Seeking Philadelphia

SeekingBostonMarathon has been on the road a lot lately. Last week was my Green Acres week with a fantastic run in New York's Central Park followed by a" middle of nowhere" run in Colorado on a country road all in the same week. This week I took my running "intensities in ten cities" tour to Philadelphia.

Since the running sponsors haven't found my home address, or web site address, I still rely on my day job in software sales to pay the bills, but the silver lining is that it allows me to book training runs in some very cool places.

Once again, I polled twitterland and my run peeps on DailyMile for some recommended routes for a scheduled eight mile tempo run. Kristin on DailyMile suggested the Kelly Drive Loop which "wraps around the art museum. a really nice scenic flat run." You can catch more details on MapMyRun.




With meetings in Plymouth Meeting, PA and staying at the airport, I picked another run that was highly recommended; the Schuylkill River Trail. There are several spots to pick this up including in the city. I opted for the Manayunk Trail Head. After loading up on some liquids from the CVS Pharmacy, I parked the car to slip into my run gear. I'm sure it didn't look good to the passersby, but I've done this trick before. A few quick minutes and I had transformed from technology geek to shoes, shorts and a singlet.

The route had a mix of river and railroad scenery with crushed pebble, dirt, neighborhood asphalt and even fifteen feet of cobblestone. Along the way, there was plenty of trees to provide some shade, but it was still pushing 90 degrees when I ran. (I promise not to complain about running in the cold ever again.) The late night with clients the night before didn't help my hydration so it wasn't the best run as far as my performance, but this was merely a training run. I somehow managed to push goal pace miles in the heat at 6:39, 6:54, 7:04, and 6:57 with a three mile warm-up before and one mile cooldown (completely ironic term for those running conditions.)

Mainstreet in Manayunk has plenty to offer after a run with local restaurants and pubs right at the Trail Head. I'd have to give it two thumbs up for the visiting runner. If you are a Philly local, post your favorite here or on my Facebook page and if you come across the Oakleys I lost on the route, please enjoy them--they have some good miles (and races) on them.

Comments

Popular Posts