Esplen

I had plans to meet up with Alex Lochner in Fox Chapel and run a few easy miles with him before I set out on my own, but his great uncle was in grave condition and he wisely opted to see him. I slept in a bit Saturday and ended up heading to Schenley Park. I did nothing special, a loop around the golf course, down to Oakland, up Beechwood and back around the 3k loop. It was similar to my long run route in 2007 when it was too snowy for trails, but I didn't go all the way to Braddock Ave or Greenfield. The hills did not bother me as much as when I was in town in March...

Sunday morning, after a thankfully dry wedding, I went out to Robin Garber's place in Ingram to meet her for a run. We set off to explore the Montour Rail line that runs parallel to Chartiers Creek. She turned back after three miles, and after some missteps, I found the trail, but not exactly as I had envisioned it from the satellite map. I kept following the train tracks, until I looked at my watch and saw 45 minutes. I should have crossed the creek and been halfway through McKees Rocks by now! I climbed up a hill and looked over the trees to the creek- but it was a good bit wider than I expected. Oh dear, it was the Ohio River... I backtracked until I saw the Radcliffe bridge in Esplen, crossed it then found the Linden Bridge to McKees Rocks. There were no trees along the route, and the sun was starting to get to me, so I scrapped the plan to run along the west bank of the creek and took the Windgap Bridge back into the city and through Windgap and Fairywood back to Robin's place.