Running Solo

Last weekend, I made a weekend trip out to Barboursville, WV to visit friends who recently welcomed a new baby girl into their family. We had an awesome visit and I loved meeting their new addition - who for the record is super sweet and cute (just like her big sister!). Now, with being out of town, I knew I needed to stay on track with my half marathon training and we were scheduled to run 10 miles that weekend. Barboursville is very close to Huntington, WV so I went online to the USA Track and Field (USATF) website and searched for pre-mapped runs in that area. I found a "Marshall Alumni 5k", so I built my extra miles off this run and came up with a 10 mile route I would tackle solo with a newly loaded playlist on my iPod.

I drove downtown, parked my car and head out on my run on a nice morning. I snapped a few pics along the way to document my run and overall it was a great day. Starting out on the campus of Marshall University was very nice. There were several other runners around the area which was nice to see along the way.
Once through Marshall's campus, I head out one of the main roads in Huntington and made my way to Ritter Park which is part of the Greater Huntington Park and Recreation District. I am familiar with this park because it is where my friend holds the annual Lexi Black walk for SLOS (check out the link for more info) so I knew there was a 1 mile walking path around the park and there are also tons of beautiful houses and side streets to explore in that particular area too. Checking out these houses and enjoying the view of the park made the time pass quickly along the run.
After a few times around the park, I headed out back to the main road that would take me back to Marshall's campus. I did run into some "shady streets" as I made my way back to the other side of town and some of the roads I had marked on my routed ended up being alley ways, so I choose not to run those and ended up running about 8.5 miles total instead of the full 10. All in all, it was a great morning for a run, especially in a new place. Using the USATF website to map out a run is a great way to explore new areas if you are traveling and want to get in a walk or run. Just be flexible if things don't exactly match up and study your route on the map and turn by turn directions several times before heading out to pound the pavement in a new town. After the run, I headed back to my friend's house, made some coffee and spent the day enjoying the company of two lovey little girls and also loved spending some good quality time with my best friend since 4th grade - hard to believe we've been friends for over 20 years - where does the time go?!!