enjoyed my run. I decided to check out the west side of the Riverparks trail between 21st and 31st Streets since I normally run a bit more south. I used the 21st Street Bridge to cross on the north side and the bRRidge to cross on the south side. Since I started at 6:15pm, there weren’t too many walkers and runners out due to the heat, but there were a fair number of bikers.
The east side of the trail near the dam still has a bit of fireworks litter from yesterday evening’s festivities. A side note: Tulsa’s 4th of July Fireworks display was quite good. It lasted well over 20 minutes and the finale was long and bold.
I held a steady pace around 10:00/m though I didn’t have my watch and I wasn’t following the mile markers. Using MapMyRun, I estimate the mileage right at 2.5.
The west side of the trail is just about like the east side with a few differences:
- More of that refinery smell since the electric company borders the trail. On the other hand, you get less of the car exhaust smell since it’s not right on the road.
- Less crowded, with significantly fewer walkers and runners but a steady flow of bike traffic.
- Nice new tree plantings with “In memory of” posts on plaques that also note the tree species. Quite nice and will one day be nice and shady (in a good way, hopefully).
- Plenty of water fountains–seemed like more frequent, too, though I didn’t check to see if they were operable.
- Ken was right, there is a lot more goose poop on this side, concentrated up near the 21st Street Bridge area.
This run was strong and steady in the hot and sunny conditions. I drank about 12 oz. of water in less than 30 minutes and it seemed like I could have had even more. Had I gone another mile, I would have needed to refill my bottle.