Merrell Barefoot Collection

Looking forward to doing a Potomac River run with all of you.

As I mentioned in an earlier blog, I rely heavily on Google Maps to spot parks or other large green areas near my layover hotels. Another fantastic source for out-of-towners is a wonderful app called Meetup and, of course, I always google local running clubs. When you look at Google maps of El Paso, you will be hard pressed to find any open green areas. You are, after all, in the desert. When I look in Meetup for running groups, most cities have several pages worth. El Paso showed one group.  Runelpaso.com came up with a list of tiny parks like Veterans Park, Chuck Heinrich Park, Sue Young Park and Memorial Park in the Manhattan district. Most of these parks are so small that you would have to circle them 2 to 4 times just to cover a mile and none is near the airport. I might also add that during the combined 8 hours or so of running/walking all over El Paso, I only saw ONE other runner!

Did this stop me from trying to find a safe and fun running route? Not in the slightest. My first attempt was to head west on Montana Ave., a straight shot to downtown from the airport. This is not for the faint of heart because it’s a looong way and the traffic is relentless. You’re on a hard concrete sidewalk, which often ends for no apparent reason, and there is constant traffic turning at the numerous cross streets. Once you get downtown things actually get calmer and more relaxing, plus you can finally get some shade running amongst the taller buildings. This is really important if you run here in the summertime.

Westbound on Montana Ave.

My next attempt was again heading to the west but with the goal of reaching the southern most point of the Rockies. I headed down Montana Ave., but this time I took the diagonal up Trowbridge Dr. It gets a little tricky after it turns into Douglas Ave. Just go right when you reach N. Copia St. and then left onto Copper Ave. leading past Memorial Park in the historic Manhattan District. I think it’s historic for the the number of gated windows, doors, yards, and yapping or growling dogs. It didn’t give me that warm and fuzzy welcome feeling but my goal was finally in sight.

Copper Ave. Manhattan District - Goal in sight

After a right up Dakota St. followed by another left (there’s no easy way to get here) onto Wheeling Ave., I finally reached El Paso Scenic Drive Park (which is really a road). This road will lead you around the southern tip of the Rockies with a great view of downtown El Paso and Ciudad Juarez. On a clear day the view is spectacular. There is very little room on the side of the road for runners or cyclists and extreme caution is advised but if you’re looking for a hill workout that’s not too strenuous, you will like this road.

El Paso Scenic Drive Park, Marker

View of downtown El Paso and Juarez

I won’t bore you with my third attempt because it was similar to the first two, but my fourth attempt at finding running Nirvana in El Paso was a complete circle around the airport. Don’t do this unless you want to get run over or just die of boredom. Let these pictures tell the story.

East on Montana

Eastbound on Montana Ave. near Global Reach Dr.

Heading north on Global Reach Dr.

If you have to jump out of traffic, this is what you'll jump into

Walter Jones Blvd.

Remnants of old road between Walter Jones and Liberty Expressway. Sanctuary!

South on Airport Rd. I hope you love trucks within inches of you.

Now wasn’t that a fun 13 – 14 mile adventure? I certainly hope there are more runner-friendly areas in El Paso, but as yet I haven’t found any. I’ll be back in El Paso again this weekend, but unless someone who knows the local running scene can give me some great suggestions, you’ll find me in the hotel workout room on the treadmill. Talk about dying of boredom.

On the plus side, the Applebee’s on Airway Blvd. right by the airport has the best Fajitas I’ve ever had. They got lucky and grabbed a great cook from Juarez. Hope he’s still there.

Sorry about the poor rating for runner friendliness in El Paso but that’s the way I see it until someone can convince me otherwise. My next blog will be from the other end of the spectrum – Reston, VA., one of the runner friendliest places in America. I might even include a Potomac River run.

You’ve been to Burbank and you’re wondering what’s so great about running along perfectly straight streets on concrete sidewalks. Nothing! The secret to running Burbank is in the mountains north and south of town but you have to be a little crazy and willing to spend at least 2 to 3.5 hours doing it. I admit there’s quite a bit of fast walking involved, not just running, because we’re talking some SERIOUS uphills and downhills. If you want to enjoy some great scenery, mostly soft surfaces (dirt fire roads), interesting wildlife and no traffic, you will really like the challenge.

