149 - North End of the Heights

December 30, 2023

Shelley is getting over a cold or flu but is ready to run so I set a map I’d made for last week aside and made a new one with no hills.  This route encompasses the streets from Main and Mary, south, staying mostly between Main and the bike path until Mattson.  

There isn’t much in the way of excitement on this course but we had a good time getting it done.  It was in the mid-20s but felt cooler.  We parked at Bitterrroot school and started working our way north.  It was still dark out when we got going and, for some reason, probably too cold to keep taking my gloves off, I wasn’t motivated to take lots of photos.  Here is what I did get:

Lots of yard art.

The middle school.

Cool rides.

This place must be something at night.

We are heading south on Main Street and can see Sacrifice Cliff with the Pryor Mountains in the background.

Some streets are still rural.

From the end of Kyhl Lane looking south along the bike path.

Looking west from the east end of Kyhl.

That was it. The map predicted an even 6 miles and when we got back to the car we were within .05 of a mile so we looped around the car once to make it an even 6 miles.  It was a good run and allowed us to make a good stab at this part of the Heights.

Run 148 - Christmas Lights

December 27, 2023

It was a Wednesday night group run with the Rim Runners and for the first time in a long while our route was over some new streets.  For this month we run different neighborhoods to look at Christmas lights and tonight we were in the Heights, streets I haven’t run yet for the project.  I should have planned it a bit better so as not to leave as many orphaned blocks as I did but I’ll be back in that area and doing some clean up anyway.

I didn’t draw a map but ran the one Shelley provided.  She was unable to run tonight so I ran with our substitute group leader, Marlena.

We got lost once but pretty much covered the map as shown.  Here’s some photos.

My watch kept track and it looks like we covered SHelley’s map pretty well.

Run 147 - Finishing up part of the West End

December 22, 2023

It’s a Friday so I met Shelley for our usual 5:30am run.  We’ve been working on the streets out by where she lives off 48th Street and today was the last of the neighborhoods within easy reach of her house.

It was a pleasant run at 36° with clear skies and no wind.  It was all residential and we saw some Christmas lights along the way.

This is a really big house.

Not much special about the run except we heard a couple vicious sounding dogs behind a fence on 52nd Street and we met a brown puppy on one of the side streets who came out to meet us.

Interestingly, the GPS came up with the same distance as the map I’d made, 5.79 miles.

Run 146 - Annafield Leftovers

December 18, 2023

Some days just don’t line up the way one would expect and today was one of those.  I’ve generally used Mondays for a long run, primarily when I was training for the Pittsburgh 10-miler, but got out of the practice after the race due to Covid, Thanksgiving, and a week in Arizona.  I didn’t feel like a long run today, in fact, I didn’t feel like running at all, so I made up a shorter map that would just clean up some leftover streets in the Annafield subdivision.  I thought I’d head out mid-morning but by mid-morning I lacked the motivations and was more interested in finishing a drawing I started the day before.  Then I thought after lunch but then we ended up shopping for a new mattress.  The gumption traps were enormous.

A bit after 2pm I got it together and headed down to Elysian School where the map marked the start.  When I got there I realized I’d left my watch on the charger.  Ugh.  Well, the backup plan is to use MapMyRun on my phone but my phone wouldn’t connect to the Internet.  Double ugh.  The thought went through my mind that I should just bag it and head back home but as long as I’m here….

Early in the run there is a loop thing on the map that I put there as a possibility but this area is under heavy residential construction and those roads, along with others, aren’t really there.  In fact, that whole field east of where I started is being developed so I’ll catch that when it’s done at a later date.

They’ve developed a sort of “Main Street” here with business below and apartments above.

Most of the homes are in keeping with the faux-Craftsman look.

Some of the places have a row-house look.

There are two parks in the area.  This is one.

The edge of civilization.

There is a gazebo in this field which must be a community center park.

The map showed this road going through but that was not the case.

A few yards to the south there is a road that does go through.  It appears to be part of this farm.

At the other end there are some signs.  I think the No Trespassing sign was for the house and its yard.

I arrived back at Elysian School but still needed to head north on East Lane.

Look south on East Lane.

Looking east on East Lane.

When I got the Frontage Road I was happy to see a wide shoulder as the cars going by are usually doing at least 60 MPH.  It was only a a block to West Lane.  Here’s a photo from there.

I arrived back at Elysian School unscathed and glad that I’d pushed through my resistance and done the run.  Running does shift my attitude and I was in a better place for having done it.

No GPS data today but since the map shows 3.55 miles and the route was flat and straight, I’ll go with that.