Saturday, May 7, 2011

I Am Falling In Love

Our house is in running distance of one of the greatest places on Earth (or at least the greatest place in Philadelphia) -- Wissahickon Park. It's why we bought it, in fact.

But I recently started an affair with a different park. Only three miles from 95, Susquehanna State Park is quickly becoming one of my favorite places to run. It's on the way to my parents' house in Maryland, it's quiet, hardly crowded and is just big enough for long runs. Plus it is sort of beautiful.

So beautiful that I voluntarily got up at 6:30 this morning, a Saturday, just so I could do my long run there on my way to my Mom and Dad's for some Mother's Day fun. Aside from another runner I kept crossing paths with and two mountain bikers carrying their buddy out of some twisting single track after he crashed into a barn (he was mostly ok) I seemingly had the whole place to myself for the entire 2.5-hour run.

The park hosts The HAT Run, a 50k that I wanted to be my first except it sold out in about 88 seconds for 2011. It's on my to-do list -- maybe next year. The trails are challenging (I feel like I am always going uphill and always stumbling over rocks and roots), well-maintained and lead to climbs that overlook the river. Happiness!

Apparently the park doesn't love me back though. I acquired some
grody sort of burning rash that I hope goes away before my 82nd
birthday.

Hideous.
Even more hideous. How ugly is this place?

The first time I ever ran Susquehanna State Park I saw a giant dead swordfish in the middle of the trail. Thus started my love affair. How can I not adore something so mysterious that made me laugh so hard I cried?

6 comments:

Running Ricig said...

crashed into a barn??? whoa!

That looks like an awesome place to run! I wish we had good long run parks around here!

Laurie said...

Yeah. There are old barns all over the place and he apparently missed a tight turn, rode into the barn, slammed into a wall and hit his head. I felt bad but was also amused because they hid their bikes under some old rotting wood. Hope the dude is ok!

Abby said...

You're cheating on the Wiss!

I want to do the Hat Run, too.

Natalia said...

Oooh that sounds very nice indeed. I have not run on many trails, so you having 2 parks to choose between, is very awesome. The barn business sounds....painful, but at least he's ok.

Anonymous said...

Yes, this looks like a horrible place to run. I am not jealous at all!

Mallory said...

Haha can't say I ever crashed into a barn!! :)