Early evening on north Riverparks trails
July 7th, 2008
I got a late start on today’s run but it turned out to be a great decision. The temperature was actually tolerable and though I was sweating like mad, I never felt hot during the run.
Today’s route took me a bit more north along the recently redone Riverparks trail. I joined up with it at 31st Street since there is construction south of here and followed it all the way up to 11th Street. Until now, I hadn’t ventured past the 21st Street bridge. Though there is no crushed limestone “chat” on either side of the super smooth asphalt trail, I’m still a fan. So were several others today: there were lots of walkers, joggers, bikers, skateboarders and rollerbladers out tonight and many kids playing on the playground that borders the trail. But it wasn’t overly crowded and there was only one mad hatter biker racing to set a new world speed record :-)
After noticing the nice Route 66 sign and monument along the road, complete with a flag for each state the road passes through, I crossed the river to the west side. At the start of the trail here there is another disc golf course that’s just on the edge of the apartments. After navigating through the geese and ducks, I followed the curving trail around The Reynolds Amphitheater and floating stage. By this time I was still holding a steady pace and feeling great.
At some point around here I crossed a wooden bridge that had a smell like Six Flags. It’s not too wide and the boards are uneven but it was kind of neat. I’m starting to like running the routes around here and crossing all the bridges. With the river in the middle, it reminds me of my old favorite routes in Austin around Town Lake (now Lady Bird Lake) and Philadelphia along Fairmount Park.
After managing my way along the grass on Riverside Drive, I crossed the road and headed back to Brookside. In total, I logged 6.7 miles at a 10:34/mile pace for a time of 1:10:50.