Tag: Rocky River Reservation

Change of Scenery

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I’m in the habit of running in the same three places each week, and as much as I love them, they can get tiring. I love finding new places to run, so I wanted to share some of my favorites, in hopes that it will be your new favorite someday. I’ve grown up running these routes, and couldn’t imagine having a love for running without them.Warning- they’re not road runs, I’m a sucker for the metro parks.

1. Bur Oak, Black River Reservation, Lorain Country Metro Parks-Absolute favorite place to run. Located in Elyria, it’s perfect for all seasons with beautiful views. It recently went through a facelift and had two more sections added on, the middle being my route of choice. Perfect course for an out and back jog.

2. French Creek Reservation, Lorain Country Metro Parks-I grew up running here. Located in Sheffield Village. There are multiple paths that intertwine and connect to two different entrances, creating multiple options for a run. Also included is the Nature Center, which is fantastic.

3. Sandy Ridge Reservation, Lorain County Metro Parks- Located in North Ridgeville. This is a great place to get your feet on some soft ground. It’s a smaller loop, but takes you through the nature reserve. It’s a good place for mile repeats, nothing too long.

4. Carlisle Reservation, Lorain Country Metro Parks- Located in LaGrange. This is even a long drive for me, but its worth it. This was the home of many cross country meets, and shared by horses. It’s peaceful, shaded and has winding trails with two separate loops.

5. South Mastick, Rocky River Reservation, Cuyahoga County Metro Parks- If I had to, I would drive over an hour just to run here. Home of the Classic at Mastick 5k. This is one of my favorite spots to start in the CCMP because of the trails next to the river or the pavement path that goes along the road. This place has my heart

6. Mill Stream Run, Rocky River Reservation, Cuyahoga Country Metro Parks- I’m biased because I lived a stones throw away from the path for this section of the park. But, it’s beautiful, and includes Wallace Lake, and Berea Falls. There are multiple paths that branch off, so you never have to run the same path twice.

7. Salt Fork State Park- Located in Cambridge. Ok, so this is a bit of a drive, but I spent four wonderful years running through this park to get ready for cross season. There is more to do than just running, so it’s the perfect weekend getaway! Major hill training as well 🙂

A love affair…

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I was looking forward to having a long weekend to get plenty of miles in, but I cheated. I cheated on running with my bike. And I have to admit, I enjoyed it.

Back track, Friday after work I went out for what I thought would be a relaxing run,  I ended up doing more of a tempo run. I felt great, and since I can do the distance, I need to work on a quicker time. Saturday, after my morning class, Darren and I headed up to Eddy’s so he could finally get his bike. This is where it began. After numerous suggestions of things I think he may have needed, we got out of there and headed to South Mastick in Rocky River Reservation, my fav place in the parks. 12.5 miles later we were in love, with our bikes. I feel much better biking this summer compared to last, because I’m actually in shape, running and biking have turned my legs into beasts. Starving and energized we met up with my friend and her bf at Bonnie’s Lounge in Fairview Park later that night, good food and good company.

Sunday, usually a day I dread, was welcomed for once. We went and saw the Hangover 2. Good, still can’t decided if the first was better or not. Couldn’t waste the beautiful day, so we were out on the bike path again, this time south of Berea and into some not so populated areas. I won’t be going out that way alone any time soon. Only able to do 6. 5 miles, trying to beat the storm, but it still felt good to be out there.

Monday was my recovering day, I haven’t caught up on sleep since the Cleveland Half, leaving me exhausted, and my apartment starting to grow dust kittens. Ok, it could just be the fact that my cat sheds as much as I do, but I had a ton of things I needed to clean. Regardless, I had planned a productive day, until I found a stack of Runner’s World magazines and the Sex and the City marathon on tv. I did come up with some ideas for future races, more to come later this week! But an evening run was on the schedule and there was no way I could skip it after not running since Friday. Hello humidity! Probably one of the worst runs this year, overall I felt good, but couldn’t breathe. I was able to sweat out all of the bad food and drinks I had consumed this weekend.

Looking forward, this is pre-race week! The Girls with Sole 5k is Sunday. I’m hoping the humidity will calm down and the weather will cooperate. As of now it will be a low of 63 and a high of 77 with no rain 🙂 Right now, it’s just carbo load, not a problem, and some easy mile the rest of the week.