Found a great new running route
November 30, 2006When I run in the morning before work, I usually go to 3rd Street, head towards the river, and then hang a right towards Waterfront Park. You can then run thru the park and stay on River Road past the Tumbleweed and the training facility that the U of L rowing club uses. It’s a fine route, and the one I used during my marathon training.
But this morning for some reason I decided to see if there was an alternate route along the river. Instead of turning right towards Waterfront Park, I turned left and ran under the Belvedere. Now I’m not a huge fan of running under all that concrete. It’s not that I’m particularly claustrophobic, but every time I’m under so much concrete I can’t help but think of all the people who died when the eastern span of the Bay Bridge pancaked during the Loma Prieta earthquake. I just don’t want to spend too much time in such a structure.
Turns out once you get past the Belvedere and run a couple blocks the path really opens up. You’re no longer under the Belvedere or I-64 or any of the other highway overpasses that make up Spaghetti Junction. And the path goes from concrete to asphalt, which is much easier on the knees. Plus it’s not near any of the surface streets either–there’s only river to your right and green space or small parking lots to the left. Makes the path seem rather isolated, a feeling enhanced by the fact that nobody seems to use it. I was out there 45 minutes and only saw two other runners, whereas whenever I do the Waterfront Park route there’s always other runners, walkers, and bicyclists.
It sticks pretty close to the river and the shipping channel. So like this morning there was a barge navigating the channel so I was running alongside that for a half-mile or so. It was pretty cool.
I really like this new path. Kinda wish I’d discovered it earlier. I may bring a bicycle down one day to see if I can find out how far the path goes. I believe this may connect all the way to Shawnee Park on the western edge of Louisville, too far for me to ever run the whole thing during a morning run. But I should be able to bike that far one lunch hour.