Verduga Mountain Trail Run

My starting point was on E. Angeleno Ave at S. First St. heading north east towards the mountains. This is a long mile plus on a steady uphill to S. Sunset Canyon Dr. This part and the last two plus miles are pretty boring but it gets really good once you make your left and head to E. Walnut Ave. leading up past De Bell Municipal Golf course on Stough Canyon Ave.  After the first three miles, that felt like six because of the very steep uphill, you hit the Stough Canyon Visitor Center. Make sure you bring some water, Gu, etc. with you because the air is generally very dry here and it’s a long way without food or water. The visitor center is a great place to catch your breath and rehydrate because you’re really going to need it from this point on. Also check with whomever is on duty about wild critter sightings. There are lots of western diamondback rattlers that like to sun themselves on the hot dirt trails and mountain lions have also been spotted  in the area. Stay alert.

Entrance to Stough Canyon Nature Center

Observe the warning signs

Western Diamondback rattler

From the visitor center it’s a right turn up Stough Canyon Way and I really mean UP. The next three miles or so are quite challenging but really rewarding. You know you’re putting in a great effort and the scenery gets better and better. If any mountain bikers are on the trail and you’re feeling really strong and obnoxious, I guarantee you can take them on the uphills. Of course, they have the last laugh coming back down. If you can run the whole way up to the first set of communication towers, you’re a better man than I, Gunga Din. It doesn’t hurt to walk some and take in the great scenery because the level of effort is still high and there’s a long way to go. Once you do get to the top it’s gently rolling to almost flat along the ridge line. This is the section for about 5 – 6 miles where you can run almost non-stop and the view is spectacular.

From tower to tower along the ridge

One thing I should have mentioned at the beginning is the need for really good running shoes, preferably trail shoes. The first time I did this run I just had my Asics Cumulus with me and had trouble on the first really steep uphill from the visitors center. These are dirt trails and they can be very slippery when dry. The next time I brought my trusty old Asics Trail Attack WR’s and they saved me a lot of grief when I mistakenly got off the main trail on the descent back to Burbank. It was a VERY steep trail and without the reverse grip on my trail shoes I would have been sliding down on my butt like I did once in Tucson. The rash you get from the dirt and gravel is not pleasant and it takes a long time to heal.

Looking North from Verdugo Mountain Way

Asics Trail Attack WR

After about 6 miles along the ridge, keep your eyes open for the sign to Brand Park Mountain Way on your right to head back into Burbank. If you miss this trail you will either end up in Glendale or you’ll have to find the really steep and narrow trail that comes off Beaudry South Mountain Way. That was the day I thanked my lucky stars for bringing my trail shoes along. Once at the bottom of Brand Park Mt. Way you’ll go through Brand Library Park where you can again rehydrate at the water fountain. I was out of water by this point and really thrilled to see the fountain because I still had at least three miles to go.

Working my way back to the hotel after such a long run/walk I had the usual on my mind,  a long hot shower followed by great meal and an adult beverage. There are a lot of great places to eat along South and North San Fernando Blvd., but after being out there in the dry air for three hours I really wanted a cold brew.  Lucky for me there just happens to be a Gordon Biersch Brewery and restaurant right across the street from the Holiday Inn at the corner of San Fernando Blvd. and E. Angeleno Ave.

After restocking your  depleted glycogen stores with a good meal,  you’ll be amazed at how good you feel even though you just covered about 18 miles. The beauty of this workout is the walking portion on the severe uphills and the soft surface you’ll be on for 12 of those miles. It just doesn’t beat you up like a long marathon training run on pavement but you feel like you did just as much work. Hope you enjoy your run and thanks for coming along.

If you would like some further info about the trails in the Burbank and LA area, check out the “Nobody Hikes in LA” blog. http://nobodyhikesinla.com/tag/verdugo-mountains/

Gordon Biersch Brewery

P.S. For a great view of downtown LA and a unique back view of the Hollywood Sign, or as a second choice Universal Studios, go the other direction. We’ll cover those runs some other time.

