Run 141 - Billings Heights, South of Wicks off Lake Elmo

November 18, 2023

It’s a Saturday morning run with Shelley and we are back in the Heights at 7:30 am.  It’s a brisk 35 degrees but felt great with no wind and quiet streets.

Even Main Street was quiet.

There wasn’t much in the way of tremendous scenery but I did snap a few photos.

A road that we don’t have to run.

Unita Park.

Good yard art.

Lots of more of the same.

The BBWA canal.

Another street I’d thought we’d have to run but I guess not.

By crossing off a couple streets that turned out to be of the No Trespassing variety our usual. 6.2 mile run was only 5.17 but that’s OK because yesterday’s 5-mile run turned into a 6-miler.

Run 140 - West of 48th

November 17, 2023

Yes, another 5:30am Friday run.  Dark and pretty chilly.  I met Shelley at her place and we ran the streets that she’s pretty familiar with.  This is west of 48th and north of Central.

The map predicted a 5.14 mile run but it turned out to be a bit longer. When we got to the upper-left of the map Shelley pointed out that there were some new streets that we should add otherwise they’d be orphans.  This took us up to where it looks like they are building a concrete culvert in order to extend the street across a ditch.

I only grabbed a few more photos as it was really dark out.

So, we ended up doing 6 miles.  I sort of warmed up about halfway through the run but it still felt cold.  I guess I’m not quite acclimated yet.

Run 139 - Finishing Up The Trailer Court

November 15, 2023

It’s been a while since I did a run for this project as I’d gone to Pittsburgh to run their downtown 10-miler and then picked up the Covid virus.  All that is behind me he now and I’m feeling pretty good so it was back to cleaning up some leftover streets.

It was Wednesday evening group run with the Rim Runners and we met up at Canyon Creek Brewery.  The last time we were here I’d covered the bulk of the Golden Meadows trailer park and just had a few blocks leftover so that was tonight’s route.  Marlina, Shelley, and Brad were along for the ride and it was a nice cool though dark evening. I ran with a headlamp for the first time and it really did help spot tripping hazards.

We ran up the hill on 32nd and turned into Golden Meadows, looping through a few streets and a couple dead ends.  It was dark but I did take a few photos.  The first one is looking west toward the lights of Scheels.

We ran back down 32nd but not wanting to make this a short run, the route had us head west on the bike path to the FedEx building.  Before we’d gone too far we varied from the planned route and ran up the new street to the freshly built KOA headquarters.

We finished up back at the brewery with just under 3.5 miles on the clock.  I felt really well and could have gone on but, heck, let’s have a beer and socialize.

Run 138 - More of the Heights

October 30, 2023

I wanted to get in a longer run today ahead of the 10-miler I will be doing next weekend in Pittsburgh, PA so I mapped out another course in Billings Heights.

I parked next to the pond that I ran past a week ago when the weather was warmer, the pond that really stunk.  Right after I parked, 2 city vehicles pulled up behind me.  I chatted with them for a moment and the 3 of them are in the public works department and were there to look at the pond. Cool.  They asked if I was just out for a run and showed them my map for they day and they thought that was cool.  Since they were in Public Works I asked if they knew how many miles of streets are in the city and they said 500 but those were lane miles or something like that.  It’s a number that I still don’t know but I do know that I’ve run over 700 miles for the project so far.

I got on my way and was only a block or two into it when I realized I’d over-dressed.  I shed my sweatshirt, tying it around me, and over the course of the run I took my gloves on and off several times.  It seemed like it would get cold and then warm up and then back to cold.  I think that the air temp was about 40 when I got there but there was some wind.

Almost the entire run was on residential streets and most of the snow was gone so it was just a matter of covering the distance.  I really can’t say that there were lots of exciting or fun things to see or comment on with most of the homes of the snout house type with the same 80s architectural style.

I ran past this place the other day without the snow.

South Hills isn’t paved.

They were honking as they went over.

I was at the end of Venus and see that there is a shortcut out to Wicks but I didn’t take it.

On Winks, looking into the dried BBWA canal.

Looking north on Wicks

Looking south on Wicks.  This was the only busy street I covered.

No one golfing today.

A friend used to live here.

This little guy was guarding the end of Glenhaven.  He never made a sound but looked like he was ready to go with me.

These two shots are on Wentworth.

Looking across a field I saw these folks hanging out.

There’s a nice city park here.  It’s Frances Park - Hidden Park on my map and is on Burning Tree Drive.

A big house.

Flood control.

Dead end streets usually have a fire hydrant and this one has a friend.

The north end of the Heights from Lake Heights Drive.

This from the north end of Ditton.

That was it.  It felt pretty good and I didn’t start getting tired until mile 7.  At the of the 8.3 I asked myself if I could squeeze out another mile and a half to get a 10.  Yep, no problem.