Hey! This picture looks familiar...
Last weekend, the fiance and I decided to head out of the city proper this past weekend to run on some softer ground. See all the green here? That’s where we went, Wissahickon Park, early on a bright Sunday morn. Neither of us were much familiar with the area, so it took us a couple of false starts to find the parking lot we wanted, but once we did, we set off enjoying the weather and the atmoshere. See the blue northy-southy line there? That’s a river. A river that we planned to follow for a few miles, and then turn right and follow a path through the woods to complete a two mile loop.
We were hoping for 2-3 laps of the loop, at an easy pace, for a nice long run. Of course, that’s not how it worked out. We got to the river just fine, and kept running without issue, turning back at the path, and all that. Of course, somehow, in the woods, with their limited markings, we got lost. We kept running, of course, because we’re young and dumb and had nowhere to be. I’m not sure how many times we were turned around or whatever, but our expected 1 hour run became a two hour adventure.
We estimate we ran 7-10 miles during the whole thing, and, admittedly, we did a fair share of walking in the second hour. Trail running is very pleasant in both the scenery, and the freedom. Pace is often dictated by the terrain itself, instead of any arbitrarily chosen speeds. The variety, and, I’ll admit, the element of danger, adds a lot of fun to the proceedings, too. Leaping rocks jutting from a ridge path on a steep hill is this man’s idea of fun, for certain. Getting lost wasn’t ideal, but hopefully, next time, that won’t be such an issue.
I’m hoping to run out there 2-4 times a month. Perhaps as often as every Sunday, but much will depend on the length of the journey without a car. With a car, the drive was 20 minutes. Without one, relying on Sunday SEPTA service, who knows?
