Sunday, late morning/noon
6.5 mi / 10.5 km
48 F / 9C
I had been wanting to try a route extension on the Mississippi River, crossing over to historic Fort Snelling from a section on the East River Parkway that I had run just once before, to check out a trail that connects Fort Snelling Park with Minnehaha Falls Park. At first I was going to make it a long, 17-mile run-commute from my office home. But I ended up driving to work in the morning, so I had decided to just drive down to the river and do an 11-mile version, first a familiar section between Marshall and Ford Parkway bridges, and then the route extension. But as the morning wore on, I began to loose steam, still feeling the effects of my lingering sore throat/dry cough, so I ended up deciding to just do the new part, the extension, and so drove all the way down to Ford Parkway, and parked on a city street.
I was a little nervous after five days off from running, and six days since my last mezzo run. I started out stiff, but I think this was mostly due to the lingering soreness of my squat/deadlift fest two days prior. I tried focusing on getting my left foot to land more like my right, with a slight forefoot landing, while running south on the east bank,
(looking northwest with downtown Minneapolis in the background)
and then crossed over the river on the 7th Street bridge,
to Fort Snelling.
I hadn't been to visit Fort Snelling in decades. It was the first European outpost in this area, strategically overlooking the confluence of the Mississippi and Minnesota rivers. It was a common field trip when I was in school, with pretend soldiers and traders re-enacting precolonial life.
Then I circled around the fort on a descent to the trail I wanted to check out.
It had pretty rough chipseal.
Like Ken Bob says, harsh surfaces teach good form, and sure enough my left foot's forefoot landing became automatic at that point. It was pretty beautiful down there.
The trail sits about halfway between the bluff and the bank. Then I resurfaced, in two senses, in Minnehaha park, ascending from the rough chipseal path to a nice smooth sidewalk up on the bluff, with Ford Parkway bridge and the lock and dam in the background.
There were a lot of people checking out the falls and park on a magnificent autumn day.
I felt guilty for enjoying it alone without my family. Barefoot and in my shorts and t-shirt, I felt like an alien and got a lot of looks and a few typical comments.
From there, I crossed over the Ford Parkway bridge, got back in my car and drove home. Towards the end my legs had begun to loosen up, and I thought about adding another five miles by going up to Marshall bridge, visible from Ford Parkway bridge.
But I decided the mission had been accomplished, I was back running again and it felt great.
6.5 mi / 10.5 km
48 F / 9C
I had been wanting to try a route extension on the Mississippi River, crossing over to historic Fort Snelling from a section on the East River Parkway that I had run just once before, to check out a trail that connects Fort Snelling Park with Minnehaha Falls Park. At first I was going to make it a long, 17-mile run-commute from my office home. But I ended up driving to work in the morning, so I had decided to just drive down to the river and do an 11-mile version, first a familiar section between Marshall and Ford Parkway bridges, and then the route extension. But as the morning wore on, I began to loose steam, still feeling the effects of my lingering sore throat/dry cough, so I ended up deciding to just do the new part, the extension, and so drove all the way down to Ford Parkway, and parked on a city street.
I was a little nervous after five days off from running, and six days since my last mezzo run. I started out stiff, but I think this was mostly due to the lingering soreness of my squat/deadlift fest two days prior. I tried focusing on getting my left foot to land more like my right, with a slight forefoot landing, while running south on the east bank,
(looking northwest with downtown Minneapolis in the background)
and then crossed over the river on the 7th Street bridge,
to Fort Snelling.
I hadn't been to visit Fort Snelling in decades. It was the first European outpost in this area, strategically overlooking the confluence of the Mississippi and Minnesota rivers. It was a common field trip when I was in school, with pretend soldiers and traders re-enacting precolonial life.
Then I circled around the fort on a descent to the trail I wanted to check out.
It had pretty rough chipseal.
Like Ken Bob says, harsh surfaces teach good form, and sure enough my left foot's forefoot landing became automatic at that point. It was pretty beautiful down there.
The trail sits about halfway between the bluff and the bank. Then I resurfaced, in two senses, in Minnehaha park, ascending from the rough chipseal path to a nice smooth sidewalk up on the bluff, with Ford Parkway bridge and the lock and dam in the background.
There were a lot of people checking out the falls and park on a magnificent autumn day.
I felt guilty for enjoying it alone without my family. Barefoot and in my shorts and t-shirt, I felt like an alien and got a lot of looks and a few typical comments.
From there, I crossed over the Ford Parkway bridge, got back in my car and drove home. Towards the end my legs had begun to loosen up, and I thought about adding another five miles by going up to Marshall bridge, visible from Ford Parkway bridge.
But I decided the mission had been accomplished, I was back running again and it felt great.