Fitness in the Concrete Jungle

I moved to Richmond a week ago. Although I was and still am very excited about living in a completely new, different environment, I did have my concerns. Atop my list of concerns was this question: Where was I going to run? My summer base training for the fall marathon calls for 60-70 mile weeks each week, while the actual 12-week training plan leading up to the marathon will hit 80 and possibly even 90. Those are big numbers for me period, let alone facing running them in an urban environment. Needless to say, I have been thinking about this for months now. How will I make it happen?

Well, this past week, I started to explore the answer to that question. Last Thursday marked my first run in Richmond. I headed out of my apartment, armed with an idea of a possible loop discovered by visiting Map My Run, and my apartment keys (the first of many alterations I've been forced to make running in the city). I began the run by running underneath a very high train track, on a gravel road. Okay, kind of cool. When that ended, I discovered the "Canal Walk," which is a nice walking path that runs along the canal that is fed by the James River right next to it. Pretty nice. When I strayed off of the canal walk, I was running across a bridge, essentially on a fairly major road. On the other side of the bridge, I found an underpass that took me to a path that ran along the river. My initial thoughts on the run so far: This is actually alright. Running along the river is scenic, and I actually have found some spots where I don't have to stop and wait for traffic every time I need to cross a street. It got a little bit better from there.

I came to the end of that path and found what seemed to be a low traffic road, which turns out led to an electric/water plant (not sure which). As I ran past the plant, I found that the road ended in a park, with a sign pointing towards the "Manchester Dock Slave Trail." Sweet. I am a firm believer that if you put a runner out for a run somewhere, they will be able to find a trail. I had found one. The trail was nice. It ran along the river, and was wooded just like the ones at home. But then I came to the end of the trail. At least I had found one.

The second half of the run was lack luster, as I ran on many different city streets until I found my way back the way I'd came, and proceeded to make my way home. Run 1 in the books, a marginal success. Run 2 would be different-- on many levels.

Run 2 didn't happen until the following Monday, as I spent the weekend at home for my brother's graduation. My original intention for Run 1 was to find a park called "Belle Isle," where I had heard was a decent running spot. Obviously, I had failed at reaching Belle Isle on Run 1. I left on Run 2 armed with information on how to correctly get to Belle Isle.

I began the run by running straight up Cary Street for 20 blocks. Cary Street is a pretty cool area where I live, with lots of cool restaurants and bars. The only problem was the issue of stopping every time I came to a street, and waiting for traffic. But once I reached 5th street (20 blocks later), I was on my way. I made my way to a really cool hanging footbridge that runs under a major highway bridge, that goes across the river and serves as the entrance to Belle Isle. My thoughts: this is actually pretty sweet!

I ran the loop around Belle Isle, and proceeded to the Buttermilk trail, another "plus one" on the possible running trails list. This run was going great. And then I got lost again.

I had gotten through over half of the intended run (the same one from Map My Run), but was lost again, and just trying to find familiar territory. I finally found it, and ended up pretty much where I'd intended to go-- I just got there a different way. By this time, I was nearing the end of my run and just needed to add a little bit more, so I headed for a little out-and-back on the slave trail, which I was fairly close to. The slave trail would be a little bit different this time.

I decided to go in the "back" way to the trail, where I'd come out of the trail the other day. As I turned into the trail, and got back into the woods, I quickly found that I was not alone on the trail. In fact, I was sharing the trail with an inter-racial couple that had decided that they felt like using the slave trail as their bed room that afternoon. In layman's terms, they were having sex. Right in the middle of the trail. Shocked and caught completely off-guard, I quickly stopped and turned around (but not before being noticed by the fat white man having his way with what I believe to be a prostitute. He just gave me a smile, knowing he'd been caught in the act.) I threw up my hand in a wave, shouted a little "sorry," and was on my way, mouth agape in disbelief of what I'd just seen. Unbelievable.

So Run 2 was in the books, with a nice "Welcome to Richmond!" to go along with it. Now I knew to expect the unexpected while running around the city. The next day was Run 3. For Run 3 I decided to head out in the opposite direction of where I'd been the previous runs. I left for the run with a vague idea of where I was heading (thanks to Map My Run), but no real plan of action. Unfortunately, I ended up on many high-traffic roads, and in some pretty sketchy areas. I did find a Frisbee-golf park, but it didn't have any trails in it. Bummer. The first highlight of the run came as I ran on the grass along the side of the road leaving the park. There I was, running along, when before I knew it, I was on the ground. Pretty much flat on my face. I'd stepped into a giant hole that was completely covered in overgrown grass. It was a deep hole, and I have no idea how I didn't break my ankle. Slightly embarrassed and scraped up, I got up and continued, thankful that I didn't have a broken ankle, and that no one was around to see my epic fall. I got to the end of the street and turned onto another, and began to run up a pretty long hill. It was then that I entered the pretty sketchy area that highlight 2 would happen in.

Highlight 2 happened on my way back through said sketchy area. As I began my decent back down the hill, I ran past a young, quite obese black woman standing at a payphone. As I ran by, she decided to sexually harrass me verbally. I won't tell you exactly what she said in case there are any young readers out there, but lets just say that it had something to do with being able to see my "cash and prizes" through my shorts. It was sufficiently akward. The rest of the run was equally as crappy, and I finally made it home. Run 3 in the books, a pretty big failure.

Run 4 happened this morning at 6:45, when I was determined to find the correct loop that I'd tried to run twice before. And this time I did it. I found some pretty cool new areas and trails, and overall the run was a success. The only real highlight was seeing this huge snapping turtle on this bridge that crosses really high above the river. I don't know how he got there, but he looked pissed about it.

So all in all, running in the concrete jungle has been a safari to this point. At times it's been new and exciting, but it's also been akward, scary, and just plain crazy. My final thoughts on training here: the jury is still out, but I think its possible. It just might get a little wacky at times. Time to man up and make it happen.