Hollywood Sign

Back of Hollywood sign and Hollywood Reservoir

Map of my Mud Island run

When I think of Memphis the first few things I think of are Graceland, Beale Street, Memphis BBQ, and on this day, certainly Martin Luther King. Although running is pretty far down the list, it doesn’t mean there aren’t great places to run around Memphis, it just means that as a visitor I haven’t had time to get familiar enough with them. According to the Memphis Runners Track Club site there are several parks that are great for running, but they were all  quite a ways east of Downtown Memphis. My layover was across the street from Autozone Park, home of the Memphis Redbirds, in the heart of downtown. I only had about two hours of daylight to get settled into my hotel room and head out the door, which meant I needed to come up with a route close by.

I had heard about Mud Island on a previous trip but arrived too late to check it out. This time I lucked out with the weather (65 deg. on the 16th of January) and little traffic on MLK day. I checked the map section of my iPhone (my best source for finding green space and potential running routes) and quickly decided that the best way to get there would be the pedestrian bridge to Mud Island River Park (blue line on the map). Great idea, bad execution. I headed west on Union Avenue to S.Main Street and turned north from there. Main street is home of the famous Main Street Trolley line, a real Memphis Icon. Besides the joy of watching many of the antique cars going by, Main Street is mostly a pedestrian zone until you get to Exchange Avenue just before I40.

Main Street Trolley

At the Civic Center Plaza just past Adams Avenue you’ll find the entrance to the Mud Island River Park Bridge and Monorail on your left. The bridge is about one third of a mile long with the pedestrian section on top and the monorail hanging underneath. The monorail does not run during the Winter months but the pedestrian part is open  -  until you get to the park end and run into a locked fence preventing you from getting down to the park. Grrrrrr! A little warning would have been appreciated.

Fence at end of pedestrian bridge section.

Time to regroup and figure out another way to get to the island. Thank you iPhone map. I headed back to Main Street and continued north to A.W.Willis Avenue, turned left and crossed the bridge to the island. Success! After crossing the roundabout at Island Drive you just head down the river side of the levee to a wonderful grass covered mud plain right next to Old Man River. At my age I love running on soft surfaces like grass, wood chips, dirt, etc. This is a flat wide surface with a beaten dirt path and plenty of room for runners, walkers or people just out for a stroll with their kids or dogs.

With a tail wind of about 20 mph I covered the approx. 2 miles to the north end of the island (really a peninsula), in no time. While enjoying this easy run north, I was dreading the return trip into that wind, but you can’t really complain about a little wind on such a mild January day.

The return trip was a good workout into the wind. I usually run a fairly hilly route back in Reston, Va, so the wind made up for this relatively flat and easy course. About the only “hill” I encountered was crossing the A.W.Willis Bridge and a slight uphill grade back to the hotel. With the detour across the pedestrian bridge  I would guess that this run covered about 6.5 – 7 miles.

Beaten path on Mud Island

Lonesome barge rolling on the river

North end of park

I made it back to the hotel just as it was getting dark. A quick shower and ready for happy hour down on Beale Street just four blocks away. If you love the Blues and what I consider the best BBQ and ribs in the world, Memphis is the place to be. Enjoy your stay and say hi to Elvis for me.

Blues city Cafe

I’ve been a runner since junior high back in Cleveland, OH and have had the opportunity to run all over the world for the past 50 or so years. There were quite a few years where I got bored and did many other things for exercise but I always came back to running. I was a state champ in cross country in Ohio and then competed for the University of Pittsburgh, primarily as a middle distance runner. The mile was always my favorite. Later in life I joined the masters circuit for many years and had a great time competing against some of the finest runners in the world. Besides still being a miler I also ran several marathons and lots of 5K’s, 10k’s, 10 milers, etc. All this while also opening several running stores and then becoming a flight attendant for American Airlines. Once I started flying internationally it became very difficult to train at the high level I was accustomed to and competing became difficult and frustrating. Now I run and walk just for fun and good health but I really enjoy finding new and fun places to do that. That’s what’s behind this blog. I want to share those places with runners who travel and think they have to run on a treadmill in a cramped hotel workout room. Not so.

In addition to sharing lots of great trails, parks, and roads, I also hope to make your travels easier and more fun by including yummy places to eat and posting pictures of the sights on my layovers. Tomorrow it’s Memphis and hopefully running the Mississippi Greenbelt Trail on Mud Island, followed by some great BBQ and Blues on Beale Street.