Finish Line 70.3

Finish Line 70.3
Finish Line 70.3

70.3 Finisher!

70.3 Finisher!
70.3 Finisher

Thursday, January 13, 2011

Take the long way home

Supertramp was really one tick past my rock n roll generation but the only really decent song of theirs was Long Way Home IMO. Then again, I'm more partial to the Beatles, Santana, and the Guess Who so now you really know how old I am.

Running and biking the same routes over and over can get, well, okay, really boring. Sometimes you have no choice (it's dark outside, and your familiar neighborhood run is the only safe route). Sometimes you have a choice, but choose the familiar (when biking alone, which I do a lot, I prefer the old familiar route of White Rock Lake, although truth be told I get a bit weary of seeing the same landmarks five times on a long ride--oh, here's the dog park ONCE again, whee....). However, if you get the choice and the comfort is there, picking a strange and new route to run or bike can be a lot of fun, and will often keep your mind off your aching legs and rear while you soak in something new.

I like to rotate my long runs between my neighborhood route (usually run this route when I'm short on time so I don't waste precious minutes driving elswhere, or when it's dark or getting dark), the local nature preserve (very pretty and fairly uncrowded, although it's a very short route of 6 miles if you get very creative, and 5 if you don't), White Rock Trail (good up and downs and interesting sights, but the path is pretty torn up), and White Rock Lake. Every now and then I've veered off my familiar route in the neighborhood to visit unknown areas and streets and parks. Sometimes--most times--this gives me new and interesting things to see (once I came upon people inflating a giant hot air balloon in an empty lot, another time discovered a cute little quiet park with a garden in it). Now and then, this becomes a Bad Idea (like the time I got caught on Parker Road trying to run the grassy median on a wet morning--don't try that at home--or the time I found myself running OUT of sidewalk on a busy street). Even when it becomes a weird or unpleasant place, though, trust me you are spending so much time trying to get back to a normal route that you have forgotten how far you have run!

Biking is more difficult as safety is the biggest issue. When riding alone, I prefer the monotony of the trail at White Rock Lake (White Rock trail, although pretty, is just too torn up and crowded, and the Katy Trail has always been too crowded and short for real biking, even before the unfortunate tragic fatal collison on it of a biker and runner last year). With the opening of the new Santa Fe trail off White Rock, you can add another 5-7 miles of riding now rather than the traditional 9-10 'round the lake and up Winstead. Other than that, there are no reallly good road bike areas in the Dallas area so you have to head for the streets. On the streets, you are best off in locations that are common for bikers and that of course have streets that are 2-3 lanes wide. Even then, you are smarter to ride in large groups if possible on the streets as you will just be more visible to those drivers texting and drinking Red Bull at the same time they are driving. Even though Los Rios Boulevard near my house is a big biking area (because of the killer hills on it), I swear I have nearly been decapitated by drivers on the Parker south side of Los Rios while headed for Renner (another big biking street because of the closeness of Richardson Bike Mart).

Still, I cherish the thought of riding different streets and locations. Sometimes I've tried one or two to find out they end in construction zones (bad) or narrow down to one lane (worse). I've printed off maps of local routes from mapmyride.com but some of them are really meant for large groups as they take you down very busy streets.

When I do ride in different locations--like when we took our bikes down to Houston over Thanksgiving, or when I toted my bike to Colorado--it's always so much fun to see new things --trees, rivers, streams, mountains (not so much in Houston). You have to pay attention to any new trails very carefully since you are not knowledgeable about the bumps and turns, but that is part of the fun of discovery. I hope this spring and summer to get out and find new and exciting locations for bike riding around the entire state of Texas.

So, get out of your rut and find something new to see and watch on your routes--even if the new route turns out to be laughably bad, you'll have a great story to tell later.

Stay warm and keep trucking!

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